Laugh (34 page)

Mike’s kids were running around John’s huge yard like total fuckin’ maniacs. Mikey was sturdy and fast like his dad, looked like the pictures of his dad at that age, and baby Ellen was cruising pretty good herself, making a mess of her knees every time she fell down.

For a field in the middle of nowhere, it looked nice. He and PJ had hauled rented picnic tables out here using Nina’s truck, killing it all the way since neither of them had any idea how to drive a manual transmission. Someone had heaped flowers all down the middle of the tables—wild-looking flowers. No vases, no ribbons, just bundled heaps of flowers that looked like they could have come from anywhere in these fields.

Nina had come out and mowed back the wild meadow around John’s place to make more of a yard, to make places for hay bales that Adam had covered with printed tablecloths. Tay told Sam the tablecloths were her grandmother’s and they were printed with faded pictures of birds, flowers, pitchers, teapots.

Nina had told him not to dress up, but he wore nice jeans anyway, and a button-down shirt, but no tie or jacket, and it was warm, so he already had the sleeves pushed up.

Of course, he was wearing his ring. He worried the warm weight of it with his thumb, thought about looking at it years from now and remembering this day.

The women were in sundresses, the hands from the farm patchy with farmer’s tans on their strong shoulders, unaccustomed to the skinny straps. Rachel was the dressiest in a bright yellow backless dress, and he’d watched DeeDee smack Mike when he looked at Rachel in that dress for too long.

He hadn’t seen Nina yet.

It was going to rain, though maybe it would hold through the ceremony, maybe not. He suspected it would rain hard, even storm.

Adam kept looking up at the sky and checking the time on his phone.

Another car drove up, and Sam walked around the side of the house, smelling all the food coming from inside.

He saw Hefin first, and it didn’t totally register.

He stood there, just looking at the guy, thinking that the beard he’d grown looked pretty good on him.

Then he saw the red hair shining next to his shoulder.

“Des!” he yelled, without thinking about it, and she turned, his baby sister, and grinned. She started walking toward him like a normal person, but he sprinted toward her anyway, no shame at all, and then he hugged her, really hugged her, and couldn’t work out why it was always so hard to do this, to just love the people he loved like this.

“Sam,” Des said, and she laughed, but when he let go, she had tears running down her face. Hefin came up beside her, and before he could put his arm around her, Sam found himself hugging the guy, too, bony fucking bastard, and Hefin kind of huffed and stepped back first, but smiled.

“Nice you to see you, then, Sam.”

Suddenly there were women, squealing all around him, as Lacey and Sarah found Des, then DeeDee.

Sam just looked at Des’s red head in the middle of all those people, feeling completely heartached in the best way, and looked at Hefin.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. Wouldn’t have missed it.”

Sam understood then that they never would have.

All of them, all these people, would never miss it.

Daniel and Betty gathered all of them up for the ceremony.

PJ and John came out of the house with their instruments, John with his violin, PJ with his cello, and at first, the music startled the birds and insects into silence, and Sam wondered how far out in Nina’s fields the music could be heard—if there was some other farmer, way back by the creek, who could hear this music his brother could make.

Then Nina and Tay walked out of the house.

Nina was wearing the shortest dress he had ever seen, red and white checked like they were at a picnic, the sleeves ruffled and off her shoulders.

Bald, her head shining in the sun, her boobs fucking everywhere.

He expected her to be beautiful, because she always was; he didn’t expect this sly wink from her, this subversion of flowers and weddings and husbands and wives, just for him.

This small joke that recalled groping each other against a chicken house and splitting your dress in a busy restaurant on a Saturday night.

Nina, walking toward him, was a woman with a whole life around her, one she loved in and cried in and lost in. She wasn’t a bride, tied up in white bows.

She was Nina.

He looked at Lacey and Mike, who were standing up with him as his best people and at first he thought Lacey was looking at Nina, and then he realized she was looking at PJ, probably didn’t even know she was doing it, didn’t know how she looked, listening to him play his music, filling up the fields with it.

Nina stood next to him, and Tay stood next to Adam.

Rachel stood to the side, videoing everything for Nina’s parents later.

Sarah moved in next to Daniel, and John and PJ played to the end of a song.

Sarah had a small red book.

“Okay, so when Mom was sick, we had a couple of girl talks. One of the things she did was tell me where she kept her diaries. For a long time, I didn’t read them. Actually, I didn’t read them until I was laid up recovering these last few months.”

Sarah cleared her throat and looked at Sam. “I thought since Mom and Dad couldn’t be here, I would read the part mom wrote about their wedding day.”

“Jesus,” Sam said, and Nina laughed. Squeezed his hand.

Sarah closed the diary and kissed Sam on the cheek and gave Nina a hug. The rest of the ceremony was simple, and Daniel blessed both couples in turn.

The rain started with thunder that banged against the sky so loud, baby Ellen started to cry.

Everyone else laughed, getting soaked, hardly able to hear one another shout over the rain pounding into the fields all around them.

Sam thought he and Nina would probably laugh about it later.

Maybe when he was done kissing her.

Maybe when she was done kissing him.

I would like to thank the urban farmers, homesteaders, chicken keepers, cheese makers, gardeners, and collectives who educated me about what it means to be a farmer in the middle of the city. It gives me hope to see such a strong sense of community, hope for the environment, and for the project of human creativity. As ever, Columbus, Ohio, proves that its people work harder and smarter, growing, making, and serving better food and company than almost anyplace else.

Ruthie Knox was the engine powering my brain mill for this book. She helped me understand my Sam, she read countless pages, she talked me through the toughest spots, she told me I could do this, tell this story. What’s more, in the end, her careful notes, comments, and attention to line delivered the heart of the story.

The women of
Wonkomance.com
went on a Door County, Wisconsin, retreat while I was in the process of the final revision for this book before submission. The beautiful scenery and the beautiful fellowship, I believe, suffused this book with love. Truly.

In the middle of writing Sam and Nina’s story, my family made a major move, and Serena Bell and Molly O’Keefe were the women who gave me permission to lose it, just a little. Sometimes you have to do that, lose it. Then you can just get on with it.

As ever, my agent, Emily Sylvan Kim, is a source of unending support and savvy. Without her, none of this is possible. My editor, Sue Grimshaw, provides unique insight at the right moment so that I am able to deliver the very best story that I can. Random House is built on the intelligence and drive of important women, and I depend on them and their support. Thank you.

Always available for close reads and drinking tea, Alexis Hall gave careful consideration to final edits and in many ways is responsible for the character of Lacey. He is a sharp and merciless critique partner and a generous and loving friend.

A book is words, and it is people. It’s amazing every single time a book is made.

Photo: © Elizabeth Wellman

M
ARY
A
NN
R
IVERS
was an English and music major and went on to earn her MFA in creative writing, publishing poetry in journals and leading creative-writing workshops for at-risk youth. While training for her day job as a nurse practitioner, she rediscovered romances on the bedside tables of her favorite patients. Now she writes smart and emotional contemporary romance, imagining stories featuring the heroes and heroines just ahead of her in the coffee line. Mary Ann Rivers lives in the Midwest with her handsome professor husband and their imaginative school-aged son.

May marks the halfway point between the first day of spring and the summer solstice—I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely ready for the warmth of spring and the heat of Loveswept romances! And you can always count on Loveswept to have the perfect gift for you and your mom this Mother’s Day.

Let’s see what’s on sale this month:

Small-town romance is first on the list with
Laugh
—Mary Ann Rivers continues her Burnside family series as two people try to share their hearts without losing their cool. Outlaws and daredevils are up next when the Justiss Alliance returns in Tina Wainscott’s
Wild Ways
, and the search for a missing woman forces two brave souls to tap into their wild sides. And in her Loveswept debut
Against the Cage
, Sidney Halston turns up the heat as a sexy cage fighter shows a former bookworm how delicious a few rounds between the sheets can be.

Moms everywhere will certainly enjoy Loveswept’s Classics, beginning with Bonnie Pega’s back-to-back releases:
Wild Thing
,
Then Comes Marriage
,
The Rebel and His Bride
,
Only You
, and
Animal Magnetism.
Then Jean Stone weaves together an emotionally charged story of friendship and betrayal, forgiveness and love, in
Places by the Sea.
And, in #1
New York Times
bestselling author Iris Johansen’s electrifying
Blue Skies and Shining Promises
, two hearts are thrown together by fate and united by irresistible desire—don’t miss it!

~Happy Romance!

Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher