Lovebird Café Box Set

by Dylann Crush

  “You mean that?”

  She looked up at me, a questioning smile on her face. “Of course I do. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking. Would you be okay with me sticking around for a few more weeks? I kind of volunteered to keep an eye on Rodney and—”

  I didn’t get to finish my statement before she grabbed me in a hug. “Oh, honey, I’ve been praying you’d make a decision like this.”

  Wrapping my arms around her, I inhaled the scent of vanilla, cinnamon, and home, sweet, home. “Just for a few more weeks.”

  “A few weeks.” She nodded against my chest then released me. “We need to celebrate. What do you want for dinner?”

  “About dinner. How about I grill burgers? Harmony is going to come over so we can talk about her plans for a studio. I’m assuming the city mentioned they might have found a renter for that building you own downtown?”

  “Your uncle’s old accounting office?”

  “Yeah. We need to start cleaning up the space and getting it built out. I figured Rodney and Harmony’s son, Liam, could help me with that.”

  “What a good idea.” Ma turned back to roll out another batch of rolls. “And burgers sound lovely. I’ll just whip up a batch of coleslaw, maybe some potato salad, and oh, those peanut butter brownies I know you like.”

  “Thanks, Ma.” I rested my hand on her shoulder for a moment. I’d missed this…being surrounded by people who didn’t want anything more from me than the pleasure of my company at dinner. My time in Hollywood was filled with excitement, taking calculated risks, and a constant barrage of new people, new projects, and new stunts to figure out. There was something about taking a step out of the rat race to just enjoy being home.

  Hopefully I wouldn’t screw it up.

  17

  Harmony

  I knocked on the door of Dustin’s mom’s house at exactly seven o’clock. I’d brought one of Cassie’s peach pies for dessert, not sure whether I should have brought a bottle of wine instead. That’s what I would have done in California. Picked up a bottle of some local Sonoma variety at Trader Joe’s on my way to dinner. But around here a run to the liquor store meant an hour in the truck round trip. And the last time I’d checked, they didn’t offer much beyond Boone’s Farm and the boxed variety.

  Liam shuffled his sneakers on the porch next to me. “Why did I have to come tonight?”

  “Besides the fact I’m unable to trust you on your own?”

  He rolled his eyes. “How long is that going to last?”

  “As long as I say it does.”

  The door opened. I pasted a smile on my face.

  “Hey, glad you could make it.” Dustin pushed open the screen door to let us through.

  “I brought a pie.” I thrust it at him.

  “Did you make it?” He appeared hesitant to touch it, probably wondering how bad it would taste.

  “No. I took one from the café. Cassie’s peach pie.”

  “Oh, thanks.” Grabby hands reached for the pie. “Mom, Harmony and Liam are here.”

  Mrs. Jarrett joined us in the front room. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

  “This is my son, Liam.” I gave him a nudge.

  “Liam, it’s nice to meet you.” She held her hand out to him.

  Liam took it, somewhat reluctantly. The screen door squeaked behind us.

  “And here’s Scarlett and Rodney.” Mrs. Jarrett gestured to the kitchen. “We’ve got dinner set out on the screened porch in back. Dustin, can you show them the way?”

  Liam followed Dustin, but I caught the glare he shot Rodney’s way. Having the boys work together all summer seemed like a better alternative than a detention program or a pig farm, but it might just blow up in our faces.

  Dustin set the pie down on a table laden with food. “How many other people is your mom expecting tonight?” I asked.

  “Just y’all.” He motioned to the long wooden table in the middle of the room. “Feel free to sit anywhere. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Water would be great.” I shrugged my purse off my shoulder and set it on the ground. “This is a beautiful room.” Reclaimed barn wood covered the walls. Twinkle lights stretched above us, canvassing the pointed ceiling in glowing light.

  “Thanks. Mom added it on a few years ago.” He stepped to a side table where a pitcher of water and what looked like a pitcher of tea sat next to each other. “How about you, Liam?”

  “Water, please.”

  At least my son had found his voice. I knew he was excited to have a chance to spend time with Dustin but, knowing my son, he was probably more than a little embarrassed at the circumstances.

  Dustin handed us both a glass of water as the rest of his family joined us on the porch. Everyone took a seat: Mrs. Jarrett at the head of the table, Dustin to her right. I’d ended up sandwiched between him and Liam with Scarlett and Rodney on the other side. The chair at the end of the table sat empty.

  Dustin held a platter of burgers up to me. “Take your pick. Grilled ’em myself.”

  I used the tongs to take a cheeseburger off the top of the stack. “Thanks. Liam, do you want cheese?”

  “I can get it myself,” he mumbled.

  I took the platter from Dustin and held it for Liam to take what he wanted.

  “Dustin tells me you’re going to be taking over the space above the old accounting office,” Mrs. Jarrett said.

  “That’s right. We looked at it today.” Heat rose to my cheeks as I recalled straddling Dustin’s waist.

  “And what kind of business are you going to be running?” She scooped homemade potato salad from a vintage Fiestaware bowl while she talked.

  “A wellness studio. I’ve got a license in massage therapy and have always wanted to combine that with other preventative and healing health offerings. Maybe even some yoga.” My heart still sang as I thought about the possibilities. It had been my dream for so long. The thought of it coming true had plastered a constant smile on my lips. Not even Liam’s surly attitude could bring me down.

  Scarlett lifted a cob of corn from a bowl in the middle of the table and set it on her plate. “Yoga, huh? I’d be up for trying that. How about you, Rodney?”

  Dustin grinned. “Coach always told me flexibility helps with sports.”

  Rodney shook his head. “No thanks. You won’t find me in some leotard doing backwards dog.”

  “There’s no such thing,” Liam said, his eyes on his plate.

  “What?” Rodney’s hands paused, burger mid-way between the plate and his mouth.

  Liam looked up. “You can do downward dog or upward dog. There’s no backwards dog. If you’re going to make fun of something, at least get the name right.”

  Dustin laughed. Rodney scowled. It suddenly felt like it was going to be a very long evening.

  “Y’all finish up with school on Thursday, right?” Dustin asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Rodney said.

  “So we’ll get started on renovations Friday morning. Say eight o’clock?”

  Both boys looked up. “But that’s the first day of summer,” Rodney said.

  “I’ve only got a few weeks to get the work done. What better time to start?” Dustin grinned at both of them as he sunk his teeth into his corn on the cob.

  Rodney pushed back from the table and stormed into the house.

  “That’s not okay.” Scarlett made a move to go after him.

  “Aw, let him go,” Mrs. Jarrett said. “He’ll come around.”

  An uneasy quiet descended on the table. Liam continued to take bites of his burger, even asked for a second helping of baked beans.

  “I saw Rob in town this morning,” Scarlett said. “Have the two of you had a chance to catch up yet?” She focused on Dustin. I was pretty sure this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.

  “Not yet.” Dustin wiped his chin with his napkin. “But now that I’m going to stick around for a while, we’ll have plenty of time for that.”


  “I don’t get it.” Scarlett sat back from the table. “Why can’t you just make things right with the guy? You’re both adults now.”

  “Scarlett.” Her mom put her hand over where Scarlett’s rested on the table. “Enough.”

  “I’m going to check on Rodney.” She slid her hand out from underneath her mom’s and got up from the table. “If you’ll excuse me?”

  I nodded, not sure if it was my agreement she was waiting on or not.

  “Who’s ready for dessert?” Mrs. Jarrett asked. “I made some peanut butter brownies.”

  “And Harmony brought something,” Dustin added. “One of Cassie’s peach pies.”

  “Ooh, let’s have a little of each, shall we?” she asked, earning a smile from Liam. He may be stubborn as a bull but, when it came to dessert, he could be as agreeable as peas and carrots.

  “We can clear the dishes.” I pushed back, stacking my plate onto Dustin’s as I got up from the table.

  “I might even have some homemade vanilla ice cream in the deep freeze. Dustin, do you want to go check for me?” Mrs. Jarrett put her hand to her heart and gripped the edge of the table.

  “You okay, Mom?” Dustin stood, putting an arm around his mother’s shoulder.

  “Just got a little light headed. Do you mind if I go lie down for a few minutes?”

  “Of course. You need a hand?”

  “No, sugar. I’ll be fine. Just make sure everyone gets dessert, okay?” She passed the pan of brownies and the pie to Dustin before she made her way back into the kitchen.

  “You sure your mom is all right?” I asked.

  “I think so. Scarlett said she’s been having some bouts of dizziness. She has a doctor’s appointment in the morning. Hopefully they’ll let us know if anything major’s going on. So what will it be? Brownie? Pie?”

  Looked like we might not all agree on everything, but one thing was for sure…there were no hard feelings when it came to dessert.

  “I’m going to go apologize to Rodney,” Liam said.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if they got into a fight.

  “Yeah.” He nodded before taking off toward the front of the house.

  Alone, Dustin met my gaze. “So do you want to talk about what happened this afternoon?”

  My chin tucked against my chest. “Not now.”

  Dustin nudged a finger under my chin, lifting my head to catch my attention. “We’re going to have to talk about it eventually.”

  “Later,” I managed.

  “All right, then. I’m going to go cut everyone a slice of pie.” Dustin disappeared into the kitchen with the dessert.

  My shoulders relaxed and the tightness in my chest seeped away as Dustin left the room. I wasn’t ready to face the repercussions of this afternoon yet. As I stacked dishes to carry them into the kitchen, movement out on the lawn caught my attention. It had started raining while we’d been eating dinner. The downpour had stalled, but a light rain still fell from the overcast sky. Something shrieked before disappearing into the stand of trees rimming the grassy area. What the heck was that?

  I left the dishes on the table and pushed through the door into the backyard to investigate. Nothing appeared to be out of place. Except for a small mound of dirt in the center of the yard. Either my eyes were playing tricks on me or there was some wild ostrich on the loose in rural southwestern Missouri.

  Maybe it was the dust I’d inhaled while previewing the studio space. Whatever it was, I needed to stop hallucinating and start putting ideas down on paper if Dustin and the boys might be starting to work on the space.

  I shook the rain out of my hair and ventured back into the porch. Dustin set a plate full of pie, brownie and ice cream down in front of me.

  “Oh, I can’t eat all of that.” I gently pushed it away.

  “What? Pie? Brownies? Ice Cream?”

  “None of it. Do you know how bad refined sugar is for you?”

  “Oh, that’s right.” He let out a laugh. “Sorry, we don’t have any quinoa crumpets or wheat germ suckers for dessert.” He sat down across from me and stabbed his fork into a chunk of brownie.

  “I just believe in being careful about the kinds of things I put into my body.” Preferably, organic, non-GMO, locally-harvested and sustainable food sources. But I didn’t want to overwhelm him with all of that. It was bad enough I’d been taking advantage of the free meals at the café.

  “Okay.” He licked his lips, driving home the point. “But it’s good.”

  “I believe you. But I try to limit my sweets intake.” I gathered the stacked plates I’d set down before.

  “Sure you don’t want just a bite?” He lifted his fork.

  The perfect blend of crust and peach filling taunted me from the tines. My mouth watered. “One bite.”

  He smiled as I leaned across the table and took the entire fork in my mouth. My lips closed around it, relieving it of the pie, before I handed his fork back to him.

  Sweetness danced across my tongue. I closed my eyes, savoring the sensation, chewing as slowly as possible to make it last.

  Dustin cleared his throat. “Want more?”

  Hell yes, I wanted more. But instead I opened my eyes and shook my head. “Nope. Just a taste is enough. Now, where should I put these?”

  “Kitchen counter’s fine,” he said.

  “Okay, back in a minute.” I wandered into the empty kitchen, plates in hand. As I set them down on the counter, I couldn’t help but run my gaze over the pictures lining the wall over the sink. Dustin in diapers. Scarlett holding a doll the same size as her. Years of memories splayed across the wall. Dustin on a small motorbike. Scarlett sitting on top of a pony.

  This was the kind of life I wanted to provide for Liam. I closed my eyes and leaned against the counter. The sound of something shuffling along the floor by my feet made me open them again.

  I yelled, trying to climb onto the counter.

  The skunk scurried off into the front room. Dustin burst through the door. “What happened?”

  “The skunk. Why is that skunk in your kitchen?”

  Dustin shook his head. “We’ve got ourselves a little bit of a Petunia problem.”

  18

  Dustin

  “I tried to take her back, but Mrs. Glassard passed away. They wouldn’t take her at the nursing home and she’s been de-scented so I can’t let her go back to the wild.” I set my palms on the kitchen counter. I’d planned on waiting until after dessert to bring up Petunia. But, unfortunately, she’d beat me to it. “I was actually hoping that maybe you’d be able to take her—”

  “No.” Harmony backed up, as if moving away from me would negate my request. “I’ve already got baby raccoons.”

  “Right. That’s why it would be perfect. You’re already equipped to handle a tame wild animal.”

  “Can you hear yourself? A tame wild animal? What does that even mean?”

  “Look, my mom already said she can’t stay here. She’s hardly ever home and there’s no room for Petunia in the trailer with me.” I shrugged. “Unless you want me to post online that she’s available. Although, you never know what kind of wacko might want a skunk for some nefarious purpose.”

  “Nefarious?” The space between her eyebrows crinkled.

  “It means evil.”

  “I know what it means. I just didn’t realize you knew what it meant.” She scraped the dishes clean before loading them into the dishwasher.

  “Why not? Because I’m a gearhead who never went to college?” The comment came out a little sharper than I’d intended.

  Harmony turned off the tap and put a hand on her hip. “No. Because it’s not a word most people use on a regular basis. What do you do, read the dictionary?”

  “Actually…”

  Her mouth gaped. “You read the dictionary?”

  “No. I have an app for the word of the day.” Somehow admitting that to her made me feel stupider, not sm
arter. And as far as I knew, stupider wasn’t even a word so that made it twice as bad.

  “So what’s today’s word?” She stepped closer to where I leaned against the counter.

  “I haven’t looked it up yet.”

  “Do you have a set time of day you do your word practice?” The corners of her mouth quirked up into a bit of a smile. I recognized the teasing tone in her voice.

  “Just whenever I can squeeze it in.”

  “How about now?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because now you’ve made it into a big deal. And it’s not a big deal. It’s just something I do, you know? Like one of my daily habits.”

  “What other kind of habits do you have?”

  Hell, I wasn’t going to go there, especially not with the woman who’d inspired a new almost-daily habit. “Forget it. How about we pick up where we left off earlier instead?”

  “Come on, I want to know the word of the day.” She reached for my phone but I spun out of her grasp.

  “If I show you, will you leave me alone about it and never ask again?”

  “I can’t promise. But I’ll leave you alone about it tonight.”

  “Fine.” I pulled my phone out my pocket and tapped to open the app. One look at the screen told me there was no way I was sharing that word with her. A trail of fire burned across my cheeks.

  “What?” Her eyebrows lifted in question. “You’ve got to show me now.”

  “No way.” I clicked my phone off but before I could tuck it back into my pocket, she snagged it out of my hand.

  Her fingers fumbled with the button. “How does this turn on?”

  “Give that back.” I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her back into my front.

  She held the phone out, away from us. Laughing, she leaned forward, trying to get me to let go. “Come on, you said you’d show me.”

  I leaned over her, my nose against her hair. The scent of vanilla tickled my nose. Subtle, not so in my face. I liked it. “Okay.”

  She stopped wiggling and settled against my chest. “Promise?”