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“You said it wasn’t going to be busy,” I say as I pull Dane to the door. “Thanks! I owe you one.”
“But I didn’t—”
I blow him a kiss as I pull Dane outside.
“We’ll go fishing soon,” Dane says as he leaves. “Real soon.”
“I’m going to hold you to that!” Julian shouts as the door closes.
“I feel bad,” Dane says with a chuckle as I pull him to the train tracks. “He looked so hopeful.”
That’s my big, mean, protective brother for you. One look into Dane’s gorgeous green eyes and he was under his spell as helplessly as I was.
“He’ll get over it,” I say as I stop and step into his arms. He wraps them around me and I feel so at home that I moan. “This is our day. What do you want to do with it?”
The look in those sexy eyes as he roams them down my body tells me everything I need to know.
“I was thinking the same thing,” I say, stepping on my toes and kissing him.
When we finally break away, I squeeze his hand, and pull him to the parking lot in the distance.
It’s going to be a ravenous afternoon of being unraveled in the best possible way.
EPILOGUE
Dane
Twelve Years Later…
“Ready?” Ivy asks, giving me that smile I still adore all these years later. It still makes me weak in the knees when I see it.
I put my arms around our three kids—Bowen, Kyle, and Gemma—and nod. “Ready.”
“This is so exciting,” Gemma says, shaking with adrenaline. “It looks like the whole town is outside.”
Ivy gives me a wink and then opens the door to our new Adventure Base on the lake. It’s a beautiful timber lodge that we built with a restaurant and outdoor patio, a snack counter, a climbing wall outside, and all sorts of kayaks and mountain bikes for rent. Everything is flawless and pristine and it still has that new car smell.
We’ve been so busy over the past decade. Not only building our family, but building our little empire here in town. It’s been so fun, and building it all with Ivy has meant the world to me. We’re always on the same page.
We used the bungee jump as a start and Greene Mountain Bungee became Greene Mountain Adventures. Next up was guided whitewater rafting, then rock climbing and rappelling, then came the zip line, and between all that was all sorts of rentals around town—mountain bikes, kayaks, canoes, paddleboards, cross country skis, and snowshoes.
Our main goal was to build fun adventure activities at low prices where anyone could come and enjoy nature. Everything is locally owned, locally sourced when we can get it, and environmentally responsible.
I handle most of the business operations and Ivy is still the personality and heart of the company. With her at the head, it’s never going to become a big, soulless corporate adventure brand. It’s always going to have that small-town personal touch. She makes sure of it by remembering your name, sending Christmas cards, following up after weddings and new babies and graduations—she truly is amazing.
I’m so lucky to have her. I’m grateful every day.
Julian is still heavily involved too, mainly overseeing safety and operations. We’ve grown so close over the years. It’s like I have another brother.
My heart aches when I see the wave of people entering the lodge, gasping and pointing at things as they look around. Almost everyone greets me by name.
It took some time, but after a while, I finally felt like a local in the Greene Mountains. No one sees me as that rich outsider from Huntington anymore. When you say Dane in the Greene Mountains, people think of me.
They think of me carrying my young kids on my shoulders, holding hands with Ivy, and sponsoring the summer and autumn festivals. They think of me walking into McArthur’s or Jack Jameson’s with a smile, stopping to talk to every second table I pass.
This is a wonderful town and I feel so blessed to be a part of it.
“Great turnout,” my brother Travis says, slapping my shoulder as he looks around.
