Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
I hadn’t even thought about a ring. Before I knew it, Clary came bustling in with her seal and the paperwork and two pens, and then the judge was there.
Griffen and I stood facing each other at the end of the conference table and repeated the words that would change our lives.
They went in one ear and out the other. Nothing registered until Griffen looked down at me, his eyes cool and remote as he said I do. I had a last impulse to turn on my heel and fly out the door.
My mouth opened and I felt the vow form.
The words fell between us like stones.
“I do,” I swore.
And then it was done.
I waited for someone to say Griffen could kiss the bride, but the words never came. We both stepped back, the judge and Clary and Harvey conferring over the license. I stood there, my ears ringing, wobbling a little.
Had that just happened?
Griffen raised his chin at Harvey. “Are we done here? For now?”
“For now. You have my number. I’d suggest taking care of the business we discussed first off, then stop by here tomorrow.”
Griffen nodded in agreement and turned to me. “Let’s get a piece of pie.”
Chapter Six
Hope
Griffen strode out the door of Harvey’s Victorian, his feet crunching in the gravel parking lot. As he reached the street, he raised his head and looked around as if surprised at where he was. “Maisie’s place still around?”
“Same as it always was.” Maisie’s Café served breakfast and lunch. She had the best pie in town. Always had.
Griffen’s body was drawn tight, his eyes scanning our surroundings. Nothing about this man said he wanted to climb in a car and sit. Maisie’s wasn’t more than a few blocks away. Glad I’d worn sensible shoes, I started to move. “Come on. We can just about get there before she starts closing up for the day.”
We walked in silence, side-by-side. I looked around, seeing the town through Griffen’s eyes. So much had changed in the last fifteen years. Everything and nothing.
Tourists were the lifeblood of Sawyers Bend, demanding a delicate balance between the allure of yesteryear and the need for modernity. Almost every business on Main Street offered free wifi—heck, even Maisie’s had it—and the gas station had plugins for electric vehicles, but the iron benches on the sidewalks were the same design as those installed a century before. Ditto for the streetlamps, the window awnings, and most everything else.
All of it shiny and new even as it hearkened back to an earlier day. The booths at Maisie’s had been replaced three years before, the surface of the wooden tables shiny and unmarred, but the menu wasn’t much different. After a few weeks, Griffen would absorb the changes in town and everything would be familiar again.
Except his entire life had changed.
We were married.
Married.
I snuck a glance at the screen of my phone. Uncle Edgar hadn’t called me since that morning when he’d secured my promise to attend the burial and the will reading.
Of course, he hadn’t called.
He already knew I was exactly where he wanted me.
Why?
Foolish question.
I knew exactly why Uncle Edgar wanted me married to Griffen. Edgar and Prentice had their business all tangled up together. My official job was as Edgar’s assistant, but I knew almost as much about Prentice’s business. With Prentice dead, Uncle Edgar would want his interests protected.
If some idiot took the helm of Sawyer Enterprises it could mean big losses for Uncle Edgar. Uncle Edgar didn’t like to lose. From his point of view, it made absolute sense that he would position me right next to the Sawyer heir.
What I didn’t understand was why Prentice had agreed. None of this made sense. I should be angry that my future had been hijacked for someone else’s purposes.
What future?
I worked for Uncle Edgar. That was it.
I got up, did what Uncle Edgar needed, and went home. Sometimes I stopped by the library on my way back to my little apartment. I liked to go for walks when I had time or get a coffee at my friend Daisy’s bakery. That was the extent of my social life. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone on a date.
How could they hijack my life when I didn’t have a life in the first place?
Sometimes I thought I’d used up all of my rebellious spirit moving out of Edgar’s house and into that apartment. Now, I’d have to leave it behind for Heartstone Manor. I should have been excited. Heartstone was practically a castle, and I would be its mistress. Temporarily.
I followed Griffen through the front door of Maisie’s, acutely aware of the way conversation stopped when we entered. Probably drawn by the silence, Maisie came bustling out of the back, stopping abruptly at the sight of Griffen. A wide smile spread across her face as her arms flew wide and she hurtled her small, rounded body into Griffen’s arms. He closed his own around her in a tight squeeze.