One Moment (The Little Hollow Series Book 1)

by Danielle Dickson

  Placing my new boots on the floor beside my duffel, I took a shower before pressing my shirt for tomorrow night and made my way down to eat with the Holroyd’s.

  Curled up on our sofa, Keeley sat opposite me in the arm chair. I was starting to drop off, today had been a long day and I should probably get an early night before having to get up to go decorate the community hall.

  What a blast this was going to be, I thought sarcastically to myself.

  “You ever think we’re getting old before our time, Sam?” Kee asked, I looked up at her to see if this was a serious question. It was.

  “Oh, you’re serious. What did you want to be doing on a Friday night? Dancing in the local bar in cowboy boots and mini shorts?” She gave me an incredulous look.

  “We’re twenty-four years old and we’re sitting in our apartment nearly falling asleep while watching a documentary on Ancient Egypt. Come on, you think that’s not just a little boring? We need some excitement in our lives.”

  I happened to think the program was interesting but I couldn’t fault her logic. “Yeah, but we’re nearly twenty-five though, don’t forget that.” I said sarcastically.

  She swung her legs around. “Oh, forgive me, I forgot we’re nearly hung out to dry. Come on, Sam, let’s do something fun.” She tried to pull me off the sofa. “Get up! we don’t have to leave the apartment but I’ve got something we can do.” I’d never seen Kee like this before, she’d always been happy to sit in and watch movies.

  “Fine, what do you have in mind?” She smirked.

  “We’re going to pick what we’re wearing for tomorrow night.” What?

  “Who are you and what have you done with my friend?” Laughing, she continued to pull me through the apartment and into my bedroom.

  “When was the last time you got dressed up? Exactly! The blank look on your face tells me never.” Opening up my dresser, she started rifling through my clothes. She did this one by one before rooting through my closet. “Seriously, Sam, when was the last time you bought clothes?”

  I thought about it. “When we took that trip to South Mall.” She looked around.

  “One year ago? That wasn’t even a proper shopping trip. You bought leggings, a summer dress, some shorts and a tank top! Come with me.” We headed towards her room and she started pulling out tops, skirts, dresses and shorts.

  “Kee, you know none of this stuff is me.” I started to move off her bed.

  “Just try it on; humor me.” I looked over the pile of clothes and picked out a green silk tank and a denim skirt and huffed back off to my bedroom.

  “I look ridiculous!” I really did. The shirt made me look extra pasty and the skirt just made me look frumpy. Kee came in and threw a red dress at me. “Yeah, this isn’t gonna work for me.” Unravelling it, I could already tell it would hardly cover my butt.

  “Well you need to choose something, otherwise you’ll be wearing your birthday suit.” I huffed in frustration. Why couldn’t I just wear my comfy jeans and shirt combo? “And don’t even think about throwing those old jeans on,” she said, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

  I rolled my eyes before making my way back to Kee’s room. “What about this?” She held up a black and gold dress, slightly longer than the red dress, but I wasn’t a fan.

  “It’s not even a dressy occasion, Kee, unless you’re talking white dress and cowboy boots. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable in something this tight.”

  “These are more your style, now go try them on. And try being a little more optimistic.” Rifling through the rest of the pile, she threw a pair of shorts and a purple top at me.

  Pulling off the hideous green top and skirt, I swapped the outfits and looked in the mirror. I couldn’t believe how well they fit me. I heard whistling from behind.

  “If you don’t wear that, we’re no longer friends,” Kee threatened.

  I held up my hand. “It’s missing something.” Raiding my shoe rack, I found my old cowboy boots and pulled them on. “That’s better.”

  Gazing over myself one last time, I felt Kee pull my hair out it’s bun.

  “Ta-da! I’m putting your hair in waves tomorrow. Good call on the boots too. Not my style but they suit you.” I looked like a woman for once. The purple top was a halter that went across my breasts, showing a tiny amount of cleavage. It flowed from my waist to the top of the dark, ripped jean shorts and had a little beading at the nipped in waist, it added a little sparkle to the outfit. It was perfect.

  “Do I even need to ask what you’re wearing?” I smirked her way before she marched into her room and came back with a pair of black ripped jean shorts, biker boots, a plain white tee and finished it off with tying a chequered shirt around her waist. “I guess not. But you look good, Kee, you always do.”

  She looked down at herself. “You don’t think it’s too ‘hey look at the emo’?” Chuckling, I looked her over.

  “It’s not emo, Kee, it’s urban punk and you look just fine.” Seeing her visibly relax, I turned and started pulling off the boots. “I hope tomorrow goes smoothly.”

  “So what if it doesn’t? Our job is to decorate the place, that’s it. What you’ve planned is going to look awesome so there’s nothing to worry about.” Yeah, I guessed so.

  “But what if Nora doesn’t like it?” She turned to me with a ‘what the hell’ look on her face.

  “Then she can find someone else to rope into doing it next year. Stop worrying, everyone will love it, it’ll be great.”

  She had a smile on her face and I just had to ask. “Is Lewis going do you know?” Scoffing incredulously, she picked at the hem of her shirt.

  “How would I know? It’s not as if I care.”

  A chuckle escaped my mouth. “Yeah, and I don’t care about coffee.”

  She feigned being offended. “Did you just compare Lewis to coffee? How dare you, he isn’t all that. Anyway, I’m not planning on sticking around long enough to find out. The people here don’t like me, Sam, I’m an outsider to them even after all this time so I’d rather just show my face then leave.”

  Peeling off the outfit and sticking my pajamas on, I gave myself a little time to think of a reply.

  “You’re not an outsider, Kee. They just haven’t gotten a chance to get to know your sarcastic self yet.” To prove my point, she gave me the finger and a sarcastic smile. “See! That’s the Kee we all know and love.” I pinched her cheek and she swatted my hand away.

  “Yeah and if they keep staring at me like I have a third arm, they won’t get to know me. I have all the friendship I need, right in this little apartment.”

  “Ah, don’t tell me you’re going soft on me,” I said with a wink. She slid off my bed before throwing another middle finger over her shoulder on the way out the door. “That’s my girl!” I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.

  Well this is not how I had planned to wake up this morning. What is that noise? It sounded like someone was blending screws. I teetered across my bedroom and stuck my head out. “What in the-”

  “Good morning, sleepy head!” I peered at the clock; it was barely seven. Where was I? Had I woken up in some alternative universe where Keeley was up before me, making a breakfast smoothie?

  “Coffee is nearly ready and I was just whisking up some shakes for extra energy.” She pressed the button on the blender making that horrendous noise again.

  “Seriously, Kee? Urgh.” I flopped down at the breakfast counter and took the cup she handed me.

  “What time is Mr Gracefield and his merry men bringing those tables over?” Pouring her weird concoction into two glasses, she handed one to me.

  “Not until nine, what’s in this?” I smelt it and it didn’t smell too bad so I took a sip.

  “Oh you know, berries, protein powder, eggs, all that good stuff.”

  I heaved. “There’s raw eggs in this?” She smirked.

  “Oh don’t be like that, it’s good for you and it tastes good.” She took a sip of her own before spitting i
t out in the sink. “Okay, maybe not. Toast?”

  I chuckled and held up my mug. “Coffee is the only friend I need this morning.” Scowling over at me, I gave her a sarcastic smile. “This one isn’t trying to poison me.”

  Taking another sip of the ‘life force’ I’d need for today, my mind drifted off. By the time I’d joined the present, Kee had gone to shower. I had so much to do today, I just wanted to lock myself in the apartment and forget about the world but I had people relying on me to get things done.

  Not only did I have to use the whole morning to decorate the community hall and make sure everything was in place, I also had two clients in after lunchtime. After an afternoon of paperwork, I needed to get ready for tonight. It was going to be a long day.

  After a quick shower, I took my time getting dressed into my old jeans and a tank, shoved my hair up into a bun and called for Kee to hurry up so we could get going. As we were closing up the salon, my cell rang with an unknown number.

  “Hello, Samantha Reynolds speaking.”

  A gruff voice came over the other end. “I’ve got tables for you, Samantha Reynolds, where d’you want ‘em?”

  “I’m on my way over right now, I’ll be five minutes. If you could just start unloading them into the hall that’d be a huge help. I really appreciate this, Mr Gracefield.” He mumbled something unintelligible before hanging up without so much as a goodbye.

  “Really happy guy that one.” Kee snorted at my remark as she started to put everything in the trunk and backseats of the car.

  “That’s okay, you just stand and watch, little miss princess,” she said sarcastically. I chuckled and picked up a box to pass to her. “This better be quick and painless, Sam,” she warned, getting in the car. I didn’t say anything. If Nora was there watching our every move, it wasn’t going to be quick or painless.

  On arrival, she was there, standing with a clipboard in the middle of the room directing people. Or some would call it shouting and pointing erratically at things.

  “Oh thank goodness you’re both here! I thought this place was going to be a bare hall. Nice touch with the tables, I’ve told the men where they should go if that’s okay with you two.” She looked between us both with a look that challenged us to dare argue with her before flying through the middle of us. “No! Not there, Dustin. I said make it in line with the rest of them. Gosh, you all really must learn to listen more.”

  Kee pointed at the tables. “You know they would look better where that guy put the tables just then, right?” I chewed on my lip and nodded. “But no one’s going to say anything? Maybe it’s time someone gave her a dose of her own.” She moved forward. “Hey, Nora, I was thinking that the tables would look really good at that angle, then it would leave this room here-” She pointed through the middle. “-for people to dance and talk in. What do you think?” Nora pursed her lips before assessing the situation.

  “Do you not like my table layouts, Kayleigh?” She moved towards us with calculated steps. “Is it not to your taste?” Oh no, she’d poked the bear and I wasn’t talking about Nora.

  “Look, Nora, you’ve been coming to our salon for over three years now and I’ve corrected you every single time. It’s Keeley, you know that by now, let’s not be facetious. I think your table layouts are too formal, they aren’t in the right places for people to mingle and actually get to enjoy themselves without feeling ridged and regimented. So no, it’s not to my taste.”

  Way to knock one out the park, Kee, my mind chanted. She stood unnerved, looking Nora in the eye. “And since you put me and Sam here in charge of decorating, I think that should include the tables and bales that we organized, don’t you?”

  She gave her a sickly sweet smile before walking off in the direction of the guys to tell them to start moving the tables back to the way they were. With Nora left speechless, I slipped around her and back out to start unloading all the finer details from the car. I picked up one box too many and it started to topple as I hooked my foot to open the door, but it didn’t fall.

  “Woah! Careful there, a man might get the wrong idea if you go throwing stuff at him.” I giggled and looked up into the dark brown eyes of the man standing in front of me.

  “Thanks! I don’t know what I was thinking trying to carry all that at once. I guess I was just being lazy.” I really looked at him then, he had longish hair and was sporting a scar running the length of his cheek. The way he was looking at me gave me the creeps so I asked him to leave the box there to prop open the door, thanked him again and scuttled inside.

  “You okay, Sam?” I shook my head and looked up to smile at my best friend.

  “Of course, everything’s fine. Just a character I’ve never seen before saved me from a broken toe, no biggie, but he was kind of creepy looking.” She visibly stiffened but then tried to hide it seconds later.

  “What do you mean creepy looking? You can’t just describe people like that.” She forced a laugh but was clearly waiting for my reply.

  “You know the way some guys look at women, like they’re pieces of meat. It weirds me out, like I said, no biggie.” But apparently it was a biggie because Kee questioned me again about what he looked like. “You okay, Kee? Why are you so interested in this guy?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not, I just want to know who to look out for in case he comes creeping around here again. Can’t be too careful these days, Sam.”

  Yeah right, in a town like Little Hollow?

  “We’re safe around here, Kee, but if you really must know, he was just one of those typical biker types.” If I thought she was tense before, it was nothing compared to this version of her. I’d never seen her like this. Her breaths started coming in rapid bursts and she looked at me with wild eyes.

  “Kee?” She shook her head. “What? What’s wrong? I can’t do anything unless you tell me what’s wrong.”

  She started taking deep breaths until she’d calmed down.

  “Woo! I don’t know what happened to me there. Sorry, Sam, I didn’t mean to scare you. I think I’ve had too much coffee, I feel a bit jittery.”

  She was hiding something and it had everything to do with that biker guy. We walked back outside.

  “Why don’t you go home, Kee, I’ve got this” I gestured to the boxes we’d took out from the car. She looked around.

  “No, I’m fine, honestly. Let’s do this! It’s only nine and I’m already looking forward to the day ending, let’s not draw this out any longer.” With that she piled two boxes on top of each other before walking into the community hall. I guess she wasn’t ready to tell me but I couldn’t help feel a little bit of an outsider in her life these last few days.

  Picking up another box, I put it to the back of my mind to be revisited later on, it was time to go hang some bunting.

  “I must say, you’ve done a fine job here. And I really must apologize to you, kay… Keeley. I’ve been a bitter old boot. I guess you could say that I’m very set in my ways and a little jealous of all you young folk. Now if I was asked if that was ever said, I’d deny it.” She winked and walked away with a wave over her shoulder. “See you tonight girls.”

  “Well, well, well, the old boot does have a sense of humor.” I chuckled and followed Kee to the car. “Now let’s go get some food, there’s no way I’m doing paperwork on an empty stomach.”

  I nodded my agreement and we headed towards the diner.

  Today was going at a snail’s pace. I’d been out for a run early this morning after I couldn’t sleep again, I thought it would make time go quicker but, all in all, it only took up an hour. I then had breakfast and caught up with Betty and Lyle, they were such good people and I really enjoyed talking to them.

  They were full of wisdom that can only come from living, from loving. They said they enjoyed having me around, their two kids were fully grown adults now and they had families of their own but both didn’t live in the area so they only got to see them on the odd occasion.

  After breakfast was over, t
he only thing I could think to do was to take a walk and Lyle offered to come with me. We walked down the street in comfortable silence, saying the odd hello to passers-by.

  “What’s on your mind, son?” Not expecting the sudden question, I didn’t know how to answer. “Now me and Betty, we’ve never pushed or asked you any questions about why you keep coming back here every year but I know it must be important to come put up with us old coots.” He winked to put me at ease before taking a seat on an old bench.

  I sat down next to him, leaning my forearms against my knees and watched the traffic roll on by. After a few minutes, I took a deep breath.

  “I used to live around here. I moved exactly a year before I started coming to the B&B.” He nodded for me to continue. “I didn’t have the best upbringing so I guess you’d think I was crazy for coming back here, but I needed to.” I sighed. “My names isn’t Mac, it’s Connor...Connor Hartley.” He looked a little surprised for a minute and then recovered himself.

  “I can’t say I’m not surprised, Ma- Connor, but I’m intrigued as to why you felt you needed to hide your identity.” I turned to face him.

  “It was never my intention to deceive you and your wife, Lyle. Everything else about me is true. My name brings a lot of responsibility for me and I didn’t want to be recognized. Eight years ago there was a terrible accident over in Little Hollow.” I closed my eyes and paused. It was hard to talk about.

  “The boy?” I nodded my head. When I opened my eyes, Lyle was staring at me intently.

  “His name was Tommy. We spent so much time together that we were practically family, he was like a brother to me.”

  Realization started washing over his face.

  “You’re the teen who tried to save him.” It was a statement more than a question so I just nodded once in response.

  “I tried. I tried and I failed. Do you have any idea the guilt that comes with something like that?” I hung my head in my hands, hoping to keep the tears at bay.