Two to Tangle (A Tangle Valley Romance #2) - Melissa Brayden Page 0,16

insinuation that Becca and Sky had all but moved into her recently inherited home, handed down by her grandparents. Gabriella let her mouth fall open. “Maddie’s right. You two are officially shacking up.”

“I wouldn’t say officially,” Becca said.

“When was the last time you stayed at your place?” Madison asked.

Loretta waved them off. “You leave these two gals alone. They’re in love and it shows, and if they want to pretend they’re not shacking up when they are definitely shacking up, well, then we won’t stop them.”

“I can get behind that,” Madison said. She worked well with logic.

Joey wasn’t fazed. She tucked a blond strand of hair behind her ear and grinned proudly. “You don’t have to. We’re totally shacking up. Unofficially.”

Becca laughed. “Guess the cat’s out of the unofficial bag.”

“More like two cats in the sack,” Gabriella shot back. “Too much?”

Joey laughed. “It’s perfect.” She looked at Becca with such affection in her eyes that it made Gabriella’s heart thud. “We’re happy. Why not admit that to the world?”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Becca leaned in for a kiss that pulled a collective awww from the others.

Gabriella remembered those days, happy with someone new, excited for what was to come. The problem? It always seemed to fizzle or, worse, flare with unnecessary drama. Her first girlfriend had been insanely jealous and threw fits of rage when Gabriella so much as spoke with other women, a requirement of her job. Her second needed constant attention. Then there had been her and Madison, two people who were too different to appreciate each other’s perspective when it came to matters of the heart. Madison was all logic and reason, and Gabriella led with her passion. It was a no-go. Any other minor love interests along the way had only made life harder. For Gabriella, life on her own was good. No, great, and this time, focusing on just herself was the goal. No complications. No weird or disappointing dates. No conflict or broken hearts. Gabriella found the pursuit of love and all things romantic exhausting. That didn’t seem to be the case for Joey and Becca. But then, they were different. Maybe their search was over, and they were the real deal. In fact, she felt more and more confident of that by the day.

“To shacking up and sinfully good sangria,” Gabriella said sincerely.

“You forgot crispy pepperoni,” Loretta said, raising a happy slice.

“And I’ll never forgive myself for it. To all the things!”

They cheered each other and enjoyed a lively dinner as the sun began to set over the grapes of Tangle Valley on a brisk day in spring. Gabriella’s heart swelled. This feeling right here? Content. At ease. Relaxed. This was exactly what she’d come to Tangle Valley in search of. She could breathe easy, and for that, she was grateful.

Chapter Five

Patsy’s Boot and Scoot sat like a beacon of neon on a stretch of land set apart from the rest of civilization. Country music escaped from its walls anytime a patron opened the door. To find it, one had to travel down a lonely dark road until the Scoot’s bright lights lit up your path—a neon image of Patsy, looking voluptuous and welcoming from back in her heyday. Ryan parked her truck in the dirt lot and hopped down, taking note of the impressive number of vehicles already there. Gonna be a rowdy one at the Scoot. The new Kacey Musgraves song drifted her way. Ryan caught the door and made her way inside, taking in the familiar combo smell of French fries and beer. The bar, behind which hung a million different brightly lit signs, was well stocked and always full of people sipping and sitting.

“Well, look who made it,” Billy said, when she took a spot next to him at the bar. He had a drink in front of him and his ball cap turned customarily backward.

“I couldn’t let your one night out go to waste,” she said and smacked his shoulder. “What are you drinking?”

He grinned. “Hard apple cider.”

“You are not.”

“Yes, I am. It’s delicious, too. Like a hug from an apple.”

She stared at him. “Don’t say that sentence to anyone else, okay? I mean that.”

“Two scraggly people out and about,” Lonzo said, arriving next to them and wearing his actual boots. There wasn’t a country bone in his body until he showed up at the Scoot. Then you’d think he was raised in Nashville. He gave each of their heads a squeeze-shake combo as he sailed past on