You Were Always Home (Homecoming #3)

by C. Lymari

  “I am.”

  Jake put a little bell on the table and a sign that said, “Ring bell for help.”

  He waved his hand for me to follow him, and a sad little voice in my head asked why he didn’t hold my hand again.

  What was wrong with me? I was Juliet Bree Dunnett, and I didn’t get shy over any boy. I didn’t beg for their attention, nor did I get flustered around them. But wasn’t that the old me? Wasn’t I changing?

  Instead of trying to figure myself out, I followed Jake to the back of the store where he had a small office, a room with a TV, microwave, and a couch.

  “You good with meatloaf?”

  “I’m a vegetarian.”

  I watched his face become serious, looking down at the container his mother had given him. I couldn’t help it anymore. I started to laugh.

  “I’m just kidding,” I giggled.

  “Good because I’m not sure if Franny’s is still open.”

  My stomach did a dip, and I couldn’t help but ask, “You would have gone out and gotten me food? In this weather?”

  We stared at each other without saying a word. Something was passing through us, but neither of us knew what. It wasn’t until the microwave dinged that he answered.

  “Yeah.”

  9

  Jake

  What was wrong with me? I couldn’t stop staring at her. She looked so damn comfortable on that old-as-fuck couch, I wanted to scoop her up and sit her on my lap. I didn’t want to come here today, but Blake was supposed to have school, and since it got canceled, I didn’t want to ruin his fun by telling him to cover for me. I just hoped he wasn’t still out in these conditions.

  “That sign is so cute.” Juliet pointed at the wooden sign my mom had put up when my brothers and I had started to work here. You don’t have to be crazy to work here. We’ll train you.

  “My mom thought it’d be funny. She said my brothers and I drive her crazy,” I said as I served us food.

  I was glad my mom packed extra food; now Juliet had a reason to stay longer.

  “Are you close with your family?”

  “We are pretty tight. Sometimes a little too tight. I’m sure you know all about it.”

  “Yeah,” she replied curtly.

  We were both quiet as I waited for the food to heat, and when it was finished, I gave it to her.

  “This is really good.” She chewed on the meat slowly and delicately.

  “You’ve had meatloaf before, right?”

  She shook her head slowly, and that flush stained her cheeks again. “I had boxed mac and cheese the other day for the first time. It wasn’t too bad.” She scrunched her nose, and it was adorable.

  “You cook?” I couldn’t keep the skepticism out of my voice.

  “I have to, now that I’m on my own.” She leaned in and whispered, “It’s kind of scary.”

  “More than scary movies?”

  “Hey, don’t judge, mister. Do you know what it’s like to watch a scary movie at night with your brothers and then they prank you by hiding in your closets and making all these creepy sounds?”

  “No way!”

  She shuddered, tucking one of her legs under her. “I ran out screaming, telling my mother we needed to bless my room. I was ten years old. I haven’t been the same since.”

  “So, we can’t watch scary movies together?” I teased her but then realized what that sounded like.

  Shit. I wanted to see her again, to spend more time like we did today. I hated doing inventory, but with her here, I didn’t mind it. I even dragged it out just to have her keep me company. Then Dex got here, and I knew he made her uncomfortable, and I should have let her leave, but I couldn’t.

  “Anything but scary movies. Especially now that I live on my own. The first few nights, I couldn’t sleep. Every little noise kept waking me up. Then I kept seeing shadows, and I got more freaked out. That’s why I don’t like supernatural movies—I read once that the energies follow you home, and I don’t need that bad juju in my life. And I hate gory movies. With everything going on in the world, it makes me a little paranoid. Like the other day, I was drinking coffee and working on some ledgers, and I heard stomping and I thought to myself, ‘Oh shit, people are coming in here and starting a massacre.’ I kept peeping through the peephole every thirty minutes until I was convinced there wasn’t a serial killer in the building. I don’t do good with scary… And I’m rambling again, aren’t I?”

  “Juliet, are you still having problems sleeping?” I asked.

  The whole time she kept on rambling, all I could hear was her being afraid to be on her own and I felt a pain in my chest. I wondered if she’d come here because she didn’t feel as scared when she was with me. I quickly dismissed that thought.

  “I’m working on it.” She gave a small smile while I nodded, not liking her response for shit.

  “You work from home? I’d thought you’d be working at the factory.”

  Juliet bit her lip, playing with the piece of meat that was left on her plate. “We’ve already established I don’t have the biggest fans in this town. My brother is one of the people on that list.”

  I gave her a nod. Max was an upstanding guy. He wasn’t like Prescott or Gary; he was cool to hang with. Still, a part of me did feel bad for Juliet. I knew she didn’t have friends, and her closest friend left after Max canceled their wedding.

  “I bet it put you in a hard place, what happened between Max and Abigail. I know she’s your girl.”

  “I was the one who told my brother not to marry Abigail. I didn’t want to see my brother in a loveless marriage he wouldn’t be able to get out of. I guess that’s why your friend who came earlier doesn’t really like me. He’s Abigail long-lost cousin or something.”

  That surprised me, and I wondered if maybe she really had changed.

  “Babe.”

  Her eyes flashed for the third time. Every time I called her that, her hazel eyes would become like a kaleidoscope of greens and browns. It was mesmerizing to watch, and maybe that was why I kept doing it.

  “Dex isn’t that concerned about Abigail. He’s Freya’s half-brother.”

  Her mouth did a pouty little O, and I wanted to lean in and kiss her.

  Shit, I needed some space from this girl. She was messing with my head.

  “That’s… wow. Okay, it makes more sense now. Here I thought I only had to watch out for Russell, but now there are two big brothers.”

  “Did Rusty say something?”

  Juliet didn’t answer; she just shrugged it off. Before either of us could speak, the bell on the counter rang. I checked my watch and wondered if I should just call it a day and close the store. I was making my way out when we heard footsteps approaching.

  “Oh… my … God.” Juliet jumped off the couch and came to stand behind me, holding on to my arm. “Someone is trying to rob you.”

  “Wait here.”

  “No.” She held on to me, her nails digging into my thermal.

  Shit, she really was scared. I wanted to go check outside, but I didn’t want her with me just in case someone thought it was funny to try and steal something.

  “There you are.”

  I instantly recognized Clark’s voice at the same time Juliet started to scream. I glared at Clark while I hugged Juliet to my chest, her body trembling with the remainder of adrenaline.

  “It’s okay, baby. It’s just my brother,” I whispered in her ear as I rubbed soothing circles on her back. I felt the beat of her heart start to slow down, calming me at the same time.

  “Is he making fun of me?” she mumbled into my shirt.

  “No.” I looked at Clark, who was taking off his ski mask, revealing his face. He was laughing so hard he wasn’t making a sound.

  “You lied to me.” Juliet said once she peeked her head from my embrace.

  “I’m sorry, but that was hilarious. You should have seen your face, girl. You practically jumped into my brother’s arms.”

  “Why would yo
u walk in wearing a mask? Do you know who wears a ski mask?”

  “People who ski,” he answered.

  “Robbers wear ski masks. Rapists and killers,” she answered like this was fact.

  I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing.

  Clark no did such thing. “You’re looking good, Jules.”

  He didn’t notice me glaring at him because he went to heat up the remainder of Ma’s meatloaf. When he turned around, he arched an eyebrow at us. I still hadn’t let go of Juliet, but in my defense, she was still holding on to me. We both moved apart from each other, Juliet looking embarrassed.

  “Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself.” She smiled at my brother.

  Suddenly, I had the urge to punch him. I was jealous of him. Juliet didn’t smile much, but she did with me. Her smiles were mine.

  “You two know each other?”

  Clark started to cough, because he knew how stupid I sounded.

  “We had physics together his senior year, and he was my partner.”

  “Best partner ever. Jules would let me copy her homework because she knew I didn’t always have time to finish it ‘cause of the store.”

  I looked down at Juliet and thought that maybe she wasn’t as much of a bitch as others thought she was. When I left for college, Clark and Jake had to help Dad a little more. Even after football practice, I managed to be here as much as I could. I was good enough for a football scholarship, but I knew I was never NFL level, and that wasn’t my dream. Not all of us were like Quincy—that kid was going places.

  “What are you doing here?” I turned to Clark, who’d eaten all the food that was left.

  “Ma and Dad have been calling, but you weren’t picking up your phone. I now see why. You know Mom gets paranoid. She thought you crashed somewhere.”

  “Are the roads better?”

  “Yeah, it stopped snowing. Thanks for the food. I’ve got to get back to work.”

  Juliet waved goodbye to my brother and went to go get her bag of screws.

  When she’d told me she needed to get screwed, my cock instantly hardened, telling me I was the man for the job. I had a thing going on with Stacy, the bartender at Moe’s—nothing serious, just hooking up, but I wouldn’t hook up with anyone else before breaking off our arrangement.

  “I should head out. I have a few ledgers I didn’t finish,” she said.

  I walked behind her, knowing there wasn’t a valid reason for her to stay. I was going to lock up too. Today was a bust. The roads were clear; you could see the other shops again. Juliet came to a halt as soon as I opened the door for her, causing me to bump into her.

  Okay, I was in heaven. The feeling of her ass pressed against me was out-of-this-world amazing. I had to step back right away before she felt just how amazing I thought it was.

  “Sorry. It’s just that it’s a lot of snow, and I’m regretting not wearing snow boots,” she mumbled.

  Before I could tell her to wait so I could shovel a path for her, she dove into the snow, getting her suede boots wet. When she was standing in front of her car, she started to remove the snow with her bare hand, making sure the one with her cast didn’t get wet.

  “Babe, what are you doing?”

  “I need to open my door to get the thingamajigger, but I don’t want snow on my seats.”

  “What thingy?” I asked.

  She didn’t answer because she was bent over the car. Come on, I was a guy, and there was no way I wasn’t going to stare. Juliet had the type of ass women paid to have.

  “Here it is!” She waved the snow brush in the air triumphantly.

  I was grinning at her, really digging this side of her. “Here, give me that. You stay nice and warm.”

  I was aware of her eyes on me the whole time I cleaned her car, just like I knew she’d been watching me back at the store. It felt nice to be wanted. After Brooke broke things off, I wasn’t myself anymore. I hadn’t really been for a long time.

  When I was done, Juliet got out of her car and took the brush from me, throwing it to her back seat.

  “Thank you, Jake,” she murmured.

  “You’re welcome,” I replied.

  “I’ll see you around.” She turned around, ready to leave.

  “Juliet.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Drive safe.”

  She bit her lip and nodded but didn’t get in her car, and I had trouble going back in. I saw her hazel eyes trying to work something out, but I couldn’t tell what. I was about to go back in because it was still cold and I didn’t have my jacket, but Juliet walked up to me.

  “Is everything okay?”

  I didn’t get an answer to my question because Juliet pulled me by my thermal, making my head lean into her. I felt the rough material of her cast on one of my cheeks, while on the other, I felt the imprint of her cold hand. And then I felt her lips on my mouth.

  Juliet Dunnett was kissing me.

  10

  Juliet

  Sophomore Year

  The days were starting to get warm, and I was starting to get desperate as the snow began to fade. Spring was almost here, and Jake and I had yet to make progress. This week we were working on abstract art and, as Jake liked to tease, it was the only project I could get an A on since my drawing skills sucked.

  “Dunnett, that sucks.” Jake leaned into my shoulder as I drew a stroke of pink on my paper.

  “No one likes a hater, Jake,” I chided, not minding his comment or his head resting on top of mine.

  “You still like me, so I couldn’t care less about everyone else.”

  My belly dipped as it did every time he got flirtier. Usually, we both went to put our paintings away just so he could get close to me. It was our thing.

  I really liked our thing.

  Now if homeboy could hurry up and ask me out, that would be fantastic. I wondered if Nana thought it would be cool to ask a guy out? No, she’d be horrified at that. She was all for feminism, but there was a line. “Women can be hunters too, Julie, but pretending to be prey to the right man can be so much fun when you’re caught.” My nana was wise.

  Tina turned around and glared at us. Unable to help myself, I smiled and waved at her. For anyone else it would be suicide, but I guessed Prescott was right—you had to take advantage where you could.

  “Ice is almost all melted,” Jake murmured.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You’re using more colors on your painting. Have you noticed?”

  Hmm, I supposed he was right. I was putting all my effort for my final grade. Every time I added a layer of words hidden in the snow, it felt liberating. If I was going to do something, I was going to do it right.

  “When’s your birthday, Dunnett?” Jake asked.

  “In one week, the day before spring begins,” I answered automatically.

  “That explains your winter obsession.”

  I moved my shoulder so he could move his head. “That reminds me, I’m redoing my room.”

  “Okay, is this some sort of invitation? Because I think I can get down with that.”

  I rolled my eyes at him and pushed him back. You know, any excuse to touch him.

  “Would it be too much to ask if you could do me three more paintings of the kiosk? Going in circular motion, where you ended up in winter, start spring, then summer, and last fall. Having all the seasons around the kiosk and the different shops. You know, of home.”

  I stopped talking when I noticed Jake hadn’t said a word. I shouldn’t have sounded so demanding. It was one of my worst qualities. It was the Dunnett in me.

  “Obviously I’ll pay you. I didn’t mean to sound so demanding. If you don’t want to, that’s totally cool, you know, no worries…” I was rambling now.

  “You have me up in your room?” His husky tone made me tremble.

  “Told you I loved my painting.”

  “I don’t want your money, Dunnett.”

  “What do you want?” I licked my lips, and his eyes clos
ed in on them.

  He leaned closer, and my insides were going crazy. We were going to kiss for the first time in class. It wasn’t the romantic kiss I had in mind, but I was going to take what I could. Our heads touched, and all we had to do was tilt our heads…

  “Juliet Dunnett to the office, please.”

  The intercom made us both jump back. My heart pounded against my chest. I wasn’t sure if it was from the scare, disappointment, or the high of almost getting kissed.

  “I’ll be right back.” The words were strained.

  How could anyone talk after that? Jake gave me a small nod while I hurried out of the room, leaving my things, and made my way to the office. Shit, Jake was about to kiss me. My stomach tingled with sexual tension at the thought of it. When I opened the office door, I noticed that both of my brothers were there already.

  “What happened?” My hands came to my mouth. I knew this was going to suck.

  Prescott immediately hugged me to his chest.

  “Grandma had a heart attack,” Max said softly.

  Out of the three of us, I was the one closest to Nana.

  Numbly, I made my way back to class to get my bag. Everyone stared at me when I entered, but I paid them no attention. Except Jake. Right away, he sat up straighter.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  With pursed lips, I shook my head to stop myself from crying. “My nana… she had a heart attack.”

  “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll see you when I come back.” I gave him a small smile.

  Nana didn’t like us hovering over her. She said she was fine the following week. I knew my mom was getting on her nerves. Max left to go back home yesterday because he had exams. Prescott, Mom, and I remained.

  Right now, Nana and I were watching a movie.

  “You don’t look so sad anymore, Julie.”

  “You’re doing a lot better now.” I hugged Nana, wishing she didn’t live so far away.

  “Don’t be a smart-ass.”

  “You do look happier,” Prescott butted in from where he was lying on the couch.