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

by Victoria Denault

  And then someone pounds on his front door.

  “What the actual fuck,” he hisses, annoyed.

  I jump out of his embrace. He doesn’t move. “I don’t want to answer that. Whoever it is will go away.”

  There’s more pounding.

  “That sounds like a Hawkins fist doing the knocking and we never go away,” I tell him and he grins.

  “This from the girl who was about to orgasm and run.”

  Okay, now I’m grinning too. But mine is one hundred percent sheepish.

  More pounding. “Jake! You in there?”

  It’s Logan. I know because although he sounds like Finn as much as he looks like him, which is completely, Finn is at hockey so it’s got to be Logan. Jake pulls on his sweats and I grab a t-shirt from a pile of discarded clothes on a wicker chair in the corner of his room and toss it at him. He looks confused. “Well you live on the fourth floor and I’m not climbing out a damn window, so put on all the clothes while I think of an excuse for being here.”

  “And you might wanna smooth your hair. You look like you’ve just been pounded into the headboard,” Jake says proudly.

  “Never touched the headboard,” I reply as I follow him out of the bedroom.

  “We’ll have to work on that, Tink,” he murmurs and throws a wink to me over his broad shoulder before he swings open the front door.

  Logan is standing there with the biggest, cutest ball of fur I have ever seen in my entire twenty-five years of life. It’s cappuccino brown and fluffy with a dollop of white between its blue eyes and on its chest. Logan is grinning like I don’t ever think I’ve seen before and that makes me just as joyful as the puppy. I squeal! The puppy wiggles in his arms.

  “Is that a baby bear?” Jake asks as Logan puts it down and it lumbers, like only a puppy can, into Jake’s front hall.

  “What’s its name?” I ask and drop to my knees in front of it.

  “I don’t have a name yet, but I’m working on it,” Logan confesses.

  Jake squats down too as Logan steps across the threshold and shuts the door behind him. “I was going to surprise you tomorrow, Terra. I didn’t think you’d be here.”

  The puppy is the perfect reason not to look him in the eye as I lie. “Wanted to go over some pre-op stuff with Jake so I swung by after work.”

  “We were going to order Chinese. You in?” Jake says and I’m too busy burying my face in the puppy’s neck to make a startled face.

  “I’m starving,” Logan admits, pulling the beanie he’s wearing off his head. His hair is all over the place. “I drove all the way to Gray to get him.”

  “Is it a puppy? Because it’s already the size of some grown dogs,” Jake notes and the puppy flops down on his back offering us his belly for scratches. “What breed is he?”

  “Newfoundland,” Logan says as he smoothes his sandy brown hair. “I wanted a big dog and these guys used to pull in the nets for fisherman in Newfoundland, Canada, which seemed fitting for a Hawkins family dog. And then Mason told me about his aunt in Grady who has a Newfie who accidentally got knocked up before she could get her fixed. Anyway, she was giving away the puppies to a good home.”

  “Sounds like fate,” I say softly as the puppy jumps to his feet and starts showering me in kisses. I giggle like a maniac. “Oh my God, I’m already falling in love.”

  “Me too,” Jake says.

  I tumble backward, the dog climbs on top of me, but my eyes are on Jake who is staring at me, not the dog. I smile and fight a blush. Logan walks up after toeing off his shoes by the door and scoops up the dog. “So Jake you gonna order the grub or what?”

  “I should go,” I say as panic sets in again. I’m worried if I stick around Logan will somehow figure out what we just did.

  “Nope,” Logan says flatly and pushes the dog into my chest. I hold him and am shocked at how heavy he is. “You’re gonna stay, eat crispy beef and chicken fried rice, and help me name him.”

  Two hours later and two bottles of beer, which is a lot for me, I put down the container of crispy beef on the coffee table and grab my water glass. After a big sip, which I definitely need, I dip my fingers in the water and flick the droplets on top of the puppy’s head. “I officially christen you Chewbacca Hawkins. Welcome to the family, Chewie!”

  “It’s perfect,” Logan says smiling and leaning back in the leather recliner across from me. Jake is on the old wooden rocker by the window, so Chewie and I have the couch to ourselves. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. River is obsessed with Star Wars. He’ll love it.”

  “The dog does look like Chewbacca,” Jake says and sips his beer. “Good job, Terra.”

  I smile at him, but make sure it’s brief because Logan has definitely been staring at us harder than normal. I’m sure he doesn’t believe my story about why I’m here. Jake starts to clean up the remnants of the Chinese food and refills my water glass. Logan stands as Chewie circles twice and curls up on my lap. He’s like a furry, weighted blanket. “I know the timing is a little crazy. The family is gonna have a lot to manage in the coming weeks as you and Jake recover, so I’m sure Declan will call my timing selfish.”

  “He won’t,” I reply but I’m not exactly sure about that. Deck loves to judge Logan’s life choices. It’s like a full-time hobby. “And even if he does, he’s wrong. It’s the perfect time to add this guy to the clan. We need something happy and light … figuratively speaking.”

  Logan laughs. “Yeah he’s going to weigh more than you by the time he’s full grown.”

  “Great, we get a dog and I’m still the runt in the family,” I snark.

  Logan looks at his watch and stands up. “Want a lift home tonight? You can’t drive after drinking.”

  “I walked.”

  “Still. It’s late. Let me drive you,” Logan insists so I nod, reluctantly.

  Jake reappears from the kitchen. “You heading out?”

  Logan and I nod simultaneously. Jake’s dark eyes linger on me longer than Logan. I know he wants to finish our conversation from earlier, but we can’t. If I don’t catch a ride with Logan, he’ll know something is up and I’m not ready for Logan’s two cents on my love life. Or anyone’s for that matter.

  Logan scoops sleepy Chewie from my lap and holds him like he holds River. Chewie’s fluffy head on Logan’s shoulder. I pull my phone from my pocket and snap a picture. “This is going on your dating profile.”

  “I don’t have a dating profile,” Logan replies with a frown.

  “A girl can dream,” I mutter back. Jake chuckles.

  “Okay… drive safe,” Jake says as he follows us to the front door. Logan shoves his feet in his shoes and I let Jake drape one of his hoodies over my shoulders because I came here without a coat and the temperature outside has dropped. “See you … later?”

  I nod and smile. He winks.

  Outside, Logan puts a leash on Chewie, hooking it to the red collar around his neck and lets him walk to the car, biting at the leash the whole way and stopping to pee on the back tire of Logan’s SUV before he gets loaded into a massive crate in the back. I give him one last kiss on the head before Logan closes the crate door.

  I climb into the passenger seat and as soon as we’re buckled up, Logan pulls out of the parking stall. “Beth is bringing River by the restaurant on her way to work tomorrow morning. I’m introducing him and the rest of the family to Chewie. Can you be there?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  “What were you and Jake talking about?” Logan asks.

  “Pre-op stuff,” I mutter and look out the window. “Don’t want to bore you.”

  “There’s nothing you two need to discuss about the op,” Logan replies firmly in that tone he gets which always makes me think he would have made a great doctor. It’s so authoritative and confident. “In fact, a huge percentage of kidney transplant patients and donors never even meet.”

  “Yeah well, we’re friends and so we’re discussing stuff. Why do you care?” I dare
to steal a sideways glance at him. It’s dark in the car, but I can see he’s not scowling. Not smiling either, though.

  “Because I’m worried your childhood crush is back full force and it was a bad idea then, and it’s a bad idea now,” Logan tells me. “You’re both in a really vulnerable space and Jake doesn’t make great decisions when he’s vulnerable.”

  I glare over at him. “Did you just call me a bad decision?”

  “No. I mean … that’s not what I meant,” Logan sighs. He tightens his jaw, I can see the muscle in it bulge. He’s literally fighting to keep his mouth shut about something. “He makes rash decisions. Really big ones. He changed his middle name to his last name. He moved clear across the state because he made up some big personal attack in his head.”

  “He doesn’t exactly have the proud family history we do, Logan.” I can’t believe I have to remind him of this. “He’s probably better off without his mom’s last name. And we hurt him by not including him in your crisis. He has abandonment issues, rightfully so, and we added to it. Did you tell him the truth?”

  Logan nods tersely. “Yeah. We’re good. He understands and won’t even tell anyone else in the family I told him.”

  I nod. That’s probably a good thing because Declan would blow a gasket if he knew we were talking about this again. Even with Jake.

  “My point stands. Jake’s just a guy who doesn’t really think things through. Aspen’s apartment burned down and he automatically invites her to live with him. You know how bad they are together. That’s another bad decision,” Logan turns onto my street.

  “And I dated Tom for half a year and ignored all the warning signs he wasn’t the one or even worthy of consideration for the title,” I reply and tip my head back against the seat. “We all make rash decisions at some point, Logan. That doesn’t mean every decision is rash.”

  “Why were you dating Tom if you didn’t see a future with him?” Logan asks as he stops at a red light and looks over at me with curious blue eyes.

  “Because I was lonely. And Tom was a great guy. On paper,” I sigh, put my elbow up on the door and start to twist a lock of my hair. “There just wasn’t that rush, you know? That feeling like you can’t focus when they’re in the room and the constant excitement at the possibility of seeing them again when they aren’t in the room.”

  Logan nods but then shrugs. “I’ve never had that either.”

  “Not even with Bethany?” I ask of River’s mom.

  He pauses a second and I can see the guilt take over his face. “I was stupid-drunk the first time we hooked up and I figured it was a one-night stand, but she kept hanging around and showing up and calling and she liked to party as much as I did, so I kept seeing her. I asked her to marry me when she got pregnant because Ma would have murdered me if I didn’t.”

  “Shit, Logan, I never knew that.” We didn’t realize how bad Logan’s drinking was until that car accident, but I still didn’t realize that he never had real feelings for Bethany.

  He shakes his head now as the light turns green and he continues driving. “Don’t get me wrong, I would do it all again if it meant I got to have River exactly the way he is, which means having him with Bethany. But I would have not let Ma’s Catholic guilt get the better of my decision-making.”

  I think back to what just happened with Jake and wonder if it could have happened earlier if I hadn’t been dating Tom. “I probably wouldn’t have dated Tom knowing what I know now.”

  Logan nods. “Makes sense. But Terra, you gotta promise me that you won’t let this—Tom or the lupus—cloud your opinion of yourself and what you deserve.”

  “I don’t think I deserve less because I have lupus,” I reply and close my eyes. “I just think the disease has taken away some of my options. And don’t tell me it hasn’t, Logan, because it has. Part of the biggest battle with this disease is trying to convince other people you’re sick. Don’t make me convince you.”

  “I know you’re sick, Terra. I was almost a doctor and also, I grew up with you. I saw the struggle, the exhaustion, the fevers, the pain, the hair loss, but that doesn’t make you unworthy of love.”

  “This from a guy who refuses to even attempt to date because he made one mistake in his life,” I can’t help but say. Logan frowns.

  “Not the same thing. I made a massive mistake, you have an illness you didn’t cause.”

  “Technically, alcoholism is an illness you didn’t cause either, and it’s responsible for your mistake,” I argue back.

  “I am responsible for my mistakes,” Logan replies firmly. “And stop trying to turn this around on me, please.”

  “Okay let’s talk about Jake instead,” I say casually. At least I hope it sounds casual because as soon as I say his name, my heart skips a beat and I feel warmer all over. “Why do you think he’s still single?”

  “Because he wants to be,” Logan turns into my apartment complex. “He, like you, thinks he’s not good enough for the whole white picket fence and passionate, undying love crap. And that’s why I worried too, Ter. You want that perfect love story and Jake doesn’t think he’s that guy for anyone. The man has a fucking medal and still won’t call himself a hero of anything let alone a love story.”

  “He’s grown a lot and I don’t think you give him enough credit,” I reply as he pulls to a stop in front of my apartment complex. “He’s no longer worried about what other people think. And you can’t scare him into not dating me… if he did want to date me.”

  “So threatening to fire him from the Shack then tie his ankle to the boat anchor and sink him with the lobster traps if he touches you isn’t going to work this time?” Logan asks and I glare at him. “What? Finn and I were stupid teens who didn’t want you to be touched by anyone, let alone our buddies.”

  “Why couldn’t I have sisters?” I sigh. “Look, don’t bug Jake. I like him. Not again but still. I’ve always liked him. He gives me that rush that Tom didn’t and he’s also kind of saving my life. Remember that.”

  Logan turns off the engine and twists his torso to star at me more easily. “Just go slow. There’s a lot going on—for both of you right now. And when it comes to the tough stuff, you both have a go-to defense system that shuts other people out. And there’s gonna be tough stuff in the next few weeks, not just regarding the kidney situation.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure the whole town knowing our business won’t make it easier. Thank you Nellie Green,” I frown. “Sometimes I hate this fucking town.”

  I dig in my coat pocket for my keys and act like it’s really hard to find them. “I should get going. I have to pack for the hospital and get my stuff in order.”

  “See you tomorrow,” Logan says and reaches out to squeeze my hand. I squeeze back and then twist to blow an air kiss to the perfect giant fur ball in the back who is whining in his crate.

  I jump out of the SUV and into my building. As I climb the stairs to my apartment, my phone pings in my pocket and I pull it out to see a text from Jake. It’s a picture of my bra and the words: Found this behind the couch. If you left this as a reminder, I don’t need one. You’re all I can think about.

  I open my front door and kick it closed behind me as I type back.

  I’m going to sleep in your hoodie… and nothing else.

  And then I lean against my door grinning like a complete idiot.

  16

  Jake

  I show up at the restaurant at a little after nine in the morning like Logan’s text demanded. And it was a demand. He wasn’t ‘Hey buddy, come see River meet Chewie.’ It was ‘Be at the Shack at nine.’ So I know as I get out of my Jeep and walk toward the building, this is about more than the new dog. Logan and Finn are both out in the parking lot playing with Chewie, who is zooming back and forth between the two of them while they toss a stuffed toy back and forth. Finally Logan sees me and waves. At least I think it’s Logan but can’t be a hundred percent sure from this distance. He tosses the toy up in the air and Chewie jumps for it but
it hits his snout and bounces off. He picks it up off the ground and does a victory lap through the empty lot. Finn jogs after him, to make sure he doesn’t escape.

  “Thanks for coming,” Logan says rubbing the back of his neck, which is a horrible sign. He does that when he’s stressed.

  Finn scoops up Chewie and walks right over. “I’m gonna step in here, because my twin didn’t get the confrontation gene and we don’t have time for all his roundabout blabbering. Dad’s boat will be back soon and Mom and Nova will be here in a sec to open up, and Terra is already inside making coffee for everyone.”

  I stiffen, but Finn gives me a smile. It’s probably supposed to ease my worries, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Terra has had a crush on you since middle school and although we’re so happy to have you home and beyond grateful you’re giving her a kidney, it’s made that crush start up again, and we’re worried you don’t see it.”

  “I see it and I welcome it,” I admit and reach out to give Chewie a scratch under his chin. “I saw it when we were kids too. I’m not a moron.”

  “Okay….” Logan swallows hard. “So I guess this is the part where we warn you that she’s obviously really vulnerable right now and you probably have a lot of your own shit you’re dealing with, coming back to town and everything, so maybe boundaries are a good idea for now.”

  Oh boy. Here we go… “You guys really don’t give your sister enough credit. She’s a smart girl. Emotionally and intellectually. Smarter than you two put together. And you must not think much of me if you think I would ever hurt her.”

  “You dated her best friend.” Leave it to Finn to state the obvious. “And hooked up with her. Recently.”

  Logan’s eyes lock with mine. Finn doesn’t look nearly as intense as his twin so I know Logan has kept my secret.

  “If you two are against this, I’m sorry to say, I don’t care,” I counter. “She’s an adult. I’m an adult. I’ve been nothing but a loyal friend to you two and if she can get over the Aspen thing and give me a shot, it’s not your place to hold it against me.”