Autumn Anthology

by Heather B. Moore

  When Lindsey called to say she’d be a few minutes late, Kaitlin continued playing with colors and textures. She was combining red, white, and yellow swatches for a dramatic entryway when one of the other designers came through the hallway. “Check this out,” she said.

  Kaitlin looked up. “What’s up?”

  With a huge smile, Lacey held out her left hand and waved it. “Ben proposed!”

  Kaitlin examined the ring. “Wow! Is that the Rock of Gibraltar?”

  Lacey giggled. “I know. Isn’t it gorgeous?”

  Kaitlin held Lacey’s hand, adjusting it so she could see the ring more clearly. It was beautiful, with curving lines that would appeal to a designer. “That is so exciting. Have you set a date?”

  “We’re thinking February for Valentine’s Day.”

  “And do you know where you’ll honeymoon?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Lacey nodded. “We’re gonna have fun in Acapulco.”

  Kaitlin squeezed Lacey’s hand and released it. “I am thrilled for you guys.”

  And she was. But as she watched Lacey leave with her new ring, she couldn’t ignore the hurt that squeezed her heart.

  Joshua had offered her a ring last year. She could be wearing it right now. Except he’d only done it to keep her in town.

  The lack of a relationship was driving her crazy.

  If she couldn’t have Joshua, maybe she should have a change of habit— take Lindsey’s advice and start dating other guys. Try to find someone she could spend time with.

  Someone who could help her live a little, love a little— and forget all about Joshua Moore.

  Chapter Seven

  I have no use for bodyguards, but I have very specific use for two highly trained certified public accountants. —Elvis Presley

  Kaitlin had spent the hours since work steeling herself for the moment when Joshua would show up at her parents’ house. She was determined to stay detached and aloof. She was still considering just handing him the leash and letting him walk both dogs himself.

  She was watching a movie with her parents in the family room, trying to relax and petting Elvis, when the doorbell rang.

  Her parents shot her a look, and her mother smiled brightly. “Joshua’s here. You’d better get the door, honey.”

  Dreading the confrontation— both with Joshua and her parents— when Joshua learned she wasn’t going, she stood and carried Elvis, attaching his leash as she walked slowly toward the living room and the front door.

  She paused a moment, and the doorbell rang again. She set down the little dog, got ready to hand off the leash, and opened the door.

  Joshua held Priscilla in one hand and three flowers in the other. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” She stared at the yellow roses. His remembering her favorite flowers wouldn’t do him any good at all. But her head and heart didn’t agree, and she struggled to regain her earlier resolution to hand over the leash. It eluded her.

  Looking up, she saw a slight smile on his face that didn’t quite hide his nervousness.

  She should hand over the leash, tell him they needed to not see each other again, but she looked at the roses again. He was at least trying to be polite. After the roses, it would seem downright ungracious of her not to go. Plus, her mother adored him, and her father liked him. If she didn’t go, she’d never hear the end of it from them.

  “Come in while I put those in a vase.”

  She carried the flowers into the kitchen, found a vase, and while it filled with water, trimmed the stalks. Placing the flowers in the water, she could hear her parents greet Joshua in the living room. Mom overdid it. Shocker.

  Kaitlin lifted the vase and smelled the roses. Their beautiful scent softened her heart a little more. Setting down the vase, she steeled herself and rejoined the others.

  They chatted for a few minutes, and then she found herself walking the wild streets of Aspen Grove with Joshua and her two favorite dogs.

  The dogs were having so much fun together that they kept tangling the leashes. At one point, Joshua said, “Here, let me take both of them.”

  That made it easier to walk, with the dogs pulling out in front and Kaitlin next to Joshua.

  “It’s good to see Elvis and Priscilla back together,” Joshua said.

  That brought a laugh from Kaitlin. “Yeah.”

  “I’ve got a business trip to L.A. the week before Halloween. Is it okay if I leave Priscilla with you while I’m gone?”

  “Sure,” she said. “Elvis will be thrilled to have a playmate. Will you be back in time to trick-or-treat?”

  “I should be. Thanks for keeping her.” Joshua grinned. “And if Elvis and Priscilla ever had a puppy, we could name it Lisa Marie.”

  “Only if it were a girl puppy. But since they’re siblings, and they’ve both been fixed, I’m kind of doubting that will ever happen.”

  “But if it did, wouldn’t it be great?” His eyes brightened.

  She laughed again. “It really would.”

  She could never stay aloof from Joshua. He was too nice, too fun, and too attractive. It took everything she had not to slip her arm through his like she used to, to run her fingers through his dark hair, to kiss him! Joshua was the epitome of “Love Me Tender.”

  She remembered how it was when she was allowed to kiss him whenever she wanted— and she wanted to right now. She reminded herself how close she was to safety. Only one more block. Which meant she only had a few more minutes to spend with Joshua.

  She gave herself a mental shake and bent over, pretending to need to tie her shoelace, trying to give herself a moment to regain her composure. When she regained control of herself, she stood. She thought she could keep her hands— and lips— to herself now. She hoped.

  Behind them, a woman called out, loudly, “Joshua! Kaitlin! Wait up!”

  They turned.

  No. It couldn’t be. What were the odds? But it was.

  Bitty Branson. Bleached-blonde hair curled down around her shoulders. Her too-tight jeans and jacket left nothing to the imagination. Good thing it was October and chilly; Kaitlin would hate to see the skin the woman exposed in the summer.

  Why oh why did she have to be here to ruin this pleasant evening?

  As Bitty began to cross the street toward them, waving brightly and calling out, Kaitlin turned to Joshua. “I’ll go ahead home. You two have a nice visit.”

  He started to protest, but then sighed. “Okay.” He held out one of the leashes.

  She took it but then narrowed her eyes. Lifting up the dog he’d handed her, she checked the gender. Male. Now that she’d verified that she had Elvis, she was good to go.

  Joshua smiled. “Let’s go walking again in a few days.”

  Kaitlin didn’t answer but instead started to walk Elvis toward her parents’ house three lots down.

  She could hear Bitty calling out to her, but she couldn’t stand talking with the woman at the moment. It was already too hard being in this town where everyone knew that she and Joshua had been together— only now they weren’t, and any woman in town could make a move on him.

  How could she have forgotten, even for an hour, what Joshua had done? A few flowers, a few teasing words, a few long glances, and her brain stopped working? Kaitlin was the bitty-brained one.

  Sensing her desire to get home, Elvis sat his hind quarters on the sidewalk and stared back at the others.

  “Come on, Elvis. I’ll feed you a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich when we get home. A peanut-butter dog biscuit, anyway.” She picked him up and escaped into her parents’ house.

  “Where’s Joshua?” asked her mother.

  Perhaps escape wasn’t the correct word.

  Chapter Eight

  Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over.

  —Elvis Presley

  Joshua stared after Kaitlin, wishing Bitty were anywhere but five steps away and closing.

  With Bitty so close, he forced his gaze away fr
om Kaitlin. He still had feelings of guilt for dating Bitty when he’d had no romantic interest in her, but she’d apparently had some for him. After a month, he’d broken up with her as gently as he could. Now he always tried to be nice when he talked with her— nice and polite and firmly unavailable. But Bitty never seemed to take the hint.

  She smiled up at him, flirting. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. Are you two back together?”

  How was he supposed to answer that? “Just friends.” He wouldn’t mention how freaking inconvenient it was that she’d shown up at this particular moment, when Kaitlin had finally been warming up to him.

  Bitty reached out and ran her fingers down the sleeve of his jacket. “I’ve missed you. When are you going to come over?”

  Not again. Every time she saw him— and was it his imagination, or did her following him around have a stalkeresque quality?

  Joshua took a step back, breaking her hold on his sleeve. “Bitty, I told you—”

  “I know. I know. It’s over. But it doesn’t have to be.” She sighed. “She doesn’t want you back, you know. It’s over between you two, as well.”

  Harsh words flowed through his mind, but he spoke softly, feeling sorry for Bitty, sensing her emotional fragility. “It’s over between me and Kaitlin— and also between me and you.”

  She sighed again. “You know where I live. I’ll see you around. Give your best to your parents.”

  He watched her walk away. Now there was one disturbed woman. It had been stupid of him to date anyone else just to make Kaitlin jealous— and doubly stupid to have chosen Bitty. They’d gone on five dates in one month, and he’d spent the next eleven months trying to convince her he wasn’t the man for her.

  As she turned the corner, he shook his head and looked where Kaitlin had disappeared into her parents’ home.

  He and Priscilla strolled to the Hartley home, and he drove them to his very empty house, which he’d bought after Kaitlin left him. He’d put a down payment on it before he’d proposed, because she’d fallen in love with the house, and he’d wanted to surprise her. Too bad she hadn’t fallen as much in love with him. She hadn’t taken the proposal well, so he’d never mentioned buying the place.

  How had things gotten so turned around last year?

  He’d only dated Bitty because Kaitlin had left him behind. He’d proposed, put his heart totally on the line, and she’d rejected him. She’d said she couldn’t give up the chance at furthering her career. She’d expected him to follow her to New York.

  But his career was here, in Aspen Grove, working with Stone Engineering. He’d gotten hired on at a great salary right after receiving his degree. If he’d left town for a year, Stone would have hired someone else to replace him. Joshua would probably have had to look outside of Aspen Grove for a job with the same income, and neither he nor Kaitlin had wanted to move. Not permanently.

  Joshua would have taken care of Kaitlin. He’d told her he was willing to be the breadwinner after their marriage and let her do all the studying she wanted. Just not away from him.

  But Kaitlin hadn’t cared.

  That had ticked him off.

  And he’d been stupid, thinking to prove... something… by dating someone else. As if Kaitlin hadn’t really hurt him. Or as if he was getting on with his life. And all he’d succeeded in doing was ruining his chances with Kaitlin now that she was back in town.

  He wanted a second chance with Katie. And things had been going really, really well tonight— until Bitty showed up.

  Bitty. The woman every girl in town hated. The perfect girl to make Kaitlin jealous. Only it had backfired on him. Now he’d hurt two women. The one he wanted didn’t want anything to do with him, while the one he wanted nothing to do with kept showing up coincidentally.

  If he could get a ring on Kaitlin’s finger, maybe then Bitty would get it.

  But how could he do that? What could he do to show Kaitlin how much he loved her?

  He’d been an idiot. A year had seemed like forever back then, but he should have handled things differently. He should have waited.

  He still wanted her for his wife.

  It was time to reunite Elvis and Priscilla— permanently.

  Chapter Nine

  More than anything else, I want the folks back at home to think right of me.

  —Elvis Presley

  Saturday, October 18th

  “I’ll even keep Elvis here while you go,” Kaitlin’s mother said, five days after the dog-walking debacle. “I need to decorate for autumn, and I can’t leave home until this fudge is done. It won’t take you long. Please?”

  “Thanksgiving is a month away, and Halloween is still two weeks away. Why do you have to start so early?”

  “Early? Autumn officially started weeks ago. Pretty please...?” Susan Hartley had a way of looking imploringly at her daughter that usually got Kaitlin to do whatever her mother wanted.

  It worked this time too. Kaitlin sighed, and asked, “Does it have to be from the Pumpkin Patch?”

  Her mother nodded. “Their pumpkins stay fresh much longer.”

  Trying not to roll her eyes, Kaitlin admitted defeat. “Okay. Draw up a list of exactly what you want.”

  “I’ll do better than that. I’ll forward a picture my friend sent me from Pinterest.”

  As Kaitlin drove, she pondered. She remembered making this drive to the Pumpkin Patch two years ago, after her mother had pleaded, just like tonight. But unlike tonight, she’d gone with Joshua. And she’d gotten an awesome kiss from him there, in the backyard, surrounded by pumpkins.

  That was the problem with Aspen Grove— powerful memories were hidden everywhere, memories of her and Joshua as a couple. A hug at Candy’s Café. A cuddle under a blanket at the high school stadium during football games. A kiss at the Pumpkin Patch, at the Mexican restaurant, at... well, kisses pretty much everywhere, in far too many locales to count.

  Joshua was a very good kisser.

  So she might as well go to the Pumpkin Patch as anywhere. No matter where she went, she was either going to be assailed by her own memories or by other people’s hopes and expectations.

  Perhaps she’d made a mistake coming back home. But she’d had no choice. She was pretty much locked into Aspen Grove for the next five years while she fulfilled her obligation to Mr. Kosta.

  The parking lot at the Pumpkin Patch, the most popular seasonal craft store in town, was crowded, with cars pulling out and others jockeying for the twenty or so parking spots. The store was full of people who would doubtless want to ask her how she was doing, if she was dating Joshua again, and if she was enjoying being back in town. So many questions, so few answers.

  She parked her Jetta but didn’t get out. Not yet. She needed a few minutes to prepare herself. This was exactly why she’d wanted to hide out at home.

  One of the four or five shoppers leaving the store was Candy, who was hefting a box with a pumpkin showing above the edge. She waved, set the box in the trunk of her car, and walked over.

  Kaitlin rolled down her window and smiled. “Hi.”

  Candy leaned over and patted her arm. “Hiding out in your car isn’t going to help. You need to pull up your big girl panties and go out in public. Everyone will get over the fact that you and Joshua aren’t an item soon enough. About the time Ethan and Lindsey have another spectacular breakup, probably, which their current spat is leading up to.”

  Kaitlin laughed. “Is my hiding that obvious?”

  “Just act as if you have the world by the tail— and pretty soon, you will.” Candy motioned to the window. “Roll it up, get out, and grab hold of that tail, woman.”

  Kaitlin did. “Thanks. I needed that pep talk.”

  “Any time you need advice, you know where to find me.” Candy motioned toward the store. “The best pumpkins are along the back wall.”

  She locked arms with Kaitlin, and they walked together until they reached Candy’s car. After clicking her key fob, Candy opened the door. “See you a
round, sweetie.”

  “Maybe I’ll come for that Chick Flick Clique Elvis movie after all.”

  “Great. I’ll find a good one.”

  Kaitlin laughed. “They’re all good.”

  “No they’re not.” Candy gave one last wave and climbed in her car. “Second Wednesday of each month.”

  Kaitlin entered the warmth of the small store, bypassing the displays of all things crafty— from knitting needles and crochet hooks to beading and paint supplies— to follow the crowd outside through the rear doors, where the largest displays of yard decor were kept. The square, encircled by a chain link fence, was double the size of the building.

  She turned the corner and, just as Candy had said, found tables covered with pretty pumpkins. She pulled out her cell phone and stared at the picture her mother had sent. Then, with a sigh, she started lifting pumpkins to find the perfect one that her mother could use to attempt to make this Pinterest thing. She suspected it was going to be one of those it’s-supposed-to-look-like-this-but-it-doesn’t projects.

  She chose one. People crowded the aisles inside, and she had to weave between them to get to the front of the store. Didn’t these people know it was just autumn, not the holiday season yet? She supposed she was not exactly in a great holiday mood. Wait until the Christmas season. She’d be a Grinch by then.

  Her phone buzzed and she fished it out again. Another blocked number. What was up with that? “Hello?”

  The sound of breathing was followed, after a moment, by a whispered, “Go back where you came from.”

  “What? Who is this?”

  A click told her the person had hung up. Shaken, Kaitlin put her phone away with a trembling hand. Had she just been threatened? Or could it possibly have been a wrong number? She didn’t have any enemies… did she?

  She heard a voice that made her look over, and she saw a head of slightly too long dark hair. Joshua? What was he doing here? And why does he keep showing up everywhere I go?

  Aspen Grove wasn’t that small of a town! It had a university, even. There were people she didn’t know, yet she kept running into him.