The Magnolia Sisters

by Michelle Major

  “I’m not trying to,” she said, hating the catch in her voice. She offered him a smile. “I don’t know what I’m doing. No part of my life is stable and I’m not sure I can take on one more thing.”

  “I’m something you’d have to take on?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “It’s quickly becoming clear.”

  “We can be friends,” she offered. “But anything else is a mistake.”

  “I don’t like it when you use that word.”

  “Yeah.” She swallowed. “I’m sorry, Gray. You’re great and so is Violet. I don’t want to mess things up any more than I have already. Obviously, some fundamental part of me is broken.”

  He gave her the little half smile that drove her wild. “I hope I’m around to see what happens when you put yourself back together.”

  She sucked in a shuddery breath. The fact that he could still be so kind in this moment was too much.

  “Thanks.” She moved around him and down the driveway.

  He didn’t follow, not that she’d expected him to.

  Her car was parked on the street, and she unlocked the door with shaking fingers. She drove the already familiar route toward downtown, pulling into an angled space around the corner from the bakery where she and the Realtor she’d contacted were meeting.

  She’d asked both Meredith and Carrie to join her but saw neither of them as she walked into the quiet shop. She didn’t understand it. Meredith wanted nothing to do with Niall’s legacy and Carrie had already given up so much for her father.

  It would be easier for all of them to sell. Why not unburden themselves of the complicated history they hadn’t chosen to dictate their futures?

  She forced a smile as she approached the table where the Realtor waited for her. Jacob Martin stood and held out a hand. “You must be Avery. It’s great to meet you. I’m excited about the opportunity to help you.”

  “Me, too,” she answered even though her stomach twisted. “I’m going to order a coffee.”

  “I’ve got a double espresso.” Jacob held up his cup. “Need lots of energy for this project.”

  “Right. I’ll be back in a minute.” She turned for the counter, pressing a hand to her cheek.

  Several people greeted her as she made her way to the register. They seemed genuinely friendly, which remained a revelation.

  “Dirty chai?” the high schooler behind the counter asked. “With a shot of vanilla?”

  “You remember my order?”

  The freckled redhead grinned. “You’re kind of famous around here and you’ve got the best clothes. It makes you memorable.”

  Avery glanced down at her simple drop-waist denim dress. It had always been a favorite of hers, although there was nothing notable about it. She’d never been described as memorable. Her superpower was blending in, at least in her former life. In Magnolia, she was unique, and not just because of her connection to the famous Niall Reed.

  “Thank you for that,” she said, offering the barista a genuine smile. “I’d love a slice of banana bread along with it.”

  “You bet.” The girl rang her up. “Can I ask if there are any special websites where you shop? I mean, I know it’s probably super exclusive and expensive stuff, but...”

  “Let me think about that.” Most of her clothes came from high-end stores, but she figured she could find some places that sold more affordable styles and make recommendations. It was too bad Magnolia didn’t have any cute clothing stores.

  She paid, and the girl handed her a small brown bag with her bread and she moved to the end of the counter to wait for her drink. As she did, she studied the bakery’s charming interior. The space was painted a sunny yellow with white trim around the windows and black café tables and shelves lining the far wall.

  A shop like this—with the quality of products and personal service—would have been standing room only in her old neighborhood. She truly didn’t understand Magnolia’s dependence on her father. This place was special and not just because of Niall.

  Downtown exuded a kind of picture-postcard charm. In addition to the dance school, hardware store and bookshop housed in the buildings she now owned, the other side of the street boasted a florist and an Italian restaurant and deli, complete with an awning-covered patio out front. Last weekend’s festival seemed to bring crowds into town. If they could capitalize on that, then maybe the economy could be reinvigorated.

  She shook her head as she carried her tea and food to the table. Magnolia wasn’t hers to fix.

  “Are your sisters joining us?” Jacob asked as she sat across from him. He looked to be about ten years older than her with dark hair slicked back from his round face. He wore a dark suit and sported a gold pinky ring, making him look more out of place than she felt. His office was in a neighboring town, and she’d chosen him precisely because he had no ties to Magnolia.

  Avery glanced at the door once more. “Not today.” She plastered on a reassuring smile. “You and I will come up with a plan, and I’ll coordinate with them.”

  He passed three folders toward her, frowning. “It would be easier if all three of you are in agreement with how to handle the properties.”

  “Understood.” She traced a finger over his logo splashed in bold letters on the front of the folder. “Tell me about our prospects and how quickly you can make it happen.”

  * * *

  “SOMEONE WOKE UP on the wrong side of the fire pole again today.”

  Gray flipped Lucas the one-fingered salute as they checked the equipment on one of the station’s trucks the following Sunday. Ever since talking to Avery last week, Gray had indeed been in a crap-tastic mood. He’d held it together for Violet, but otherwise a black cloud hovered over him, refusing to budge.

  It should be easy to put Avery out of his mind. They’d spent exactly one fantastic night together, and he wasn’t some green boy who couldn’t separate emotions from sex.

  Only he couldn’t seem to manage it with this particular woman.

  It didn’t help that every morning his daughter skipped over to the carriage house for her daily dose of braids. She’d come home yesterday excited that Avery had bought pink ribbons to weave through her hair.

  She wanted nothing to do with Gray but had somehow managed to charm his plucky daughter. Whoever came up with the phrase “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” had never met a single dad.

  The crazy part was he hadn’t even realized something was missing from his life until Avery had blown into it. Now he pined after her smile and her sass. His life hadn’t felt lonely, but now the bed was too big and he realized he wanted someone to talk to, even if that talk was trading playful jabs back and forth.

  He knew she’d met with a Realtor after their argument. That fact proved this was for the best. Her time in Magnolia was temporary. To remind himself of that, he’d spent a painful hour watching tutorials online about braiding when he couldn’t fall asleep last night. He needed to be ready when he was back on call, which was bound to happen sooner than later.

  “It’s the hot chick in your guesthouse, right?” Lucas wiggled his eyebrows. “I could tell you had it bad when we saw you with her at Summer Fair. Even Jennie noticed, and very little besides food holds her attention these days.”

  “Don’t call her a chick,” Gray practically growled.

  Lucas’s wide grin told Gray that he’d used the term just to get a rise out of him. “You like her.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Gray finished checking the ladder truck’s gauges. “She’s here temporarily and if she convinces Carrie and Meredith to sell to some shady developer, it will change everything.”

  “Magnolia doesn’t need change.”

  “It’s coming,” Gray said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Whether we like it or not.”

  “Also, you avoided answering the
question. Do you have a thing for Avery Keller?”

  “Who doesn’t?” Sam Anderson, one of the newest recruits from the training academy, entered the bay from the break room. “She’s hot.”

  Gray muttered a curse under his breath.

  “I like how she always looks like she should be walking through the lobby of some fancy hotel.” Sam nodded. “She’s something different.”

  Lucas shook his head. “Which would appeal to you since you’ve been here three months and slept your way through most of the single women in town.”

  “I’m guaranteed to please,” Sam said with a laugh.

  “Put that on a business card,” Lucas told him.

  “Think Avery Keller would like it? I could—”

  Before the other man could finish his sentence, Gray had grabbed him and shoved him up against the side of the truck. “You’ll do nothing with Avery,” he said through clenched teeth. “Not even look at her.”

  Sam held up his hands. “I didn’t realize she was yours.”

  The idea of that was like a right hook to the jaw, but Gray shook his head. “She’s not mine. We’re friends. You’ll treat her with respect.”

  “Sure, man.” The young firefighter straightened his uniform shirt when Gray released him. “I’ve got a line on a sweet nurse from Winthrop. We’ve just scratched the surface of what I can offer the ladies around the region. Next week I’m meeting a woman I’ve been DMing over in Raleigh.” He held up his hand, ticking off potential conquests on his fingers. “I’m kind of full up at the moment, and your girl looks like she’d be high-maintenance in the end. I don’t do complicated.”

  Gray gaped as Sam disappeared around the back corner of the truck. “Were we ever like that?” He turned to Lucas. “Please tell me we were never like that.”

  “Nope,” Lucas confirmed. “You’re too soft to be a player, and I’ve been hung up on Jennie since fourth grade.”

  “I’m not soft.”

  “Like a damn marshmallow.”

  Gray opened his mouth to argue, then snapped it shut again and slammed shut the ladder truck’s side door with more force than necessary. Was that why Avery had cut him off before they’d really begun? He could talk a big game about keeping things casual, but that wasn’t what he did.

  “She’s not mine,” he mumbled when Lucas continued to study him.

  “But you want her to be.”

  “It’s better this way.”

  “Man, no.” Lucas shook his head. “I told myself that line for years with Jen. Even believed it for a while. That never made it the truth.”

  “You two are different.” Gray waved a hand in the air. “You’re, like, destiny or something. Avery is just another woman who’s wrong for me and out of my league on all the levels.”

  “So, right up your alley?”

  Gray was about to tell his friend exactly where he could shove his sense of humor when the dispatcher’s voice came over the loudspeaker, calling the company out to a house fire. The main alarm sounded and the crew rushed toward the engine. After donning their gear, Lucas climbed into the driver’s side and Gray got in next to him, all thoughts of joking set aside as he hit the siren knob and the truck headed out.

  “It’s the Davidson farm,” Gray muttered as they turned the corner onto the county highway leading out of town. “What’s Mason gotten himself into this time?”

  This wasn’t the only call they’d had to the thirty-acre property on the outskirts of town. Mason Davidson was pushing ninety, a third-generation local to Magnolia. His wife had died two years prior, and since then he’d called the station directly at least a half dozen times, most of them for noncrisis issues that he deemed urgent. But it was the first report of a fire they’d received and Gray hated to think the older man had a true emergency.

  He cursed as they drew closer to the property. Even from the two-lane road that bordered the fields, he could see dark clouds of smoke wafting up from the old farmhouse. No flames were visible against the blue sky, but where there was smoke...

  “Are you ready?” Lucas asked as he turned into the driveway.

  Gray nodded, adrenaline pumping through him. “We’ve got this.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  AVERY KNEW THE moment Gray woke up, and her heart practically skipped a relieved beat.

  “What the hell...” he muttered, glancing around the hospital room with wide eyes that quickly narrowed.

  “You’re fine,” she told him, jumping up from the chair where she’d been camped out for the past hour. “You were unconscious when they brought you in, but a full recovery is expected. A few of the guys from the station were in the waiting room earlier. I told Lucas I’d call when you woke up. If you want your friends here...”

  He blinked at her, looking angry as a grizzly bear separated from his stash of salmon. “Violet,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

  “Home with her grandma.” She stepped forward, suddenly shy at the intimacy of this moment. “I can call and ask your mom to bring her here if you want.” She glanced at her watch. “She’s probably not asleep yet.”

  “I’m going home,” he said, yanking at the tube giving him extra oxygen.

  “Gray, wait.” Avery placed a hand on his arm. “You’ve got to calm down.”

  He stilled, staring at her pale hand on his sun-kissed skin like she was a poisonous spider perched on him. “I need to get home to my kid. I don’t want her to see me in the hospital.”

  “Okay,” she agreed, not sure how to soothe him. “But you have to be discharged first. They’ll want to examine—”

  “I’m fine,” he said, the words sounding almost like a snarl.

  “You had a bad accident.” She lifted her hand to his forehead, tracing the bandage that covered the skin above his left eye. “Do you remember?”

  “Yeah.” He closed his eyes for a brief moment. “The first floor gave way and my mask got dislodged in the fall. The basement was filled with smoke, and I was wedged under a heavy floorboard. Couldn’t breathe. Why are you here, Avery?” His gaze zeroed in on her again.

  “I saw your mom and Violet at the house. Your daughter told me you’d been in an accident.”

  “That doesn’t answer the question.”

  “We’re friends.”

  “Huh.” She wasn’t sure whether that one syllable conveyed agreement or disbelief. In truth, she shouldn’t be here. She’d spent the past few days maintaining her distance, trying to convince herself she didn’t care as much as she did. But the thought of Gray injured impacted her at a deep level. She’d needed to see him—to see for herself that he was okay. How many kinds of a fool did that make her?

  He sat up straighter, wincing when he tried to pull in a deep breath. “What do you know about my injuries?”

  She swallowed. “Should I get the doctor or nurse?” When she would have taken a step back, he encircled her wrist with his big hand. God, he had the best hands.

  “Tell me.”

  “You were brought in with thermal burns to your airway and possible chemical damage to your trachea. They did a brain scan and chest X-ray. No other traumatic injuries were found. Carbon monoxide poisoning was a concern but they ruled it out.”

  “The timing is terrible.”

  “I guess the timing’s never good for almost dying.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t almost die. But I had planned to serve Stacy with papers filing for sole custody.”

  “Oh, Gray.” Avery turned her hand so she could link their fingers together. As much as she wished she could remain immune to this man, she couldn’t stop her feelings. “I know how badly you want that. This doesn’t have to stop you.”

  “I’m a firefighter. My work is inherently dangerous. At any moment, I could be injured or worse. Today was a routine call to a structural fire that got out of hand. No judge is goi
ng to grant me sole custody.”

  “You can’t give up. Talk to your attorney. Talk to Stacy.”

  He shrugged, sinking back against the pillows. “I need to go home.”

  “Then let’s get you out of here,” she said, squeezing his fingers.

  “I want to go now.”

  “That’s clear.” She released him and took a step back. “But we’re going to do this the right way. Yes, your job is dangerous but otherwise you live above reproach.” She pointed a finger at him. “Don’t start making stupid decisions now.”

  “Get me out of here,” he whispered, suddenly sounding exhausted. “Please.”

  The please undid her. She’d only known him a short time but in every situation, he’d been totally capable. Even when he’d claimed otherwise. Right now she could see the weight of his responsibilities and the pressure of single parenting, like they were a millstone around his neck.

  She hurried out of the room, bypassing the nurses’ station to push through the door of the doctors’ lounge. She ignored the calls of protest she heard behind her.

  Three men sat around a table, each of them hunched over individual laptops.

  “Which one of you is Grayson Atwell’s doctor?”

  A man with sandy-blond hair and friendly brown eyes raised his hand as if a teacher had called on him. He looked like he should be catching waves on a Southern Californian beach instead of in a community hospital. She wasn’t sure whether that should put her at ease or make her more anxious.

  “He needs discharge papers.” She gave the doctor her best commanding stare. “Right now.”

  The other two looked at Gray’s doctor, vaguely amused expressions on both their faces.

  The man flipped closed his laptop and straightened from the table. “I’m Brodie Jepsen,” he said as he approached her. “What’s your relationship with Grayson?”

  “W-we’re friends,” she stammered, refusing to take a step back despite the man looming over her. She was on a mission and wasn’t going to be deterred from it. “I’m Avery Keller.”