“I know you, Ellie. You don’t have to hide the fact that you still care for him. And we both know what you felt for him was not some childhood crush. Don’t hate me for bring it up, but I know he cared for you too. What you felt was not one sided.”
It wasn’t the first time Mia had stood behind her brother’s feelings, although this was a conversation they rarely had anymore, and for that Ellie was thankful. At one time Ellie tried to think Heath loved her too—at the very least cared for her, but how could someone walk away from the person they loved?
“I meant what I said; I won’t make excuses for him. I do have to say this though. The age difference between you two played a role in him not fully being with you. He was considered an adult, while you were still in high school. He did confide in me that much.”
Ellie understood that, but age didn’t seem to faze him those nights they were alone. He took, and she, being the starry eyed seventeen-year-old girl, willing gave. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” she said, making it clear she wanted to talk about anything else.
Mia nodded. But Ellie knew the conversation wasn’t over, and that Mia would probably worry about her until the wedding was over.
“You want to talk wedding flowers?” Mia asked, back to her spunky self.
Ellie liked this side of her friend better. “Please.” She twisted her legs around to the other side of the counter and hopped off. She rummaged through a cubby hole and pulled out a notebook and photo album filled with flower arrangements she’d done in the past. “Let me show you what I’m thinking. Tell me if you think it’s something Renee will like. I know they’re going with a lavender and silver color scheme.” She flipped to a wedding she’d done a couple years back. It was one of her first solo weddings. “I really like this. I was thinking using more burlap and woodsy elements though. It would go with the country chic look you and Renee had described.”
Mia beamed. “Ohh, I like. Renee is going to flip too. You’re amazing at this stuff, you know that?”
She’d worked full time at a florist the summer before college to help pay for tuition. She fell in love with the simplicity and beauty of it. She hasn’t looked back since. Two years ago she’d bought a rundown building on Front Street and turned it into her very own shop.
For the next half hour she discussed everything from the centerpieces for the tables at the reception to the bouquet Renee would hold. Mia loved all of her ideas. She had plans of meeting with Renee later in the week to go over everything with her one last time. Ellie doubted the bride-to-be would have any objections, as it seemed all she was concerned with was marrying Mr. Roy. She had left most of the wedding planning to Mia.
After she and Mia said their goodbyes, planning to meet for lunch the following day, she finished closing up shop. Since she only lived a mile from work, she walked or rode her bike on nice days. Today she’d decided to drive her car, although tonight was one of those pleasant April nights where the breeze gently blew off the waterway. Because there had been the warning about a man wandering the streets, she’d decided to play it safe. She drove the long way home so she could pass by the waterfront. School was closed for spring break, which brought out more families. She loved her coastal, North Carolina town. It was home. And the water always seemed to calm her soul.
As she turned the corner and made her way up Grant Street, her thoughts unexpectedly turned to Heath and his coming back to Seaside. There was no ignoring the fact they were going to have to be in each other’s lives again. She loved his family too much. She was just going to have to put on her big girl panties and push through.
It really was all she could do. Heath had made his choice back then, and she’d had no other option but to make her own choices. And right now she was choosing to not do anything concerning Heath. She couldn’t afford to go back to that place. She was a grown woman who had responsibilities and a good life. She owed it to herself to put her best foot forward and leave Heath in the past.
Yeah, she could do that. She was sure of it.
Chapter Two
Heath Granger surveyed the slight sprawl of the coastal town he’d never thought to see again as his rented Mercedes drifted down the last mile past the town limits. Seaside. How original. He kept his sarcastic thought to himself, aware the aloof blonde occupying the seat beside him already had her own preconceived notions about the place, and damned if he was going to give her any more ammunition. It was fine for him to trash his home town, but he still possessed that curious defensive demeanor many people adopted when it came to the place of their birth and upbringing.
He slowed his speed considerably to accommodate the sleepy pace of Seaside. He continued on Front Street, noting the various businesses that somehow hung on even in this economy before many tourists descended with cash to spare. He appreciated their well-kept facades from the small souvenir shop to the specialty clothing store, to the florist shop.
Heath ignored his visceral response to that particular retail place. Mia had made a point of keeping him up to date about Ellie Scott and her thriving business. Those were updates he would rather do without.
“Heath?” Melissa turned her perfectly made up face in his direction, her shimmering fair hair the perfect frame for her cool beauty. He was struck by how unnatural she looked in the setting, unlike… He immediately shut that vagrant thought down. It was bad enough he’d let his sister talk him into returning for the old man’s fourth wedding without thinking about the other things he’d be faced with. He’d have to see Ellie soon enough, and there was no point in letting his forebrain compare her with Melissa. It was the setting that prompted the comparison and nothing else.
“Heath.” Melissa coated his name with a faint glaze of impatience.
“Yes, darling?” The endearment curdled on his tongue, so out of place here, but Melissa wasn’t and never would be honey or sweetheart.
“It’s quaint. Provincial, actually. We mustn’t stay one day longer than necessary.”
Something perverse prompted him to poke at her. “You didn’t have to come.”
With an imperious arch of her left brow, Melissa gave him a cool look, well suited to those pale blue eyes. “I know that. But your family is important to you. And so it should be to me.”
Turning his attention back to the road again, Heath took the first fork away from the waterfront, turned right as the road dead ended, and drove toward the small conglomeration of homes set apart from the rest of the cottage-like structures. Family. Hah.
According to Mia, his last step mother had insisted on building the monstrosity amidst a few likeminded newcomers’ homes, and his father still lived in it with his latest soon-to-be-bride. Melissa was angling for a ring and appeared to think that accompanying him would be a step closer to commitment on his part.
Heath had no intention of marrying her—or anyone. He liked his single life, picking and choosing women as his needs dictated. His sexual needs. He didn’t kid himself when it came to any of his conquests fulfilling the emotional void he pretended he didn’t have.
“It’s lovely.” Melissa actually sounded impressed, and Heath tried to view the modern structure through her eyes. Bleck. It didn’t fit. Like Melissa didn’t fit.
Without replying, he shoved open his door and went around to help Melissa out. She gave him her hand as though she was royalty, and he had the absurd urge to yank her up on those ridiculous shoes and see how she fared, teetering on the sandy soil. But of course he didn’t, because he wasn’t a malicious, totally cruel person, only a selfish hedonist. Something he’d worked hard for.
When she stood steady on her stilettos, he moved to open the trunk and hauled out the first two of her six cases. Setting them down, he grabbed another, tucking it under one arm. Toting the three pieces, he led the way to the door while Melissa followed behind him. The front door flew open and his father and latest fiancée pressed through the opening.
“Heath!” He was becoming heartily sick of hearing his name, but he smiled at
his father, grateful for his load so he wasn’t required to hug the old man. Mia badly wanted them to repair their relationship, but he wasn’t as inclined, because then he’d have to consider all the reasons he’d left Seaside.
“Hello, Roy.”
Looking much the same as Heath remembered, if with more silver at his temples and a few deeper lines around his eyes and mouth, his dad smiled back. “Welcome home, son. Here, let me take those.”
“There’s several more in the trunk.” Heath jerked his head back at the car and then nodded toward Melissa. “I’ll introduce you properly inside, but this is Melissa Adams, my … date for the wedding.”
Heath felt the temperature drop at his words. Melissa froze him with a glare and Renee—he recognized her from the description Mia had eagerly provided—flinched. She was an attractive woman, tall and statuesque, much like his date, and clearly sensitive. Maybe she was a good choice for the old man. In the meantime, he’d succeeded in making it clear to Melissa where she stood with him, so he ignored her annoyance.
“Right.” His father nodded several times, his eyes roaming between Heath and Melissa. “Renee will show you to your … room.”
“Hello, Heath. Nice to finally meet you. Hello, Melissa.” Renee smiled graciously and gestured to the open door. “Follow me.”
Trudging behind the older woman’s form, he didn’t look to see if Melissa was following, and at the end of a long hallway, hardwoods beneath his feet, Heath found himself in a large airy space. A king sized bed dominated, complete with two nightstands, a long dresser, and some kind of tall stand in a corner. The sheer drapes billowed out from the windows that were partially open to the salt laden air, nearly overshadowing the faint but unmistakable smell of fresh paint.
“I hope you’ll be comfortable here, Melissa.” Renee avoided Heath’s eyes quite obviously as he set the luggage down beside the bed.
“It’s charming.” His date had perhaps not overcome her outrage with him but probably wanted to make a good impression. “We’ll be just fine.”
“Um. Heath’s room is down the hall,” Renee said, and Heath hid a smile at the lick of humor in her tone. Her facial expression gave nothing away, but he applauded her acuity. She’d recognized his lack of connection with Melissa and responded to it. He was more and more convinced he’d like his new step mom, and it sat better than he expected.
Melissa’s eyes flashed and her painted lips parted, but she swallowed whatever she had planned to say and pasted on a brilliant smile. “Of course.”
Shuffling in the hall gave Heath the excuse to exit the room, and he found his father struggling with the remainder of their cases. He rescued the ones sliding from the old man’s grasp and set all but one inside Melissa’s new digs. She and Renee were exchanging small talk, so he eased back into the hallway and picked up his own bag resting at Roy’s feet. “Where to?”
“I thought … we thought …” Collecting himself, his father motioned farther into the depths of the big house and turned into a much smaller room. “This okay?”
A double bed and a single nightstand reposed along one wall, and the dark, somber colors were altogether depressing, but Heath was thrilled. He didn’t bother explaining about Melissa. His real reasons for bringing her were better ignored. “It’s great.”
“We haven’t finished redecorating.” His dad made a deprecating sound, partly a laugh, partly a clearing of his throat. “The house doesn’t really fit in here, but I own it and so Renee is trying to make it more coastal inside.”
“The hardwoods might not stand up,” Heath said solemnly, wondering why they were talking drivel when years of unspoken strain seethed between them. Probably because of those many years. He suddenly wanted to ask about Ellie but bit the words back.
“We’re leaving those until last. Let’s collect the women, have a drink, and talk a bit.”
Heath nodded and paced behind his father. His dad stopped suddenly and he almost ran up Roy’s heels.
Turning, the old man spoke quietly. “Thanks for staying here instead of a hotel. It means a lot. To both of us.”
This was another of Mia’s plans, staying with the old man. Heath had resisted to the end before giving in to his sister’s pleas. She insisted the hotels were too far away to make visiting convenient, although he thought putting distance of any sort between him and Roy made the best kind of sense. Yet here he was. He contented himself with raising one shoulder. “No problem.”
Dark eyes, so like his own, searched his face before his father awkwardly patted him on the forearm then resumed his trek to where the women gathered in the great room. Or at least what passed for a great room with soaring ceilings and heavy beams. It was nothing like the seaside cottage his mom had loved, although Renee’s decorating was apparent here too, the windows unadorned and the paint color more in keeping with their surroundings. Heath forced himself to quit finding fault with everything.
Melissa sauntered to his side and slipped her arm through his, pressing close. Her heavy perfume was cloying in his nostrils and he fervently wished he hadn’t brought her. He shouldn’t have come back here, period. With an effort, he disengaged himself from Melissa’s grasp and focused on his dad’s offer of a drink. He took the squat glass and passed Melissa a tall-stemmed glass of wine.
“Melissa was telling me she models,” Renee said.
“When I feel like it.” Melissa sounded like the snotty bitch she was a great deal of the time when it came to her looks and her so called career. Mostly she spent her mother’s money and filled her days with shopping, and her evenings were filled with elite parties. Heath met her at one such event.
“Melissa, this is my father, Roy Granger. Roy, this is Melissa. And of course you’ve been talking with Renee Willis.”
Melissa offered her hand and his dad shook it briskly, bringing a pained look to her face that she quickly erased. Heath smiled. She might think winning over his family was important to him, but he was already counting the hours to when he’d be on the road again. Had he really agreed to take vacation time to spend it here? Damn his sister.
He and his father talked about his rental for a few minutes, and Heath agreed it was a good car, although he preferred his GM product at home in Chicago. Melissa prattled and preened, splitting her attention between the two older adults while Heath wondered how Ellie was doing. Mia had kept him up-to-date on the girl he’d left, the one who’d ruined his outlook on women forever. It was as if he sensed her close by now that he was back in town, and the draw was unmistakable if ridiculous. It had to be pure curiosity. Did she really look the same? The little portrait on the business page of her website showed the same woman he remembered all those years ago, although her features had matured. Her smile was unchanged, the golden brown hair a little shorter, and her whiskey brown eyes framed with a thicket of black lashes. Not that he checked the site for any particular reason. More in preparation for seeing her at this momentous occasion he’d agreed to attend. Damn it. He was feeling unsettled and Heath Granger never felt that way.
“Mia will be by later. She’s working today, and with the dearth of employment in the area she didn’t like to ask for time off until the actual wedding.”
“She doesn’t live here?” Heath knew that, just as he knew where his sister lived, but saw his question as a perfect way to learn more about Ellie. He obviously enjoyed torturing himself.
“No. She lives right downtown. Above Ellie Scott’s flower shop, Bodacious Blooms. You remember Ellie.”
“Of course. How could I forget Mia’s best friend? They tagged along after me constantly.” He’d been careful not to let anyone know of his sexual interest in Ellie when she grew into that lovely teenage vixen, although Mia had figured it out in short order. He’d been concerned about how others would view their disparate ages, oddly protective of the girl. He nearly snorted out loud now at the thought. There had been no call to worry about her. He owed Katriana Miller for sharing Ellie’s unscrupulous plan for him and dis
covering her faked innocence in the process. Pretending to seduce her and taking her right to edge of plausible denial had been savagely rewarding yet had torn something in his chest. Not to mention the worst case of unrequited arousal he’d ever experienced. Her awkward lovemaking and neediness had been so convincing he’d nearly given in before reminding himself of the consummate actress she’d turned out to be.
“They are still best friends. Ellie allowed Mia to move into that nice little apartment when she bought her parent’s house.”
“The floral industry must do well,” Heath said drily, his parent confirming Mia’s contention that Ellie was a great businessperson. Melissa gave him a look evocative of the shrewd woman who hid behind her pretty exterior and he reminded himself not to give anything away.
“Oh, I think Ellie invested that money wisely, and she does a steady business. People always seem to want flowers.” His father crossed to the bar to make more drinks and Heath found himself staring at the man’s back. How had Ellie come up with that kind of money? He debated how much more he could ask when Renee inadvertently came to his aid.
“I understand her grandmother got that settlement long after her accident, and left it to Ellie.” The older woman laughed ruefully. “No secrets in a small town.”
His dad only stared into the depths of the Scotch. Heath knew he was thinking about the accident that took Heath’s mother after the divorce. It didn’t hurt in the same way anymore, but being reminded made Heath grit his teeth, thinking about the other women his father dated and those he married afterward, so disloyal to his mom’s memory, divorced or not. He felt Renee’s eyes on him and looked to see a wealth of sympathy and understanding reflected there.
Melissa was staring at him speculatively, and he knew he was revealing pieces of himself he never planned for her to see. Again he wished he’d come stag to the damn wedding, and grudgingly admitted, inwardly, he hadn’t brought Melissa along to quench any random sexual urges but as a bulwark between him and Ellie. Which was insane, because there was no him and Ellie. Besides, enough time had passed. It was curious that she wasn’t with anyone, though. Mia made a point of telling him that each and every time she mentioned Ellie, indicating that they shared the trait of being single, like it was significant. Although that might have changed overnight.
Full Circle Page 2
