****
“That’s great,” Amy said into her cell phone. “Yes, please email it to me. Thank you so much.”
Rocking Charlotte in her arms, she discontinued the call and tucked her cell phone into the pocket of her shorts. An offer had finally come in on the house, and it wasn’t far off the asking price. Close enough that she was more than comfortable with signing the papers and getting the ball rolling. Better yet, they wanted an early closing date. The sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned.
Calculations automatically started in her head, deducting lawyer and realtor commision, adding in an initial offer on the inn, renovation and start up costs for the B&B. It might be tight, but by living on the premises, they’d save a lot on living expenses.
On a spark of excitement, she looped the baby sling over her shoulder, secured her daughter in the snuggly pouch and headed down the stairs. Along with everything else, Andee had been good enough to offer the use of the computer in the tiny back office if she needed it.
Through the screen door of the Sunrise Café’s kitchen, she saw Andee corralling a whining Jackson in the office doorway while her cook, Marge, competently landed a stack of hotcakes a mile high onto a plate. Her cousin turned as she knocked and entered.
“Hey there.” Andee grabbed up her son and blew out a heavy breath. “Want some breakfast?”
“In a bit, thanks. I just need to borrow your computer first if that’s okay. An offer came in on the house.”
“That’s great!” The red curls bobbed as her cousin stepped out of the doorway. “Go on in. Davis should be here any minute to take…thank God!”
The screen door swung open, giving reason to the roll of Andee’s gaze heavenward and thankful sigh as her husband stepped up beside them.
She hefted the squirming toddler to his father. “He’s been like a monkey on caffeine this morning.”
Davis simply laughed as he rubbed a hand through Jackson’s rusty mop. “I’ll run him around the park for a bit, and then he can come with me to old Bart’s. His border collie just had pups.”
“Perfect,” Andee said as she stood on tiptoes to pat her son’s back and give her husband a kiss.
A small pang of envy clasped Amy’s chest, and she turned away from the intimate family moment.
Within minutes, the old printer was pounding out the pages of the real estate offer. Once complete, Amy patted her daughter’s back as she took the papers into the café’s seating area to read over breakfast.
A group of regulars sitting along the counter nodded and smiled to her as she settled into a bright window table nearby.
She looked up when Andee backed out of the kitchen door with another armful of plates.
“Here you go, gentlemen. Elwood, no butter, extra syrup. Charlie, no syrup, extra butter…” her cousin recited down the line as she unloaded the plates before the row of men.
Steam rose to fog the wire-rim glasses of one as he smiled. “Mmm, that’s some mighty fine smellin’ hotcakes there. When you gonna get me a date with Marge? I’m not getting any younger.”
“Cold day in hell, Charlie,” the cook called through the small window.
He winked up at Andee. “I sure do like ’em feisty.”
Amy couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter at the exchange and was still smiling when her cousin took the seat across from her.
“So? What have you decided?”
Shuffling the papers of the offer in front of her, Amy grinned. “I haven’t read the details yet, but the realtor was happy with it.”
Andee rolled her eyes. “I mean you and Marshall? Do you think he wants to get back together? Do you?” Concern laced the hazel eyes.
Amy bit the inside of her cheek. She’d told Andee everything last night on another bender of confusion and guilt. Her mother’s lies and the truth about Hank. About Marshall not having a clue and bringing home a ring and…okay, maybe she hadn’t told her cousin everything. She’d left out the soul-jarring kiss, and the toe curling one after that, too. They were hers alone to hold onto in case what Marshall wanted to talk about wasn’t what she hoped he wanted to talk about.
Reality was, a few kisses didn’t mean they could just pick up where they left off. And what about that realtor chick? Were the two in a relationship? Or was she just projecting her fears of being played again onto the blonde bombshell?
Her chest tightened, pulled into a tug-o-war of emotions. She didn’t want to think too far ahead, but at the same time, if a second chance was possible…didn’t they deserve one after all the lies that had come between them, held them back, all the might-have-beens?
A nuzzle against her breast brought her attention down to the fuzzy head. As much as she wished the past to be different, to be what it should have been with Marshall, she would never wish not to have Charlotte. Only a couple weeks and already she lived for her daughter, and her alone right now.
“I don’t know, Andee,” she answered truthfully. “So much has happened. It’s not like it was before.” She brushed a hand over her daughter’s brow, smiling when the nose wrinkled in her sleep. “There’s Charlotte. That’s a big responsibility.” She of all people understood that now. “Not many men his age want a ready made family.”
“But what do you want?”
It would be a lie to say her heart was hers to give anymore…it had been Marshall’s from the first moment he’d hauled his duffel bag into the Morning Glory Inn. He had her heart, he always would…but was that enough for him to get over everything else? The lies, another man’s child?
“I want to do the right thing, for all of us.” Her heart did a little rap on her chest wall, as if reminding her of its choice. She raised a hesitant tilt of her lip at her cousin. “But if there is a chance…then yeah…I can always hope.”
“And believe me. I do wish that for you.” Andee reached over to squeeze her arm. “But please, promise me you’ll take it slow, be careful. Maybe I’m being overprotective because of all you’ve gone through, but in my eyes, he still broke your heart once. I don’t want to see it happen again.” She stood and came around to give Amy a big hug. “But if it means you’ll be sticking around, I can’t ask for any more than that.”
“Hey, Andee. How about a refill on the coffee?”
Her cousin glanced over her shoulder to the men, who all had their mugs raised toward her.
Andee laughed and headed behind the counter to grab one of the carafes from the double-sized machine. When finished, she tapped Amy’s table on the way to the kitchen. “I’ll be right back with your breakfast. Eggs or hotcakes?”
“Eggs please, and thanks.”
Amy smiled, truly feeling lighter for the first time in a very long while. Maybe it was being around family again…or maybe cleaning all the ghosts from her closets—even the ones she hadn’t known existed. She put a hand to her lips, still able to feel Marshall’s pressed against them. She wanted to believe in second chances; his kisses sure hadn’t felt like a goodbye, more like a hello…a big hello.
“And that Marshall…”
Elwood slapped his leg and gave a hearty laugh that grabbed her attention as much as her heart’s name.
“You shoulda seen him on that bull this mornin’. Rode like he had a fire in him, like he could conquer any beast at all. Smilin’ like he hasn’t done in years.”
Amy bit a lip as her cheeks heated. It was probably egotistical to even think, let alone hope, that the coincidence of timing might have something to do with her…and maybe their kiss yesterday? Even so, it didn’t stop her chest from expanding with hope and an incessant need to see him, soon. Should she call him? He did want to talk today, he said so…and then kissed her senseless again.
“That boy could get himself another title this season.”
Her hand paused with her cell phone half-way out of her pocket, hearing only bits and pieces through the pounding of her heart as Elwood continued to talk about Marshall and the upcoming rodeo. Air deflated from her lungs as a slow,
icy chill crept up her spine. She turned away from them to stare out the window as flashes of the past assaulted her—Marshall kissing her and walking away.
Trust me. This will all work out.
Those were the words; his last words before he abandoned her for the rodeo.
And those were his last words to her yesterday…
Amy knew it was crazy, knew she was being irrational, but she couldn’t stop her breath coming in short, hyperventilating gasps. In her mind, all she saw was Marshall driving away, and the long, lonely nights trying hard to keep the faith even as her heart broke. She grasped the table, knuckles white on the Formica as she tried to pull air into her tight lungs.
“Lee-Anne was sure pawin’ over Marshall this morning.”
The comment filtered through the ringing in her ears, and Amy whipped her head around toward the men, being caught eavesdropping too low on her list to care when the rapid thunder of her heartbeat threatened to explode in her chest.
“From the sounds of it, they was making up for some little tiff they had last night,” Elwood supplied.
The room began to spin.
“She’s a mighty handful,” Charlie hooted.
“The way Marshall handles those bull, Lee-Anne’s no problem.”
Cackles from the cronies at the counter echoed like macabre laughter around her, at her.
He’ll go back to the rodeo and leave you all alone again.
Hank played you. Your mother played you, of course Marshall is playing you! Getting his revenge for you losing faith, for marrying another man.
Kiss you, keep you, throw you away.
Playing you, just like everyone else.
The laughter and viper-like, inner voices continued until she jerked out of the booth with a gasp. No! That wasn’t going to happen again. A fierce fire burned through her core. She wasn’t going to be anyone’s pawn ever again.
Charlotte’s angry cry at the sudden jolt joined the mayhem, and she cradled her daughter close as the fire burned into anger. Anger at those who thought they could manipulate her life for their own selfish amusement. Well, she was done with all of them.
A hand grasped her arm and she snapped her gaze up to find Andee’s filled with concern.
Her cousin set down a plate of eggs and toast. “Amy? What’s wrong?”
“I have to go.” It was time she started taking control of her life. Drowning in her own undertow of past versus present, Amy scrambled to collect the papers on the table, clinging to them like a lifeline. “I need to go settle the house.” And get the hell out of there before her chest and head exploded.
“But, Amy…”
A shake of her head was all she could manage in her mad dash from the café.
Up in the tiny apartment, she carefully set Charlotte in the bassinette, and then started tossing baby items into the diaper bag. Her chest was so full of red-hot fire, she was afraid the tiny clothes would ignite beneath her hands. Right now, her survival instincts were on overload. And she would survive; her daughter depended on her. If it was the last thing she did, she would survive, and flourish—but on her terms, no one else’s.
She’d been a fool to think she could clean out the ghosts from her closets. Ghosts never left. If you were lucky, they faded to a distant memory; and if you weren’t, they kept howling at the door, reminding you how stupid you’d been.
Amy tossed her own suitcase on the bed. She’d never been lucky.
A quick call to the realtor set up an appointment to sign the papers first thing tomorrow morning. Once they were signed, she’d start looking for a small apartment, and then a job—no, a bed and breakfast or small inn. Maybe it was the anger talking, or she just finally found the strength to believe in herself, but she knew she could run her own business, and she’d be damned if she let anyone tell her she couldn’t again.
A cold chill snuffed some of the fire out as she put her cell back in her pocket. Marshall hadn’t actually told her she couldn’t; in fact, he was the only one who believed she could—and that little B&B off the highway had been perfect…
Amy shook her head. No, it didn’t matter. She couldn’t, wouldn’t risk that he was playing her, too, flashing something in front of her face only to have it come with a price too high to pay, like her dignity…or her heart.
A pounding started on her apartment door, and she opened it to find Andee, eyes wide as her cousin glanced at the mess of clothes and pile of baskets by the door.
“Amy? What are you doing?”
She went back to forcing clothes into the suitcase, unable to keep eye contact. It would have been nice to stay with family again, real family who cared about them. But if she was going to take control, it couldn’t be here. “I told you. I have to go back to sign the papers. As much as I’ve loved being here, it’s time I get back to reality. I’ll need to find an apartment and…”
The hand on her shoulder stalled her nervous chatter.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head, closing her eyes against the burn and pain of the truth. “Everything. I’m tired of being the victim in everyone else’s game, Andee.” Opening her eyes, she pleaded for her cousin to understand. “I need to make my own life, for Charlotte. You of all people know how important a child is, how hard it is. I need to focus on her right now.”
“But Mar—”
“He has his own life,” she cut in quickly, before his name was spoken and another chunk of her heart broke off. “He’s got the rodeo and the realt—”
“What do you mean? He hasn’t—”
Amy held up a hand. The last thing she needed right now was to hear more about him. “Look, I admit it. I made the wrong choice not waiting for Marshall. I made the wrong choice marrying Hank, not answering the phone the night he died. And believing my mother might manipulate others, but would never do that to her own daughter.”
“Oh, Amy, none of that was…”
She waved her hands, sidestepping her cousin’s embrace. “Yes, it was, they all were. I made those choices. I chose to believe my mother. I lost faith in Marshall. I chose to marry Hank. Sure, we might have been manipulated, but I let it happen. No one held a gun to my head…and nothing can change any of it.” She swiped at an angry tear and glanced down to her daughter, bright eyes gazing at the world in innocent wonder. “I don’t want to make the wrong choices with Charlotte. I can’t.” She turned and gave her cousin a tight hug. “I appreciate all you’ve done. But I can’t keep living in the past. I can see now that is exactly what my mother did, and I don’t want that for Charlotte. She’s so young. I don’t want to mess up her life as much as I’ve messed up mine.”
“You didn’t mess up your life.” Andee squeezed her shoulders tight. “And now you have the best reason of all to stay here, where you have family who loves you.”
And a handsome, six-foot reminder of my biggest mistake.
Chapter Thirteen
Well, damn. That’s Amy’s car.
Marshall watched the Camry head in the opposite direction. He’d been hoping to take Amy and the babe for a walk in the park, talk to her, be with her like he’d wanted to since she left yesterday.
Figuring she was headed to the market for more diapers or the like, he parked his truck to the side of the Sunrise Café, planning to grab something to eat while he waited for her to get back.
The bells on the door announced his arrival. Several customers looked up and then back to their plates; one set of steely eyes, however, glared at him from behind the counter, a coffee urn frozen mid-pour.
Now what?
Elwood guffawed. “Here we go again, boys.”
He ignored the old cronies and took a seat at the far end of the counter.
“Just waiting for Amy to get back,” he said when the glare didn’t waiver.
“Then you’re going to have a long wait.” The café owner finished pouring coffee then slammed the carafe back on the warming tray. “She’s gone.”
His gaze s
napped to her face, searching for signs of deceit. Right now, he didn’t trust Amy’s family as far as he could throw them. But the hazel eyes only showed anger…and hurt.
Cold fingers clamped over his chest, squeezing tight. “Gone? Where?”
“Back to Fort Worth.” She swiped up a cloth and headed to the end of the counter.
Marshall scrambled to follow. “Why?” What the hell happened between yesterday and today? Was he stupid to think they’d been given a second chance—that she wanted a second chance? He could have sworn yesterday…
“Why do you think?” At the kitchen door, Andee spun around and faced him. “She’s done with her past, Marshall. And I don’t blame her a bit. About time she did something for herself.”
For herself.
So, where did that leave him?
Alone, again.
Damn. Son of a bitch. His jaw tightened. He’d done it again. Gave his heart away, again, to the one person who kept tossing it right back at him. When would he ever learn?
The cold fingers around his chest turned burning hot, scorching through muscle and bone to fist his heart into cinders.
****
Amy parked in the driveway, her chest tightening at the monolith of cement and columns she used to live in. It had never been a home, and she couldn’t wait to sign the papers and close the deal on this part of her life.
On the long drive back, she’d held onto her new mantra, my choice.
She collected the car seat and diaper bag and hauled them to the front door. Dried leaves and small seed shells blown into the alcove by the late summer breeze crunched beneath her feet as she set the baby carrier down.
The clunky lock box secured to the doorknob had her biting her lip, fighting to keep her resolve. It was similar to the one Marshall opened to get the key for the bed and breakfast. The perfect little inn. The perfect man.
No. They were both “once upon a time,” and that’s where they would stay from now on. This time she would write her own fairytale; and somehow figure out how to help her daughter believe in happily ever after, even if she didn’t.
Honky Tonk Hearts Volume 2 Page 45
