Season of Love

by Jill Sanders

  Season of Love

  A Pride Oregon Novel

  Jill Sanders

  Contents

  summary

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Also by Jill Sanders

  About the Author

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2018 Jill Sanders

  Printed in the United States of America

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Grayton Press

  ISBN-13: 978-1-942896-99-9

  Paperback: 978-1-724107-36-7

  summary

  Head back to Pride, Oregon, to find out what some of your favorite Jill Sanders’ characters are up to.

  * * *

  Lilly Stevens didn’t have time to flirt anymore, and that was a real shame because the man of her dreams was right next door. Opening a boutique, Classy and Sassy, with her cousin has taken all of her free time, and her spending money. Still, it was hard to say no to the blond-haired man with sexy green eyes and a killer smile. Not only was he gorgeous, but the man could make her laugh, and that was one of the most important items on her list of must-haves for potential loves of her life.

  Corey and his twin, Carter, have finally achieved their lifelong dreams of being on their own. Finally, they can have a normal life, even if their dark history makes them leery of letting anyone in. But the little town of Pride has a way of shedding light in the darkest corners. Now, the sexy girl-next-door has caught his eye, but she’s too perfect for someone with his history, even if her slate eyes and lush pouty lips demand his attention.

  Prologue

  Corey reached over and took the hand of his twin, who was standing right next to him. Having Carter always a step away was reassuring in a way that eight-year-old Corey could never explain to anyone who wasn’t a twin.

  “What are they fighting about this time?” Carter whispered. They both knew that if their parents saw them standing in the dark hallway, their anger would instantly be turned towards them.

  “What else?” Corey whispered.

  “Money,” Carter said under his breath.

  “Papa wouldn’t give them any more,” Corey added quietly, nodding to their parents. Then he motioned towards their bedroom door, and they both tiptoed back down the hallway.

  The little apartment was the worst they’d lived in so far. The carpet was torn and smelled of animal pee. Corey and Carter always wore socks when walking around the house to avoid touching the filth with their bare feet.

  Corey shut the door and leaned against it as Carter climbed into their shared single bed. The boys used to have their own beds, but in the past three years, things had taken a turn for the worse, and they found themselves sharing not only their bed, but their clothing and shoes and even a ratty old toothbrush that was almost bare of bristles.

  Ever since their father had lost his job at Pacific Coast Construction, a business run by the boys’ grandfather, Cecil Miller, money had been scarce. The boys didn’t know what had caused their papa to fire their father or why the old man was so angry at his only son. But even though they were only eight years old, the twins felt like it had something to do with them, personally.

  They had even agreed to hate the old man until the day they died. They had signed their names on a contract and buried it in their old backyard with two matching, slightly bloody thumbprints to seal the contract.

  “Think we’ll have to move again?” Carter asked from the bed.

  Corey shrugged and climbed into the bed next to his brother. They both looked around the scarcely decorated room. The only things the twins still had after the last move were their Legos. And that was only because Carter had hidden them at the bottom of his backpack. The bed and a dresser that only had two working drawers were the only items in the small room. They didn’t even have a lamp so they could read at night. Not that they had any books besides their school books, but the twins pored over them every chance they could.

  Someday, both of them vowed, they’d be smart enough to make something of themselves.

  Corey lay down and closed his eyes to the sound of his parents’ raised voices. “Who cares, anyway? It’s not like it could get any worse than this place.”

  1

  “What do you mean it’s blonde?” Lilly Stevens jerked her head up and reached for the mirror that was clenched tightly in her cousin’s hands.

  Riley, her cousin and soon-to-be business partner, bit her bottom lip and held the mirror behind her back. “I mean I must have mixed the tubes up. The one for my hair…”—Riley motioned with her free hand to her bright blonde locks—“and the one I purchased for yours.” She was back to biting her bottom lip, a move Lilly knew too well.

  “Show me.” Lilly’s eyes narrowed as she held out her hand for the mirror.

  If the pair had done this at her house, as she had suggested, Lilly could simply look in the mirror. But Riley had talked her into coloring her hair in the back room at their new building, the one that would soon house their new boutique, Classy and Sassy, and the small bathroom in the back of the old brick building didn’t have a mirror on the wall, yet.

  Riley slowly handed over the mirror. “I… like it,” she added, her eyes running over Lilly’s face and hair.

  Lilly’s long dark locks had always been her greatest pride. Her silver eyes were rather dull, her straight nose had zero character, and she’d always thought that her teeth were too big for her mouth.

  Lilly took a deep breath and turned the mirror around. Her long hair was still wet and there was still a whole lot of product in it, making it look crusty and an odd bright-yellow color. However, looking through all of the gunk, she could see that her once-beautiful dark locks were now a vibrant blonde. Not as bright as Riley’s, but it was nowhere close to the dark locks that she’d inherited from her mother, Lacey Stevens, mayor of Pride, Oregon.

  Lilly let out a groan.

  “Let me finish washing this out.” Riley stepped closer and tentatively touched a lock that had fallen over Lilly’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’s going to look amazing.”

  Her cousin’s eyes begged her and, without another word, she sat back as Riley took the reins of Lilly’s life once again. Lilly reminded herself that most of Riley’s advice, and even her mistakes, turned out for the best.

  It wasn’t as if Lilly was afraid of taking risks. Well, okay, she was. She hated change. Hated the unknown. Hell, she still had the same hairstyle that she’d had since fifth grade. Now, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself with Riley’s blonde locks. She failed.

  “How does it look?” Already she was thinking about swinging by O’Neil’s grocery store and picking up a box of dull brown to cover the golden locks later that night.

  “Wow,” Riley said in response. Her cousin had finished washing all the product from her hair and was towel drying it.

  “Wow is not a good answer,” Lilly remarked. When Riley remained silent, she reached for the mirr
or. “Let me see.”

  Riley smiled this time and handed it over.

  “Wow,” Lilly said the second she saw the gold locks falling around her shoulders.

  She looked…

  “Sexy.” Riley sighed. “Why is it you look sexy and all my blonde hair ever gets me is a moderate cute?” Riley pouted.

  She turned her head slightly and shook the hair. “It really does make me look… sexier.”

  Riley sighed and frowned. “Let’s dry it. Maybe you’ll finally end up being better looking than me.” She nudged her shoulder playfully.

  “I’ve always been better looking than you.” Lilly laughed.

  Riley spent the next few minutes drying Lilly’s long locks, moving around her like an expert stylist. When it was all dry, both girls stared at her reflection in the small handheld mirror.

  “Wow. Who would have thought?” Riley shook her head and turned to look at her directly, tilting her head slightly. “I mean, wow.”

  Lilly smiled at her reflection. She would have never imagined that blonde hair would look so amazing on her. “Did you do this on purpose?” She set the mirror down slowly and stood up.

  Lilly towered over her cousin. Not that she was very tall, but at five seven she was a great deal taller than Riley’s five four.

  “Me?” Riley pointed her thumb to her chest. “I would never…”

  Lilly narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hip as she lowered her chin slightly, a move she’d learned from her mother that told everyone she meant business.

  Riley stopped talking, snapped her mouth shut quickly, then let out a loud sigh. “Well, would you have agreed to it?”

  “No!” Lilly exhaled.

  “So, there we have it.” Riley turned to start cleaning up the mess in the bathroom. “The results speak for themselves.”

  Lilly picked up the mirror once more. Unlike her cousin, Lilly’s hair lay in soft curls and waves on her shoulders. Almost perfect little ringlets fell everywhere, giving her the perfect messy do.

  Shaking her head, she watched the light bounce off the soft blonde locks.

  “You can thank me later.” Riley nudged Lilly’s hip with hers. “Now, we have to get back to work. Do you think that somehow, magically, the place cleaned itself while we were locked in here?”

  Lilly set the mirror down and sighed as she thought about the mess outside the bathroom door. She opened the door and looked out at the disaster that would soon be their joint venture, Classy and Sassy Boutique.

  “You sweep, I’ll finish taking out all this trash,” Riley suggested.

  “No.” Lilly shook her head when she saw that there wasn’t a clear spot on the massive floor and only five bags of trash that needed to be hauled out. “You messed up my hair, you sweep. I’ll take out the trash.” She nodded to the black bags that they had filled with debris in the last three days.

  The old brick building was situated between two new businesses, Josh Williams’ business, Internal Security, and Baked, a pizzeria.

  Josh owned the building they were in but had agreed to rent it to the cousins, so they could open their dream boutique. He’d given them a great deal, since he was engaged to their best friend, Carrie Brogan. So far, the place was free. The agreement was it would remain so until they could afford to pay him rent, as long as they fixed it up. That meant a lot of sweat and work was in store for the cousins. They were hoping to be able to use most of their investment money on product, so they had rolled up their sleeves and done as much as they could.

  Sara, their other cousin, was helping out when she could, but now that she was expecting her first baby, they only allowed her to do simple things like clean the windows. Her husband, Parker, however, was the local handyman. Him they put to work rewiring the place and fixing the furnace and air-conditioning unit. He was also going to install the new toilet and sink they had ordered. Lilly had purchased them online to save a little money. Parker had even promised to help build unique shelving and hang all the lights, which Lilly still had to find and purchase.

  Josh came over often and helped out, but since his and Carrie’s wedding was less than three months away, and they were busy building the new sections of Carrie’s Sanctuary, they had their hands full.

  Both Riley’s and Lilly’s fathers stopped by often and helped out with the heavy lifting. Riley’s father, Iian, and Lilly’s mother, Lacey, were brother and sister. Sara’s father, Todd, was the oldest in the Jordan clan.

  Between the three of them, there were eight cousins, all of them as close as siblings. Their ages ranged from twenty to twenty-eight. After Lilly’s last birthday, less than a month ago, she was stuck in the middle at twenty-four. Riley was one of the younger ones, but Lilly couldn’t remember a time without her following along.

  “Fine, I’ll sweep, you haul the trash out to the dumpster.” Riley sighed and picked up the large broom, groaning at all the sawdust and the years of grime that covered the floor. “Do you think there’s an actual floor under all this?”

  “Guess we’ll find out soon.” Lilly picked up the first bag and made her way towards the back door.

  Hoisting the heavy bag, she pushed open the back door and stepped into the back alley. It wasn’t as bad as some alleys she’d seen in bigger cities, but with the large trash containers lining the side of the buildings, the smell was hard to stomach.

  As she moved to toss the bag awkwardly into the bin, she heard a slight popping sound and the contents of the bag started spilling out onto the ground.

  “No!” she cried and tried to quickly toss the bag into the dumpster before more items could escape the gaping hole.

  She managed to get most of the debris into the dumpster, but her jeans and her shirt were covered with sawdust and… Was that soda? She groaned.

  “It’ll come out.” A deep voice behind her made her jump and let out a squeal, a sound she could honestly say she’d never made before. She spun around, or tried to, but her right heel was on a slimy, black banana peel.

  She’d always wondered where slip-on-a-banana-peel jokes had come from. As her face headed straight for the ground, she cried out again, and this time the sound was identical to the one she’d made one summer when she’d fallen out of her brother’s treehouse and broken her arm.

  Closing her eyes, she braced for the impact. When she realized she somehow hadn’t landed on the ground, she chanced opening one eye, then the other. How was it that she was looking up at the sky instead of being nose first in the grimy alley?

  “Are you okay?” The owner of the deep voice sounded as if he was trying to hold back laughter, and she narrowed her eyes with frustration.

  She craned her neck, about to berate the deep-voiced man who’d scared her, when her eyes landed on green eyes. Eyes she’d seen plenty of times before. Eyes she’d fantasized about for the past six months, wishing they would look at her the way he was now. Slamming her mouth shut, she nodded, not trusting her voice.

  She moved to stand up, and his strong arms lifted her until her feet were firmly back on the ground. She was slightly surprised when he didn’t release her immediately.

  “Lillian? Right?” His eyes narrowed.

  Again, she nodded. His eyebrows shot up and she imagined that he was thinking she was mute, so she did what she always did when she was nervous. She rambled.

  “Yes, wow, that was a close call. Wow, I can’t believe how strong your arms are.” She realized she was gripping his left upper arm, running her fingertips over the muscle there. Seeing that she was practically groping the man from next door, she dropped her arms and took a step back, totally forgetting the stupid banana peel and slipping once again. This time, Corey reached out quickly and steadied her by taking her waist and pulling her a few steps forward, towards him.

  “There. Better?” He smiled over at her.

  “Yes, thank you, Corey.” She glared down at the peel. “I always thought that Bugs Bunny had lied to me.” She sighed.

  Hearing his laughter
jolted her, and she looked at him with awe as his entire face changed with humor.

  “What?” she asked after a while. “It’s true. How many people do you know who have actually slipped on a banana peel?”

  His laughter died down. “Honestly, only one.” His smile grew

  “Ugh, see?” She shrugged and kicked the offending peel with the toe of her tennis shoe. “Now I know why my nickname growing up was Twinkle Toes.” She groaned out loud when she realized what she had just admitted.

  He laughed again.

  “I’ll shut up now.” She bent to start picking up the chunks of wood that had fallen from the trash bag.

  He knelt down next to her and picked up a few nails that had fallen out as well.

  “How did you know?” he asked, looking over at her.

  “What? That I’m a klutz? Ballet classes, first grade.”

  He chuckled. “No, that I’m Corey and not Carter? Most people in town can’t tell us apart yet, even with our name tags on.”

  She chuckled. “That’s easy. I have several twins in my family. My cousins—”

  “Are not even the same gender,” he added quickly. “I’ve met Riley and Jacob. They look nothing alike.”

  She nodded. “Okay, you’re right.”

  “So, what’s behind your amazing powers of twin insight?” He waited, humor still behind those sexy green eyes of his.

  She smiled. “You have lighter hair than your brother.” She wanted to add that he had a sexy little dimple on the corner of his mouth but held that knowledge in. She didn’t want to make the man run in the opposite direction, screaming that she was a stalker.