Maybe, just maybe, this is all going to work out the way it's supposed to.
19
SHARON
Two days feels like forever and not nearly long enough all at the same time, which is probably the most Sharon way to think about time that's ever existed in the history of thoughts about time.
I'm sitting at my desk in the wedding planning office, and Savannah has called me in probably to make sure she hasn’t overwhelmed me by giving me the company. Instead, she's currently sprawled across the couch like she's decided the furniture is now her personal kingdom, one hand resting on her belly where the triplets are apparently having a rave of some kind.
"So let me get this straight, before Logan gets back. He said I shouldn’t get my stress levels up and he only brought me here to get out of the house for a little while,” Savannah says, and there's something in her voice that suggests she's about three seconds away from laughing at me. Or with me. I'm still not entirely sure which. "You've spent the last two days working nonstop on Tangle Peak's wedding. You've coordinated with vendors in three different states, and designed an entirely new aesthetic for a Christmas Eve ceremony. You've managed to source flowersthat don't technically exist yet but apparently will be available by Christmas. And you're loving it."
"I'm not," I say, but my tone gives me away completely. "I'm just saying that maybe when an international superstar walks into your office and offers you unlimited budget and creative freedom, it's hard to be stressed about it. Also, the flowers thing is totally doable. You just have to know and talk to the right people. And apparently show up in person to three different florist shops with pictures of exactly what you want."
"And you did all of that. In two days."
"I may have gotten a little help," I admit reluctantly. "Cassian came with me to two of the shops. Jett drove while I made phone calls. Pine designed the floral arrangements to match the aesthetic for the venue. It was very efficient teamwork."
"And Jessica?" Savannah asks.
Who is sitting right next to me, waiting for me to mention her name.
"She's my other half. Without Jessica I couldn't have completed anything in the short time we've had."
I made sure that I used the word "we", and Jessica nods her head as if she's satisfied with my reply.
Savannah settles back into the couch like she's prepared for this conversation to take a while. "And the fact that Tangle Peak is marrying three alphas who apparently worship the ground she walks on has nothing to do with your sudden good mood? Nothing to do with the fact that you're suddenly smiling all the time? Nothing to do with the way you keep checking your phone every five seconds?"
My scent betrays me immediately. Strawberry and honey spike up so hard it probably knocks over a small shelf somewhere in Pine Hollow. I can feel my face getting hot, like someone just lit a fire under my skin. My ears are definitely turning red. My hands are definitely shaking.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I say primly, reorganizing the same pile of fabric swatches I've reorganized approximately five thousand times in the last two days. The swatches are now arranged in a gradient from lightest to darkest, which I'm certain is going to matter at some point even if it doesn't matter right now.
"Sharon," Savannah says, and now she's definitely laughing. It's the kind of laugh that comes from a place of genuine affection, not judgment. "I can literally smell you from here. You smell like a strawberry field having the time of its life mixed with honey on a summer afternoon. Something's going on. Something good. You need to spill. I need to know everything."
I set down the fabric swatches and turn to face her. Savannah is sitting up now, her expression shifting from amused to genuinely interested in that way she has about her. She's one of those people who has this ability to make you want to tell her everything, whether you planned to or not. It's probably why she was so good at wedding planning before she decided to grow three human beings inside her body instead.
"There might be a situation developing," I admit slowly, choosing each word like they're going to personally betray me if I'm not careful. "With Pine."
Savannah's smile grows so wide it probably needs its own zip code. "Pine Burnside? The tattooed, brooding, extremely hot tattoo artist?"
"Don't say his name like that," I say, but I'm smiling too despite my best efforts not to. "It's not like that. Or it is like that. I honestly don't know what it's like yet. It's complicated. They're all complicated. All three of them. Cassian and Jett and Pine."
"Oh honey," Savannah says, using a nickname that sounds like it comes from a place of genuine affection mixed with amusement. "You're telling me there's not just one alpha, but three alphas?"
"It's not what it sounds like. They're pack. They work together. They protect each other, and apparently, they've decided that I'm worth protecting too. Which is both wonderful and terrifying because I don't actually know what that means for my life going forward."
Savannah leans forward, her eyes bright with understanding. "It means you're falling for them. It means you're developing real feelings for more than one alpha at the same time and instead of it being complicated, it's somehow making everything better."
"That's not how it's supposed to work," I protest. "Alphas are supposed to be competitive. They're supposed to fight over omegas. They're supposed to be territorial and possessive. Three alphas should not be able to just share an omega without losing their minds."
"They're pack. So it’s different. They've just been waiting for the right omega to complete the bond. Maybe you're that omega."
I stand up and walk over to the window, looking out at the street. Pine Hollow is starting to look like Christmas threw up all over it in the best way possible. Lights are strung across storefronts. Wreaths hang from door frames. The whole town has this magical quality right now, like anything is possible if you're willing to believe in it hard enough.
"I'm not ready to think about bonding," I say quietly. "I haven’t been in a relationship since Ben. And now I'm supposed to bond with three alphas? That's a lot of pressure."
"No one's putting pressure on you. You get to move at your own pace. You get to figure out what you want. You get to decide if you even want to be bonded at all. But I have a feeling that if you let them, those three alphas are going to show you what it actually feels like to be valued. What it feels like to be chosen. What it feels like to be part of a pack that actually works."
Savannah smiles, and it's the kind of smile that suggests she knows more than she's letting on. "I have a feeling that situation is going to take care of itself very soon. But don't worry about it. You focus on Tangle Peak, because that wedding is going to be absolutely legendary. Let the rest of it handle itself."
