Free Forgiving You: A Bluebell Valley Novel by Ginnie Carmichael Page A

whatever she wanted, dragging her best friend around with her.
    “It’s been a long time since I ordered a chocolate milkshake with two straws,” she admitted. Since she’d been working at the bakery, she didn’t have much time for fun. Actually, she didn’t know how to have fun in Bluebell Valley anymore.
    “So, what can I get you?” said a waitress who had just appeared next to them.
    Sam looked down at her menu for a second, still wondering what she was going to order.
    “I’ll get the burger with a vanilla milkshake and a slice of blueberry pie,” Austin said. Sam noticed that he hadn’t even opened his menu since they’d been here. He still knew it by heart. Sam put hers back on the table, looking at the waitress with a grin on her face.
    “I’ll take the same thing, except make it a chocolate milkshake. And make it two straws, please.” The lady wrote her order on her notepad and left as quickly as she had appeared.
    “I can see you still have the appetite that you used to have,” Austin said with a smile at the corner of his lips.
    “That’s something that hasn’t changed,” Sam said. “I love food and I always will. I have to work out a bit more often to make sure it doesn’t go in my hips in a few years, but that’s fine with me.”
    “You still do a lot of sports?”
    “I run, that’s all. It’s not as entertaining as being on a soccer team, but it’s too complicated with my schedule at the bakery. Running is easy and free.”
    As she had gotten older, Sam had started to appreciate running a lot more than when she was a teenager. Back then, she wanted to sweat with other people and loved the feeling of a team. Now, running by herself brought her peace of mind. It was her time to think and reconnect with herself.
    “You started working out,” Sam mentioned as she looked at Austin’s arms. She was still impressed by how big they were. When they were teenagers, Austin had a bit of muscle from working on his parents’ orchard, but nothing compared to how he was built today.
    “Yes, well… I have access to the best gyms in the city, and I also have a personal trainer.”
    “So you mean that money buys you muscle?” Sam joked.
    “No,” Austin replied with a laugh. “But having a personal trainer helps a lot with motivation. I have someone to kick me in the butt if I don’t lift as much as I should.”
    “That’s not a very hard job—to kick you in the butt, I mean. I did that so many times in high school.”
    “That’s not true,” Austin huffed. He knew Sam was right, but still wanted to argue.
    “I don’t think you would have had any other friends if I didn’t push you so much.”
    Sam could still remember those nights where she would practice small talk with Austin so he could approach other people and have a conversation with them. He had never been good at it, and even though she knew he often felt stupid doing that, it had done him a lot of good.
    The waitress came back with their burgers. They looked delicious and Sam had already grabbed a French fry when her eyes met Austin’s.
    “I didn’t need any other friends back then,” he said earnestly. “I had you, and you were more than enough.”
     

     
    Sam had devoured her meal way too fast. After Austin had taken care of the bill for them, they had decided to go for a quick walk by the river. From their side, they could see a few houses and fields.
    As they slowly walked next to the water, Sam found herself getting closer and closer to Austin. Even if the night was still warm, she wanted his body close to hers. As their arms brushed against each other, she could feel the warmth on her skin, wishing it was all over her.
    And as if Austin could read her thoughts, his hand reached for hers. Sam smiled in silence as she walked even closer to Austin, happy and confident for the first time in a long time.
    “I have another surprise for you, but we have to wait for the sun to set,” Austin admitted as he stopped in