The Summer Sisters (Juniper Springs Book 2) Read online

  “Sure.” Except…would spending time with him give him the wrong idea? “Um, Nolan…there’s something I should—”

  “Rose!” Dally came sprinting back down the path. “Look who’s here!” Her calm, mature older sister jumped up and down and squealed and pointed at a car that was slowly making its way down the drive.

  She squinted. Was that…“Mags! Oh my God!” Rose took off up the hill, somehow managing to stay on her feet even wearing her wedge sandals.

  She and Dahlia both made it to the car at the same time. Eric hadn’t even cut the engine, and they were already crowded around the window and peering into the backseat at their brand-new nephew.

  “I get to hold him first!” Rose tried the door handle. Locked, damn it.

  “No, I get to hold him first. I’m the oldest.” Dally playfully nudged her out of the way.

  Mags got out of the car laughing. “Come on now, you two. We’re going to be here for a week, so there’ll be plenty of time to get your baby fix.”

  Eric climbed out of the driver’s seat and carefully removed the baby carrier from the back while Rose and Dally hugged Mags and squealed some more.

  “You two are going to scare him,” their brother-in-law teased. He pulled back the covering so they could get their first in-person glimpse at little Luca’s face.

  “He looks so much like both of you,” Rose marveled. She’d seen the baby on video calls, of course, but those few minutes hadn’t been enough. “Look at those darling eyelashes.”

  “And all that dark hair,” Dahlia gushed beside her.

  Somehow Luca was still asleep, even with all the noise.

  “I didn’t think you would come.” Rose couldn’t even tear her gaze away from Luca to look up at her sister.

  “We weren’t going to,” Mags said. “But then we decided we couldn’t miss it. We had to be here to celebrate Sassy.”

  “I’m so glad.” Rose went to work on all the buckles to free her nephew so she could hold him. “It wouldn’t have been the same without you.” Ha! Finally, she lifted Luca into her arms while Dally pouted.

  “He is the most precious thing in the entire world.” Rose held the tiny bundle against her chest and inhaled his sweetness.

  “We sure think so.” Eric eased an arm around Mags, pulling his wife to his side with an expression of pride and love so obvious it brought tears to Rose’s eyes.

  “Okay. My turn.” Dally butted in and stole the baby from her arms. “I don’t think Maya and Ollie were ever this small.”

  “What do you think about hanging the banner here?” Nolan called from a pair of trees by the pond.

  Oops. She’d forgotten all about Nolan. “That looks great! Thanks.”

  Mags gave her a quizzical look. “And who might that be?” she whispered.

  “Nolan.” Thankfully he seemed too busy working to notice they were all staring at him. “He’s staying here with the Cleary family and wanted to help us decorate.”

  Mags looked to Dally as though unsatisfied with Rose’s answer.

  “He seems to have a little crush on Rose.” Dahlia had always been the informant. “But Rose is quite enamored with someone else at the moment.”

  “Who?” their sister demanded. “Darn it! I knew I was missing all the good stuff not being here.”

  Rose tried to glare at both of them to signal to keep it down but ended up smiling instead. Mags was here! “We have a lot to catch up on.” She turned to Eric. “We’re going to borrow your wife and son for a while. You can bring all your things to the second-floor bedroom in the main house.”

  “Will do.” He planted a kiss first on his wife’s lips, then on his son’s forehead. “After I unload our year’s worth of gear from the car, I can help Nolan finish up down there.”

  “Thank you,” Rose called sweetly, already dragging her sisters away. On the way to her little camper home, Mags must’ve asked fifty questions, but she didn’t answer any of them until they were seated at her small dinette.

  “You’ve been hogging the baby,” Rose informed Dally. “It’s my turn.”

  “I’m going to have to set a timer for you girls.” Mags’s threat was a throwback to one of Lillian’s favorites from their childhood.

  “Fine.” Dally kissed Luca’s head and passed him across the table.

  Rose snuggled him in her arms again. Oh, that baby smell. There was nothing better.

  “So tell me…what’s wrong with Nolan?” Mags resumed her interrogation.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Rose said in a baby voice. “Isn’t that right, Luca? Do you recognize my voice from the video calls? I bet you do. Your Auntie Rose loves you soooo much.”

  The baby fluttered his eyes open but then closed them again.

  “Rose has a thing for Colt,” Dally announced in her authoritative way.

  “Colt?” Mags’s loud voice startled the baby. “As in Mr. Grumpy?”

  “It’s not my fault.” Rose bounced Luca lightly until he drifted back to sleep. “You don’t get to choose who you lo—” She stopped abruptly. That sneaky L word almost slipped out again.

  “Love?” Mags pressed her hands into the table and leaned halfway across. “You’re in love with Colt?”

  “I don’t know.” But her heart had never hurt as much as it did when she thought about Colt leaving. She’d never felt more despair than when he’d left her standing outside the store. “It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s moving away from Juniper Springs. He sold the hardware store. And he told me he wanted to leave everything behind. That includes me.” She snuggled the baby in closer. This. This little bundle of swaddled joy is what she wanted. Part her and part the person she loved most.

  A hollowness seemed to surround her heart.

  “I’m sorry, sis.” Mags squeezed her arm. “I didn’t know he was moving. Or that you cared about him so much. You haven’t said anything.”

  “We’ve had a few other things going on.” She readjusted Luca in her arms so she could get a better look at his face. She could stare at that miniature button nose all day.

  “Yes, we’ve had a few other things going on,” Dally added with a chuckle.

  “How are things going with Lillian?” The skepticism in Mags’s tone said she already knew.

  “We told Sassy that Mom was in town and she desperately wants to see her.” Dahlia held out her arms as though reminding Rose it was her turn to hold the baby.

  “That was only five minutes,” Rose whined.

  Mags shook her head at them. “It’s my turn anyway. He’ll want to eat soon enough, and neither of you can help him with that.”

  “Okay.” Rose sulked while she got up to pour them each a glass of the lavender honey sweet tea she kept stocked in the fridge.

  “So you’re still planning to bring Lillian to the party?” Mags unwrapped her son from the nest of blankets and kissed his chubby cheeks.

  “It’s now or never.” She set the glasses of tea in front of her sisters and sat back down.

  “I still can’t believe Dad had an affair.” Luca had started to fuss, so Mags unbuttoned her shirt and nestled him in, silencing his cries within seconds. “I mean, I know he worked a lot, but he was a good dad. He seemed like a good husband…”

  “I don’t think I’ve processed that information yet.” Rose would likely need a few more months. After their mother told them about the affair, she and Dally had video called Mags, and they’d had a long talk. But Rose still couldn’t see her father as someone who would betray his wife.

  “Enough about the hard stuff.” Dally seemed to dismiss the conversation with a wave of her hand. “How are you and Eric and Luca settling in?”

  Mags’s happy sigh spoke for her. “This whole last eight months has been wonderful and weird and miraculous and exhausting.” She smoothed her hand over Luca’s tuft of dark hair. “Eric and I have never been closer. Even with all the hormones and the mood swings and the sleepless nights. We have loved each other through it all.”

 
A pang of longing seemed to resound in Rose’s heart. Yes, yes, yes. She wanted to love someone through everything too. Good. Bad. Pain. Joy. That is what she wanted to build, no matter what it took. And there was only one man she wanted to build it with.

  Mags talked more about the baby, telling them again about her seventeen hours of labor and what it was like to bring Luca home after all the many losses she and Eric had experienced over the years.

  “Restoration.” That was the word that kept coming to Rose’s mind lately. She’d restored the inn. Mags and Eric had restored their hopes by bringing a baby home. Dally had restored her life after her ex-husband’s betrayal. Sassy had found a restored purpose in her new role as the mayor.

  “Yes.” Mags nodded slowly, shifting Luca and buttoning her shirt back up. “It does feel like restoration. Things were really tough after the miscarriages, but they didn’t stay that way, and now we appreciate every cry and cuddle and sigh from Luca even more.”

  “I hope we can help Mom and Sassy restore what they had once.” Rose took her sisters’ hands. “Because I could not live without you two.”

  “Same,” Dally and Mags said in unison.

  They talked a few more minutes about the impending reunion between their aunt and mother, but when Rose glanced at her phone, she jumped up. “We still have so much to do, and Sassy will be here in less than an hour.”

  “No problem.” Dally stood up.

  “We’ve got this.” Mags shuffled out of her seat with the baby, and Rose followed them toward the door. Before she could step out, Mags paused and held her back.

  “If you do love Colt, you have to tell him, Rose. Love doesn’t come easily or often.” Her tone held the gravity of experience. Last winter, she and Eric had been on the verge of a divorce, but they’d found their way back to each other. “Sometimes you have to fight for love. Trust me. It’s worth being vulnerable. It’s worth risking potential heartbreak. If your feelings for him run that deep, he has a right to know. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way. Even if he still chooses to go. He should know.”

  “He should.” But she may have lost her chance to tell him.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dahlia

  I never thought I would call a grown man adorable, but look at Eric.”

  Dahlia paused from folding the glittery paper napkins Rose had chosen for the party and snapped a picture of her brother-in-law, who was setting up chairs with Luca wrapped in one of those swaddle things around his broad chest. Every once in a while, Eric would bow his head as though talking to his son.

  “It melts my heart.” Mags leaned in. “Along with other parts of my body.” Her sister’s eyebrows shot up. “There is nothing sexier than seeing Eric change a diaper. Oh! And sometimes he’ll fall asleep with Luca on the couch, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen, this big strong man holding a tiny baby.” She scrolled through about fifty pictures, showing Dahlia every single one.

  What would it be like to have a baby again? Her uterus cramped with longing just thinking about it. Nothing about childbirth or what came after was easy, but Maya and Ollie were the best things she’d ever spent her time and energy on. They consumed her heart. “I do love a man who’s good with kids,” she admitted, and then instantly regretted the words when she saw the sparkle in her sister’s eyes.

  “Speaking of a man who’s good with kids, how’s Ike? You’ve hardly talked about him on the phone at all lately.”

  After escaping the camper conversation unscathed, Dahlia thought she would be able to avoid this conversation. Unfortunately, her sister continued to stare at her, waiting for an answer.

  “He’s fine. I’m pretty sure he’s dating someone else.” She did her best to say the words with an air of indifference, but her voice cracked on the last syllable.

  “No.” Her sister put away her phone and gave Dahlia her full attention. “No way is he dating someone else. I saw how he looked at you last Christmas.”

  Last Christmas felt like a hundred years ago. She decided to give Mags the short version. “I told him I couldn’t be in a relationship right now. Maya is struggling too much with the thought of me dating again, and Ike hired this gorgeous new doctor as his partner anyway.” That about summed up their current predicament.

  “That doesn’t mean he’s attracted to her.” Her sister went back to folding the napkins, her grin undeterred.

  “I don’t know who wouldn’t be attracted to Dr. Jolly.” Try as she might, Dahlia hadn’t been able to find one flaw in the woman. “I’ve met her a few times. She’s wonderful with the kids and seems like a kind person. And did I mention she’s gorgeous?”

  “So are you, you know.” Mags hit her with a napkin. “I don’t understand what’s happening around here. I leave for eight months, and you kick Ike out of your life, and Rose falls in love with Colt.” Her sister threw up her hands. “It’s like you two are lost without me.”

  It was true…out of the three of them, Mags was the only one who currently had her life together. “You could always move here.”

  “No, I can’t.” Mags looked horrified. “Visiting is one thing, but being subjected to snow seven months out of the year?” Her sister shuddered. “No, thank you. Besides, I can’t leave the beach.”

  “Maybe I should move to the beach.” She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to live in Juniper Springs and run into Ike and Dr. Jolly all the time.

  “You can’t give up on Ike.” Mags folded the last napkin and put it in the basket. “And you said you loved it here.”

  “I do,” she said, through a sigh. She would love it more if she could give in to her feelings.

  “Ike! Thanks for coming!” Rose’s happy greeting drew Dahlia’s attention away from Mags. She frantically looked around until she spotted him walking toward the table.

  Mags hummed happily. “Well, look who it is. I wonder why he’s here.”

  “We invited him to the party,” she whispered, smoothing down her hair before she had to turn around and face him.

  “Was he supposed to be a half hour early?”

  “Hush, you.” She pointed at her sister sternly and went to meet Ike so he wouldn’t get near Magnolia. She didn’t need her sister offering either of them her two cents about their lack of a relationship.

  Ike had come dressed for a party in casual dark jeans and a royal blue polo.

  “Hey.” It was incredibly difficult to sound casual when her heart got all wound up like this. “How are you?”

  “I’m okay.” He wasn’t smiling. “I came early because I was hoping we would have a chance to talk before the party starts.”

  “Oh. Um.” Dahlia stalled by looking at her phone. As selfish as it was, she didn’t want to hear him say he was going to pursue a relationship with someone else, even though she’d basically told him that’s what he should do. “I have to go pick up my mom and the kids soon…”

  “This won’t take long.” Ike seemed to glance at Mags and Rose before he nodded toward a path that disappeared into the woods. “Can we go for a quick walk?”

  “Sure.” She purposely avoided looking at her sisters. “A walk would be nice.” Or painful, depending on what he had to say.

  The man gestured for her to go first, and suddenly she was hyperaware of every movement she made. Did her butt look good in these jeans?

  “You and Rose have really made this place shine.” When the path widened, he fell in stride next to her. “I can’t believe the changes that have taken place in only a year.”

  He’d lived in one of the cabins last year while he was having a house built on the edge of town, and the place had basically been falling apart.

  “It was mostly Rose,” she admitted, continuing down the path. “I tried to help as much as I could but…I didn’t anticipate how difficult things would be with the move.”

  Getting married right out of college, she’d never moved on her own. It was humbling to admit it, but Rose really stepped up and did the work. As much as she hated
taking a backseat when it came to the work, she was proud of her sister too.

  Ike stopped and faced her. “I feel like the upgrades reflect both of you. And Sassy too. It’s a beautiful way to honor what she started here.”

  “I agree.” Just when she thought maybe they could be friends, she looked into his eyes and felt the fireworks in her chest, the telltale weakness in her knees. It didn’t matter what she said, she couldn’t be trusted alone with this man. “I should probably get going…”

  “I saw you in town yesterday,” Ike interrupted before she could walk away.

  “Oh?” She played dumb even though she knew what he was talking about. He must’ve seen her and Rose pull up in the car when he was standing in line with Dr. Jolly.

  “You and Rose were parked in front of the coffee shop.” His head tilted slightly as if he was trying to look past her façade. “I was in line for the Crazy Moose.” He’d caught her looking at him, she could see it in his eyes.

  “Right. That’s right.” She laughed a little but it came out awkwardly. “We were looking for our mother. She’d gotten upset and run off. We found her in Grumpy’s kitchen, if you can believe that…” Why did she have to babble when she got nervous? “Anyway, did you have a nice lunch with Dr. Jolly?” Her shoulders braced for his answer, but hopefully he didn’t notice.

  Ike seemed to consider the question. “It was a good lunch.”

  “That’s great! She seems amazing. The kids love her, I know that.” She couldn’t seem to stop the words from gushing out. “And she’s so pretty too. Really lovely.” And young and unburdened and free from the worry lines Dahlia had noticed taking root in her forehead the last few months.

  “Sure. Dr. Jolly is great.” She didn’t miss how he hadn’t called the woman by her first name. “Here’s the thing though…She’s not the one I think about when I wake up in the morning.” His voice had dropped lower. He eased a step closer, still holding her gaze. “She’s not the one I want to hold in my arms when I’m sitting on the couch watching a movie.”