Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  “So my charms are working?” he joked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her lips lift into a smirk. “I don’t know if being blunt is a good thing. It tends to alienate people.”

  “Well, my job involves a lot of bullshit and it gets tiring trying to figure out who’s genuine and who’s not,” she said. “It’s nice to talk to someone where what you see is what you get.”

  “I am definitely that.”

  “But it gets you in trouble?”

  “Constantly.” He grinned. “Too bad for everyone else I’m incapable of being any other way, for better or worse.”

  It had ended up being “for worse” when it came to his wife, unfortunately. She’d never appreciated the fact that he spoke his mind and after years of trying to change him or “train him” as she used to say, she’d given up.

  In her mind, Nate was certifiably untrainable.

  “I think it’s a good quality,” Shelby said. “You’re honest.”

  That was a surprise. Shelby had seemed mighty suspicious of his intentions when he took her for lunch, but maybe he’d proven himself. Somehow. No matter how small the win, he’d gladly take it.

  Might as well seize the moment. What have you got to lose?

  “So what was the real reason you asked for a lift today?” he asked.

  She laughed. “I made an observation. I didn’t give you an invitation to pry.”

  Trees whipped past them as they closed in on the high school. The street would be familiar to her, not much had changed in the years since she’d been gone. Old gums still lined the street with their peeling trunks and the school’s fence was the same shade of bottle green.

  Shelby’s shoulders tensed as they drew closer, her fingers curling around the edge of her shorts.

  “Are you going to answer the question or not?” he asked.

  “I told you, I didn’t have a ride.” She smoothed her hands up and down her legs and Nate had to stifle a groan. The shorts were fairly modest, but Shelby had legs for miles. “And I didn’t want to walk in there by myself.”

  The fact that she called on him…well, it was more than he deserved. But he’d make damn sure he lived up to her trust. All he had to do was make sure nothing bad came out of anyone’s mouths…like Dawn’s stupid slip up yesterday.

  If only he could have her all to himself, then he’d feel safe the in the knowledge no one would hurt her.

  He shook off the thought. The last thing he needed was to get hung up on a woman who was leaving town soon. A woman who hated this place as much as he loved it. A woman who had an exciting life that he could never live up to.

  “I needed a friend and I wasn’t sure who else to call.” She didn’t look at him, almost as if she hated admitting that she needed his help.

  “We’ll stick together,” he said. “You have my word.”

  He pulled into the car park and took his pick from the empty spaces. They were early. Within the hour the lot would fill and cars would trail down the side of the road. Many of the people he knew and cared about would be here today.

  His boots hit the dusty ground as he got out of the car. The sound of his door slamming behind him—and Shelby’s a second later—shattered the serenity of the near-empty school. Overhead, a couple of magpies warbled as if welcoming them. Nate led Shelby through gates and toward the school’s office building.

  It didn’t look too different from when they’d attended as students—so perhaps it would feel familiar to Shelby. More gum trees towered on all sides with small sections of hardy, kid-resistant plants curved along the fence-line. The grass was still mostly green since the hottest weather of the season hadn’t yet set in. In February it would be a different story, however.

  “Are you worried about seeing people you know?” he asked.

  She let out a small laugh and brushed her hands over the bushes along the edge of the path. “Your Dr. Phil act worries me more.”

  “I’m not a psych teacher,” he replied. “Just a friend asking a genuine question.”

  “When I’m home in New York, I can pretend I left this place of my own accord rather than being that girl who ran away.” She shrugged, pressing her rosy lips together as she stared at the path ahead. “But I don’t have that luxury when I come back. The reality is right here in front of me.”

  “Denying reality is pointless.”

  “It’s necessary,” she argued. “How can I mentor young models and school girls when I couldn’t even stand up for myself at their age?”

  “That’s exactly why you’re the right person to give them advice. You learned and you improved yourself.” How could she not see that?

  What Shelby had to offer was a lifetime of resilience. She’d endured some awful treatment as a teenager, and yet here she was facing her fears because she wanted to support her father. If that wasn’t inner strength, then he didn’t know what was.

  “I ran away.” She adjusted her sunglasses. “That’s not learning.”

  “You asked me what I would have done if I’d been in your situation and the truth is I would have run, too.” He rubbed at the tight spot at the back of his neck. “I did in a way.”

  She tilted her head, her brows knitting above her nose. “I don’t understand.”

  “When I first came here, I wanted to fit in. My stepmother was from Patterson’s Bluff and I didn’t want to do anything that would make her leave us the way…” He swallowed the rest of his words.

  What was he supposed to call Amanda Ritter? He didn’t talk about her often enough to have given her a label. Birth mother sounded like he’d been adopted out, and real mother was an insult to his step mum, especially since Jane actually gave a shit about him and his sister, Neve.

  He cleared his throat. “I wanted this place to be my permanent home, our home. Dad and Jane and Neve and me. I was terrified that if I didn’t fit in then we’d have to move again. Start over again. I did some stupid things to make sure I’d be accepted here…”

  Shelby didn’t say a word, but her steps had slowed to a snail’s pace. It was almost like she wanted to stay here in this moment, to give them time to work things out. To iron out the past so it made sense, even if they regretted how it all went down.

  He wants all that, too.

  Even if Shelby walked away from Patterson’s Bluff and never came back, Nate wanted her to know how sorry he was.

  “I did the cowardly thing back then, instead of being a real friend. I lied. I lied through my teeth.” He laughed, the sound bitter to his ears. “I wanted to kiss you so bad that day.”

  God, how I wanted it.

  She flushed, her lips opening and closing like a goldfish. Yeah, he was shocked too. Nate might have been all about the blunt say-it-like-it-is honesty, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was forthcoming with his deepest feelings on a daily basis.

  Yet there was no denying he’d been hot for Shelby from day one. And time hadn’t faded that desire any. When he looked at her now, he was almost speechless for the woman she’d become. For how strong and passionate and fierce she was. How beautiful.

  He wanted her as much as he had back then. Maybe more.

  “It’s true. You were the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen.” Great, now he was babbling. “Those words I said, I didn’t mean them. You’re not… you weren’t…”

  He couldn’t force himself to repeat the cruel and cutting words aloud.

  “Shit,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair.

  If she wasn’t already messed up about coming along today, she would be now. Why couldn’t he have waited until later to get it off his chest? His ex-wife’s words rang in his head: You need a filter, Nate. You can’t say whatever shit pops into your head without thinking about the person you’re talking to.

  The thoughts in his head crashed into one another like boats adrift in a stormy sea. He hated not being able to see her eyes, not being able to understand how she felt. Not having any idea if he was making things better or worse.

&nb
sp; Stepping forward, his hand reached out to her face. He drew the glasses down as gently as he could, until they perched on the tip of her perfect nose. If God were to strike him down, he would have died a happy man staring into the crystalline depths of her green eyes.

  Her sooty lashes touched as she blinked. “Stop it, Nate.”

  His name was a warning on her lips, but hearing her say it broke something in him. Something primal and possessive and desperate. It touched the same part of him that had wanted her with teenage lust all those years ago.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Her breath hitched. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what?” His whole body ached for her as if something had been unleashed inside him. Their attraction—their chemistry—wasn’t something he’d ever been able to replicate with anyone. For years he’d put it down to viewing a memory of her through rose-coloured glasses, but now he knew that wasn’t true. Whatever this spark was between them, it was real. “Apologise? It’s true. I’ve thought about that kiss so many times, thought about where it might have gone…”

  Her hands came up to his chest as if telling him not to come closer. But she didn’t push him away and her palms burned hot through his T-shirt. “It doesn’t change anything.”

  “I know.” He closed his hands around hers. “But I’ve changed, and I regret treating you badly.”

  She sucked in a deep breath and opened her mouth to respond, but the words were cut short by the sound of her name ringing out in the air.

  “Shelby Jenkins, is that you?” The unmistakable voice of Patterson’s Bluff’s longest standing teacher came from behind them. “My word, you’re all grown up.”

  “Ms. Brown?” She snatched her hands out of his grasp and stepped away, pushing the sunglasses back up her nose.

  “Please, it’s Janet now. I heard you were back in town.”

  Nate cringed. The whole damn place probably knew by now. “Nice to see you, Janet.”

  The older woman smiled and patted his shoulder as she walked past, a stack of folders tucked under one arm. Her wiry hair stuck out in a chaotic brown halo around her head and she wore her usual thick-rimmed, red glasses. Nate was pretty sure she’d had them back when she’d taught his ninth-grade science class.

  “Nate. Good to see you with a woman worth your time,” she said airily.

  “I gave Shelby a lift.” He cleared his throat awkwardly and motioned for them to head toward the office. “Pete’s not really mobile yet.”

  “Poor thing.” Janet turned to Shelby and smiled warmly, her free hand adjusting the gold atom brooch she always wore. “I dropped past and took him some homemade soup after he first had the fall. I’m afraid I haven’t been back since, but I take it you’re looking after him?”

  “Of course.” Shelby nodded.

  “You always were a good girl. Not like some of the other little shits we teach now.”

  Shelby blinked at her former teacher and Nate stifled a smile. “Come now, Janet. That’s no way to talk about the future of this town.”

  Janet raised an eyebrow and pulled a set of keys from her bag. “I hope they put me in the ground before this last lot graduates.”

  The door to the office swung open with Janet’s keys still in the lock. She flicked on the light as she stepped into the room, dropping the files on the empty reception desk with a loud thwack.

  “Janet’s had a rough year,” Nate said to Shelby as he retrieved the keys and closed the door behind them. “She drew the short straw with homerooms.”

  “Short straw doesn’t cover it,” Janet muttered. “They’re certainly not angels like you two were. Actually, just Shelby. You were a pain in the rear, too, if I remember.”

  He laughed at Shelby’s shocked expression. “Teachers are human, too. Some days we hate our jobs, but it’s worth it most of the time right, Ms. Brown?”

  “Don’t you Ms. Brown me.” Janet took her spot at the reception desk and pulled out a sign-in form. “Since you’re early, you’ve got your pick of the activities. I’m assuming you don’t want gum duty?”

  “Hell no.” Nate looked at Shelby and grinned. “How do you feel about gardening?”

  “Sure. That sounds a heck of a lot better than gum duty.”

  “All right, let’s get those hands dirty.” He scrawled their names across the form and looked around for the box containing gardening gloves, pruning shears, a hand-held hoe and other random donated bits and pieces. “Ready?”

  She nodded, her eyes meeting his and he could have sworn something passed between them. Something a whole lot like trust. “Ready.”

  Chapter 6

  Shelby pushed a small hoe into the ground and uprooted another weed. The pile beside her had grown significantly and the garden bed looked prettier by the second. It was a beautiful day, sunny and bright but with a cool breeze to cut through the heat. Shelby could see why her father enjoyed the working bees so much—there was a sense of camaraderie in the air. People joked and swapped stories while they pooled their efforts to improve the school grounds.

  Despite her initial reservations, she felt entirely at ease.

  The group who’d joined her and Nate at the gardening station were friendly and welcoming. She’d recognised the father of a girl from her graduating year, but the other people seemed to be newer residents of Patterson’s Bluff. Turns out the town had changed more than she’d ever thought possible.

  Thank God for small mercies.

  The easy banter between her and Nate had resumed in the sunshine and she’d shoved his admission about their kiss to the back of her mind. No point thinking about that right now, because he was looking decidedly kissable in his work boots and his T-shirt showing off tanned, muscular arms. In fact, if she’d come across Nate under different circumstances—say a shoot—she would have been more than happy to flirt her way through the day.

  “Having fun?” he asked, tipping a plant upside down and squeezing the plastic pot to loosen the roots.

  “I am, actually.” She tossed another weed onto the pile and tipped her face up to him. The sun made sweat bead along her hairline and she swiped at it with the back of her hand. “Something about being out in nature soothes the soul.”

  “That’s very profound.” He grinned, the lines deepening around the corners of his eyes.

  How could she not to enjoy working beside Nate Ritter? Every time he bent down and the denim tightened across his ass—Shelby couldn’t help but look. She tried to tell herself it was because, as a model, she was trained to understand and appreciate aesthetic and proportions.

  Truth was, the guy had a fine ass and that’s all there was to it.

  You sure this has nothing to do with him admitting he wanted to kiss you? Don’t go feeling all safe and secure around him…remember how it turned out last time.

  Good point, brain.

  People stopped to talk to Nate every few minutes, slapping him on the back or shaking his hand. Women tittered around him and some of the students who’d come along seemed eager to win his approval.

  Looks like Nate got what he wanted—he’s Mr. Popular.

  At the sound of his name he dropped the plant into its hole, gave Shelby a wink and jogged off to the side of the garden to chat to a tall man wearing a baseball cap. She let herself watch him for several seconds more than she should have, because there was no tearing herself away. No matter how much she knew she shouldn’t be looking.

  “You’re that model who used to live here, aren’t you?” a bubbly voice asked out of nowhere.

  Shelby turned toward the brunette who’d been working a few feet up from her, planting stakes beside a tree in need of support. She wore a pair of frayed denim shorts, a sunny yellow T-shirt and had her long hair swept up into a bouncy ponytail.

  “Excuse me?”

  “That sounded kind of creepy, didn’t it?” The brunette pulled a cute, cringing face. “I’m not a stalker, I promise.”

  Shelby detected an American accent, which was unusual. The t
ourists they got in Patterson’s Bluff were usually from Melbourne, not from overseas. “I am a model, but I’m not sure if I’m the model you’re talking about.”

  “I doubt there’s more than one. There’s not exactly a lot of work for models around here, is there?” She brushed a strand of hair from her face with the back of a garden-gloved hand. “I heard some girls talking about how you were back in town and then when I saw you today, I put two and two together.”

  Shelby’s stomach twisted at the thought of who might be gossiping about her and what they might have said. It’s exactly what she’d dreaded. “How so?”

  “Well, you kinda stand out.” The woman gestured to Shelby with a gloved hand. “You’re so tall and glamorous. You look like a model.”

  “Thanks.” She wasn’t quite sure what to do with the compliment, since she felt anything but glamorous in her borrowed boots and shorts. But one thing she’d learned over the years was that it was okay to accept compliments, even if you didn’t always feel like you deserved them. “I’m Shelby.”

  “Angie.” She held out her hand and Shelby shook it. “Principal Jenkins is your father, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah. But I usually call him Dad.”

  Angie laughed, measuring out a piece of string around her newly planted stakes. “I only met him in passing a few times, so I have to admit I don’t know him well. But he speaks highly of you. Tells everyone how his daughter made it big in the modelling world. He sings your praises to anyone who’ll listen.”

  “I can’t imagine there would be many who would.”

  “Well, I did. He told me a lot about the work you’ve been doing at the schools there. He said you give presentations on body image and self-confidence to young girls.”

  “That’s right. These girls all edit and filter their photos—they want to know how much it costs to get boob jobs and liposuction.” She shook her head. “I run them through workshops on learning to be comfortable with who they are and appreciating their bodies for what they can do rather than how they look.”

  She’d wondered at times if that made her a hypocrite, since her looks were how she made a living.