He followed her, and when they left the lobby he gestured to the parking spaces in front of them.
“That’s my car,” he said, pointing to a twenty-year-old Subaru that had been put through its paces and needed a fresh coat of paint but still ran like a dream.
She turned to him, her quizzical gaze apparent under the bright parking lot lights. “I thought you’d have a Lambo or a Porsche or something.”
He laughed. “You have to play in more than one major league game to get that.” Fortunately he’d received a healthy signing bonus when he joined the Detroit Tigers, and the team let him keep most of it when he was unable to play anymore. After paying off his medical bills, the rest of the money was parked in his savings account, except for a small portion he’d used to buy an old house on the edge of Maple Falls. He’d gotten the house and the surrounding property for a steal and planned to rehab both as soon as he could. But he’d never made enough money to purchase an expensive sports car, even if he’d wanted to.
“This fine automobile was Harrison’s old car,” he admitted.
“He’s your brother, right?” Riley asked.
Hayden opened the trunk. “The oldest one. He lives in Missouri now. Wife and two kids. The boys are cute as can be, but I’m their uncle, so I’m biased.” He held out his hand. “Can I put your bags in the trunk?”
She nodded and handed him the duffel and suitcase. After stowing her luggage and shutting the trunk, he went to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her. Riley stared at him as if she’d never seen anyone open a car door before, then got in. He closed it when she seemed settled.
The ride back to Maple Falls would be an interesting one. He made his way to the driver’s side. Riley was still pretty, but he could see that her personality hadn’t changed much over the past decade. She’d been a grade ahead of him, a loner who had an art talent he could only envy. She never hung out with the popular girls or any clique at all. She had kept to herself, and in a small-town high school where everyone knew everyone, she was an enigma, and he had been intrigued. He’d also been too busy with baseball to get to know her better. But baseball wasn’t standing in his way anymore, and he had to admit Riley still intrigued him.
* * *
What is Mimi up to? Riley had been sure one of the Bosom Buddies would pick her up tonight. Probably Bea, her grandmother’s closest friend, followed by Myrtle. The last person she expected to see was Hayden Price.
She’d been so surprised she couldn’t speak when she first saw him. She would recognize him anywhere, and not just because he was Maple Falls’ most famous resident. In high school all the girls fawned over him, but she had kept her distance. Not because she didn’t find him attractive. She absolutely did, and that was the problem.
And because life could be extremely unfair, he managed to be even more handsome at twenty-six than he was at seventeen. He hadn’t lost his athletic build, despite his horrible accident a year ago when he’d injured his shoulder so severely pitching in his first major league game that his career had been over before it started. Mimi told her, of course, but what no one knew, not even Melody, was that she had followed Hayden’s career through the newspapers and internet. Now she was sitting next to him, looking like trash after a long day and flight, in need of a shower and some sleep, and totally unprepared for riding in a car with him for an hour.
He climbed in the driver’s seat, and she caught the scent of his cologne. Wow, he smelled as good as he looked. Great, she’d been in Arkansas a little more than ten minutes and already she was acting like the high school outcast with a secret crush on the most popular jock in school. Which was exactly how it had been back then. She slid down in her seat.
“Comfortable?” he asked, his voice deep and smooth.
Did this man have a single flaw? She doubted it. Despite his popularity, he had always been nice, and that attracted her far more than his sun-bleached blond hair and light-gray eyes. Then there was that body . . . Her face started to heat.
“I can turn on the air conditioner if you’re hot—”
“Yes! I mean, that would be fine. I am a bit . . . warm.”
“You know how muggy it can get in May.” He flipped on the air conditioner, then backed out of the parking spot. “Summer’s arrived early this year.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything. She and Hayden had never had much of a conversation before. He’d been in her art class junior year, but they sat at different tables, and other than him mentioning that her projects were “really good,” they hadn’t interacted. They lived in different worlds, even though their town was barely a blip on the map. He was small-town royalty, and she was the hermit who stayed to herself with art keeping her company. Riley was the last girl Hayden would notice.
He headed down I-30, and as they passed green interstate signs, she had a weird feeling that time stood still. It was only yesterday that she left for New York, brushing the dust of Maple Falls and Arkansas off the soles of the brand-new sneakers she’d bought just for the trip. She glanced down at the worn Birkenstock sandals on her feet. She’d purchased them with the money from her first and only real art sale five years ago. The money had run out quickly, but at least she’d been smart with her choice of footwear.
“I’m sorry about Erma,” Hayden said, jerking her out of her thoughts.
“How is she really?” Riley knew her grandmother downplayed things sometimes.
“Ornery as ever, but she is in pain.”
She grimaced. “When I find the idiot who didn’t hold her up at second base, I’m going to lay into him.”
“Um,” he said, his voice quiet. “That idiot was me.”
Forgetting she was supposed to be aloof, she turned to face him. “What were you thinking, letting an old woman run the bases like that?”
“I know, I know. I guess I forgot how old she was. She’s athletic for her age and has a competitive spirit. If she’d made it home, we would have won our first game. I lost my head for a minute.” He threaded his hand through his hair.
The gesture caught her attention and cooled her anger a bit. Which made her even more irritated—this time with herself. She faced forward again.
“I’m going to make it up to her,” he said.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that why you picked me up tonight?”
“She asked me to. And yes, that’s why. I don’t pick up people late at night at the airport on a whim, but I’d do anything for Erma, even if I hadn’t made the tragic decision to send her to third.”
What a Hayden thing to say, and of course Riley believed him. She doubted he had a mean bone in his body.
After a long pause, he asked, “How was your flight?”
“Long.” She hadn’t been on a plane since she’d left Mimi’s, and she spent the first half hour gripping the arms of her seat when they encountered some turbulence shortly after takeoff. Once she realized the plane wasn’t going to crash, she’d been able to relax a little. It was hard to fully settle down when her nerves were already stretched thin.
“When was the last time you were in Maple Falls?”
She hesitated. “Nine years ago.”
“You haven’t visited since you left for New York?”
Riley shook her head but didn’t say anything else. She didn’t want to go there with Hayden of all people.
Fortunately he changed the subject. “Do you like living in a big city?”
“I love New York.”
“Seems like I’ve heard that somewhere before. I lived in a few when I was with different minor league teams.” As he drove past the southern suburbs of Little Rock, the lights dimmed, and the interstate became pitch-black except for the red taillights of the few cars on the road with them. “Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami.” He chuckled. “I found out real fast that I’m not a city boy. Give me a small town like Maple Falls anytime.” He laughed again, and she couldn’t help but smile.
“Mind if I turn on the radio?” he ask
ed.
She nodded, and soon country music filtered through the speakers. He left the volume low but loud enough that she could hear the twang.
“Do you like Country?” he asked after a few minutes.
“A little.” She’d avoided the music as much as she could, especially during her first few years in New York. Aside from Southern Gospel, it was Mimi’s favorite. She leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. The steady hum of the engine, the lilt of a country ballad, and the cool air blowing through the vents all settled her nerves.
“Hey,” Hayden said, touching her arm. “We’re here.”
Riley opened her eyes, shocked to see that they were in Mimi’s driveway. The 1940s brick ranch house was in front of her, the porch light on. “I fell asleep?”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “A few bars into ‘She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.’”
She turned to him, and her breath caught. Mimi had a streetlight at the end of her driveway, and Riley could see Hayden clearly in the light. A thick lock of his blond hair hung over his brow, his mouth forming a half grin. He was beyond handsome, and so darn nice. She needed to get out of this car. “What do I owe you?”
“Nothing.” His smile faded. “I’m not an Uber, you know.”
“But I want to pay you for gas.”
“Forget it.”
“I insist.”
“This is a favor for Erma, remember?” He opened the door. “I’ll bring your bags to the porch. I’m sure she’s chomping at the bit to see you.”
Riley scrambled out of the car, bothered he wouldn’t let her pay him but eager to see Mimi. She hurried to the house and swung open the door. Instantly she was greeted by the smell of arthritis cream, Mimi’s favorite vanilla-scented candles, and the sound of The Golden Girls blaring from the TV as she entered the living room.
“Riley!” Mimi motioned for her to come to the ancient recliner, her smile big, bright, and the most beautiful thing Riley had ever seen. “Come give me a big hug, sugar!”
Tears welled in Riley’s eyes, and not only because she saw the wheelchair next to Mimi—a visual reminder of the pain her stalwart grandmother was suffering. Otherwise, Mimi looked the same. Her silver hair was still cut short in a style Mimi had always called serviceable, and she was wearing her usual evening attire—old sweatpants and a T-shirt that said “I’m a limited edition.” In that moment, basking in her favorite person’s smile as she saw the love in her blue eyes, she realized how much she missed and loved this woman who had taken her in when her mother abandoned her. Mimi had showered her with the affection Riley hadn’t known she craved. She dropped her purse and hurried to her, kneeling on the ground and hugging her thin but still strong body.
“Welcome home, Riley,” Mimi said, her voice thick as she hugged her tightly. “Welcome home.”
Chapter 3
Hayden yawned as he swept the sidewalk in front of his father’s hardware store the next morning. He hadn’t made it home until almost midnight, and then it took him at least two hours to fall asleep, mostly because he was thinking about Riley. Why was she still on his mind? It wasn’t like he was going to get to know her better while she was taking care of Erma. He was sure she’d want him to keep his distance anyway, especially now that she knew he was to blame for her grandmother’s accident.
The smart thing would be to forget about her. He had his job at the hardware store and his new house to focus on. Besides, Riley wouldn’t be in Maple Falls very long anyway. Last night she looked like she wanted to jump right back on that plane to New York.
His mind returned to the scene he’d walked in on when he brought Riley’s bags inside the house. Neither woman heard him come inside, and he was surprised when he saw Riley crying in Erma’s arms. Erma hadn’t exactly been dry-eyed, and when she finally noticed Hayden standing there, she motioned for him to leave. He quickly crept out the door. He shouldn’t have watched such a private moment, but he had to be sure they were both okay.
He bent over and swept the dirt from the sidewalk into a dustpan as he mused about something else he learned last night. He couldn’t believe Riley hadn’t returned to Maple Falls in nearly a decade. Even when he was busy with his baseball career, Hayden had made sure to come home regularly to see his family and friends. Maple Falls had always been his keystone, and no one was surprised he decided to stay permanently. He figured he’d just been away when Riley visited over the years, not that she hadn’t visited at all. It was obvious from their embrace last night that she and Erma were close, and he was confounded Riley hadn’t wanted to return to her hometown even once.
“Mornin’, Hayden.”
He turned to see Jasper Mathis, a retired carpenter in his eighties and a fixture at Price’s Hardware, standing behind him. The older man arrived every morning soon after the store opened, and he was such a staple that visitors who weren’t familiar with the store often thought he was an employee. He could be since he knew where every single nail and screw were located, probably better than Hayden did. “Mornin’, Jasper. How’s it going?”
“Countin’ my blessin’s and not my problems.” He peered at Hayden over his glasses as he took a sip of coffee. “You’re lookin’ kinda tired, young man.”
“I am, a little.”
“Long night?”
“You could say that.” He opened the front door for Jasper. “Dad’s in the back. We got a shipment of paint yesterday and the SKUs are all mixed up.”
“I’m sure that’s put him in a fine mood.”
“Yes, sir.” His father had talked to the supplier, who promised them a box of free paint in exchange for keeping his business. Few things ruffled Harrison Julius Price III’s feathers, but dealing with shipment problems was one of them.
“I’ll see if I can give him a hand.” Jasper sighed, but Hayden didn’t miss the slight grin on the man’s craggy face. Jasper was always happy to help fix a problem.
After emptying the dustpan into the trash bin in front of the store, Hayden went inside and put the broom and dustpan away. They’d opened an hour ago and business was slow, not so unusual for any of the businesses on Maple Falls’ short Main Street. He spent the morning straightening up the gardening section, a part of the store that had stayed in constant chaos the past month and a half. It was planting time, and all the gardeners and a few farmers had replenished their supplies. One day Hayden would have his own garden, but that project was on the back burner until he fixed up his house.
Near lunchtime his father and Jasper came from the back of the stock room, arguing about something that had happened twenty years ago, as they typically did. Although nearly three decades separated the men, the Price family was one of the founding families in Maple Falls, as was Jasper’s family. The two of them went way back.
“Why don’t you take your lunch break?” Dad said, coming up beside Hayden as he wiped off the glass countertop at the front of the store. He sprayed more glass cleaner on a light-blue microfiber cloth and cleaned around the computerized cash register. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to get an onslaught of customers anytime soon.”
Hayden watched for a sign of his father being upset with the slow business, but as usual his dad was upbeat. Family and friends had pointed out that Hayden took after him, in temperament anyway. Definitely not physically. His father was balding, short, and had worn a spare tire around his middle for as long as Hayden could remember. “You sure you don’t want to go first? I don’t mind waiting an hour or so.”
“I guess that’ll be all right.” Dad adjusted his black suspenders. “I won’t be gone long. You up for some lunch at the diner, Jasper? I’m buying.”
“Then I’m in.”
Hayden smiled as he watched the two men leave, then he looked around the store. It was full of merchandise all carefully organized and tracked. Vastly different from Knots and Tangles, a store he hadn’t been inside until yesterday when he asked Erma to join him for lunch. He’d been stunned to see the place filled from top to bottom w
ith yarn and yarn accessories. Was Erma selling yarn or collecting it? He couldn’t tell.
The two stores did have one thing in common—they were original Maple Falls businesses, two of the three legacy businesses on the street that were still open. Like those stores, Price’s Hardware and Knots and Tangles had struggled with declining business over the last fifteen years. Up until his shoulder healed and he retired from baseball, Hayden hadn’t paid much attention to the family business, other than the times he’d visited and worked a few days out of nostalgia. His older brothers, Harrison and Henry, had spent many more hours working for their father than Hayden had. The two of them were part-time employees until they left for college.
Now that Hayden was back in Maple Falls for good, he’d started noticing things. Like how the Sunshine Diner was only open for breakfast and lunch, instead of all day. How Petals and Posies, the floral shop, only operated from Tuesday to Saturday, instead of six days a week like it used to. Erma’s operating hours were sporadic at best, and he wondered if she would have to close the shop until her leg healed.
He was most concerned about the hardware store. His father had run it the same way his father had, and other than having updated supplies and a computer instead of a cash register, not much had changed in sixty years. Neither his father nor mother seemed to be concerned, but Hayden was.
The bell over the door jingled, and he turned to see who their first customer of the day was. He lifted a surprised brow. Riley McAllister.
* * *
When Riley walked inside the hardware store, she felt like she’d been transported to the past. She usually hadn’t needed to buy anything hardware related unless Mimi sent her for something, so she’d only been in the store a few times in her life. Usually her grandmother visited Price’s herself and made the purchases, while passing the time talking with Mr. Price, who, like Mimi, never met a stranger and loved to gab. Occasionally Mimi had sent Riley to fetch a part or garden supply, but she never saw Hayden working back then. He’d always been wrapped up in baseball.
Hooked on You Page 3
