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“Let me call Alexis to come by on her way home from the hospital,” CeCe said.

“I’ll text Elena that she needs to get up here,” Cat said.

The champagne flowed and they celebrated the new management of The Liquor Box.

Vi pulled Cory aside and said, “We’ll have to look at our change in income, babe. It may be an adjustment.”

“I’ve never been one for fancy things. I wanted my own store, but to have the person I love most working side by side with me and running our store—that’s more than a dream come true, Violet. That’s happily ever after for me,” Cory said.

“I thought the new house would be happily ever after,” Vi said.

“As you said, babe. Just when we think we know what’s going to happen, things change. And it keeps getting better.”

Later that night Vi held Cory in her arms. They had celebrated when they got home and made love until Cory fell asleep. This was the right decision for her and more importantly for them. She had been thinking about it for a while now. When she realized why her parents loved working together she began to see that she and Cory were doing the same thing. She began to question her commitment to her job.

Vi spent more and more days at the store with Cory and even used some of her many days of accumulated leave to work on new accounts for The Liquor Box. When she noticed how well the store was doing since she’d been working alongside Cory, she knew it could support them both.

Then it was just a matter of really looking at her goals and the idea of leaving Spec’s altogether. That’s when she realized working with Cory wasn’t just a goal, it could be their life. Everything changed. Vi felt excited when she worked at the store. She hadn’t felt that in a long time. Spec’s had become a job, but The Liquor Box was so much more.

In two days they would close on their new home and the next day was her planned surprise for Cory. She had one more thing she needed to do before that happened.

Vi took a deep breath and snuggled Cory a little tighter. “This love gets sweeter and sweeter and you, Corrine Sloan, are all mine.”

“Mmm, I love you,” Cory murmured in her sleep.

“And I love you.”

29

Vi walked into The Neon Rose and Talia looked up from behind the bar.

“I know you don’t like me,” Vi said, holding her hands up palms out.

“I don’t know you,” Talia said curtly.

“But you do know Cory.”

Talia nodded and took a sip from the glass that sat in front of her on the bar.

“I’m in love with her,” Vi said with a soft smile.

Talia’s eyebrows crept up her forehead. “Really?”

Vi nodded. “And she loves me, too. But, I know you two were once together and Cory said you were better as friends than girlfriends.”

Talia nodded. “I tend to wander and I didn’t want to hurt her. She knew I would eventually and we decided to save the friendship.”

Vi started to sit down but hesitated. She saw Talia give her a nod and she slid onto a stool. “Cory is the most amazing person,” Vi began. “She puts up with my competitiveness, she forgives me when I’m too much, and she has the biggest, kindest heart of anyone I’ve ever known.”

“Girl, you’ve got it bad.” Talia chuckled. “Don’t forget trustworthy, Vi. Surely you’ve noticed when you’ve been here with her that I don’t kiss her any longer. We do share a hug.”

Vi smiled. “I noticed.”

Talia reached into a cooler and pulled out a non-alcoholic beer for Vi. She opened it and set it in front of her.

“Cory told me you don’t really care much for alcohol. She swears this is the best NA beer she’s had.”

Vi nodded. “Oh yeah, she’s tried them all, just for me.”