by Grace Conley
When It Rains
By Grace Conley
When It Rains is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright© 2017 by Grace Conley
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Grace Conley.
ASIN: B071Z225WF
Cover by: Lisa Messegee of The Write Designer
Grace’s newsletter: http://www.graceconley.com/newsletter.html
www.graceconley.com
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter One
“Everything happens for a reason,” Ava Maggiano said out loud to nobody in particular, tilting her face heavenward at an ominous cloud-heavy sky as she walked through the Friday afternoon Farmer’s Market in tiny Heart’s Delight, California.
At least, that’s what she’d mulishly kept telling herself for the last two months, whether she believed it or not. Ava felt like she was trapped in an infinite playback loop, repeating the words multiple times a day since she and Alexander broke up.
A fat rain drop splatted right in the center of her forehead, causing her to shake all over involuntarily, like her brother Marc’s puppy, Bogart, after he “fell” in the fountain at their parents’ vineyard last year. Ava whisked the droplet off with the heel of her hand.
“Everything happens…” Self-soothing mantras.
“Oh, honestly!” she exclaimed. Enough was enough.
Secretly, Ava worried that her grumpiness might rub off on the universe, and she wasn’t about to let a private thing like her own misery over her idiotic ex-boyfriend Alexander schtupping the busty girl who worked at the Less Is More lingerie shop ruin anybody else’s year.
Yup. Keeping her current unhappiness tamped down and hidden well, hers and hers alone, was the right thing to do. There was too much good going on for other people that she loved.
She passed the goat cheese booth, where the vendor, a blonde girl in Wellies and bright yellow rain slicker named Jenny who’d been a few grades ahead of her in school, pressed a sample on a cracker and handed it to her with a smile.
“Yum, that’s amazing,” said Ava. She let the tangy creaminess roll over her tongue, then finished crunching the water cracker down.
“I’m loving it, that is right up there with Humboldt Fog,” enthused Ava. “I need to buy some of this.”
“Well, if you’re comparing us to Cowgirl Creamery, I’m sending some home with you as a present! That is such a huge compliment! And you gotta try this one, too, it’s kind of like their Mt. Tam cheese.”
Ava thought she might die right then and there. The cheese was so rich it was absolutely sinful. She felt like she was slowly coming out of the fog, being able to enjoy simple things like good food or the feeling of the wind on her face. She gobbled it down, and happily took a sample of something else.
“Oh, I can’t not pay you,” said Ava, conscious of the fact that Jenny’s family operated a small business. This was their livelihood, a fact that Ava knew well since she grew up on a small vineyard. “It’s for a gift, anyway, for Isabella and Jake. For this weekend.” She was shy to mention the about-to-be engagement. Ava started to pull out her wallet.
“Operation Engagement?” Jenny stage-whispered knowingly. “Put your money away. And here you go, I want you to take one of these for them instead. It’s very elegant, if I do say so myself. It’ll be a great starter for just about any meal.”
She gestured to a display of plastic-wrapped cheeses that were heart-shaped and had wildflowers pressed into them.
“From my family, for their romantic dinner,” said Jenny, wrapping it in a piece of brown paper and tying it prettily with a raffia bow. “The flowers are edible.”
“How did you know about the--?” asked Ava.
“Oh, everybody in town knows, I think,” grinned Jenny. “And I believe in love, especially this weekend. A Valentine’s proposal, it’s so romantic. Tell them best wishes from us. And get pictures.”
Jenny waved and smiled as Ava walked on, cradling the goat cheese and wishing a little that she’d get to enjoy it herself. With some amazing man…
She signed. With no amazing man in sight, that just wasn’t happening.
She’d have to go back to Jenny’s booth soon, she thought, and buy some for herself. She could take it by her parents’ next Sunday dinner, she thought, and share it with those she loved.
And Ava’s heart lifted a tiny bit, because she realized she still believed in love, too, all the different types of it. That’s why she was out here at the weekly Heart’s Delight, California Farmer’s Market, strolling the rows of booths to find just the right flowers, with what the media was calling Northern California’s Rain Storm of the Decade looming.
This cloud-covered Friday afternoon, Ava was part of the biggest super-secret Stealth Engagement Mission Team she had heard of so far. A group of close friends and siblings was going to help stage the Valentine’s Day engagement of the century.
It was to take place in a mountain cabin in the foothills over on the other side of Heart’s Delight. It would be rustic, private, and incredibly romantic.
Her big sister, Isabella, was going to get engaged this weekend, in spectacular fashion, to one Jake Fletcher. Who just happened to be the twin brother of the man of Ava’s dreams, Ethan Fletcher.
At least, Ava’s dreams while growing up in the small Bay Area town of Heart’s Delight, California, which she had returned to a year ago, after finishing design school in San Francisco.
And luckily for Isabella, Jake happened to be the man of Isabella’s dreams.
Even worse for Ava, the twins were the older brothers of her best friend in the world, Karma. So Ethan Fletcher, man of her dreams, would have to stay just that way. In her dreams, only.
“Like a bad sitcom,” Ava muttered. It was the type of thing that only happened in small towns, where everybody knew everybody else’s business.
She’d say Karma was a bitch, except her best friend would take that completely wrong and get ticked off.
Add to the the fact that Ava also loved her big sister, who deserved all the happiness she could get and the most romantic proposal ever.
“Because she’s my sister and she deserves it,” Ava muttered. She could never begrudge Izzy.
But just once, it would be nice to be That Girl. The one in the tiara, with the beautiful ball gown and the handsome guy in a tuxedo twirling her on the dance floor.
Ava allowed herself the world’s most microscopic sigh.
A smattering of angry raindrops pelted around her. She squinted up at the fast-moving clouds.
Only to be hit right in her squinting eye by another one.
“Ouch!”
“Hey, over here, get inside!” Her best friend, Karma Fletcher, waved and flipped open the countertop that fronted her market tent. “Ethan should be here in a few minutes.”
Ava squinted again and ducked into Karma’s Coffee Stand.
When Karma’s big brother and Ethan’s twin, Jake, texted a small group to ask their help in organizing the perfect Valentine’s Day engagement up at the Fletcher family’s new vacation cabin, Ethan, an accomplished restaurateur, immediately offered to handle the food. Ava was handling decorations, a nod to her design degree.
This week, the chalkboard sign was covered in
tiny scrolling hearts and arrows and flowers. It read: “In Love and Coffee, be Wise in what you Choose to Order. You will be Served What you Deserve. Valentine’s Day Latte Drinks and Pastries, $2.50 each.”
“Good one today,” said Ava, angling her head to the sign.
“I was hoping your ex might stop by,” Karma smiled. “I would make sure that he got the cup of coffee that he absolutely deserved.” She turned to the giant old Italian machine and started pulling an espresso into a paper cup.
“Karm.”
“Ave.”
“So not needed. I’m doing better. Really.” She amended. “At least, I’m starting to.”
“Great. Well. I thought of another good reason that the scumbag is no longer in your life!”
“What’s that?”
“Reason number five hundred and forty six. He’s a Xander,” said Karma with an upward lilt in her voice. “He’s meant to be the sidekick, not the Angel or the Spike.”
“Well, thank you so very much for the flattering Buffy comparison,” said Ava.
“You do kick ass. Now you just need to find the hero instead of some sidekick guy.”
Karma poured steamed milk into the cup, raised and lowered her container, pulled back with a flourish. She presented the cup to Ava.
“Oh, you made a heart! So cute!”
Karma picked up her paper cup and mock-toasted. “To your big sister and my big brother.”
“So does this make us related?”
“I don’t think so. But we’re still best friends, which is so much better in my book.”
Ava and Karma toasted their coffee cups again.
“You two are so weird,” a low, masculine voice came from behind them.
Ava froze, feeling a tell-tale flush rush up her neck. She felt the air change and go electric around her, knowing it had nothing to do with the rain and everything to do with Ethan Fletcher. She knew his eyes were on the back of her, and felt as if he could see through her blue raincoat with x-ray vision.
She jolted, almost spilling her coffee. Ava lost her balance and grabbed for the counter, slapping her hand hard through the air as she missed it. She found herself falling, but in just that split second, two strong hands clasped her hips from behind and she found herself propped up against Ethan’s strong, hard chest.
“You’re being Sabrina today, in your coat.” His breath tickled her ear. Ethan grinned down at her, letting her go.
Ethan’s deep voice. The silly nicknaming game, always calling her after Audrey Hepburn’s different movie roles. He’d been doing it since Ava was five and stick thin and dreamed of being a prima ballerina.
The nicknaming stuck around long past the age where she’d realized she was too awkward to dance professionally and retired her ballet tights to take art classes instead. Ava found her passion in art and design, but felt off kilter every time she saw Ethan and he reminded her of her childhood gangliness.
Ava righted herself, placing her coffee cup firmly on the counter. Her palms brushed his hands as she pushed away from him, hoping he wouldn’t notice that her breath had gone shallow at his touch. Hoping her best friend wouldn’t notice all that stuff, either.
Ava’s attraction to Ethan was her deeply-held, innermost secret. She just couldn’t risk the shock and dismay that she knew Karma would feel.
Ava knew she would be a traitor to her best friend in the world to fall in love with someone and not share something like that. They’d shared everything growing up, from toys as kids to makeup and clothes as teens, and all their misadventures in high school.
It was the worst thing ever to have feelings for Karma’s older brother. If she ever admitted it to her, Ava worried that Karma might not ever get past that feeling of disloyalty and that she’d lose both her best friend and her unrequited love to each other in one crushing blow.
“Hi Ethan,” she said quietly, turning to look up into his hazel eyes and seeing the familiar flecks of green, brown and gold that made them so stunning to her. Ava looked away quickly, flicking her gaze down as she edged to the side of the booth so he would have enough room to make it all the way under the tent.
“Not Holly Golightly today?” asked Karma, rolling her eyes.
“Huh? No, I never call her that one. You got some of that mud you call coffee for me?”
Karma looked sideways at Ethan. “Point A: because you’re my brother and not my best friend, you’re a paying customer. Point B, it’s Costa Rican Supreme, your favorite, Chef Boy, not mud. And Point C, why not Holly?”
“One medium Costa Rican Supreme then, black. And I hated the book that movie was based on. I had to read it in English class in high school.”
Karma tossed Ethan a cup and gestured for him to serve himself from a stainless steel pump dispenser.
“One dollar, please. The best coffee in town. And Ava makes a perfect Holly. Think of scene near the end with her all rain-logged and cute, holding the little cat.”
“Nah, she’s a Sabrina or a princess.”
Ethan winked and pulled a dollar out of his wallet, tossing it in the clear glass apothecary jar marked “Tips.”
“Ugh, thanks a lot, you guys,” said Ava. “But I guess I am waterlogged.” She sipped her latte, licking a bit of foam from her lips. Heaven.
“You’re the one running around the farmer’s market without an umbrella, ” grinned Karma. “And I think I might just post on social media that the Bad Boy Chef here is into old movies. I bet all his lady followers would love it.”
“Yeah, I bet they would,” challenged Ethan easily.
Ethan grinned and fast as lightning, reached around to tug Ava’s pony tail. His fingers rested at the back of her neck for a millisecond, giving her another zing. The felling confused her. He’d only pulled her pony tail a million times growing up. She felt a zillion tiny ripples go down her back and arms…and around to her nipples.
Ava caught her breath. This was crazy.
Karma frowned. “You guys had better get up to the cabin and finish up Operation Engagement. You want to get out of there before Jake and Izzy arrive. And before the storm hits for real. You got everything you need?”
“Ice!” remembered Ava, suddenly flustered. She could actually use a bagful right now, to cool herself off, but she needed it to keep the goat cheese cool for a few hours. “I have a goat cheese from the Moriarty’s booth. You can use goat cheese next to something, yes? We need to keep it cool.”
“Nice,” said Ethan. “They’re good, I feature their cheeses in a couple dishes at the restaurant. We can work it into the menu. I have a wine that will pair well with it. We’ll leave it set up for them.”
Karma handed Ava a small plastic zipper bag filled with ice and frowned again. “I think you’re forgetting the reason you stopped at the Farmer’s Market. You, not you,” she said, flapping her arm at Ava.
“Oh! The tulips! Good save, Karma!” exclaimed Ava.
Boy, encountering Ethan had her distracted. Her trunk was already loaded with romantic accessories for the special weekend. She knew Izzy’s style perfectly, of course, since they were sisters. Isabella adored tulips, so Ava had a fluted crystal vase packed, she just needed a fresh bouquet from the flower stand.
“Yes, the flowers, you doofus. We must have Isabella’s favorite flower, la la la, love. Whatever.”
“Karma, you incurable romantic, you,” joked Ava.
“You’d really better get going.”
Karma shrugged and waved them off, thrusting a sack containing several of her fresh-baked apricot danish and a bag of ground coffee into Ethan’s hands.
“My part in this debacle – oops, I mean Operation Engagement -- is done. Not much of a crowd today, so I’m just going to pack up the tent and head home. No, no, really, I’ve got this! You guys go, please. Go help Jake and Ava, Operation Engagement, woo-hoo!” she ordered her big brother as Ethan started to help her strike her equipment. “And Ava obviously needs you with her, since she just forget the goopy romantic flower
s. Maybe you could even offer to be a nice guy and drive, since you have the truck with you instead of your bike.”
“Both of us going up in the truck probably the safest bet,” agreed Ethan, steering Ava out of Karma’s coffee booth and tucking her close to cover them both with a giant golf umbrella. “You’re still driving your blue Prius, right? You haven’t been up to the new cabin yet. It’d be just fine on the road up to the cabin on a good day. But with the weather this week, the safest bet is the truck. We can drop your car off at your place, and we’ll go up together. I’ve got the shell on, there’s plenty of room in the back for all your decorations.”
He pressed a hand lightly to her arm to steer her towards the flower booth. Beneath her electric blue raincoat, Ava was keenly aware of his touch.
Nerves – and body – on alert, Ava walked quickly to keep up with Ethan’s long stride as they picked up the bouquet of pink tulips and headed quickly to the parking area, transferring the rest of Ava’s items from the trunk of the Prius into the back of the truck.
“Let’s hurry, I want to get this done,” he said.
“So we don’t spoil the surprise?”
Ethan surprised Ava with his response. “No,” he said shortly. “I want to get this done and get the heck out of there. Because this engagement is the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”
Chapter Two
Ethan chuffed out a deep breath and cranked the stereo to a deafening level as he followed Ava’s Prius back to the Maggiano family’s vineyard at the base of the foothills out on the East side of town. He hadn’t meant to direct his anger at his twin brother Jake’s looming disaster – er, engagement - at Ava.
Of all people, not at Ava.
But there she was, just ahead of him in her pearlized blue car, wearing her cornflower blue coat and gripping the steering wheel for dear life. It was a good thing that he’d be driving them up the mountain. He could see the candy-pink tulips peeking out of her market bag in the back seat, and imagined that her lipstock color must match the pink.
