June's Forever: Love in Little River Book Five Read online

  FREE BOOK!

  Get a FREE Love in Little River Novella!

  Sign up for Raneé S. Clark news and get Finding Taylor, the prequel to Roxy’s Song.

  * * *

  CLICK HERE

  to get your FREE copy of Finding Taylor.

  Copyright © 2020 by Sweetly Us Press, LLC

  All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles. This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, places, and dialogue are products of the authors’ imaginations and are not to be construed as real.

  Cover design by Sweetly Us Press

  Cover Illustration Credit: sartsrabonti via Fiverr.com

  Editor: Jenny Proctor | www.jennyproctor.com

  Published by Sweetly Us Press

  www.sweetlyuspress.com

  Created with Vellum

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek: Addy’s Prince Charming

  Love in Little River

  Also By Raneé S. Clark

  About the Author

  CHAPTER ONE

  June St. Clair-Bailey scrolled by another photo of Coy Jones’s wedding and sighed to herself, smiling. In all honesty, when he had announced his engagement to Catch winner, Bellamy, June had scoffed. These things didn’t work, and June had always had plans to finagle a meeting with Coy herself once she was ready to date again.

  But following every step of the couple’s love story post-Catch had softened June’s heart. She glanced at a picture of Lucas, sitting just to the right of her computer screen. “They remind me of us,” she said softly to the picture. Maybe she wasn’t ready to date again because her late husband was never more than six inches away from her screen.

  June glanced down at the tablet where she’d been reading the article with the wedding photos and sighed again when she saw the soft smiles. She even let out a little “Awww,” at a picture of Coy kissing Bellamy’s nose, her eyes squeezed shut while she laughed. June missed that. She missed having her someone. She missed those kinds of moments.

  I told you to get married again.

  Lucas’s voice had never really left her. Even in the short five years she’d had him, they’d come to know each other so well she could always predict what he’d say in any given situation. Right now he would definitely flaunt his “I told you so.”

  “I’ve been too busy,” she excused. To prove this, she tapped the tablet and brought up her to-do list. But it was too short to prove anything to voice-in-her-head Lucas. June’s assistant was a little too efficient, it seemed.

  Junie. His voice sounded exasperated. He was right, if she thought about it. Her personal shopping business had been doing well before Lucas died, well enough to support them when he couldn’t work anymore, and well enough to continue paying for insurance and the bills for his year-long fight with cancer. After he died, when she’d thrown her entire being into her work, it had gone from well-enough to retire-now-and never-work-again. She’d created an app that allowed shoppers to purchase clothing from multiple boutiques in a network all at once and save on shipping by packaging it all together. Then another app that scoured shoppers’ online footprints—with their permission, of course—to provide a digital mirror of their closets and help them put together outfits. Other apps followed, bigger clients, bigger deals. Investments in a variety of things from boutiques that hit the big time to real estate meant she sat with the big boys at the billionaires’ table now. It meant that the excuse that she was too busy for love didn’t work anymore.

  She tapped her tablet and the small to-do list for that day—meeting with Hallie Butler to discuss looks for her new TV show and then a fundraiser that evening. “What’s next?” she asked herself. She usually always had an idea. New app. New services. New business to add to her collection.

  The movement of her fingers on the screen inadvertently brought up the Coy Jones wedding article again and the sweet picture. She did miss that. She had friends, of course, but no one like Lucas. Not that she was ever going to find another Lucas, another passion like that. Eventually she did plan on finding someone again, but next time it would be about friendship.

  She swiped out of the news app and back to her to-do list. Get married again, she added. It looked silly, sitting there beside finalize fundraiser keynote, but this to-do list was how June had helped change the way people shopped.

  She opened the walkie-talkie app on her phone and messaged her assistant. “Skylar, I need you in here please.”

  June’s assistant stepped through the door just thirty seconds later, her own tablet tucked into her arm and a stylus poised above it.

  “Take a seat,” June said, pointing to one of the squat white chairs that sat in front of her glass-topped desk. She scooted her rolling, pink Queen Anne chair to the side so she could see around her computer to talk with Skylar.

  Skylar sat, still silent as she waited for June to instruct her on what needed to be added to the to-do list. She’d been with June for eight months now, moving up from an assistant position in the marketing department after June had promoted her last assistant to head of HR. June loved Skylar. She never filled up the space with unnecessary words. It meant that June didn’t know Skylar the way she had her old assistant, Ellie. June and Skylar got a lot of things done, but June no longer had an assistant she could call a close friend.

  A friend who would likely scoff and talk June out of what she was about to say. Which, June supposed, was a bonus since the longer she thought about this, the more she wanted to do it. Like when she’d first started brainstorming for the AllShop app, ideas pinged quickly against her brain.

  She held up a finger at Skylar and jotted down a couple ideas on the notepad on her desk, so she didn’t lose them. “Newest project,” she murmured in explanation. Skylar’s eyes widened and she scooted forward in her chair, still patiently waiting. June could almost feel the excitement rolling off her. She hadn’t been in on the beginning of one of June’s ideas yet.

  “Okay.” June sat up in her chair and steepled her hands in front of her. “I need to get married.”

  Skylar blinked then furrowed her brows. “Um?”

  “It’s been four years since Lucas died and it’s time.”

  Skylar nodded slowly, chewing on her lip before she said, “Okay, Ms. St. Clair. I didn’t realize you were . . . um, in a relationship. I mean, it’s not my business anyway.” She waved her hands. “How much of the planning do you want me to do?” She looked down at her tablet, already swiping fingers across it. “I can find a list easily—or would you rather I contacted a wedding planner? I can find the best.”

  “All good ideas.” June gave a sharp nod. “We need to find a groom first.”

  Skylar looked up, blinking again but not offering anything now.

  “I haven’t dated at all since Lucas died, and I don’t particularly want to, at least not in the traditional sense.” One thing she prided herself on was knowing the difference between something that was going to work and somethi
ng that wouldn’t. Given what she wanted out of her next marriage, dating wasn’t really necessary. “Have you seen The Catch?” she asked Skylar.

  Skylar nodded again. “I think you have to be an athlete to be on the show.”

  June waved her hand. “You do. And I’m not that patient. I’ve heard they already have the Catches for the next two seasons lined up. But same idea. Let’s find a way for men to apply.” She waved her hand again as Skylar’s eyes widened even further. “I know it sounds cold, putting it like it’s a job, but I can dispense with so much if we gather information up front. And”—she held up a finger, alerting Skylar that this was important to her—“I want someone from Little River, Wyoming.” June smiled down at her tablet.

  “Little River?” Skylar said, even as her stylus darted across the screen.

  “There’s something magic there.” June tilted her head and smiled. “I do still believe in that. If Coy Jones can find true love there, I can find a suitable husband. Not to mention Taggart Dubois, Dru North, and Hallie Butler. Visiting that town is practically a guarantee I’ll leave with a significant other.”

  “Oooo-kay.” Skylar pushed out a breath but didn’t object to June’s plan. Or point out the number of tourists who now visited the spot and hadn’t fallen in love. The blog “Love in Little River” was devoted to tracking love stories in the area that sprang from the tourists visiting. Everyone wanted to see Taggart Dubois’s high school or the diner where Hallie Butler had filmed some of her last scenes on He Spies, She Spies. Candice Townsand, the blog’s owner, claimed that only ten percent of regular folk found happily-ever-afters there.

  The numbers that valued June’s assets were a few zeroes longer than even Coy Jones. She was probably safe from the unlucky ninety percent who didn’t fall in love in the fairy-tale little town. And she didn’t even need the dizzying, make-you-sick-but-crazy-happy love either. Just the kind of relationship that grew from a strong friendship.

  “Get with Alyssa in marketing. She’ll know how to get the word out. And we’ll want something easy to apply on but that has enough information to skip past a few weeks of dating. Have Carin—”

  “Carin?” Skylar looked up from her notes.

  “In legal. To collaborate on the application. Then run it by me. Put together a small team, and we’ll meet in two days to see where everyone is.”

  Skylar stood, still jotting down notes on the tablet. “Yes, Ms. St. Clair. I’ll let you know of any updates.”

  June grinned, scooting her chair back in front of her computer. “Thank you, Skylar. Now, send over my speech for the fundraiser so I can give it another once over.”

  Skylar nodded and slipped from the room, casting another look at June as she did so.

  June could fully admit that her approach was outside the box, but so was shopping at all your favorite boutiques on one app. That had turned out pretty spectacular.

  And June had a feeling so would this.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Yes!”

  Wyatt, and everyone else on the court at the moment, turned at the sound of Isiah’s voice on the other end. He wasn’t even in on the latest pick-up game of ball. He was staring down at his phone.

  Swish. Wyatt snapped his gaze back to the net, then swiveled it to Coy Jones, grinning at him from four steps behind the three-point line. “That was even easier than usual, Porter,” he taunted, making a circle with his thumb and pointer finger, holding up the other three fingers, and circling his eye.

  Wyatt groaned as he put his hands on top of his head. Second game in a row that Coy’s team had won, of course. Games always sucked for Wyatt when Coy was on the opposite team. Wyatt had played in college, so everyone insisted he had to take the pro-ball player. He could sometimes keep up—on the games when Coy only used his left hand. Story of his life, coming in second place to someone more amazing.

  “What are you celebrating about?” Nash asked when they all made it to the other end of the court for their water bottles. The fact that he had been on Coy’s team this go-round only irritated Wyatt further. He and Nash had been good friends since high school, but Nash was the one always coming out on top. The basketball star in high school, even though Wyatt was the one that had gone on to play later. Nash had been too busy doing his pre-med. Now he was a doctor and engaged to an actress. Wyatt loved him, but losing to him and Coy, again, just made Wyatt grumpy.

  Isaiah did an awkward celebration dance. “Got a video date with June St. Clair.”

  Now everyone groaned around him, except Coy, who gave Isaiah a high five. “Nice, dude.”

  “When does she pick?” Wyatt asked. “Maybe then we can have a fair game.” He didn’t know very much about the super-rich businesswoman recruiting possible husbands in Little River—just enough to know that her contest, or whatever it was, wasn’t his thing.

  “There’re no more fair games until Jones stops coming,” Nash said, stretching out his calves against the bleachers.

  Coy chuckled. “Bells says Ms. St. Clair has the new guesthouse booked for the first of August. So by then, I’d guess.”

  “Anyone else here submit their name?” Wyatt asked, hands on his hips as he surveyed the dozen or so guys gathered around the bleachers, getting ready for another game. Nobody admitted anything, although Isaiah elbowed the guy next to him.

  “Josh did,” he said with a laugh.

  “She’s a billionaire,” Josh said, holding his hands up in surrender.

  Wyatt snorted with laughter. “Mind checking your email?”

  Josh stiffened. “It can wait.”

  Nash tossed a ball Wyatt’s way as they headed back out on the court. “Didn’t get a video chat yourself, Porter?” he teased. “You’re kinda cranky tonight.”

  “I did not fill out an application for that nonsense.” Wyatt pulled up and shot a three-pointer, grimacing when it clanged off the side. He shook his hands out, trying to rid himself of the self-consciousness attacking him.

  Nash grabbed the rebound and passed it to Coy. “Someone better ask Bellamy if she put Wyatt’s name in. You never know with that girl.” He shook his head as Coy laughed, but they all knew Nash wouldn’t take back what she’d done. The guy was getting married because of it, not to mention credit for creating a TV show that was garnering a lot of hype ahead of its fall release date.

  “Miller said your mom’s dog got picked up again…?” Wyatt asked, turning the conversation away from him. He didn’t want to admit that it had been tempting to fill out an application for June St. Claire’s unorthodox search for a husband. Wyatt liked his job as Little River’s police chief well enough, but retiring to a private island sounded awful nice. Plus she was worth a lot more than Nash’s fiancée. It might be nice to come in first to him this one time.

  But call Wyatt crazy, he still hung on to the hope that he’d find love the old-fashioned way. Maybe someday something would just spark differently with one of the women in town. Or maybe someone new would move in. He’d ask her out to lunch. Then dinner. They’d fall in love over at-home movie dates and ice cream runs to The Little River Creamery.

  Nash shook his head as he dribbled and took a shot himself. “Can’t figure out how she’s getting out unless she’s hopping the fence again. I thought she’d grown out of that.”

  “He said your mom was pretty upset when she came down to get Cece.” Wyatt grimaced. He knew Mrs. Roberts well enough that the thought of her in tears hurt him too. She was too sweet to have to worry about Cece getting hurt because of her shenanigans.

  “Yeah. I told her to let me take care of it from now on if Dad can’t. She’s too tenderhearted to have to go pick up her fur baby from jail.” Nash frowned and tossed Wyatt the ball.

  “Give me a call next time she goes missing,” Wyatt said before he took it in for a layup. He turned back to Nash, who had grabbed the rebound. “I’m always looking for an excuse to get out of the office and cruise around.”

  “Thanks, man.” Nash patted him on the shoulder a
nd turned to the men. “Winners off,” he shouted, gathering everyone back up. “Let’s go!”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Wind whipped June’s hair around her face the moment she stepped off her jet on the small runway. She pulled a hair tie from the pocket of her dark, high-waisted skinny jeans and pulled her long, blonde hair into a high ponytail.

  “Ms. St. Clair!” a voice called above the sounds of the jet behind her. She turned to see a woman with shoulder-length, wavy brown hair waving at her from in front of a dark SUV. June lifted her hand to wave back as Skylar stepped down behind her.

  “Ugh. Wind,” the assistant muttered. June stifled a laugh. Her correspondence with the Ranch House manager, the one and only Bellamy Jones, had prepared June for the trademark weather of the state. She pulled a ball cap from her big purse and handed it over to Skylar.

  “Thanks.” She shoved it on her head and followed June toward Bellamy.

  “Call me June, please,” June said, holding out a hand as she reached the woman.

  “Welcome to Little River. You’re only the third person to land at our newly restored, local runway.” She laughed.

  June turned to glance at the one large hanger, which did look a little rickety even with a new coat of paint, and the long runway her plane had just landed on. Further down was the control tower. “It’s nice.”

  Bellamy opened the back door of the SUV. “Hallie Butler hates the drive from Casper. Freaks her out. She campaigned and got some investors together to fix this old thing up. New hanger is going in next spring.”