Ava watched as Amanda rubbed her belly and Justin ushered her through the dwindled crowd of people. She’d always wanted to be a mom. When she was a kid, she’d wanted to follow in her own mom’s footsteps and become a mom in her early twenties. Then when she was a teenager, she was sure she moved that deadline to her mid-twenties. At twenty-five she figured that it would happen for her in her late twenties. Once she hit the big 3-0 she was sure that by the time she turned thirty-five she’d be a mom of two.
But those plans were contingent on having a partner, which she didn’t have now. If there was one thing she was sad about it wasn’t losing Ian, it was losing the chance to be a mom sooner rather than later.
“Did you and Ian plan on having kids?” Asher asked.
Ava’s head spun back and her gaze met Asher’s. Had he read her mind? If he had, she guessed she should be grateful that it was when she was wishing she had a baby and not when she was imagining them both naked doing very naughty things to each other.
“Yes,” Ava automatically responded.
She waited for him to say he was sorry that the situation had turned out how it had, like every other person had. It seemed the entire town felt bad that she’d been dumped on her wedding day.
But instead of offering any sort of sympathy, he just grinned. “I think you’d make an incredible mom.”
She felt her cheeks flush under the intensity of his stare. “Thank you.”
Just like his “damn” comment, his remark spread through her like butter melting on a griddle. He had a way of saying things to her that made her feel them. And he’d have no way of knowing, but that was the nicest compliment anyone could have ever given her.
“What about you, have you ever thought about having kids? I... I mean more kids?” She stumbled over her words.
Unlike Ava whose answer was automatic, Asher paused and she could see that he was really considering his answer.
“If you would’ve asked me that a month ago, I would have said no. But now...I’m not sure.”
The way he was looking at her made her feel like the change in his mindset had something to do with her. But again, she knew that she was most likely projecting onto him what she felt. He didn’t want to have her babies. He wasn’t in love with her. He was not the man who had starred in thousands of her fantasies over the years.
No, he’s better. Ava’s internal voice, that sounded a lot like Viv’s, piped up.
Even so, she was not the inspiration for his paternal one-eighty. It had to be something else. But what… What had happened over the last month that had given him a change of heart? Then it hit her.
“It’s the Hope Falls effect.”
Asher leaned down toward her. “The what?”
Ava’s cheeks flushed. She hadn’t even realized that she’d said that out loud. Her sleep deprivation was starting to show since one of the main symptoms she suffered from when she was running on fumes was losing her filter and saying everything that she thought. It could be a problem.
“Um...” Her mind raced as she tried to come up with an explanation for the out-of-the-blue statement she’d just made about the town they lived in. “That’s what my sister calls it. Viv says people move here and the impossible suddenly becomes possible.”
“How do you mean?” Asher asked, sounding genuinely curious and not at all looking at her like she wasn’t playing with a full deck, which she’d take as a win.
Ava took a breath and tried to gather her thoughts so she could explain it. Viv never actually clarified what she meant; it was just understood. Putting it into words and not seeming crazy felt like a daunting task, especially considering her brain was fogged with lust and running on REM fumes.
“I mean, someone who never thought they would ever fall in love or fall in love again and suddenly they meet their soul mate. A person who thought that their career was over suddenly gets a new opportunity that changes their life forever. Someone who is running from something bad in their past, or has issues with their family, they move here and the situation resolves itself. If you’re lonely, you find support from the community. It’s like everything falls into place here. Love. Family. Career. Friendship. It heals people. It saves people. It’s the missing piece in people’s lives. The Hope Falls effect.”
Ava stopped talking and hoped what she’d said actually made sense and didn’t sound cheesy or like a crazy person.
Asher stared down at her and grinned. “Damn, they should hire you to do their PR for tourism.”
Ava smiled. “I don’t think they need any help in that department.”
His left brow lifted in an arch. “Do you believe in the Hope Falls effect?”
Ava lifted her shoulder in a small shrug and called back to his earlier statement. “If you would’ve asked me last month, my answer would have been no. But, I mean, look at us. What are the chances that our paths would have crossed again? Some people, like my mom, might call it serendipity, or fate, or magic, or coincidence... but I don’t know...I think it might just be the Hope Falls effect.”
Asher didn’t say anything back, he just kept staring down at her. Ava couldn’t read the look in his eyes. It was something...but she had no idea what.
A nervous laugh escaped her. “Or it’s just a coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidence.”
The gravel in Asher’s deep voice vibrated through Ava from head to toe as he pulled her closer. She rested her head against his chest and absorbed every second of this closeness, this intimacy. She knew that the clock was about to strike midnight, metaphorically, and her fairytale night would be over and she wanted to treasure every second before her coach turned into a pumpkin.
