The thought of saying goodbye to Greer, Mom, and Phil choked me up every time. But I knew I was doing the right thing because there was no niggle in my gut that suggested there were hidden doubts somewhere in my conscience. I knew marrying Roane and moving to Alnster was one hundred percent the right thing to do. How many people could really boast such certainty when making a huge decision about their life?

I was lucky. I knew that.

That didn’t mean it hadn’t been hard to tell Greer about Roane’s proposal. Staring at the glittering diamond on my finger, I felt an overwhelming amount of happiness, but it was tinged with sadness when I remembered my friend crying.

I knew she was happy for me, but like me, she was grief-stricken at the idea of having that big ocean between us for the rest of our lives.

“Maybe I can convince Andre to move to England,” she’d sniffled.

My smile had been watery as I’d replied with a sad “Maybe.”

The call with Phil had been a little better. There were no tears. And he was relieved to hear I was coming back to see them. “I didn’t want to call Mom about this. I want to sit down and have a conversation with her face-to-face.”

“I get it. I’ll let her know. Just keep us updated on when you’re getting into Chicago. We’ll book a hotel in the city.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll come out to you guys.”

“Whatever you want. Just keep us posted.”

I sighed as I scrolled through a list of comparison flights on my laptop. With almost every penny I had going to Penny, I needed to book something cheap. Roane had offered to pay, but I wasn’t sure he had an abundance of cash just lying around. Besides, I didn’t want to imagine what kind of money he’d just dropped on my engagement ring.

Mostly, I felt weird about taking money from him. When I said that, he’d scowled ferociously and told me that as his future wife I’d better get used to the fact that our lives were now there for us to share, and that included money. I knew he was right. But I wasn’t his wife yet.

Roane’s wife.

The thought put a goofy smile on my face, and I was still wearing it when a villager walked into the bookstore. I didn’t know the blond woman’s name, only that I’d seen her around enough to know she was a resident here. I saw her driving regularly through the village in her SUV with kids in the back.

“Morning.” She smiled at me as she approached the counter. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Erin.”