The Fall We Fell: A Small Town Friends-to-Lovers Romance (Ocean Pines Series Book 1)

by Victoria Denault

  “Lupus.”

  “Yeah, so then I thought can they donate blood and plasma? Maybe it’s something to do with that.” Cassidy blinks and glances out the window. There’s two other cars behind me now. “Okay well I should keep the line moving. Welcome back Jake. Come by anytime.”

  I hand her the money I was going to pay for my coffee with. “Thanks for the coffees. Pay it forward by letting me buy the next order, okay?”

  “You are such a sweetheart,” Cassidy smiles and I drive off.

  As usual, running into a Green means receiving a dump truck load full of town gossip. Except Ronan. He spews cocky bullshit not gossip. Hell, he hasn’t even mentioned a fiancé. The stuff about our fire captain potentially leaving is big news, but I focus on the more important information Cassidy dropped as I drive home. Terra has something wrong with her arm?

  She was wearing long sleeves the two times I’ve seen her even though we’re in an early fall heatwave. When I rolled into town the restaurant was packed, the AC barely cutting it, and she was in a long-sleeved tee while everyone else working was wearing short sleeves. Everyone. Huh.

  I pull into the parking spot of my new apartment ten minutes later. Aspen’s car is in one of the guest spots so she hasn’t left yet. I was slightly worried she’d bail before I got home in an attempt to ghost me again. I walk toward the building, which in the sixties was a beach front motel. It was turned into apartments in the late nineties but still has a beach motel vibe big glass lobby and plunge pool and hot tub on the small patio that faces the dunes and ocean beyond. I got it so easily and quickly because the owner was the brother of Captain D’Amato and he put in a good word. Also, the units aren’t huge so if you aren’t single without much stuff, you probably don’t want it even with the killer ocean views. My goal is to buy something by spring. I have a nice little savings account already. There wasn’t much in King’s Rock to spend your pay checks on. I’ll be the first person in my family to ever own a home and that matters a lot to me.

  I climb the stairs to the fourth floor, walk straight to the end, balancing the coffees one on top of the other while I unlock the front door. I do a horrible job and the top one leaks onto the front of my shirt because the lid isn’t on right. Fuck.

  Inside, a deep, heavy bark echoes menacingly, but when I swing open the door I’m greeted by a swiftly wagging tail and Major promptly throws himself down on my feet and rolls over to show me his belly. “I’ll rub that in a minute, buddy.”

  I step over him and follow the scent of bacon into my kitchen. Aspen is leaning against the counter in there, sipping orange juice out of a plastic container. On the counter next to her is a full eggs-and-bacon breakfast with a side of baked beans. I’m stunned. “I found your camping dishes, ran to the convenience store at the end of the block, got the basics.”

  My stomach rumbles. “Aren’t you little miss ingenuity? Here’s your favorite coffee as a thank you, but I spilled a little. Sorry.”

  I hand her the ice coffee, put mine down on the counter and tug off my coffee stained shirt. She looks at it, reads the label and gives me a smile that isn’t really a smile. “Thanks but pregnant women can’t drink coffee. And this is Terra’s favorite drink. Not mine.”

  “What?” I ball up my shirt and put it on the counter.

  “I love the iced coconut mocha. Terra gets the iced caramel coffee. Every time. Without fail since she was sixteen,” Aspen sips her orange juice, puts the coffee down on the counter and motions to the plates of food. “Eat. Before it gets cold.”

  Did I really mix up their drinks? We started dating because Aspen asked me to be her prom date. By the time we went to prom, Aspen and Terra, who had been lifelong best friends up until that point, were no longer speaking. They had actually gotten into a food fight in the cafeteria one lunch hour. I wasn’t there, having dropped out the year before, but I heard all about it like everyone else. Terra dumped a plate of the special—spaghetti and meat sauce—on Aspen’s head.

  They told people it was a fight over a prom dress. Aspen bought the one Terra had been saving up for. But damn, it was quite the fight over a dress. After prom night, when we started dating, Aspen wouldn’t even let me say Terra’s name without getting pissed off. It strained our relationships because when I wasn’t with Aspen I was with the Hawkins family. Lucy and Charlie had really helped me out a few years earlier, when I was sixteen and applied for emancipation from my mom, by letting me rent the apartment above the restaurant. And although they weren’t thrilled when I dropped out of high school, they gave me full-time dishwasher hours at the Shack so I was around Terra all the time. I always wondered if the real problem was that Aspen sensed how much I liked that.

  But now she’s clearly matured because she doesn’t make a snide comment about the mix-up. She just drinks her orange juice and leans against the counter. She points to the shirt she’s wearing, which is one of my T-shirts. “I didn’t grab much clothes and needed something to sleep in,” she says as I reach for the one of the plates of food. “Hope you don’t mind.”

  “It’s fine,” I say and grab the fork from my camping kit that’s beside the tin camping plate. I jump up to sit on the counter, since I don’t have furniture yet, and Aspen walks over to the fridge. The shirt hits her mid-thigh but when she bends a bit to put the unwanted coffee inside the fridge, I get a clear view of the bottom of her ass, covered in lacey hot pink boy shorts.

  I feel nothing sexual at the sight. That’s new.

  “You sleep okay?”

  “I was out like a light. Pregnancy makes you sleep like you’re in a coma. Probably because once the baby is born your body knows you’ll never sleep again.” She says it so casually, like the fact that she’s pregnant and her entire life is about to change, is no big deal.

  “How are you so calm about this?”

  She shrugs. “I had a bit of a meltdown when I realized my period was M.I.A., and I was shaking so hard taking the home test I almost didn’t even get enough pee on the stick. But I knew the minute I saw the little plus sign that this was just happening and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it but accept it. I won’t get an abortion, Jake. I’m not against them at all and fully support anyone who wants one, but I don’t want one. So I’m at peace with this new, unplanned path and I’m rolling with it. And that’s why I’m not keeping you on the hook. This is my decision. I’m not giving you a say.”

  “First of all I would never ever ask you to consider abortion,” I reply. “This is one hundred percent your body and your decision. But if it’s mine, I’m a parent and that’s my decision. Don’t try and take it from me okay? The way Bethany tries to take it away from Logan.”

  “Logan gave her good reason in the beginning,” Aspen reminds me but then she smiles. “You’ll be great at it, Jake. I know you don’t think you will, but you will. I hope it is yours because the other guy … he wants kids less than you. And he’s not the person you are.”

  “Who is he?”

  She shakes her head. “Nope. Not telling. I mean, if he isn’t the dad, you don’t need to know I hooked up with him. If he is, well, he should know first.”

  I want to fight her on that, but she’s right. “Fair enough. But it was more than a hook-up wasn’t it?”

  She nods. “It was for me. A lot more. Went on for months. But I don’t think he ever saw it as more.”

  “Have you told Abbott about the baby?” I ask and she shakes her head. “But you will.”

  “Eventually.”

  “The parents?”

  She laughs out loud at the idea she’d tell her parents. I’m not surprised. Mr. and Mrs. Barlowe are cold, rigid, mean people if you really looked past the money and power they hide behind.

  “I have no intention of telling them,” Aspen replies, her tone indicating there is no room for discussion on this. Not that I would talk her into telling those sanctimonious assholes.

  “So… I Googled information about paternity tests,” I say as she motions for m
e to continue eating, and I spear some scrambled eggs covered in melted pepper jack with my fork. “We can find out really easily as soon as we want. It just takes a couple blood tests and about five days wait time.”

  She glances up at me with puppy dog eyes. “Can I at least figure out the whole ruined apartment thing first? I can only handle so much at a time.”

  She has probably lost almost everything. She’ll be allowed back in there today to assess the damage and see what can be saved, then there’ll be a lot of debating back-and-forth with insurance companies because they’re never easy to work with. “You need to tell Abbott so he can help you find a place to crash. It’ll take a few weeks to sort stuff with the insurance companies.”

  She sighs. “He just got to training camp and he’ll want to turn around and come back. That can’t happen.”

  “Unfortunately, you can’t stay here, so he’s your best bet, Aspen,” I say. “I’m not trying to be mean.”

  She frowns but reaches for her phone which is on the floor by air mattress. “You can feed Major my breakfast. I’m not going to want it after this call.”

  I nod and head back into the kitchen while she calls her brother. Major happily follows me. When I put the metal camping plate with the eggs, bacon and home fries down on the floor, he devours everything on it as I try not to eavesdrop too hard on Aspen’s conversation with Abbott.

  I sip my coffee and hear her explain. “I’m at Jake’s. Yes that Jake…. No we are not back together… No. I am not lying. I just… well my apartment building kind of almost burned down.”

  I can hear him perfectly clearly. “WHAT THE HELL, ASPEN!”

  “I didn’t burn it down,” she replies defensively and I try and stifle a chuckle because of course he thinks she did it. Aspen is the queen of getting herself into pickles. And pregnancies now, I guess. Oh man, if this kid is mine, Abbott is going to hunt me down and beat me with his hockey stick. He blames me for the heartbreak Aspen felt when we broke up. I felt it too, but he doesn’t get that and he wouldn’t care if he did. Because that’s what family does—they rally behind each other and protect each other at all costs. That’s why Terra Hawkins was off-limits way back when I was a lonely, struggling teenager. Because if things blew up with her, I would have lost all of them.

  Aspen drops her voice to an angry and loud whisper. “Well, he offered and I had nowhere else to go. Did you want me to call them?”

  Them would be their parents. Both of them have been estranged from their parents since Aspen was eighteen. She has never, ever told me the exact reason why. But there are a lot of reasons I could guess at. They’re hardcore religious, cold, vicious people.

  “What? No. Really? Okay, well I would be eternally grateful,” Aspen says and I know he’s just offered to pay for a new place for her to live while her dilemma gets sorted. “Thanks Abbott. Truly. Yeah I will call you when I get there. Bye.”

  I walk back into the living room as she drops her phone on the air mattress. “He’s putting you up in a hotel?”

  “Five Seasons,” Aspen replies.

  “Fancy!”

  “They take dogs,” Aspen says and pats the top of Major’s head because he’s moved to sit by her feet.

  Then my doorbell rings not once, not twice, but three times in a row. Major goes berserk. His bark is beyond loud and super scary if you don’t know him. Aspen glances at me in confusion, which I’m sure is the look I’m also giving her. I walk through the apartment to the front door and fling it open, thinking my movers might have gotten here way early. Instead, I find Terra standing in front of my door.

  She’s wearing a big cardigan, even though it’s warm out, and leggings with tall Uggs. “Did you get a dog?” she asks but then swings into a new subject without giving me a second to answer. “I need someone’s help tomorrow, and you’re the only one I could think of.”

  “Umm…I’m flattered?” I scratch the back of my head and she lets those big, endless dark chocolate colored eyes sweep over me. Major comes bolting down the hall.

  “Are you dog sitting Major? Aspy off on one of her stakeouts?” Terra scratches him behind the ears and then barges right by me into the front hall.

  Oh fuck.

  Before I can stop her she’s marched into the living room. Aspen is there next to the air mattress with the rumpled sleeping bag, still dressed in barely anything. She stares at Terra and Terra stares back. This is not going to go over well. Damnit.

  “Aspen is just—”

  Terra spins back around so fast she blurs and then she’s storming past me back to the door. I chase after her. “Wait! Stop!”

  Major barks like he’s helping. I swear he’s saying, ‘Don’t leave! It’s not what you think!’

  “This was a mistake,” she mutters and waves a hand in front of me. I reach out and grab it.

  “Stop! The only mistake is the assumption you’re currently making. Aspen is here because her apartment burned down,” I blurt out. “Yesterday. Call Logan. He’ll confirm.”

  “Sort of burned down. Mostly just got drowned by sprinklers.” Aspen adds, now standing at the end of the hall. I don’t think it’s all that helpful and my expression shows it. Terra glances between her and me but when her eyes stay on Aspen and take in her outfit, or lack thereof, I know she isn’t going to believe a word I say.

  “Are you okay?” Aspen asks Terra and takes a couple steps closer. “You look like hell, Ter.”

  Way to make a bad moment worse, Aspen.

  “Thanks!” Terra exclaims so full of passive aggressive perkiness I can’t help but smile. “I wonder why we don’t hang out any more?”

  She turns to me, placing Aspen at her back. Aspen slinks off into the kitchen with Major, hanging her head.

  “Look, I just want to walk out that door and wipe this whole scene from my hard drive,” Terra announces and I bite back another smile because she’s dead serious but I love when she talks nerdy. It’s adorable. “But I need help.”

  “You know I will help you with anything,” I sweep my eyes over her outfit again. I’m shirtless and not even close to chilled. She must be sweating under that cardigan. “Can I take your sweater? It’s warm in here.”

  “No.” She glances over her shoulder again. “Can we talk outside?”

  “Is there something wrong with your arms?” I ask bluntly. “I’m no detective or anything but you’re constantly wearing long sleeves and it’s hot and humid as f—"

  She rocks up on her tip toes and slaps a hand over my half open mouth. Hard. Now her whole tiny body is pressed up against me. The open cardigan is positioned in a way that the buttons are rubbing against my nipples. In between that and the fact that I can feel her breasts pressed against me through the thin cotton of her t-shirt, I’m getting turned on. Lust starts to swirl inside me like a tornado forming. That feeling of connection from the beach yesterday is back in full force.

  Her eyes lock with mine and her eyelashes flutter for a second and I swear I hear her breath catch before she jumps back immediately. “Shut. Up. Please.”

  Her head snaps around toward the kitchen doorway, reminding me Aspen is here. Then she glares at me. “Do you have a shirt you can put on, so we can talk outside?” Terra asks.

  “Don’t need a shirt. It’s Ocean Pines in a fall heatwave,” I explain.

  “Well, I’m being distracted by your oddly shaped, awkwardly hard nipples.”

  I glance down. “Oddly shaped?” I rub my fingertips over my nipples and the lust tornado grows bigger inside me, but I don’t stop because it’s riling her up. “They’re shaped just fine, thank you very much. And there’s a draft in here. We’re standing by the front door, you know.”

  “Oh my God stop touching yourself!” Terra rants and Aspen’s head pops out of the kitchen. She pops back in when she realizes I’m not touching myself that way. I focus on Terra again. “Talk, Tink.”

  She runs her hands through her hair, it’s her natural color. When I split three years ago she was in t
his phase of dying it all kinds of crazy colors. Teal, blue, and she was pink when I left. Now it’s that sandy blonde she was born with. “I need to do this in private. Please.”

  She grabs my hand and yanks me outside, firmly closing the front door behind us. Then she walks down to the other end of the hall by the stairwell, dragging me with her. “I need someone to drive me to my dialysis appointment,” she whispers. “The rules are you can’t take a cab or Uber and you can’t drive yourself. I tried to pass Jay off as family once but my doctor called me out on it because of course everyone knows he’s the town Uber driver. So, I can’t pull that shit again. Has to be a friend or family member.”

  “Your what?”

  “I’m on dialysis,” she says and sighs. “My kidneys stopped working because of the lupus. We fought it with drugs and stuff for a while, but we lost. So now I need my blood cleaned by machines three times a week. It’s not a big deal but I can’t take myself. Finn and Nova are working. Declan is in Boston for a marketing conference. Dad is on the boat and Mom… I love her but she makes it a stressful experience for me and I’d just rather avoid that.”

  “How long has this been going on?” I ask and my whole body starts to tingle with shock, like the news knocked it out and every limb fell asleep at once.

  “A little over two months,” Terra replies.

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” I ask and my voice does nothing to hide my pain. I’m hurt.

  Terra’s hard expression softens. “You weren’t here.”

  “That again?” I bark because that’s the same excuse they used when Logan went into rehab. I was in Orono doing extra training for work. They know how much that excuse hurt me. How I wanted to know, like a real family member, when it was happening. Even if I couldn’t be there. “Did you know that’s part of the reason I left Ocean Pines, was you guys leaving me out of the crisis with Logan? I was hurt. I was supposed to be family, you all kept telling me that for years but then you cut me out.”