by Jill Sanders
“No.” He shook his head. “We are needed behind the bar. We still have a few hours before the party ends. I can’t leave Liam and Britt to this crowd. Besides, I won’t let him bully me into submission.”
She nodded. “I’m here.” She reached up and took his face and laid her lips over his.
“We all are,” came a soft voice across from the fire pit. “Sorry.” Zoey stepped out of the darkness. “Elle said you were having an emergency. I, um, spotted the couple marching back into the party and well, guessed what’s going on.” Levi held in a groan. “Am I right?”
“Yes.” He stood up, pulling Scarlett up with him, and wrapped his arms around her. “That man, Michael Stiles, is my father.”
Just saying those words out loud made his stomach roll. He promised himself that later he’d research the hell out of the guy. But for now, he was going to push it to the back of his mind.
Zoey walked over to them both and silently wrapped her arms around them. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. When he heard her sniffle, he chuckled.
“Okay, enough tears. The man doesn’t deserve them.”
“No.” Scarlett looked up at him. “But you do,” she said with a slight smile.
When the three of them stepped back inside, the band was already playing again. The line at the bar was back under control for the moment and he thought about him and Scarlett skipping out on the rest of the night.
Then he spotted Elle standing by the edge of the bar talking to Liam. When Scarlett and Levi stepped up to the bar, she moved over towards them.
“I’m so sorry,” she said softly. “Just so you know, the Stileses approached me. They were very upset and wanted to file a complaint, but after I informed them of your… standing with this business, they left instead.”
He nodded. “Thanks.” He wondered instantly if the couple was staying somewhere in town and if he would see them again before they left to go back to Miami. Then he realized he didn’t really care. His father had made his opinion very clear.
“I assume things didn’t go well?” Elle asked.
“Later,” Scarlett told her. “We’ll have a meeting after the party?” She touched his shoulder.
Elle nodded and quickly gave Liam a kiss before heading back out to help collect more glasses for Britt.
“Sorry, kid.” Britt touched his arm. “I never knew my old man either. I heard he spent a few hard years in prison for robbing a bank. He died a year before he was due to be released.” She shook her head. “Pissed off the wrong inmate. I think it was easier on me not having met him.”
Levi chuckled. “Yeah.” He glanced over to where Scarlett was washing dishes and watching him. “At least I know his name now.” He gave Scarlett a weak smile.
For the rest of the evening, only one thing played over in his mind. The surprising news of his mother’s death. He hadn’t lied when he’d said he had wondered if her death hadn’t been an accident.
After all, his grandmother had said that his mother had left him at her place so that she could go to work at her job as a hair stylist in town. If she was supposed to be at work, why had she ended up at her apartment with a needle in her arm instead?
The only thing he could think of was that she’d planned it all along.
When the party started to die down, he helped gather all the dishes and clean up. Before the last couple had left, the group of friends were already gathered around the bar.
He had a beer in his hand that Britt had given him, but he had only taken a sip or two. He didn’t want to relax or let go of his problems. Not at the moment, anyway.
He was thankful that the talk hadn’t turned to what had happened earlier. At least not yet.
“I think the cleanup crew can finish the rest,” Hannah suggested with a yawn.
“The sergeant is off duty,” Aubrey joked, causing Hannah to narrow her eyes towards her. “Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m glad you’re the one bossing people around and not me.” She motioned to the room. “Otherwise parties such as this wouldn’t be so amazing.”
Aubrey slung an arm over Hannah’s shoulders as they started walking out.
“We need a meeting,” Zoey said to everyone in the small group. “Upstairs, before you all go.” Several people turned to her to complain, but she held up her hands to stop them. “It’s important.”
Several eyes turned towards him and they all nodded. Then they all made their way up to the apartment that he’d been sharing with Scarlett.
He hadn’t really thought about it, but for the past week, he’d been practically living with her.
He and Scarlett had stopped off at his grandmother’s place for dinner earlier that week. Since she wasn’t back at work full time yet, their evenings had been free. He’d packed a small bag of clothes and had brought some necessities over to the small room they shared.
Now, the thought of returning to his grandmother’s place full time was somehow depressing. But he feared that at some point he would have to go back.
Following Scarlett upstairs, he felt the weight on his chest deepen with each step he took. He didn’t want to have to retell the horror that he’d gone through earlier. To replay the rejection once more for all to witness.
But he knew that this was how the Wildflowers rolled. They didn’t do anything without the help of each other. Not that he wasn’t grateful that they cared so much about him. He just wished he had a little time to himself to… process it all.
Sitting down on the sofa next to Scarlett, he was handed another beer by Dylan. The living room was way too small for all nine of them but, somehow, they all fit comfortably enough.
“Who wants to start?” Zoey asked him and Scarlett.
Thankfully, Scarlett took the reins and started explaining everything that had happened earlier. He sat there, looking into his beer, as she told the story. If the events had happened to any one of them, he would have felt instant sorrow, but now, instead, he just felt… dull.
By the time she was done telling the story, his beer was empty, and he knew the trip home he’d wanted to take that night to talk to his grandmother would have to wait until the morning.
“I can’t believe it,” Elle said after Scarlett finished talking. “That he would just turn his back so easily on you.”
“He did it long ago. What difference does it make now?” he said with a shrug.
“That… ass wipe,” Hannah added. “Sorry, I’m too tired to come up with something really horrible to call the man.”
He held in a chuckle. “I’m fine, really,” he said to the room. “I’ve gone my entire life not knowing who the guy was. It’s not like I hadn’t thought something like this would happen sooner or later.”
Everyone was quiet.
“I didn’t know who my father was until I was eight.” Everyone turned to Aubrey. “Then when my mother died… I suddenly found myself living with this stranger, a really old man who lived in a different state, in a house bigger than I even knew homes could be.” She glanced around. “Harold Smith is many things, but a loving and devoted father, he is not.”
Zoey grabbed Aubrey’s hand in her own and held onto it as Elle took Aubrey’s other hand.
“I know what it’s like to be rejected by family.” Aubrey smiled suddenly. “But the ones that love you no matter what”—she held up her linked fingers with her friends—“are all that really matters.”
“You have us,” Hannah said to him.
“Here, here.” Several shouts echoed in the small room.
“Thanks, everyone.” He held up his almost empty beer. “Here’s to the family that matters.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The day after the reunion was Scarlett and Levi’s first day off from work together. Shortly after breakfast, Levi drove them into town in his Jeep.
“If it’s okay with you, I’m going to drop you off at your place and then swing by my gran’s place for a… visit,” he said as he drove.
“I can come with you, if you w
ant?” she suggested.
“No.” He reached over and took her hand. “I need to do this alone.” He smiled over at her. “Thanks.”
“If you need me, you know where I am.” Part of her wanted to be there for Levi but the other part knew that it was a private moment between him and his grandmother.
“Thanks.” He lifted her hand up and placed a kiss on her knuckles.
She held in a yawn, trying to hide the fact that she hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night because she’d been worried about him. Even though he’d been sleeping peacefully next to her, her mind refused to shut down.
When he stopped in front of the big house, she climbed out and leaned across the seat to give him a kiss. “I’ll see you in a while?”
He nodded. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised her.
“Levi, don’t be hard on your grandmother. She was just trying to protect you.” His eyes softened.
“I’m not upset at her.” He smiled. “I could never be mad at her. At least not for long.”
“Good.” She relaxed and then added, “I think I’m going to go up, take a bath, and maybe take a nap.” She smiled. “Maybe I’ll wake up to a kiss from my prince charming.” She wiggled her eyebrows and had him laughing.
“I’ll make sure to leave my horse outside.” He waved as he drove away. Scarlett stood on the front porch for a few moments, looking around the small town. Besides her childhood home in Jacksonville, this was the only other place she’d felt fully accepted.
Sure, the camp was at the top of that list, but here, in this town, people liked her for who she was, not because she was one of the bosses.
Elle paid one of the kids on the street to maintain the yard and flowers around the house so that none of them would have to struggle with mowing a yard on their days off. Now, looking around the tidy fenced yard, she realized just how nice the place really was and how much she’d taken it for granted. Suddenly, she was energized and decided that she wanted to do something nice for Levi.
Lunch, she thought suddenly as she tossed her overnight bag down inside the doorway. She could walk to the store and grab a couple steaks and some vegetables and cook them up a nice lunch. Then she could set up a romantic area on the back patio for them.
Levi had never stayed there at the house with her. He’d slept on the sofa that one time, but for the next two days, it was going to seem like they were living together. Okay, they had been pretty much living together in her small room, but this felt different. This was an entire house, and Aubrey wasn’t just down the hallway from them.
She grabbed her purse and walked down the sidewalk towards the small grocery store.
Two full days with no friends or family barging in or sharing meals with them, no distractions.
After spending that much time with Levi, she was sure she would know exactly how she felt about him. At least, that was the hope.
Stepping out of the heat into the small grocery store, she pushed a cart through the aisles and grabbed what she needed, mindful that she would have to carry it all back down the three blocks to the house.
“Scarlett?” Someone stopped her as she was making her way towards the steaks.
She looked over and stiffened when Rose Parker, one of Jenny’s cronies, started walking down the aisle towards her. Rose had a small baby hanging in a pouch that was wrapped around her body and a little girl sitting in the shopping cart, swinging her legs and singing to herself.
“I thought that was you.” Rose stopped besides Scarlett with a smile. “Gosh, you look amazing.”
“Thanks.” Scarlett glanced around, making sure Jenny wasn’t anywhere near them. “You look—”
“Terrible.” The woman chuckled and brushed a strand of dark hair out of her face. “Having a baby less than a month ago and caring for a two-year-old will do that to you.” She smiled. “I’ve been meaning to come visit you and your sisters.”
Scarlett’s eyebrows shot up at that. Only people who cared for them knew how the Wildflowers thought of each other as family instead of just friends.
“Oh?” she asked, still a little on guard. She didn’t think Rose would be in cahoots with Jenny, but then again, she hadn’t believed Jenny would push her into a shallow pool on purpose either.
“Yes.” Rose’s smile slipped. “I heard what Jenny did to you. My husband works at the ER. He was one of the nurses that worked on you when you first came in. Anyway…” She shook her head, dislodging the strand of hair she’d pushed behind her ear. Then she ran a hand down her daughter’s matching dark locks. “I lost track of her after that last year at camp. We all did.” She sighed and shifted the baby. “I wanted to say that I am sorry. I know that Jenny and the rest of our gang used to torture you and your friends. For my role in your torment, I’m sorry. I wish I could go back and redo how I treated you and your friends.”
“Thank you,” Scarlett said slowly.
“I heard Jenny’s still in town. My cousin owns a rental place along the beach and called me up to tell me that she rented the place from him, for a year.”
Scarlett frowned. “I didn’t know that she and her husband were sticking around.”
“Oh, her husband didn’t stay. He left that next day.” Rose sighed. “Apparently, they had a huge fight in front of my cousin and her husband took off after calling his son.”
“So, Jenny is still in town?” Scarlett glanced around again.
“Yes.” Rose touched her arm. “But I’m sure she won’t do anything crazy again.” She shook her head. “I mean, I never would have guessed she would push you into a pool and almost kill you.”
“Yeah.” Scarlett nodded. “I… um.” She glanced around, suddenly needing some fresh air. “I have to go.”
“If you need anything,” Rose said to her. “I really am sorry about… everything.” Scarlett could tell that the woman was being sincere. Obviously, motherhood and time had changed her for the better.
“Thanks,” she said before pushing her cart towards the meat aisle. Grabbing the first two steaks she saw, she made her way towards the checkout lane.
She kept darting her eyes around everywhere as she rushed home, as if waiting for Jenny to jump out of the bushes. Normally, she wouldn’t have locked the front door of the house, but this time, she secured even the deadbolt.
Breathing heavy, a bead of sweat trickling down her back, she took a couple of deep breaths and tried to reassure herself that Jenny was not out for revenge. After all, she’d already done it. If you really looked at things, Scarlett had gotten the worse of things.
She pulled out her cell phone and shot a group text message off to her sister and friends.
-Just heard that Jenny rented a place in town. For a year!
Her sister and Elle replied immediately with the same comment.
-WHAT?
Hannah also responded quickly.
-You’ve got to be kidding
Aubrey didn’t respond, and Scarlett realized that she was probably still teaching her Tai Chi class.
-Ran into Rose Parker at the store. She claims that Jenny is still in town, but her husband left.
A few seconds after hitting send, her phone rang.
“I couldn’t do this over chat,” Zoey said a little breathless when Scarlett answered. “I’ve got everyone here, except for Aubrey. She’s in a class, so we’ll fill her in later. What’s up?”
Scarlett took a deep breath and then relayed what information she had as she moved around the kitchen putting the groceries away.
She desperately wanted a shower before she started making the food. She guessed she had at least another hour before Levi would be returning back.
“Lock all the doors,” Elle suggested.
“Done.” It was the first thing she’d done. She’d rushed around the large house and checked every window and door. “You guys keep an eye out there as well. There is no way she knows my schedule or that I’m off for the next two days.” She shut the refrigerator door and leaned against
the counter.
“True,” Zoey added. “Still, we all feel so much better knowing Levi is staying there with you.”
Scarlett decided not to mention that Levi was currently nowhere to be found. Instead, she made an excuse that she wanted a shower before making lunch and got off the phone.
Double checking the locks, she climbed the stairs, dragging her bag with her. There were, thankfully, five bedrooms and four bathrooms in the home, which meant they each had their own spaces.
Levi had been right. Although some of Scarlett’s private things were in her room at the house, most of the things that mattered to her were at the camp.
Here she shared a Jack and Jill bathroom with her sister, but since Zoey’s days off were two days after hers, they never ran into issues sharing the space.
Setting down her bag on her queen-sized bed, she moved into the large bathroom, wishing instantly that she had this bathroom in the apartment on the campgrounds as well. Turning on the water in the large glass shower, she pulled off her sweaty clothes and stepped under the cool water.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of running into Jenny again. Why hadn’t she taken more of Aubrey’s self-defense classes? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t had the time over the last two years.
She’d even had to fill in for Aubrey once when Aubrey had the flu.
Zoey was more skilled at fighting back than Scarlett was. After all, her sister had had a few run-ins with their stepmother Bridgette shortly after their father had died. Zoey hadn’t let the woman push her around, at least not without pushing back. When Ryan had been holding a gun on Dylan, her sister had tackled her like a linebacker, according to Dylan, knocking them both down and saving Dylan from a deranged psychopath.
Scarlett sagged as she remembered that she’d stood there and taken the abuse from Jenny. She leaned her head under the spray, trying to relax.
Why was it that they were doomed to have to deal with crazy people? Before opening the camp, the worst she’d had to deal with was… well, Jenny. Back when they’d been teenagers.
She stayed in the shower until she felt every muscle in her body relax. As she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself, she saw a flash of movement from Zoey’s bedroom and froze.
