by Rachel Hanna
“You mean I have a job?”
“If you want it,” Rebecca said with a laugh. “The pay is ten dollars an hour. I know it’s not much, but I think it will cover your living expenses at the bed and breakfast at least.”
“That works fine for me. I’m looking forward to starting!” Molly said, and she really was. Surprisingly, she was looking forward to this new chapter in her life and having something to call her own without any interference from her family.
Molly had been thinking about what she could do on the side that would bring in some extra money, and dog walking seemed to be a good option. Addison explained that they had a lot of tourists coming into the area at different times of the year, and hiring a dog walker would be of interest to those people as well as the locals.
But for now, she’d focus on the coffee shop and worry about starting a business later.
After chatting with Rebecca for a few more minutes, they decided that she would start the next morning. Molly was looking forward to it, but what she wasn’t looking forward to was explaining what had happened with Blake to her family and friends. She had no idea what she was going to do about that, and she still wasn’t completely convinced that he didn’t exist… somewhere.
If there was one thing that Molly couldn’t figure out, it was whether or not Blake actually existed. At first, she was certain that he didn’t when she saw the man standing at the door of the house in January Cove. But now, she wasn’t so sure.
He had been texting her every day, like clockwork – just like he always did. Because she wasn’t sure who she was dealing with, she hadn’t mentioned that she was right there in town. She wanted to see if she could get any additional information.
But now she was more confused than ever. She had asked him for an address to send him a care package, something she hadn’t done in many months. But he told her he was busy traveling with his family because his grandmother was sick.
The only problem was, she thought his grandmother had died. She could’ve sworn he already told her that, but some of their older text messages had already been erased so she couldn’t prove it.
On the off chance that he was real, she just went along with things until she could prove it one way or another. Maybe the love of her life was really out there, going to see his sick grandmother in South Carolina just like he said he was.
But that still didn’t explain why the old address that she had written down wasn’t where he lived. In fact, he had never lived there at all. She was having a hard time getting around that in her mind.
Maybe she had written the address down wrong. Since the old text message was gone, she had no way to verify it. And she had left the old postage slip back home, opting instead to write it down on a piece of paper before she left town.
She certainly couldn’t call her parents and ask them to look through one of her boxes to find the slip. They would know then that something was up for sure.
So she continued on, acting normally, hoping against hope that he was real.
One day soon, she would tell him where she was and that he needed to come find her. She just had to work up her courage first. And every fiber of her being hoped that he would arrive on a white horse, whisk her into his arms and show the world he was most definitely real.
As she stood behind the counter on her second day of working at Jolt, she was easing into the slower paced lifestyle of January Cove. And, she was starting to like it.
Every person she’d met had been nice to her, with the exception of the jerky guy who was staying at the same place she was. She had managed to stay away from him since knocking him over on the porch, and she planned to keep it that way.
At least she thought she could keep it that way until she heard the door ding. There he was, walking through the door looking at her as if she was beneath him in some way. Even his face was cocky.
“Welcome to Jolt,” she said with about as much enthusiasm as someone in a coma. She didn’t crack a smile and tried not to make further eye contact. Rebecca was gone to spend the day with her boyfriend, but she probably wouldn’t be happy with the way Molly was greeting her customer.
“Well, that was a lackluster greeting,” cocky guy said. A hint of a smile started to appear on his face, but it was more sarcastic than friendly.
“What can I get you?” she said, still trying to avoid eye contact.
“What do you recommend?” he asked. What was with this guy? Why couldn’t he just order a coffee like a normal human being and be on his way?
“I don’t know… Coffee, maybe?” she said, giving him the sarcasm right back. It was 7 o’clock in the morning and she was in no mood for regular conversations much less long talks with the most arrogant guy she’d ever met.
“Yeah, I think coffee would be a good idea. I have a very hard time dealing with people until I get some caffeine.”
“Well, you must’ve been decaffeinated when I met you the other day then,” she heard herself saying without thinking. Why was she continuing to engage this guy in conversation?
“Wow, you get right to the point. Yes, I actually was decaffeinated that day.”
He stood there, with all the confidence of a high-powered executive, but she could tell that wasn’t the type of work he probably did. He was wearing a nice pair of jeans, a golf shirt and he certainly wasn’t carrying a briefcase. In fact, the town didn’t seem like a place that would play host to corporate bigwigs anyway.
But she had to admit to herself, he was good-looking. It was just a shame that he was so arrogant. No normal woman was ever going to want to spend time with a guy like that.
He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring which made sense because she couldn’t see anyone wanting to be married to him either. She wasn’t into New Age stuff, but she could almost see an invisible aura around him like a wall keeping the world out.
“Well, then can I recommend a double shot of espresso for you this morning?” she said, forcing a smile. Amazingly, he smiled back and this time it didn’t look as sarcastic.
“I think I better stick with regular coffee. I’d hate to be zipping around town without a car. I’m not sure this little town is ready for me on two shots of espresso,” he said, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.
“So you’re new to town also?”
“I thought that was kind of obvious since I’m staying at the bed and breakfast.”
“I wasn’t sure since you seemed to just be doing some work there.”
“No, I offered to do a few things for free. Clay and Addison seem to be nice people.”
“They do. I’m glad I got to meet them.”
“So you just moved here too?” he asked, and suddenly she got uncomfortable. They weren’t going to be friends, and she had no desire to tell him her life story.
“Just visiting for a while,” she said as she slid the cup of coffee across the counter and took his money. She opened the cash register, gave him his change and smiled. “Thanks for stopping by.” Without another word, she turned and started wiping down the counters. A few moments later, she heard the door ding and saw him out of her peripheral vision walking down the sidewalk.
Disaster averted.
Tessa Reeves stood in front of the long mirror in the corner of her bedroom, her wedding dress flowing across the floor behind her. It was the perfect dress for her. She felt like a fairy princess and couldn’t wait to get married to her prince.
Since moving into her soon-to-be mother-in-law’s old house, she and Aaron Parker had started to build a life together. With her wedding coming up in just a few days, she was more excited than ever to finally become his wife.
Still, it made her sad to think that her mother wouldn’t be at her wedding. After losing her mother when she was only ten years old, and then her father dying in prison when she was nineteen, Tessa had been alone in the world for a long time. Even when she was married to her abusive husband, she was still really alone.
But being a part of the Parker family ha
d changed her life. Her son, Tyler, had just turned four years old and thought of Aaron as his father. She couldn’t wait to have more children, this time with a man who truly loved her and her son.
“Knock knock!” she heard a voice say from the foyer downstairs. It was Jenna, her soon-to-be sister-in-law. Jenna was married to Aaron’s brother, Kyle.
“Come on up!” Tessa called.
“You’re wearing it again?” Jenna said with a laugh as she walked into the room. Tessa seemed to be wearing her wedding dress more than she was wearing her regular clothes these days. But somehow she had managed to keep it hidden from Aaron, not wanting to jinx herself before the wedding.
“I certainly paid enough money for it, so I figure I should wear it at least once a day,” Tessa joked. She enjoyed the company of all of the women in the Parker family, but felt particularly close to Jenna. They had experienced similar issues with men in the past with Jenna’s ex-husband being mentally abusive, although Tessa had also experienced pretty severe physical abuse.
“That’s true, but I’m thinking you might be overdressed for our lunch date today.”
“Oh my goodness! I’m sorry. I totally forgot.” Tessa started rushing around the room, trying to unzip herself with no luck. Jenna reached over and unzipped the dress while Tessa scurried into the bathroom to change clothes.
“And I thought I was the one losing my mind,” Jenna said with a laugh. “Pregnancy brain is already starting to get to me. This morning, I almost forgot to take Kaitlyn to school. I thought it was Saturday.”
“I remember what that was like,” Tessa said.
“I’d be willing to bet that you’ll have another baby pretty soon.” Jenna was already lobbying for Tessa to get pregnant as soon as she got married so they could be pregnant together for a while.
“At least wait for me to get married first!” Tessa said laughing.
“All right, but you have to hurry up if you want to catch up with me. This baby is already causing me to gain weight, and I’m not that far along yet!” Jenna said. And it was true. She was already starting to show a little bit, of course on her tiny frame it wasn’t hard to show any extra weight.
Tessa zipped her wedding dress into the bag and hid it in the back of the closet. She knew that Aaron wouldn’t be seeking her wedding dress out for any reason because he was pretty traditional too, but she wasn’t taking any chances. In fact, she would be staying away from black cats, walking under ladders and broken mirrors until her perfect wedding was behind her.
Chapter 5
Molly sat on her bed, her feet aching after a long day of work. Standing up all day and waiting on customers had proven to be a lot more exhausting than she would’ve anticipated.
But so far, she liked her job. Still, her plan was to get back to working with animals as soon as humanly possible. Truth be told, she really enjoyed dealing with dogs more than she did people.
And every day like clockwork, the cocky guy kept coming into the coffee house. He said it was his regular place to go, and wasn’t she lucky that she had to be the one to wait on him every day.
She also had some other regular customers like Rebecca’s boyfriend, Jackson. He seemed like a nice guy, but he was always in and out quickly because he had a lot of work to do. Rebecca was rarely there these days as she was helping to run some of Jackson’s online businesses, but she came by once or twice a day to check on the place and make sure that Molly was okay.
Another regular customer was Brad Parker, one of the siblings that apparently ran the town. He was overseeing the development of a new shopping complex in January Cove, although his girlfriend was helping to run the Lamont Theater which had been renovated into a tourist attraction.
The one good thing about working at the coffee shop meant that she got to hear all of the gossip from the town and learn everybody’s back story. She kind of liked that.
But right now, all she wanted was a nice hot bath and a quiet evening in her room. Dinner would be served downstairs in another hour, but she usually didn’t go down there for that. Most of the time, she grabbed something in town but tonight she was pretty tired and figured she’d take them up on the offer of having a home cooked meal.
She walked into the bathroom and started the water, but before she could get into the tub her phone rang. It was her mother, and she thought for a moment about not answering it but knew that would only worry her and make her come looking for her. Her mom didn’t have very much patience.
“Hello?”
“Molly! Where have you been? Olivia said she’s been texting you for days but not getting any response. We were starting to get worried.”
“I’m sorry. I found a job here, and I’ve been really busy working.”
“A job? I thought you were just going for a bit of a visit with… What’s his name… Brent?”
Molly sighed. “Blake.” It amazed her that she could be talking about a guy for a year now and her mom still couldn’t remember his name.
“Okay, Blake. But I didn’t know you were getting a job.”
Her mom was like a bulldog. Once she got a hold of something, she did let go.
“I’ve decided to stay here for a while, so I needed to get a job.”
“What kind of job?”
“At a coffee shop.”
Her mom made a grunting noise on the other end of the phone. “You’re working at a coffee shop? Oh, Molly…” She made it sound like Molly was living in a homeless shelter.
“Mother, it’s fine. It’s a great little town and I like my job. Once I get settled, I’ll find a veterinary clinic.”
“Get settled? Just how long are you planning to stay there?”
“I don’t know. I’m a grown woman. This is the choice I’ve made for right now.”
“You know, you don’t sound nearly as happy as I thought you would. This Blake character… What’s his deal? Is he not what you thought?”
Her stomach clenched up. Now was decision time. She had to figure out what to say to keep her mother and everyone else off her back while maintaining her dignity.
“He’s wonderful. He’s everything I thought he was, and we’re getting to know each other on a much deeper level. So I decided to stay around and see where it goes.”
In any other person’s life, their mother probably would’ve left them alone but not in Molly’s life. Not Molly’s mother.
“I think you should come home. I’m sure we can find another position at another veterinary office, but I don’t like the thought of you being alone in that town across the country with some stranger.”
“Mom, I’m happy. You’ve got to let go.”
She could dream that her mom might actually hear her words and let go, but she knew it would never happen. Either way, she was at least able to get off the phone for right now and procrastinate on what to do next. For now, she was going to forget the phone call, lose herself in a hot bath and then enjoy a home-cooked meal with nice people.
Or so she thought.
After a nice long bath, Molly ventured downstairs, following the smell of what she could only assume was pot roast. From what she could tell, Addison was a great homemaker. Her baby was starting to crawl around quite a bit more lately, so Molly had to step over a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs.
The bed and breakfast was small and not fully occupied during this time of year, so when she saw Clay and Addison and their baby sitting at the table, she assumed it would just be the four of them. And then cocky guy appeared from around the corner, dressed nicely like he was going out to a four-star restaurant.
Molly looked down at her spandex workout pants and oversized T-shirt and felt immediately out of place.
Cocky guy looked at her with a smirk of a smile as if he knew she felt like a fish out of water and pulled out her chair. Shocked, she stepped to the right and pulled out a different chair and sat down. She thought she heard him chuckle under his breath, and then looked at Addison and Clay who seemed to be oblivious to what
was happening as they dealt with their baby bucking in the plastic highchair at the end of the table.
“I’m sorry we’re a little bit out of sorts tonight. I think Anna Grace has an ear infection and she is not in the best of moods,” Addison said. She looked tired with big bags under her eyes.
“No problem. You know, when dogs at my veterinary clinic had ear infections, we sometimes put hydrogen peroxide in their ears. Have you tried that?”
“I haven’t. But I’ll ask the pediatrician about that…” she said as she tried to calm the little girl. It wasn’t working, and she started crying and turning red. Addison picked her up and started rocking her while she stood beside Clay.
“Maybe we should take her in?” Clay asked.
“I think so too,” Addison said. She looked apologetically at Molly and Austin. “I’m so sorry, but do you guys mind eating without us?”
“No, we totally understand,” Molly said, as if she spoke for the both of them.
“Go. We’ve got this handled,” Austin said with a smile.
Clay and Addison went straight out the front door, and Molly could hear their car pulling out of the driveway moments later.
She sat there for a few seconds as Austin moved across the table from her and smiled.
“What?” she asked as she started to put mashed potatoes on her plate.
“I guess it’s just the two of us.”
“Yep,” she said, still not making eye contact.
“You don’t like me, do you?” he asked as he grabbed a fork full of pot roast and slapped it onto his plate. He surely didn’t have the table manners to go with those clothes.
“I don’t even know you.”
“I’m Austin York, twenty-six year old sexy man from Atlanta. And you are?” he asked, reaching out across the table to shake her hand with another sarcastic smile plastered on his face.
“Not interested,” she said, finishing his sentence. Austin laughed and used his hand to pick up the pitcher of sweet tea and pour himself a glass.
