In Name Only (Pine Falls #2) - Jennifer Peel Page 0,90

of me. Maybe she had been right. I’d always looked forward to the two hours alone I got to spend with Brock when we played Ariana’s ridiculous game of car hide-and-go-seek that we all secretly loved, even if we teased her about it.

This year was different. Brock was still in rehab. Brant was with the Copelands, God bless his soul. And Sheridan had gone home to John two days ago. Apparently John had promised to do the right thing, whatever that meant. That left me feeling in the dark and vulnerable, like all my life secrets could be exposed at any moment.

I glanced at Kinsley. She was humming to herself, bursting with hope. At least she was happy and moving on from Brant. So many times, I’d thought I should tell her what had happened between Brant and me, but Brock thought it would be unnecessarily cruel. Why hurt her when I didn’t have to? To assuage my conscience? I would rather live with the guilt than injure her tender heart. Though what if word got out? Brock assured me it wouldn’t. I wasn’t so sure.

For now, I smiled at my sister as she was lost in her joyful thoughts.

Grandma crept up on me and put her arms around me. “How are you feeling, honey?”

I set the knife down and took comfort in her embrace while placing my arms around hers. “I feel good.” My body had healed. I was still working on my soul. I inadvertently touched the pearl necklace John had given me, hidden under my mock turtleneck sweater. I was still no fan of John, but the reminder of Charlotte was precious to me.

“Why so down, then? Are we missing our husband?” I heard the “I told you so” in her voice. She had been against us separating, though that didn’t technically happen. She had tried to hide her glee when I moved back to Brock’s place. She had no idea why I had. She had no idea why I had stayed. Not even I was sure anymore. With every call and email Brock and I had shared the past several weeks, I was reminded how much I loved him and missed him. Staying at his place had become about more than buying time. It had become about preserving time.

“Yes, I miss him,” I admitted out loud.

“You get to talk to him tonight, right?” Kinsley asked.

“Yeah.”

Grandma gave me a squeeze. “Well, cheer up. He’ll be home before you know it. And today we eat pie.”

I turned out of Grandma’s arms and grinned at all the pies Kinsley and Grandma had already placed on the island. Everything from pumpkin to cranberry-apple. Ariana would be bringing even more when she and her crew arrived soon. Pie was good. And in two weeks, I would see Brock again. All things to be thankful for.

Grandma patted my cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” I went back to my assigned task. I was good at chopping things.

Tristan popped into the kitchen. “Hello, darling,” he crooned at Kinsley in his enchanting English accent. He approached her and kissed her cheek. She turned and kissed his lips before swiping some of the pumpkin-infused whipped cream onto her finger. He happily licked it off. Between those two and Jonah and Ariana, it was going to be a long day of watching lovebirds flit around me. Even Sabine and Dean, Ariana’s parents, were nauseatingly still in love after many, many years of marriage. I started to think I would sit at the kids’ table with Whitney and Sebastian and Max, Ariana’s brothers. They weren’t actually kids—they were both in college—but they were hilarious and single. And Whitney was always up for making me laugh. Besides, I needed some good dinosaur stories. Perhaps she had figured out how they mated.

The morning breezed by and, hour by hour, the house smelled more and more wonderful. Sage and thyme, mixed in with roasted turkey, wafted through the crowded house filled with laughter and smiling faces. It was amazing that, in only one year, we had more than doubled our family size, thanks to Ariana. They were all good additions. I thought about my addition to the family. It was weird to think of Brock that way, but I was technically married. Albeit, not in the traditional sense. Though no one here knew that. And Brock was hoping to make it more than in name only.

Many of our communications lately had centered on us taking the next steps—moving into