Coming Home (Snowy Ridge: Love at Starlight, Book 1)

by Kris Jett

  They took seats at the long bar and Cooper ordered a round of drinks. He looked stressed, probably crunching numbers in his head. He would talk about business all night if the other two let him but Cade had no intention of doing that. He needed a night off from work and all responsibility. Ever since he got to Snowy Ridge he’d felt like he was doing for everyone else and completely ignoring his own needs.

  Cade downed his beer quickly and ordered another round. He looked around the room as he drank his beer, amused at how different his life was now from just a few short months ago. His friends back home would never hang out at place like this. They’d probably get a good laugh at seeing him sitting in there. He thought about them every so often: Jake, Kyle, and Mikey. They were good guys. They’d work together for years and hung out on the weekends when they weren’t tied down with one girl or another. He hadn’t heard much from them since he’d moved. A couple of lame forwarded joke emails. A text or two on a drunken night out. And he never heard from any of his old girlfriends. His relationships never lasted all that long. The girls he’d met back in Chicago were always concerned with one-upping their friends. Getting the next great bag or designer dress. He’d entertain them for a while. Long enough whereas he got what he wanted and they got what they wanted. Which probably made him sound like an asshole. He rarely found a girl that he wanted to talk to for hours or stay in with for a night on the couch, watching movies. Definitely no one he wanted to bring around his family. Or God forbid, marry. Sometimes he thought he was just a cold, unfeeling bastard like his dad. Maybe he’d never make a connection with any one.

  Cade drained the rest of his bottle and glanced around the room again. At least there was a pool table. Maybe he’d get Cash to play a game with him. His eyes floated to the hockey game playing on a television in the back corner of the bar. Chicago was up by two points. Cash was laughing loudly and saying something in Cade’s ear but he wasn’t listening. He was distracted by the table directly under the television. Jessie? Was that girl in the corner Jessie? The hair was the same. But what would she be doing all the way out here and hanging all over some guy?

  The girl laughed and the guy swung her around in his arms and Cade saw their faces. It was Jessie. And that asshole ex-boyfriend of hers. Who wasn’t looking too much like an ex at the moment. They were obviously back together. What a jerk Cade was for thinking even for a moment that something was happening between he and Jessie.

  Cade stood and slapped the bar a couple of times. “Another round,” he told the bartender.

  He took his beer and walked toward the old-fashioned juke box in the corner, as far away from Jessie as he could possibly get. He skimmed the song titles looking for something mood-appropriate. It was full of ancient songs from at least twenty years ago. He felt someone sidle up next to him and glanced down.

  “Hey, there,” a petite woman in a short skirt and long boots said to him. “If you’re looking for some decent music, you won’t find it in there.” She laughed at her own joke and leaned on the glass with an elbow, pushing her cleavage toward him and covering half the song list.

  “I don’t know about that,” Cade said. “Who doesn’t like Sir Mix-A-Lot? Baby’s Got Back is classic.”

  “Guys pretend like they want a girl with a big ass but they don’t. They want something that fits in their hands.” She moved in closer to Cade and was only inches from his face.

  He put his bottle to his lip and took a long gulp. When he looked down the girl was still there, blinking these big doe eyes at him. She obviously wanted him. But Cooper’s voice was going through the back of his head. He’d warn them not to leave a string of broken hearts. Sure, he told this to Cash but Cade was sure the same went for him. “Excuse me,” he said to the girl. He set his empty bottle down on a table and headed for the bathroom.

  After relieving himself he was washing his hands in the sink when he heard the bathroom door swing open and someone walked in and wrapped their arms around his waist. “What the—?” he said, swinging around fast. It was that girl again. She’d followed him into the men’s room. He looked her over again. She looked like she was on a mission. And while not normally the type of girl he went for, she had the kind of face a sixth beer could make pretty.

  She rubbed up against him, pinning him to the sink. Before he could think about it too much he reached out his left hand and ran it through her long golden waves. It felt silky and he wanted to do it again. When he reached up this time she turned her face into his hand, almost cat like. Was he really going to do this? He didn’t even know her name.

  Cade felt the top button of his jeans go and then the zipper. A moment later the girl had her hand down the front of his boxers and was stroking him quickly, almost manically. His body was responding and he could feel his bulge growing, straining to be released. He closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying her touch. Then his eyes shot open and he thought what the hell was he doing here, in the bathroom of some townie bar with this random chick’s hand down his pants? He wasn’t that guy any more. He tried to push her away though his body wasn’t agreeing with his mind. She suddenly dropped to her knees in front of him and he grabbed her by the shoulders and stopped her from advancing. It took every ounce of willpower he had.

  “Sorry, no. Just…no,” he said, his voice stilted and gravelly. He tucked back in as best he could and zipped his pants.

  She looked up at him from the floor, first shocked and then horrified. Then she burst into tears.

  “Oh man. No, no, don’t do that. Why are you crying?” Cade asked. He grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet.

  “I’m pathetic,” the girl wailed. “My asshole boyfriend cheated on me and I can’t even pick up a guy in a dive like this. Am I that repulsive?” She sobbed louder.

  Jesus Christ. He had to get this girl to stop screaming. He pulled a handful of paper towels out of the container on the wall and handed them to the girl who now had black raccoon circles around her eyes. “No, of course not. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m…sorta with someone.”

  Okay, that wasn’t the truth. He wasn’t with Jessie but he felt like something could be there and it wouldn’t be right to be here with this girl. Even though at this very moment Jessie was probably off somewhere in Jason’s arms.

  “Then you’re an asshole too!” the girl screamed at him, before running out of the bathroom.

  Cade faced the sink and slapped some water on his face while he took a few moments to regroup. Hopefully the girl would be long gone when he exited the bathroom.

  He needed another beer.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Good morning Sleepy Head,” a male voice said.

  Jessie let out a grown and rubbed at her eyes. Her head was throbbing and she felt nauseous. What time was it? she thought.

  She slowly opened her eyes and took in the room. Giant trophies covering shelves on the wall. A Snowy Ridge High School pendant in the school’s red and white colors. A poster of Britney Spears. Where was she?

  “Did you sleep okay?” the voice asked.

  Jessie turned her head left and came face-to-face with a shirtless Jason. “Ah!” she screamed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Jason gave her a confused look. “In my room?”

  “Ah!” she screamed again. Now she remembered this place. Jason’s childhood room. She was in his house. His parents were probably here too. She wanted to vomit. “Oh my God. No. No, no, no. This is a dream.”

  Jason laid back against his pillows and placed his hands behind his head. The blanket covered him from only his waist down.

  Jesus, please let him be wearing clothes under there, Jessie thought. “Oh no,” she whispered. She looked down and let out a sigh of relief. She had clothes on. A t-shirt anyway. Though she didn’t recall putting it on. Or how she got into Jason’s bedroom to begin with.

  She clutched the blankets tightly and buried her face in it.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Jason asked gently. “Still not feeling
well?”

  Jessie could not believe she was in this situation. She knew she drank way too much last night and the events were fuzzy. But how did she end up at Jason’s? Where was April?

  “Um,” Jessie said slowly as she side glanced Jason.. “Did we…? I mean, we didn’t…right?”

  “Didn’t what? Have the most amazing, heart-stopping, clothes ripping, body aching sex of our entire lives?” Jason asked.

  “Oh, God,” she said as she re-buried her face in the blanket.

  Jason chuckled. “Relax. We didn’t.”

  Jessie dropped the blanket and stared at him wide-eyed. “Oh my gosh, really? That’s wonderful.”

  Jason cocked one eyebrow. “Having sex with me would have been that terrible, huh?”

  “No. I mean, yes, of course. Given our history,” she stammered. “Where are my clothes by the way?” I’m not even going to ask how I got out of them, Jessie thought.

  Jason nodded to a neatly folded pile on his desk.

  Jessie sighed in relied. “Great. Could you maybe, turn around or something so I could get dressed?”

  “Not like I haven’t seen it all before.”

  Jessie waited.

  “Fine, fine, I’ll turn,” he said, facing the wall.

  Jessie’s eyes lingered over his muscular back. Jason must be working out a lot these days. She didn’t ever remember his back looking like that. And what was that tattoo right between his shoulder blades? It looked like a fancy cross with some words wrapped around it. Jason was the last person on earth she expected to ever get a tattoo. It wasn’t like his personality at all. Maybe he wasn’t the same guy she’d remembered.

  “Can I turn back around now?” he asked.

  Shit. She’d spent too much time ogling his back. “Just another minute,” she said, throwing on her clothes.

  When she was dressed, she slipped on her boots and looked around for her coat. “Thanks a lot for letting me crash. I don’t remember last night at all. I can’t believe April ditched me.”

  “Well, she looked pretty busy with some guy. She left with him.”

  Jessie was pissed. She knew April often went home with men but couldn’t she see Jessie needed her last night? How could she leave her like that and in the hands of Jason?

  Jason reached out for the coat in Jessie’s hands. “Hey, you’re not leaving, already are you?”

  “Yeah, sorry. I’ve got to get to work.”

  “My mom is making you pancakes, though,” Jason said.

  Jessie froze. “Your mom? She’s here? And she knows I’m here?” This could not get any worse, she thought.

  “Of course,” Jason said. “You really don’t remember any of last night? When we got here my mom was still up watching a sappy holiday movie and you gave her a huge hug and told her how much you missed her. Then you went on and on about how she made the best pancakes in the world and made her promise to make you some in the morning.”

  “I-I did?” Jessie asked. What was she going to do? What the hell got into her last night? Mrs. Kirkland did make the best pancakes in the world from what Jessie recalled but how could she force the woman she had dodged and avoided around town for the last six years to cook her breakfast? It was completely obnoxious.

  Jason nodded.

  “Okay then,” Jessie said slowly. “I’ll have breakfast with you guys and then I really have to get to work.”

  Jason took both of Jessie’s hands in his and pulled her up off the bed. Before he let go of her he rubbed the top of her hands gently with his thumbs and she had to admit, it’d felt nice. Familiar.

  “That smells so good, Mom,” Jason said as they walked into his brightly lit kitchen. The smell of pancakes, eggs, and bacon filled Jessie’s nose and she suddenly felt very hungry.

  The theme of the Kirkland kitchen was an old farm look, barnyard chic, his mom had called it, and it hadn’t changed a bit since the last time Jessie had been in it. There were still old fashioned metal kitchen utensils covering the walls, a real, once used butter churn in the corner, a rooster cookie jar on the counter that, from Jessie could remember, was always filled with Oreo cookies, and a ceramic cow milk creamer in the center of the small round table.

  “Did you sleep well, Jessie?” Mrs. Kirkland asked, turning away from the stove to look at her.

  “I did. Thank you for letting me stay here last night, Mrs. Kirkland. I, I couldn’t get home.”

  Mrs. Kirkland faced back toward the stove and flipped pancakes. “Of course you couldn’t. Not in the condition you were in. Why don’t you grab a glass and get yourself some water. Aspirin is up in the cabinet to the right of the pantry.”

  Jason took a seat at the table and rested his elbows on one of the barn themed placemats.

  “This was so nice of you to make me breakfast. I hope I didn’t put you out too much,” Jessie said.

  “No, of course not. It’s no trouble at all. I’ve been happy having someone to cook for ever since Jason came back home. And I’m always happy to see his friends too.”

  Friends. Ugh, Jessie thought. She took a seat next to Jason at the table and tried her best to smile. This was so bizarre. She hadn’t seen Jason in six years up until a couple of days ago and now she was sleeping over at his house and eating breakfast cooked by his mother. What the hell was going on?

  “What do you two kids have planned for the day?” Mrs. Kirkland asked.

  Jessie shot Jason a panicked look. Does his mother think they’re back together or something? Why would she think Jessie would spend the day with Jason?

  Jason grinned. “I don’t know, Buttercup,” he said to Jessie. “What do you feel like doing today?”

  Jessie kicked him under the table. How could he make his mother think Jessie had any intention of spending the day with him?

  Jason was trying so hard not to laugh he choked on a bite of pancake. Jessie took this opportunity to slap him on the back a few times.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  Jason coughed and cleared his throat. “Yeah, thanks.”

  Jessie looked back at Mrs. Kirkland. “I have to get into work soon as we’re done with breakfast here.”

  Mrs. Kirkland set a full plate of food in front of Jessie. It looked delicious.

  “You still running the Starlight with your mother?” she asked.

  Jessie nodded.

  “That’s nice,” Mrs. Kirkland said. “I keep hoping Jason will make a permanent move back to Snowy Ridge.”

  Jason put an arm around Jessie’s shoulder and pulled her in closer to him. “Maybe I will, Mom.”

  Jessie stared down at her plate of food, hard. It was taking all of her restraint not to elbow Jason. Why was he trying to make his mom think something was going on between them?

  Chapter Thirteen

  After a quick stop home to shower and dress, Jessie walked into Starlight over an hour late for work. Linda shot her a forced smile as she hurried around the room attending to customers. Her arthritis was probably flaring up and she needed a break to get off her feet. Jessie didn’t look forward to the lecture her mom was sure to give her for being late again. She rushed to hang up her coat and put her stuff away and felt like something was off. Different. She walked back out from behind the bar and roamed around the room. It was different. Tables were moved, the chairs by the fireplace were gone, knick knacks had vanished and bowls of out-of-season fruit were suddenly everywhere. And there was some foreign noise coming out of the speakers instead of the low-volume, classic rock they normally played. What was going on?

  “You made it,” Jessie’s mom said, joining her by an overflowing bowl of lemons.

  “What the hell is this?” Jessie asked, pointing to the fruit.

  “Luci’s here. She’s been here all morning actually.”

  Jessie’s stomach dropped. She was not looking forward to facing Luci.

  “Hi, Jessie. How are things?” her sister said from behind her.

  Jessie took a deep breath and slowly turned around. Th
ere she was. Her sister who was once so close to her that they were more than family, they were best friends. Until she betrayed her in the worst way possible.

  Jessie stared at her sister. She looked different. More confident, put together. She still had the same beautiful silky blonde hair that most people would kill for, and the big bright blue eyes. She was dressed in yoga pants and a fleece. She always was big into exercise and was still in great shape. “Fine,” Jessie replied flatly.

  “Do you like how I feng shuied the place?”

  “That’s what this is?” Jessie asked, unable to hide the shock from her voice.

  Luci, short for Lucinda always had to be in on the cutting edge of everything. The middle sister between Jessie and Wynn, Luci was sharp, sarcastic, and edgy. She’d moved to New York to become a great writer, which Jessie never quite understood. If you want to be a writer, be a writer. A writer can write anywhere. But not Luci. She always had an adventurous streak and had to be smack dab in the middle of everything. Snowy Ridge was too small and boring for a big city hearted girl like her.

  “Fantastic, right?” Luci reached out and straightened one of the lemons.

  “No, not at all. Ridiculous actually,” Jessie replied perhaps a bit too harshly.

  “Jessie…” her mom said in a warning tone.

  Jessie looked at her mom, She had almost forgotten she was still standing there. Her face was drawn tight and her shoulder-length gray hair was pulled into a loose pony tail. She was wrapped in a black Starlight Pub hoodie that looked too big on her. Maybe her mom was losing weight. It had been a stressful few days. “What?” Jessie said. “You know it’s ridiculous. We’re a pub. We serve hamburgers and beer. We cater to snowmobilers and winter tourists. Bowls of fruit out and about are stupid.”

  She heard Linda stifle a laugh from across the room.