Remembering Us (29 page)

“I will get even with you someday for this. When you have your own, you better watch out.”

“You’ll be old and gray by the time I have a child,” I tell her, mocking how much older she is than me. “Wait,” I say, reaching for her hair, “Is that one I see there, now?”

She swats my hand away and gives me a playful evil-eye.

Adam’s warm hand on my hip nudges me closer to him. “I don’t know, I think we should try soon.”

My eyes widen and I look at him, shocked. We haven’t discussed kids at all. Ever.

“You’re crazy,” I whisper in his ear so no one in my family can hear us.

If my mom knew I was thinking about having kids now, she’d start planning a baby shower.

“Look at her,” he says, nodding toward Tilly, who is laughing and getting cleaned up by my sister. “They’re fun.”

“Yeah, until you’re awake all night, changing poopy diapers, and never finding time to shower. And let’s not start with the stretch marks.” I shudder, but secretly I’m thrilled to know he wants kids. I was never sure with the family he was raised in, and I don’t want to pressure Adam to do anything just for me.

He knocks his hip against mine. “We’ll have them. And I want them young enough so we have the energy to chase the shit out of them.”

“Them?”

“Two. At least.”

I smile with tears in my eyes and stand on my tiptoes, leaning in to kiss him. “I love you, you know.”

“I know,” he says, leaning in and rubbing his cheek against mine. I don’t know why he does it, but I love it when he does. “I love you, too. Now go talk to your mom because she has that binder in her hands.”

I groan. “Oh my god. The binder. I’m so sick of looking at that freaking thing.”

Adam laughs and pushes me toward her. I go willingly. This is the one thing in my life that has brought me and my mom closer together instead of further apart.

I smile and grab a glass of wine and head to our parlor where I know my mom already has it spread out on the coffee table, waiting for me.

“Hi,” I say, sitting down next to her.

I don’t think our relationship will ever be close or easy.

But ever since I gained back my memory, I can look back and see the mistakes I made as well as the ones she did. In my hurry to have my own life, I was pretty disrespectful. My parents have never wanted anything but the best for me. Just because I didn’t agree with them on how they wanted me to achieve that, didn’t mean I needed to throw my changing life in their face either.

It hurt her. It hurt both of them, but my mom took it more personally.

So over the last several months, I’ve tried being honest with my mom with what I’m feeling, as well as being my own person.

“Here’s what I’m thinking for invitations,” she says, and lays out a spread of at least a dozen of them in front of me.

They’re elegant and beautiful. I couldn’t care less about invitations for my wedding as long as people show up.

Inwardly, I roll my eyes. Outwardly, I smile and settle in next to my mom.

We spend hours going over flowers and invitation designs that must match the programs and name plates on the table. The whole time, I sip my drink, refilling it once or twice, and smile.

In the end, she’s happy.

And I get to spend the rest of forever with Adam.

And really, that’s all that matters to me.

Writing is such a solitude activity, where I live inside my own head for days, not speaking to anyone without a dazed look in my eyes. I am so thankful to have the love and support of my family and closest friends who support me and occasionally drag me out of my fictional word to join the land of the living.

Thank you, most of all, to my husband. You support and encourage me at every opportunity. You are my greatest cheerleader, my favorite brainstormer, and my best friend. And to my children, I love you to the moon and back. Thank you for understanding that sometimes mommy needs to write. I hope you don’t get upset with all the extra video games I force you to play while I’m under deadline.

To Natalie Gerber and Amanda Halvorson and Rachel Wilson. Thank you for diving into my books, for loving them as much as I do, and for making them better. I treasure all of you!

To Samien, thank you for being you. You make me smile and laugh and I love being able to talk books with you.

A huge thank you to my Bad Ass CP’s: Brittainy, Claire, Amy, Tonya, Kelsie, and Abbie. I’m honored to know all of you. Thank you for your encouragement and help. I’m so thankful to be connected to such a supportive group of writers where we can celebrate each other’s accomplishments.

To Taylor, my editor. I promise, you that, someday I will learn, how to use commas, appropriately. Thank you for going through this manuscript with a fine tooth comb and making it better than anything I could have imagined.

To Love Between The Sheets book blog. I LOVE YOU! Thank you for organizing the cover reveal and blog tour. To all the other bloggers, thank you for the time you to take to read, review, and support indie authors! All of us authors depend on you, and I’m so grateful for all the women I’ve had the privilege of getting to meet and know on this crazy journey.

To you – the reader. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You make me smile every day with your messages and emails. I still can’t believe I wrote a book. I’m still in even larger shock that people read them and like them! You make this crazy hobby of mine possible. You make it enjoyable and crazy and exciting and I wish I could tackle hug every single one of you.

And most importantly, thank you to my Heavenly Father and Savior. Your grace and mercy is new every morning. Your love is larger and greater and deeper than anything I could possibly imagine. Thank You for loving me and blessing me.

Turn the page for a preview of

Deceit. Destruction. Death.

Olivia Masters grew up familiar with all of them. The daughter of the President of the Nordic Lord’s Motorcycle Club, she always knew she wanted nothing to do with any of it. Her plans were made to leave the town she grew up in as soon as she and her boyfriend, Daemon Knight, turned eighteen.

But then she was shot. Her mother killed in front of her. Fleeing became her reality.

Forced to return to her hometown of Jasper Bay five years later, events beyond Olivia’s control put her directly back into the life she swore she’d never return to.

Her dad wants her back in the family. Daemon wants her in his bed.

Just as Olivia begins to accept her destiny, history finds a way to repeat itself.

This time, will Olivia be strong enough to fight for the family she once turned her back on? Or will she once again flee from the only life that has ever felt like home?

Stacey Lynn lives in Minnesota with her husband and four young children. She spends her day taking care of the kids and loving her family. At night she’s curled up with a book and a blanket, or her laptop, writing down all the stories she hears in her head.

She is the author of bestseller,
Don’t Lie To Me
, as well as the author of
Just One Song
and
Just One Week
.

For more information about Stacey Lynn and her upcoming books visit:

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