Remind Me

by Samantha Chase

  “Yes it will.” Then he released her and took her by the hand. Mallory was certain they were finally going into the house, but they didn’t. Jake led her across the deck, down the steps and across the yard. At the pier, he continued to lead her down toward the boathouse where they climbed onto the party deck. He sat in one of the lounge chairs and gently pulled her down onto his lap. “I like watching the sunset with you. Every time I came out here at this time of day when you weren’t here, I would think of you.” He kissed her and it was slow and sweet and wonderful. When he raised his head, he smiled. “That first night you were back, you were down on the pier and I thought I was seeing things–like my mind was playing tricks on me. So many times I imagined you standing out there in one of your sundresses watching the sunset. You always looked so peaceful and beautiful and…” He reached up and caressed her cheek. “Everything I ever wanted.”

  And those were the best words because he was everything she had ever wanted, ever since she was a teenager. Just knowing they were here together and in love like this made her believe that dreams could come true. She had never been a whimsical person, but right now, it was exactly how she felt.

  They sat like that out on the deck until the sun was fully down. She was snuggled up in his arms and hated the thought of moving, but the promise of a comfortable bed being only a short walk away helped.

  Slowly, she moved from his embrace and stood. “Come on, let’s go home.”

  His smile was soft and full of gratitude as he came to his feet. “I like the sound of that, Mal. And someday, we’re going to go to the same home together every day.”

  She really liked the sound of that.

  “You guys really didn’t need to do this,” Mallory said for what felt like the tenth time. “I’m going to be coming back once a month!” They were sitting in massage chairs at Glitter Girls getting pedicures.

  Peyton lifted her wine glass and smiled. “We know, but we wanted to have a little time alone with you before you left.”

  “Yeah,” Parker chimed in. “Even though your plan sounds solid, we just figured you’d be busy catching up with Jake whenever you come back.”

  Yeah, it probably would be hectic at first, but hopefully it would get better. And once all the work on Pops’ house was completed it would definitely free her up, which is what she said to her cousins. “I know it’s not ideal, but…we’re going to try and see how it goes.”

  “I don’t get it,” Peyton said as she got a little more comfortable in her chair. “All your life you talked about moving here and now that you have a legit reason to…”

  “Several reasons to,” Parker corrected.

  Rolling her eyes, Peyton continued. “Several reasons to, why aren’t you grabbing this with both hands? Why would you go back to New York where you’ll be alone when you could be here with all of us? And Jake!”

  “It’s not that simple,” Mallory explained. “Believe it or not, I worked hard to get where I am at work and I can’t just walk away.”

  “I don’t see why not,” Parker commented. “Seems to me there are way more benefits for you to leave that job rather than stay.”

  “Parks,” her sister gently scolded. “We’re not supposed to be pressuring her, remember?”

  Pouting a bit, Parker shrugged and took a sip of her bottled water. “I’d feel much better if I got to have some wine too, you know.”

  “And when you’re twenty-one, you can,” Mallory said, reaching over to pat her hand. “For now, you’ll have to deal without it.”

  “Bummer.”

  They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes while their feet got pampered. The door to the salon opened and Mallory heard Peyton start to snicker. “What?” she whispered. “What’s so funny?”

  Leaning in close, Peyton said, “See that girl who just walked in?”

  Mallory nodded.

  “She’s desperately trying to date Mason,” she said with a laugh. “Like seriously trying to date him. She even made friends with my mother in hopes of getting fixed up with him.”

  “That’s kind of sweet…”

  But Peyton straightened and shook her head. “Trust me, it’s not. She’s a nightmare. I went to school with her and I am praying my mother sees through her and leaves my poor brother alone.”

  “I think Mason can handle himself,” Parker said, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the foot massage she was getting. “You ask me and I’d say he’s just about ready to hit his limit and personally, I can’t wait.”

  “That’s just weird, Parks, even for you.”

  She shrugged. “Mason has done whatever Mom and Dad ask of him because he didn’t realize he could say no. With Pops dying, I think he’ll take his inheritance and start branching out on his own.”

  “Oh, yeah!” Mallory said almost excitedly. “You guys never finished telling me what Pops left for Mason!”

  Her cousins both laughed softly.

  “Have you ever heard of The Mystic Magnolia?” Parker asked as she tried not to laugh.

  “Um…no.”

  Peyton leaned forward. “It’s a dive bar on the edge of town. Only locals go there and it’s sort of a landmark.”

  “Yeah, for the senior citizen set,” Parker added, finally letting herself laugh. “Like they all grew up going to this place and no one under the age of fifty would dare to go there!”

  “So…Pops left your brother…a bar?”

  Both her cousins nodded even as they continued cracking up.

  For a moment, Mallory could only stare. It wasn’t…the worst thing Pops could have done, but it was certainly confusing. Poor Mason. Clearing her throat and doing her best to keep a straight face even as her cousins were now both cracking up, she said, “So…does he know what he’s going to do with it?”

  “Mom wants him to sell it and is even looking for buyers for him,” Peyton replied. “Mason has refused to get involved just yet. He claims he needs some time to think about it.”

  “What could he possibly have to think about?” Mallory asked. “He’s not considering running it, is he?”

  “Oh, gosh, no,” Parker replied, resting back in her chair. “Maybe he’s looking to make it an investment? It wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Of course he’d have to put some money into it because the place truly is a dive. It’s like an old shack that has another old shack attached to it.” She shuddered. “I think the whole place should be knocked down and rebuilt. But that’s just me.”

  “Personally, I think he should sell it, take the money and get the hell out of Dodge, you know?”

  “Stop making it sound like leaving here is a good idea!” Parker cried. “Isn’t that what you just got on me about?”

  “This is different, Peyton, and you know it! It would be good for Mason to break free and have a life of his own without anyone poking their noses into his business!”

  “Well, then you need to keep your opinion to yourself too! It’s bad enough that he gets it al the time from our parents. So…just keep your mouth shut and see what he decides to do.”

  Leaning back in her chair, Mallory tuned her cousins out because she knew they bickered like this all the time. No one could ever convince her that leaving Magnolia Sound was the answer – even if it didn’t seem like she was living that same philosophy. She wasn’t leaving forever and the sooner everyone realized that, the better off they’d all be.

  Including her.

  Jake walked around the house and felt a little lost. He’d just gotten back from dropping Mallory off at the airport and even though they had talked about this ad nauseam, it was still harder than he thought.

  Three months. They had decided to try living apart for three months. If at the end of that time they weren’t happy, Jake was going to go up to New York and look into starting a division of Coleman’s there. Mallory had tried to convince him that she should be the one to move to Magnolia but he knew how much her job meant to her and didn’t want to see her make that sacrifice. Someday, he knew they wo
uld make their home here, but they had plenty of time to make that happen. She had never been shy about wanting to live in Magnolia, but the time just wasn’t right for that to happen yet.

  There was more than enough for him to do to keep him busy. Just…not right this minute. He was just about to sit down and turn on the TV when there was a knock on his back door. It seemed odd since no one was working next door at Susannah’s and most people would have gone and rang the doorbell out front.

  It was a bit of a surprise to find Sam standing there. Opening the door, he shook his hand. “Sam, hey. What brings you here?” Stepping in, Sam walked into the kitchen and seemed a little nervous. “Everything okay?”

  “What? Oh, uh…yeah.” He slid his hands into his pockets and motioned toward the living room. “Can we sit and talk?”

  This was a bit odd, but… “Yeah, sure.”

  It took a minute before he started to speak. “So last night Mom and I finally got that safe open.”

  “Really?” he asked with surprise. In all the craziness of the last week, he had forgotten about that. “And?”

  “And…there were some things in there. It was more like a time capsule than anything else.”

  “Wow. That’s…that’s interesting.”

  Sam nodded. “Anyway, we went through it all and sorted through pictures, newspaper articles and some other random stuff and found this.”

  He held out a photograph and Jake took it. It took him a minute to realize it was a picture of his parents and him standing with Zeke. Jake was a toddler in the picture–maybe two or three years old. Smiling, he looked at Sam. “Thanks. This is kind of cool. My folks took all the pictures with them when they moved but I don’t think I’ve ever seen this one before.”

  “Read the back.”

  Brows furrowed, Jake turned the picture over.

  Jonah and Evelyn Summerford and my “great-grandson” Jake

  How many times had Zeke told him he was family? And how many times had he wished it were true? He felt oddly emotional and the notation and when he looked up at Sam, he wasn’t sure what to say.

  “That was…” he paused. “Thanks.”

  Nodding, Sam stood and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He sat and handed it to Jake. “After some discussion, we felt like this should go to you.”

  The box was definitely a jewelry box and he felt a little awkward taking it from Sam. When he opened it, he was beyond confused. “I…I don’t…I mean…what is…why…?”

  “Oh, right,” Sam said with a chuckle. “I should probably explain.” He shifted in his chair and grinned. “Okay, so that belonged to my great-grandmother. In this time capsule thing we opened, it stated that the ring should go to the eldest great-grandson. So…”

  Jake had to think for a minute. “But…that’s you, Sam. You’re the oldest of Zeke’s great-grandsons.”

  But Sam shook his head. “No, man. The picture says otherwise.”

  “Sam, seriously, come on. You can’t…I can’t possibly accept this. It’s rightfully yours! A note on the back of an old photograph doesn’t mean anything!” Jake tried to put the box back in Sam’s hand, but he refused to take it.

  Holding out a hand to stop him, Sam’s smile faded. “Let me ask you something. Are you going to marry my sister?”

  Holy crap.

  “Yes,” he replied confidently. “Yes, I am.”

  Sam grinned. “Does she know that?”

  “I believe she does.”

  “Have you asked her yet?”

  “Not formally, but…we’ve talked about our future and she knows she’s the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

  Sam gave a curt nod. “Then that’s why this needs to be yours, bro. You know Mallory was closest with Pops. We all know it. It makes sense that you should be the one to give her our great-grandmother’s engagement ring.”

  “She might want one of her own…”

  That made Sam laugh out loud. “Dude, you know my sister and this sort of thing is way more her style. Some women want a big, fancy engagement ring. But Mallory is going to love something antique that Pops had bought himself.” He paused and his smile turned a little sad. “And you know Pops would love knowing that Mallory was wearing it now. So please…take the ring and when you guys make it official, give it to her. Show her the picture, tell her about the time capsule and just…trust me on this.”

  In a crazy way, it all made sense. Mallory wasn’t impressed by material things and she preferred the sentimental things in life. It would be the perfect ring for her and as he opened the box and studied the platinum band with the oval diamond, he knew she would love it.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Jake said, looking over at Sam.

  “Say you’re going to take good care of my sister.”

  “Always, man. That’s all I want to do.”

  “Then we’re good here.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments before Jake asked, “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “What would have happened if no one found the safe? Don’t you think it’s odd that it was hidden away like that? I mean, this ring is pretty damn important for Zeke to hide away like that.”

  “Yeah, Mom and I thought about that too but it turns out we would have found it eventually.”

  Now he was back to being confused. “How?”

  “In Mom’s inheritance for the house, Pops told her about it–about the safe. He hid it in the wall the way he did so no one would find it and try to steal the ring. We kind of think he was hiding it from Aunt Georgia, but we can’t be sure,” he added with a laugh. “Either way, we may have found the safe in an unconventional way, but what we found inside is now exactly where it belongs.”

  “This has all been so crazy. I swear Zeke was too crafty for his own good.”

  Sam nodded in agreement. “Tell me about it.”

  “You going to be okay? I know you aren’t thrilled with what he left you…”

  Waving him off, Sam came to his feet. “I’ll be fine. I refuse to let Mason or anyone gain from it so I’ll do what I have to do.” He shrugged. “I can deal with living here for a year. It’s not like I’m living the dream up in Virginia. My job does kind of suck so I’ll do this for a while before I move on to the next thing.”

  “You never know. You may enjoy it! Seems to me that you haven’t found a career to settle into yet. This could be it.”

  But Sam shook his head. “It’s not the business that I’m against.”

  “Then what?”

  “Do you know why I live in Virginia now rather than back up in New York where I grew up?”

  Jake shook his head.

  “Anonymity,” Sam stated. “I know I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life and if I’m ever going to be able to move on from them, I need to be where no one knows who I used to be.”

  “I don’t think it’s that bad, Sam. We’ve all done stupid things. Hell, I grew up here and we both know I was no choirboy.”

  Sam chuckled. “Are you kidding? You’re the golden child of Magnolia Sound.” Then he let out another laugh. “Well, you and Mason.”

  That made Jake laugh. “Thanks.”

  “You know what I’m saying. I’m not saying I did anything so horrific, but…I’m not proud of most of it and I would just prefer to live somewhere I’ve created a fresh start.”

  Jake stood and didn’t know what to say. He knew why Zeke left Sam the landscaping business and how he hoped he’d stick with it. Maybe over the next year he could encourage him, but for now it seemed best to simply let him talk. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “I need to get going. There’s a delivery of new shrubs coming tomorrow and I have to finish clearing the beds in the yard.” He shook Jake’s hand. “I’ll see you around.”

  “Take care, Sam.”

  And when he was gone, Jake collapsed on the couch and stared at the ring in his hand. It really was the perfect ring for her and he said a silen
t prayer of thanks to Zeke. It sucked that right now Mallory was flying home because more than anything, he wanted to propose to her right now and slide the ring onto her finger. They had a month before she would be back. After much discussion, they agreed that he wouldn’t fly up to see her on the weekends or anything because she needed to get caught up on her work. It killed him to agree to it, but…he wanted to respect her wishes.

  If he didn’t, she would definitely remind him of it.

  He missed her already and knew if he sat around like this much longer, he was going to go crazy. So he decided to head into his office and bury himself in work for a while.

  A week later, Jake was dealing with the realities of being a full-time business owner. He wasn’t used to being in the office quite so much, but it was becoming obvious that he couldn’t be as hands-on on the job sites as he used to be.

  And he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing just yet.

  His desk phone buzzed and he picked it up. “Mr. Summerford, your one o’clock is here,” his assistant Julia said.

  Looking down at his calendar, Jake didn’t see anyone’s name written down or that he had an appointment.

  “Uh, Julia, I don’t have anything written down for today. Are you sure they’re here for me?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said pleasantly. “Are you sure you just didn’t forget to write it down?”

  That was always a possibility, but as he pulled up his calendar on his phone, Jake was certain he didn’t have…

  Office supplies. 1:00

  Well, damn. Hard to argue with Google calendars, right?

  “Why am I dealing with office supplies?” he asked. “Isn’t that more of an office manager thing? Is Maggie coming in for this?”

  “She’s at lunch, sir. And no, this is something you need to look at first and then–if need be–we can set up a time for Maggie to follow up.”

  That seemed logical, but he still wished he was on a site somewhere hammering something. “Okay, fine. Send them in.”