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MARE - FOURTEEN YEARS LATER

What is it about airplanes that make people forget about all semblance of personal space?

We’ve only just landed on the tarmac when every person next to me stands up, despite the fact we’re at the back of the plane. We won’t deplane for another ten minutes at the very least, yet I’ve got all three passengers from the row behind me leaning over my seat and breathing on me as if huffing and puffing down some stranger’s neck will help everyone else move faster.

I’d had to book the flight in the middle of the night after my best friend, Pippa, called me sobbing. There weren’t many choices of seats for a flight at seven the very next morning. I’d had the wonderful luxury of sitting in a middle seat between two strangers; neither adhered to the armrest rules—AKA the person in the middle gets at least one armrest. It's just human decency in my own little humble opinion.

The phone vibrating in my lap snaps me from my thoughts. I look down at it, holding it close to me so the hoverer in the window seat next to me doesn’t read my texts.

PIPPA

I checked the app and saw you just landed. I can’t wait to see you!

MARE

I’ll text you as soon as I’m through baggage claim. You know how it is here. I’ll probably be awhile.

PIPPA

Sounds good. Love you, Mare. Thank you for coming.

MARE

I wouldn’t be anywhere else.

My chest constricts as I recall the reason I’m here. Pippa’s mom, Linda, suddenly passed away two days ago, taking everybody by surprise. She’d been in perfect health—or so we’d thought. Turns out, her heart wasn’t in good condition. The night before last she went to bed and just never woke up.

Pippa had been in shambles when she’d called me with the news. I was in the midst of a writing retreat when I received the call. I’d been desperately trying to finish the book that was due to my publisher but I dropped everything to be here. I hadn’t been lying to Pippa when I’d said I couldn’t imagine myself being anywhere else. Even though I left the small town of Sutten Mountain for college, it’d always be my home. Linda was a mother to me. She picked up where my own mother left off when she passed away, and she filled the void in my heart effortlessly.

Linda Jennings was a ray of sunshine in my often dark life. Dad was never the same after Mom passed. He did what he could, but he was mourning the love of his life. He didn’t have it in him to realize how much I was grieving not having a mom. That’s where Linda stepped in. For years, she was my rock—my mother figure. She never let me forget my own mother, though. Linda made sure she passed the memories she shared with my mom down to me. She always said she admired how I was as sweet as honey with a little bit of tang and sass.

As the man with the window seat next to me attempts to squeeze between my knees and the back of the seat in front of me, that sass comes out. I push my knees farther in front of me, preventing the man from inching his way even more into my personal space.

The guy glares down at me. “Excuse me.” He coughs, making me grimace because that may have just been his spit that landed on my cheek.

I plaster on a fake smile. “Sorry sir, I just don’t think it’s our turn yet.” My eyes flick to the rows of people in front of us that are still waiting to grab their bags from the overhead compartments.

The man on the other side of me snickers. Even though he’s an armrest thief and stood up entirely too early, he seems to be on my side in this case. “Are you trying to catch a connecting flight?” he pipes up, looking over my head at the window guy.

Window guy furrows his eyebrows. “Yes. I’ve got a flight in two hours to catch.”

I try my best to fight the smile on my lips. This guy has more than enough time to cross the small airport before his next flight begins boarding.

Aisle guy clears his throat. “I think you’ll make it.”

I don’t continue a conversation with either of the men. As soon as it’s actually our turn to leave our seats, I grab my bag from the overhead bin and anxiously deplane.

The pit in my stomach gets bigger as I wait at baggage claim and prepare for what’s to come. Linda was the glue that held the Jennings family together. Her husband, Jasper, is probably beside himself. They had been together since middle school. She loved to tell the story of how he stole her pencil and she instantly fell in love with him.

And then there’s Linda’s pride and joy—her kids. I’m all too familiar with the pain that comes from losing a mother. Cade and Pippa have to be absolutely devastated. The pit in my stomach sours with a feeling of regret. I should’ve come back home more after I left for college. Linda had asked me to come home around every holiday and every birthday. She was always encouraging me to come back to the Jennings Family’s Ranch and see them. I always found some excuse to avoid going back to the place that held so many happy—and so many terrible—memories.

The truth is, I never really intended to return home. Not really. At least not until my broken heart had mended. I’d loved Cade for so long, and when I finally came to the catastrophic realization that he’d never loved me in the way I wanted him to, I was gutted.

The sight of my dented black suitcase looping around the luggage carousel brings me back to the present. A few unladylike grunting noises leave my body as I try to heave the suitcase off the lip of the conveyor belt. With a few more tugs, the suitcase falls to the ground with a loud thump. Taking a deep breath, I push the blonde curls out of my face and grab the handles of both my bags.

Pippa had only asked me to stay until after the funeral, but I knew my best friend would need me longer than that. It’s the reason I told Rudy, my agent, that I’ll be finishing up the book in Sutten. It isn’t ideal, and he didn’t seem thrilled about the sudden change of plans, but there isn’t much I can do. We both know how behind I am on this book. I had so many people supporting me when I wrote my debut novel—the first book in this duet—and I don’t want to let the people who took a chance on me down with the conclusion to this couple’s love story.

Before leaving baggage claim, I text Pippa that I’m heading out and slide my phone back in my pocket so I can have use of both my hands. My phone vibrates in my back pocket as I wheel my suitcases toward the exit. I’m guessing it’s Pippa texting me back, but I don’t have a free hand to check it. If she’s texting me that she’s here, I’ll find out soon enough when I see her truck outside.

The sun coming up over the mountains is blinding, and I have to squint to search for Pippa. I frown, not seeing her anywhere. I’m seconds away from pulling my phone out when I hear a familiar voice.

“Goldie.” My stomach plummets from the way the nickname sounds coming out of his mouth. The two syllables coming from his lips still make my stomach twist, even years later. It used to be in anticipation. Only now it’s in distress. Maybe it has something to do with the menacing way he pronounces the name he’s called me for as long as I can remember.

I stare at my feet, afraid to look him in the eye. I knew I’d have to come face to face with Cade again. It’s just that…I thought I’d have time to prepare myself. I thought I had the two hours it took from the airport to the ranch to get my shit together and to goad Pippa for information on how Cade is doing—on what I could expect from him.

A pair of cowboy boots come into view. I don’t have to look up to know who they belong to. Just like Cade always felt me when I’d shown up at his bedroom door late at night, I can feel him. In any room, any place, I can feel him. Just like right now.

Taking a deep breath, I look up and into the eyes of the boy who broke my heart. Except, it’s no longer a boy that looks back at me. It’s a man, and he looks better than I could’ve ever imagined.