Alex gestured. “I’d ask how things are going, but—” He trailed off as one of the little boys loudly pretended to shoot his brother with an imaginary machine gun.
“Connor Cooper! Quiet down this instant! We’re in public, for goodness sake!” When the child kept belting bullet sounds, Jack excused himself to crouch in front of the child and covered his mouth. “Hush now.”
Connor scowled and skulked and Jack looked devastated as he came back to stand with us. “I hate having to yell at them, man, but I get so embarrassed when they act like this. I constantly feel trapped between a rock and a hard place. I just wish Natalie was still here. She was such a good mom. They were angels with her. Not like this…” He ran a hand along the back of his neck.
Alex put a hand on his shoulder. “I wish she was still here too, buddy. But not just for them. I hate to see you like this.” He gave his friend a pat, then corralled the children into a corner. “Who wants to give Uncle Alex a pony ride? Garrett? I’ll just climb onto your back and…” The kids screeched and squealed as Alex chased them around the store.
“Too bad he doesn’t offer a babysitting service.”
“Believe me. You do not want that.” I shook my head emphatically. “You’d come home to your house in shambles and your kids exhausted.”
“That just sounds like a normal day in the Cooper house.”
Izzy bagged up their orders and let out a long sigh as the door closed behind the crew. “I feel so bad for him. He’s been struggling ever since Natalie passed. I wish I could help but I’m sure I couldn’t handle those kids.” She popped a double order of genius nuggets into two bags. “You guys heading home?”
“You know it.” Alex grinned. “Writing calls. If my next book doesn’t outsell hers, I’ll never live it down.”
Izzy rolled her eyes. “You guys figure out which house to live in, yet?”
It turned out that the motivated buyer who bought Sugar Maple Hill the second it hit the market was none other than Alexander Prescott. He told me he couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else living there.
“Right now we’re keeping them both.” Alex laughed. “We can’t be near each other while we’re writing and not interrupt to ask questions the second they come into our head.”
I laughed. “So we alternate. Some days I get the office while he sets up shop in the kitchen in my house, and other days I get the kitchen and Alex whines at the door with Morgan.”
We worked all day, then spent our nights discussing our characters, our plots, our stories. When we burned out on work, we picked a book and read it side by side, then broke it apart in our own mini-book club discussion. Which, come to think of it, probably still counted as work. It just felt like play.
And then, when all was said and done, we curled into bed and reveled in the magic our bodies made when they came together. Night after night.
After night.
Epilogue
Alex
The day would forever live in my heart as the day my life officially started. Wow, man. You sound like a greeting card.
Light filtered through the window, illuminating the kitchen the way she lit up my life. Better, but still a little cringey.
Evie McAllister was the woman I wanted to spend my life with, and it was time to ask her to marry me. Direct. To the point. No flowery language or purple prose. Go with that.
The table was set. Burgers from Mike’s. More fries than anyone could eat in one setting. Champagne. Candles. Bouquets of flowers covered the table, the counters, the chairs we wouldn’t be sitting in. Every single letter I wrote to her after she moved back to Amelia’s sat in a haphazard stack. I’d never sent them, but she deserved to read them. Morgan had a bow tie attached to his collar and Larry had a matching one in tatters on the floor. Apparently, cats didn’t like wearing accessories. Who knew?
Evie’s footsteps sounded on the stairs and I took my place at the table.
“Alexander Prescott!” she bellowed as she rounded the corner into the kitchen. “I smell Mike’s!” She pulled up short as she took in the ambiance. A curious grin twisted her lips. “Wow. Champagne and burgers? You really know how to spoil a woman.”
Morgan wriggled his way across the kitchen, his entire body moving with the ferocity of his wagging tail. “Look at you, all dressed up,” she said as she crouched to scratch behind his ears. “Did I miss an important deadline? Is it the anniversary of the first time someone mentioned Sugar Maple Hill was haunted?”
“It’s an important day and I can’t believe you don’t know why.” I shoved my hands into my pockets and slipped the diamond ring onto my pinky finger. I’d done everything in my power to make sure she didn’t know why we were celebrating tonight, though I couldn’t let her off easy or she’d know something was up.
A frown creased Evie’s features and she cocked her head. “I feel like an asshole. What did I forget?”
I pulled her chair out for her. “Why don’t you take a seat and see if it comes to you while I pour the champagne?”
With as much stealth as I could muster, I slipped the ring into the bottom of her glass, then poured the champagne over it. A ruckus sounded from the corner of the dining room and I turned to find Larry dangling from Morgan’s bowtie. The cat was hissing and the dog was terrified and I ran straight into the fray to break them up. When I returned to the table, Evie placed her empty champagne flute back
