“You just had this great epiphany?”
“No. Nothing great. I went to Lover’s Landing all alone for a week. Thought about you, moped about myself missing you, wondered if maybe I wasn’t doing the stupid routine to relive you now instead of Harper… and then Harold sat down and set me straight and —”
“Harold? Lover’s Landing and Betty’s Harold? He hates me!”
“He likes you the lawyer-lady, but you work for the spawn of Satan trying to ruin all that’s left of American small-town life, or something along those lines. But yeah, he just pointed out what I think I already knew.”
“Really? Harold?”
“Really. Harold.”
“Showed you that you missed me?”
“Yeah. I figured the rest out on my own. I waited. I didn’t go to the coffee shop. I visited Harper’s grave, several times now, in fact. I went to our house. I walked through it. Honestly? It felt like a kick to the balls the first time. The second and third, too, but by the fifth, it was doable. I’ve seen her parents weekly also. It’s hard. We all cried the first time. It was terrible… and yet cathartic in some kind of grim, weird way. It’s all grim and weird, though. Believe me, it’s not all solved or easy, but I think the point is I did all that, felt all that, and all I could think was how I wished you were either with me or just a phone call away so I could tell you about it.”
I turn and finally sit down on the blue chair beside me. I lean forward, breathing hard. He kneels beside me, a hand on my back. “Alicia? Are you okay? What is it?” His tone is alarmed.
“I’m dizzy.” Overwhelmed. Overheating. Overanxious.
Overjoyed.
I whisper finally, “You aren’t… sounding like you.” I tilt my face up to meet his gaze.
He touches my face. “No, I’m not. Because of you.”
“And Harper?”
“I think so.”
“You visited her grave? And your house? And her parents? And not Lover’s Landing?”
“Yes, to all.”
“And you want to call me about it? Or have me involved? Or…”
“I want to live as if we have the rest of our lives together.”
“You can do that? Even after what happened to Harper?”
“Not easily, but I’d like to learn. With you. I want to start dating you, because I think we could be starting to fall in love. I want to visit each other and long and pine for each other and then someday… take the next step. Then the next after that…”
I grip his hand in mine. “I could do all that. I could show you my city. And I could call you. I could visit Love—a lot. Remember I travel a lot anyway. I could travel to there… and, Holden?”
He’s staring at me while smiling with love and care in his eyes. “Yeah, Seattle?” His tone is husky with emotion.
“I can work from wherever I want to. Someday… far, far down the road… years even.” Or next year, but I clamp my mouth down on my tongue to stop my words before continuing, “I don’t have to be in Seattle. I’m able to work anywhere I have internet connection and an airport. So I could still do my lawyering and you could still do your ranching.”
“You mean… someday… you’ll stay in Love? With me?” His grin digs deep into his cheeks. He’s mocking me. The gleam in his eye is bright and he wants to burst out laughing. But he doesn’t, he simply leans forward and kisses my lips. Because he knows how much this means to me.
I lean back, staring into his eyes, just inches apart. “I could. Stay in Love with you. Someday…”
He cups my face in his hands. “Still the worst pun ever, but effective. And I never dreamed you’d consider that. But for now, how about you show me that needle building with the spinning top?”
I wipe at my sappy tears. “I could show you the needle thing with the spinning top. Though perhaps, Georgia, in public you simply refer to it as the Space Needle. But please don’t you dare bring out your umbrella! Everyone will know you’re not a local.”
He frowns, glancing out the windows. “No umbrella? But it’s pouring.”
“Always. But no umbrella. Trust me. And there’s also my family to meet. And I do have friends. Oh! And Starbucks, you’ll love their coffee It’s a commercialized Lover’s Landing—” But his grinning mouth descends on mine and stops my growing excitement.
I blink when he releases me. “There’s time, Alicia. There’s time for us. And everything you want to do. But I have had Starbucks coffee. I might live in the country, but not on the moon.”
I laugh realizing this. I’m giddy and excited and all of it is rushing through me. I take in a deep breath and he adds, “But what’s more, Seattle? I can’t wait for the rest of it, even if I can’t use an umbrella…”
I nod. I get how precious time is to him. It’s a lesson few people learn as young as Holden did, and through him, I feel like I’m beginning to learn, too. I just never had anyone I cared to actually spend the time doing any of these things with. So I’m excited to share my life… and his. Even his Harper. His grief. His Love. Surprisingly, I want all this with a rancher from the other side of the country. He opens his arms, and I fall from my chair into his embrace, our mouths finding each other in a kiss that is soft and long and loving, and most of all, together. Here.
And I have to believe we will be in Love, too.
I inwardly cringe yet also laugh on the inside. I’ll never stop with the puns. Come on, they’re just built in. Maybe I just won’t say them all out loud.
I don’t want to drive him off just yet… so instead I wrap my arms around him and we continue to kiss on my living room floor as the Seattle rain beats on my windows. Maybe we’ll start that to-do list tomorrow.
After I’ve shown him my bedroom…
Other Books by Leanne Davis
The Sister Series is about the emotional scars and battles that are often hidden in people.
Rape. Drugs. Abuse. Violence. Pain. Betrayal.
And how they can be overcome.
Love. Joy. Family. Forgiveness. Faith. Hope. Redemption
The Sister Series:
The Other Sister
The Years Between
The Good Sister
The Best Friend
The Wrong Sister
The Years After
The Broken Sister
The Perfect Sister
The Lost Sister
The Remaining Sister
The Step Sister
FREE Extended Epilogue of Jessie & Will
Daughters is a spin-off of The Sister Series about Jessie’s (The Other Sister) daughters.
Christina
Melissa
Emily
Wesley
Wyatt
Devon
Damion
Share in the fall, rise and eventual fulfillment of the rock band Zenith’s destiny…
Zenith Falling
Zenith Rising
Zenith Fulfilled
The Rydell River Ranch is a large horse training, boarding and breeding operation, owned and operated by four brothers who are left in charge of their century old legacy in the small, rural town of River’s End.
River’s End
River's Escape
River's Return
River Road
River on Fire
River's Lost
River of Change
River's Destiny
River's Rescue
River's Winter
Poison
Notorious
Secrets
Seclusion
Standalone Novel:
Diversions
About the Author
Leanne Davis has earned a business degree from Western Washington University. She worked for several years in the construction management field before turning full time to writing. She lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two children. When she isn't writing, she and her family enjoy camping trips to destinations all across Washington State, many of which becom
e the settings for her novels.
Leanne loves to hear from readers! Contact her at: leanne@leannedavis.net.
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To: Grandma Jo
You are the light of our family.
I will love & adore you always.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
At the Next Table
COPYRIGHT © 2019 by Leanne Davis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: dvsleanne@aol.com
Publishing History First Edition, 2019 Digital
Digital ISBN: 978-1-941522-61-5
A Lover’s Landing Novella: Cover Designer: Amanda Walker
Editing: Sarah West: Three Owls Editing