Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1)

by Aidan Willows

  The sight of a tiny five foot one woman trying to pick a six foot two giant off the floor is fucking funny.

  My uncle snorted again, looked at the sight over the paper and then went straight back to reading his paper. “The bacon is burning.” he added helpfully.

  I went over to my wheezing brother and picked him up “Man up brother, and go flip the pancakes.” Jake waited until Aunt Debbie’s back was turned before flipping me off. I punched him in the arm and he groaned again.

  Addie and my Uncle laughed. My Aunt’s “House Rules” were pretty much ignored when we were growing up and not much had changed throughout the years.

  “I’m going to go shower.” I called out over my shoulder.

  “Good! You need it! You stink!” Addie called out. My mind flashed back to the mute four year old girl who was reluctant to make eye contact with anyone apart from Alex. At times it was hard to believe the withdrawn child had grown up to be the mouthy and volatile young woman sat downstairs.

  I walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my old room, passing the various pictures of all of us growing up over the years; graduations, sporting events, dances, proms, Christmases, Thanksgivings and birthdays.

  There were so many pictures hung up you could barely see any of the wall underneath them all.

  As I recalled the happier memories we had created in this house, warmth spread through me, erasing the chill thinking about our childhood had caused.

  Chapter 5

  Caleb

  By the time I went back downstairs after my shower the rest of my brothers, apart from Alex, had arrived and were sat around the table.

  “Where’d you go so early?” Nate asked spearing a sausage link and biting into it.

  I cuffed Josh hard around his head before taking a seat next to Aunt Debbie.

  “Hey man! What the fuck?” Josh snapped.

  “Joshua! Honestly!” Aunt Deb barked.

  “Someone needs to swap rooms with me. If I have to lose any more sleep because of Josh’s playtimes with Candy or Brandy or Sandy or any other of the geniuses he brings home, I’m going go insane.” I said ignoring Josh.

  “Not it!” Jake called out over a mouthful of eggs.

  “No fucking way.” Nate said not even looking up from his plate.

  “Not gonna lie you guys. That hurts.” Josh said with an over exaggerated insulted look on his face.

  “You’re such a whore, Josh. When was the last time you got tested? You should really make an appointment.” Addie said in disgust.

  “Don’t listen to any of them Aunt Deb, they’re defaming my virtuous character.” Josh said, sat on her other side, as he looked at her with innocent eyes.

  Aunt Debbie rolled her eyes and topped up her coffee. “Oh please. I know you boys aren’t saints. But still, you’re dating all these girls but you’ve never brought anyone home. I’m not getting any younger you know. I would like to see some grandbabies before I die.” She heaved a self-pitying sigh.

  The whole table groaned in unison.

  “I’ve been so busy at work I haven’t even been on a date in ages, Aunt Deb.” Jake said in a defensive tone.

  Aunt Debbie had been pushing us to settle down and start popping out babies ever since the rest of her friends had started becoming grandmothers.

  “Don’t nag them, Deb. They’ll start settling down when they’re ready to.” Uncle Jeremy said.

  “Moving swiftly on… Where’s Alex?” Jake asked Addie.

  Alex and Addie still lived with Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Deb. Alex was saving to open his own tattoo shop in Starling Falls. He was currently working as a tattoo artist in the neighbouring town of Smithsville, at a shop called Hawke Tattoos & Piercings.

  He had created some amazing designs and we all had work done by him, including Aunt Deb.

  Addie wanted to save enough for a deposit for her own little apartment, claiming she would “rather chew off her own arm” than move in with us.

  Addie had been a computer geek growing up. She went to college majoring in Computer Science Studies and currently worked with Nate.

  After leaving school, Nate and his friend J. D. Miller had started working as bounty hunters, a career choice which had given Aunt Debbie hives. Over time their business evolved; they currently worked as Private Investigators and had opened their own office in town.

  He had to travel a lot for work but had managed to develop a reputation for himself as an investigator who was able to find out anything or find anyone that needed to be found.

  Addie cut a large piece of pancake and put it her mouth before she answered Jake “He had a client come in last night who wanted to have a major piece done. He finished late, so he crashed at Hawke’s. He texted a while ago saying he was leaving, so he should be here soon.”

  “I’m going to save him a plate anyway, before you animals finish it all.” Aunt Debbie said and grabbed a plate from the empty space at the round table and began heaping food on it.

  “We’re growing boys Aunt Deb!” Jake said shovelling more food into his face.

  Aunt Deb snorted “I miss having extra mouths to feed. I hardly ever see you all anymore.”

  “They were here for dinner on Thursday. We live in the same town, their house is fifteen minutes away, we see them pretty much every day, Deb.” Uncle Jeremy said, his eyebrows raised at his wife’s dramatics.

  “It’s still not the same Jeremy! I miss my boys.” She said pouting and looking around the table.

  “What am I? Chopped liver?” Addie exclaimed.

  “You know you’ll always be my favourite girl, Munchkin.”

  “I’m the only girl!” Addie protested.

  Aunt Debbie smiled and placed a cover on Alex’s plate as she put it back in the empty space. “So, how has everyone’s weeks been?”

  She went around the table and proceeded to interrogate each of us.

  “How’s things at the fire station, honey?” she asked me. I had gone to Firefighter Training Academy straight after graduating high school and after passing, started the training programme at the Starling Falls Fire Department.

  After years of busting my ass off and working my way up the hierarchy of the Fire Service, I was currently a lieutenant at the firehouse and for the most part loved my job. Though recently there had been less fighting fires and more rescuing cats stuck in trees.

  She eventually gave up the questioning when she got to Nate and he only gave one worded answers and grunts as responses to her questions.

  Twenty minutes later we heard the rumble of Alex’s motorcycle pull into the driveway. Aunt Debbie had nearly had a heart attack when Nate and Josh had bought their motorcycles and then again when Alex had bought his a couple of years ago.

  The first time Nate had come home with his bike, Aunt Deb had hidden his keys and she had sworn blind she had no clue where they were. It had taken him days of searching to finally find them (empty ‘Vitamins for Women 50+’ boxes are excellent hiding places for small objects).

  After many reassurances of promising to drive safely and proof that they had bought the safest helmets available, she had calmed down a little, but she still hated the bikes with a passion.

  A minute later Alex came through the door, stopped to kick off his heavy biker boots and walked into the kitchen, dressed in his usual all black attire. Every inch of his exposed skin was covered with tattoos.

  The biggest piece visible was the tattoo on his left forearm of a huge bare tree with roots sinking deep into the inked ground, with the name Jameson scrawled underneath it. There were silhouettes of a male and female leaning either side of the tree’s trunk.

  When Alex had shown us the design, we had all thought it was perfect and decided to get the matching tattoos the day the twins turned eighteen.

  Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Debbie had surprised us all by not only insisting they went with us to Hawke’s shop, but by also getting the same tattoo. Uncle Jeremy’s was on his forearm and Aunt Deb’s on her left shoulder. />
  Trent Hawke who owned the shop had been so impressed by Alex’s design that he had offered him a position as a tattoo apprentice when he graduated high school.

  Alex kissed Aunt Debbie on the cheek and dropped into the empty chair between Nate and Uncle Jeremy.

  “How are you, darling?” Aunt Deb asked.

  “Tired. The tattoo was a huge back piece of a phoenix that ended up taking nearly five hours, but it came out awesome.” He poured himself a coffee, spooned in four spoons of sugar and took a gulp of it.

  He took the cover off his food and began eating quickly. “What did I miss?”

  “Well, Josh is a probably diseased manwhore, Caleb is sadly sleep deprived because of Josh’s nocturnal activities, Jake is a suck up, workaholic with no love life and Nate is still a grouchy, man of mystery.” Addie said with a smile, moving her head back quickly when Josh moved closer to flick her ear.

  “Awesome.” Alex said with a yawn. “Are we doing anything today?”

  “Since it’s been a while since we were all together on a Sunday. I was thinking movies and popcorn and then spaghetti, meatballs and apple pie for dinner?” Aunt Deb said.

  “I’m in, as long as I get to choose the movies.” Uncle Jeremy said.

  Thank God. The last time we had done a movie day Aunt Deb had made us sit through The Notebook followed by Les Miserables.

  Sobbing followed by singing. That had been a long day.

  “What about the rest of you?” Aunt Debbie asked, looking around the table hopefully.

  Honestly, how would anyone say no to that face?

  We all either nodded or murmured our acceptance.

  Aunt Debbie actually squealed and clasped her hands together. “Oh, I wish the bakery was still open. Trudy used to make the best pies.”

  “They’re reopening tomorrow. I saw the sign in the bakery window when I ran past this morning.” I told her and then looked over at Jake. “So you can stop crying over the loss of your cinnamon rolls.”

  “You would be crying too if you had tasted their cinnamon rolls and then had them taken away from you. That cinnamon roll was a beautifully crafted work of art.” Jake looked so ecstatic at the prospect of the bakery reopening, I thought he was going to cry tears of joy.

  “Oh yes! Betsy over at Salon said that Trudy Abbott’s grandniece was moving here to take over running the bakery! We met Trudy’s nephew Thomas briefly when he came to visit her. Do you remember him Jer?” she continued not giving Uncle Jeremy a chance to answer.

  “How exciting! I’ve not seen her about town. She must be busy getting things sorted there. Did you happen to see her when you ran past? Is she pretty? I bet she’s pretty.” she asked with a glint in her eye. “I wonder if she’s single.”

  I raised my eyes to the ceiling. “No, Aunt Deb. I didn’t see anyone. Please, no more set ups. I’m still trying to get over the last time you set me up on a date.” I grumbled.

  “She seemed like a perfectly nice girl!”

  “She stole my keys and moved her stuff into the house after one date and then bought herself an engagement ring claiming that I was ‘the one’! No. More. Setups.” I said firmly over the sounds of laughter at the table.

  “Fine, fine. No more setups.” she agreed, but I noted the glint that was still in her eyes.

  “You can set me up whenever you want, Aunt Deb.” Josh said to her, ignoring the rolling of eyes that occurred around the table.

  “Well, I’m definitely going to go to the bakery tomorrow morning. Want me to come pick you up?” Jake asked as he stole the last piece of bacon from the big platter.

  “No its fine, Pumpkin. I need to go get groceries in town anyways, so I’ll have to drive in, but I’ll meet you there at 8.”

  “I’ll drive you to the store, Aunt Deb.” Alex said. “My first appointment is only at 3 tomorrow.”

  “Thank you, my darling.” Aunt Deb said with a smile.

  Nate turned to me “Are you working tomorrow?”

  I shook my head. “No. Why?”

  “I need your help with something at the office.” he grunted.

  “What do you need to get done?” I asked him, finishing up the last of my coffee.

  “Stuff.” Nate replied. Ah my brother, the conversationalist. I simply snorted and nodded at him. “Fine. I’ll be there about 10, but you owe me breakfast.”

  “Jake is going to the bakery; Aunt Deb and Alex are going. I bet Caleb will go when he goes to help at the office and Nate and Princess work down the street, so they’ll be going for sure. Basically, everyone gets to go to the bakery tomorrow apart from me?” Josh complained with a frown.

  “Stop pouting kiddo, we got too many cars that need to be finished tomorrow. With Curtis gone to see his kid, we need all hands on deck. If you get to the garage any later than 8, I’m kicking your ass.” Uncle Jeremy told him.

  While Jake had grown up in Aunt Debbie’s kitchen, Josh had found his calling in Uncle Jeremy’s garage. He had been tinkering with cars since he was a boy and loved all things automotive related.

  He had scraped through high school and had then gone straight to work as a mechanic at the garage Uncle Jeremy owned. When he actually turned up on time, Uncle Jeremy swore that Josh was one of the best mechanics he had.

  Josh kept pouting and then draped himself over Aunt Debbie’s side. “I’m so deprived. It’s not fair Aunt Deb.” he said pathetically, looking up at her.

  Aunt Debbie rolled her eyes, but laughed and patted him on the cheek. “Oh, stop with the sad eyes, Sugar. I’ll bring round coffee and doughnuts from the bakery for all of you poor souls stuck at the garage.”

  “You’re a saint, woman” he told her, enveloping her in a bear hug. She looked tiny in his arms. We all towered over her; the shortest of all of us was Alex at 6 foot.

  She batted at him playfully. “Get off. Okay. Alex and Josh, you two clear the table. Nate, you’re on dishes, Caleb you’re drying. Addie, I have a load of laundry I need out of the drier and taken upstairs. Jake, go get the stuff I need for the spaghetti from the fridge and start chopping. I’ll get it started now.”

  When no one moved she stared at us. “Move people! Or I’m choosing the movies for movie day.”

  Chairs scratched against the floor, as we all jumped to our feet and got to work on our assigned tasks.

  Chapter 6

  Maliya

  “Niki, there’s a queue outside!” I told her while smoothing out the wrinkles in my long sleeved cream dress.

  “Really? It’s still early. We’re not supposed to be open for another hour.” Niki said from behind the counter, putting on her brown apron with the bakery’s name written in cream on the front.

  She turned to Laurie, a sweet girl in her twenties with red hair, who had been working here part time; Mitchell, a very pretty guy with brown hair and eyes and Gloria, a Starling Falls local who had been working at the bakery for over twenty years.

  “Is this normal?”

  “Nope, not at all. Word must have gotten round about the new management.” Laurie said, smiling kindly at Niki.

  “Oh, right.” Niki’s eyes suddenly got wide and I could see the panic in them.

  I stepped up to her and took her by the shoulders. “Hey.” I said gently, looking her in the eyes. “You’re the bravest, most talented person I know. You can do this.”

  “I can do this.” she whispered back to me.

  She squared her shoulders, turned to Laurie, Mitchell and Gloria and said “Well then, let’s not keep the people waiting.”

  Gloria and Laurie went back into the kitchen, leaving me and Niki to man the counter and till. Mitchell went over to coffee machine and started preparing the area for orders. Niki beamed as she opened the door to let people in and began introducing herself.

  By 8.45 we were run off our feet and had nearly sold out of the various loaves of breads.

  Niki had been giving out samples of the new items she had placed on the menu and they had been a resounding hit
.

  Previously, Aunt Trudy had only offered plain black coffee. Niki had decided to offer a range of coffees and set up an area where people could fix their coffee however they wanted it. This was also a hit, with people promising to make ‘Trudy’s’ their first stop in the morning for their caffeine fix from now on.

  I had to admit, the people of Starling Falls were a friendly bunch. It was a little intimidating for a girl from London, where eye contact with strangers in public was a rarity.