by Joan Kilby
She hadn’t felt this alive in years.
*
After Brianna left the build site, Angus paced out the area and made a few notes. He might as well do something useful while she deliberated over whether or not to hire him. He’d been looking forward to seeing Brianna so much, so counting on an instant return to their old closeness, that her standoffish manner was sobering. She might be pretending, or maybe she really wasn’t interested in getting to know him again.
And maybe he’d been expecting too much. While she looked the same—which he was relieved to see because he loved her quirky style—she might have changed inside. Well, he had three weeks to try to find out what she was really thinking and feeling.
After he was finished at the site, he ate a leisurely burger at the Cherry Pit where Skye, the waitress, caught him up on five years of gossip. Hearing the doings of the townsfolk washed over him like a balm. Garrett Starr had married a society gal from New York. Cody Starr was also married and had given up rodeo to breed bulls. Brave Sarah Mills who worked with Brianna at the tourist office was bringing up her little boy after her husband died fighting a wildfire. And speaking of Brianna, the whole town had perked up since she’d taken over the tourist office.
“She’s responsible for the hanging flower baskets and the colorful banners all down Main Street and Swan Street,” Skye told him as she filled his coffee cup. “She’s organizing a cherry blossom festival, complete with a blog about the activities and events. Are you following the blossom countdown?”
“Blossom countdown?” Angus said, trying to picture that.
Skye got out her phone and found the blog with the photo of a bud. “Apparently this is stage one. There are six stages.” She clicked a link to another website showing the gradual progression through to stage six, a full-blown cherry blossom. Then back to the blog and dozens more photos of stage one buds. “These are all taken by people around town. It’s going viral.”
“I had no idea the festival was such a big deal,” Angus said. “And this is only the first year.”
“Brianna is putting Sweetheart on the map.” Skye gave him a wink. “But you probably know all about Brianna’s doings, seeing as how you two are sweet on each other.”
“We dated but that was years ago,” he said. “We’re still friends, though.”
Saying that, he felt slightly uneasy. Adjusting to life on his own after their breakup hadn’t been easy. It had been a big step for him to come back to Sweetheart. He hoped he wasn’t setting himself up for another fall.
“So whatcha going to do while you’re in town?” Skye asked, a hand on her hip.
“Oh, this and that.” He discreetly checked his phone. No messages.
“You staying for the cherry blossom festival?”
“I’ll be here for that,” he confirmed, but until he heard one way or another, he was keeping his mouth firmly closed about the community hall. Skye’s mention of blossoms, however, gave him an idea. If he wanted to put a real smile on Brianna’s face, a guy couldn’t go wrong with flowers.
After he left the diner, he strolled down the street to the florist. Brianna loved all the spring blooms that had a sweet perfume. He chose fragrant bunches of freesias, narcissus, and a few other flowers he didn’t know the names of but which smelled heavenly, and asked the florist to arrange them in a vase for delivery. He thought about sending them to Brianna’s office but then decided to be more discreet and gave her home address instead with instructions to deliver them after five p.m.
“Would you like to write on the card, sir?” The florist, a freckle-faced young woman in a green apron, passed him a tiny square card and envelope.
Angus thought a moment and then scrawled, This is not a bribe. He tucked the card inside the envelope without signing it.
As he walked back to his truck, he checked his phone again. Still no messages. Was it really that hard a decision? He’d gotten the impression from Blake and Gordon that they were desperate to get him. Brianna, on the other hand, might be desperate not to work with him.
Since this could be his last free day, he headed back to his mom’s house and got his old bicycle out of the garage. She was still at work so he had the afternoon to himself. He cleaned and oiled the bike, changed a flat tire and pumped up the other one. Then he took off on the country roads, through farm fields and orchards.
He turned off onto a bumpy dirt track through rows of cherry trees and got off his bike to have a closer look. Pulling down a branch, he examined a cluster of fat buds. The green sepals tinged with dark pink at the edges were closely furled. So this was stage one. Kind of like where he was at with Brianna. She was all closed up, hiding her sweetness and beauty inside a protective coat.
His phone pinged with a message. His heart rate increased when he saw it was from Brianna.
“You have the job.”
Smiling, Angus lifted his gaze. Sky as blue as a robin’s egg was visible between the bare branches of the cherry trees. Somewhere a bird sang. To the east, the mountains rose in jagged splendor. These three weeks might turn out to be nothing but an interlude, but suddenly his life felt as if it was opening up.
*
That afternoon after work, Brianna donned her wetsuit and did a flat dive off the end of her dock. She gasped at the icy-cold water, and then swam hard for fifteen minutes straight out from the shore toward the middle of the lake. Warmed from her exertion, she then turned on her back and shut her eyes against the glare of the sun.
Her text to Angus to say he was hired had been met with a “Cool, see you tomorrow,” and a thumbs-up emoji.
It was done. The community hall was going ahead. Her father was pleased. Blake was pleased. Mayor Kimble was pleased. The townspeople would be pleased when they found out. She was probably making too big a deal out of the prospect of working with Angus. No doubt the next time she saw him she wouldn’t be so overwhelmed. She would see that he was just a guy, not the larger than life Adonis she’d made him out to be to Sarah.
The glacier-fed water was penetrating her wetsuit so she did a brisk breast stroke back to shore and her cottage tucked among the pines. The little house was cute and homey but too small and it needed a new roof. Back when they were dating, she and Angus had talked about their dream homes and had been delighted to find they shared a longing for a lakefront log home with a private dock and a little boat. It wasn’t much of a stretch for her to imagine them living in such a home together. He would fish and she would swim. Their kids would be water babies.
Don’t. Think. About. The. Past.
She would only be able to handle working with Angus if she didn’t dwell on what she’d lost. She’d sent him off to California with her blessing so she couldn’t blame him for going. She only wished he hadn’t stayed away so long.
At the dock, she pulled herself, dripping, out of the water, and sat on the sun-warmed wood and toweled off, her feet dangling above the sparkling lake. Stewie, who had been inspecting something in the bushes, trotted over and started licking droplets of water off her wrist.
Suddenly he started barking, and a moment later, Brianna looked around to see a small van pull in her driveway. She wrapped the towel around herself and went to see who it was. “Quiet, Stewie. It’s only a car.”
“Delivery for Brianna Renton,” a young guy said, sliding open the side door.
“I didn’t order anything,” she replied.
“Somebody did.” He brought out an elaborate flower arrangement in a florist’s box. “Sign here.”
She took the pen and signed. Then reached for the bouquet and breathed in the perfume of all her favorite spring flowers. “Who sent this?”
“There’s a card,” the delivery guy said and then got back in his van and drove off. Barking madly, Stewie chased him up the driveway to make sure he left.
Brianna took the flowers inside and set them on her kitchen table. She read the note tucked among the stems and smiled. He must have sent the bouquet before he’d received her tex
t message.
She got out her phone and texted him. “Thanks for the flowers.”
“Drink to celebrate?” he countered.
Brianna hesitated. The clock above the stove ticked. A minute passed.
He sent another text. “???”
She’d specified no dating. She couldn’t go back on that. But darn it, she wanted to see him.
“We do have to discuss the build. Hotel bar in an hour?”
“Hour and a half,” he texted back. “I’m out on the back roads on my bike.”
“CU then.” Brianna took another full breath of perfumed flowers and humming to herself, went to shower.
*
Angus cycled back to his mother’s house, a two-bedroom bungalow on Hill Street at the north end of town. Pleased to see that her car was in the driveway, he put his bike back in the garden shed and went inside through the back door, making a mental note to check the gutters and clean them if necessary before he left.
“Hey, Mom,” he said, coming in the screen door to the kitchen.
Audrey Adams’s face lit as he entered the room. She was wearing the blue blazer with her name tag from the real estate office, and her dark brown hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail. “I still can’t believe you’re here. It’s so good to have you home!”
“It’s good to see you, too.” Angus hugged her, feeling a pang that he’d let so much time go between visits. She’d come to visit him a few times in California but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to return to Sweetheart. “I should have made the trip before this. I should have been here to help you move, at least.”
“You were busy with exams.” His mom was always so understanding, ready to forgive him anything.
“Are you happy with the house?” It had been less than a year since she’d finally moved out of the rental mobile home where he’d grown up. “Any problems?”
“It’s perfect,” she said. “I can’t tell you how freeing it is to own my own place instead of renting. I feel ten years younger.”
“You look great.” It was true. The worry lines that used to mar her forehead had smoothed and there was a sparkle in her warm brown eyes. “I’m glad things are working out for you.”
“Thanks to my generous son,” she said, smiling. She’d been saving for her own house for years, and he’d contributed whatever money he could spare after his own living expenses.
“You deserve it and more.” It was nothing compared to the sacrifices she’d made for him growing up, often going without so he could go on school outings and attempt to keep up with the other kids. She’d never spent a cent on herself, wearing thrift store clothes and even foregoing dinner some nights. It was only in hindsight that he’d realized that her claims of not being hungry had been her way of making sure he had enough to eat. No matter what deprivations she’d suffered, he’d never heard his mom complain. When he’d gotten a part-time job at Sweetheart Log Homes in his senior year things had become a little easier. He’d given half his paycheck to his mom, saving the rest for his further studies. Gradually, he’d been able to contribute more and she’d found a higher paying job. It was wonderful to see her doing so well now.
“How did the site visit go?” his mom asked, going back to what she had been doing, wrapping puff pastry around cocktail franks and setting them on a baking pan.
“I’m hired.” He got himself a bottle of mineral water from the fridge and leaned against the counter to drink it. Hired wasn’t quite the right word since he was donating his labor but it was convenient shorthand. “Start tomorrow.”
“How is Brianna?” she asked.
“She’s fine. Says to say hi.” He snuck an unwrapped sausage and took a bite.
“And?” Audrey prompted.
“And nothing. We talked about the build. Strictly business.”
His mother’s expression in response to this was a mixture of scepticism and compassion. “Are you going to start seeing each other again?” she asked, carefully neutral.
“I’m having a drink with her tonight,” he said. “But it’s work related. She’s not interested, Mom. She made that very clear.”
“Are you interested?”
Silence. Finally, he said, “I am. It would take time to win her back, probably more time than I have. If it were even possible.”
“You two are made for each other.” Audrey slid the tray of pigs-in-blankets into the hot oven. “I was so disappointed when you broke up.”
Angus didn’t want to get into this. “What are the snacks for?” he asked, changing the subject.
“My book club is meeting tonight,” she said. “We have a potluck dinner. Well, mainly appetizers and wine, and then dessert. We rarely get around to discussing the book. There’s too much else to yak about.”
“Sounds like fun.” He glanced at his watch. “I’d better go shower and change.”
His mom’s friends arrived just as he was about to leave and that delayed him for some minutes. They liked to fuss over him, which was sweet, but they grilled him on the subject of Brianna. He did his best to evade their questions without being rude, but now he knew what they would be discussing tonight instead of the book.
Still, he managed to stroll into the Montreau Hotel and take a seat at the bar ten minutes ahead of time. With a cold craft brew in hand, he swiveled on his stool and looked around the room, double-checking he hadn’t missed seeing Brianna. Just then Will and Mia Starr walked in, hand in hand. They paused in the double doorway, scanning for an empty table. Angus caught Will’s eye and inclined his head at the empty stools next to him.
“I heard you were in town.” Will, fair-haired and blue-eyed, greeted him with a clap on his back. “How are you doing?”
“Good, and you?” Angus said. “Hey, Mia. Where’s your little guy, Billy?”
Mia smiled, her dark brown eyes flashing. “Billy’s not so little anymore. He’s seven and in grade two.”
“We’ve got a little girl named Sofia, too,” Will said. “She’s five years old.”
“Wow, time flies,” Angus said. “It seems like only yesterday the whole town was talking about you delivering Mia’s baby in your cherry packing shed in the middle of a blizzard on Christmas Eve.”
“Christmas Day,” Will corrected. “By a whisker.”
“Can I get you guys a drink?” Angus said.
“I’ll have a beer,” Will said.
“White wine for me, please,” Mia said. “How have you been, Angus?”
“Great.” He ordered the drinks, waving away Will when he pulled out his wallet. “What are you two doing out without the kids? Is this a special occasion?”
“Date night,” Mia said, smiling up at Will. “We’re having dinner in the restaurant in half an hour. Bliss.”
“Bliss?” Angus’s eyebrows rose. “Are they serving something new that I haven’t heard about?”
“Otherwise known as an uninterrupted mealtime, a rarity these days,” Will said, dryly. “Usually, we’re each wrangling a kid, trying to get them fed, bathed, and into bed.”
“You’ll find out when you have kids,” Mia said, then turned pink with embarrassment. “Unless you do. I mean, well, you might have…” She trailed away.
“Not married. No kids.” Angus’s smile became fixed.
According to his now-defunct five-year plan he should have a good job by now—which he did—and he and Brianna would be thinking about starting a family this year. Which they weren’t. Of course, his plan might have had a chance of coming to fruition if he’d actually asked her to marry him. Instinctively, his hand went to his chest and the diamond engagement ring hanging on a gold chain beneath his shirt. How could he have let her slip through his fingers? He’d really wanted to have a family with her and do his share of looking after the kids. Having grown up without a father, he was set on being a hands-on dad.
“Have you seen Brianna yet?” Will asked. Mia nudged him with her elbow, and he winced. “It’s okay, right, Angus? You’re not enemies, or an
ything.”
“No, in fact, I’m going to be working on the community hall with her,” he said. “I’m meeting her here for a drink and to talk about it. She should be along any minute.”
“It would be cool if you two got back together,” Mia said.
“Hey, you almost broke my rib just now for mentioning her name,” Will said, aggrieved.
“It’s different now that we know they’re seeing each other,” she said, then she turned to Angus with an encouraging smile. “You two were perfect for each other.”
“I thought so, too,” he said uncomfortably. “But we’re not seeing each other, not in that sense.”
“Do you remember that Christmas party at my parents’ house when I took you and Brianna on a sleigh ride?” Will reminisced, unwittingly piling on the pain. “You two hadn’t gone public about being a couple yet. You were so cute, all snuggled up in the back of the sleigh, pretending like you weren’t kissing and holding hands the whole way.”
This was another reason he hadn’t returned to Sweetheart—people who had known him and Brianna as a couple would inevitably conjure bittersweet memories about their relationship.
On the other hand, if his mother, and Will and Mia, thought that he and Brianna were perfect for each other, maybe he hadn’t imagined Brianna’s feelings for him back then. Maybe there was another explanation for her breaking up with him and pushing him to go to college in California.
Before his presence was required in Sacramento, he had to find out if Brianna still cared. If she did, this time he would convince her to come with him.
And if she wouldn’t? Angus took a deep draft of the cold, bitter liquid, his mind blanking. He missed this town, he missed his friends, and his mother, and Brianna most of all. He had no spreadsheet for a life lived anywhere other than Sweetheart.
Chapter Four
With a bit of time up her sleeve before meeting Angus, Brianna headed into town early to take a peek at Kylie’s new shipment of vintage and second-hand designer clothing. With the festival coming up, a new dress wouldn’t go astray. Nothing to do with Angus being in town, of course.
