This Just In... (Harlequin Superromance)

by Jennifer Mckenzie

  “No, I’m happy to listen.” It was clear why he’d decided to go into the business he had. His love of automobiles was evident. She placed a hand on his sleeve, and the cool material of his blazer felt lovely beneath her fingers. “I can’t swear I’ll understand everything, but I’m happy to listen.”

  For a second, he just stared at her. Then he hugged her. Hard. “Thank you.” She wondered how often other people let him share his true loves.

  They got premium parking. One of the perks of being the town’s leader. Of course, that also meant they were accosted before they even climbed out of the truck. Still, Noah came around to close the door behind her, politely listening as a crowd of people called for his attention.

  But they weren’t all calling for Noah. A few people stopped to tell Sabrina that they’d enjoyed her latest article in the paper. She’d decided to use some of the information gathered during her interview with Noah to write an article about Cedar Oaks, which had run in this morning’s edition. She thanked them, pleased they’d taken the time to search her out.

  So different than Vancouver. She shrugged off the thought. Different city, different residents, different experience. One wasn’t better than the other, just different. Okay, twenty-four-hour coffee places were better...so long as she didn’t have to work in them.

  And the possibility of her return to Vancouver was looking up. Although nothing had changed on the paper front, she’d finally realized she needed to take a two-pronged approach to the matter. If she couldn’t convince the paper to ignore Big Daddy’s demands, then maybe she could convince Big Daddy to rescind them.

  On Thursday, she’d received an email from the man himself. Granted, it was a terse note stating that he hadn’t changed his mind, but it opened the possibility to further communication. Something she intended to take full advantage of. If he could be convinced to remove his ban on her employment, she saw no reason why the paper wouldn’t take her back. She’d already sent back a friendly missive asking if they could get together via phone or in person for a chat.

  Couldn’t hurt.

  Sabrina stayed with Noah while he made his way to the grand stage for the official opening speech. The festival had launched Friday night, but everyone knew that the real event didn’t begin until Saturday. She snapped a few behind-the-scenes photos from the sidelines, knowing it was the kind of insight Trish and the readers would enjoy.

  The smell of popcorn and cotton candy filled the air, the squeals of kids on the rides and the laughter of everyone enjoying themselves. She’d missed this. Not just the festival. All of it.

  Well, she wouldn’t stay away so long next time. She’d come back, even if she could only make it once or twice a year. She looked at Noah who finished his speech to loud applause and saw the light in his eyes when he caught sight of her. And she would come back to see him.

  They didn’t separate until later that afternoon. He had to award another ribbon in the baking category and she needed to get some photos that didn’t include Noah. Maybe some kids on the rides, with sunny smiles and that glee in their eyes that indicated either bliss or trouble. Sometimes both.

  Sabrina staked out a spot by the kiddie carousel and pulled her camera out. There was a little blonde girl screaming with laughter, her head thrown back as she went around and around. Sabrina snapped a couple of shots then looked for the parents.

  She caught a glimpse of a hand waving to the girl and a flash of blond hair. Blond hair that looked familiar. She looked back at the little girl. And a smile that she recognized, too.

  Crap. Marissa. She didn’t need the crowd to clear and show her face to know it was her.

  Sabrina rubbed her suddenly chilled hands together. She wasn’t afraid to talk to Marissa. Not exactly. But it had been a long time. She’d been in town for two months and they hadn’t even crossed paths.

  Obviously, that had been intentional on Marissa’s part, but Sabrina realized she needed to take some responsibility for their continued separation, too. She could have approached Marissa, called, dropped by her house. But she’d allowed it to slide because that was easier. Easier to just go along rather than face what would likely be a difficult reunion.

  But she didn’t want to be timid anymore. She was taking charge of her professional life, contacting Big Daddy and doing what she could to make things better. It was time she did the same in her personal life.

  She gathered up her courage, pasted on a smile and moved toward the person who’d once been her best friend in the entire world.

  “Marissa.”

  Marissa turned, a cheerful smile on her lips. It disappeared when she spotted Sabrina, replaced by a wary gaze. “Sabrina.”

  Well, at least she hadn’t spun away on one heel or shouted at her. So that was a win. “How are you?”

  “Fine.” Marissa’s tone was cautious and careful. She studied Sabrina, but said nothing more.

  “Good, good.” Sabrina swallowed. Such enchanting and delightful repartee. “You look great.”

  Marissa did look great. Her hair was the same pale shade of blond it had been all through high school. And though she’d had four children, her slender figure was the same, too. Sabrina bet she could still fit into her prom dress. Sabrina could not. She knew because she’d tried when she’d found it in the back of her old bedroom closet. She could wiggle it over her hips, but the material was stretched tight and the zipper wouldn’t move anywhere past the middle of her back.

  “Thanks. You look good, too.”

  They eyed each other again. Awkward, uncertain. Sabrina glanced at the carousel, which was still moving in slow circles. The tiny blonde girl waved at them as she went by. “Is that your daughter?”

  “Yes.” Marissa’s eyes softened when she looked at her daughter. “Daisy.”

  “She looks like you.” In fact, now that she looked again, Sabrina wondered if she hadn’t subconsciously recognized her. She could have been a double for Marissa at the same age, a fact Sabrina knew very well.

  “That’s what everyone says.”

  Sabrina felt a pinch in her heart. She should have been around more. She’d missed so much. Marissa’s marriage, her children. The knowledge made her sad. Maybe she should have done things differently. But she couldn’t go back, she could only move forward. “Do you think she’d want to be in the paper?”

  “Daisy?” Marissa’s eyebrows shot up.

  “The feature photo for my article.” She turned the view screen of her camera to Marissa to show her the shots she’d already snapped.

  Marissa smiled as she flicked through the pictures. “She’d love that.” She handed the camera back. “But I don’t think so.”

  Sabrina smiled through the sinking feeling in her stomach. “I understand.” She did. “Marissa, I’m really—”

  “Stop.” Marissa held up a hand. “I’m not ready to hear this.”

  “I just want to—”

  “You’ve been gone a long time. A long time.” Marissa’s eyes were bright, too bright. “Just give me some space, okay?”

  Sabrina felt her own eyes prickle, probably becoming dangerously bright themselves. “Of course. Whatever you need, Riss.” The old nickname slipped out.

  Marissa nodded. “Thank you.” She blinked and then painted on a smile Sabrina knew very well as she bent to hug a blond-haired bullet that flew into her legs.

  “Did you see me? I was flying!” Daisy chattered away explaining the joyous experience of riding the kiddie carousel. She wore a checked pink button-down shirt, an orange skirt and blue cowboy boots with lopsided pigtails to complete the look.

  Sabrina grinned and felt the prickling slip away. How could she not in the face of Daisy’s exuberant retelling? She’d be perfect on the front page of the paper. Messy pigtails and all. But Sabrina wouldn’t go against Marissa’s wishes. Even if she didn’t
need signed release forms, she wouldn’t have done it.

  Daisy finished telling her story and took a breath. Then she noticed Sabrina. She turned. Her smile was wide and guileless. A child who was well loved and loved in return. “Hi. I’m Daisy.”

  She held out her hand, gently shaking the little girl’s hand. “I’m Sabrina.”

  Daisy nodded as though this information pleased her. “I like your boots.” She looked up at her mother. “Can I have red boots?”

  “You have blue boots.”

  Daisy looked down at the toes of her boots. “But they’re not red.”

  “Blue boots are nice, too,” Sabrina said. “I was thinking of buying some.” She wasn’t, but the cheery smile from Daisy and grateful blink from Marissa told her it had been the right thing to say.

  “Then we could be sisters,” Daisy said. “I don’t have sisters. Only brothers.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m five and three-quarters. How old are you?”

  “Twenty-seven.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “That’s old.”

  “I know.” Sabrina nodded. “I’m practically a relic.”

  “What’s a relic?”

  “Someone or something that’s very old.”

  Daisy nodded in sympathetic understanding. “My mom’s a relic, too.”

  Sabrina snorted, her eyes catching Marissa’s. They shared a smile. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

  * * *

  SABRINA FOUND NOAH twenty minutes later looking like he’d rather be anywhere else but here. Oh, it wouldn’t be obvious to most people. He had that faux mayor look down to a fine art, all grand gestures and warm welcomes, but the pinched look in his eyes screamed for rescue. And who was she to refuse?

  She waded through the crowd toward a long table covered with a checked blue-and-white tablecloth and practically groaning under the weight of pies. The smell was heavenly. Peach and blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, traditional apple, ginger and cloves, lemon and lime. All covered in homemade pastry because no baker would dare to use store-bought. Not when there was a blue ribbon on the line.

  “Well, Mayor Barnes?” A tiny white-haired woman was staring up at him, a zealous look in her eye. “Who wins?”

  Clearly naming anyone other than her would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Sabrina recognized her. Miss Phillips. Her high school French teacher. She used to enforce the “only French in my classroom” rule even outside of class hours. On the plus side, Sabrina doubted there was a single person in town who didn’t still remember how to ask to go to the washroom en français. Anything to get out of Miss Phillips’s class.

  Sabrina slipped through the throng until she stood as close to Noah as possible without actually bumping into him. The entire crowd quieted as he opened the envelope. And read out a name that wasn’t Miss Phillips’s. “Congratulations, Marie Pepper.”

  “Excusez-moi?”

  Sabrina internally rolled her eyes as Miss Phillips turned to glare at Noah. As if he were responsible for selecting the winner rather than just announcing the names.

  “So sorry to interrupt.” She touched Noah’s arm and felt a rush of pleasure when he turned to look at her. “Can I get a photo of the winner and the mayor? For the paper.”

  Miss Phillips sniffed, but didn’t argue. Sabrina noted the grateful look in Noah’s eye. She took her time setting up the photo, too, ensuring that everyone else began to wander away in search of something more exciting than the photo they’d see in the next edition of the paper anyway.

  “Thank you,” Noah said when Sabrina finally decreed they were done and Miss Phillips was no longer in the vicinity.

  “Don’t you mean merci?” She snickered and put her digital camera away.

  “That, too.” He rested a warm hand on her back.

  She shivered and sank into it. “Got a minute?”

  He sighed. “Not really.” But his hand didn’t move.

  She nodded. She’d expected the answer. In the time she’d been tailing him he hadn’t had a second to rest. The poor man hadn’t even had a chance to eat because every time he might have, someone else was dragging him away or wanting to talk. And he graciously acceded without complaint. Sabrina didn’t know how he managed. She was tired just watching and this was only one day for her. She suspected this was pretty much his normal routine. “Let’s make one then. Come on. We’ll hide.”

  She knew she was right about his exhaustion when he didn’t disagree and allowed her to lead him off the main paths. She spotted a roped-off area and ducked under the barrier.

  “There now.” She tugged until they were tucked out of sight, behind one of the tents, away from the pressing needs of everyone in town. “Better?”

  “Definitely.” Noah lifted a hand to brush her hair off her shoulder.

  “You know, you can tell them no.” A spark of pleasure arced through her when his hand came to rest on the side of her neck.

  “It isn’t that easy.” Actually, it was. But clearly he got something out of the behavior, too. “How did your photo taking go?”

  “Good. I snapped some pics of your niece for the paper.”

  Noah smiled and some of the tiredness disappeared from his face. “She must have loved that.”

  “She didn’t know. Marissa asked that I not use them.”

  “Ah.” Noah nodded. “So you talked.”

  “A little.” Sabrina thought of Daisy, of all the years of Marissa’s life that she’d missed. The tingling pressure behind her eyes started up again. “Do you think I’m a bad person?”

  “What?” She felt the jolt go through him, but she didn’t check his face. She’d prefer to keep her eyes focused on the center of his pristine white shirt, thank you very much.

  “I think I might be.” Why hadn’t she called Marissa the minute she arrived in town? So what if it would have been hard? Marissa deserved an apology in person. Not some stuffed toy and a letter. Her heart throbbed. But maybe it was too late for any of that.

  Sure, they could become polite acquaintances, exchanging friendly hellos as they passed through each other’s lives, but no more than that. If you’d asked her a few months ago, Sabrina would have said that was enough. But being back, being here with Noah, it didn’t seem like enough.

  “Sabrina.” Noah’s voice was soft. Gentle and kind. Like the type of man he was. “You’re a good person. You’re thoughtful and smart and beautiful. Do you think I’d be with you if you weren’t?”

  Her chest cracked. Just cracked wide open. She looked up. “Are we together, Noah?”

  The brim of his hat protected both of them from the sun and anyone who might be watching. Of course, the tall, sexy man in the white, good-guy cowboy hat, wearing jeans and a blazer was pretty recognizable even from behind.

  But he didn’t lean forward or bend down to kiss her. He stared at her. The breeze blew her skirt around her thighs and she shivered. But she’d be lying if she said it was solely due to the wind.

  Noah kept staring. As if he was looking deep into her soul, into those dark places she had done her best to ignore for the past nine years, and seeing everything. Her throat tightened. She didn’t want him to see. Didn’t want anyone to see the ugliness inside her. Those bits she’d buried and tried not to think about. The bits that stayed buried when she was in the city where her friends didn’t care about much beyond the next round of parties and whether or not they could get reservations at the hottest restaurants.

  Not like Wheaton.

  “Do you know how long it’s been since I kissed a woman?” Noah asked. As though this were casual conversation, something brought up at a dinner party for everyone to join in.

  Sabrina blinked. Not what she’d been expecting. She raised her chin. “In fact, I do.” She recalled the feel of his mouth against hers very well. “Just thi
s morning at my front door.”

  The edge of his mouth curved. “Before you.”

  Heat tickled up the curve of her spine. The memory of their kiss. The way his voice whispered across her skin. The way he looked at her now. Actually, the way he looked at her all the time. “No.”

  “Six months.” He lifted his hand, ran a knuckle down the side of her cheek. It was all she could do not to turn into it and purr like a kitten.

  “That doesn’t sound so long. For me, it was...” She paused to think. She’d kissed some random guy at a club the night she’d lost her job. Hard to forget that night, though she’d done her best to drown it under a flood of vodka. Six months ago. And then the cute assistant from her yoga class before she’d had to drop that small luxury in order to make her rent payment. Four months ago. The barista who gave her free lattes on Tuesday mornings. Three months ago. And the trustafarian her friend had set her up with just before she’d left Vancouver. Two months ago. And now she had Noah to meet all her kissing needs. She smiled. Marissa used to call her The Kissing Bandit in high school. Seemed like little had changed. The smile fell away.

  Except for everything else.

  Sabrina sighed. “I’ve made a mess of my life.”

  “It can’t be all bad.” He lifted her hand and kissed it.

  Delicate tingles raced down her arm. It would be so easy to let him tease her into a better mood. To pretend that nothing serious was going on in her life. That it was okay. That she was okay. But she couldn’t do that. It was time to face certain things head-on. “I haven’t been entirely honest with you. I didn’t really come back to write a book about my experiences interviewing celebrities. I was fired.”

  Instead of the shocked outrage, the pulling back and overreaction that she’d expected, Noah simply nodded. “I figured.”

  A ball of panic formed in Sabrina’s stomach, attempted to draw her down to her knees. She held strong and clutched Noah’s hand more tightly. “Oh?” She wasn’t sure she managed the light tone she was going for, but at least she hadn’t collapsed into a mewling puddle. So, yay. “Does everyone know?”