Smiling, I grab her hand and together we walk over to the side of the tower, only feet away from where all of this started. I can see the small slip of paper, tucked between the slates and I reach for it, pulling it out and opening it.
Written on the paper is Nora’s name, phone number and address, the exact information I used to leave all those years before. I wish she’d found them back then, maybe everything would have been different. But then again, maybe we wouldn’t be where we are right now either.
Because that address isn’t just her address, it’s mine too. It’s the place we share together, our home.
After everything that happened with our reunion, all the crap with her publisher and their desperation for the second half of our story, things had been tough. I’d gone back to Chicago and left Nora in New York, both of us desperately wanting to be together, but not knowing how to make it work.
We both had friends and family who supported us and we both had friends and family who didn’t. We had separate lives and different jobs and everything was pulling us in the opposite direction, when all we wanted was to be pulled together.
It had been tough and for a brief moment, I’d wondered if we’d make it. But in the end, we had. Nora had given up the idea of the second book, because in the end she too realized it wasn’t what she wanted to write about.
And I’d given up Chicago and my old life, because I realized that my new life with her was way more important.
Then we bought an apartment in Soho together. I’d quit my job and moved to New York to be with her. I could’ve transferred but in the end, I decided to make a total change. Nora had said no to writing the second book. She’d written three others and then turned down another contract so she could follow her dreams and write what she loved.
Write what you love.
The words I’d written onto her skin on this very beach.
I slip the note into my pocket, smiling as I wrap an arm around her shoulders. “You don’t want to leave it here?” she asks. “For posterity and all?”
I glance down at her, one brow raised. “So some psycho can find it and know where we live? Hell no!”
Nora laughs and leans her head on my shoulder, her arm wrapping around my waist. Inside her pocket, her phone dings with a text message and when she pulls it out, we both read the message.
Alice: WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?? Everyone is waiting and you still need to change!
“God she’s impatient,” I laugh, knowing how much Alice supports her and us in all of this. She and I have grown close over the past twelve months, with James too, and I’m eternally grateful for the way they’ve welcomed me into their family. Her dad came around, eventually, and although I still get the feeling he’s waiting for all of this to fall apart, I know he’s grateful to see his daughter finally happy too.
“Right, anyone would think she has a wedding to go to.”
I chuckle and kiss the top of her head. “You don’t care that I’ve seen you, right?” I don’t even know why I ask it. I know she doesn’t care because last night we shared a hotel bed together. This morning we woke up in that bed together and then we took a shower together. We aren’t like that and our relationship has never been close to being traditional.
And neither will our wedding.
“God no,” she scoffs. “Anyway, it’s not like you saw me in my dress.”
Grinning, I look down at her. “Oh you mean, you’re not getting married in jeans and a tank?” I tease.
Nora smirks at me, her hand sliding onto my stomach. “No, I’m not. And you look very nice by the way,” she adds, her fingers slipping between the buttons of my white linen shirt and brushing across my skin, her touch like a jolt of electricity.
“You always look beautiful,” I whisper, leaning down to kiss her again. “What do you think, should we go get married?” I ask, tipping my head in the direction of our waiting wedding down the other end of the beach. Our beach.
“Yes,” Nora says, smiling.
I return the smile, pulling her in for another kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Fourteen years ago, I sat on this beach and kissed this woman beneath the stars. We kissed, we shared our dreams and we connected, in so many ways. Tonight, we’ll do that again, knowing that we will never lose each other now, that everything else is just a distant memory.
And that we’re creating new memories now.
Memories of us.
What’s Next!
We hope you enjoyed reading Nora and Elliot’s story! If you’d like to see what’s coming next from us, read on for the blurb of Maybe Yours, book three in our Love & Wine series, coming April 2021
Preorder Maybe Yours below!
Maybe Yours
Love & Wine: Book Three
Working together is even more fun when you’re falling in love.
What do a dating app and co-workers have in common? Other than being a terrible idea...nothing! Internet dating is not for the faint of heart and neither is finding out you're accidently dating your co-worker.
At least that’s what Tommy Andrews discovers when he realizes the woman he’s been talking dirty to online is none other than Penny Cartwright, his much younger co-worker who runs the tasting room at Somerville Winery and Vineyard.
But Penny is determined to prove that just because she’s younger, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t know what she wants. And what she wants is Tommy.
As their chemistry sizzles, keeping it a secret from their bosses proves more difficult than denying their attraction to each other.
And you know what they say about dating your co-worker...
Your free books are waiting!
We hope you loved reading Nora and Elliot’s story and we want to say thank you for downloading our book by offering you even more! This FREE prequel gives you a glimpse into the early lives of Beck & Kelsey and takes place before the events of Coming Home to You (Book One).
Grab your FREE copy of Beginning with You, click here!
And, because one freebie is never enough, we are also excited to offer you a FREE prequel of our Hawthorn Hills Duet Series!! This takes us back to the early lives of Sienna, Caleb and Reid and takes place before the events of Complicate Me (Book One).
Grab your FREE copy of Confuse Me right here!
Happy reading and thank you!
A Note from Claire
There’s an interesting story behind this book. It’s actually a book that Raye started writing years ago, back when both of us – Claire and Raye – wrote as separate authors under our real names. We used to help each other out back then, with writing and editing and plotting, but we always wrote solo, something we’ve since discovered is a lot more fun doing together. The Memory of Us was one of those books that Raye was writing, but just couldn’t finish, no matter how much she chatted with me about it. Back then it used to be called The Memory of You and the ending Raye had planned was very different. When we gave up our solo writing careers, Raye gave up finishing this book and left it sitting in a folder on her computer. Then one day, we were chatting (as usual!) and Raye asked if I would help her finish writing it. I knew this story had always driven her crazy, but I was more than happy to help if I could. We went back and forth on the ending again and Raye once more wanted to set this book on fire out of sheer frustration! But we persisted and as strange and interesting as it was for me to take on someone else’s half-written character and try and finish their story, I had a lot of fun doing it. I hope I did Raye’s story justice.