Hey Sunshine

by Tia Giacalone

  “Don’t be.” He reached out and brushed a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. “Ghosts aren’t always a bad thing.” He paused. “Boo Berry cereal, for example.”

  I caught a hint of the confident, dry humor that I knew so well, and my body relaxed a little. I knew Fox was trying to lighten the mood of this conversation for my benefit, and although I wanted to reassure him that I could handle whatever he wanted to share, I let him steer the topic in a different direction.

  I wrinkled my nose at him. “No way. Count Chocula is way better.”

  He laughed. “Everything okay out at your parents’ place?”

  “For the most part. My dad found where the dogs got hurt. One side of the south fence was completely down, it must’ve fallen on them and they had to wriggle out from under it.”

  “I figured it was something like that,” Fox said.

  “On the plus side, Duke is doing great, and my dad mended the fence. Other than that, no major damage, just a lot of clean up. Thank you for the rosebush, by the way. My mom planted it over Missy’s grave.”

  For a small operation, there was quite a bit of acreage but nothing my father and his part-time ranch hand couldn’t fix. My dad had been spending more and more time out there lately, and Fox was slowly taking over some of the responsibilities at the diner that Joy didn’t have time for. I knew they were still hoping I’d change my mind about New York and graduate school to stick around, but the closer I got to graduation, the more determined I was. I wanted options, and I wasn’t going to find them around here.

  Fox nodded. “I’ll give your dad a call, see if I can come out and help.”

  “Fox, you’ve been here every day since the storm, working doubles and taking care of the ordering and closing the till so my dad could focus on the ranch. That’s above and beyond the call of duty. You’re definitely employee of the month, okay?” I teased.

  His mouth quirked up on one side. “Is there a trophy?”

  I rolled my eyes, suppressing a laugh. “I think it’s a plaque. And a gift certificate for a pony ride at the fair.”

  He turned his full sexy Fox gaze on me, sweeping those green eyes from my beat-up Converse all the way to the fabric flower I’d stuck into my messy bun. “Can I bring a date?”

  I could feel my grin split my face from ear to ear. “Depends. Who did you have in mind?”

  Fox’s slow smile got my blood flowing as he picked up his coffee and turned to head into the kitchen. “I’ll let you know.”

  When he was out of sight, I shoved a silverware tray aside and slumped dramatically against the counter. I wasn’t sure what was worse, the anticipation of my graduate school admission or waiting for Fox to finally make his move. At this point, I’d have to say the latter.

  * * *

  Game over. I’d tossed and turned all night, and this was ridiculous. I got up, threw on a sweatshirt over my pajamas and grabbed my keys. The day after the storm, Fox and my dad had gone out to retrieve my car from where it had stalled in the road, and I’d been driving the SUV while I waited for the repairs to finish but I had the old sedan back now, and I crossed my fingers that it would get me to the only place I wanted to go right at this moment.

  Ten minutes later, I raised my hand and rapped my knuckles on the apartment door quickly, before I lost my nerve. The thirty or so seconds after that ticked by excruciatingly slowly, and I almost turned around and ran down the stairs to my car to forget the whole thing. Fox opened the door in faded navy blue pajama bottoms, pulling his arms through a white T-shirt, his hair perfectly disheveled and sexy. When he saw me, he stopped short.

  “Avery? It’s like four thirty in the morning. Is everything okay?”

  My eyes locked onto the sliver of bare stomach that peeked out from his rumpled, half-on shirt. “No.”

  “No? What’s wrong? Is it Annabelle?” Fox quickly slipped the shirt over his head and reached down to grab his running shoes from the mat by the door, but I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

  “Annabelle is fine. She had a sleepover at the ranch.” Say it, just say it. “It’s me.”

  “You?” Fox looked genuinely confused. He dropped his shoe to the floor and ran a hand through his hair.

  “Yes, me.” I took a deep breath. “Well, me and you.” I echoed his words from yesterday at the diner.

  His expression changed to one of caution, and again I nearly lost my nerve. He leaned against the doorjamb and surveyed me seriously. “Do you want to come in and talk about it?”

  This was it. “I like you, okay?” I all but exploded. “And I thought I was making it perfectly obvious, giving you all kinds of signs and green lights, but either you don’t like me the same way even though you’ve hinted at it, or you’re taking it slow for some unknown awful reason, but I can’t take it anymore!”

  Fox’s lips twisted. That dimple could coax daybreak out of the darkness, and I could almost feel the sun rising as I stood there, waiting for his response.

  “You like me?” He reached out, sliding a hand around the curve of my waist.

  “Y– yes.” His touch immediately knocked the breath out of me, but I managed to reply.

  In one quick motion, he pulled me forward into the apartment and then backward, using the pressure of his body against mine to shut the door. I shifted over quickly when I felt the doorknob dig into the small of my back, and he followed, placing both hands on the door on either side of my face.

  “You like me?” he asked again, softer this time.

  “You know I do,” I whispered.

  “Then show me.”

  Something inside me broke then, all the restraint I’d maintained so virtuously since the day I met him. Fisting his shirt in my hand, I pulled him even closer to me, our lips just a breath apart. With my other hand, I wrapped my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and held on. My mouth crashed against his and I wasn’t sure if I tasted him or smelled him so much as I felt him, filling me up and rendering my senses totally and completely into one track – Fox.

  If I started out bold, he grew even bolder, wrapping his arms around me and sliding his hands up under my shirt, running those long, capable fingers over my bare back. I pressed closer, reveling in the way I was obviously affecting him, feeling his shoulders tense as I released his shirt and ran my hand along the strong ridge of his collarbone.

  Every glide of his tongue against mine, every hot breath in my ear, the low groan that built in the back of his throat and came to fruition when I closed my teeth over his bottom lip – it was all perfectly and unmistakably exactly what I wanted when we first kissed.

  I wasn’t sure if it had been days or minutes when he pulled away slightly and looked down at me.

  “Avery,” he murmured against my lips.

  “Mmmm?” I was floating.

  “I like you too.”

  * * *

  Six or so hours later, Fox and I were back together at the diner to work the lunch shift. After our impromptu make-out session against his front door, I’d gathered my wits about me and we went our separate ways – me to bang on the door at Heather’s house and tell her the minutiae of the morning because, after all, I’d promised her she’d be the first to know, and Fox to take a cold shower.

  Or so he'd said. It was still hard for me to tell when he was kidding because his poker face was nearly inscrutable.

  “Hi,” I said shyly when he came out of the kitchen to greet me.

  “Good morning, Avery.” His voice was extra deep today and a little scratchy, and just intimate enough to remind me of all the places his hands had roamed while his mouth was on mine earlier.

  He raised an eyebrow at the stack of books I’d placed on the back counter. “Homework?”

  “Sort of,” I replied. “Just trying to get a head start on my graduate program with a few things off the reading list.”

  My face flushed when I realized his gaze had focused on my lips before he flicked his eyes upward to meet mine. A small smile played
across his mouth when he took in my reddened cheeks.

  “Graduate school… NYU, right?”

  I nodded. “My application is in, I’m just waiting now.”

  “That’s a big move,” he remarked neutrally.

  “I know… that’s kind of the idea,” I said. For a moment, nostalgia crept into my thoughts and I considered everything I’d be leaving behind when we moved from Brancher. There were things about this town I would definitely miss, and one of them was standing right in front of me. That is, if he stayed himself.

  “And Annabelle? Is she excited?” I thought I heard just a hint of apprehension in his voice but decided I was imagining it.

  “I think so,” I said slowly. “She doesn’t totally understand, but she’s always down for an adventure.”

  “And you’re ready for an adventure too.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes.” My voice was firm. “I’m ready.”

  “You’ll get a spot.”

  “I’m optimistic about it,” I joked lamely. “You know, that whole ‘all your eggs in one basket’ thing is kind of a bitch.”

  Almost daily I waffled back and forth about submitting applications to other schools. I’d even completed a few but never sent them in. There was still time, but the application fees added up quickly and I was short on funds at the moment and many foreseeable moments, if the empty diner was any indication. Besides, my heart was set on NYU.

  “They’d be lucky to have you. You’re smart, focused. Not to mention extremely goal oriented and excessively prepared,” he said wryly, gesturing at my stack of books.

  I laughed. “Maybe you should’ve written my recommendation letter.” You and your dimple. If the admissions officer was a living breathing human, they would never be able to resist granting any of your requests.

  “I forgot occasionally impulsive,” he said, coming closer.

  “Oh?” I murmured as he entered what would definitely be considered my personal space.

  “Yes,” he said, leaning forward to brush his nose into the crook of my neck.

  My eyes darted around the restaurant quickly and I was relieved to find we were alone. The only occupied table had paid their bill and left while we were talking. I clenched my hands at my sides, resisting the urge to wrap my arms around his waist.

  “And beautiful,” he continued, his lips just skimming my cheekbone as we breathed each other in. “I forgot beautiful.”

  “Maybe you should make a note,” I whispered, my voice trembling slightly as the scruff of his jaw brushed my cheek. “I– I have a pencil you could borrow.”

  He laughed softly, not retreating an inch. “I’ll do that, sunshine.” He touched his mouth to mine, gently at first to see how I’d respond, and then more firmly after I slipped my arms up and around his neck.

  I forgot completely that I was standing in broad daylight, behind the counter at my parents’ diner in a ridiculously small town that thrived on gossip, and I kissed Fox back.

  Chapter 16

  I was still kissing Fox, my body pressed fairly obscenely against his for the middle of the day, when I heard the door chime that signaled someone entering the diner, and I jumped back so fast I nearly knocked over an entire tray of coffee mugs.

  Fox stayed exactly where he was, with one hip propped against the counter and an amused look on his face, while I straightened my apron and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand like I was seven years old.

  “Well, hello there, Avery, Fox,” Joy greeted us, looking entirely too pleased with her luck at coming across the two of us in a compromising position. Pleased and not at all surprised.

  “Joy, hi,” I said, still tugging pointlessly on my apron, which almost exactly matched the flaming red color of my cheeks. “Didn’t expect you this early!”

  “I can see that, darlin’,” she drawled. “Don’t mind me, I have some paperwork to finish up in the office before I start my shift, so I’ll just head on back.”

  “Okay,” I said, and Fox nodded, his eyes still on me.

  “Oh, and Avery?” Joy called over her shoulder as she walked. “If you wanna keep kissing that boy, why don’t y’all go into the kitchen? More privacy, less of an audience in there.”

  Fox half-snorted into his coffee, and I felt like my face was going to melt off. I snuck a glance at Fox and saw his dimple peeking around the mug.

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I asked.

  His green eyes shot sparks of amusement over his cup, but he didn’t answer. I slid closer, reaching to take the coffee out of his hands. He let me have the mug, and I set it aside, feeling the warmth radiate not only from the ceramic but from his body next to mine.

  The door chime jangled again, but I didn’t look over. Only when I saw Fox’s eyes dart toward the entrance and his posture change did I wonder who had just come in.

  “Hi, Avery,” a familiar voice said behind me.

  Chase. I turned slowly, hoping my facial expression wouldn’t give away the conflicting thoughts running though my brain. “Hi.”

  He looked the same as he always did, the same as when I saw him a few nights before, half naked at the redhead’s house. The same as when he admitted he’d lied and cheated. Handsome, but not trustworthy. Strong, but not loyal. Confident, but not relaxed.

  “Hey, Fox,” he said, nodding to him. Fox said nothing, merely returned his gaze evenly and without emotion, but Chase didn’t notice.

  “What’s up?” I said, trying and failing to sound casual.

  “Um, can we talk?” he asked. He glanced at Fox again. “Somewhere in private?”

  I couldn’t look at Fox, but I wanted to. “I’m not really sure what’s left to say.” Actually, I could think of about a million things I’d like to say to Chase, but it would be a colossal waste of effort and breath, and I preferred to use my time productively.

  Chase had the decency to look uncomfortable. “Look, babe, I know you’re pissed, okay? I’m sorry you had to find out that way.”

  Whenever I was with Chase lately, that brain-exploding feeling wasn’t far behind. “What way would’ve been preferable? After you convinced me to get back together with you? Or maybe after we slept together?” Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Fox stiffen when I said that, but I couldn’t be sure.

  Chase shook his head. “It was just a few times. She doesn’t mean anything to me, I promise.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I asked incredulously. “The fact that you were willing to throw away whatever we were starting for someone you don’t even care about?”

  “I told you I was sorry! I was bored, you were working a lot, you didn’t have time for me anyway,” Chase said, trying a new tactic.

  “That’s your opinion, but whatever. We weren’t getting along very well, things weren’t clicking, and I valued our friendship. So I decided to break things off, because that’s what you do when you respect someone.” I could’ve left it at that, but the words popped right out of my mouth. “You don’t go fuck redheaded barflies because you’re bored.”

  Chase’s eyes widened. “You’re right. But listen–”

  “I don’t have to listen to you anymore, Chase. It’s one of the perks of us being broken up, along with you being free to sleep with the entire town if you so choose. Oh by the way, your new girlfriend was aggressively hitting on Fox at the bar just a few nights ago, and she never brings food to share at a potluck. Have fun.”

  “Avery–”

  “Nope.” I turned and walked to the end of the counter and started methodically lining up ketchup bottles for refilling.

  “I thought we were friends, Fox.” Chase’s voice was verging on whiny.

  “We are,” Fox said, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “What did you tell her?” he wanted to know.

  My head snapped up and I focused on Fox. His guard slipped for just a second and I saw a flash of uncertainty cross his face. “Nothing.”

  “You must’ve told her
something,” Chase continued as though I wasn’t standing right there. “Thanks a lot, man.”

  “The only person you have to blame for this is yourself, Chase.” Fox’s voice had an edge to it that I hadn’t heard before.

  Chase looked over at me to gauge my reaction.

  I sighed. “Just go home, okay? We’re done here.”

  “Babe, please–”

  “She wants you to go.” Fox’s voice was like ice.

  “All right, all right, I’m leaving. See you around, Avery.”

  Chase walked out, and I turned to Fox.

  “I don’t believe this! You knew? You knew and you didn’t tell me?” This new development was more upsetting than Chase’s betrayal, and that illustrated how much I’d grown to trust Fox.

  Fox’s expression was guarded. “I didn’t know for sure, I just suspected, based on a few offhand comments he’d made.”

  “Your suspicions are more accurate than most people’s rock-solid proof,” I countered.

  “I– it was too complicated. I couldn’t let how I was starting to feel for you influence my objectiveness about a situation where I didn’t have all the facts.”

  “This wasn’t a fucking Supreme Court case, Fox. You should’ve told me,” I cried. His choice of words – the part about his feelings – wasn’t lost on me, but I couldn’t focus on that now.

  “It would’ve been biased, coming from me.”

  “It would’ve been the truth and something I needed to know.”

  “I’m sorry, Avery.” He did look sorry, but I was too hurt to care.

  I shook my head sadly. “Tell Joy I left early.”

  * * *

  For the second time that day, I found myself on Heather’s doorstep. After she saw the look on my face and let me in, she went right into the kitchen and came back with a plate of cookies and a bottle of wine.

  I grabbed a cookie and took a big bite. “I’ll pass on the wine, thanks. I have to pick up Annabelle in a little while.”

  “What happened? This morning you were practically floating through the door. Now you’re slumped on the couch like a pretty blond potato.” Heather selected a cookie for herself.