Starting Over (Whiskey Ridge Book 1)

by Rachel Hanna

  “Wait. How did you know her name?”

  “Friends help friends, especially when they’re stressed out. I knew what your mother would do to this house, so I helped out,” he said softly so Edie couldn’t hear.

  Kelly’s heart suddenly melted into a puddle of goo on the floor. She’d never known a man like Quinn Maverick.

  “You did this?” she asked as she moved closer so she was about a foot away from him.

  “No big deal. Really. She cleans my place on Tuesdays.”

  “Quinn, I…”

  “Are we going to eat dinner or what?” Edie called from the kitchen. “I mean, who comes for a visit at the dinner hour?” Quinn chuckled under his breath.

  “Mother! Have some manners!” Kelly called back. “I’m so sorry…” she whispered.

  “Don’t worry, Edie. I’ve got a pizza on its way for you to enjoy tonight,” he called out to her. Edie popped her head back around the corner and gave him a quizzical look. “I’m taking your daughter out for some much needed relaxation time.”

  “What toppings?” Edie asked without acknowledging what he’d said.

  “Well, I had to guess, but I chose sausage and green peppers.” Kelly thought that was an odd choice. Why not choose pepperoni or plain cheese? She liked plain cheese herself. No muss, no fuss.

  Edie grunted in approval and went back into the kitchen. “How did you know she’d like sausage and green peppers, of all things?” she asked with a giggle.

  “Well, I think she’s got kind of a spicy personality, so they seemed obvious.” He winked at her and she felt the heat start to rise throughout her body, threatening to send flushed redness to her face.

  “I’d better get dressed,” she said as she quickly turned and made her way to her bedroom. This was going to be one interesting night, that much was sure.

  Chapter 10

  After quickly getting dressed and touching up her minimal makeup, Kelly was ready to go. They said a fast goodbye to Edie, who was already chowing down on her pizza by the time Kelly was ready, and climbed into Quinn’s waiting truck.

  He was a man’s man, with a truck big enough to crush a few other trucks. Southern to the core and a black belt, he would seem to most outsiders to be tough, rugged and impossible to penetrate, but Kelly caught glimpses of a softer side. A funny guy with a sharp wit and the occasional bit of sarcasm, Quinn was a mix of everything most women wanted.

  But she sensed he had some secrets of his own, perhaps even bigger secrets than she’d been keeping about her upbringing.

  Talk in the truck had mostly been centered around work, his history of learning karate and her relationship with Maggie. Being that Whiskey Ridge was a small dot of a town, they were at Limelight, the only fancy restaurant in town, in five minutes flat.

  Quinn walked around and opened the passenger door to help her down, and she second guessed her choice of attire. Wearing her favorite short red dress and strappy black heels, it had been hard enough to climb up into the truck, much less climb down without mooning half the town. Thank God she was wearing her expensive panties, although she wasn’t sure why.

  He took her hand and whisked her down without any apparent effort at all. When her feet hit the ground, he let her go and smiled.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t want to say so in front of your mother, but holy crap you look hot in that dress,” he said, his rough voice cracking a bit.

  “Thank you… friend,” she said, with special emphasis on “friend”.

  “Would Maggie tell you that you look hot?”

  “Well, yes…”

  “Then don’t be sarcastic….friend,” he said with a wink before putting his hand on her lower back and guiding her toward the door. She had to admit, just the simple act of feeling a man’s hand on her back, guiding her, was a welcome respite from her recent independence.

  When they sat down at their table overlooking a small lake, Kelly felt she could finally take a deep breath after days of anxiety dealing with her mother. The smell of steaks cooking on the grill was overtaking her senses, and she realized she had missed lunch and was starving.

  “This place is beautiful. I’ve never been here before,” she said looking around at the elegant decor.

  “Seriously? You’ve lived here a lot longer than I have. Why haven’t you been here?” Quinn asked.

  “No one ever brought me,” she said as she hungrily reached for a piece of the bread that the waiter had brought to the table. Since this wasn’t a date, she was going to freely eat like a pig instead of nibble on salad as she would normally be tempted to do.

  “Wait, didn’t you have a longterm boyfriend?”

  “How’d you know that?” she asked.

  “Maggie likes to talk,” he said with a laugh. And that was an understatement. Maggie, God love her, couldn’t keep her big trap shut. Plus, she’d been trying to push Quinn on Kelly, both literally and figuratively, since he’d shown up in town.

  “Big mouth,” Kelly muttered. “Yes, I dated Rio for a year…”

  “Rio?” he said, almost doing a spit-take with his water.

  “Um, you have no room to talk, Quinn Maverick. Where did you get a name like that anyway?”

  “What can I say? My mom knew how cool I would be one day.”

  “Good Lord…” she said with a smile as she took another bite of her bread. Carbs had never been her friend, but right now she was so hungry she could’ve eaten the back of a Volkswagen bug.

  “But back to you. Why didn’t Rio ever bring you here?”

  “Rio was… how do I say this… different.” Yeah, that was an understatement.

  “Different how?”

  “Artsy. Flaky. Lazy.” She wanted to add other words like “cheater”, “dirt bag” and “guy-who-is-going-straight-to-hell-for-cheating-on-me”, but she refrained.

  “Wow, sounds like quite a catch,” he said with a laugh. “And you were with him because…”

  Kelly stopped for a moment and looked at him. “I have no idea.”

  They both broke into laughter. It was true. She had no idea why she chose Rio in the first place. He certainly wasn’t her type at all, but she didn’t really know who her type was anyway.

  A part of her had secretly hoped that Quinn Maverick was her type, but he obviously wasn’t interested since he kept emphasizing the fact that they were friends and friends only. And she wasn’t altogether sure that she wanted to be with another man anytime soon. Her life was in upheaval at the present time, and the last thing she needed was to add a relationship to the mix.

  “So you dated an artsy, fartsy guy for a whole year and you don’t know why?”

  “Pretty much. I mean he was Brazilian and cooked the most amazing food, but that’s hardly a reason to stay with someone so long, I suppose.”

  “And what happened to him?”

  “Oh, he slept with my best friend of six years, in my bed, and then whisked her off to live a lifestyle of laziness in Hawaii with him,” she said, popping the last piece of her bread in her mouth and then smiling with a look of achievement on her face as if to say “top that one”.

  “Lovely. Great friend you had there.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “So, I have another question.”

  “Okay…”

  “Where’s your father?” he asked softly.

  “What are you, a reporter?” She especially hated talking about her father. It was a lot easier to talk about her mother because she at least interacted with her, but talking about not having a father in her life – and being abandoned by him – was a lot more difficult.

  “Sorry, is that too private?”

  “Yes, but I’ll tell you anyway,” she said with a halfhearted smile.

  “You don’t have to, Kelly,” he replied, taking a sip of his water.

  She knew she didn’t have to, but for some reason she didn’t mind opening up to Quinn. It felt comfortable and safe. “My father is in prison.”

  Q
uinn couldn’t help but have a look of shock on his face. “Oh. Wow…”

  “Haven’t seen him in years and don’t plan to. His drug habit led to some other poor choices, and I just don’t need that negativity in my life. Plus, he was never a real father to me anyway.” She tried to sound unattached, but the truth was it did hurt. Growing up without a father hadn’t been easy. Knowing she would never have a father to walk her down the aisle one day was upsetting, but more so because she didn’t know if she would ever get to walk down an aisle as the actual bride.

  “I’m so sorry you grew up in that environment, Kelly. But you definitely rose above it, and it’s made you stronger.”

  “Maybe,” she said, “but it’s also made me ‘tightly wound’, according to just about everybody I know.” She wanted to say “including you”, but held her tongue. But she knew he was thinking it because he had said as much as soon as they met.

  “I’m sorry I judged you so harshly when we met. I understand why you protect yourself and your space now. I really mean it,” he said softly. Her stomach did a flip flop.

  “It’s okay. And I’m sorry I misjudged you too,” she said. “But when you called me a chick, I almost body slammed you.”

  Before he could respond, the waiter came to take their order.

  Kelly enjoyed a nice juicy steak and a side salad, which was more food than she would normally consume but she was having such a good time talking and laughing with Quinn that she felt lighter and less anxious than she had in years. Or maybe ever.

  He was the most easygoing guy she’d ever known, telling her about his years growing up in Tennessee with a stay at home mother and a father who was a traveling salesman. Honestly, his upbringing sounded like Leave It To Beaver, and she envied what he’d experienced as a child.

  Lots of love. Huge family. Even a real white picket fence.

  “So,” she said, between bites of her salad, “do your parents still live in Tennessee?”

  “My mom does. My father passed away three years ago. Brain cancer,” he said, sorrow landing on his face. Her heart hurt for him.

  “I’m so sorry, Quinn. He sounds like he was a wonderful father.”

  “He was, and I’m eternally grateful for all he taught me. One day, I hope to be half the father he was.”

  The thought of Quinn Maverick as someone’s father made Kelly almost feel jealous for the child. What she would’ve given for a man like him to have raised her. Maybe one day she’d have a husband like him to help raise her children. At least she hoped so.

  “Can I ask you something?” he said as the waiter started to clear the table to make way for their dessert.

  “Yes, Mr. Inquisitive. Would you like to know my blood type or shoe size?” she said with a giggle.

  “Neither. But I would guess a size seven on the shoe size.” How did he know that? “Anyway, I was wondering about that cross at the edge of your property. Looks like some kind of memorial?”

  “Oh, yes. There was a terrible car accident there a little over a year ago.”

  “Did you see it?”

  “No, but I heard it. I was home from work. The noise was horrific. It was a very violent crash.” Thinking about it made her cringe, and she really didn’t want to talk about it, especially when they were having such a lovely time.

  “Do you know who it was?” he asked. She realized he wasn’t letting it go, so she might as well tell the whole story so they could move on to happier topics.

  “No. It was a woman. She seemed to have taken the curve too fast. I ran to see if I could help, but the car caught fire and… well, there was nothing I could do.”

  “Did you see her?” he asked softly, leaning over the table.

  “Briefly. She was passed out. I think she hit her head. I tried to open the door, but that’s when the car went up in flames… Sorry, I don’t like to talk about it. I still have nightmares sometimes.” She hated that knotted up feeling in her stomach. For weeks, she saw that poor woman in her dreams. Her head leaned back against the seat, apparently unconscious, which was probably a good thing in the end. Her sincere prayer was that the woman didn’t feel anything.

  “I understand. I’m sorry. I was just curious about it,” he said. “Does anyone ever come visit it?”

  “Occasionally. There’s a guy I see out there sometimes, but he only started coming a few months after the accident.”

  “Have you talked to him?”

  “No, I never wanted to intrude on his grief,” she said, as the waiter put cheesecake in front of her. “This is a real downer, Quinn. Can we talk about something else?” she asked.

  “Of course,” he said, and they continued telling each other their life stories.

  * * *

  Living with her mother was becoming harder by the day. Even with Gertrude cleaning the house once a week, Edie could still make a mess as quick as a drunk six-year old. Of course, Kelly had never met a drunk six-year old and could only imagine their mess-making abilities.

  Edie was spending her Social Security money on garage sales, and she certainly wasn’t setting any money aside in case the insurance company didn’t pay out on her claim. After all, the fire was probably her fault given the state of her home. The cause hadn’t been determined yet, but Kelly expected that her mother would be devastated when the results came in.

  Since her “not date” with Quinn, she hadn’t seen him too much except at her self defense classes. He’d hired a second instructor to help with his ever-growing business, and Kelly had met him a couple of times.

  She’d started settling into living with the extra noise, and Quinn had even explained the meanings of some of the Korean phrases he used in class. In other words, she was adjusting to her new way of life. Messy mother, loud sexy friend.

  But something had been nagging at her for the last couple of weeks, and it was something unexpected. Her sister. She’d started receiving emails from her, evidently from France, just after her date with Quinn.

  First, they were “hey, just touching base” sorts of emails, which was strange all by itself since Vivienne never “checked in” with her family. Maybe once a year on Christmas, they’d get a fancy gold foil card all the way from Paris. Edie would brag on her “successful” daughter and Kelly would seethe with rage silently.

  But these emails had a different tone. A “testing the waters” kind of tone that made no sense to Kelly. Her sister was living the high life with her rich husband in the most romantic place on Earth. Why was she suddenly in contact?

  Just out of sheer morbid curiosity, Kelly had continued responding and finally told Vivienne about their mother’s current situation. Vivienne seemed to be somewhat concerned, almost like a normal daughter would respond, but then her snooty personality would come rearing its ugly head a few sentences later.

  The fancy wine she drank.

  The amazing places she visited.

  The nice house she had.

  And when Kelly would look around at her small town life with no boyfriend and no prospects, and her insane mother who was destroying her house, she found herself wanting to pack up and run away just like she did as soon as she turned eighteen.

  Only she could never seem to escape the madness that was her life.

  “Lost in thought?” Quinn said after finding her sitting on the steps in front of their building. She normally would’ve gone home at this time of day for her break, but her mother was there and she just couldn’t do it.

  “Oh, hey. Sorry, I didn’t see you there…” she said, breaking a stick in half that she’d been holding in her hands. Throwing the little shards of it onto the ground below, she stared out at her rose bushes.

  “Yeah, I could see that,” he said with a laugh. “When’s your next appointment?”

  “Six. Why?”

  “Come on,” he said, standing up and pulling on her arm.

  “Where are we going?” she asked as he continued his efforts to pull her from the steps.

  “You’ll see,”
was all he said as she followed him to his truck. A few minutes later, they were traveling down a gravel drive just on the edge of town. It was a part of town that Kelly rarely visited, mainly because it was so rural and out of the way. Even though Whiskey Ridge wasn’t a thriving metropolis, she did prefer to stay in town so she could do her shopping and at least see the occasional person.

  “I think this is private property, Quinn. These redneck boys up here will shoot us.” Quinn started laughing.

  “I am this redneck boy,” he said, stopping the truck in front of a beautiful log cabin set way back off the road next to a lake. Kelly looked at him quizzically. “Kelly, this is my house.”

  “Oh….” she said with her hand on her chest. “You scared me.”

  Quinn climbed out and opened her door, whisking her to the ground like he did the last time she was in his truck. They walked toward the back of his truck instead of toward the house.

  “What are we doing here?”

  “Well, we have a couple of hours to kill, so I thought we could go fishing.” He pulled two rods and a tackle box from the back of his truck. Kelly stood there in shock.

  “Fishing? In the middle of a work day?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re one of those women who won’t bait her own hook,” he said, furrowing his eyebrows at her.

  “Of course not! I was raised in the South!” she said, taking one of the rods from his hand and marching toward the lake. Of course, she was totally lying. She’d never been fishing a day in her life, and she certainly didn’t have a father to teach her how to bait a hook. But she’d be danged if Quinn Maverick was going to find that out.

  As they walked down toward the lake, she ran through her mind all of the ways in which this was probably going to be a catastrophe, but it didn’t stop her from at least trying to pretend she knew what in the heck she was doing.

  There was a small dock with built-in benches on it on the left side of the lake, furthest from the cabin. They walked onto it and put down all of the gear. She was wearing a pair of capri pants and flats today, thankfully. Otherwise, stiletto heels might have proved to be disastrous in this situation.