by Rayne, Piper
She tilts her head. “This is something that could ruin my friendship with her, but I’ll risk it because she deserves to find her happily ever after. Don’t you agree?”
“I do,” I say, nodding.
“Then once you board that plane, leave her behind. I know your paths might cross when you come back to visit, but don’t call her or reach out to her after you leave. If this thing between you isn’t permanent, let her live her life.”
Her words blow me over like a hurricane. Never talk to Holly again?
Dana’s phone rings and she pulls it out of her bag. “That’s Karen, and she’s not going to take kindly to waiting. So, you’ll do it?”
I focus on the floor. The thought of never hearing Holly’s voice or holding her again guts me. Never hearing her laugh or talking to her about the mundane parts of my day? Knowing I can’t fire off a text when the mood strikes? But Dana’s right. I can’t have the best of both worlds. I hadn’t really considered it a choice until this moment. Holly can’t hang out in the wings, waiting for me to roll through town every few months for a quickie.
“Yeah. I will,” I agree, my voice hoarse.
She grips my forearm. “Thanks. Well, safe travels, Austin.”
I nod, not looking up to see her leave.
When I take a seat near my gate again, my thoughts all jumble—the fortune, Dana’s comments about Holly, her request that I not reach out to Holly again, my grandma’s words when she was here. This is what I want, right? To be a coach at the college level? That’s what Holly wants too, right? I mean, I can’t play ball anymore and coaching at a college is the next best thing. Not at a high school.
JP’s speech comes to mind, and I shake my head, thinking of how much I thought I never got through to him. But I guess in my own way, I did make a difference in his life.
I smile until I think of the inevitability of Holly moving on. Who will win her over? She’ll find someone else to show her all the hidden gems in Alaska. He’ll be the first one to take her camping and make love to her in a tent. I never got to skinny-dip with her in the pond on our property. He’ll be the one who gets to hear those small moans she makes with the softest of touches. Her wavy auburn hair will lay on someone else’s pillow. The lucky bastard will be able to kiss her whenever he wants. To bring her home white wine on the hard days. Some other guy will be the one to pick her up when she needs it and show her the gorgeous and strong woman she is.
The lid pops off my coffee, I’m gripping it so hard. I pick it up off the carpet and toss it into a nearby garbage can. When I sip my coffee, it just tastes bitter.
I close my eyes, trying to push those thoughts away.
She deserves to find a guy like that.
She deserves to be someone’s everything.
I was lucky to have her be my everything, if only for a few short months. It’s not her fault I couldn’t be her everything.
Ten minutes pass while I question everything I ever thought I wanted. The airline employee calls the boarding for my zone on the plane, and I head over to stand in line. As I make my way down the jetway toward the plane’s entrance, the sick feeling in my gut intensifies.
I’m doing the right thing.
I stop when I reach the end of the line of passengers waiting to board.
“That was cute,” a woman says behind me. When I scrunch my forehead in confusion, she continues. “I overheard your grandma, I think it was, talking to you earlier. What a great story.”
She’s close to my age. Petite with blonde hair and tanned skin. My guess is that she’s returning to California.
“Yeah, my grandma is pretty unique.”
“It’s sweet. So where are you seated?”
I look at my ticket. “12A.”
“Oh great, I’m only a few rows away. Maybe we can convince someone to switch.” Her gaze runs down my body and back up, her tongue sliding out of her mouth and licking her lips. “What’s Buzz Wheel anyway?”
“Just a gossip blog from my hometown.”
She laughs, and I turn around and groan at the long line of people waiting to board the airplane.
“How do you spell it?”
I turn back to face her. She has her phone out, showing me a screen that says the website isn’t in service. “You need to add Lake Starlight to Buzz Wheel.”
Her thumbs move over her screen. “Oh, here it is.”
I take one step forward.
“This is the funniest thing. Oh man.” She laughs some more. “That sucks.”
I finally relent and glance down to see a picture of Holly sitting across from Clint Edison wearing a lobster bib.
“Do you mind?” I hold my hand out for her phone.
She smiles. “Not at all.”
I scan the article. The breaking news of the day is that weeks before, Holly told off her estranged father when he said horrible things about the Baileys. Apparently she threw a drink in his face and defended my family name then stormed out. They apologize for not posting about it sooner, but news from neighboring towns about Lake Starlight residents takes longer to reach them.
It goes on to call Holly one of our own and praises her after Austin broke her heart and left. Then there’s a picture of Holly with no makeup on, her hair in a messy bun, dressed in sweats, with a frown while she holds a takeout bag from Wok 4 U in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. She looks miserable. She looks as miserable as I feel.
Something finally clicks in my brain and I realize what an idiot I’ve been.
All this time it’s been her. She’s the dream I need to chase, not my coaching career.
I hand the woman back her phone. “Excuse me.” I rush back up the jetway, saying to myself, “I’m so fucking stupid.”
My grandma was right—men are idiots sometimes.
“Sir!” the gate attendant says.
“I’m not taking the flight.”
I run down the hallway, weaving through the throngs of people coming toward me. Once I’m past security, a golf cart pulls up beside me. It stops, as do I, and Grandma Dori steps off.
“See, I knew you weren’t stupid.”
A panting Savannah comes up behind her. “We really need to talk. If you want to be Thelma and Louise, you can’t leave me behind.”
Grandma Dori waves her off. “Not now, Austin needs to get back to Lake Starlight. I told you he’d come to his senses if we waited around.”
Forty-One
Holly
“I get the appeal. This place has a rustic vibe.” Dana looks around Lucky Tavern, sliding into her side of the booth. “You look good. I thought I’d find you under your blankets, not on the couch with a tub of cookies and cream in your lap.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, Holly, what can I get you?” Nate asks when he approaches the table.
“Hey, Nate. I’ll just have a glass of pinot. This is my friend Dana from Florida.”
Nate turns to Dana. “Nice to meet you. What can I get you?”
“I’ll have a vodka on the rocks with a lime.”
He nods. “Be right back.”
“So…” Dana starts.
“So, nothing. I have to move on with my life.” I play with the bar coaster Nate left on the table.
“Two days and you have no more tears left?” she asks skeptically.
I shrug, the burning behind my eyelids ever-present. “They’re not dried up yet.”
“I’m not surprised.” She shakes her head.
“Whatever.”
Nate returns with our drinks and I swallow half of mine, apparently alarming Dana.
“Slow down,” she says.
“I’m kind of on the forget phase. You know—forget he ever existed.”
“Moving right along.”
I don’t tell my best friend that my heart is aching so badly that I’m thinking a long-distance relationship might’ve been better than this. “Should I have volunteered to go to California?”
“Uh, no. We’ve been over th
is.”
“You say it like California’s a bad thing.”
“I’m going to give you a pass because you’re obviously hurting, but don’t second-guess what happened.” She sips her vodka and relaxes into the booth. “Let’s change the subject. I get why you like this town so much, but it feels like a little bigger version of Mayberry.”
I roll my eyes.
“But for real, I felt the stress leave my body the minute Karen drove past the cute little sign into town. That said, we need to discuss something.”
I still with my wine glass halfway to my lips. “What?”
“How on earth are you going to move on when the Bailey name is everywhere? I mean, their name and logo is right below the Welcome to Lake Starlight sign.”
I shrug. “Honestly, I’m kind of immune to that by now. The only thing I couldn’t do is live in the same town as Austin. To see him every day and know he couldn’t be mine.”
I look over at the bar stools where he approached me, remembering the instant attraction I felt. The way we kind of knew we might leave together. He asked if I wanted a ride home and I accepted, even though I was within walking distance. We didn’t need names or occupations. Nothing to fill our conversation. Our connection sparked to life that night, and it’s still burning.
“It’s funny, if I believed in love at first sight, I might’ve thought I felt it.”
“Let it all out, girl. I’m here.” Dana lets me say all the stupid shit we women do after our hearts are broken.
“There was a connection between us right away.” My eyes fixate on the two empty chairs where it all started. “Have you ever felt like everything in your life, all the pieces, finally fit? Like you’d found the last piece of the puzzle?”
“You were already complete,” a deep voice says next to me.
A voice I’d recognize anywhere.
I turn my head. Austin’s there, crouching beside the booth.
“Holly.”
His hand runs along my cheek, and I close my eyes and let the sensation of his touch sink into my skin. I swallow, staring at him as though I may have conjured him up in my mind. He’s just as gorgeous as the night we met under the dim lighting of this neighborhood bar. I cover his hand with mine, unable to speak.
“I’m stupid. Please forgive me for being so stupid.” All the love I’ve been drowning in, suffocating on for the past couple of days, peers back at me in his dark eyes.
“Thank God,” Dana says but I don’t spare her a glance.
“You’re not stupid. Why are you here? You should be on a plane.”
He gets up and slides into the booth. “No. This is where I should be.”
I turn my face away from him, wiping tears with the backs of my hands. “No.” I find my voice and shake my head. “You need to go, Austin.”
He laughs as if there’s something funny. “I need you. That’s all I need in this life. You next to me when I fall asleep and you there when I wake up in the morning. And all the hours in between.”
“I can’t be someone you resent in a year or two,” I whisper.
He’s already shaking his head. “How could I resent you? I mean, my dream was always something I couldn’t have, and somewhere along the line, I convinced myself that’s what I needed to be happy. But then you walked into this bar and sat on that stool.”
“It’s only been three months. I should tell you that I drool when I’m really tired, and I’m a bear to wake up in the morning. There’s so much you might find out that you don’t like about me.”
He takes my face in his hands. “And I can’t wait to find out the things that annoy me, because there’ll be a million more things that I love. I want the good and the bad. The beautiful and the ugly. The only stipulation is that I experience them with you.”
“But you can’t be a college baseball coach here.”
“Holly,” he says.
“What?”
“Please just accept that I’m a smart man and I know what I’m doing here. I’m telling you I was stupid. Sometimes us guys are slow on the uptake, what can I say? I didn’t see that after you entered my life, my dream changed. You’ll give me so much more than a stupid coaching career. I want to watch you walk toward me in a white gown. I want to see you sign your name as Holly Bailey. If you’re willing to change your name.” He smirks. “I want to practice getting you pregnant over and over again and rub my hand across your growing belly.” He tips his head down and brings his forehead to mine. “I want to argue about what to name our kids. Hold your hand while a part of us, a part of our love is born into existence. Every moment of my future… I want you in it.” Tears run down my face, and he pulls back and brushes them away with his thumbs. “What do you say?”
“What’s the question?” I laugh, trying to compose myself, because right now, I feel as if I could float away like a balloon from the sheer amount of joy bursting in my chest.
“Can I drive you home?”
I smile.
“This time you’d better take her home and not to your Jeep,” Grandma Dori says, and Austin raises his hand toward her. I didn’t even notice that she was standing behind him.
“This time our agreement is different. Sleepovers every night, shared meals where I get to cook breakfast in the mornings, and as many dates where I hold your hand down Main Street as I want, and I can kiss you whenever the mood strikes. Those are the stipulations, Holly. Do you agree?”
I smile and nod. “Yes.”
“And this time we’re sealing it with a kiss.” He leans in, pressing his lips to mine.
Applause rings out around us as I hold his head to mine. I’m never letting him go again.
Epilogue
Austin
Nine Months Later…
I slide into bed, kissing Holly on the cheek.
“What are you doing?” I ask, trying to take a peek at her tablet.
“She pulls it flush to her chest. You probably don’t want to know.”
I tickle her ribs and she squirms under me, my lips nibbling on her neck as my fingers torture her.
“Austin!” she screams, wiggling around on our bed.
Our bed. I love that I can say that. Holly moved in with me in the family home shortly after I professed my love for her, and we’ve slept beside each other every night since.
“Say you love me,” I say.
“No.”
“Say it?”
Her cami rises and my plan to get an early night’s sleep fades away. I stop tickling her and slide my hands under the thin cotton.
“You said you were tired.” Her head falls back as my mouth latches onto her nipple through her cami, and once I free the fabric from her body, I suck directly on her nipple.
Myles jumps on the bed and onto my back.
I push him off. “Down, Myles.”
She giggles.
“I swear this dog is going to cockblock me again,” I grumble. Myles jumps up again, and I hop off the bed. I point at the open door. “Get out, Myles.”
“He looks so sad,” she says.
“Believe me, I’m going to look sadder if he doesn’t leave.”
Myles slowly walks out of the room, and I shut the door.
I crawl up the bed, Holly giving me her seductive “come and get me” expression that makes my dick harder than steel every time. Her arms open, and I fall on top of her. Heaven on earth.
I think she still worries I made a rash decision by declining the coaching position at USC, but one day she’ll realize I knew all along where I should be. I just refused to listen.
The words I spoke in front of everyone that day in Lucky’s were the truth. Every morsel of my happiness is wrapped up in her. I haven’t regretted my decision once since I’ve been back. If anything, I feel more myself than I have in nine years.
Sedona’s at NYU.
Phoenix still went to California, although she’s living in a studio apartment that makes me cringe.
Savannah is rocking it at Bailey
Timber Corp.
Rome just bought a restaurant on Lake Starlight.
Kingston is hardly home, which I have my theories about, but those are his issues. I solved mine and he has to solve his.
Denver is Denver, forever the Bailey bachelor.
Juno is trying to use Holly and me to convince me she really is a great matchmaker. Unless she convinced Holly to step into Lucky’s that night, she’d better try again.
And Brooklyn… well, I knew that fiancé of hers was an asshole.
My lips fall from Holly’s, and I pick up the tablet to see what she was hiding. No way I’ll let her outdo me on our one-year anniversary presents.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I just had to see what Brooklyn was facing when she returns.” She leans her head on my shoulder as the two of us read tonight’s Lake Starlight Buzz Wheel.
HONEYMOON FOR ONE
Well, the news is out, and unfortunately, Brooklyn Bailey has been left at the altar. After two years of preparations, the Bailey clan—including the newest addition, Holly Radcliffe—were ready to give away their sister, but no one was at the end of the aisle to take her off their hands.
Rumor has it, she’s considering going on her honeymoon by herself.
Oldest brother, Austin, was rumored to say that “the guy has a death wish.” He and the other three Bailey brothers stalked out of the wedding in search of the Runaway Groom. I sure hope he’s hunkered down somewhere safe tonight.
All in all, it’s sad news, but many men in Lake Starlight are asking, how soon is too soon to ask Brooklyn Bailey out?
IF THE JEEP IS ROCKIN’, DON’T COME KNOCKIN’
In other news, our favorite Coach and Principal were seen once again, steaming up the windows of a Jeep behind Lucky’s. If I didn’t know better, I’d say those two like to be in Buzz Wheel. (Picture included)
I turn off the tablet and toss it on my nightstand.
“Will our names ever not be in that thing?” she asks.
I hover over her, my lips millimeters from hers. “Stick with me and we’ll always give people something to talk about.”
