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

by Victoria Denault

  “Can she?” Logan challenges. His gaze darkens like a storm cloud. “Handle the Aspen thing? All the Aspen things?”

  “Look, forget the Aspen thing. That’s in the past, but right now you guys are both about to go through a lot physically and it will likely bring you closer, but that might make you both … I don’t know, like, get confused,” Finn says and his smile is less forced and more honest. “I’m not the fucking Brainiac and empath in the family, obviously, and I would be thrilled if she ended up with you one day, Jake. Truly. I just worry about things starting right now. I know she kissed you and I know she’s vulnerable. I worry.”

  Chewie drops the toy and barks impatiently for someone to pick it up. Finn reaches for it and Chewie snatches it and runs. Finn runs after him leaving me alone with Logan. Logan rubs the back of his neck again. “Does Terra know everything?”

  “No. Aspen promised to do the paternity test after my operation, though,” I swear and I hope he can see how serious I am. “I didn’t plan for things to progress with Terra before I found out, but it kind of did.”

  He is fighting a grimace. Typical guy shit. He doesn’t want to think about what progressing means when his only sister is involved. “Yeah, okay. I’ve been there, but Jake, if this kid is yours and you don’t tell her … she won’t be the only one not talking to you.”

  “If there’s a reason to tell her,” I explain and inhale deeply. The air is thick with the salty smell of the ocean just behind the restaurant. He looks skeptical, which hurts, but he nods. Finn walks back over to us, holding Chewie. Logan pulls a leash out of the pocket of his jacket and hooks it to Chewie’s collar. “You said Tink is inside?”

  They nod simultaneously and without another word, I head inside. Terra has her back to me, facing the coffeemaker, filling several mugs on a tray. They don’t open the actual restaurant until eleven, so I figure she’s the only one here. I walk behind the counter and she turns because the bell on the door announced my presence. But there’s a moment of shock on her face followed by a big smile. “Hey.”

  I glance out the window. Logan and Finn aren’t paying attention to us because Nova and Lucy have arrived and are out there fawning all over the new furry family member. “Hey yourself.”

  I bend and give her a kiss, short, sweet, and not at all what I need. What I need is to throw her up on the counter, wedge myself between her legs and kiss her breathless, but that’s out of the question right now. In fact, I guess the little kiss is too because she steps back as soon as it’s over. “I think we need to wait until after the op to tell everyone this is a thing.”

  “Finn and Logan kind of already figured it out,” I say. “They just had a talk with me.”

  She cringes. “Ugh. I’m sorry. Was it horrible? Were they jerks?”

  “It was fine. Better than when I was seventeen and they told me they would break my nose, shove me in a locker naked, and let me bleed to death if I touched you.” I smile but she looks positively horrified.

  “They said that to you?”

  “No. They said it to Kevin Ritchman when he made some comment about how hot you were at lunch,” I explain. “To me they just said don’t do it. It will ruin our friendship forever.”

  “Kevin Ritchman liked me?” she blinks. I nod. Now she grins, it lights up her whole face and the whole room suddenly looks brighter. “Wow. I wonder how many other potential boyfriends I’ve lost because of those dickheads.“

  “Would you like me to write you a list?”

  Her smile turns cheeky. “Yeah, I mean maybe I have options I didn’t know about.”

  Her hair is in two braids, then ends of which sit on her collarbones and I want to reach out and grab them both and tug her to my mouth again to show her exactly why she doesn’t need to revisit anyone else. But Declan blows through the kitchen door. He’s in a charcoal suit with a burgundy tie and pocket square. I step back from Terra. “Hey Succession extra.”

  Declan smirks. “Hey Chicago Fire extra. You here to see River meet the fur ball?”

  I nod. Declan grabs a full cup off Terra’s tray without so much as a thank you and takes a sip. “You guys still allowed to eat and drink?”

  “Until noon,” Terra replies. “Then it’s pre-op fasting time.”

  “You should order everything on the menu for breakfast,” Declan jokes and smiles at me, but then he sighs, staring out the window as Nova squeals in delight as Chewie licks her cheek. “This is the last thing we need right now. Another problem.”

  He turns and walks back into the kitchen. Terra scowls after him. “He’s never happy for anyone.”

  A car pulls into the parking lot. “Bethany is here. It’s go time.”

  “Oh!” Terra reaches into the front pocket of the overalls she’s wearing and pulls out her phone as she charges toward the door. “I don’t want to miss this!”

  I follow her outside. Bethany’s gotten out of her red Toyota and is walking around the car to open the back passenger door and let River out of his car seat. Her eyes are glued to Chewie who is biting at his leash at Logan’s feet. “Logan… what’s going on?”

  “I got a dog,” Logan replies and she freezes. “Let him out of the car, Beth.”

  She looks like she’s furious but she does lift River out. River looks across the parking lot and sees his dad and Chewie and gasps in the overdramatic, adorable way only kids can. He starts to run. “Slow down!” Bethany yells, but of course he doesn’t.

  “River. Stop!” Logan commands when the little guy is a couple feet away. River listens despite his excitement. “What have I told you about approaching dogs you don’t know?”

  River’s nose and forehead scrunch as he thinks really hard. Then he starts walking toward Chewie, his little hand out. He takes one little step at a time. Chewie is yanking on the leash to get closer too. Logan commands him to calm down, which the puppy sort of does. He sniffs River’s hand and immediately licks it and River squeals and pulls it back, and Chewie’s tail starts wagging.

  Terra is filming the whole thing beside me on her phone and it’s almost impossible to not pay attention to her over this Hallmark moment. I just love the glee on her face. It rivals River’s when Logan says. “He’s ours buddy. You and me. His name is Chewbacca.”

  “Really? He is mine?” Logan nods and River moves closer and pets Chewie softly on the head. Chewie licks him again and River squeals. “I love him, Daddy!”

  Lucy sniffs. She’s crying happy tears, and I realize Logan’s timing on this is perfect. Everyone needs a happy distraction from what comes next with Terra and me. Bethany, on the other hand, doesn’t see it that way. “Logan, can I talk to you? In private.”

  Logan glances over at her. She still hasn’t really approached the family, standing closer to her car than us. He hands me the leash and walks over to Bethany like he’s walking a plank on a pirate ship. “That woman…” Terra hisses. Luckily, River is too busy playing with Chewie to hear her. “He’s tied to her for life. Ugh.”

  Aspen pops into my brain but I push her out. It’s not the same thing. Aspen is a good, kind person who isn’t expecting a ring from me. Bethany was. She had a truck load of expectations Logan never met so she’s bitter.

  A few minutes later, Logan and Bethany are still arguing by her car. No one can hear what’s being said, but arms are flailing and expressions are grim.

  “Who is this?”

  We all turn and see Charlie lumbering up from the dock. He’s in a pair of rubber fisherman pants, pulling off his gloves, just off the boat from emptying the lobster traps. River wraps his arms around Chewie’s neck. “This is my dog, Grampy!”

  Charlie makes the most exaggerated shocked face I have ever seen and Terra giggles beside me. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes! Yes! He’s mine and his name is Chewbacca, and I love him with my whole heart.” Okay, now the kid has me wanting to tear up. Charlie smiles down at his grandson and ruffles his hair before doing the same to the top of Chewie’s head. He takes the
leash from my hand.

  “Okay then, let’s go walk your dog, River,” Charlie says loudly, and Bethany and Logan stop bickering and look over. Charlie’s expression turns hard, and his eyes laser in on Bethany. “Beth, Logan , I’m going to walk Chewbacca with River, teach him how to do it. He just told me he loves Chewie with his whole heart, so we should teach him how to care for him, right? Unless…”

  Bethany glares at Charlie but then River pipes up again. “I promise to learn. I promise to take care of him. I promise! I cross my heart and everything.”

  Bethany’s shoulders drop two inches. “I’ll be back to pick you up after work, Riv. Be good and careful. That’s a big puppy.”

  River nods vigorously. Bethany blows him an air kiss, glares at Logan, and gets in her car and drives off. Logan jogs back over. “Let’s walk him down on the beach and see how he does with waves.”

  Charlie peels out of his rubber pants and hands them to Lucy along with his gloves and walks down to toward the water with Logan and River. Once they’re all out of ear shot, Lucy Hawkins swears. I think it’s only the second time in my life I’ve heard that. “That woman is the fucking devil.”

  She storms into the restaurant and we all follow. Lucy disappears into the kitchen while I sit at the bar with Finn, and Terra starts handing out the coffee mugs. Nova grabs the little packs of Half-n-Half, which are put on the counter in bowls for the customers during business hours, and slides it toward me and Finn. “Was she really going to try and make Logan get rid of Chewie?”

  Declan and Lucy come back into the restaurant. Declan slides past Terra and grabs what’s left in the coffee carafe to refill his mug.

  “I wouldn’t put it past her,” Nova says and frowns. “Lucy isn’t far off in her description. Bethany lives to make Logan’s life hell.”

  “To be fair, co-parenting means telling each other about big decisions before you make them,” Declan interjects and Finn rolls his eyes. “What? Now River is going to beg to come over to Logan’s all the time so he can be with the damn dog. It’s emotional blackmail.”

  “Excuse me?” Nova says, and her offended tone gets all of our attention. “She’s the one using emotional blackmail by thinking up every excuse in the book to keep River’s time with Logan to a bare minimum.”

  “Yeah well, Logan supplied the evidence when it comes to blackmail,” Declan mutters.

  “Declan do not go there. I swear to—” Terra gets cut off by Lucy who slams her mug down so hard it echoes and coffee slops over the side leaving a big brown blob on the pristine white counter. Everyone falls silent.

  She turns and looks up at her eldest. “Declan don’t you have some marketing thing to do?”

  He looks annoyed and turns to his wife for support, but Nova immediately looks away. She’s had it with him too. Declan has always been the black sheep, and I really can’t feel bad for him because he goes out of his way to own that title sometimes. At least now I finally understand why everyone gets so tense over the subject of Logan.

  Declan slinks off into the kitchen. Terra lets out a heavy sigh. As soon as the door swings behind Declan, Lucy turns back to us, reaching for a wet cloth from under the counter to wipe up her mess. “I was thinking that you two need to recover at our place.”

  “What?” we say in unison.

  “Jake’s apartment is on the fourth floor. Terra’s is on the third. It’s a lot of stairs if you want to come and go,” Lucy explains. “And what if you need help at night? Or if you don’t feel well?”

  “We can call you, Mom. Or call the doctor,” Terra says. “And if we don’t feel like climbing the stairs and want fresh air, we both have balconies.”

  “What if there’s a fire at either of your buildings? You two won’t be able to evacuate easily at all,” she counters, and I smile.

  “You’ve got about a hundred more excuses don’t you?” I ask, and she nods. “Lucy, I’ll be fine at home.”

  “That place you’re in isn’t your home. You’ve been in it for, what? A few weeks? Have you even hung up a picture yet?” she cocks an eyebrow and then smiles triumphantly when I turn sheepish. I still have boxes to unpack and not a thing on the walls. “You know my house like the back of your hand. You practically lived there yourself. You can stay in Finn and Logan’s old room and Terra can stay in her old room and I would just feel better about it.”

  “I don’t know…” Terra says and I can almost see her brain spinning trying to find a valid excuse not to humor her mom.

  “Look, you know Mom is going to be checking on both of you every day,” Nova adds and I can tell they’ve pre-planned this ambush. “If you don’t want to do it for yourselves, do it for Ma. So she doesn’t have to keep driving back and forth across town carrying food up and down all the stairs to your apartments because you know she’s going to want to feed you.”

  “I’m just going to go ahead and accept on both their behalves,” Finn says standing up. “Because let’s face it guys, fighting is futile.”

  “Ugh. You’re right,” Terra drops her head onto her arms on the countertop. “Fine. We’ll do it.”

  “We will?” I appreciate the sentiment, but I am failing to see how Terra and I can have some alone time in Charlie and Lucy’s house. And that’s what I know I’ll want after this. I want it now, for crying out loud. I was hoping we could both just stay at my place, just Terra and I. But Finn is right; resistance is futile. I sigh. “Okay, cool.”

  Lucy claps her hands and smiles. “Oh good. I promise to be the best nurse you’ve ever had.”

  Finn slaps my shoulder as he walks by to head behind the counter. “Milk it, buddy. You’re her new favorite son, so get her to make you buttermilk blueberry pancakes every day and lobster bombs and double batter fried chicken.”

  “Yeah, I have to fit into a firetruck after all this,” I remind him and he laughs.

  The Hawkins family moves all around me now, getting the Lobster Shack ready to open. Terra disappears into the back, announcing she has to finish the scheduling. She’s planning it out for eight weeks and pre-paid certain vendors so no one has to carry too much of her workload. I sit at the counter a while and have a second cup of coffee then I announce I’ll bring my cup to the dishwasher and slip into the back. Javi smiles and nods as he chops claw meat. I wave, hand my cup to Manny the dishwasher, and slip into Terra’s office.

  “Hey!” I say loudly so everyone who might be listening can hear. “Did the surgeon call you about that thing…”

  She looks up from her computer and I close the door behind me. There’s no lock. Damnit. She starts grinning as she sees my hand fumbling to find one. “I like what I think you’re thinking. But the door doesn’t lock, and now we have even more reason to keep this on the down-low.”

  “What?”

  “Lucy Hawkins, my uber-religious, cross-wearing, Bible-quoting mother,” Terra says, pushing her chair back and walking around her desk so she’s on the same side as I am. “She said she was going to give you Finn and Logan’s old room and I would be in my room.”

  “Yeah. So?” I honestly don’t know where she is going with this, but she’s grinning at me deviously so I think I’m going to like it.

  “Finn and Logan’s room is connected to mine through the shared bathroom, remember?” She comes to stand in front of me, and places her hands lightly on my hips. The feel of her touch makes my dick stir. “Which means, I can sneak into your room and you can sneak into mine without ever stepping foot in the hallway.”

  Bingo.

  “She finds out we’re into each other in that way and she will stick you in Declan’s old room,” Terra says. Declan’s old room is in the attic and the stairwell up to it is directly beside Lucy and Charlie’s room and if I remember correctly, creaks like hell.

  “Then you need to get your hands off me, Tink,” I reply but dip my head down and skim my lips over the curve of her neck, inhaling deeply that perfect Terra smell. “Because I’m all for conjugal visits.”

 
She steps back, her hands falling to her sides, but she purposely brushes one against the front of my jeans as she turns back to her desk and I groan. She giggles.

  “I’m going to go home and pack up for the hospital. Well, maybe take care of what you just created in my pants and then pack.”

  Her eyes drop to my groin as I adjust myself and she grins proud of her accomplishment. “I’m just finishing up here and then I’m doing the same.”

  “Cool. So I’ll see you later, when Lucy and Charlie drive us to the hospital?”

  She nods. She bites her bottom lip and her dark eyes grow serious. “I don’t even know how to thank you, Jake,” she whispers.

  Before I can answer, the door opens, smacking me in the back. It’s Declan. “Hey. I… oh. Jake.”

  “I’m just heading out.”

  Declan nods, but his ice colored eyes are inquisitive. I ignore it and wave good-bye as casually as possible to Terra, who purposely barely registers my exit. Because that’s how we were with each other before we got naked together so it raises no suspicion.

  I walk back to my Jeep in the parking lot and make a promise to myself. Whether Aspen does the damn blood test or not, I’m going to let her know. I’m telling Terra about this potential child whether Aspen likes it or not. If I have a shot at a real relationship with Terra, she has to know.

  17

  Terra

  “Oh! I think she’s coming to, Doctor,” I hear as my eyes water and flutter open. There’s a nurse beside me, staring down with a smile. Then suddenly the surgeon, Dr. Leclerc, is there. “Welcome back, Terra.”

  “Where’s Jake?” I croak out. “How… is… he?”

  The doctor’s smile deepens. “He’s right beside you, as requested.”

  The nurse takes a step closer to the foot of my bed and I turn my head and see him lying there, eyes closed, chest rising and falling evenly. “Is he okay?”