“What the fuck are you doing here, man?” Emmett asked.
“Hey,” I said, pressing a finger to my lips. “Watch the language. I’m here with my daughter. We’re visiting Mom.” I turned the cart to the side to show Bella sitting on the inside. She leaned halfway out and waved at Emmett, who stepped back like he had just been slapped across his hairy face.
“Daughter?” he balked.
“Yeah. Daughter. Don’t be so surprised.”
Emmett shook his head. “I’m not. Sorry. Well, yes, I am. I just… I don’t know. I never pictured this, I guess. Hi there,” he said to Bella, giving her a little wave in return. She went back to pretending she was driving a race car.
“How’ve you been?” I asked my old friend from high school.
“Good, man,” he said, hooking his thumbs in the loops of his jeans. “I bought the old diner around the corner. You know the one old man Booth used to own? Gave her a facelift. Best burgers in Valdez, if I do say so myself. Nothing too fancy but it pays the bills. What about you? Living the dream out in Florida?”
I shrugged. “Florida is good. Bella goes to a good school there, right, kiddo?”
“Right,” Bella said without looking up from the fake steering wheel.
I ran my hands through my hair. “Business is good. Feels a bit strange to step away from it all.”
“I bet. You’re the big cheese now. We sometimes see your company in the news and stuff. Pretty cool, man. Pretty cool. A pretty boy from Valdez of all places, making his mark in the world.”
I laughed and shook my head. “There was a lot of luck involved.”
“You were never humble before. Don’t start now, Brayden.”
“Alright, fine,” I mused. “I worked my ass off and it paid off.”
“Better.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll let you two carry on. I have to get back to the diner for the dinner rush. We should grab a drink while you’re in town—if you’re staying more than a day, that is.”
“A drink would be great.”
“Yeah? You know who else would probably be happy to see you?”
“Who?” I asked.
“Rein.”
Hearing her name sent off warning bells in my head. I hadn’t thought about the dark-haired vixen in years, and I didn’t want to start now. She was the one person I left behind who deserved a phone call from me at the very least. I had left without saying goodbye, and I hadn’t spoken to her since. I knew that was because of guilt. I never forgave myself for how I left her.
I swallowed. “I don’t know if she’d be all that thrilled to hear I’m back in town.”
“What? Why not? The two of you were thick as thieves. She’ll be thrilled!”
I shook my head and looked at my feet. “I doubt it, man. Let’s just call it intuition.”
“Whatever,” Emmett said, waving me away. “I’ll get a hold of you and we’ll meet up sometime soon. Nice to meet you, Bella.”
“Bye!” Bella called, looking up out of the mini car attachment on the shopping cart. “Can we start driving now, Daddy?”
“Sure, kiddo,” I said, and I resumed pushing the cart up and down the aisles until our shopping was finished.
Bella was happy to listen to music as we drove home, and her little voice singing along to the pop songs she insisted on listening to was a good enough distraction for the first ten minutes or so. After that, my head started filling with memories of Rein.
I remembered her long black hair and how it always smelled like summertime, even on the coldest and darkest days in Valdez. Her skin somehow held a glow that life in a near arctic climate couldn’t offer, and her full pink lips were forever tantalizing me with their softness. Kissing her had been like kissing an angel—which she had laughed out loud at when I told her.
I parked the truck back under my mother’s car port and hopped out to unbuckle Bella from the back seat. I lifted her out, placed her on the driveway, and gave her one bag of groceries to carry. She hefted it over her shoulder and wobbled up the drive to the front door where she waited patiently for me.
I unlocked the door and let her in first, calling her to stop on the mat so she didn’t trek any snow into my mother’s house. I helped her get out of her snow gear. Then I stripped out of mine, and we put the groceries away in the kitchen. I sent Bella to check on my mother, and she reported back that she was asleep.
“We’ll let her rest awhile,” I said. “What do you say you and I make dinner?”
“Make dinner?” Bella asked.
“Yeah. How about spaghetti?” I wasn’t a cook by any means, but even I couldn’t mess up spaghetti. And if I did, I knew my mother would be the first to tell me everything I had done wrong after trying just one bite. If she had enough of an appetite for one bite, that was.
“Yum, spaghetti,” Bella said, clapping her hands together.
“Yeah, and after dinner, maybe all three of us can watch a movie?”
Bella agreed with enthusiasm, and I gave her little tasks around the kitchen to do to help me prepare our meal. I held her above the stove to stir the sauce and let her shake in the spices and add all the ingredients. It was enjoyable, and I found myself wondering if I had been missing out on good experiences with my little girl by always ordering in or having our meals prepared for us.
Chapter 6
Rein
I struggled to tuck my yoga mat under my left arm while hurrying to keep up with Gracie’s long strides. Her hatred for the snow and the cold weather didn’t seem to slow her down in the least. My short little legs had a hard time of it though, and I was winded by the time we got to the Tavern.
I shouldered my backpack, holding my yoga equipment, and shot Gracie a look. “I still don’t know why I couldn’t go home and drop my stuff off first.”
“Because I know you,” Gracie said as she pulled open the front door. “As soon as you got home, you’d want to run yourself a bath and light some candles. As soon as that happens, you’re in for the night. You’ll have plenty of time for that when I’m gone.”
“Fine.” I scowled, following her into the bar.
We picked a table near the back, just in front of the crackling fire in the stone hearth. The warmth of the flames chased away the chill that had settled into my bones, and after a couple minutes, I was able to take off my jacket and drape it over the back of my chair.
Gracie ordered us each a beer, and by the time it arrived, she was venting vehemently about one of the older ladies in her yoga class.
“I just don’t get why she even bothers coming,” Gracie said broodily, wiping beer foam from her upper lip. “She just stares daggers at me the whole time.”
“Mrs. Carrick is lonely,” I said. “So what if she’s always in a foul mood? Besides, doing yoga is good for her, and she pays you. I don’t really see the downside here.”
“The downside is her bitching about me to her gal pal Betty Boop.”
“Betty Boop?” I asked.
“Yeah, the other lady who comes to class with her. What’s her name? The one with the very obviously dyed black hair and drawn-on eyebrows? She always wears hoop earrings.”
“Esther?”
“Yeah. Her. The two of them are such gossiping old hags.”
“Gracie!”
“What?” she barked, staring fiercely back at me. “It’s true. They’re nasty old ladies. The only reason they don’t like me is because I look different from everyone here. God forbid someone in this shitty town likes lipstick and mascara.”
I chuckled. “I look different, too.” I ran my hand through my hair and held out a lock of red. I had put red highlights in my black hair ages ago and loved it. Nobody ever gave me a hard time for it, though. Probably because I wasn’t as sassy or abrasive as Gracie. “Just let it go. Take their money, and let them pay your way to Cali.”
“You’re always so level headed,” Gracie said. “Don’t you ever get tired of being so reasonable?”
I laughed. “
No.”
Gracie gave me a shrug and sipped on her beer. “I don’t believe you.”
Just as I was about to slap back with a witty reply, the open chair beside us was pulled back and a big man dressed in plaid dropped down into it. He gave us both a big smile and rested his elbows on the table. “Ladies,” he said.
“Emmett,” Gracie and I replied in unison.
“Don’t you look pretty today, Gracie,” he said.
I arched an eyebrow at my friend. “See. Not everyone hates the lipstick.”
Emmett frowned. “Who said they hate your lipstick?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Gracie waved her hand to dismiss the topic. “How have you been, Emmett? Haven’t seen you out and about in a while.”
“Been good,” he said, leaning back and resting his hands on his stomach. Back in high school, he used to have the kind of abs Gracie and I swooned over. Now he was carrying a little bit of beer weight around his midsection, but it suited him in a lumberjack sort of way. “The diner is keeping me busy. Passes the time. How about you two? Business treating you well?”
Gracie shrugged. “Could be better. Could be worse.”
“Same here,” I said.
“You still dreaming of the California coast?” Emmett asked as he eyed our beers. He flagged down the waitress and pointed at our glasses to order a round for the table.
“I will be until I get there,” Gracie said.
“Shame,” Emmett muttered, glancing at me.
“Don’t look at me. I’ve said my piece and done everything I can to try to convince her to stay. She’s not meant for the Alaskan life. She needs sunshine and beaches.”
Gracie nodded. “Damn straight. And I refuse to settle.”
Our beers arrived and Emmett drank a greedy mouthful. “Yeah, I respect that about you. You’ve always known what you wanted, and you’re busting your ass to get it.” He put the beer down heavily on the table. “I nearly forgot. You know who I ran into at the grocery store today?”
“Who?” Gracie asked as I plucked the menu from the stand on the table. I’d read it so many times, I had it and all the specials memorized perfectly, but for some reason, I still liked to look through it before ordering.
“Brayden Hennie,” Emmett said ominously.
I looked up from the menu.
“I heard he was back in town from Nikki,” Gracie said, her voice shifting to a conspiratorial tone. “Is it true that he has a kid now?”
“A daughter,” Emmett confirmed. “Her name is Bella. Pretty cute kid. Real quiet though. Looks just like Brayden. Green eyes. Dark hair.”
“A daughter.” Gracie whistled low. “Never pictured him as a dad. Seems strange.”
Emmett shrugged. “Suited him in a weird way.”
“What does he look like now?” Gracie asked as she leaned forward and crossed her arms on the table.
I tried to bury my nose in the menu to avoid looking too interested in the subject. Brayden Hennie was a sensitive topic for me, but I couldn’t deny I was curious to hear more about him and what he was like after being gone for a decade.
“Well, he looks like a corporate, rich, polished version of the Brayden we remember.”
“Bet he fits right in with all the other socialites in Florida,” Gracie said with a smug smile.
“Yeah, he probably does, but let’s be real. We all kind of knew he was made for bigger stuff than the rest of us. He always had a chip on his shoulder and something to prove. He had to get out of here.”
I wished I could disappear behind my menu.
“It’s not weird for you that he’s back in town, is it Rein?” Emmett asked as if he had just realized how awkward this might be for me.
Everyone knew Brayden and I had been together—well, sort of together. He was my first kiss, and to this day, the only man I had ever loved. When he left, my world was dark for a long time, but I kept that darkness to myself. I was ashamed and embarrassed. He’d left without saying a word, like leaving me behind was as easy as removing a splinter. I was dead weight to him.
“It’s not weird,” I said, my voice sounding hollow in my own ears. I hoped neither of them could hear the lie. “We had our own history, but that was a long time ago now.”
“Glad to hear it,” Emmett said. “I think he’ll be here for a few days at least. I mean, the guy was grocery shopping.”
I caught Gracie’s eye. She was watching me with concern. Even though she didn’t know the extent of how hard Brayden leaving had hit me, she knew I never quite got over him. I gave her a small smile to try to reassure her that I was fine.
“I’m starving,” I said. “You guys know what you want?”
Both of them nodded back at me, so I flagged down our server, and we all put in our orders. Then we sat around, me enjoying the heat of the fire at my back, and chatted about less exciting things. We talked about the weather and the unrelenting snow, my art, Gracie’s yoga, and Emmett’s current battle with trying to order more ketchup for his diner. For some strange reason, it was difficult to import certain products to Valdez, and ketchup was among them.
“I don’t think you’ll lose customers because you’re temporarily out of ketchup,” I said, chuckling.
Emmett stroked his auburn beard. “Girl, you’ve got no clue how set in their ways the older folks of this town are. If they don’t have ketchup with their fries, they don’t want fries. They have the power to ruin my business.”
“Over ketchup?” I asked incredulously.
“Over whatever they deem unacceptable. This week it’s ketchup.”
“This is why I paint,” I said.
Everyone had a good laugh at that, and soon our appetizers arrived. We chatted while we ate, and Emmett mumbled about how the Tavern still somehow managed to have plenty of ketchup to spare. Everything was going fine until Gracie suddenly let out a very loud gasp and dropped her French fry.
“Oh shit,” she breathed.
“What?” I asked, looking up at her.
She was staring past Emmett and at the front doors. I followed the line of her gaze until my eyes fell upon a tall, dark haired man shrugging out of a winter jacket that was black and to his knees—much too classy for a place like Valdez. He pulled off his gloves and tucked them into the pockets of the jacket before hanging it on one of the hooks to his right.
Then he turned to face the bar while rubbing his hands together, and my heart leapt into my throat.
Brayden Hennie looked like sex wrapped in sex and then dipped in more sex.
I swallowed hard.
Emmett looked over his shoulder and threw his arm in the air, drawing Brayden’s attention to our table. He started walking toward us.
Oh shit. Holy fucking shit. Act normal. Act normal. Panic bloomed in my chest, and I swiped my napkin off the table to dab at my mouth, suddenly paranoid that there was sauce or grease on my lips.
Gracie shot a wide-eyed look in my direction and mouthed, “How did he get hotter?”
I shrugged, my heart pounding a mile a minute, and then turned just as Brayden drew up beside our table.
I soaked in the sight of him as he patted Emmett on the back in greeting. His eyes still hadn’t fallen on me, and I had a minute to fully realize how much he had changed.
He was taller than I remembered. He was wearing dark blue jeans that fit him perfectly—too perfectly to be the type of denim you would find on a shelf in a shop in Valdez. His boots looked expensive, as did the black shirt tucked into his belt and the black watch around his left wrist.
There was dark stubble on his jaw and neck that he had been unable to grow the last time I saw him. He looked like a man now. A grown, powerful, broad-shouldered man whose presence was stirring a primal sort of familiarity below my belly.
Good God, Rein, pull yourself together.
Chapter 7
Brayden
Rein Petty’s smile stopped me dead in my tracks. When I walked over to meet Emmett, who was sitting with two young women,
I hadn’t even realized that one of them was Rein. She was a woman now. Her cheeks were still cute and plump when she smiled, and her lips were still full and pink, but everything else about her was different somehow.
She was sexy in a way that made my tongue feel thick in my mouth.
Her curves were obvious, even though she was sitting down and her lower half was hidden beneath the table. Her eyes were bright, her lashes long, and her once raven-black hair was now streaked with vibrant columns of red.
“Take a seat, man.” Emmett pulled out the chair between him and Rein. “We’ve got some more food coming. Want me to call the waitress over so you can put your order in, too?”
“I’ll probably just order a drink,” I said, wishing the only vacant chair wasn’t the one right beside Rein. She probably felt the same way.
If she did, she didn’t show it. She reached for her beer and sat back to sip it as I dropped down into the chair beside her.
“So, Hennie Enterprises,” Gracie said, resting her chin on her knuckles as she regarded me. “How’s that going?”
Emmett shot her a dark look. “The man just got here. You can’t find the decency to talk to him about something other than work right off the bat?”
Gracie rolled her eyes. “Nice shirt. Where’d you get it?”
“What?” I asked. “I don’t remember—”
“That’s fine,” Gracie said. “So, Hennie Enterprises. How’s that going?” The corner of her mouth curled in a devious smile.
I chuckled and raked my fingers through my hair. Leave it to Gracie to cut to the chase. I had always liked that about her. She was a no bullshit kind of girl. I recalled her being very good for Rein when they were young girls in high school. She helped her speak her mind.
“It’s good,” I said simply. “It’s profitable.”
“Apparently,” Gracie mused, looking me up and down. “Must be nice.”
“It has its pros and cons, like everything.” I resisted the urge to tell her she was just as bitchy as I remembered. “Work takes up most of my time. If I’m being perfectly honest, this is the first time I’ve sat down in a bar for a drink that wasn’t a business meeting in over four years. And even now, I can’t stay too long. I have to get back to my daughter.”
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