Page 40 of One Kind Soul

“It was to me and Donovan.”

“But he was so easy to live with and it was only a short time.”

Tessa shook her head. “It meant so much to me, Nicole. He was a resort guest and you didn’t hassle me about how quickly I fell for him.”

“It was obvious he was your true love.” True love? What did that feel like exactly? How had she been able to identify that her friend had found it? How would she know if she’d found it? Did she want to find it?

In Vermont?

She hadn’t seen Christian yesterday, but they’d texted several times and each vibration of her phone that signified he’d contacted her had sent a jolt through her. Typically, she didn’t do giddy, but reading his cute messages had made her day. She’d kept that to herself of course. Even when Tessa had asked her what she’d been smiling at when one of Christian’s texts—a picture of Roxie sitting on Zip’s back—had come in while they were driving back from lunch at Cups Café yesterday.

“I can’t believe I’m marrying my true love in a few days.” Tessa wiggled in her seat. “I never thought I’d find someone like Donovan.”

“You lucked out.”

Tessa angled her head. “That luck will come to you too, Nicole. You have to put yourself out there more though.”

Nicole stared into her nearly empty coffee mug. “Yeah.”

“No prospects recently?”

Oh, there’s a prospect. It was riddled with complications though.

“After that Christmas thing when I went to see my parents, I’ve been taking some time for me.”

“That’s always a good idea.” Tessa drank some coffee. “You have to be in tune with you before you can be in tune with someone else.” She laughed. “At least that’s something Aliza would say.”

Nicole had met Aliza Henley yesterday and she was great. She’d organized the bachelorette party tonight which would be at the yoga and dance studio she owned and shared with Tessa. Aliza had been a good friend to Tessa while Nicole had been miles and miles away. She’d considered being jealous of Aliza’s friendship with Tessa, but five minutes with the chick, and Nicole instantly liked her too much for any hard feelings. Besides, what was Tessa supposed to do? Remain friendless while she lived her new life in Maplehaven? That would be ridiculous.

“Looks as if the weather on Saturday is supposed to be perfect,” Nicole said.

“I know. I’m pumped. I so wanted the ceremony to be outside. We had a contingency plan, but it’s so pretty here and Vermont people love being outdoors.”

“And you’re a Vermont person now. You’ve completely traded in your beach lifestyle for the woods.”

“I have.” She held up a finger. “That is not to say I won’t be blowing down to Kauai this summer to visit you.”

“If you can tear yourself away from me,” Donovan said as he entered the kitchen and dropped a loud, sloppy kiss on Tessa’s cheek. Remi shot out from under the table and bounced around at Donovan’s feet until he crouched to pet the beastie.

“Oh, please,” Tessa said. “I’ll be sick of being your wife in a few weeks. I’ll need a vacation from you.”

Donovan straightened, a stricken expression on his face. He didn’t have to say a word before Tessa popped out of her seat and threw her arms around him.

“I’m kidding, Donovan.” She pressed a bunch of kisses to his stubbled jaw. “You know I’m kidding.”

Donovan’s arms wrapped around her. “I know you’re kidding.”

“Good.” She immediately stopped kissing him and turned back to Nicole.

“Hey.” Donovan tugged her back around to face him. “That doesn’t mean you stop kissing me.”

The two of them made out with zeal now. Nicole tapped her fingers against her coffee mug and wondered what Christian was doing at this moment. She pictured him wrangling kittens or brushing the horses or wielding tools in the farmhouse—all visuals she enjoyed immensely. Maybe it was time for a bathroom trip so she could covertly message him.

As she stood, a knock sounded outside and Remi went wild with barking.

“Come in,” Donovan yelled, but he didn’t release his hold on Tessa.

A moment later, Christian appeared in the kitchen and Nicole had to fight to stay where she was. The man was a god in his signature faded jeans and a green T-shirt today that hugged his biceps. She wanted to claw her way through the cotton to get to the muscles under it, especially when he got to his knees on the floor and let Remi climb all over him.