“You know I’m not that patient, right?”
“Yeah.” I kissed her head. “I know. Let’s hope our child doesn’t get that from you.”
She gave my side a light jab with her elbow as I pulled her into me. “Sometimes, I wonder why I put up with you, cowboy.”
“I figure it has to do with my culinary skills. You’d starve otherwise.”
“I managed just fine for years without you.”
“Managed? Sure. But you weren’t living until you met me, and you weren’t pregnant, with late-night cravings, in the middle of nowhere.”
“You sure have an ego on you, lately.”
“How could I not when I have you on my arm? Plus, I’m hoping you’ll want to put up with me for even longer after you open that box.”
“Does that mean I can open it now?”
“Sure.” I shrugged.
She picked it up, tearing through the paper and flipping open the lid. She tossed out a few pieces of the surrounding tissue paper to reveal her surprise. She lifted the baseball from the box, her eyes flooding as she rotated it around in her hand to read the words I’d written on it for her.
Will you marry me, slugger?
Her hand went to her mouth as she held back her tears. She looked up at me where I’d shifted to one knee, a ring in my hand.
“Hannah, that first night I met you I knew there was something different about you, something that would change my life forever. You were never a one-night stand for me. You were once in a lifetime. I’m pretty sure that’s why I felt the way I did when you let those three words slip. Because deep down, I think my heart fell in love with you the moment I laid my eyes on you… So, please tell me you’ll make one more dream come true for this small-town cowboy.”
Her head bobbing, tears streaming, she flew into my arms, tackling me to the ground. Her lips were all over me as I rolled her to the side, pulling back slightly. “Is that a yes?”
“No.” She shook her head. "It’s a hell yes, cowboy.”
I took a brief moment to stare at her, committing to my memory the way this beautiful, glowing woman looked while promising to spend her life with me. Then, leaning in again, I kissed her the way I planned to every day for as long as I lived.
THE END
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BLACKWOOD SERIES
Billionaires and Rock Stars
A REASON TO STAY
THE ONLY ONE
A REASON TO LEAVE
FOREVER YOURS
MADE SERIES
Romantic Suspense
HONOR
BURDEN
SALVATION
BILLINGSLEY SERIES
Small Town Second Chance
REDEEMING LOTTIE
CHASING HANNAH
TAMING WES
TEMPTING TIM
ROPING MELANIE
STARRY FALLS SERIES
Small Town Romance
IN THE WAKE OF YOU
Read my series starters for free:
LAUNCHING INTO LOVE
About the Author
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One Call Away
By Emily Goodwin
To my girls. I love you to the moon and back.
Playlist
Unsteady- X Ambassador
Never Say Never- The Gray
Mad World- Gary Jules
Say Something- A Great Big World
Let Her Go- Passenger
Breathe Me- Jasmine Thompson
Never Let Me Go- Florence + The Machine
Trust- Christina Perri
Say You Won’t Let go- James Arthur
Cosmic Love- Florence + The Machine
Back to You- Alex & Sierra
Even My Dad Does Sometimes- Ed Sherran
Life of the Party- Shawn Mendez
One Call Away- Charlie Puth
Chapter 1
Sierra
Then…
My phone clatters to the ground, and the smiling faces of Hermione and Luna stare up at me from the back of my Harry Potter phone case. I exhale, and as the breath leaves me, so does part of my soul. I close my eyes, refusing to process what I just heard.
Time stops, yet everything is swirling around me at a dizzying rate. Panic rises in my chest, and my knees threaten to buckle. A strangled sob escapes my lips and I pitch forward, catching myself on the counter. Tears burn behind my closed eyelids, and I’m struggling to breathe.
“Sierra? Are you all right?” Mrs. Williams’ voice comes from behind me, sounding miles away as if it’s echoing through a dark and harrowing tunnel. She’s only a few yards to my right, putting a new shipment of children's books away on a display. “Sierra?” she calls again and the floorboards of this little, old bookstore creak beneath her feet. “Honey, what’s wrong?” There’s a bit of panic in her voice, but she does her best to hide it.
“Jake,” I whisper, and the tears start to fall. “Jake…”
Mrs. Williams picks up my phone. There’s a fresh crack down the middle, but I don’t care right now. It’s just a phone. It can be replaced. She carefully puts it to her ear and says something, and then listens to what the liar on the other end has to say.
I want to swat the phone out of her hand. I want it to fall and break into a million pieces on the cold, hard ground. Because none of it is true.
It can’t be true.
Jake can’t leave me.
The blood drains from Mrs. Williams’ face. She nods as she talks, then lowers the phone. “Sierra,” she says softly, voice full of pity. Her hand lands on my back and if I weren’t frozen still, I’d jerk away. I don’t need sympathy. Because that means something is wrong. That means something bad happened.