Always & Forever: A Sweet Romantic Comedy (ABCs of Love Collection, Books 1 - 4)

by Brenna Jacobs

  “And how many of you like a good story?” A few more reluctant hands went up. They knew where she was headed. “Come on, now. I know you all watch movies and look at memes and Snapchat stories. And all of you better be following my Insta stories.”

  “I’d follow you anywhere, Miss Keller,” one of the younger boys—he couldn’t be more than twelve—shouted, and all the kids laughed. Cash adjusted his hat, but in the second between taking it off, looking into it, and putting it back on his head, Madi caught him fighting a grin.

  “I’m going to hold you to that… what’s your name?”

  “Sterling.” His freckles glowed under the bright red that spread to his cheeks.

  “Sterling ,” Madi said his name softly enough that he worked up the courage to look her in the eye. “Why are stories important?”

  He raised a slow shoulder to his ear. “I don’t know. Because they’re interesting, I guess.”

  “Well, I know mine are.” She winked at him, and he blushed again. “If you follow me, you know how buying re-purposed clothes and furniture connects us to the people who owned them before. We become part of their story, and they become part of ours. Or, if we buy something new, we choose it mindfully so we have something that’s going to add to our story for years to come, and not just for a little while before we throw it away.”

  The kids all nodded. The contours of their faces softened as a blue-grey dusk settled over them, and Madi inched closer to tighten the circle around her. She knew she and Cash needed to get on the road, but there wouldn’t be any point in hauling a hundred pounds of books one thousand miles if nobody got excited about reading them.

  “Books do the same thing.” She grabbed a book out of the suitcase and held it up. “The stories inside these pages become part of our own stories, because when we read about other people—real or not—we live their stories. And living their stories helps us recognize and honor everyone’s story. That’s how we create beautiful spaces and happy places.”

  “So have you read all of those books?” a tall boy standing outside the group asked, dropping his question like a gauntlet.

  “Not all of them.” Madi admitted and looked at the cover of the book in her hand. “But this is one of my favorites: Jane Eyre.”

  A few kids groaned, and then the complaints followed.

  “That’s so old.”

  “I can’t understand anything they’re saying.”

  “That’s a girl book.”

  “Now hold up.” Madi lifted her hand, and with an almost imperceptible flick of her wrist and slight change in her tone, had their attention again. “You’re not wrong about this book being old and being about a girl, but anyone can be inspired by Jane Eyre.”

  Doubt rippled through the crowd, manifesting itself in tilted heads, eye rolls and crossed arms. A sure smile spread across Madi’s face. There was nothing like a challenge to get her motivated. If she could get more than half a million people to watch her repurpose an old chair, she could get them to read Jane Eyre.

  “Girls, Jane Eyre was Wonder Woman, Gamora, Black Widow, and every other superhero before there were superheroes.” She let that idea sink in. The girls were far from convinced, and the boys weren’t even in the same universe, but Madi had their attention. “Listen, what do all superheroes have in common?”

  “They have superpowers, and they’re not boring,” one of the boys yelled.

  Snickers followed, but Madi just smiled and went on. “They do what’s right, even if it means facing death. Or, worse, even if it means being alone in the world. Jane doesn’t back down from what she believes in, even when it means sacrificing everything.”

  The girls closest to Madi leaned in to get a better look at the book, and she handed it to one of them.

  “And boys.” She stared down the boy who’d called Jane Eyre boring. “This is a guide to getting out of the friend zone.”

  Boring Guy’s eyes wandered from Madi to the girl standing next to him who gave him a look and moved half a foot away from him. He looked back at Madi and sighed.

  “No spoilers, but he’s got a secret in the attic and stubborn little Jane who won’t give him the time of day once she finds out about it.” Madi shrugged her shoulders like she totally understood Boring Guy’s lady troubles were as bad as Rochester’s, but he still only looked half-convinced.

  “Does anyone die?” He scuffed the heel of his boot across the pavement. “Cuz it still sounds like a girl book. No guy’s going to read that except if some English teacher makes him.”

  “Yeah, people die.” Cash stepped forward, his thumbs looped over his belt buckle which was markedly bigger than the boy’s—and that was saying something. “Some English teacher made me read it, and it ended up being one of my favorite books.”

  “Seriously?” Mr. Boring looked Cash up and down, his eyes betraying the admiration he was trying to hide behind the arms he crossed over his chest.

  “Seriously.” Cash gave one nod of his head. “You should try it.”

  On cue, Madi reached into the box and pulled out another copy of the book to hand to the kid. He only hesitated a second before taking it and mumbling a thanks.

  The girl who’d put distance between them sidled up to him. “We can read it together if you want, Jake.”

  He answered with a shrug, but he couldn’t hold back his smile or the red flush that spread from his ears to his cheeks. The two walked away with their shoulders brushing against each other while the rest of the crowd circled around Madi and her box of books. She passed them out, giving plot synopses and raving about her favorites. The overhead lights in the parking lot popped on, flooding everyone in a sea of bright white and hiding the stars overhead.

  It was well past nine o’clock when the crowd finally dispersed leaving Madi, Becky and Cash alone in the parking lot.

  “That was amazing! Thank you so much!” Becky gushed. “You don’t know how hard it is to get these kids excited about books and reading! You’re an angel.” She turned to Cash. “Isn’t she an angel?”

  “You do have a halo thing going on.” Cash swirled his hands near the top of Madi’s head.

  “You totally do with the light bouncing off your blonde hair,” Becky added.

  Cash cleared his throat and put some space between himself and Madi. “We’d better get on the road though. Unless you’ve got angel wings to fly us there faster than the two hours it’s gonna take.”

  “You all are leaving tonight?” Becky asked. “Didn’t you hear about the road being shut down?”

  “The interstate? We just came off it.” Cash pulled out his phone at the same time Becky answered him.

  “Yeah. They had a big ol’ accident a little while ago with a couple of semis. Whole thing’s shut down going north.”

  Cash let out a deep breath and shook his head. “I guess we’ll have to get some rooms for tonight,” he said, sending a text to someone.

  Madi guessed it was his boss. “I’ll pay for them. I’m so sorry I held us up for so long.”

  “We’ve got the Mountain West Cowboy Poetry event going on right now,” Becky said. “You’ll be lucky to get one room, let alone two.”

  Madi and Cash both stared at her.

  “I’d let you stay with me, but I’ve rented out my whole house, and I’m bunking up with a friend.” She frowned. “But I’ll help you find somewhere.” She took out her phone and started scrolling through numbers.

  Madi looked at Cash, feeling even worse than she had before. But she couldn’t deny the spark of excitement that flared up when their eyes met. Sharing a room with a good-looking cowboy wouldn’t be the worst way to end the day.

  Chapter Five

  Madi’s teacher friend was right. There wasn’t a room to be had in all of Hamilton. Cash had tried every hotel, motel, inn and VRBO in town, and not one had a room, let alone two rooms to rent. He had one last option on the outskirts of town—and not the nice outskirts. He’d passed the Sleepy Inn a million times while driving on
the interstate. Every time he got close, he hoped someone had finally fixed the lights in the sign so it wouldn’t read S***** In* anymore. He was disappointed every time.

  He said a quick prayer as they drove toward the old motel that it would look better on the inside than it did on the outside. Peeling paint and burned out lights were one thing, but he doubted Madi would be able to handle any bugs or, worse, rodents. The motel was surrounded by tall weeds and fields which had to be crawling with mice who probably found plenty of crumbs and other mice-sized snacks around—if not in—the motel.

  Cash parked in front of the reservation office and glanced at Madi as they walked toward it, wondering if she’d noticed the same things he had through the dirty glass. Faux wood-paneled welcome desk, avocado green couch that looked like it possibly hadn’t started life that color. A young girl sat at the desk “scratching” the inside of her nostril with a long fluorescent nail. The squeak that came from Madi was a pretty good indication she’d seen at least one of those three things.

  “So, this is it?” she asked and typed something into her phone, barely looking at it.

  Cash nodded. “If they haven’t got a room, we’re out of luck.”

  “Kinda looks like we’re out of luck either way.” Madi tucked her phone in her purse and opened the door. “Shall we?”

  Cash had to admire Madi’s… what was the word? Moxie? She might be afraid of snakes—totally understandable—but she didn’t seem to be afraid of much else. If he didn’t know better, she could have passed for an Idaho girl. Not quite a Montana girl, but definitely Idaho. Maybe even Wyoming.

  He followed her inside where the desk girl didn’t bother looking up from her nails even for the loud cowbell that announced their entrance. She didn’t notice anything until Madi was right in front of her waving her hand and calling, “Helllllo.”

  In slow motion, the girl pulled an earbud out of her ear. “What’s up?” She smacked her gum. Cash hated the sound of smacking gum, which distracted him long enough that Madi spoke before he could.

  “We need a couple of rooms.”

  “Here?” the desk girl—Chastitee, according to her nametag—asked.

  Cash tore his eyes away from Madi’s dimples, ready to hogtie this girl who was their last chance at sleeping in beds. He didn’t mind so much for himself—he could bunk anywhere—but he doubted Madi could handle sleeping on the ground.

  “If you’ve got anything, we’d appreciate it. We’ve tried everywhere else,” Madi said in a voice a lot sweeter than the one he’d planned on using.

  The girl’s eyes wandered from Madi to Cash. He didn’t like the way her mouth slid into a smirk.

  “Two rooms.” He held up two fingers to make sure she understood.

  Her eyebrows shot up at the same time her lips pulled into a lemon-sucking pinch. They stayed there, frozen, until she picked up the ringing phone.

  “Yeah?” she answered, keeping her eyes on Cash as she listened to the caller. “It’s less than twenty-four hours. You have to pay full price.” A pause, then “Not my problem,” and she hung up.

  “A room just opened up.” She didn’t look at Madi, only Cash, and he wondered if he’d seen her blink. If she had, he’d missed it.

  “One?” Madi asked.

  “One.” Chastitee answered Cash, even though Madi had asked.

  “How many beds?” he asked.

  “One.” She smirked again. If Cash had to choose between her smirk or her lemon face, he’d take the lemon face every time.

  “We’ll take it,” Madi said as she dug through her—what did she call it? VBP?—until she’d pulled out her wallet. By the time she had her credit card out, Cash had already laid one on the counter. If Chastitee’s fingernails hadn’t prevented her from actually using her fingers, Madi wouldn’t have had time to push Cash’s card back to him and put her own card in the girl’s fingers. “It’s my fault we’re stuck here, so I’m buying.”

  “I can sleep in my truck.” Cash had a thing about letting women pay. He didn’t do it. Call him a chauvinist or whatever the term was nowadays, but he didn’t do it. If he’d been able to pull Madi’s card from Chastitee’s claws without fear of being sliced in two, he would have.

  “I wouldn’t recommend that.” The girl gave the back of her head a good scratch. Cash expected her hands to come out of her hair dripping blood off her razor-sharp fingernails, but they didn’t. “Cops patrol around here pretty heavy. They see you sleeping in your truck, they’ll assume it’s because you’re passed out from shootin’ or snortin’ something. They’ll haul you to jail first and ask questions later.”

  “You afraid of what a big city girl might do to you?” Madi teased.

  Or flirted. Was she flirting?

  Because he wasn’t afraid of her or a little flirting. “Trust me. I know how to handle ‘big city’ girls.” He stepped closer to her with a smolder that had made more than one city girl swoon. Because he knew how to handle a good smolder too.

  Madi blushed then checked her phone. “Let’s not make this a big deal. We can figure out the bed situation after we get something to eat.” She turned back to Chastitee. “Anywhere good around here?”

  “There’s a Wendy’s up the road.” She jerked her head toward the street. “They make good Frosties.”

  “Thanks.” Madi didn’t show off her dimples this time. Cash suspected she was hoping for something a little better than fast food, but he could go for a Frosty himself.

  The girl handed Madi the room key and pointed in the direction they needed to go. “Careful of the possums. Sometimes they like to hang around outside that room.”

  “Possums?” Madi asked before Cash grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. He wouldn’t have thought about grabbing her hand except that their little flirtation had been kind of fun, and if he was going to be stuck in this town overnight, he might as well have a little fun.

  “I say we drop our bags then go eat.” He let go of her hand when the made it to the back of his truck. He popped open the gate and eyed Madi’s bags. “Which ones do you need?”

  “All of them.” She peered over his shoulder. “I mean, I don’t need all of them, but I’d feel safer having them in our room than out here.”

  He looked back at her to make sure she was being serious. Sure, a couple of them were lighter now that they’d given away the books, but the other three were still packed with more stuff than any girl could need for a one-night stay in the middle of nowhere. Even a California girl.

  “Please,” she said, as though Cash were going to tell her no in the first place.

  “No problem.” He pulled them out one by one, then they wheeled them down the outdoor corridor to their room. Cash took it slow but not as slow as Madi. He wondered if it was the suitcase or the thought of a possum encounter that had her dragging her feet.

  He glanced over his shoulder at her. “You don’t need to worry about me running from a possum. I’m not afraid of fighting them off.” Although, he wasn’t real excited about what kind of condition a possum-attracting room might be in.

  When they got to the door, he debated whether to be a gentleman and let her enter first, or a protector by facing whatever lay behind the door before she did. He went with protector and didn’t regret it when the first thing he saw was the worn green carpet covered with more greasy black spots than the floor of a Jiffy Lube. The walls weren’t much better. They might have been white a long time ago, or they might have been beige, but he doubted they were ever meant to be streaked with dirt. He hadn’t even looked at the bed before Madi walked in, wheeling her suitcase past him.

  “Well, this is grim.” She pointed toward the bedspread. “That’s gotta go.” Madi dropped her bag on the floor before pulling her phone from her purse. She held it over her head, angling it until she found the position she wanted then pushed record. “Hi! I know you weren’t expecting to see me again until I got to the Rocking M, but I’ve had a situation. Me and Cowboy Cash…” she moved enough to
get him in the shot. “Say hi, Cash!”

  Without knowing what else to do, Cash waved.

  “We’re stuck here for the night, and the only room we could get is this one right here.” She panned the room. “I’m not going to say the name of this place, obviously, but I will say it wouldn’t have been my first pick. But Rule Number Four, friends: Make the Best of It!”

  Madi handed her phone to him. “You all know I don’t have my crew here with me, so Cash is going to have to help me out.”

  “What am I supposed to be doing here?” Madi’s “friends” were getting a great shot of Cash’s boots, but he doubted that’s what they really wanted to see.

  Madi angled his arm so it was pointed toward her again. “Just keep it on me.” She flashed her dimples, and he decided it probably wouldn’t be too hard to do what she asked. “I’m going to show you how to make a Happy Place, even when you’re in a not-so-beautiful-space.”

  “You’re showing me this?” Cash still didn’t understand, but he kept the phone pointed at her as she laughed.

  “He’s cute, isn’t he?” She lifted her eyes from the camera to him. “I’m talking to my Insta followers.”

  “Oh.” Cash breathed a sigh of relief that Madi’s followers couldn’t see how red he knew his face had to be. He might be a country boy, but he knew what Instagram was. He had a few followers himself. Like, fifty at least. He’d just never felt the need to do a live Insta—or whatever it was called.

  He followed her as she opened one of the bigger suitcases and pulled out a lighter and baggie of…weeds.

  Weed?

  He nearly dropped the phone. “Do I still keep this on?” There was a ninety percent chance whatever she had planned wasn’t legal. At least not in Montana.

  Madi ignored him and took a big bundle of the weed out of the baggie. “First things first,” she said then held the lighter’s flame under it. When the smell of sage filled the air, Cash breathed another sigh of relief. But then Madi started waving the lit sage around the room, and he was almost as confused as he had been before.