All Autumn

by Sandra Owens

  Was he jealous? I shouldn’t hope that he was. Not when we had no claim on each other. Yet the way he was looking at me with a possessive gleam in his eyes made my knees weak. That wasn’t what I wanted, was it? I had to wonder exactly what we really were about.

  “What?” I said when he didn’t say anything, only kept staring at me.

  His gaze shifted over to Lucas, then back to me. “He’s interested in you.”

  I shrugged. “So? Do you see me standing over there with him?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

  He huffed out a breath. “I don’t know. That wasn’t the deal, was it?” His gaze shifted to something over my shoulder. “Incoming.”

  “Autumn, didn’t you see us? We waved to you.”

  At hearing my mother’s voice behind me, I squeezed my eyes shut. She’d said us and that could only mean my father was with her, and they were back together. I loved my parents, both of them. I just didn’t love them together, because it wouldn’t last, and I’d be left to pick up the pieces when my dad walked out on her again.

  Connor put his hands on my arms after I turned around. “Should I toss you over my shoulder and run away with you right now?” he murmured into my ear.

  “You have no idea how tempting that is,” I whispered back and then pasted on a smile. “Mom, Dad, didn’t know you would be here.” Much less together.

  “Oh, honey, we wouldn’t have missed your parade for the world, would we, darling?” my mother gushed, darting a glance at my father, needing approval that she’d said the right thing.

  I wanted to shake her until she agreed to stop being his doormat. She had on a pretty sundress, her lips were red stained—my father’s favorite color of lipstick—and her hair was shiny clean. Her pity clothes would be tucked away in a drawer until she needed them again. But her smile was brittle, because she was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Again.

  From as far back as I could remember, I’d been told I was the spitting image of my mother, and I used to love that. Not so much anymore. I never wanted to look in a mirror and see eyes that had lost their light like hers had, even now with my father home. Her eyes were dull and joyless because she knew there was a time stamp on his being back home. There always was.

  “We sure wouldn’t have, sweets,” my dad answered, giving her that easy smile that charmed all the ladies.

  Darling and sweets, their pet names for each other… Well, until the fighting started again, and then it would be words like jackass and cold bitch. Connor moved his hands up to my shoulders, his thumbs massaging my tense muscles. I leaned my back against his chest, needing his touch.

  “Mr. Archer, Mrs. Archer,” he said, “it’s nice to see you. It’s been a while.”

  My dad nodded. “Too long. Looks like you and your brother are doing well. Every time I turn around, I see a new log house going up with one of your ‘Built by the Hunter Brothers’ signs in the yard.”

  He hadn’t addressed Connor by name because he’d never been able to tell the twins apart, even after I’d told him countless times about their earrings. I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut again because I knew what was coming, and when Connor’s thumbs stilled, I knew he did, too.

  My dad made a decent enough living buying run-down homes, fixing them up, and then selling them. For a while now he’d been after Connor and Adam to partner with him so he could buy more expensive homes to resell. He wasn’t one of the twins’ favorite people, not only because of the way he treated my mother but more so because of how he kept forgetting he has a daughter. Like now. We’d been standing here for five minutes and he’d yet to acknowledge my existence. I should be used to that by now, but it still hurt.

  If you asked me to describe my relationship with my father, it would be me doing stupid things to get his attention and him forgetting he had a daughter except on the holidays when he gave me money to spend. What I clung to were the early years when I knew for a fact that he loved me.

  “Hi, Dad,” I said belatedly, getting wound up because he’d yet to say a word to me.

  His gaze landed on the arm Connor had around my shoulders. “I could bring a lot of business to the Hunter brothers, don’t you think, baby girl?”

  It’s great to see you, Autumn. How are you, Autumn? Those are things he could have said to me, but obviously I was of more use to him as a means to get in with Connor and Adam. Conner pulled me closer, probably knowing I was about to lose it.

  My father was a self-centered man. Everything was always about him. I knew this, so why did I still let him get to me? Connor’s touch calmed me, and I swallowed the biting words on the tip of my tongue. They would accomplish nothing.

  “Hey, guys,” Jenn said, jogging up to us, her timing totally awesome.

  My dad frowned at Jenn, then said to Connor, “We’ll talk later.”

  Connor didn’t answer.

  I hugged Jenn. “Hey, yourself. Where’s Dylan?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Where do you think? Traffic control, crowd control, Mary control, or at least attempting that one.” She laughed. “The woman’s driving him crazy.”

  Beau barked, getting her attention.

  “Well, hello there, sweet boy.” She knelt and scratched his muzzle, getting a lick on her chin. Beau loved Jenn. Actually, he loved everyone except my parents, and around either one of them—or both when they were together—he tended to stick close to me, staying quiet. I think he always picked up on my tension when I was near them.

  When Jenn stood, she smiled at my parents. “You must be so proud of your daughter.”

  Jenn also didn’t like my parents much, having comforted me through the years when I’d cry on her shoulder because my dad had left again. But she was always respectful toward them, more so than Connor and Adam were.

  “Of course we are,” my dad said. He smiled at my mom. “I think Melinda filled up her phone with pictures of Autumn riding with Senator Blanton.”

  Mom giggled. “I did.” She glanced at Jenn. “Did you see the way he looked at her? I’m sure he’s interested in her. Here, I’ll show you.” She fished in her purse, then brought out her phone.

  Connor’s fingers tightened on my shoulders.

  “Um, I’ll look at them later. Connor and I have a meeting with Mary we’re already late for.” I grabbed Jenn’s hand. “She wants you to attend, too.”

  “Right, the meeting,” Connor said. “Enjoy the rest of your day,” he said to my parents.

  “Bye.” Jenn waved to them as I pulled her away.

  Beau tugged on the end of his leash, apparently as anxious to get away from them as the rest of us. Maybe I should feel guilty for taking off and not spending more time with them, but I was done with having guilt trips where my parents were concerned.

  “Did you know they were back together?” Jenn said once we were out of hearing range.

  “Nope. But I’m usually the last to find out.” They’d be reconciled anywhere from six months to a year before my father fell madly in love with the next woman.

  “What’s this about how Blanton looked at you?” Connor said.

  32

  ~ Connor ~

  I’d wanted to grab that phone out of Melinda Archer’s hand and see for myself how Blanton looked at Autumn.

  Autumn shrugged. “My mother’s delusional. You know that.”

  True, but I’d seen the man’s head leaning close to hers during the parade. Not to mention the vibes I’d picked up before the parade started. I wasn’t imagining that Blanton was interested in her.

  If she returned that interest, she’d tell me. I think. It wasn’t like I had a claim on her, not exactly. She was the one who’d asked that I not see other women as long as we were together, and I assumed that applied to her, too. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t deny that I was jealous, a new feeling for me. I didn’t like it.

  Bluegrass music filled the air. “That’s Hamburger,” Autumn said. “Let’s go listen to him.”

  Je
nn glanced at her. “I thought we were going to a meeting with Mary.”

  I leaned around Autumn’s back, getting Jenn’s attention. “Catch up with us here, Jenn. There is no meeting. That was just to get us away from the crazy parents.”

  “Oh, right.” She slapped her forehead. “My dumb.”

  That was one of the reasons I loved Jenn. She’d always been able to go with the flow. The biggest reason, though, was that she’d always been there for Autumn, whether it was to assure Autumn that her parents loved her, no matter how much they ignored their daughter, or the way she could make Autumn laugh.

  Autumn grinned. “I always said you were the dumbest of us all.”

  Jenn snatched Beau’s leash out of Autumn’s hand. “Just for that, I’m stealing your dog.” She trotted backward as she and Beau headed away from us. “Dylan will never forgive me if I don’t bring Daisy’s son to see him. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

  “I love her,” Autumn said, her eyes on her dog and her friend as they disappeared among the people heading over to the festival ground’s stage.

  “Impossible not to.” I put my arm around her waist, pulling her next to me. “Let’s go do some feet stomping to Hamburger’s fiddle.”

  “I wish Savannah was here,” she said out of the blue.

  “Hmm,” was all I could say to that. Personally I hoped she stayed far away. I no longer considered Savannah Graham a friend, but I knew better than to say that to Autumn.

  I’d once liked her as much as I had Autumn, Jenn, and Natalie. I still remembered the day the four of them had stormed the tree house our father and Adam had built together. Autumn’s head had poked up in the opening first, and looking back, that wasn’t a surprise. She was the instigator of all their pranks and shenanigans. And believe me, there had been more than their fair share of both those things.

  “Hello,” she’d said, grinning and waving at Adam and me as if it were perfectly acceptable to invade a boy’s secret hideout, even though there was a sign at the bottom of the ladder that said NO GIRLS ALLOWED. Both of us had stared in shock at the girl who’d dared to risk our wrath when we had water guns. We grabbed them and fired, drenching her. The crazy girl only laughed.

  Her face and hair wet and dripping water, she climbed in. “Shoot them, too.” She pointed at her friends as they followed her in. We knew the girls. Jenn’s house was next door to ours. Still, they were girls, so we soaked them, too.

  Unfazed, Autumn, Natalie, Jenn, and Savannah had relentlessly moved in on our territory. They’d turned out to be cool girls, though, up for anything, and the six of us had become lifelong friends. And then Natalie had died, and Savannah had gone to New York, taking Adam’s heart with her.

  That left four of us still in the valley, and here I was, lusting after Autumn. I never saw that one coming. But where Adam had fallen in love with one of the girls, that wasn’t going to happen to me.

  Hamburger Harry walked onto the stage wearing his signature overalls and carrying his fiddle. For any tourist in town who’d come out to watch the parade, they were in for a treat. Hamburger played a mean fiddle. I didn’t much care for bluegrass music, unless it was Hamburger playing it.

  “Don’t let us leave without a jar or two of moonshine,” I said to Autumn. Hamburger always had his canvas tote filled with mason jars of flavored moonshine.

  “Definitely. He better have a jar of peach.”

  “You know he always has a peach flavored for you.” And he’d have an apple pie one for Jenn. Since I wasn’t as high on his favorites list as Autumn and Jenn, there may or may not be a jar in his tote of straight moonshine with cherries in it for me.

  “Seriously, this is their entertainment?” someone behind me said.

  “Whadda you expect from a one-horse town?”

  I glanced behind me to see two guys looking at Hamburger with smirks on their faces. “Actually, if you watched the parade, you know we have eight horses.”

  One of them snorted. “I stand corrected. I shoulda said hick town instead.”

  His friend seemed embarrassed by the insult, so I gave him a nod, then, not looking for a fight, turned my attention back to Hamburger as he began to play. His feet, encased in well-worn black lace-up boots, began their shuffling dance. Within minutes the crowd was clapping in time to his music, some couples breaking out in dance.

  “Hot damn! Look at that old man go.”

  I recognized the voice of the one who’d insulted my town and grinned. No one could entertain a crowd like Hamburger Harry. He was somewhere in his eighties, which made the energy he had onstage even more impressive. I put my arms around Autumn’s chest and swayed to the music with her. She tilted her face up and smiled. My heart did a funny bounce. What was up with that?

  “You’ll have to meet him at his truck to get your jar of moonshine,” Dylan said, coming up next to us.

  Jenn peeked around from his other side. “Yeah, our meanie chief of police wouldn’t let Hamburger bring his tote inside the festival grounds.”

  I scowled at Dylan. “We need to find a new chief. Clearly this one’s not gonna work.”

  Dylan laughed. “The rules are the same for him as anyone else. No liquor brought inside.”

  “All I got to say is no one had a problem with it before you came to town, copper.”

  “And he’s not telling you that Hamburger said there’s a mason jar of moonshine with cherries in it for him,” Jenn said, then smirked at her husband.

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “I take the fifth.”

  “Whoa. Back up. Any moonshine with cherries in it belongs to me,” I said, glaring at Dylan. “I have prior claim.”

  Dylan slapped me on the back. “Then you better hope there are two jars, my friend.”

  “Two jars of what?” Adam asked, joining us.

  “Nothing,” I said. Adam had the same taste buds as me, and he was always stealing mine if he found any of Hamburger’s moonshine in my fridge.

  “Connor and Dylan are fighting over a jar of moonshine,” Autumn said helpfully, then smirked at me.

  I spanked her butt. “Hush, woman. He’s the evil twin. Don’t be talking to him.”

  “With cherries in it?” Adam asked.

  Autumn shrugged. “Apparently I’m not to talk to you, so I can’t tell you yes.”

  “Just whose side are you on, beautiful?” Without thinking, I kissed her, a quick smack on the lips. When I glanced up, Dylan was looking at us with amusement, Jenn had about a thousand questions in her eyes, and Adam was frowning.

  “So, what’s everyone doing for the rest of the afternoon?” I said.

  33

  ~ Autumn ~

  Jenn glanced over at me while holding her hands under the dryer. “Is this thing between you and Connor getting serious?

  I adamantly shook my head. “No. I swear. We’re just having some fun.”

  We were in the restroom at Fusions. Connor, Dylan, and Adam were waiting for us in the lounge. Connor and I had met them here after dropping off Beau and our two jars of moonshine at home. As soon as we’d walked in, Jenn had herded me off to the ladies’ room to give me the third degree.

  “I just don’t want to see you get hurt again. You know I adore Connor, but he’s not long-term material.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” I sighed, knowing that she was concerned for me, but it bothered me that Connor’s friends saw him as a player. But then so did I, which made my irritation unreasonable. “I do know, and that makes him the perfect man for a post-divorce fling. When I said I was done with husbands and forevers, I meant it. Besides, weren’t you the one who told me to go for it?”

  “I only meant that you should have some fun, not give him your heart.”

  “Why would you even think I would?”

  “I see how you look at him. There are stars in your eyes, Autumn.” She touched up her lipstick, then dropped the tube into her purse. “We better go before the guys send a search party.”

 
“My heart’s still right where it should be. In my chest.” And she was imagining things if she thought there was anything in my eyes.

  She glanced back at me as I followed her out. “I hope so.”

  Both Connor and Dylan stood when we neared the table, pulling out the chairs next to them. “Let’s mess with them,” I whispered to Jenn. “You sit next to Connor and I’ll sit next to Dylan.”

  She put her hand behind her back, giving me a thumbs-up. Connor’s eyes were tracking my approach, and I gave him a flirty wink. Then I glanced at Dylan. I was pretty sure he saw nothing but Jenn coming his way. The man was so in love with her, and I couldn’t be happier that she’d found her perfect mate. I also felt a little sad that I’d never experience a man looking at me like that.

  Because Jenn and I were so in tune after years of pulling pranks on our friends, we crossed in front of each other at the same time, her going to the chair Connor held out, and me going to Dylan’s side.

  “Thank you, sir,” I said to Dylan as I lowered myself into the chair next to him.

  Jenn plopped down in the chair Connor held out. “She made me do it.”

  “Tattletale,” I said.

  “Cannot tell a lie here,” she snapped back, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

  “What are you, George Washington?”

  She looked pointedly at her chest. “Do I look like George?”

  “If George had breasts like yours, Red, I would have married him, too,” Dylan said. He winked as he slid into his chair.

  Adam choked on his beer. “TMI, man.”

  “Just saying it like it is,” Dylan answered, his gaze still on his wife.

  Connor smirked. “Even without Jenn tattling, I would have bet my life that it was Autumn’s idea.”

  I blinked my eyes at him. “Moi? Why am I always the first suspect?”

  Everyone else at the table snorted.

  “Remember that time she stole Mrs. Rahall’s lesson plans and left a ransom note?” Jenn glanced at Dylan. “Mrs. Rahall was our seventh grade math teacher.”