Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
When the song ended, the tavern erupted into applause and cheers and Red hopped down.
“He loves this,” Liam said, beaming. “He’d never admit how much he loves the attention, but he lets himself loose here.”
“That’s it,” Nathan said, setting his glass down on the bar. “We’ve got to start a tradition like this at the bar in Jade River. Do you think they’d let me get up on the bar top?”
“Honestly? I think they would,” Shawn said. “We’ve got a pretty good place over there, too.”
“Hah,” Sam said, walking back over, wearing his tank top again. “So you guys liked it, huh?”
“Enough to start the tradition back in Colorado, yes,” I said. “Jade River’s got a lot to live up to, though, guys.”
“I can see that,” Shawn said. “But I promise you’re going to love it.”
I reached over and squeezed Jack’s hand. “I know we are.”
My heart skipped a beat. As Sam started chatting with the rest of my family—seemingly getting my brothers in on our text group chat, too—I turned to Jack and pressed a small kiss to his lips.
“You want to know something?” I said. “Just being able to say we are going to love it, instead of I’m going to love it, is enough to send a rush through me, these days. I’m so fucking happy you’re coming with me.”
A lopsided grin came over his face. “When you said that it got me excited, too,” he said. “God, we’re sappy.”
“We’re in love,” I corrected him. “And, yeah, sure, we’re totally sappy about it. I’ll admit that.”
He pulled in a long breath. “Dad would have loved it here tonight, you know,” he said.
“Oh, fuck yes, he would have,” I said. “Your dad would have had a hoot here. He’d have been up there on the bar dancing with Red.”
“I don’t know about that,” Jack said. “But he would have had a blast.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, reaching out to hold Jack’s hand. “I miss him too, you know,” I said. “All of the time.”
“He’s an easy guy to miss,” Jack said with a nod, looking down at the floor for a moment. “But he’s never really gone. He’s in my heart forever, and all that stuff that’s also sappy, but I don’t give a shit, because it’s true.”
“One-Hundo Policy,” I said, “I know that your dad would be proud of you for what you’re doing, Blue.”
I could see him swallow, and he nodded slightly after a moment had passed.
“Now, get out there on that dance floor with me,” I said.
“Oh, man,” he protested. “I thought it was enough that I danced with you just now.”
“Nope,” I said. “No way, no how. I want the real deal, out there.”
“Well, I’ve never been able to resist giving you what you want,” he told me, taking my hand and leading me out to the dance floor.
EPILOGUE
JACK, FOUR MONTHS LATER
I had only been in Jade River, Colorado for a few hours before I started to get the full run-down of the small town gossip, intrigue, new developments, and hidden gem coffee shops and restaurants.
“Oh! And you have to go to Hazel’s,” Nathan said as he grabbed another box from the back of my truck, helping me offload into Tristan’s house.
Or, really, not Tristan’s house.
Our house. That we were going to share. Because I was a lucky motherfucker.
“Don’t tell him to go to Hazel’s,” Shawn said, following after with another box. “Dina’s is way better.”
“Dina’s Diner is technically better food, but it’s also double the price,” Nathan said. “That’s why I go to Hazel’s. Simple food and dirt cheap.”
“They’re both delicious diners,” Tristan whispered to me as we stepped inside, setting the boxes down. “Shawn and Nathan have been fighting about this for as long as I can remember.”
I looked around the living room, which was cozy but well-lit, with nice columns flanking the nearby dining room that led into the kitchen. Part of me still felt like I was in a surreal no-man’s-land, because the last few months had been a blur.
It had been four whole months since the going away party at Red’s Tavern. If you asked me, I could have told you it was last week, or just as likely a year ago. Time had started to feel different ever since I’d broken free of the shell I’d been in for the last couple of years, and certainly since I decided to move to Colorado. Tristan had moved over here a few months back, but we’d taken the road trip to see each other a few times while I’d still been over in Kansas. Sometimes it seemed like it was going to last forever, our little brief period of being long-distance boyfriends.
But every time we’d gotten together, it had been electric. Even being away from Tris for a few weeks would get me so pent up I was drawn to him like a magnet.