More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
CONTENT WARNINGS This is a light and funny romcom, but I want to help readers feel safe! Here are some topics that are touched on in the book: Parents passing away due to car wreck (past) Parental abandonment (past) Older relative with dementia (current) Parent with chronic illness (current) The gooiest golden-retieveriest MC Misuse of glue gun Spoiler alert: No one dies. There is no sex in this book. You will get a happy ending with no cheating and minimal angst.
Lilliputian.
But while I may not know much about him, from the time I have spent with him, I do feel I know who he is. Maybe I’m fuzzy on the details like job, hobbies, and personal history, but I know Eli’s character. You can observe a lot from watching a person interact with animals.
Most people want puppies or dogs who look like they might be purebred. The good-looking ones and the young ones. The easy ones. But not you. You love them all. Even—maybe especially—the ones no one else does. You have a big heart, Eli. A good heart.”
appreciate the vote of confidence,” Eli says, finally. “And the kind words. But I still don’t think this is something you can help with.”
He stops, then meets and holds my gaze with an intensity that freezes me in place. “That is,” he continues, those blue eyes blazing, “unless you want to marry me.”
“Let us help. Eight heads are better than one.”
“The oracle has spoken,” Logan whispers
Shy Bailey is back, it seems. She takes the tiniest step closer to me, like I make her feel safer. Good. I like that.
Can I help it if the man makes me shine brighter? Feel lighter? And blush like a schoolgirl with a crush?
He is. Nice. Thoughtful. Fun. Funny. Hot. Sweet.
“Me? Heavens no. Why would I go around unscrewing light bulbs? Who has time for that? Maybe we have a poltergeist.”
am of the opinion that if you really want something, you sometimes have to make your own luck, even if it’s risky.”
“Who’s taking care of you, Bailey?” Eli’s words settle over me, soft as snowfall, only warm not cold. “No one,” I murmur. “I could,” Eli says, and now I’m really not sure if I’m dreaming. Because this is the exact kind of thing I wish someone would tell me. “I would.” A single, solid thought breaks the surface as I’m slipping down, down, down. “I’ll do it,”
Safety first! Even when being a Neanderthal.
“What kind of favor?” “The kind involving being a bodyguard for the night.” “Cool.” What people may not know about Van is that he’s this guy. The one you call when you need a favor like this at this hour. The one who will say yes before he even knows what he’s being asked to do. Especially if it involves protecting someone. He almost rivals me in that department.
“Since we’re all awake and happy now”—Van’s
“But whose name will be on the back of my jersey?” His face darkens, and it only makes me push more. “Maybe Van? He’s a fun guy.” Eli’s heated look turns molten, and he shakes his head slowly. “Mine,” he says firmly, his low voice wrapping like a fist around my heart. “You can only wear my name.”
feels like parts of me have left my body. Like, for example, my heart. I think it’s hovering around him like some kind of winged bird,
this—this feels like exactly what my mouth is made for. Bailey. Only Bailey. Forever Bailey.
extraneous,
Bailey is the kind of perfect I could get used to. A permanent fixture. The kind I’d fight to keep.
“One more thing—you will never be too much for the right woman. You’ll be exactly enough.”
I’ve found one of the hardest things about losing people you care about is the guilt of remembering the things they weren’t so great at. Thinking about their flaws and disappointments makes me feel like a traitor. I’d love to picture Mom sitting down with me over coffee to talk about Eli, but it’s hard. Because
And then he’s sliding into my side of the booth, crowding into me, his big body taking up most of the seat. I can’t say I mind being this close to him, his thigh pressed up against mine, his body heat making me want to snuggle closer like he’s my personal electric heater.
“I mean, no two people automatically start agreeing on everything once they say ‘I do.’ So, they learn their differences and how to navigate them. What things are fine to disagree on—like pizza toppings—and where they need to come to a consensus. That’s marriage.”
She said that over time, they learned which arguments needed resolution and which ones were healthy to keep in the name of individual autonomy within a marriage. Her words.
me stacks up neatly next to all my other anxious thoughts, piling hoarder-high. It’s too bad there aren’t specialists who can deal with thought stockpiling. People who could parse through the worries and negative thoughts and sweep them out and into a dumpster.
“Is this how it’s gonna be?” I ask, looking at the three women. And I’m somewhere between terrified and all kinds of sentimental when my mom, my sister, and my fiancée all respond as one: “Yes.”
Shannon says, and suddenly my throat is tightening up again. “Let’s get you out there. And when you say your vows, say them for real. Then blow out your candles and make a wish that Eli’s doing the same thing.”
“But that’s the thing, Hop. Nothing about this seems fraudulent to me. Especially not the lovesick look in your eyes.”
“And not the look in hers either.”
But Alec just winks at me as Van clears his throat. And then there’s a chorus of male voices joining Van as they say as one, “We do.” It takes effort to swallow past the lump in my throat. The whole row of my closest teammates spoke up. Every single one.
something shifts and settles inside me. A sense of place I’ve never had before, a peaceful confidence about what we’re doing here.
“What I want most is you,” Eli says, brushing his lips across mine so sweetly, it makes something clutch in my chest. “Wherever I can have you. I do love it here. Love our house, love my team, even love this little town. But I’d do life wherever you are, so long as you’re my partner in it.”
