“I can’t keep this going through the holidays,” she told him. “If I’d known they were here for longer than just this event, I never would have even said it.”
“Have you evenmetour family?” Tripp said, shaking his head. “First of all, you’re already the worst secret-keeper we’ve got. Secondly, if you hadn’t noticed, all our brothers have married themselves off. That family chat has like a dozen people in it now.”
“Fourteen,” Allie remembered. “Tag added Olivia when she turned seventeen.”
“Right,” Tripp said. “Anyway, between all of us, the wives, Dulcie’s little sister, and Olivia, someone’s going to slip up.”
“This town is too sleepy,” Allie said, nodding in defeat.
“It runs on gossip,” Tripp agreed.
“So, what do I do?” Allie asked.
“Just go with it,” Tripp said right away. “He’s a nice guy, and that ex is a piece of work.”
“I don’t know,” Allie said.
“I have a feeling about this,” Tripp said, his voice dropping a bit like it did whenever he was serious. “You have good instincts, little sister. There’s a reason your heart told you to say what you did. Don’t question it.”
She couldn’t help smiling as she looked up at the earnest expression on her brother’s face.
Tripp had always been the wild one, more at home outdoors than in, never able to settle down and commit, whether it was to a higher education program or a woman to love.
Secretly, Allie had always felt she was the most like him of all her brothers. He probably knew her best, and so his compliment hit harder than it would have from anyone else.
“Thank you,” she told him.
He nodded to her, his sudden eloquence apparently drying up as fast as it had come on.
“I guess I’d better face the music,” she said, taking a deep breath.
“No one else can do it for you,” Tripp said, laughing. “Good luck out there.”
“Are you coming?” she asked him.
“You first,” he said, winking.
She rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t really blame him for wanting to see the show.
Crunching back through the snow, it occurred to her that Ash hadn’t been even a little bit angry with her for her lie.
You were incredible…
His murmured words echoed in her mind and she felt his lips on her forehead again.
When she came back around the side of the building, she found Ash was surrounded by well-wishers, all smiling, laughing, and shakinghis hand.
It was heartwarming to see that the citizens of Sugarville Grove were so happy for them.
It’s not real,she reminded herself again, feeling like she was losing her mind as she approached the small crowd.
“Miss Lawrence, Miss Lawrence,” Maya yelled, sprinting for her, with Timmy trailing behind her, a big smile on his face.“Come on. I have to show you something.”
“Okay, Maya,” Allie said, unable to resist the little girl’s enthusiasm.
Maya grabbed her left hand and Timmy took her right and they headed for the area where Linda had set up spray bottles with colored water for the little kids to decorate the snowmen the bigger kids had made.
Ash turned to Allie just as Maya and Timmy hurried past him.
