Feels Like Falling Read online

  Mary Ellen, Gray’s party-planner friend who she’d hired as our wedding gift, came flitting in. “Okay, kids. People are gathered for your first dance.”

  Frank grinned. “You know, I don’t think I can wait any longer.”

  Mary Ellen looked from Frank to me and said, “Well, I’m assuming you don’t mean to consummate the marriage.” She chuckled nervously.

  “No,” he said. “I’ve just got to know what this baby is.”

  He grabbed my hand and took off toward the stage where the band was playing. The singer stopped abruptly and handed the groom the microphone. “Thanks, everybody, for being here,” Frank said. “I can tell you right now that this is the best day of my entire life. I have loved this woman for as long as I can remember, and it feels like today, right now, all my dreams are coming true.” Everybody whistled and hollered. “Now, I think it’s pretty clear that Diana and I don’t care a whole lot about the proper order of things.” He pointed at my belly, and everybody laughed. “We know we should be doing a dance or something right now, but we’ve waited too long to find out what this baby is, and we are as ready as can be. So what do you say we have us some cake?”

  Everybody clapped, and there was this rush of bodies over to that beautiful, towering wedding cake that held a big secret we were dying to know.

  “Are you sure you’re ready?” I asked.

  “Are you?”

  I nodded. “Definitely.”

  Frank took the knife, held his hand over mine, and we cut right into that cake. As we slipped the slice out, I saw pink right away. “It’s a girl!” I shouted.

  Everyone applauded, and Frank kissed me. “I hope she’s just like her momma,” he said.

  We fed each other and kissed again. All these people were standing around us. And the band was playing and the wine was flowing and the laughter was nearly deafening. But I realized that, even amidst the hustle and bustle and craziness of a wedding, Frank looked at me like I was the only woman in the world.

  As Frank and I ran out the door, birdseed flying, I waited until we were past everybody and then I threw my bouquet high in the air. Not so somebody’d catch it. Just to celebrate. It felt like a victory; we’d done it. The wedding was over. Life could begin. What I didn’t know was that Gray, she was running behind me to tell me good-bye. And she caught the darn thing. We both doubled over, our arms around each other, a big puddle of laughter. “I told you I’m not ready to get married,” she said between her gasps for breath. “Can’t you just let it go?” It was the perfect end to a perfect night.

  We’d decided to take our honeymoon in a few weeks because tomorrow was one of the other biggest days of my life. The Barnacle was opening—just for family and friends. But it was happening. It was starting. Momma was going to bring Phillip down, and he and I had practiced how he’d fix the baskets and then I’d hand them out the window. I was going to have something that was all mine, and I was going to be with Phillip again every day, just like I’d always dreamed.

  There was no fancy trip Frank and I could have taken that could ever be that good. So Frank drove us back to our house, to that same place where we had spent so much time together as kids. As we walked down to the beach, down to our sand dune, Frank said, “Diana, it took some time, but, damn, babe. We made it, didn’t we?”

  He didn’t mean because he’d just bought me a new car or my diamond was pretty flashy or we had a nice house on the beach. He meant because we had this right-now moment with this beautiful baby girl in my belly and the two of us together and all this love. And we had this beach with its millions of grains of sand, and in the scheme of it, we were so small. So very, very small. Feeling small, that didn’t hurt me like it used to. Instead, it made me feel blessed.

  I reached over and took his hand, the one that was outstretched to me, that had been outstretched to me for more time than I liked to think about if I would have just reached over and taken it. “We have, sweetie. We’ve made it.”

  I’d had to be brave sometimes, and I’d had to be strong. My life, it hadn’t been easy, and that was the God’s honest truth. But right then, I realized that if I’d had it easy, I would never have known how good it could be. I would’ve taken all this for granted.

  This same sand dune. This pink sunset. This gentle breeze. This loving man. We’re always trying to move forward and keep going and make progress toward the next thing. But sitting on this dune, I realized that maybe I’d been wrong about all that. If this life—this simple, beautiful life—had taught me anything, it’s this:

  Sometimes we get right where we need to be by ending up exactly where we started.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  So much of Feels Like Falling is about true friendship, about family, the ones we’re born with but, maybe even more so, the ones we choose. So I think, first, I have to thank my family. My husband and son, my two Wills, are the ones who make it possible for me to live my dream every single day—and, in all honesty, are my biggest one come true. My parents, Beth and Paul Woodson, are beside me every step of the way and always have been, helping me, encouraging me, and teaching me to never accept less than my very best. The older I get the more I learn what a rare gift that is. This is the first year I don’t get to thank my grandfather, Joe Rutledge, but I think my grandmother, Ola, gets an even bigger thanks this year for always, always being a living example of how we carry on. One of her favorite sayings is, “This too shall pass,” but I have a feeling losing my grandfather is the one thing that, for her, will never pass. And the lesson in that is an even greater one, one I am so grateful to have seen my entire life.

  My author family, my Tall Poppy tribe, Mary Alice Monroe, Patti Callahan Henry, Kristina McMorris, Julie Cantrell, Heather Webb, Liz Fenton, Lisa Steinke, and Courtney Walsh: you teach me, you help me, you lift me up and you keep me going. Whoever said writing was a lonely profession has never met you!

  Lauren McKenna, Elisabeth Weed, and Kathie Bennett, you are my triple pillars, and I simply cannot imagine my life, much less my work, without any of you. Lauren, thank you for being so convicted that Gray and Diana were the right next step and for working so hard to make sure that the story was the best it could be. Kathie, you exhaust me, and I love you for it. You have given me so much of what I had always imagined this life to be. And Elisabeth, your advice and guidance are invaluable. I couldn’t be luckier to have you in my corner.

  Olivia Blaustein, what a great first year we’ve had together! I can’t wait to see what happens next.

  Tamara Welch, I am convinced you can read my mind. And thank goodness. I couldn’t do any of this without you.

  Jen Bergstrom, thank you for being a champion for my work and for the incredible opportunities that you have given me. Michelle Podberezniak, I think you’re a genius, the most organized human on earth, and you are so cool under pressure. Thank you for the millions of things you do that I know about and the millions more that I don’t know about! Same goes for you, Maggie Loughran. You’re amazing, and I’m so grateful for all you do.

  To the BookSparks team, a big thank-you for taking a wish list and bringing it to life and for always thinking outside the box.

  I absolutely would not be here without my fabulous, generous friends I have met through my blog, Design Chic, who have opened their homes, their shops, and their corners of the internet to my books and me. I am so grateful to each and every one of you. There are too many to name, but a special heaping helping of love to: Cynthia James Matrullo and Carolyn James McDonough from The Buzz and Diane James Home, Kathie Perdue from Good Life of Design, Tina Yaraghi from The Enchanted Home, Patty Day from Patty’s Epiphanies, Katie Clooney from Preppy Empty Nester, Lisa Mende of Lisa Mende Design, Danielle Driscoll from Finding Silver Pennies, Debra Phillips from Scentimental Gardens, Patricia van Essche from PVE Designs, Marty Oravetz from A Stroll Thru Life, Lucy Williams of Lucy Williams Interiors, Leslie Sinclair of Segreto Designs, Shelley Molineux from Calypso in the Country, Cindy Hattersley from Cindy
Hattersley Design, Carrie Waller from Dream Green DIY, Kim Montero from Exquisitely Unremarkable, Lidy Baars from French Garden House, Lissy Parker from Lissy Parker, Cindy Barganier from Cindy Barganier Interiors, Celia Becker of After Orange County, Elizabeth Moles from Pinecones and Acorns, Nancy Powell from Powell Brower Home, Kelly Bernier from Kelly Bernier Designs, Rhoda Vickers Hendrix from Southern Hospitality, Teresa Hatfield from Splendid Sass, Karolyn Stephenson from Town and Country Home, Luciane from Home Bunch, Shelley Westerman from Crazy Wonderful, Laura Janning of Duke Manor Farm, Vel Baricuatro-Criste from Life and Home at 2102, René Zieg from Cottage and Vine, Shannon Aycock from Pop of Pippi, Addie Wemyss from A Daily Dose of Class, artist Kendall Boggs, Sandy Grodsky from You May Be Wandering, artist Jeanne McKay Hartmann, Michelle Black White of Black, White and Kuhl, Darrielle Tennenbaum from DD’s Cottage, Meredith Lewis, Rachel Sansing from Rachel Emily Blog, and Emily Lex from Jones Design Company.

  I am so grateful for you, Stephanie Gray, and all your support both through The Book Lover Book Club and Porter Marketing Co. You’re so talented! Grace Atwood, thank you for supporting my books for years through the Stripe and now, thank-you to Grace and Becca Freeman for allowing me to be a part of the Bad on Paper Podcast Live. I loved getting to share a stage with you! Ashley Bellman from NBC New York, you are proof that reading brings people together in extraordinary ways. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

  I am eternally grateful to the bloggers, reporters, reviewers, and book angels in my life. Andrea Katz, thanks for being a listening ear and fantastic support system since the very beginning. Susan Peterson and everyone in Sue’s Reading Neighborhood, thanks for all you do and have done from day one! Kristy Barrett, Tonni Callan, and everyone at A Novel Bee, I love y’all and am so grateful for your book buzz. Bloom, our fantastic Tall Poppy Writer Facebook Group, is the best, smartest group of cheerleaders and book fans I know. Deirdre Parker Smith, Susan Roberts, Linda Brinson, Linda Zagon, Nicole McManus, Susan Schleicher, Megan Wessell, Monica Ramirez, Kristin Thorvaldsen, Bethany Clark, Meagan Briggs, Melody Hawkins, Kate Vocke, Heather Finley, Marlene Engel, Charlotte Lynn, Jessica Porter, Jaymi Couch, Erin Bass, Kinah Lindsay, Beth Ann Chiles, Amy Sullivan, Mary Ann Miller, Jessica Padula, Judith Collins, Reeca Elliott, Donna Cimorelli, Amber Shemanski, Kaylie Orlan, Amy Jones, Sarah Slusher, Kate Tilton, Jennifer Clayton, Kristin Jones, Jennifer Vida, Margie Durham, Anne Mendez, Mary Hundley, Jamie Rosenblit, Stephanie Burns, and Katie Taylor: I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to review my books and share them with your readers.

  And to my real life best friends: Kate McDermott, Drew Beall, Kate Denierio, Millie Warren, Lee Taylor, Leeanne Walker, Jennifer Amundsen, Haley Hall, Jessica Wilder, and Margaret Scott, thanks for teaching me the power of friendship, of how long it can last, of how real it can be, and of how it feels to have people in your life who have your back no matter what. Y’all are my family, and I couldn’t love you more.

  All the love to the booksellers out there who hand readers copies of my books, the librarians who recommend them, and the bookstore owners who have the passion to create havens for authors and readers alike.

  Speaking of readers, thank you to mine. Someone asked me recently what I value most in a friend. My answer was that they show up when it counts. (And even when it doesn’t!) Thank you for showing up for this, my sixth novel, and the ones that came before. People who read really are the best people.

  More from the Author

  The Southern Side of Paradise

  The Secret to Southern Charm

  Slightly South of Simple

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JAY ACKERMAN

  KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is a born-and-bred North Carolina girl. The author of The Southern Side of Paradise, The Secret to Southern Charm, Slightly South of Simple, Dear Carolina, and Lies and Other Acts of Love, Kristy is also the founder of the popular interior design blog Design Chic.

  FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:

  SimonandSchuster.com/Kristy-Woodson-Harvey

  SimonandSchuster.com

  @GalleryBooks

  ALSO FROM KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY AND GALLERY BOOKS

  The Peachtree Bluff Series

  The Southern Side of Paradise

  The Secret to Southern Charm

  Slightly South of Simple

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  Gallery Books

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by Kristy Woodson Harvey

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Gallery Books trade paperback edition April 2020

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  Cover design by Chelsea McGuckin

  Cover photograph by Stocksy/Studio Firma

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Woodson Harvey, Kristy, author.

  Title: Feels like falling : a novel / Kristy Woodson Harvey.

  Description: First Gallery Books trade paperback edition. | New York : Gallery Books, 2020. | Summary: “From “the next major voice in Southern fiction” (Elin Hilderbrand) and the bestselling author of the Peachtree Bluff series comes an evocative tale of friendship between two vastly different women who bond under the most unexpected circumstances”—Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019032502 (print) | LCCN 2019032503 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982117702 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781982117719 (ebook)

  Classification: LCC PS3623.O6785 F44 2020 (print) | LCC PS3623.O6785 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019032502

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019032503

  ISBN 978-1-9821-1770-2

  ISBN 978-1-9821-1771-9 (ebook)