I pass groups of people congregating in the different shops and along the shore of the bay. Everyone waves and says hello. No one says congratulations. That’s a good sign that the news hasn’t reached this far north yet.
Ten minutes later, my stomach is in knots as I open the door of my brothers’ brewery, Truth or Dare. My big family sits around a large table to the left of the bar, and I say my hellos to people as I wind through the crowd.
Molly’s already got a beer for me when I sit down across from her. I lean over and whisper, “Do you think she knows?”
Molly glances at where my mom is with the rest of my family. “She hasn’t said anything, but she definitely wants to talk to you.”
I sit back down on the stool.
“Nikki.” Mom stands, waving at me.
As Mom tries to make her way over to me, a group of people step in front of her. Molly bites her lip, trying to hold back her laughter. I have to think of something and quick.
My brother, Jed, steps up next to Molly behind the bar and hands Molly a stack of empty glasses. “Holy shit, you’re never going to believe who just walked in.”
“Oh God, do I even want to know?” Clara, my stepbrother Xavier’s best friend, asks. “Someone from high school?”
“No.” Jed glances back at the door.
Before I even try to look behind me, my stepbrother Cade interrupts. “Nikki, we pay Molly to work. You realize that, right?”
“Nikki!” My mom frantically waves. Thank goodness for the grandma in the walker Mom can’t get around. “We need to talk.”
“Logan Stone,” Jed says and my eyes bulge at the same time my stomach sinks.
“Who’s Logan Stone?” my sister Posey asks.
“The MMA fighter?” Xavier says.
“No shit!” Cameron, my stepbrother Fisher’s best friend, turns toward the door as panic seizes my body. “Why would he be in Sunrise Bay?”
Chevelle says, “Oh, he’s a hottie.”
That earns her a glare from Cam.
“You know what, Cade, just leave me be. She’s still working, and I need her advice. That’s what bartenders do, right?” I snipe at Cade as though I can ignore the fact that my biggest mistake is about to be revealed in the middle of town for all to witness and gloat.
“Hey, Nik,” Molly says, her eyes growing wide as she looks over my shoulder.
I put up my hand at my friend. Does she think I can’t hear what’s going on? I’m just in denial.
“You just had a girls’ weekend. Why do you need to talk to her so bad?” Cade asks. “Not everything is urgent.”
“Nik,” Molly says again.
I swear I feel him behind me, as if we’re two magnets and his energy pulls at me.
“Nik,” Molly says louder this time.
“What?” I ask, and Molly points behind me.
I’m not an idiot. I know who’s there, but when I turn around, it will become reality. I circle around in the stool to find Logan Stone in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt. He’s similar to how I left him, but he’s clean-shaven now and his hair is styled. He looks good. Too good.
Jed finally lifts his jaw off the floor. “Hey, man, can I help you with something?”
Logan shakes his head, his eyes remaining locked with mine.
“Who is this guy?” Mandi nudges me with her elbow, and it’s then I realize she’d approached me.
“I’m her husband,” Logan says.
The entire restaurant quiets.
He cannot be serious. He had to announce that right here?
“Not really,” I say, looking at all the stunned expressions on my family’s faces.
“Nik,” my mom says, catching her breath as if she ran a marathon to reach me. “We need to talk.”
I glance at her and back at Logan. “In a minute, Mom.”
I rise from the stool, grab Logan’s hand, and tug him out of the brewery.
Let’s just get this over with.
Logan allows me to pull him out to the sidewalk where I confront him. “What are you doing here?”
“You ran out on me,” he says.
“Um… we were drunk. Surely you don’t want to be married to me now that you’ve had some time to think about it.”
He steps toward me. “I thought I was clear this morning that I wanted to talk.”
I inhale a deep breath and cross my arms. “And I don’t. It was a mistake.”
He looks to his right and raises his eyebrows. I follow his gaze to see my family staring at us through the window. I tug him farther down the sidewalk so we’re standing in front of Presley’s bookstore.
“I don’t think it was a mistake,” he says like the crazy man he clearly is.
I throw up my hands. “You don’t even know me.”
He smiles and my stomach stirs with butterflies. It’s a knowing smile. That has to be how he won me over and got me to agree to marry him. “I want to get to know you.”
I stare blankly at him and he laughs. Why does he seem to think everything is so funny?
“Okay, I’ll admit, we had a good time on the balcony, but marriage? It was a decision fueled by alcohol.”
“True.” He shrugs as if that’s neither here nor there.
“And how did you find me?”
A few people walk by and I hear whispers of my name. It’s only a matter of time now.
“You had to fill your address out on the marriage license.”
I groan. Of course—how did I not think about that?
“If you hadn’t run out, I would have given it to you as a souvenir.” He winks.
I narrow my eyes. “This isn’t funny.”
He holds up his hands. “I never said it was.”
“I’m sure you could’ve found my phone number somehow. You didn’t have to come to my hometown.”
“And you would have answered my phone call?” he asks with one eyebrow quirking up.
He’s right. I never would have answered.
I hear my name called from across the way, and I close my eyes. What did I do in my previous life to deserve this?
“You have no idea what you signed yourself up for,” I murmur to him. I turn to my step-grandma, hugging her, “Ethel!” I nod in hello to her best friend. “Dori.”
“Oh, you’re new to town,” Ethel says to Logan.
He holds out his hand. “Logan Stone, ma’am.”
Ethel shoos him with her hand. “No ma’am. Makes me feel old.” After she shakes his hand, her head volleys between the two of us. “How do you two know one another?”
“We’re just friends,” I lie, my eyes pleading with Logan to go along with me.
“Friends?” Dori says. “That’s not what we heard.” She puts out her hand toward Logan. “Big fan.”
I should’ve known. They probably get together at the Northern Lights Retirement Center and chip in for pay-per-view or something.
“Thank you,” Logan says and shakes her hand.
“Can I snap a picture? My grandsons are going to go crazy when I show them.” Dori hands me her cell phone. “Get in, Ethel.”
As I’m positioning Dori’s phone to take the picture, Ethel looks at Logan. “I’m your grandma, by the way.”