“We are not a thing. So you can tell the town that they’re wrong.”
She looked angry, sad and defeated all at once when she looked at Nate. “Stay out of my life, Cooper. I’m begging you. I don’t need you or anyone else messing it up for me. I can do that all on my own.”
“But you don’t have to do it alone. I can help you. I…” His words failed as he watched her slowly back toward the door.
“I mean it, Nate. This isn’t good for either of us.”
“Kara, wait.” She was one step away from the door and he was pretty sure she had no intention of ever stepping across his threshold again.
She stilled him with a raised hand. “Goodbye, Nate.” And with that she turned and headed for the deck. He waited until he could hear her footsteps disappear before he let out the breath he was holding.
“Dude,” Sam said with a shake of his head, “looks like you screwed that one up big time.”
He gave his friend a mean look. “I had a little help in that department.”
“Hey, don’t get mad at me. I was just trying to help you out.”
The truth was that his heart had been right, if not misplaced. He’d gotten himself into this mess and it was up to him to get himself back out.
One step forward and two steps back.
* * *
Kara was shaking by the time she got to her truck. She’d never intended to have a confrontation like that in front of Sam, but once she’d gotten rolling there was no way stopping.
She was almost to her truck when she noticed the man standing beside it. Even with the hoodie up she recognized her brother immediately. He was thin, too thin. His face was hollow and his eyes dark.
“Pete!” She reached out to try and hug him and he shrugged her off. “What’s wrong?
She recognized now that it was anger in his eyes. “Tell me you didn’t send Cooper to talk me into coming back to the shop to help.”
“Wait. What?”
“Cooper gave me crap at The Diner this morning. He gave me a whole line about how you need help and I should feel guilty for not doing my share.”
Good Lord, Cooper had been busy. “I didn’t send him to talk to you. If he did, it was all on his own.”
“But you told him you were struggling, didn’t you? Look, just because I’m your brother doesn’t mean I have to be a part of the business. I never asked to work there. I only ever did it because you decided I should.”
He was right. She had never truly given him a choice. “If you don’t want to be a part of the business that’s fine. I thought you wanted it. That’s the only reason I pushed.”
He shrugged. She couldn’t tell if her words were getting through to him or not.
“Look, I know you got into a fight last night. Let me help. Tell me what I can do to help.”
“Crap!”
He started to walk away, but she held onto his arm. “Please, talk to me. You’re all I’ve got. If I can do something to help…”
“I’m fine. I just walked into a bad situation. Who told you?” He still wouldn’t meet her eyes. There was so much pain there, so much hurt.
“Why don’t you come back to the shop with me and we’ll talk there.” Away from the prying eyes and ears of Serenity Harbor.
“I can’t go back there.” His voice was deadly calm.
She put a hand on his arm and though he stiffened, he didn’t brush her away. “Okay, I get it. You don’t want to be there. If you don’t want the business, then I’ll sell it. We’ll split the money.”
“It isn’t about the money.” His voice was rough, graveled with emotion. “It’s about the memories. I can’t walk into the house or the shop and not see them there. Every time I’d come home, I expect to see Mom in the kitchen, waiting for me. And every day at the shop I just keep thinking that I was there only because it’s what Dad would want.”
“They would want you to be happy, Pete. Regardless of what you do with your life they’d want you to be happy.”
“I haven’t been happy in a very long time.”
There were no words she could say that would take this pain away from him. No matter how much she wanted to fix it for her brother, she just couldn’t do it.
Chapter 8
Nate cradled the cup of tea his mother had given him and stared out the window at the full moon shining across the waters of Serenity Harbor.
“I don’t have a clue what to do now,” he said, shaking his head. “Every time I try to help Kara I just end up making it worse.” It had to be bad if he’d come to his mother begging help.
“You know, Nate, I hadn’t been married to your father for very long when I got pregnant with you.” She patted his shoulder as she brought over the tea kettle to reheat his cup. It was no secret to him or anyone else that he’d been a very early surprise in his parent’s marriage.
“I was still trying to figure out how to be a wife and all of the sudden I was going to be a mother. I didn’t have a clue how to handle it. I was horrible to your father. I was so wrapped up in all of the changes and I was falling apart. We started to fight, to really struggle. I was sick all the time with morning sickness and I was miserable. We were just barely into our marriage and it didn’t seem like it was going to make it.”
Nate watched the remembered pain cross his mother’s face. This was a story he’d never heard. If they’d struggled, they’d never let him know. “The more your father tried to help. The worse it got.”
“So, what did you do?”
“We had just had one of our big fights. I said horrible things. He said horrible things. And then, he just turned around and went out the door. He didn’t say a word. He just left.”
She sat down heavily in the chair across from him. “I figured that was it. I had finally been so horrible to him that he’d left and the idea scared me so bad I couldn’t stop crying. I realized then that it didn’t matter if I knew what I was doing or not. It wasn’t going to change anything. Being scared had pushed him away. I was terrified.”
He reached out and took his mother’s hand in his. Her fingers curled around his in a reassuring grip. She smiled weakly at him. Here was the mother that had raised him to be a good man. She had never once let on that she didn’t know what to do.
“After I called myself all kinds of a fool, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a light on in his shop. He hadn’t left. He’d just gone out to his workshop. I went down to apologize and when I opened up the door I found him reading a baby book. I was floored. I rarely saw him read anything but the paper. But here he was, reading Doctor Spock.”
Nate laughed. “That must have been a sight.”
She smiled. “It was, and when I walked in he held out a box of crackers to me. He told me he’d been reading how it helped with the morning sickness.” She sighed. “I had been so busy focusing on my own fears, I’d managed to push him away when I should have been holding on tighter.”
He was holding out hope for him and Kara. “Did it stop the fighting?”
When she winked at him, he laughed. “For a while, but we always did enjoy a good makeup session.”
* * *
The crusty remains of snow mixed with mud beneath her feet. It was officially Spring in Maine which meant three feet more of snow at any given night, alternating with sixty-degree weather during the day and mud up to your knees.
Kara slid out of her truck, determined to face the day. There were a lot of truths to be met when it came to her situation, but she couldn't give up on the chance that she could make it all work. She had just a few short weeks to finish the order. It all required two good hands, leaving her with no other option but to put the kid to work.
She looked over at the beat up Toyota Kevin had parked off to the side. Day two of work and he was already here, ready to go as promised. She’d figure out how to pay him later, because there was no way she was going to ask Nate for help.
Two sets of fresh footprints were in the mud leading up to the front door to h
er shop. Normally, she wouldn't have thought much about it except that Kevin should have been the only one there. She leaned over, taking in the familiar set of oversized shoe prints and sighed. No one else she knew sported a size fifteen boot.
That could only mean Pete had been there.
She swung open the door to shop and the heat of the furnace hit her in the face. Inside, the radio was set to a classic rock and the smell of coffee filled the air. “Push that lever for me, will you? See if it’s working now.”
Kara came around the benches to find Kevin standing over the broken press. Her brother’s familiar large feet were sticking out from underneath.
“What are you doing here, Pete?” Which was a totally stupid question, since it was obvious her brother and her new employee were setting about getting everything back in working order.
Her brother slid out and stood up, brushing the dirt from his jeans. “I was talking to Kevin at The Diner and he told me that he was helping you, but the press was broken.”
He leaned a hip on the machine as he wiped his greasy hands on a rag. He shrugged, “I know more about this than anyone else, so I figured I’d come down here and show him how to work it.”
Kara heart began to lighten. “I appreciate it.”
He shrugged again, “It’s no big deal.”
Pete reached for his sweatshirt on the stool and pulled it on over his head, before grabbing his sunglasses and perching them on his forehead.
“Thanks, I really appreciate the tips.” Kevin held out a hand to Pete. The innocent gesture stopped her brother for a moment. Probably Kevin didn’t recognize the hesitation, but she did.
He shook his hand and then headed for the door. “Can I speak to you a minute, Sis?”
“Sure, anything.” And she meant it. She didn’t dare hope that this small concession was a precursor to something bigger.
She followed his heavy footsteps out the door. “Where’s your truck? I don’t see it.”
Pete stared down at the ground, shuffling his boots in the mud. “I had an accident last night and totaled it.”
Before she could launch into sister mode and check him for injuries, he stopped her. “I’m fine, but the truck is not. I was very lucky. I didn’t get a scratch on me.”
“Was anyone else hurt?” God help her, but that was hard to ask.
“Nope, thank God, but I wanted you to hear it from me before anyone else told you.”
Another small concession, but she’d take it. “Okay. Thank you.”
He started to walk off, heading in the direction of town, but stopped, looking back at her. “I just want you to know that last night changed some things. Maybe it rattled some stuff loose in my brain, but I want you to know that I understand what you’ve been talking about.”
“That’s great, Pete.” She wasn’t sure if she dared hope for more.
“I’m going to get some help to get my head on straight. I was talking to Kevin’s mom and she told me about someone in Bangor I could talk to. I think I’m going to give it a try.”
She wanted to cry, but she kept it at a smile. “Good. I’m glad.”
He hugged her. It was a one-armed quick jolt, but it was more than she’d had in years. She’d take that, too.
Pete began trudging off again. “Can I give you a ride to town?”
“Nah, I’ve got some more thinking to do.” And with that he stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed back off down the road.
Kara finally let herself cry.
Chapter 9
He hadn’t seen her in a week.
For seven long days she’d effectively managed to evade him and he’d let her. She needed time to get her head together. He got that. But he wasn’t about to let her just disappear on him forever.
He arrived at her place with pizza which served a two-fold purpose. One, he considered it a peace offering, designed to placate her with melted cheese and sauce. Two, he needed something to do with his hands so he didn’t grab her.
Standing on her stoop with pizza in hand didn’t change the fact that this was all going downhill very fast. They were at a point where they move forward or not and it scared the hell out of him. A sentiment that was echoed in her face when she opened the door.
“What are you doing here at this time of night?” She kept her hand on the door, looking up at him with a tired tilt of her chin. “I’m tired. Can we do this some other time?”
“Sorry, Cinderella, but it’s midnight.”
He stepped past her into the house, unwilling to let her close the door on him again. He had ten years of history riding on them. Ten years of being half in love with her and the last two weeks of taking that emotion all the way. All he’d ever needed to make the leap was a chance from her. He wasn’t about to let her back out of it now.
“I’m about as far from a Princess as you can get, but nice manly reference you’ve got going there, Nate.” Her shoulders sagged beneath her oversized sweatshirt with the words “Serenity Harbor” on the front. Pajama pants and heavy socks rounded out her outfit.
He took heart in the fact that she’d called him by his first name. Maybe there was hope there yet. “I was trying for a manly, Die Hard reference, but failed.” He put the box on her counter and opened it up, letting the lure of cheese and sauce bring her closer. “I thought you could use something to eat. You and Kevin have been working long hours all week.”
“We have, but I think we’re going to get the order done in time. He’s really been a help to me.” She stood next to him, peering over his shoulder at contents of the pizza box.
“Good, I’m glad.” God, he was having all he could do to think straight.
She pulled a stray piece of cheese out of the box, letting it drip from her fingers before stuffing it in her mouth. “Did your mother give you another coupon?”
He swiped at her hand when she went back for more cheese. He couldn’t take it. His brain and his body were competing for oxygen as he watched her lick her fingers.
“My mother is the Coupon Queen. If you want something she’s got a coupon for it.”
He reached for the plates in the cupboard. Steady now, Cooper. She was showing no sign of wanting to kick him out, but his tactic was to get as firmly entrenched as he could before she tried. He closed the top of the box. This was madness.
He reached for her and pulled her into his arms, pushing his fingers into her hair. And gave up trying to breathe. “You’re torturing me.”
She pushed back enough to reach up and drag his head down for one long, slow, mind-bending kiss. When they separated neither of them could breathe.
“I missed you,” he folded her back against him, her body fitting close against his. They were just right.
“Nate, I missed you, too, but we need to talk and I can’t talk to you when you kiss me.”
That was okay with him, but he figured he’d best let her have her say. It was enough for now that she was letting him in her life.
* * *
As hard as it was to do it, Kara knew nothing was going to get solved if she just let it go. She had to make it right with Nate. Too much was riding on it. If the last couple weeks had proven anything to her, it was that it was all too precious to lose.
“This isn’t going to work.” She pushed back from him and took a deep breath. She just needed to get the words out, but it was damned hard when he looked like a little lost puppy.
There was a world of emotions wrapped up in that one single word. “Okay.”
“I’ve been so busy fighting my own battles that I didn’t appreciate that what you were doing was trying to help me. I’ve been on my own for a long time now and having help doesn’t settle well with me. I don’t know how to accept help.”
He looked crestfallen. Obviously, he was expecting the worst. She just had to tell him all of it to make him understand.
“Your mother made me realize that the way I’ve been doing things isn’t working. I need to change them. I’ve been so busy trying to b
e strong that I’m missing out on letting people into my life who want to help me.”
His expression went from one of concern to a flare of hope.
“I love you, Nate. Granted, you are still a big pain in my butt and you need to learn when to let me fight my battles, but I love you.”
The words were barely out of her mouth before he had pulled her back into his arms. He was holding onto her so tight she was sure they were both going to fall over. But that was okay.
“Thank God,” he said between kisses. “I’ve been in love with you for so long I was afraid I’d blown my chances to be with you.”
“No such luck, Cooper. We’re in this together.” And to prove her point, she let the pizza go cold while she made up for lost time. Cold pizza was better any way.
“You never explained the Cinderella reference,” she asked quite a while later.
His shoulder shrugged as he tempted her with a piece of piece he dangled in front of her. “It made sense to me. You’ve been calling me some damned knight in shining armor as a joke. I decided that if you weren’t going to come to me, then I was going to go to you. I had to get my game on and get serious to win you.”
“Well played, even if you mixed your fairy tale and sports metaphors,” she murmured around a mouthful of pizza. “Still, if you drag out a glass shoe to prove how serious you are, then I gotta tell you I prefer a boot.”
He laughed.
“Oh, I think I can accommodate, but only for you,” he said as he proceeded to show her just how serious he was.
The End
About Teagan Oliver
Teagan Oliver loves good stories, lots of romance and the challenge of putting it all together in a book. When not writing, she divides her time between travelling the back roads and shorelines of her old haunts, and keeping up with her kids, hubby and menagerie of pets. But more often than not, she can often be found with pen and paper in hand at the local coffee shop, putting her inspirations to paper.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HER STORIES, YOU CAN FOLLOW HER HERE AT:
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