by Rachel Hanna
“Starting a business? Who said I was starting a business?”
“Why wouldn’t you, Laura? You’ll have a nice financial nest egg once the house closes. It could be life-changing.”
“Or I could put it into a high yield account and retire a few years earlier…”
“Boring.” Carrie said, fake snoring. “Why don’t we just move you right into the assisted living center over on Dagwood Avenue? Jeez, Laura, this isn’t like you.”
“What isn’t like me?”
Carrie closed her laptop and reached across the table, taking her friend’s hands in hers. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but Ted really screwed you up, sweetie. You started changing from this bubbly, albeit introverted, girl into this stuffy, unbending woman when you met him.”
“Thanks a lot,” Laura said, pulling her hands back.
“You used to have dreams. Remember?”
Laura reached back in the back recesses of her mind, and she was slightly surprised at how far back she had to reach. She felt like a little girl on her tiptoes trying to reach something on the highest of shelves.
“We all have dreams when we’re young, Carrie. And then we grow up.”
“No. I don’t accept that. You are only limited by your mind, Laura. I’ve seen it time and time again with my clients. You hold the keys to your kingdom, and it’s simply a shift in your thinking that will open the whole world to you. You can either decide that this is it, and this place is all you’ll ever have. Or you can decide that childhood dreams are worth pursuing, and you can pursue yours at the same time that you honor some of your mother’s unrealized dreams.”
She knew Carrie had a point, although she hated to admit it. A smile creeped across her face at the thought of her biggest dream.
“I remember when I was about fifteen, you and I wrote out our biggest dreams. Do you remember?” Laura asked.
“Of course. I thought I’d marry Brad Pitt and we would own an island near Fiji. Do you know he still hasn’t called me?” Carrie huffed with fake indignation.
“Do you remember mine?”
Carrie thought for a moment. “I do. You wanted to open a bakery, right?”
Laura felt her heart warm up in her chest when she thought about it. That had been a big dream for her for so many years, but she’d pushed it away. She had even asked Ted to back her financially a couple of years into their marriage so that she could start a bakery, but he refused, giving her a bunch of reasons that made little sense to her. It basically boiled down to the fact that he didn’t believe in her.
“Do you think I could really do it?” she asked, hopefulness seeping into her voice and scaring the crap out of her at the same time.
Carrie reached back across the table and took her hands. “I know for a fact you could do it. And what better place than this little January Cove town? After all, that would mean I can come visit the beach any time I want!”
At first Laura smiled, but then it left her face. “We’ve never been apart, Carrie. I need you.”
“Oh, honey, I need you too. But I love you too much to watch you die here. You have so much to give, Laura. And you deserve a new start. I just don’t think it can be here. You know that saying that if you love something, set it free? That’s what I’m trying to do here.”
Laura sucked in a deep a breath. Was she really going to do this?
Sawyer sat at the kitchen table at Addy’s Inn and watched his old friend, Addison Parker, chase her one-year old daughter around the kitchen. The child was a “rounder”, as his great aunt would’ve called her, toddling around the kitchen and getting into everything she could reach.
“Anna Grace, no, sweetie…” Addison chided as she pulled the little girl’s hands away from the tall plastic trashcan behind the counter. “Sorry, Sawyer. I’m listening.” She picked Anna Grace up and put her inside of a play area surrounded by plastic gates that made it look more like a prison inspired at Toys ‘R’ Us.
“Oh, I was just saying that my contract was up and we mutually decided not to renew. I wanted some time to just decompress, ya know? I mean it’s been years since I came home.”
Addison sat back down in the chair across from him and sighed, wiping her bangs out of her eyes. She was still the little girl he remembered, irritating her older brothers and their friends. But those Parker kids had always been tight, and now that she was married to Clay - who was like a another Parker brother - she seemed so grown up.
“Well, I’m glad you came home. I know Brad was pretty excited when he told me last week. He needs a running buddy. Of course, he’s pretty smitten with Ronni these days.”
“I know. I can’t believe a woman finally decided to keep him,” Sawyer said with a laugh. “How’s your mom?”
“Oh, she’s good. You know Adele Parker. Always on the move with her new husband, Harrison. He’s a good man, and he takes care of her. Well, I guess they take care of each other. She’ll probably be back soon because Jenna is due any day! You remember Jenna, right?”
Sawyer chuckled. “Of course. Kyle and Jenna were the ultimate high school power couple. I mean they were older than me, but I remember them dating. And breaking up. It was all the gossip back in those days. I need to make time to see Kyle while I’m here.”
“How long will you be here?” she asked, brushing some stray Cheerio crumbs into a pile on the edge of the table.
“Probably a few weeks at least. I mean until I figure out my next move with my career. Lots of good opportunities…” he said, drifting off and hoping she didn’t hear how much of a liar he was. The truth was that he had no opportunities. No one had called. His last album had been a flop, making him doubt his own abilities as an artist. After all, people only liked his music when it fit the mold. When he ventured outside of the “norm” and did the music he loved, his fans dispersed like a stink bomb had gone off.
“Well, good. That means you can come to the JCHS reunion!”
Sawyer swallowed a lump in his throat. “Um, a reunion?”
“Yes, silly! Of course you have to come. It’s for several classes because it wouldn’t make sense to have a reunion for one small class at a time. Brad will be there, and probably Kyle and me too. It’s going to be down on the beach, near the ferry dock in a few weeks. Big bon fire, food, music. Everyone is bringing their families too.”
The last thing Sawyer wanted to do was go to a reunion right now. Why couldn’t it have been a couple of years ago when he was in his heyday and killing it in his career? How was he going to explain why he wasn’t living the dream in Nashville right now?
“Oh. Good. Just let me know when you have more details.”
“Well, I hate to rush off, but I have a brand new visitor coming to stay here today. I’ve got to get a room ready. Do you mind seeing yourself out?”
“No, of course not. Thanks for the coffee and cookies,” he said as he stood up and gave Addison a quick hug. “You have a beautiful place here, Addy. I’m proud of you.”
“Aw, thanks, Sawyer. I’m proud of you too, Mr. Bigtime Country Music Singer.” His stomach clenched.
Addison picked up Anna Grace and walked upstairs. As he heard her footsteps going down the long hallway, he made his way to the front door, pausing for a moment to look at the Parker family pictures in the hallway.
There was Adele, the matriarch of the family. She never changed and looked much like she did when they were in high school. Then there was a big family picture including a couple of women that Sawyer didn’t recognize.
He smiled when he thought back to those old days of playing in the surf and chasing every pretty girl around JCHS. He’d been one of the big men on campus, so to speak, never hard up for date. Invited to every party. But his home life hadn’t been such a bed of roses.
His mother had died when he was a toddler of some rare cancer that he tried not to think about. His father had been a bit of a womanizer even when his mother was alive, and it didn’t take him long to marry another woman. A younger woma
n with fake blond hair and poorly done fake boobs to match.
By the time Sawyer entered high school, his father had been married two more times and had decided to move out to Arizona with the newest one. Her name was Barbie and she lived up to the name.
Sawyer ended up staying with his great aunt in January Cove while his Dad went and sowed his wild oats. It had been years since he’d seen his father, although he got several letters from him when he released his first album. Typical - show up when it suited him so he could brag about his son’s newfound fame.
As he looked at the Parker family photos, he smiled at the memories he’d had with January Cove’s resident family. When his own father had let him down, they took him in and treated him like one of their own.
Jolted out of his walk down memory lane by the sound of Addison soothing her daughter upstairs, Sawyer quietly walked out onto the porch and closed the door behind him.
It was late afternoon, and he could smell the salty sea air even though the B&B was across the street from the beach. The constant breeze in January Cove made for moderate temperatures almost year round.
He stared up at the blue sky. There wasn’t a cloud anywhere to be seen. Truth be told, he’d missed his childhood home and the people who had known him long before he was “something”. Now he had no idea who or what he was.
He walked to the end of the cobblestone walkway leading to the B&B and onto the sidewalk. Across the street, he could see a new business going in but he couldn’t quite make out what it was going to be. He secretly hoped it was a good burger joint, but that was unlikely given the number of restaurants scattered all over town already.
As he stepped down onto the deserted streets of his small hometown, he looked to the left and recalled fond memories of his youth. Visions of the JCHS Homecoming parade danced in his head. He could vividly remember riding on the huge float with his baseball teammates and throwing candy to the little kids standing on the sidelines. To them, he was a hero. A baseball standout. A musical prodigy.
Now he had no idea who he was. Somehow he’d veered way off his course of wanting to be a serious music artist. Instead he’d ended up as a country music star singing someone else’s songs and not using his gifts. He felt hollow and shallow and detached.
He closed his eyes and took in one more deep, salty breath before he felt it…
Chapter 4
Laura had been driving for more hours than she cared to count. Instead of stopping over in some rural town she didn’t know, she’d decided to drive straight through which was almost ten hours if she didn’t have to pee, which was unlikely.
Her friends had always kidded her that her bladder was the size of a Barbie doll’s, and it was getting worse as she got older. One sip of water, and she was sure to have to stop ten times to get rid of it. It was one of the mysteries of her life.
She pulled into January Cove and felt a smile forming on her face. It really was a quaint little town, and she could see why her mother was attracted to it. She wondered if her mother had ever been there, or did she see it in some random magazine? These were questions she would probably never get answers to.
Before she’d left town, she sent a letter to Dahlia telling her she was going to do some traveling for awhile and would text her occasionally. Dahlia wasn’t one to pry, and she didn’t want anyone showing up in January Cove until she got settled there, so the details she gave were few.
Of course, Carrie knew exactly where she was and Laura was sure she’d pop up at some point. Carrie was spontaneous that way.
As she pulled down the main road, she felt at home already. No taxi cabs everywhere. No police sirens. No big, tall buildings blocking the sun. This place was a cozy little corner of a busy world, and she hoped it might heal her and bring her back to life.
She would be staying at a place called Addy’s Inn, evidently run by someone named Addy? As she looked down at the GPS on her phone quickly, she felt a bump and then heard a scream before she slammed on the breaks in her tiny compact car.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Please be a squirrel…” she said to herself as she opened the door of her car. Logically, she knew it couldn’t be a squirrel because of the strength of the thud, but hope reigns supreme. Instead, what she saw shook her to the core. A man was lying on the ground, writhing in pain, holding his right leg.
Otherwise, he looked okay. He was moving. He was breathing. And he was yelling.
“What the hell, woman? Are you crazy?” he yelled, anger and pain contorting his face. It was a nice face. She wondered briefly what it would look like with a smile.
“I’m so sorry. I was a bit lost and I…” she said as she knelt down beside him and tried to figure out what to do to help him.
“You were looking at your phone? Owwww….” He was in a lot of pain, so she decided it was better not to argue with him right now.
“Let me call 911,” she said. “Crap. Where’s my phone?”
“Oh the irony,” he mumbled under his breath.
She turned around and noticed the sign for Addy’s Inn. “Oh, would you look at that. I wasn’t lost after all.” The man shot her a glare that could’ve killed her. “Right. 911. Let me…”
“Oh my God! Sawyer? Are you okay?” a woman asked as she ran out of the inn. It was probably his wife. All the good looking men were taken.
“I accidentally hit him with my car. I was about to call 911…” Laura stammered, tired from her drive and mentally exhausted from… life.
“Here. Use my phone,” the woman said, pulling her phone from her pocket. She teetered a little girl on one hip while she knelt down and started checking the man over. Sawyer, apparently.
Laura quickly dialed 911 and waited while the woman ran back into the inn looking for supplies to help treat the cuts and scrapes that had started to appear. The man couldn’t sit up and held onto his leg, but he wasn’t speaking to her or making eye contact.
“I’m Addison, by the way,” the woman said as she reappeared.
“I’m Laura. I’m… your new guest. If you’ll still have me. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit your husband.”
Addison smiled. “He’s not my husband. We grew up together. Don’t you recognize…”
The blaring sirens broke the peacefulness of the small town as the ambulance appeared from a side street. Two men jumped out of the front, and another popped out of the double doors on the back.
“Sawyer? Dude, you don’t look so good,” one of the guys said jokingly.
“Funny,” Sawyer replied, his face wincing as he tried to move.
“Damn. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t realize it was so bad,” the guy said as he knelt beside him. “We’re going to stabilize you and get you to the hospital ASAP, okay?”
Within minutes, they strapped him to a gurney and lifted him into the ambulance, speeding off just as the sun was starting to make its descent.
Laura stood there, her car still parked in the middle of the road, unsure of what to do.
“I’m sure he’ll be okay,” Addison said softly. Her daughter toddled around in the front garden as she kept a watchful eye on her.
“I should’ve stopped for a rest. I thought I was lost. I looked at GPS and then…”
“Come on. Let’s get your car properly parked and then we can get you settled in.” Addison put her hand on Laura’s back to urge her toward making some kind of move. “I’m sure the police will want to talk with you.”
The police. Laura’s stomach churned as she thought of the fact that she’d only been in town a few minutes and was already needing to be interviewed by the local police.
After an hour she had, in fact, been interviewed by the police. They made the determination that the whole thing was an accident for now, but charges could still be brought later after they interviewed Sawyer. She was instructed not to leave town.
As she settled into her room, she felt wave after wave of guilt wash over her. Was he okay? Did he break any bones? She paced back and forth as she
thought about this stranger she’d injured until she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Excuse me, Addison,” she said as she peeked into the kitchen. Addison was feeding her daughter a late dinner. A handsome man was also in the kitchen and smiled at her as she entered.
“Oh, hi, Laura. This is Clay.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said with a forced smile. “Listen, can you tell me how to get to the hospital? I feel so bad…”
“Sure. Let me draw you a quick map,” Addison said, handing off the feeding duties to Clay.
Laura drove down the dark, mostly deserted roads of January Cove. She could see why the man had been standing in the middle of one because it was a small town, mostly quiet. She wondered what tourist season was like since summer was about to begin soon.
She pulled into the hospital parking lot and walked through the ER entrance. There was one nurse behind the counter and a bunch of empty chairs lining the walls of the waiting area.
“Hi. I’m looking for… what’s his name… Sawyer?” She felt like a complete imbecile, not even knowing his last name. The woman smiled graciously.
“Honey, I can’t just let you back. Especially not with Sawyer being back there.”
That comment made no sense to her, but she was focused on getting back there. “I’m the one who hit him with my car.”
The woman’s mouth dropped open. “You hit him with your car? Why? He’s such a nice guy. And super hot!”
Laura sucked in a sharp breath and struggled not to lose her cool with the young woman behind the desk. She was tired from her drive and emotionally drained from worrying about the handsome stranger she’d accidentally mowed down with her car.
“Look, I realize he seems to be somewhat of a local celebrity but…”
“Seriously? He…”
“Can I help you?” There was a man standing off to the right of the front desk who’d been listening to part of their exchange.
“Well, I’m not sure,” Laura said. “Unfortunately, I’m the one who hit the gentleman with my car.”
