by Katie Lane
Things went from bad to worse. Summer looked completely baffled. And she had a right to be. Her family should’ve told her about closing the store. Hell, he should’ve told her. Now it was too late.
She shook her head. “We’re not closing the store.”
Autumn glanced in confusion at Dirk and Spring. “You didn’t tell her?”
“Tell me what?” Summer stepped closer to her sister. “What are you talking about, Audie?”
Dirk fielded the question. “We closed the store, Summer. It was losing money and stressing you out, so the three of us voted to close it.”
Summer looked so hurt that Ryker felt like he’d been punched again. This time in the heart. “You voted without even talking to me?” she said. “How could you do that? Seasons was my idea. I’ve worked my butt off for that store, and you didn’t even take my wishes into consideration?”
“It was making you crazy, Summer,” Spring said with tears in her eyes. “After the accident, we worried for your safety.”
“That’s bullshit!” Summer snapped. “You weren’t worried about me at all. You were thinking about yourselves. Now that you’re married, all that concerns you is your life in Bliss with your new husband.” She looked at Dirk. “And you’re no better. You never thought the store was a good idea. You’ve always thought that I was just trying to compete with you.” She turned to Autumn. “But you, Audie, I never thought you would do this to me. I thought you believed in me. I thought you trusted me to succeed.” She turned her back to the room, and Ryker knew she was fighting back tears. “Get out. I want everyone to just get out. Now!”
Her siblings seemed to hesitate, but Waylon stepped in. “I think that’s a good idea. Let’s all go outside to the porch and have some sweet tea while Ryker and Summer get dressed.”
Dirk didn’t look like he cared for leaving Ryker alone with Summer, but he allowed Waylon to herd him and his sisters out of the room. Once they were alone, Ryker dropped the pillow and moved around the bed.
Summer melted into his arms. “How could they do it? How could they close my store without telling me?”
He rubbed her back. “I don’t think they did it to hurt you, sweetheart. Dirk was truly worried about you and thought that closing the store would help. I heard the concern in his voice when I talked to him after the accident.” He didn’t realize how he’d implicated himself until he felt her stiffen.
She lifted her head, her eyes filled with confusion. “You knew about my family closing the store?”
He swallowed hard and tried to figure out how to untangle himself from this mess. “In my defense, I thought Dirk and your sisters were going to tell you a lot sooner than they did. Still, I shouldn’t have looked at your business plan and given you hope. I guess I was just wanting to—”
Summer cut him off. “Get laid again?”
Ouch. That hurt. “It wasn’t like that,” he said, “and you know it.”
“It seems I don’t know anything.” She turned her back to him and looked out the window. “I thought we were friends. I thought you were the one person I could be honest with and who would be honest with me. But we’re not friends, are we? You and Dirk are friends. I’m just the annoying big sister you keep secrets from . . . and screwed a few times.”
The pain in her voice was heartbreaking, and he gently took her arms and turned her around. “We are friends. In fact, we’re more than just friends. I should’ve told you about your family closing the store. But I was torn between my love for your brother and my love for you. And I do love you, Summer.” There was a flicker of surprise, or maybe more like shock, in her eyes.
He continued, wanting to get all his feelings out before he chickened out. “I think I fell for you the moment you asked me what color briefs I was wearing. I know losing your store is a shock, but maybe it’s fate—or as my mom would say, divine intervention.” He paused, a little nervous about what he was going to say next. “I want you to come live me in Dallas. I have a nice penthouse downtown and I’m sure you could find a job if you wanted to work. And if you don’t, you can knit or read.” He smiled. “Or wait for your loving man to come home.”
He’d thought he’d given a pretty good speech, and he waited for her to throw her arms around him and tell him that she loved him too. Because after last night, he didn’t have a single doubt that she loved him. But it turned out that he was as stupid about women as he’d always thought he was. Summer didn’t throw her arms around him. Instead, she stared at him as if he’d morphed into a hideous monster.
She pulled away from him and slowly shook her head. “No. No, you can’t love me. You can’t love me.” Her breathing accelerated like she had run five miles. “I need to get out of here.” She started for the door, but he took her arm and stopped her.
“Summer? What’s going on? Talk to me.”
Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “This was sex, Ryker. Just sex. That’s all it was. We were just two bored people looking for something to keep us entertained. Don’t confuse that for love.”
His heart felt like it had dropped from his chest and was lying on the floor exposed and aching. He stared at her, trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong. How had she turned from the loving woman he’d held in his arms last night to this panicked woman who was breaking up with him? He wanted to believe she was just angry that he hadn’t told her about the store closing. He wanted to believe that once she got over her anger everything would be okay.
But there was no anger in her eyes as she looked at him. There was just panic. The same panic she’d had in the car after the accident when she’d thought she was trapped and couldn’t get out.
Suddenly, all the pieces fell together.
He released her and stepped back. “This wasn’t just two bored people looking for entertainment, Summer. This was love. But you can’t accept that, can you? Because if you accepted it—if you let yourself love me as much as I love you—then you’d be trapped just like your mother was. You’d be trapped in a relationship that might make you the victim. A victim who waits expectantly for a man who might not ever show up. And you refuse to be like your mother. You have to be the strong one. The one that succeeds and survives at all costs.”
If she had shed one tear or shown any sign of giving in to her emotions, he would’ve stayed. But she just stood there looking like a statue of a Greek goddess with the sheet wrapped around her and her jaw tight with determination. A part of him had to admire her. Once Summer set a course, she never strayed from it. And she’d set her course away from him.
With nothing else to do, he got dressed. He didn’t say goodbye. He didn’t think he could squeeze the words past his tight throat. So he said nothing as he walked out of the room. Her family was sitting on the porch. When he stepped outside, they all turned to him. Spring and Autumn looked sad. Waylon looked confused. And Dirk still looked like he wanted to beat Ryker to a pulp.
“I’m sorry,” he said. And he was. He was sorry he’d hurt Dirk. And damned sorry that Summer had hurt him. He’d been right all along. She was dangerous. He’d played with fire and gotten burned.
Once inside his car, he sat there for a moment not knowing what to do or where to go. Finally, he started the engine and pulled away. He planned to head back to Dallas, to leave Bliss and all the pain far behind. But when he passed the motor lodge and saw Cord’s truck, it was like an invisible hand pulled on his steering wheel and guided him into the parking lot.
Cord took one look at Ryker and knew something was wrong. “What happened, son?”
He forced a smile. “You were right. I love her. It’s just too bad that she can’t love me back.”
Cord didn’t say anything. He just opened his arms.
Ryker hesitated for only a moment before he walked into them.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I talked with your grandmother this morning.” Ms. Marble pulled the tray of cinnamon-swirl muffins out of the oven and set them on the top of the stove. “I told he
r you were staying in the room over my garage, and that you were fine and just needed a little time.”
Summer slowly turned the cake stand as she frosted the sides of the three-tier cake. “Like maybe forever.”
Ms. Marble took off her oven mitts and set them on the counter before she turned to Summer. “You don’t mean that. You’re just upset.”
Upset was too mild a word for how Summer felt. She felt hollow and empty. And even worse, completely unsure of who she was and what she wanted. She had always been the one with a plan. The one who knew where she was going and what she was going to do next. But now, she didn’t have a clue. She felt like she was living in the nightmare she had of her mama. She was lost in a fog and didn’t know how to be found. What made it even worse was that she couldn’t go to her family for guidance because she was still mad at them.
“I have every right to be upset,” she said. “You’d be upset too if your entire family went behind your back and closed your business.”
“Wasn’t it Dirk’s, Spring’s, and Autumn’s business, as well?”
Summer continued to frost, but her lines got a little sloppy from the anger in every stroke. “Yes, but does that mean they get to cut me out of any decisions that are made?”
“From what your grandmother and Dirk told me, they talked to you about your business going bankrupt and you refused to accept it.”
Summer stopped frosting. “Because I had a plan to save Seasons. A good plan that would’ve worked.”
“But your other business partners didn’t believe it was going to work. And that’s how you have to look at this, Summer. You need to look at this as business. And in business, majority rules. You were outvoted three to one.”
“Then they should’ve told me they were closing it.”
Ms. Marble studied her with sympathetic blue eyes. “What would you have done if they had? Would you have accepted it?” She smiled. Or made hundreds of cupcakes just to prove you could win?”
She released her breath. “Fine. I probably would’ve raised holy hell and done everything in my power to keep the store open. But there’s nothing wrong with being a fighter. My siblings quit without even giving Seasons a chance.”
“It sounds like they gave your plan more than just a chance. Didn’t Dirk loan you the start-up money for Seasons, and didn’t Spring and Autumn work right along with you to make the store a success?”
Obviously, Granny Bon shared everything with Ms. Marble. Summer wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. Her siblings had backed her plans to open the store. And could she really blame them for wanting to close when it hadn’t made them any money? And probably wouldn’t have for another year? If it had at all. Had Ryker been right? Had her plan lacked the most important ingredient—enthusiasm?
Just the thought of Ryker made her heart feel like it was being squeezed in a pastry bag. Her worst fears had come true. She’d hurt him. He’d made the mistake of falling in love with her and she’d hurt him badly.
“I know you want to succeed, Summer,” Ms. Marble continued. “We all do. But sometimes what we think is success isn’t success at all. Take me for example. I was thrilled when Carly offered me a job baking for the diner. When the orders started coming in, I felt like I was a success. People loved my baking and were willing to pay for it.” She paused. “If you look at it that way, I am successful. But if you look at it from the happiness perspective, I’m not.”
Summer stopped frosting and turned to her. “What do you mean?”
“Before I started baking for the diner, I baked for the pure enjoyment of it. I didn’t charge people for my baked goods. I gave them away absolutely free. My payment was the smile one of my pies would put on someone’s face or the joy a muffin would give to a friend. Giving away baked goods filled my heart to the brim. Making people pay just doesn’t do the same thing.”
Summer couldn’t quite believe her ears. “Are you saying you don’t want to get paid for baking?”
“I don’t mind making a little extra every now and then, but I also want to give away my baking to people who enjoy it. And I certainly don’t want to spend as much time baking as I have been. I have other interests that I’d like to pursue. Something you made me realize when, every time I looked over at Spring and Waylon’s, I saw you enjoying gardening or sitting on the front porch with a good book or your knitting.”
All Summer could do was stare at Ms. Marble. “But you can’t give up your business.”
Ms. Marble smiled. “Because of the bakery?”
Summer’s eyes widened. “You know about the bakery?”
“This is a small town, Summer. It’s hard to keep a secret.” She walked over and gave her a tight hug. “And I certainly appreciate you and the rest of the town working so hard to give me my very own bakery.” She drew back, the stern school teacher expression on her face. “But before you give someone their dream, you should make sure it’s what they truly want.”
Summer felt like a complete fool. She had been so sure that Ms. Marble had wanted a bakery. Who wouldn’t want a bakery? She would love it if someone gave her a bakery. “But people are planning on surprising you with it on your birthday.”
Ms. Marble patted her arm. “I’ve talked with Joanna Daily. She’s going to spread the word that Ms. Marble is quitting the baking business.”
“What about the building that’s already painted with cute bakery clouds and waiting for commercial ovens?”
Ms. Marble shrugged. “I’m sure everything will work out. It always does.”
Summer set down her spatula and took a chair at the table. She covered her face with her hands. “I’m such an idiot. I should’ve asked you if you wanted a bakery instead of assuming it would make you happy. Just like I should’ve asked my sisters if they wanted to open a retail store, instead of jumping into it and expecting them to follow. Spring is right. I’m a control freak.”
Ms. Marble sat down across from her. “There’s nothing wrong with being a control freak. We need people who take control. Just like we need people who follow. But maybe it’s time for you to take control of your own life and stop worrying about everyone else’s. Maybe it’s time to decide what will make you happy.”
She didn’t know why an image of Ryker popped into her head. She couldn’t be happy with a man who had lied to her. He might say he loved her, but love didn’t matter as much as trust. Her daddy had proved that to her.
“I don’t know what will make me happy,” she said. “I don’t know anything at the moment.”
Ms. Marble smiled. “Sometimes happiness sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Now let’s leave this hot kitchen and go out and enjoy the beautiful summer day.”
Summer followed Ms. Marble out to the back porch, but she didn’t notice the blue sky or the chirping birds or the buzzing bees. She sat on the porch and mindlessly knitted her growing knitting project while Ms. Marble sipped iced tea and talked about the upcoming Fourth of July activities. Somewhere between the parade and the picnic basket auction, Summer glanced up and saw her sisters walking across the back lawn toward Ms. Marble’s porch.
She started to get up to go inside, but Ms. Marble stopped her. “It’s time to stop hiding.” She got up from her chair. “I’m going inside to let you talk.”
After Ms. Marble left, Summer went back to her knitting and tried to ignore Spring and Autumn. It wasn’t easy. Especially when they came right up on the porch without an invitation. Sherlock and Watson came with them and immediately curled up by Summer’s feet.
Spring laughed. “You always did have a way with animals.” She sat down on the top step while Autumn took the cushioned chair that Ms. Marble had vacated.
“I’m sorry, Summer,” Autumn said. “We shouldn’t have closed the store without talking to you first. But after you had sex with Ryker and almost got yourself killed, I was worried you were losing it.”
Obviously, Autumn had filled Spring in on what happened in Ryker’s motel room because her sister didn’t eve
n act surprised. “I don’t know why Summer having sex with Ryker made you think she was losing it, Audie. I knew from the first moment they met that she had the hots for him.”
Summer completely gave up on ignoring her sisters and dropped her knitting needles. “What? Are you crazy? The first time I met him I thought he was a snooty nerd.”
Spring smiled brightly. “Liar. You’ve had a thing for him for a long time. Which is why you came up with the idea to have him help you with your business plan. You wanted an excuse to see him again. And Ryker is just as bad. He couldn’t take his eyes off you at my wedding reception. It wasn’t the tequila that caused you two to have sex. It was mutual attraction. Admit it, Sum. You liked him way before you had sex with him. You just used the tequila as an excuse to do what you wanted to do.”
“Spring does have a point,” Autumn said. “I don’t recall you ever having drunk sex with any other men. Or forgetting to use a condom. Do you think, subconsciously, you were hoping to get pregnant?”
Summer jumped up from her chair, dropping her pile of knitting on Sherlock and Watson. “You two have really lost it. Now you think I planned to trap Ryker into marriage?”
Spring shrugged. “It does look that way.”
“Well, you are absolutely wrong. There might’ve been some sexual attraction between us, but I didn’t go to his motel room with the intention of trapping him. If anyone wanted to trap someone, it was Ryker. He was the one who had to go and fall in love with me.”
Spring laughed. “You sound like Daddy. Whenever he visited, he was always warning us about never getting trapped by love—which would explain why he never did stick around. He didn’t want to be trapped by a family who loved him.”
Her sister’s words hit Summer like a wrecking ball. She had always thought all her relationship hang-ups came from her mother falling for a man who couldn’t love her in return. Even Ryker had put those pieces together. But he’d been wrong. And so had Summer. It wasn’t her mother who had made her afraid of love and serious relationships. Her mother had never run from love. She’d embraced it, no matter how painful it turned out to be. It had been Holt who had done all the running. Holt who had never wanted to feel trapped. And Summer had followed right in his footsteps.
