On the WATTYS 2017 SHORTLIST and Featured in COSMOPOLITAN!!! A Wattpad featured story with LOTS OF STEAM!
A new life, new friendships, new love... and a secret that may destroy all three.
Emmie Marsden's past is a closed book locked in a secure...
A/N: Two more wonderful fan-made covers (the 2nd one is at the end of the chapter), this time by theCivilSavage and look: this one has our couple TOGETHER! I'm so in love with these!!!
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Sam picked a piece of lint off the cuff of his black Hugo Boss suit, his eyes cast at the edge of Emmie's dresser, visible through her open doorway just off the kitchen. Emmie handed him a steaming cup of coffee and sat down opposite of him, tucking her favorite fluffy purple cardigan around the growing curve of her belly.
"Well, at least you chose a Saturday to come by this time. And it's actually past the crack of dawn. You're getting better at this, Sam."
They both took a simultaneous sip of coffee. "This is just a routine visit. No new news to report. I just wanted to come by and see how things are going." He nodded towards the living room and its new art studio décor. "You've been busy, I see."
"Oh, that." She gripped her cup a bit harder. It was still so difficult to let other people see her work. "Yes. Well, my friends have been encouraging me to let my inner artist out. They want me to display my work downstairs in the gallery. Have an art opening. The whole thing."
Sam raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"Do you... do you think that would be okay? I mean, it's not like I'm being represented by some famous gallery in New York. It's just little Moon Beach. I doubt anyone will even show up for the opening."
"I will." Sam got up and stepped around Emmie into the living room. His gaze panned over several of the pieces she had propped on the floor against the far wall. "And I think it's fine. Having the art show, I mean. I would hesitate more if you were in a larger town, maybe. But as you said, it's Moon Beach, so... It's great that you're finding your niche here."
"I am." Emmie hadn't realized until that moment that she wasn't actually dreading the opening but instead was looking forward to it. It was terrifying, sure, but under the terror was a brewing excitement that was just about ready to boil over.
She followed Sam into the living room. "Does that mean I can do it?"
Sam laughed, possibly the first time Emmie had ever heard him do so. "You don't need my permission, Emmie. I can advise you, but I don't get to make these decisions on your behalf. You're a free woman in charge of your own destiny."
That wasn't strictly true, Emmie internally noted. She hadn't picked Moon Beach, or Oregon, or even the West Coast, for that matter. She hadn't selected the apartment she was living in, and most of the furniture had come with it. Those things had all been decided for her. Still, he had a point. Now that she'd been placed here, it was up to her to determine what sort of risk certain activities presented. On a scale of no big deal to catastrophically stupid, having an art opening at Moon Beach Collective had to rank pretty low.
