by Zoe York
“Good, I think.” Nate nodded, his eyebrows knitting. “She’s somewhere in Europe at the moment, has been for the past six months.”
“What’s she doing there?”
“Traveling, backpacking. She’s always on the move.” He ground a little pepper over his pasta. “I have no idea when she’s coming back.”
It seemed an odd thing to say, but Shelby didn’t question it. He loved Patterson’s Bluff so much he probably didn’t understand the wanderlust and need to explore that gripped other people.
“She’s flying by the seat of her pants,” Shelby said, laughing. “That’s very Neve.”
“Right?” Nate shook his head, his affection for his younger sister evident in the rueful smile curving his lips. “I was worried for her safety at first—she’s been on her own most of the time. But you know Neve, she never struggles to make friends.”
“That’s true. You have to like her.”
“Unlike her stick-in-the-mud, older brother,” Nate quipped, the corner of his eyes crinkling.
So he still had that wonderful self-deprecating humour that she’d fallen for way back when. Her stomach did a small flip as he pushed a forkful of pasta between his lips, his tongue darting out to catch a stray droplet of sauce. God, he was handsome. Annoyingly handsome.
And wholesome…and somehow sexier than she could possibly imagine, which made for an intriguing combination. Why couldn’t she hate him? She should hate him.
“Do you think you’d ever move back here?” he asked, his blue eyes watching her so intently she felt as though he’d shone an interrogator’s lamp in her face.
She looked down into her coffee cup. “I don’t think so.”
What would be here for her, other than her father? The temptation to talk to Nate about her growing dissatisfaction with her career jostled in her mind. But he wouldn’t be able to give her an objective opinion. He hated cities and, more than that, they weren’t friends anymore. But that didn’t stop thoughts churning in her head—modelling had felt increasingly like a chore and less like her dream job over the past two years. She wanted something…more. Something meaningful.
None of that was Nate’s business.
He claimed he’d changed, but why should she trust him? After all, he’d said they were friends last time and that had turned out to be a big, fat lie.
Shelby walked through the front door, listening to see if her father was awake. Silence greeted her and she found him fast asleep in his favourite chair, the one on the back deck facing the afternoon sun. A worn copy of Lord of The Rings sat open in his lap, the bookmark dangling precariously from between two pages.
She leaned forward, trying to slide the paperback from his hands without waking him. Smiling to herself, she watched her father sleep. The scratch on his cheek had mostly healed, but his other injuries would take time. Broken bones needed rest, something her father hated with a passion.
“Are you going to keep staring at me?” he asked, cracking open an eyelid. “Or do you want something?”
Shelby jumped. “I didn’t realise you were awake.”
“I’m resting my eyes.” He tried to stretch but he stopped short, wincing. “You’re home early.”
“I’m home when I said I would be.” She leaned against the wall next to him, watching a bee hover around the flowers that pushed through the deck’s railing.
Their backyard had always been filled with flowers. A tribute to her mother, her dad had once said. He’d planted them not long after she passed away when Shelby was still in primary school. The tenacious blooms had survived soggy winters and fiery summers. They’d even outlasted the family cat. Now, the sight of them filled her with something strange and foreboding.
Something that felt a lot like regret.
“You can’t hate this place forever, Shelby. It’s still your home.” He looked up at her, squinting against the beam of sunlight that shone in between a gap in the wooden slats above them. “I would like to see you more.”
“I told you, I’m happy to fly you to New York whenever you want. I’ll pay for the airfare—”
“I want you to come home more often. You and Ellen. I don’t know which of you is more stubborn about it.”
Her father’s older sister, Ellen, had also fled Patterson’s Bluff in her youth after the breakdown of a relationship with an older man. She’d been only too happy to take sixteen-year-old Shelby in, offering her a home and an ear and a future. Patterson’s Bluff was a dirty word in her aunt’s house, and if Shelby had something bad to say Aunt Ellen was all ears.
“She’s more stubborn about it, but I give her a run for her money.” Shelby hugged her father’s book to her chest. “She’ll never come back, she hates it here.”
“I think she’s transferred some of that hate to you.”
Shelby shrugged. “I chose to leave. That has to mean something.”
They remained quiet for a moment, taking in the beautiful weather and picturesque garden. Then her father rocked slowly forward, steadying himself with his good hand and pushing up from his chair. “This is probably an inopportune time to ask…”
Shelby held her hand out, but he swatted it away. “You’re going to ask anyway, though.”
“I need you to do me a favour.”
She would do anything her father asked of her, of course. The whole point of her trip was to help him—when he allowed her. However, the request came with a tone she knew well. He was going to ask her to do something she hated and, given she was no longer his student, a surprise test was out of the question.
“Can I ask what that favour is before I sign my life away?” she said drily.
“Hand the book over first.” Her father stuck his hand out and she relinquished his beloved Lord of the Rings.
“You know I wouldn’t take it out on the book.”
“You’d better not.” He hobbled toward the door, his hand tracing a path along the wall for support. “I need you to take my place at the working bee tomorrow.”
“The high school one?”
Her father nodded. “I’m in no shape to help them out and I would have tried, except Mark rang today and said if he saw me there, he’d chase me out himself. He’s a keen hunter and I’m moving slower than a wet week.”
“I doubt he’d shoot you.” She rolled her eyes as she held the door open, stepping in behind her father and the letting the screen swing shut behind her.
“He’s a crack shot when it comes to protecting the sheep from foxes.”
Shelby rolled her eyes. “Big difference between you and a fox.”
“Can I take that as a yes?”
A working bee itself didn’t sound so scary; move some plants, get your hands dirty, contribute to the local community. All good things.
But the main workers were teachers from the school, prominent locals angling for a positive PR opportunity and those with sought-after skills. Carpenters. Landscapers. Labourers. The vast majority would be people she knew. People she’d grown up with.
Her father was officially feeding her to the sharks.
“Dad…” She held up her hands.
“I know it’s a big ask, Shel.” He shook his head, the guilt on his face more than she could bear. “I don’t want to force you, but I’m the principal. It’s my school and dammit, I care about that place.”
She bit her lip. “Of course I’ll do it.”
“You’re a strong girl, I know you can put all this stuff behind you. You’re a successful model. A role model.” He placed a hand on her arm, his wedding band dull from daily wear despite the fact that her mother had been dead for almost two decades. “You don’t have anything to be afraid of.”
Logically, she agreed. Emotionally…well, that was a whole other story.
“Will Nate be there?” she asked, looking out the window to the backyard and hoping to hell her father didn’t detect the tremble in her voice.
He was the closest thing she had to a friend here…which was pathetic in itsel
f. But she needed someone on her side while she faced off against her past.
The last time you called on Nate to do that, he bailed on you. He handed them your heart on a platter.
“Yes, all members of faculty will be there.” Her father stifled a smile and eased himself into one of the kitchen chairs. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” she lied.
You might not trust Nate, but right now he’s all you’ve got.
Chapter 4
Nate pushed open the door to the White Crest pub and scanned the stools along the bar. Stepping into this place immediately soothed him—there was something about the sun-bleached wood and big windows and sound of happy chatter that put his mind at ease.
When Nate’s friend, Cam, had suggested a beer he’d had jumped at the idea. Anything to get his mind off thinking about Shelby Jenkins’s sexy curves and how much he wanted to be the one to ease her distrust of Patterson’s Bluff.
After dropping her at home, he’d gone for a run. But instead of quietening his mind, the solitary activity gave him more space to think. And no matter how loud he pumped music through his headphones, he could only hear the sweet sound of her voice. Detailing his car and attempting to watch a movie had also failed to keep his mind busy. By the time Cam’s text came through, Nate had been talking himself out of dropping past to “check on Pete.” One day with the her and he’d turned into a mooning fool.
It was like high school all over again.
“Yo!” Cam called out as Nate almost walked straight past him. “What’s with the space cadet act?”
“I’m in holiday mode, mate. This is me totally chilled out.” He climbed onto one of the funky industrial-style barstools and accepted the pint of local pale ale waiting for him. “I’m so relaxed I barely remember my own name.”
“Either you’re trying to rub it in, in which case fuck you.” Cam took a long swallow of his beer and watched Nate closely. “Or you’re hiding something. The Nate Ritter I know doesn’t understand the meaning of relaxed.”
He grinned. “I’m not hiding anything. This is the joyous face of a free man.”
Cam loosened the red silk tie around his neck and pulled it off with slightly more aggression than was required. “I need this drink like you would not believe.”
“Rough day at the office?”
He stuffed the tie into the pocket of his suit pants and flicked open the button at his neck. “You have no idea. The family is driving me nuts.”
“Which family member?”
“All of them.” Cam looked up at the ceiling as though he might find strength there. “I swear, one day I’m going to fire the damn lot.”
Cam came from the wealthiest family in Patterson’s Bluff. Heir to the most successful real estate company on Victoria’s coast, he lived in a waterfront mansion with private beach access, turned his sports cars over annually and was smart and hardworking enough to deserve everything he had.
But his family was one rehab stint away from their own reality show.
Nate would happily live on his modest teacher’s salary to keep his warm, caring family rather than go through what his friend did on a daily basis.
“Morgan’s giving me crap about the new marketing budget I approved. Looks like Dad had given her free rein the past few years and now she wants my head on a spike because I’m setting limits.” He took another swig of his beer. “And don’t even get me started on my brother. He’s decided to do everything in his power to make me look bad.”
Nate shook his head. “I don’t know what to say.”
“He can’t handle the fact that I’m in charge and he’s not.” He raked a hand through his longish brown hair. “He stormed out of my office the other day like I was the one who’d done something wrong. I swear, running that place is like herding cats. Bratty, spoiled, mentally unhinged cats.”
“Aren’t all cats unhinged?”
“True.” Cam laughed. “Anyway, enough about my disaster of a day. If I think about it anymore, I might actually kill one of them…and if I plan it, then it’s premeditated.”
Dawn Slater, one of the White Crest’s bartenders, approached the two men with a wary look. “Dare I even ask?”
“No questions. You don’t want to be charged as an accessory,” Nate quipped and she shook her head, laughing.
“Remind me not to cross either of you.” She reached for Cam’s empty pint glass and got him a refill without bothering to ask if he wanted it. When she brought it back to the bar, she leaned forward, resting on her forearms and letting her wheat-blonde hair fall over her shoulders. “I heard a little gossip today.”
Cam held up a hand. “If it involves anyone I’m related to, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Actually, it was about you.” She pointed to Nate, a cheeky grin spreading across her lips.
“Me?” Nate raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore the heavy stone sinking to the pit of his stomach. “I’m not very gossip-worthy these days.”
He should have known that his little “date” with Shelby wouldn’t go unnoticed by the locals. The return of someone who’d fled always caused a stir.
“You were having lunch with someone today, weren’t you?” Dawn wiped the bar down with a tea towel, going about her work as she tried to coax a story out of Nate. “Someone who used to go to school with us…a female someone.”
Cam turned, an interested look on his face. “Who was it?”
Nate rolled his eyes. Sure, now Cam was interested in gossip once it was clear his family was out of the firing line. Typical. There wasn’t a hope in hell either of them would drop the subject now. Unfortunately, his love life was so sad these days that even a lunch was newsworthy.
“Are you spying on me, Dawn?”
“Never,” she said primly. “Not intentionally, anyway.”
“Unintentional spying, my favourite kind.” Nate took a long draw on his beer. “Can’t people just live their lives in peace without having to worry about little birds tracking their every move?”
“Don’t be such a wuss.” Dawn flicked her tea towel at him over the bar, narrowly missing his drink.
“Well,” Cam prompted. “Don’t keep me in suspense. It’s been forever since you went on a date.”
“I had lunch with Shelby Jenkins and it was not a date.” He needed that stated for the record. Because any ounce of ambiguity could be spun into a story, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Suddenly nothing could be something.
“Shelby from high school?” Cam blinked. “Wow. I thought she’d never come back.”
“It’s not permanent,” Nate replied, as much to remind himself as anything else.
“Well, I mean why would she moved back here? She’s a big model now…” Dawn clamped a hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean it like that. Big like successful, not like…you know.”
Nate cringed. He knew Dawn wasn’t being horrible—at least not intentionally—but those were exactly the kind of comments that would have Shelby hopping straight back on a plane to New York, because she probably would think it was on purpose. He certainly couldn’t blame her for that.
“Maybe we should all think more before we speak,” Nate said.
“You’re right.” Dawn’s cheeks were red and Nate could tell she felt bad about her misstep. He was, however, very glad Shelby hadn’t been here to witness it. “I honestly didn’t mean it.”
“I know.”
Normally that was something that Nate liked about Dawn—she said what was on her mind. They were similar like that, upfront. Maybe a little blunt. But you always knew where you stood. The downside was that sometimes the words flew out before the brain had a chance to catch up.
“So it’s just a temporary visit, huh?” Cam asked, moving the conversation along. “Makes sense. It’s not like there’d be much for her here now.”
“Uh, Pete is here,” Nate said. “For starters.”
“I meant in terms of her career. What kind of modelling jobs could she po
ssibly get in small town Australia? Her life has moved on from this place.”
The speculation about Shelby’s desires spiked Nate’s blood pressure, because he knew it would bother her. The problem was, gossip was like currency in a small town. It was like air and water—a necessity. People lived off it, fed off it. As much as he was an advocate for Patterson’s Bluff, he could understand why Shelby hated this part of it.
Dawn turned her head as her name was shouted from the other end of the bar. “Sorry guys, I have to keep moving. But I want the full story when I come back.”
“There is no story,” Nate called after her, but she’d already walked away. He turned to Cam. “Anyway, I thought you were getting your family issues off your chest.”
Cam silenced him with a hand. “Oh, no, you’re not going to use that to change the topic. Why were you having lunch with—”
“If you say anything derogatory, I’ll bust your face in. I swear to God.”
“I wasn’t going to.” A smirk tugged at the corner of Cam’s lips. “Nice protective act though.”
Nate let out a breath but didn’t engage. His friend loved to needle at him, and taking the bait would only make it worse. In truth, the protective urge he had for Shelby shocked him a bit. Sure, Nate was the kind of guy who stuck up for the underdog. For someone who was being treated unfairly. That was part of his nature.
But this was…different. Personal.
“I find it interesting that after “the Laurel Incident” that the first girl you’ve been out with in years is Shelby Jenkins.”
The Laurel Incident had been the final straw in his decision to no longer sleep with women from Patterson’s Bluff, unless he was interested in pursuing a relationship…which he hadn’t been, to date. Sleeping with Laurel had been a one-time thing in his mind, but it turned out that she’d viewed it differently. After he’d attempted to set her straight, she bad-mouthed him in detail to the school’s Parent-Teacher group. Only Pete’s clout had put a stop the chatter.
Nate shrugged. “One, it was lunch and not a date. Two, we used to be friends.”
“Used to be?”
