Small-Town Girl

by Jessica Keller

  “You probably won’t.” Evan dusted his hands off on his jeans. “Brice doesn’t like talking on the phone.”

  “I need to get ahold of him, though—it’s semiurgent.”

  “I’m sure he’s at his house.” He used his thumb to point over his shoulder.

  Okay, Evan definitely was the type who needed a direct question asked. No dropping hints with this guy. “Could you possibly call Brice’s house phone and tell him to call me?”

  Evan grinned and shook his head. “Unfortunately my grizzly bear of a brother doesn’t have a landline.”

  Yeah, Evan was going to be zero help.

  “Okay, well, thanks anyway.” Kendall started to turn to leave.

  “Just go to his house. He won’t mind.”

  Kendall faced Evan again. She shouldn’t go to Brice’s house without the man in question offering that as a possibility, but she also didn’t want to lose her first big client, her first chance to help plan a proposal, especially with the possibility of a newspaper interview in the near future. Sure, she was working with another client on a hot air balloon proposal, but that wouldn’t happen until after the interview. She didn’t want to turn down Kellen’s business. She couldn’t afford to.

  Still...showing up at Brice’s house felt strange. “I couldn’t show up there uninvited.”

  “Sure you could.” Evan batted his hand as if to say her hesitation was silly. “If you have to tell him something, that’s your only option. That’s the only way I get to talk to him unless he strolls in here.” He motioned her toward the cash register and then yanked a piece of paper out of the top of his old banged-up printer. “It’s not far from town. I’ll draw you a map.”

  Kendall jiggled her phone. “Or I could just use GPS.”

  “Brice lives back in the woods, down a dirt driveway. I don’t trust the GPS to get you there. He’s my next-door neighbor, but it’s in a can’t-walk-the-distance way.” He leaned over a sheet of paper and drew a quick map. “I’ll give you my number to call if you get lost.” He jotted down his number. “And I actually answer my phone.”

  True to his word, Evan’s map was illustrated with great detail, including sketches of unique places she would pass, like the mailbox shaped like a lady riding a surfboard on a huge wave. Kendall climbed into her car and studied the piece of paper. Brice’s house looked easy enough to get to; four turns out of town and she’d be on his road. But Evan had warned that Brice’s driveway was easy to miss.

  She left the downtown portion of Goose Harbor and drove down a road lined with apple trees; the temptingly sweet smell of their summer blossoms whipped into the car. The next street carried her past a horse ranch, quickly after which both sides of the road became flooded with forests of trees. Despite it being later, since it was summer, she still had sunlight working in her favor. Even still, she slowed her car below the speed limit. With trees so thick and so close to the road, it was almost impossible to see into the next curve of the road, and if a deer jumped out, she’d never avoid hitting it. And even if she did, it would mean driving her car into the trees, which wasn’t a better option.

  On the next curve the trees split for the space of ten feet and then resumed again. She craned her neck. Was that Brice’s driveway? If so, she’d know shortly. Evan said if she missed Brice’s driveway to continue a half mile up the road and she’d find his driveway and she could turn around there. He’d described what it looked like so she’d be certain. Sure enough, Evan’s house and driveway came into view. Although, where Brice’s had been a dirt trail between the trees, Evan’s was poured concrete leading to a decent-sized Craftsman-style house with a wide terrace porch complete with hanging baskets of colorful flowers.

  Not wanting to waste time admiring Evan’s home, she completed her turn in the wide driveway and headed back toward Brice’s home. This time she found the driveway without an issue and her car bumped down the lane toward a shaded cabin built deep into the woods. Brice’s home was less than half the size of Evan’s and lacked any sort of trimmings, but somehow that suited Brice.

  She parked her car next to his, then climbed up the steps and knocked on the door. Brice answered a minute later in worn jeans, bare feet and a flannel with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, looking every bit the wilderness man his home boasted he might be.

  “Kendall.” His brow lowered, but the grin pulling his cheeks said she was a welcome surprise.

  “I’m sorry to appear uninvited at your place like this.”

  “I don’t mind.” He swung the door open wider. “Come on in.”

  “Thank you.” She brushed past him on the way into his home, and her eyes locked with his pale green ones before she skirted her line of vision away to assess her surroundings. The cabin looked like an upscale lodge or the vacation rentals that could be found along the Appalachian Trail. It was built to showcase a floor-to-ceiling fireplace wall. A lingering mix of brewed coffee and grilled steak smell hung in the air. All the furniture looked like Evan’s custom creations, and a large red-toned rug tied the whole place together. The lower portion of the home had an open floor plan, and there was a loft upstairs that looked like he might use it as his bedroom. It appeared as if that was all there was to the cabin. It wasn’t large, but it was ten times better than the trailer homes she’d grown up in and didn’t overwhelm her the way a house like Evan’s would have.

  “I like your house,” she breathed.

  He hooked his hand around the back of his neck and looked around as if he was assessing his home with fresh eyes. “It’s small.”

  “No television?”

  He shook his head. “No computer or air-conditioning either.”

  “How do you live?” She swatted at his chest, meaning the question as a joke.

  “I own twenty acres and back up to an abandoned summer camp that has a lake with the best fishing this side of Michigan. I don’t need a television or computer to stay occupied.” Brice’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “I know it’s not a lot. No one else would want to live like this. It’s not enough...” His shoulders slumped, not by much, but enough that she noticed.

  “Brice. Seriously. Look at me.” She snapped her fingers, gaining his attention again. “Your house is great. I like it.”

  He shrugged. “I learned early on in life not to treasure material possessions.”

  “You’d hate my place, then. I’m like a little hoarding rat that holds on to everything, I’m afraid.” She held her arms up by her sides to make little rat arms in an effort to lighten the mood. “I chalk it up to the fact that my mom and I moved around a lot when I was young. She was always forgetting to pay the rent and we’d come home sometimes to find all our belongings cleared out and the trailer locked up.”

  He stepped closer to her. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

  She bit her lip. Wasn’t her goal to lighten the mood? Yet she felt safe telling Brice something she’d never said to anyone. “I know it sounds stupid, but to a child, finding out that your beloved stuffed animal has been taken as garbage and you’ll never see it again is traumatic. And it didn’t happen only one time. I wish.”

  Brice took a final step and entered her personal space. He brought a tentative hand up to her hair and tucked one of the loose curls around his fingers. “My father was—is—a heavy gambler.”

  “Brice.” She hooked her hand on his wrist and squeezed. “If you don’t want to tell me...”

  He broke the contact between them and turned away. “You live in Goose Harbor. You’re going to find out sooner or later. I’d rather you hear my side than what the rest of the locals think.” He paced toward the fireplace, running his fingers over the grooves in the wood that made up the back of his couch along the way.

  “Because of my father’s gambling addiction, every couple months he’d round up everything of value and sell it. It didn’t matt
er if it was something you’d saved up your own money to buy or something special to you.” He laid a hand on top of the bare fireplace mantel. “So it was better to live without something to begin with than have it taken away from you down the road.” He touched the scar on his cheek. “I’m not afraid of my father taking my belongings any longer, but I’ve grown comfortable living without stuff now, so I figured it was better to stay that way. Stay satisfied with a little. You never know what will happen in life. What you’ll lose.”

  Kendall’s heart squeezed and she fought the urge to rush over to Brice for a hug. Even though he was an adult and the days of his father taking his possessions were in the past, the memories still burned him. Kendall knew that better than anyone. First from her belongings being tossed as a child during all their evictions, but there were more recent memories too. Ones that hurt so much she couldn’t voice them yet. Brice’s father had stolen his beloved childhood items, which was horrible. But Kendall’s mother had stolen her identity, destroying her credit. If it hadn’t been for Sesser Atwood’s generous loan, there would have been zero chance of her opening a business. To clean her record she would have had to file a report with the police against her mother, and she couldn’t do that. Not to the only family she had.

  * * *

  Brice studied Kendall, but her face was an unreadable mask in the dim light coming in through the windows.

  Not for the first time, he chided himself for judging her incorrectly when they met. Between the lines it was easy to comprehend that Kendall had lived through a rough childhood. Not unlike himself. Although hopefully she hadn’t been kicked, hit and told she was unwanted on a daily basis. Their similar pasts gave them a mutual respect and understanding of each other. Something he had never felt before. He hadn’t told Audra anything about his father, and here was Kendall, whom he’d known only two weeks, and he already felt able to trust her.

  He braced his hand on the table. What was happening to him?

  Maybe he was going soft as he aged. Maybe he was lonely.

  He tried to will Kendall to meet his eyes. Look at me. You don’t need to look downcast around me.

  A knock at the door snapped him out of his thoughts. Was it National Drop In on Brice Day? Had he missed the memo?

  Kendall wrapped her fingers around her purse strap. “You were expecting someone? I shouldn’t have barged in like this. I’m so sorry. I should go.”

  “One.” He held up a finger. “You didn’t barge—I asked you to come in.” He held up a second finger. “And two, I wasn’t expecting anyone, so this knock is a mystery too.”

  He discovered his little sister on the other side, which turned his gut into a knot. Finding her on his doorstep close to nine when she had summer school the next day meant trouble at his parents’ house.

  “What’s the matter?” He grabbed Laura’s arm and dragged her into the house. His pulse punched against his temples, and his jaw ached—responses to phantom childhood memories, his body’s built-in reaction to whenever he heard about his father’s bad behavior.

  But Laura’s gaze landed on Kendall. “Brice!” she hissed. “You have a girl in your house. You never have girls over. I didn’t even know you talked to them.”

  Brice shot Laura a look, letting her know she was overdoing it.

  Despite her darker complexion, Kendall’s cheeks reddened. “On that note, I should be headed out.”

  Laura waved her hands. “Not on my account.”

  “No, don’t,” Brice answered at the same time as his sister. He moved to block Kendall’s retreat. “I’m pretty sure you dropped by to talk about more than my cabin.”

  “More?” Laura waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe I should leave.”

  Brice closed his eyes for a second and inhaled warm air. Laura was sixteen. He could only expect her to act like sixteen-year-olds. He had to keep reminding himself that. Calmer now, he opened his eyes. “Kendall, this is my sister, Laura. Laura, this is my friend Kendall.”

  “Only friend?” Laura crossed her arms and turned a pout toward Kendall. “Don’t you think he’s at least a little bit cute? I mean, in a total grumbly-bear-in-winter sort of way?”

  Kendall snickered and winked at Laura. “I’ll give your brother more than cute. Between you and me.” She latched on to Laura’s arm—coconspirators. “I’ve thought he was the most handsome man in Goose Harbor since the first day I met him,” she stage-whispered.

  The most handsome? Brice snorted, drawing laughs from both women.

  He scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “You do know I’m standing here, right?”

  Kendall had to be kidding around for Laura’s benefit. No one considered him handsome when he stood beside Evan. His brother had always been his mother’s favorite; she’d always said she wished she could have skipped over Brice and had Evan to begin with. Stop. Enough of those thoughts for now. He could dwell on them after the women left.

  “Wow. Look at that scowl.” Kendall pointed his way but was still leaning toward Laura, very quickly becoming his teenage sister’s new best friend. “It hadn’t crossed my mind before, but you’re so right about the grumbly-bear thing.”

  “All right. Enough foolishness.” Brice crossed his arms over his chest and motioned with his head toward the couch. “I’ve had the pleasure of two ladies showing up unannounced on my doorstep tonight, but neither has told me why yet. Sit down, both of you. Let’s get down to business.”

  Laura and Kendall took the couch and Brice dropped onto the hard ledge near the fireplace.

  Laura looked at Kendall. “Go ahead. You were here first.”

  Kendall smoothed out the flowery skirt she was wearing. “Are you free for a sunset cruise tomorrow?”

  “Brice.” Laura hissed his name as she bounced to the edge of the couch cushion. “She’s asking you on a date!”

  Yup, Kendall definitely looked pretty with embarrassment flushing over her cheeks.

  “She’s not—” Brice started to clarify their relationship for his sister’s benefit.

  “No.” Kendall latched on to Laura’s arm. “This is a business proposition. That’s all. I have a client who wants to rent the boat for a cruise tomorrow. Are you free to do that?”

  A business proposition? Was that really all that was going on between him and Kendall? He studied the way her nose tilted up at the end, her full cheeks and the way her eyes caught the light. She’d been kind and joked with his sister right away, no awkwardness at all. And she hadn’t turned and run or looked at him funny after he told her his dad was a gambling addict. That spoke of her character.

  Brice rested his elbows on his knees and pressed his palms together.

  No. They were not just business partners. They were something more already. A woman didn’t share the worst moments of her past with a guy she did business with. At the least, she trusted him, and other than with his family, he hadn’t experienced that in a long time. And never with a woman. He’d thought he had with Audra, but he’d been wrong.

  Brice grinned. “I’m free. Set it up and call me with times tomorrow.”

  Kendall’s eyes narrowed. “If I call you with times, will you actually answer? Because you didn’t today.”

  “Don’t feel bad.” Laura tugged out her phone. “He didn’t answer my calls either.”

  Brice felt in his pockets but couldn’t locate his phone. “I might have left it at work. What?” His gaze volleyed back and forth between Kendall and his sister, both staring at him as if he’d just said he might have left his brain somewhere. “I don’t care about those things. I wouldn’t even have one except you insisted.” He pointed at his sister.

  Laura launched to her feet. “Obviously. We know. But you should care about the people who want to get ahold of you. We’re calling you because we need you or we want to hear your opinion on something. That should matter.�
� As she paced she spun on her heels and faced him. “Don’t you care about us?”

  “I do.” Brice held up his hands in surrender. “I care about both of you.” He made eye contact with Kendall. “I’ll do better. I’m going to try to remember to carry the phone with me for both your sakes.” He moved his gaze to his sister. “You tried to call me too?”

  “Yeah.” She crossed her arms and rocked on her feet. A nervous childhood habit. “Things are weird at home. Can I stay here tonight?”

  Weird at home? His pulse kicked up again. “He didn’t...didn’t hit you, did he?”

  Laura rubbed her hand over her forehead. “No, he’s never done that to anyone besides you.” Her eyes grew wide and shot toward Kendall. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said—”

  Brice waved his hand, cutting off her apology. “It’s fine.” And it was too late now to take it back. “You didn’t say anything wrong. I don’t care if Kendall knows.”

  Kendall got to her feet. “It looks like your hands are full here. I should head out.”

  “Nice meeting you.” Laura reached out and squeezed Kendall’s hand as she passed.

  “You too.” Kendall beamed at her. “See you around.”

  Brice trailed her to the door, flipped on the porch light and followed her outside. Bugs flew in lopsided arcs around the single bulb near the steps. Leaves in the canopy above them whispered like schoolchildren sharing secrets. As they had talked, darkness had crept in. So technically that meant they’d spent the last four sunsets together, and would tomorrow too.

  Kendall glanced over her shoulder as he followed her down the stairs. “You don’t have to walk me to my car.”

  “I know I don’t have to, but I want to.” Why was he following her out anyway? The woods were safe for the most part. It wasn’t as if she needed him for protection. Yet he wanted to say goodbye to her—good-night—without his sister breathing down their necks.