Breaking Tackles: A Taking Flight Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

my tiny makeup bag that has powder, a tube of drugstore mascara, and the most neutral lip gloss in existence, and get to work. Five minutes later, I’m done. Though it’s not much, there is a difference—my eyes look brighter, at least.
     
    Then I run a brush through my hair and instead of throwing it into a ponytail, grab Willa’s surf spray and use some on my hair.
     
    I leave the bathroom, change, and grab my small cross-body purse before heading out to make my way to breakfast, and quietly make my way across the living room.
     
    “Have fun,” I hear someone whisper behind me. I turn around and see Willa and Sophie sitting at the small table in the eat-in kitchen.
     
    “I used some of your surf spray stuff,” I whisper to Willa. “I hope you don’t mind.”
     
    “Totally fine,” she says. “Your hair looks good wavy.”
     
    Sophie nods in agreement, and I smile and wave as I leave the apartment.
     
    Now, to figure out how to hail a cab.
     

    When I get to the restaurant, I see the entire group of Kistlers and Narduccis waiting outside the breakfast place Willa suggested we go to. Including Adam.
     
    Adam, my fiancé. Who is going to be my husband.
     
    My stomach flips a bit at that thought. Fiancé doesn’t freak me out so much—but there’s something about husband that just seems much older and more mature and more serious than what we are.
     
    He sees me as I’m getting out of the cab and comes over.
     
    “Morning,” he says, wrapping me in a hug.
     
    “Morning,” I say back, looking up at him. His lips meet mine and my body warms all over from the contact. “How’d you sleep?”
     
    “Incredibly well,” he says. “I guess that’s what happens when you’ve basically been awake for two days and are running on adrenaline.”
     
    “I’m glad you slept.”
     
    “Think our families are going to grill us?”
     
    “What would they grill us about?” I ask. I just figured we’d all have breakfast together.
     
    “Our plans.”
     
    “But we don’t even really know our plans,” I say. “Besides, we don’t have to know everything right now. We haven’t even been engaged for an entire twenty-four hours yet.”
     
    “True,” he says. “Plenty of time to figure it out.”
     
    Adam and I chat with our brothers until the hostess calls us inside, and we head to a long table in the middle of the restaurant.
     
    I sit between my mom and Adam, and am glad when Mrs. Kistler makes her way to our end of the table. I feel like there’s some serious mending I need to do with her.
     
    After we’re all seated and have placed our orders, a rare silence falls over the table and Mrs. Kistler says, “Well, I guess now is the time to talk about this wedding.”
     
    Holy crap. We’re going to have a wedding.
     
    How I hadn’t thought about that already, I don’t know. But somewhere between the draft news and the actual proposal and the surprise of my family and friends in New York, I hadn’t even thought about the fact that a wedding has to be planned.
     
    “This is just so exciting,” my mom says, looking over at Mrs. Kistler. “Have you two talked about a date?” she asks Adam and me.
     
    My mind goes entirely blank. I literally can’t think of words.
     
    “We haven’t,” Adam says succinctly.
     
    “But you have talked about your plans for the future, I’m guessing,” my dad says.
     
    “Well,” Adam says. “We decided we would see what happens and then talk about it. We haven’t really had the time to talk about it yet now that we know what’s happening.”
     
    “I see,” my dad says, looking perplexed.
     
    “So, wait,” Mr. Kistler says. “You decided to propose to Courtney before the two of you had talked about whether or not you wanted to get married?”
     
    “We know that we want to be together,” Adam says defensively. “Now we have to figure out the details.”
     
    I look around the table at my family and the Kistlers. Everyone looks