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

by Victoria Denault

  Charlie nods. “You got nothing to apologize for.”

  Lucy stands and smiles up at me. She reaches out and rubs my arm. “Terra here was just telling us that you’re her boyfriend.”

  I turn my gaze to Terra who smiles. “It felt like it was time.”

  I look up at Charlie who looks away, but he’s not scowling so he’s not mad just embarrassed. Welcome to my world, Charlie. I focus back on Lucy. “Yes. Sorry we didn’t tell you sooner.”

  “Good news is good news even when it’s delayed,” Lucy says her eyes crinkling with her broad smile. “I couldn’t be happier, Jake. For both of you.”

  “I couldn’t be happier either,” I say and Terra takes my hand in hers.

  “Let’s go back to bed,” Charlie says. “Lucy, is Deck’s bed made?”

  “Always,” Lucy furrows her dirty blond eyebrows. “Never know when one of the kids might come home. I like to be ready.”

  As we make our way to the stairs Charlie clamps a hand on my shoulder. “Jake’s gonna sleep up there.”

  Right. He caught us. How is that not the most humiliating thing to happen to me tonight? Terra opens her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. “Sounds like a good idea. Thanks Charlie.”

  I leave the Hawkins family on the landing of the second floor and climb the narrow attic stairs to Declan’s room. As I crawl into bed and close my eyes, I try not to think about what my mother said. And I try even harder not to believe it.

  20

  Jake

  I slip into my jacket and start to button it up. Nova whistles from behind the counter like she’s a construction worker and I’m a cute girl. Finn laughs. Terra nods. “Yep.”

  “Can we not?” Declan says, annoyed. “There’s customers.”

  “He does look dapper,” Mr. Hobbs pipes up from his usual spot at the counter. “Lilah always loved a man in uniform. I wore my army uniform when I proposed to her as an insurance policy.”

  I smile at that. Terra and Nova laugh. He grins and goes back to his bowl of chowder. I tug on the arms of my jacket. I don’t like our formal dress uniforms, but Cap said I should wear it to the interview. They called yesterday and told me it was today. I’d already had them push it once because my original date was the day after surgery. I glance at the clock above the counter. I have forty minutes to get there, which is more than enough time.

  Everyone else who has applied for the captain’s position has had their interview, including Ronan Green. He made a point of telling me how well it went when some of the crew came to visit me at Charlie and Lucy’s. At the time, I refused to think about it because I wanted to concentrate on getting better so I could have my own interview. And that day is finally here.

  “You’ll knock it outta the park, Mav,” Finn tells me with a confident grin. “Make sure to mention the medal.”

  “They know about the medal,” I say.

  “You sure you don’t want to wear it?” Nova says. “Don’t Army people wear all of them when they attend big events?”

  “It’s not the Army and I just … would feel like a douche,” I confess.

  Terra walks around the counter and takes my hand. “You don’t need to show off your accomplishments. You’re great and they will see it.”

  I smile at her. “Here’s hoping you’re right.”

  “Don’t kiss. Do not kiss!” Finn warns and covers his face with his hands. “I’m not ready yet.”

  “Oh my God, grow up,” Nova laughs. “How you did not see this coming, is beyond me. It was written in the stars long ago.”

  “My wife, the unbreakable romantic,” Declan rolls his eyes and heads back into the kitchen. His parting words. “Kiss my sister if you want, but just get going. You’re distracting everyone, and they have work to do.”

  Every single member of his family rolls their eyes in unison. Everyone knows we’re dating now. The night after we told Charlie and Lucy, we told Declan and Nova. She squealed with delight and Declan being Declan just nodded. The twins kind of already knew, so we never had an official conversation with them. Logan texted me once and simply said: do not fuck this up. Finn had yet to react at all. Until now.

  Terra rocks up on her tip toes and kisses my cheek. “Good luck.” Then she pulls a perfect, soft gray sand dollar out of the kangaroo pocket on her hoodie and holds it up before slipping it into my left pocket. “My lucky sand dollar will help you nail this.”

  “You have a lucky sand dollar?” I ask with a confused smile.

  She grins. “Who doesn’t?”

  “Thanks,” I reply laughing and then grow serious. “And if you’re still working when I get back from this, I’ll be pissed. The doctor didn’t say you could go back yet. And you can’t be mingling in giant crowds yet. Risk of infection.”

  “Are you Doctor Leclerc or my boyfriend? Pick a lane, Jake,” Terra teases but then uses her index finger to make a cross over her heart as she promises. “I’ll be hiding alone in my office just fixing the payroll Finn screwed up, I swear. When the lunch rush is over, and the restaurant is dead, I might grab some lunch but that’s it. I know the rules.”

  “Good, Tink,” I kiss the top of her head.

  Mr. Hobbs finishes his soup and slowly rises off his stool. He shrugs into his raincoat, leaves a ten on the counter, and picks up the flowers wrapped in plain brown paper beside him. “You want a lift, Mr. Hobbs? I have to drive right by Resting Pines.”

  He looks up at me. “That would be lovely, what with the weather as it is.”

  I glance outside. It’s throwing down rain that is on the verge of being ice. It’s official, winter is knocking on the door, trying to get in. I escort Mr. Hobbs out of the restaurant and make sure my umbrella is also covering him as we make out way to my Jeep. He gets in without much struggle, despite it being high and usually difficult for older people.

  I wait until he’s got the flowers on his lap and his seatbelt fastened and then I drive out of the lot. “I wish I could stay and drive you home too.”

  “I already have a reservation with Uber Jay,” Mr. Hobbs explains. “He lets me call him from my landline and reserve ahead of time. Lilah was his favorite teacher in high school, so I get special treatment. Even after she’s gone, that woman somehow still finds a way to look out for me.”

  I smile at that but also ache a little because you can feel how much he misses his wife like it’s a fog that permeates the air around him. I know that feeling. I would have felt that way if something happened to Terra.

  “What medal was everyone talking about at the Shack?” he asks.

  “I was awarded the medal of valor when I was positioned at a different fire station,” I explain. “I rescued an infant from a fire. I was just doing my job.”

  “Well, there must have been a little more to it, son.”

  I shrug and turn the windshield wipers up higher. The rain is getting harder. “I happened to be driving home and saw smoke pouring out of the windows of this house. I called my station and found a garden hose to try and slow it, because I’m not supposed to go inside without gear or backup. A woman came stumbling out of the house. She was high on drugs and she was too out of it to tell me there was a baby inside. But as she dropped onto the front on the lawn coughing, I noticed a pacifier fall out of the pocket of her bathrobe so I ran inside and found her infant daughter on some cushions on the floor in the bedroom. My co-workers had arrived by the time I got back out, thankfully, and they could save the infant who had some serious smoke inhalation.”

  I hate remembering that whole night. I am very well aware that could have been me when I was a kid. I like to remember the stuff after that night and the medal ceremony. “Just before I left that station to come back here, the mother showed up at my work. She was clean and working and taking online classes for an accounting diploma. She was allowed visitation with her daughter, who was also doing well and living with her grandparents. That meant more to me than the medal.”

  “I understand that,” Mr. Hobbs nods and smil
es at me. “You know what you did for little Terra Hawkins should get a medal too. But I suppose you’re going to say seeing her healthy is enough.”

  “Yup.”

  I pull up to the gates of Resting Pines. “Do you want me to drive you in?”

  He shakes his head and unclips his seatbelt. “No, thank you. My Lilah is just beyond that first pine.”

  I hand him my umbrella and after a moment’s hesitation he takes it, a grateful smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Can I give you some unsolicited advice?”

  “Sure,” I reply easily, thinking he’s going to give me a tip for my interview.

  “Wear the medal when you propose to your girl,” he says and chuckles to himself. “And the uniform. Judging by the look on Terra’s face every time she sees you, you probably won’t need it, but it certainly won’t hurt.”

  “Mr. Hobbs, we just started dating,” I laugh.

  “Uh-huh,” He nods. “But you’ll need the advice down the road. I’m certain of it. And I wanted to give it to you now, in case I’m with Lilah by then.”

  He gets out of my Jeep, shuts the door and pops open my umbrella. I sit there and watch him until he disappears out of view just behind the big pine he pointed to earlier.

  I would stay even longer. I’m kind of shell shocked by that candid advice, but I have no choice but to shake it off because I have to get to this interview. So, reluctantly, I back away from the gates of the cemetery and drive off.

  My interview is in thirty minutes and I’m only ten minutes away, so I’m mentally prepping myself as I maneuver through traffic on Route One. And then my cellphone goes off. I decide to let it go to voicemail, but it rings again immediately. I take a second to look at the screen. There’s no name shown there, so it’s not a number I have stored in my phone. I ignore it and it rings again. I hit the speaker button.

  “Hello?”

  “Jake, this is Abbott.”

  “Oh. Hey.” What the hell does Abbott Barlowe want?

  “Aspen is bleeding,” he says. His tone tight and hard and vibrating with stress. “She is driving herself to Casco Bay Memorial as we speak, and I can’t get there. I’m in Colorado on a fucking road trip.”

  “What? What happened to her?” I hit the brake gently but the car still shudders and swerves a bit because there are puddles as big as ponds on the road right now. I clutch the wheel tighter.

  “Something is wrong with the baby,” Abbott barks back. “Possibly your baby, so she says, but she told me not to call you. She said she would disown me if I did, but she’s terrified and alone.”

  “I…” have an interview my career depends on. “I’ll head there now.”

  “Keep me updated,” he barks and hangs up.

  I move to the left-hand lane and do a U-turn at the next intersection and let out a loud “FUCK.”

  21

  Terra

  “I am not kidding,” Nova says wagging a finger in my face. “Sit.”

  Mom and even Finn are standing behind her with equally stern looks on their faces. I roll my eyes but I know they aren’t kidding around. Doc said no work for another two weeks, so I have to listen. Still, I stick out my tongue at them while I walk around the counter and sit down.

  “Take advantage of the fact you get to be served for once,” Patti Gordon says with a smile. She’s sitting next to me at the counter waiting for her take-out order and enjoying a cup of herbal tea while she waits.

  We have a deal with Patti; she supplies the ice cream for our milkshakes at a discount if we give her three free lobster roll combo plates a week. She then brings those back to Patti’s Parlor and treats her staff to a free lunch. Patti herself is vegan, so we throw in a roll made with just our garlic aioli, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers just for her.

  “It feels weird,” I explain. “I’ve been serving customers since I was twelve. I love it.”

  “I know. Me too,” Patti replies and lifts the cup of tea to her mouth, the bracelets on her arm jangling loudly. She is a skinny-to-the-point-of-rail-thin hippie who covers herself in a boat load of jewelry. Today she has on four necklaces, all of various lengths and all made of different colored beads. Her wrists on both arms are covered in wire-thin gold, silver, and copper bangles. About forty on each arm. Her ears have three sets of studs and one pair of long dangling feather earrings. “I would be devastated if I couldn’t work at my little shop anymore, but remember Terra, this is not permanent. Once your body aligns itself with the energy coming off Jake’s kidney, you’ll be stronger than ever and will work until you’re a hundred. I can feel it. You know my feelings are never wrong.”

  I smile at her and nod. Patti is also the self-proclaimed psychic of the town and if you ask her just right and bring twenty bucks, she’ll read your palm in the back booth at the ice cream parlor. I’ve never had it done but Nova has. She never did tell me the results.

  “Can I take your order, ma’am?” Finn says, leaning on the counter in front of me, pen and paper poised in front of him. He never uses a pen and paper. He’s being dramatic.

  “Yeah, first of all, I’d like a fried clam roll, no lettuce, with extra garlic aioli and the bun toasted but only on one side,”

  His big blue eyes narrow on me in a glare. Finn hates special orders. He’s been campaigning for us to put ‘no substitutes’ on the menus for ages.

  “Oh actually, on second thought, I want to make out with my boyfriend later when he comes in here and tells me he aced his promotion interview. I mean really make out with him, tongue and all so…” I pretend to study the menu written on chalk on the wall above the counter as Finn makes gagging sounds at the idea of me making out with Jake, and Patti chuckles. Nova walks over and takes the pen and paper from Finn, hip checking him out of the way. He grabs onto her to keep from tipping over and hitting the floor but lets go like he’s been burned as soon as he steadies himself. He is always so weird with Nova. I guess because she’s married to Declan? I have no idea.

  “How about the usual? No worries about make-out sessions after a lobster grilled cheese,” Nova says. “No garlic to worry about.”

  “Especially if you wash it down with one of those peanut butter chocolate shakes your boyfriend loves so much,” Patti adds. “I swear he’s the main reason that flavor is our top seller.”

  I smile because that’s the first time someone has publicly called Jake my boyfriend. Someone other than family. It feels like a compliment. Better than one. I smile at her. “A PB and C shake too, please.”

  Nova nods and walks over to the computer screen on the wall to enter the order in our system. It will pop up on a screen in the kitchen and Javi will get to work on my grilled cheese while Nova makes my shake. My mom is clearing one of the tables when the door opens and Logan walks in. He’s got a grim look on his face but that’s nothing new.

  “Logan, honey. Is something wrong?” Ma asks hesitantly as she stops walking toward the kitchen, a tray of dirty dishes in her hand.

  Logan walks over and takes the tray from her hands, and that’s when my stomach twists into a knot. He turns and looks at everyone as his mouth opens to speak, and then his eyes land on me and that knot turns to lead. “Has anyone heard from Jake?”

  “Not since he left for his interview,” I say and my voice is shaking. “What’s wrong?”

  “Captain called me to ask where he was,” Logan says. “Because he never showed up at the interview. And I tried calling him but he didn’t answer his phone and so…”

  I yank my phone out of my back pocket and start dialing. It goes directly to voicemail. I text. Jake. Call me. ASAP.

  I look up as Logan walks over to place the tray he took from Ma on the counter. Ma has dropped into a chair at an empty table and is clutching the cross at her neck, her eyes shut tight. Patti reaches over and pats my hand. “He’s fine. I know it.”

  I wish I believed in her “powers” right now.

  “Maybe he has a flat tire?” Finn says. “And you know how bad he’s always
been at paying attention to his phone. It’s probably in the Jeep and he can’t hear it because he’s outside changing the tire.”

  Or he’s dead in a ditch from a car wreck. Or he’s got some problem with his recovery from the operation and he’s passed out in pain somewhere. “Has anyone checked hospitals? Called the police?”

  Before Logan can respond, the door swings open again. This time the bells are announcing Ronan and Nellie Green. Roman is dressed in his formal fireman’s suit, just like Jake was when he left. He takes one look at Logan, who is in his work clothes and instantly says, “Are you on a call? Is someone hurt? How can I help?”

  It’s good to know that his firefighter training supersedes his nature to be an asshole. Logan shakes his head at Ronan and turns to me. “Let’s continue this discussion in the back.”

  As I start walking to the back, Ronan speaks again. “Seriously, Hawkins. I know I am off-duty right now but if you need something…”

  “We don’t,” I reply, my voice too clipped to be anything but rude.

  “Well, this is some greeting,” Mrs. Green huffs. “Ronan, perhaps we should go to Stan’s Seafood for lunch. He will be pleasant to us and I so want to celebrate your second interview going so well.”

  “The food is better here and you know it, Ma,” Ronan replies as Logan and I start walking toward the swinging door that leads to the kitchen. I’m kind of impressed he’s willing to admit that since he’s never seemed to like us much.

  “You had a second interview for the captain’s job? Already?” Logan asks, his thick eyebrows pinching.

  “Yeah. Me and all the other candidates,” Ronan explains. “Surprised they’re even still bothering with Maverick, to be honest. Must be a formality.”

  Nellie Green keeps shuffling into the restaurant. Ma, worry creasing her face, does the unthinkable. “Ronan, have you seen Jake today?”

  “He had his interview about an hour after me, so he should be in Portland or on his way back,” Ronan explains.