The Partner Plot (The Greene Sisters, #2)

by Kristina Forest

He smiled, gazing at her furious expression. “I’m gonna marry you one day.” Violet shook her head, fighting off the elation she felt. “We’d drive each other nuts.” “Some people would call that love, baby.”

“I’m not saying it will be easy, but we’ll be able to overcome whatever life throws at us. Because that’s what love is.

He was the love of her life. Nothing was going to keep them apart. She was young and naive enough to believe that was true.

In her early twenties, she’d thrived in hustle culture. Now, although she hated to admit it, she sometimes felt like she was hanging on by a thread.

“I love a good happy ending,” Olivia said, beaming. “It goes to show that career women don’t have to sacrifice everything. We can have it all too.”

“I do know you,” he said, giving her a direct look. “I might not know how you take your coffee or all the names of the designers you work with. But if I’ve learned anything from teaching high school, it’s that we’re our most natural, raw selves as teenagers, and over time we either expand on those aspects of our personalities or we fight to cover them up. There’s a lot we need to catch up on, but I know you, and you know me too.”

“Despite what people say, most of the time, money does buy happiness.”

“Well, love isn’t always linear,” Helen said.

“but let me also advise that marriage takes a lot of work. It’s not just shacking up and getting a dog. Day in and day out, you have to commit to your partner. It’s an undertaking.”

He couldn’t take back breaking her heart. But he could give her this, his embrace. His care and undivided attention while she was here.

They’d been sleeping together every night for a little over a week. They didn’t

do anything besides cuddle. No kissing, no sex. It meant that he woke up with blue balls every morning, but he didn’t care. Waking up with her curled against his chest was his favorite moment of the day, followed closely by the moment when they slipped into bed at night and automatically linked hands.

“On paper, we don’t have a lot in common,” he said. “That’s true. But I’m twenty-nine. I’m not a kid anymore. I know the importance of what we have, and what we can be. Maybe at first glance we’re different.” He lifted his hand and lightly pressed it over her heart. “But here, we’re the same. I’ve spent nine years trying to fill the gap that you left behind, but I can’t replace you and I don’t want to. I wouldn’t make the same mistake and risk losing you again.”

But sometimes things didn’t go to plan and life turned out okay anyway.

“Sometimes you fall in love with a person, and regardless of where life takes you, your heart refuses to let go,” she said. “That’s what it’s like with Harry and me. It’s why the distance doesn’t get in the way of what really matters.

Their love was enough to stand the test of time through almost a decade spent apart. Their love was more than enough.

Their relationship wasn’t perfect, but it was real.

People made mistakes. Sometimes very silly, ill-conceived mistakes. This wasn’t the first mistake Violet had made and it wouldn’t be the last. But she was trying to learn from them and that was what mattered.

So much of their reconnection had been unexpected. But that was the surprise of life. In the end, the plan they’d whispered to each other on prom night had come to fruition. Because sometimes you just knew when you met your person. It was an awareness, a precious feeling.