Off Beat (Forgotten Flounders Series Book 1)

by J. C. Hannigan

  Holly and Shelly darted away from the window, rushing off to their respective sides, while Ellery stood exactly where she’d been a moment before, shooting me a plucky smile.

  “It’s a little late, guys.” I sighed, shaking my head as I approached the middle of the store.

  The younger girls both exchanged looks with one another before bursting out into guilt-ridden explanations—well, guilt-ridden on Shelly’s part.

  “We’re sorry, we really didn’t mean to spy—I was setting up the recommendation table, and I just happened to look up.”

  “And then she said you guys were making out, and I was like NO WAY! Because I didn’t think you did that, Harper.”

  “Funny, Holly.” I arched a brow, trying not to give away how unamused I was about the whole situation. I expected this from Ellery, naturally, but our other employees? Not so much.

  Still, something needed to be said, Calum was already coming and going as he pleased, the way he had before. If he wanted to see me, he sought me out. It didn’t matter what time of the day or night it was.

  Now he had even more of a reason to see me; Asher. Regardless of whether or not I’d been caught making out just now, I’d still have to tell my employees the latest developments in my life.

  “Are you dating him? Again?” Shelly’s question had a bit of force behind it, like she was disappointed and happy for me in equal measure. My eyes flickered to her, and I nodded slowly.

  “I am. But I do consider my private life private, so please keep this between the four of us for now.”

  “Okay,” the two girls said in unison, nodding.

  “I should also mention, full disclosure, that Calum is Asher’s father.”

  “Well, duh, we already knew that,” Holly laughed, rolling her eyes in jest. “I mean, look at the two of them!” Shelly nodded vigorously with wide eyes, verifying she’d suspected it all along, too.

  I pressed my lips together. “Okay, awesome. So, we’re all on the same page. Hen session over. Back to work, girls.”

  Holly tilted her chin in acceptance and strolled over to the café, and Shelly returned to the front table to set up her picks for this week’s staff recommendation table. The store was quiet this morning—not uncommon for dreary April mornings. Music spilled softly from speakers, and I took a moment just to breathe.

  I still had a lot to do, and I was behind on everything already with our super late start. But my mind was too scrambled to focus, so I headed into the back room to deposit my purse, aware of Ellery trailing behind me.

  Pausing to punch in the code, I spared a glance over my shoulder. My wicked friend shot me an innocent smile like she hadn’t encouraged our younger employees’ spy break.

  Shaking my head and huffing, I pushed the door open and moved toward the office. I shrugged my coat off, hanging it up on the hook by the door, thoughts adrift, recalling the kiss my colleagues just witnessed.

  I tried to muster up the irritation at Cal for kissing me so recklessly, but—this was Cal. This is how we’d always been—this was exactly what I’d craved so desperately. The kind of love that only he seemed to offer.

  And man…he’d delivered.

  “Why are you smiling like that?” Ellery smirked, tilting her head.

  “I’m not.” I stopped immediately, having been unaware of action—traitorous lips.

  “Oh, but you were,” my friend’s eyes gleamed with delight. “It’s kind of this weird tiny smile? Like you’re thinking about something naughty, like naughty fun. Spill, or I’ll ban you from caffeine.”

  “You can’t do that. Not after the morning I just had!” I whined, practically stomping my foot. I hadn’t had a single sip of caffeine yet, and I needed to rectify that immediately.

  And the reason for my extreme exhaustion? My thoughts had no sooner recalled his name before my core clenched and my cheeks heated.

  “Sure, I can. You don’t know how to work the machine.” She pointed out dryly. “Now stop stalling and give me the deets. How did the dinner go?”

  “Really good.” I bit my lip, remembering. “They got along great.” I choked on that last part, overcome with emotion. Clearing my throat, I continued. “We also spent Sunday with him. He picked us up after Asher’s piano lesson.”

  “What’d you do?” My friend’s interest was fully piqued now, and there was no way I was escaping without giving her details. Moving around my desk, I pulled out my chair and sank down onto it.

  “We went out for lunch, and he took us to see the house he just bought.”

  “Holy shit.” Whatever she’d been expecting me to say, it hadn’t been that. She sank down on the couch in front of the desk. “I mean, I guess he can do that, being as loaded as he is, but still. He bought a house? That’s…big.”

  “Tell me about it,” I glanced around the office space, looking anywhere but at my friend directly. “Asher wanted him to come back to our house, and he did. He stayed…late. We…talked.”

  “So that’s what they’re calling it these days!” Ellery interrupted, her eyes sparkling with mirth. I leveled her with a look. “What, you’re not even going to try to deny it? You’ve got that freshly laid look about you, and you had a clusterfuck of a morning—which tells me somebody kept you up late and threw you off that rigorous schedule of yours. After your little display out front…I’ve got one guess on who.”

  Laughter bubbled over, and I shook my head. “What can I say? It’s hard to resist something you know is going to feel amazing.”

  “Touché,” she laughed. “I approve of this look. This…glowy look.”

  “I don’t have a glowy look,” I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, that’s not all that happened.”

  “Uh, oh!” Ellery’s eyes widened.

  “He said he wanted us to move in with him.”

  “What’d you say?”

  “No, obviously,” I wrinkled my nose, not with distaste—it’d be a lie to pretend a part of me didn’t want everything Calum mentioned last night—but out of confusion at my own conflicting feelings. Love and betrayal tangled but eased with each moment Cal was present. “But I wanted to say yes. Does that make me an idiot?”

  “No. Did it occur to you that you want this because it’s right? For everyone? Think about it, in all the years I’ve known you, you’ve quietly pined for him, yearned for him, even if you didn’t talk about it and pretended that you didn’t. His ghost blocked every guy you attempted to move on with. Nobody made it past that first kiss.”

  The silence in the office was deafening.

  “That’s not entirely true,” I argued fruitlessly, but Ellery wasn’t having it. She waved a slender hand, her eyes pinning me with a seriousness that had the rest of my argument dying on my tongue. She was my best friend and business partner; she knew me better than most.

  “There’s no shame in it,” she said gently. “Sometimes, you’re just fated to be with someone, and there isn’t anything you can do about it but embrace it.”

  “But what if it happens again? What if he leaves, or decides that I’m not enough?”

  “I can’t tell you to take that chance, Harper.” She arched a blonde brow at me, challenging me. “But I’m pretty sure that man had a come-to-Jesus moment when he came back.”

  I snorted; I couldn’t help it.

  “Furthermore,” she said, leaning forward and splaying her hands out on my desk. “You waited for him. Why?”

  “I didn’t wait. I moved on with my life. I just…“ I let out a breath and shook my head. “Nothing ever felt like that, like what we had.”

  “Does this?”

  Quiet, I considered her question. “Yes. But—“

  “You’re getting hung up on the past.” Ellery guessed, nodding with understanding.

  I sighed, massaging my temple with my fingers. “This is supposed to be about Asher, not us.”

  “It’s about all three of you.” She corrected sternly. “Do you honestly believe that seeing his parents give their relationship a s
econd chance will be harmful?”

  “If it doesn’t work? Absolutely.” I shook my head. It was easy to forget about everything when we were together—but when we were apart, the worry settled in. I couldn’t help but wonder just how big a risk I was taking.

  “Don’t write off the ending before you even get to the middle,” Ellery advised kindly.

  I gave her a crooked smile, shaking my head. “When did you get so smart?”

  “Um, I’ve always been this smart.”

  Calum

  I strolled through the doors to the recording studio twenty-five minutes late, but the coffee and Danishes I brought eased the irritation Dare felt. Evan couldn’t have cared less—he didn’t seem to have a concept of time, nor did he care if it was wasted. In fact, Evan was the resident time waster, usually.

  I was never late.

  Neither Dare nor Evan called me out on it. They simply stood when I finally walked in and met me in the middle of the reception room.

  I took my cup from the tray and passed the coffees to Dare while Evan snatched the paper bag from my hand, reaching inside to pull a Danish out.

  He took a huge bite and moaned. “Oh my God, this is the best fucking Danish I’ve ever had in my goddamn life! Where is it from?”

  “It’s from Books & Brews,” I told him. “Harper’s bookstore and café.”

  “I’d have moved back home just for these Danishes,” he remarked, taking another huge bite and rolling his eyes dramatically.

  A throat cleared, and the three of us turned to watch a man in his late forties walk out from the hallway over to the receptionist’s desk. “Calum Jacobs. You’ve changed a little bit, since the last time I saw you.”

  “You look the same, Don.” I shook his hand firmly, grinning in greeting. Don Keefer had owned Harmony Waves for going on twenty-five years now. He was one of Gramps’ old contacts—the man he’d directed us to back when we were in high school talking about putting together an album.

  He threw back his salt and pepper head and laughed. “I’ve aged a bit since then.” He patted his rounded belly affectionately, his eyes twinkling with mirth. His amusement faded, a somber look befalling his weathered face. “I was sorry to hear about your grandfather. He was a great man.”

  “Thank you,” I inclined my head.

  “All right, well…let’s get to it, shall we?” Don cleared his throat, seeming to stand taller. “While the décor hasn’t changed in a decade, we recently got some equipment upgrades.”

  The studio was smaller than the ones we’d recording in over the last few years, but the equipment Don listed would be more than sufficient to record the new single the label was thirsting for.

  “That’s perfect. Could we book two days twice a week for the next couple of weeks, starting in two weeks’ time?” I questioned, and the studio manager nodded, his eyes bright with excitement.

  “Absolutely. I’d be honored to work with you fellas again. How do Tuesdays and Thursdays sound?”

  The guys and I exchanged a look, and they nodded. “Works for us.”

  Harper

  “Earth to Harper—are you okay?” Ellery called out, clapping her hands beside me. I jumped, nearly dropping the paperback I’d been holding and staring blankly at for the past five minutes.

  “Crap, yes. I spaced.” I sighed, placing the paperback on the shelf. I’d been in the local author section, adding Janessa Wentworth’s latest release to our growing collection. In truth, it was taking me a lot longer than usual to get through this normally quick task, and there was no point in denying it.

  I was deeply distracted.

  “I know, I’ve been trying to talk to you for the last five minutes. Everything okay?” The teasing lilt to Ellery’s tone held a note of concern.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine,” I replied—my voice an octave higher than usual. I grabbed another book from the cart. I could feel her studying me, and my cheeks heated even more beneath her scrutiny.

  Ducking from her inspection, I continued picking up books and setting them on the shelf, working at top speed now to empty the cart.

  “One extreme or the other with you today, huh?” She clicked her tongue, shaking her head.

  “I just need to finish this one thing. Cal’s going to be here soon,” I replied. “I’ve barely gotten half of my to-do list done, and I feel like—a space cadet.” My shoulders sagged.

  “You know, you haven’t taken a holiday in forever. Like, literally—you’ve never taken a holiday. And I don’t count sick days as holidays, Harp, so don’t even open your mouth.” Ellery scolded, and I clamped my mouth shut. “You need some time off to figure this thing out.”

  “I can’t. There’s too much to do here. The shipment for the schools just arrived, and we’ve got the signing event with Janessa Wentworth Friday.”

  Ellery cupped her chin and tapped her lips thoughtfully. Her nails were always filed down and clean, but she never wore nail polish. She baked too much for it. Her eyes brightened with an idea. “So take the books into the schools while you’re off the next two days, come in on Friday for the signing event. I can help Shelly with the storefront if she needs it, but I think she’s got it. We’ll be fine.”

  I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest, my fingers tapping against my elbow in consideration. It wasn’t a half-bad idea.

  “I suppose you’re right,” I lamented. I knew they were more than capable of it, and I could use a couple of days off to regroup and organize myself. I needed to be on my A-game for Janessa’s signing event.

  “You know I’m right. A bunch of sweaty sex with the rock star is exactly what the doctor ordered.”

  “You aren’t a doctor.”

  “Janessa’s newest hero is,” she winked. Something caught her attention over my shoulder, and she straightened, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Speak of the devil.”

  I spun around, breath catching in my chest as Calum strolled purposely through the doors and into the bookstore.

  When those stormy blues locked on mine, a slow smile graced his lips, making me feel hot all over. It transported me to the night before, to how good it felt to give into it. To the kiss this morning, how lost I was when his lips pressed to mine with worship.

  He watched me, his gaze heated and purposeful, his smile a touch devious—like he, too, was having similar thoughts.

  “Hi, Calum. We haven’t formally met. I’m Ellery.” My friend said, thrusting her hand out to shake his, forcing his attention away from me. I drew in a breath, trying to pull it together.

  Cal’s lips twitched with amusement. “Nice to meet you. Great shop you guys have,” he said, his eyes surveying the shelves and tables, and the café beyond. “It’s cozy.”

  “Exactly the look we were going for!” Ellery crooned with delight, reining in her excitement when I sent her a look. “Anyway, I’m sure there’s something I need to be doing somewhere else.” She smirked, dancing off to the café side.

  “You’re a little early. The bus doesn’t drop the kids off for another half hour.” I remarked, placing a hand on the cart absently. It was the cart or his chest, and I wasn’t ready for the kind of attention a public display with Cal would bring—the kiss my colleagues witnessed had been enough, for now—but it sure would be easy to forget and fall into old habits. When we were younger, we hadn’t wasted a second moment without touching each other in some way.

  “I know, sorry. Stuff with the guys wrapped up early, and I didn’t feel like driving back to Lunenburg.” He shrugged, lips twitching, eyes growing a little darker, a little cloudier. He didn’t have to say a thing—I recognized that look. I knew he’d been staying at his parents for the last week, and that transition probably wasn’t any easier or comfortable for him. It wasn’t uncommon for him to bump heads with his father, for Cal’s dad to say or do something to piss him off and make him react.

  They goaded each other, fed off each other’s anger. It was one thing about Calum that had always made my heart ache.
No father should treat his son with such carelessness.

  Yet he was the polar opposite with Connor. His blatant favouritism had always made me hurt for him.

  “Maybe I’ll put you to work here, then.” I teased, trying to draw a smile from him. It worked, and he smirked at my subtle innuendo.

  “Sure, what do you need me to do?” he asked, completely serious.

  “I could use you in the back,” I replied, drawing another laugh from him. “No, really, you’d be surprised at how heavy boxes of books are. I need to drop two off at the library.”

  “Lead the way,” he inclined his head, and I grabbed ahold of the cart with both hands, pushing it around him. I could feel his eyes on my backside. I glanced over my shoulder, catching him eyeing the sway of my hips with an appreciative gleam in his irises. “Damn, you’ve got a naughty librarian look going for you right now…and I’m digging it.”

  I shook my head, laughing under my breath. At least he was just as immersed in me as I was him, and I drew a small comfort from that accompanying feeling of empowerment.

  As I typed in the code for the back room, Calum stepped up behind me, brushing my hair over my shoulder, and pressed a kiss to the nape of my neck. I shivered, goosebumps erupting against the feel of his lips on my skin.

  Exhaling, I pushed the door open and stepped through, holding it for him and the cart. He walked it over and left it in front of the towering piles of boxes while the door closed behind me.

  “Are these the boxes?” he asked, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. His brow quirked, and I nodded, biting my lip.

  “Yeah. These two I need right now. The other five are for the school libraries within the community.”

  Calum whistled. “You guys do that?”

  “Yes. We try to do it once per term if the funding is there. I can write it off as a taxable donation, and it feels good to give to the community.”