With You: A Queensbay Small Town Romance (The Queensbay Series Book 5)

by Drea Stein

  “I wish. I put a few quarters in a slot machine, but that was about it.”

  “Let me guess, since you know the odds were against you, why even try?”

  “Something like that. I like to win, so why play when the game is rigged against you? Besides I was pretty busy with work, but I did make time to do a little shopping.”

  He rolled over, to where he had dropped his jacket. They hadn’t made it upstairs again, and were curled up on the rug in front of the couch. It was too hot for a fire; instead, she’d opened the windows so they could hear the waves lapping at the shore.

  He fumbled for a minute, and she admired the lines of his body, the way the skin stretched tautly over his bones, the way the muscles moved in his back. She’d held on tight, and she could see the faint outlines of her where her hands had held him.

  “It’s just a little something,” he said, holding out the box. Her heart jumped. It was square and velvet and, thank goodness, much too big to hold a ring. Still her heart was pounding in her ears. He held it out to her.

  “Aren’t you going to open it?”

  “Of course,” she said, taking it, her throat dry. She flipped it open.

  “It’s one of those charm bracelet thingies,” he said, his finger swirling over the box. “I just got you one charm because, well, you’re supposed to personalize it.”

  “A car, thank you,” she managed to stutter. She didn’t know what she felt. She was happy it wasn’t a ring because they hadn’t even talked about that, discussed that. No, this was better, of course, except as she looked up into his eyes and saw what was there, she knew it was almost worse. This was thoughtful and meaningful. It showed a connection. It showed that they had built memories together. That he planned on building memories. It wasn’t just some shiny bracelet, something to ooh and ahh over. This was … love.

  “I love it,” she said, and she saw the hope die in his eyes. He had wanted her to say something else, but she just couldn’t, didn’t know what had come over her. Why couldn’t she tell Colby that she loved him?

  Princess woofed, looked at the door, and her stomach growled. Colby smiled.

  “Looks like I’ve distracted you all enough. Time for Princess to go out and for us to eat.”

  He got up quickly, rising from the tangle of blankets and clothes. He pulled on his jeans and t-shirt, found a pair of flip-flops and headed out with Princess.

  Chapter 51

  “The place looks amazing,” Tory whispered to Lynn.

  Lynn shook her head. “Don’t look at me. My mom and Chase’s mom pulled it together.”

  They were in the upstairs room of the Osprey Arms, which had been taken over for Phoebe’s wedding shower. Lynn and Tory had started to plan it, when they’d been pushed aside. Chase’s mom had told them to concentrate on the bachelorette party instead.

  “Put those flowers over there,” Carol Sanders said to Jackson. Lynn giggled.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Finally, there’s someone who gets to tell Jackson what to do. Look at that—he’s not even rolling his eyes.”

  “Mrs. Sanders is a bit scary,” Tory agreed. Actually she wasn’t; she was a doll, but since Phoebe had no family to speak of, she’d taken charge of the wedding shower. Lynn’s mom Regina, who’d taken a liking to Phoebe as well, had also stepped in, and now Tory and Lynn found themselves relegated to pack mules.

  “Tory, would you be a doll and move that arrangement over there?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’ll help,” Lynn said quickly.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” her mother and Jackson chimed in.

  Lynn rolled her eyes. “It is not that heavy.”

  Tory looked between the three of them. Lynn looked better than she had the last time she’d seen her, not green, but there was still something up. Jackson hadn’t let carry the present up the stairs, and Lynn’s mother kept glancing at her daughter.

  Tory moved the arrangement and went over to the bar. Trip, the young waiter, was back and was polishing the glasses.

  “Can I have a glass of champagne?”

  Lynn came over.

  “Make that two,” Tory said.

  Lynn smiled at her and said, “I’ll just have some ginger ale.”

  “Are you still not better?”

  “You know those stomach bugs,” Lynn said. Tory reached out to take the glass from Trip and found Lynn’s hand on her wrist.

  “What is that?”

  “What? Oh.” Tory looked down at the bracelet. The charm banged against her wrist self-consciously. She had been getting dressed for the shower, and it had been looking up at her, begging her to wear it.

  “Something Colby gave me,” she said.

  “He gave you that?” Lynn grabbed her wrist and twisted it in the light. The bracelet winked and caught in the bright sun streaming in through the windows.

  Tory smiled thinly. It was nice, but she couldn’t help but remember the feeling of panic she’d had when she thought it had been something else. How her heart had jumped, and not in a good way. How she had to fight the urge to jump up and run away.

  “Cute charm. What’s it supposed to be?”

  “It’s supposed to be a Mustang,” she said. Just like the one he had let her drive. He’d gotten her only one charm, he said, because they had a lot of time to fill it up. He had wanted to say “together,” but he’d held back, she could tell.

  “That is adorable. So thoughtful,” Lynn said, but Tory could hear the telling tone behind it.

  “Will you stop it? Last time I checked, you were happy with your own guy, well on your way to forever and happily ever after and all that stuff. No need to be planning my life for me.”

  “Well if you’re going to stick your head in the sand about it, someone better pull you out of it before it’s too late.” Lynn asked, taking a sip of the ginger ale.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, do you think you and Colby are going somewhere? He’s obviously head over heels in love with you.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “He braved game night with a bunch of people he barely knows. He laughed with the guys, charmed the ladies, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of you the whole night. And when it was time to go, you were blushing like a cheerleader on prom night.”

  “Oh, please.” Tory rolled her eyes, hoping to deflect this line of questioning.

  “Now you’re spending every night at his place and it’s not because you have to walk the dog. You’re coming to the wedding together and you—yes, you, Tory Somers—actually seem to sparkle when you’re around him.”

  Tory shook her head, took a sip of champagne and let the bubbles slide down her throat. “It’s too much to think about it. I have the new job, my own place, things are going great … why rock the boat?”

  “Rock the boat? Sounds like you’re just avoiding the issue. Look, I know you’re not really all into that mushy-gushy stuff, but I also know that the woman about town act was a myth. You kinda like to keep guys at arm’s length.”

  “Isn’t that what most guys want?” Tory said.

  “Some do, until they don’t. It seems like Colby might be thinking about settling down and I think he has his sights set on you.”

  “You’re just a hopeless romantic,” Tory said.

  Lynn took a deep breath. “You’re right. It doesn’t matter what I think. I don’t know if getting married was ever in the plan or if Colby looks like the guy on your to-do list, but this is one thing that can’t just be checked off when you want.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Lynn put her hand over Tory’s arm. “Love just happens. Of course it may be that Colby’s madly in love with you and all you feel is a deep and lasting affection. But I’ve seen you on a Monday morning after you’ve spent the weekend with him, and you sure do not look like you’ve just experienced affection.”

  “It’s just sex … you know, really good sex,” Tory said.

&nbs
p; Lynn shook her head. “‘Just sex’ doesn’t make you glow like that. Not unless it’s connected to something deeper.”

  “Why does there have to be something deeper?” Tory said, shaking her head. “Look at my parents. Supposedly they were so in love they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. But twenty-five years later, they don’t even care about who comes home for dinner. I don’t want to be like that.”

  “That’s what turning your back on love does. Have you seen your parents? Neither one of them is happy about what’s going on. Sure your mom is putting on a good act, but I think that’s all it is. She’s waiting for your father to come in and do the right thing – surprise her, win her back. Your parents didn’t fall out of love—they just forgot to show it. Don’t let that happen to you.”

  Lynn’s mother called her over, and Tory was left alone, watching the bubbles in her champagne. Her feelings for Colby were complicated. Not simple, not easy. And it scared her.

  Chapter 52

  She had taken a break from the giggles and ohs and ahs of the shower and found relative quiet in the restroom. Lynn had happily been making a silly hat out for Phoebe to wear out of the trimming of the presents. Tory had taken the more practical step of writing down what gifts had come from whom. She didn’t relish Phoebe’s task of having to write all those thank you notes.

  She was re-applying her lipstick when the woman walked in.

  “Eleanor.”

  “Sugar, I told you to call me Ellie.”

  Tory decided to ignore her, even as the feeling of being back in high school and caught in the locker room with a horde of cheerleaders washed over her. There was only one way to handle mean girls, Tory told herself. You couldn’t let them see you sweat.

  “That’s a nice bracelet there. Colby done good picking it out. Told him so last night over drinks.”

  Eleanor stood looking at the mirror fluffing her hair. Tory said nothing, just smoothly and evenly applied her lipstick. Colby had had drinks with Eleanor? He’d said he had to work late and they had actually slept apart.

  “Well now sugar, looks like you and Colby are getting real friendly,” Eleanor’s voice dripped honey and bourbon and her dress made a silky whisper as she moved a little closer to the sink.

  Tory stiffened.

  “You’re not Colby’s usual type and maybe that’s why he’s fallen so hard for you.”

  Tory carefully applied her lipstick while she flicked through her brain for the perfect retort.

  Eleanor reached out and grabbed Tory’s arm, her grip surprisingly strong. “He plays for keeps when he’s ready, so just make sure you don’t go off and break his heart – you hear sugar?”

  Tory took a step back and swallowed. Eleanor gave her a cool smile, released her arm and sashayed out the door, her dress a whisper of silk against silk. Tory let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. She had thought Eleanor had come in to give her the standard warning about steering clear of her turf, that Colby was taken. But had Eleanor just told her to leave Colby alone because Tory was no good for him.

  Tory laughed out aloud, the sound startling another woman in one of the stalls. Her own mother had nothing on Eleanor’s brand of protectiveness.

  She waited a moment, then left the bathroom herself, eyes scanning for Eleanor. But the lobby of the Osprey Arms was empty. Upstairs she could hear laughter, shouts. It was almost time for cake and she needed to go back up there, snap some more pictures.

  Chapter 53

  It was bothering her. She couldn’t quite get over it, couldn’t quite put it out of her mind. She had gone back to her own apartment after the shower. It was quiet, too quiet. It felt, she thought, unlived in. And she supposed it was. After all, she had practically dropped everything to move in with Colby. At first, it had been because of Princess. She had to be walked, fed, loved, and then it had just seemed natural to adjust her rhythms to Colby’s. She was doing it again, even after she had promised herself she wouldn’t.

  She thought about what Eleanor has said. The woman had accused her of … well, it was unclear. She had thought that maybe Eleanor was going to try to tell her to back off Colby because Colby didn’t belong to her. That Eleanor had a claim on him.

  But it hadn’t been like that at all. Eleanor had told her not to hurt Colby. What had gone on between the two of them? What wasn’t he telling her?

  The door opened, and she spun around. Colby was there, hair wet, rain droplets on his shirt.

  “You guys got lucky with the shower. It’s raining cats and dogs. I know you said you weren’t that hungry, but I picked up some takeout, some beer, a bottle of wine. Thought maybe we could just hang out, watch a movie?”

  He was smiling, moving around her kitchen, putting things away. He was acting as if everything was normal, but she could sense the hesitation there. It had been that way since she’d taken the bracelet from him and said none of the right things.

  “Why are you here?” Tory said. She felt a pressure in her chest.

  “To bring you dinner. I thought it would be nice to eat at your place, since you’re always coming to mine. Princess is all set; one of the neighbors will look in on her.”

  It was the easy way he said it, the calm assurance that Tory would worry, would care about what happened to the dumb dog. She moved her hand, ran it through her hair, and the light caught the glint of silver on her charm. All of a sudden, it felt heavy, like a cuff, not a delicate piece of jewelry.

  “I mean why are you here? Why are we here?”

  He looked up from where he was arranging things on the counter. He stilled, and she could see the tension in him. She had asked a question that didn’t need to be asked, but now she could not take it back.

  He looked at her, his blue eyes steady, unflinching. She had to stop herself from turning from it, from the truth she saw in them. She did not, could not understand it, could not compute this.

  “I know why I’m here, Tory. You know why, too.”

  She didn’t want him to say the words, as the thought of what Eleanor had said to her rushed through her head. She didn’t want to be the one who would break Colby’s heart.

  “I’m here because I love you.”

  There was the barest hint of hesitation, as if he were waiting for her to say it back to him. When she didn’t, he hurried into the silence that hung between them.

  “I’m here because I love you, Tory Somers, all of you. The way you look at the world as a problem to decode or a solution to find. We both like to fix things, Tory, and I feel like we fixed each other. For a long time, I’ve been searching for something. I thought I had it all. I’ve come a long way from where I was, and I thought I had what I needed. And then I saw you that day, coming out of the door like an avenging angel, intent on saving your car, and something moved. The whole world clicked, and I thought, ‘There is a woman who is never going to give you, Colby Reynolds, country boy, a second look’.”

  “I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you,” Tory said with a smile, remembering her first glimpse of Colby and the way he made her feel, like she couldn’t breathe or think.

  “And all I wanted was to know you, be with you. I couldn’t get you out of my head. I’ve given you everything, yet you still hold back.”

  “You believe in moonlight and rainbows and love at first sight and unicorns.” She saw his look. “Ok, maybe not unicorns,” she amended.

  “And you don’t. I know that, but can’t you believe in us, in love? That two different people can find each other and be better together than they are apart?”

  “But who are you? I feel like I don’t know you, Colby Reynolds, the boy from Tennessee, like you’re hiding something from me. Like you and Eleanor—”

  “I told you, it’s not like that between the two of us.”

  “It’s like something. It’s fine. We all have things in the past. I can take it; I’m a big girl.”

  He stiffened. “I am who I am now. I don’t have a happy past, Tory. I told you
I didn’t always make the best decisions, but since that day I decided to make a change, to do the right thing, the smart thing, I’ve been moving forward to you, to here.”

  “You’re still not answering my question.”

  Colby closed his eyes. “Eleanor is my mother.”

  Tory took a step back. “She’s your what?”

  “I told you my life wasn’t like yours. I didn’t have the perfect little house, or the two parents who made it work. My read dad was a drunk and a criminal.”

  “She’s your mother and you’re just telling me this now?”

  “I didn’t even know until I was fourteen. After my dad got out of lock up and told me. Until then I thought she was my aunt. She ran off when I was a baby. Sure she sent money, but I grew up thinking my parents were dead.”

  She heard the words. “But why wouldn’t tell me that. What else aren’t you telling me? Was there someone more than Kayla? Eleanor? Who else is in your life that you’re not telling me about?”

  He took a step toward her and she flinched. He stopped and she could see the pain she had caused him written on his face and in the tense way he held his body.

  “There is no one else,” he said simply.

  She took a deep breath, afraid that she was going to cry. “I have a feeling that with a man like you, there is always going to be someone else.”

  “Believe in us,” he said simply. “Believe that this boy from a small town in Tennessee could fall in love—in head over heels, moon in the sky, fireflies and slow dancing love with you, Tory Somers, a girl with a brain that works like one of your computers, with a smile that will light up a room, hair that is streaked blonde no matter the season and legs that go on forever. A girl with a big heart that’s been shut away for too long. I love you. Marry me, Tory. Make a forever for me with lists and plans and moonlight and fireflies.”

  He moved to her, and she felt the walls closing in on her.