Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
It’s me.
Or maybe it’s the version of me I lost somewhere between late nights in New York and trying to become someone who fit into a life that never quite fit me back. I thought that moving out of this small town of Magnolia Ridge was what I wanted. It’s barely been twenty-four hours of upending my life for me to realize that’s not the life I want. It never really was.
“Are you sure?” Ellison asks.
“I’m positive. How many times have you begged me to come home for this very reason? And that’s before Copeland knocked you up.” I wink at her. “Besides, I also happen to be unemployed.”
Unemployed. The word should sting more than it does. Two weeks ago, it would have. Two weeks ago, I was still in our apartment, still eating dinner alone, reading messages of don’t wait up and I’ll be a partner soon. Little did I know that my world would be flipped upside down, and I’d land back in the same place I was so ready to run away from.
“Not anymore,” Courtlynn chirps, and we all laugh.
I should miss Todd, but I don’t. I was sure he would call, but I have not heard from him. Not that I care, it’s better this way. It proves I made the right choice for me. I can’t pinpoint when exactly our relationship became a business deal. I don’t know when I became just a roommate to my live-in boyfriend, but it happened, and that’s not the life I want.
I want what Ellison and Copeland have. Seeing my sister get her second chance with the love of her life and starting a family has cemented that feeling even more. I want a man in my life who puts me first, who looks at me as if I’m his entire world. I don’t know if I’ll find him here in Magnolia Ridge, but at some point, I hope to find that one person who was made just for me.
Eight years in New York, and somehow the thing that finally broke me wasn’t the city—it was realizing I had built everything there around someone who didn’t choose me back.
“You okay?” Ellison asks, her tone soft, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I blink. “Yeah. I’m okay.” And it’s the truth. That’s the strangest part. When I graduated from college, I fled this small town I grew up in like my ass was on fire and swore there was more for me than what this little town could give.
Now, here I am, back in the house I grew up in, and there is no pain, no sadness, no feelings of failure. Instead, there are smiles and the laughter I share with my sisters. I’ve missed them so much—a feeling that’s not new, but one I buried deep, telling myself that New York was my dream.
“Dreams change, Bay,” Leighton says, as if she can read my mind.
I smile at her. “I know. I just need to decide what mine looks like now.”
“Whatever it is, I hope it’s here,” Courtlynn tells me. “We’ve missed you, Bay. I’m glad you’re home.”
My heart squeezes in my chest. Not painfully. It’s more of a longing. “I’ve missed you all, too,” I admit, my voice cracking.
“So,” Ellison says, clapping her hands together, shifting the mood. “We’ll start you tomorrow. We’re a mess, just so you know. Total disaster. It’s embarrassing, honestly.”
“I doubt that,” I say.
“No, like, receipts-in-a-shoebox level of embarrassing,” she continues.
“Color-coded chaos,” Courtlynn adds.
I grin. “Wow. You really held it together without me.”
“We tried,” Leighton says dramatically, placing a hand over her heart. “But now our prodigal spreadsheet queen has returned.”
I roll my eyes. The three of them are full of shit. Ellison does a damn good job. However, something warm blooms in my chest at the word returned. Not back, not stuck, not starting over. I’ve returned. I like the way that sounds much better.
My sisters were always my home, not just the town or our family’s inn. It was a place I knew I could come back to.
“This is real, right? I’m not dreaming?” Leighton asks, smiling as she continues to give me a hard time.
Though, there’s a flicker of something in her voice. It sounds a lot like hope, if I’m not mistaken. Eight years is a long time to be gone. Not to count the time I was away at college.
I smile at her. “I’m staying.” The two words wrap around my soul. A reminder that this is where my heart truly is. Maybe it took leaving to understand that, but I already know, without a doubt, I don’t ever want to leave again. I’m not sure that’s helpful for finding my perfect match; this small town doesn’t get many newcomers.
“Good,” Courtlynn says, smiling. “Because we already told Alice that you’re home for good.”