Candis Terry - [Sweet, Texas 01]

by Anything But Sweet

  “So why are you out here in the heat doing a job that’s already been done?”

  He shrugged. Lifted the bottle to his mouth and took a long pull. “Hiding out, I guess. Realized without access to the store, there’s not a whole lot going on.”

  His mother leaned back. “Are you bored, son?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe you’ve just gotten used to having a little company these days?”

  He smiled. “You spying on me?”

  “Don’t need to spy. Anyone with eyeballs in their head can see you and Charli are smitten with each other.”

  “Smitten?” Reno laughed. He’d hardly call what he and Charli had smitten. Then again, other than hot for each other or short-term, he wasn’t sure how their relationship could be labeled.

  “You’ve been alone so long, it must be nice to have someone to talk to,” his mother said.

  “I guess.”

  “Someone to share ideas with.”

  “Sure.”

  “Someone to make plans with,” she said.

  “I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

  His mother sighed. Took a drink from her bottle of soda. Then stood. “Guess I’d best get back to my work.”

  “Other than flower arranging, you need any help in there?”

  She leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “No, sugarplum, you just stay out here and keep hiding. I’m sure that will solve everything.”

  As she walked away, he cocked his head.

  What the hell was that all about?

  Lately, his mother made less and less sense. Though Jackson still inhabited his old bedroom, and Izzy made an appearance a couple times a week, his mom probably just needed a little more company. After having had a houseful of rowdy boys, it must get pretty quiet in that big, rambling place.

  He slugged down the rest of the beer and stood. Brushed the hay off the back of his pants and headed toward the house.

  For his mother, he guessed he could put aside his testosterone for a few hours to hang curtains and play with flowers.

  Maybe then he could figure out what was going on inside her head.

  Chapter 20

  Late Saturday afternoon rolled around with a clear blue sky and heavy anticipation. Only the final touches remained on the hardware-store makeover. Charli bustled around the interior, placing items on the shelves and making sure everything looked perfect. The nerves in her stomach had increased from butterfly flutters to California-sized earthquakes.

  For most reveals, she naturally felt a little anxious—a little concerned that her designs wouldn’t quite meet expectations. This reveal, however, was unlike any other.

  This one was personal.

  She couldn’t bear to see the disappointment on Reno’s face if she let him down. And as promised, if he didn’t like it, they’d have to put it back the way it was. In twenty-four hours.

  Impossible.

  She prayed he’d like the results.

  Once the reveal was over, she planned to tell him that after her contract was up, she’d like to come back to Sweet and make it her home. She’d tell him about the discussion she and his mother had had about opening a business together.

  She hoped he’d be encouraged by her plans. She hoped he’d want to take their relationship further. She prayed he’d be patient and understand that she might have to leave for a short time, but that she’d be back to make a life with him if that’s what was in his heart.

  But even for a girl who hit her knees on a regular basis, Charli knew that was a heck of a lot of hoping and praying.

  Prereveal, Reno stood across the street from his hardware store, waiting impatiently for the moment to be over. Feeling like he had a ticking time bomb attached to his chest. While everyone around him buzzed with excitement, the muscles in his neck twisted, and his stomach knotted. Apparently, the town had planned a big wrap party for afterward, but he wasn’t even sure he could make it through the next hour of waiting without tossing his cookies.

  He knew the hard work Charli had put into his store, as she’d come home every night exhausted. She hadn’t given him a single clue as to what might be going on within those old walls, and, admittedly, that had been killing him all week. He didn’t like handing control over to someone else. Most often he’d come out the other side disappointed or devastated. But Charli had convinced him she’d do right by the traditions he held close to his heart. And he had to trust that she’d be true to her word.

  If the wait for the reveal weren’t nerve-wracking enough, sometime tomorrow she and her crew would pack up their tools and roll out of town.

  So what the hell was he supposed to do then?

  Ask her to stay? Chances she’d say no were pretty high. He wanted to believe she’d been telling the truth when she’d said she felt like she belonged in Sweet. But she had a career that moved her around. A lot. And she hadn’t mentioned plans to make any one place permanent.

  He could think he knew her, but did he really? How well could you get to know a person in just six weeks? Maybe her hooking up with someone on location wasn’t that unusual for her. He gave his head a hard shake, knowing the thought was complete and utter bullshit before it had even spilled from his brain.

  Over the past few years, he’d become a pro at dodging life. He made a great observer but not such a good participant. As his mother said, it was time to move on. But could he? And what was waiting for him if he did? He’d be a fool to think there were guarantees in life. He’d just like a little gut instinct to tell him what to do. Unfortunately for him, his gut was currently too nauseous to even speak the English language.

  The only thing clear to him at that moment was that his life was about to change in a big way. And he just wasn’t sure he was ready for it.

  “Guess things can go back to normal now,” Jackson said, hitching Izzy up on his hip while holding her little pink, pearl-handled purse in his free hand. The action did nothing to take away from Jackson’s masculinity and everything to make the single ladies in the crowd melt and wonder where they could fit into his life and how they could get into his bed.

  “Depends on what you want to call normal,” Reno said. In his pre-Charli world, normal equaled a silent house. No one to make him laugh. No one to hold at night.

  Yeah. Normal sucked.

  He glanced across the barricaded street to the gray-haired group from the senior center. It seemed so long ago Charli and company had invaded the town and taken over the ramshackle rock-faced building. And so long ago when he’d sworn to find a way to boot her and her ever-present cameras from his town. Who knew he’d end up helping her make the center a better place for the over-sixty crowd? He must have had sucker stamped on his forehead from the moment Charli pulled into town.

  “You okay?” Jackson juggled Izzy’s purse and her half-eaten cupcake so she could lay her sleepy head on his shoulder.

  “Not sure. But if you asked my stomach, it would give you a definitive no.”

  Like a hurricane-force wind, Jesse joined them. “Did you see Mom?”

  “Yeah. About ten minutes ago,” Jackson answered.

  “No,” Jesse corrected. “Did you see Mom.”

  “Jess, she’s right th—”

  All their heads turned at the same time when they heard their mother’s laughter. No. Scratch that. When they heard their mother giggle.

  Holy shit.

  Reno searched over the tops of heads and found her standing a few feet away from the senior-center crowd. With a man.

  “Who is that?” Reno asked.

  “Don’t know,” Jesse answered.

  “He was at the party,” Jackson said. “I saw him talking to . . . damn it.”

  “What?” Reno and Jesse said at the same time.

  “I saw him talking to her near the dance floor. Then they both disappeared.”

  “Disappeared to where?” Jesse asked.

  “How the hell should I know?” Jackson’s growl brought Izzy’s head up. Sh
e rubbed her eyes and started to whimper.

  “I want Mommy.”

  “Okay, baby girl. Hang on just a second.” Jackson kissed the top of her curly hair.

  Fiona showed up at the sound of her daughter’s whine. “She’s had a long day,” she said, taking Izzy into her arms.

  “Thanks, Fi,” Jackson said. “You’re the best.”

  “Uh-huh.” She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  The whole scene twisted Reno’s gut. Jackson and Fiona had made a good couple. But just like so many other things, it hadn’t been meant to be.

  “Let’s go talk to Mom,” Jesse said, after Fiona and Izzy were out of earshot.

  “And say what?” Reno asked.

  “And ask her about Mr. Mysterious,” Jackson said, as if Reno had taken a shot of stupid.

  “You know Mom,” Reno said in defense. “He’s probably new in town, and she’s always been a member of the welcoming committee.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Both Reno and Jackson followed the direction of Jesse’s gaze to find their mother still talking to the man and . . . twirling a lock of her big blond hair.

  “Uh-oh.” Jackson took the first step. As they had when they were younger, Reno and Jesse banded together with their little brother, who was once again leading them down the path of trouble.

  When they reached the other side of the street, Reno felt a jolt rip through his heart. The last time he’d seen that smile on his mother’s face, she’d been looking at his father as he’d led her into a waltz around the kitchen. That had been before Jared had been killed, and their world had fallen apart.

  “Let me talk to her.” Reno curled his fingers into his palms to prevent his hands from shaking. “You guys are too wired up.”

  Beneath their breaths, his brothers mumbled and muttered, which only proved that he was the right one to do the talking.

  When they walked up to where their mother stood with the stranger, Reno realized that the man had his hand on her back in a gesture of familiarity.

  “Is this guy bothering you, Mom?” Jackson asked.

  So much for letting Reno do the talking.

  “Don’t be silly,” she said, looking none too happy that her boys had obviously crashed her party. “I’ve known Martin since he moved here a while back. We have a lot in common.”

  “Like what?” Jesse asked.

  “I’m sorry we’ve not met before,” the silver-haired man said. “Martin Lane. I bought the old Pritchard place about three months ago.” He offered his hand, which Reno shook and Jackson and Jesse stared at before they finally reciprocated.

  “I hope you’ll excuse my boys, Martin. I raised them to have better manners.”

  “It’s all right, Jana.”

  Jana?

  Reno cringed. The stranger and his mother were on a first-name basis? And she was already looking at him like that?

  Their mother patted the man on the arm. “You don’t mind if I have a little chat with them alone, do you?”

  “Of course not.” Martin Lane bowed away. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “Like hell he will,” Jackson said, as soon as the man walked away.

  “Jackson Jeremiah Wilder! What has gotten into you?” Their mother’s glare cut to all of them. “What’s gotten into all of you?”

  Reno could see the flush of anger on his mother’s cheeks. “You caught us off guard with Mr. Lane,” he explained. “We just wanted to make sure you were safe.”

  “Of course I’m safe. How can I not be with three grown sons who don’t think I’m mature enough to make friends with a new member of our community?”

  “Pardon me for being up front, Mom,” Jesse said, “but the way you were looking at him seemed like a little more than friendship.”

  Her hands slammed onto her hips. “So what if it is?”

  “Are you sure you’re ready for that?” Reno asked, trying to be as careful with what he said as well as the way he said it.

  “Am I ready for what? To move on with my life? Funny you should bring that up, Reno.” She looked up at him, then shared that frown with his brothers too. “The answer is yes. I’m ready to move on with my life. Because what’s the alternative? The grave? I give that a big hell no.”

  Jackson blinked. “Mom, I don’t think—”

  “Exactly!” Her tone was knife sharp. “How dare you think I’m not smart enough to know what I want or what’s best for me. Me. Not you. I’ve dedicated my life to you boys. Well, now it’s my turn to have a little fun. And as grown men, y’all should understand that I’m not looking for someone to replace your father.”

  Reno’s heart hit his stomach when her lip quivered, and mist floated in her eyes.

  “I’m lonely,” she said matter-of-fact. “All y’all have your own lives to do with as you please. Why can’t I have mine?” A breath of air pushed from her lungs. “If you can’t accept that now, then stay the hell away till you can.”

  With a go-to-hell glare Reno had never seen, she walked away.

  “Fuck,” Jackson said.

  There were no better words to relay the emotion of that moment.

  Reno shoved his hands into his pockets. The time bomb exploded. His mother was putting his father behind her. Charli was leaving. And now he had to walk into that store, where all his wonderful memories of the man who’d saved his life had been stripped away.

  Fuck.

  As the last rays of sunlight lit up the western sky in shades of pink and gold, the earthquakes in Charli’s stomach rolled into hurricane-force waves of nausea and stress.

  This was it.

  The moment when the Sweet, Texas, episodes for My New Town came to an end. The moment when she’d find out whether Reno would be pleased with her renovations. The moment when she’d have to face whether they had any hope of a future together.

  As the residents of the town gathered behind the cameras, and the Wilder family gathered in front, Charli immediately recognized that something was very wrong.

  To maintain spontaneity, she’d purposely not spoken to the family beforehand. Now, as she led them to the mark where the cameras could record their expressions and reactions once the eighteen-wheeler was moved, she sensed a tension so tight, the air around them virtually snapped.

  Charli squeezed Reno’s arm and looked up into his dark wary eyes. Tonight, the splash of silver hair at his temples was seemingly pronounced, as if he’d grown new ones over the past few days. Hours. His dimples were completely buried.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, knowing all was not.

  He stared at the eighteen-wheeler still parked in front of the store and gave a curt nod that gave away nothing.

  She looked at Jana, Jackson, and Jesse, who stood beside him—though they definitely were not presented as a unit.

  Confused, Charli was hesitant to continue. Usually, the participants were nervous, eager, and maybe a little on edge. They were not often wearing explosive expressions with hostility stiffening their stance.

  “Does anyone need a moment before we do the reveal?” she asked.

  Reno’s brows slammed together. “For what?”

  “I don’t know.” She glanced at the family. “Maybe for everyone to find their happy place?”

  “Let’s just get it over with.”

  Reno’s tone was sharp, and Charli wasn’t sure why it was directed at her. But they were burning daylight, and even if the Wilder family wasn’t quite ready, everyone else involved with the show was primed to get on down the road.

  “All righty then.” Apprehension tingled at the back of her neck.

  There would be time after the reveal to figure out the problem. For now, even as insensitive as it seemed, she had a show to do. She glanced behind the cameras to where Sarah stood holding Pumpkin, who’d come along to join the party. Her assistant gave her a thumbs-up. Charli gave the “Let’s roll” cue to Max, pushed aside her uncertainty, and reached deep for the enjoyment she usually achi
eved in a reveal.

  The camera lights blinked on, and Charli pasted on her cheerleader smile. “Hi. I’m Charlotte Brooks. Welcome to My New Town. Today we’re deep in the heart of Texas Hill Country, where, six weeks ago, our production crew rolled into downtown Sweet. With the help of the entire community, we took on the challenge of refreshing some of the historic buildings on Main Street. Wilder and Sons Hardware and Feed wraps up our project list. And we’re glad you’re here with us today for the big reveal.”

  She glanced at the silent and apprehensive family gathered around her and made some brief introductions to the viewing audience. Then, with a little professional wheedling, she coaxed Jana into making some comments about the entire experience. Reno remained silent, as did Jackson and Jesse.

  For the first time since she’d joined the show, Charli was unsure of how to cover dead air. With Max behind the camera making a move-it-along twirl with his finger, she trudged on.

  “I know you’re all very excited to see what we’ve done with your store, so without further ado . . .” She gave the truck driver a whistle, and the diesel engine rumbled to life. The wheels rolled away from the curb. Slowly, foot by foot, the hardware store came into view. The crowd appropriately gasped. The Wilders remained silent.

  Panic lit a fire beneath Charli’s heart as she looked up into Reno’s unreadable reaction. She turned to look at the other members of the family, who stood at her sides with identical blank stares.

  They hated it.

  For a breathless moment, dread hammered inside Charli’s head. Then Jana finally broke through the ice in the air.

  “It’s lovely,” she said. “The daisy-filled red buckets hanging out front really add a sense of welcome.”

  “It looks the same, but better,” Jackson added.

  Jesse nodded.

  Nothing from Reno.

  “Oh.” Charli released a heavy sigh. “I’m so relieved. Come on, and I’ll point out what we did. Then we can all go inside to see how you feel about what we did in there.”