It Was Always You (Harpers Ridge Book 1)

by Ann Carver

  She raised a serious brow to him.

  Joe put his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t mean like that,” he said.

  A year ago, Joe and Rebecca had dated. Joe was healing from a long-time broken heart that he thought would never heal when Rebecca showed up in his life. Her long, dark hair, brown eyes and mocha skin had him melting at her feet. She was beautiful and as it turned out, all wrong for him.

  After dating for a few months, things were great. At least Joe had thought. They enjoyed the same things, had good communication and a good time in bed. But after a few months she was going to break things off unless he was okay with her dating other people. She was considerably younger than he was and said she didn’t want to be tied down. She was enjoying life and everything it had to offer. He was devastated, but he wasn’t going to share her. She had gotten married three months after they broke up.

  It had been extremely hard to work with her afterwards. Nobody at the station knew. One day she showed up with a ring and announced her name change. It took him almost two months before he’d talk to her on a personal level. He finally had gotten up the courage to ask her “Why?”

  He wasn’t prepared for her response when she said, “Joe, we want different things. I want adventure and excitement. I want to travel the world and have that adrenaline rush. You don’t want that. You’re content staying here the rest of your life. I’m sorry, but that’s not what I want.”

  The bitch of it was, he used to be that guy. Harper would contest to that. They’d done some wild and crazy shit back in the day, but his wild days had changed a couple of years ago. That’s when he took all the wild and crazy out of his life.

  “I told you I was sorry for seeing both of you at the same time,” she said.

  He shook his head again. “I seriously didn’t mean it like that. I really meant that you used to share your food with me. That’s all.”

  When he found out that she’d been seeing Shawn the whole time they had dated, he was furious. He said a whole lot of things he shouldn’t have said and he was ashamed, after the fact. He was hurt deeply that he’d been shared with another man. Kind of like how Harper had been with him as teenagers, though they hadn’t been dating.

  “Let’s just talk about something else,” he said, nervously. “Please.”

  She softened her look and said, “Fine. There’s extra in the fridge if you want some.”

  His stomach growled at that. “Thanks. Has it been a busy day?” he asked.

  “Nope, Bobby and Dylan had nothing all day. You know what that means don’t you?” she asked.

  He dropped his head. “That means the crazy-asses are going to be out tonight.”

  And they were. The first call came in before he could take a bite of the garlic chicken Rebecca had brought in. They responded to a one car crash because the stupid teenager was driving too fast around the bend of the river and ended up in the water. He panicked and screamed his head off that he was going to drown when Joe looked at him and said, “You’re in eight inches of water.”

  Joe was finally able to eat when they got back, but just barely. The next call came in and they had to go out to a barn fire. The owner’s grandson had taken his girlfriend to the barn for a candlelit dinner. A barn full of hay. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but when hormones took over and they decided to have a quickie, their rumble in the hay caused them to tip over the crate with candles and the place went up quick. Luckily they’d gotten out.

  Charles Town requested back-up on 340 for a two car and tractor trailer accident which took a couple of hours to clear and get back to Harpers Ridge. Afterwards, Mrs. Fargle called about her cat again. This time he looked around her house before he climbed the tree. Good thing he did because the cat was asleep on her favorite chair.

  Back at the station they had about an hour to rest before a call came in for a search and rescue. Some tourists had gotten lost and they needed all the help they could to find them. They were found safe, three hours later.

  Joe was completely exhausted by the time his shift was over. Aside from the hour between calls, he’d been on his feet working hard the entire night. He wanted a hot shower and his bed. That was it.

  When he dragged his exhausted body through the door he was caught off guard by the smells coming from his place. He followed the smell to the kitchen and found Harper at the stove cooking something that smelled wonderful. Her hips swung side to side as she listened to the extremely loud music coming from her earbuds. She sang to the words, but it was soft and he couldn’t understand what she was saying.

  She swung around with two plates in her hands and screamed loudly at the sight of him. Which produced a smile. He walked up to her and pulled her earbuds out. “Good morning,” he said. Then he heard the hideous sound coming out of the earbuds. He pulled it up to his own ear and listened. “What the hell is that?”

  A devious smile spread across her face. “2 Chainz,” she said with laughter.

  Making a face, he pushed them back to her and shook his head. “Two what?”

  She rolled her eyes as she put the plates down on the table. “2 Chainz. A rapper,” she said as if he should know who he was.

  “Whatever,” he said as he moved past her to go to his room.

  Within a minute he heard her come down the hall. “What are you doing? I made you breakfast. Omelets and bacon,” she said obviously proud of herself.

  “I really just want a shower,” he said pulling off his shirt.

  Her eyes narrowed. “It has bacon. What man can resist bacon?” she asked trying to be nice, but he heard the piss behind it.

  He put his hands on the button of his pants. Before unbuttoning them, he raised a brow to her. “Do you mind? I’m undressing to get in the shower.”

  Eyes locked on his, she said, “Really? I’ve seen it all before.” Then she thrust a hand to her hip. “I made you breakfast.”

  Shrugging his shoulder, he continued to strip naked in front of her. “Fine, Harper. I’ll eat your breakfast, after I take a shower.”

  Her eyes softened. “Thank you. You won’t be sorry,” she said excitedly.

  “Now do you mind? I’m naked here,” he said half amused.

  She huffed out a breath. “Again, I’ve already seen it all and hurry the hell up, I cooked my ass off for you.” She turned on her heels and walked out.

  He stared at her ass as she walked out. And it was just as he remembered, only better. He laughed how she was pissy, then nice, then pissy again. He didn’t understand why she was so damn stubborn to let herself stay happy.

  After the shower, he dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, then had breakfast with Harper. She didn’t lie. She really could cook. At least breakfast. He also liked the fact that she filled the fridge up with food. All too often, being a bachelor, his fridge was empty. He hated cooking, so most of the time he ate out and then cursed himself for not having a snack in the house for later.

  With a full belly, he walked to the living room with Harper to watch some TV before crashing in bed. When he walked in the room, there were scattered papers all over the coffee table. “What are these?” he asked curiously.

  “Oh, those are plans I have for the block house. I called the electric company last night and they said they’d be out some time today and call me later.” She picked up a piece of paper and looked at it. “This is a list of stuff I can probably fix on my own. And, this one, I’ll have to contract out,” she said picking up another piece of paper.

  “What’s this one,” he asked picking up another paper.

  “That is a list of part-time jobs nearby. I want to get the major stuff on the house done so I can actively live there, then I need to get a job.” She frowned when she appeared to read the options available.

  “What about your current job?” he asked.

  She scrunched her eyes in confusion. “I’m not going to commute to Hagerstown every day. Besides, that job was going nowhere.”

  That’s when it hit him. Yes, he kn
ew she had gotten the house and she was fixing it up, but it hit him that she was going to permanently live here. She’d come back after wanting to get out of here so bad. Maybe she had changed some.

  “Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” he said trying not to show his shock. “Well, I promised you I’d watch one episode of Forensic Files. That is, as long as you don’t plan on murdering me in my sleep.” He gave her an easy smile and chuckled.

  “Ha, if I can make it through the whole episode. I’m exhausted, myself,” she said, showing it in her eyes.

  “What?” he asked in surprise. “Did you have a hard time sleeping last night?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t sleep. After sleeping most of the day away, from the hang-over, I wasn’t tired last night.” She pointed to the papers on the table. “That’s what I worked on all night.”

  His eyes drifted from her to the papers and back to her. “I’m impressed,” he said.

  “For what?” she asked with furrowed brows.

  And, there it was. She just couldn’t take a compliment. “That you stayed up all night. Let’s get that episode over. I’m tired,” he said diverting her from being pissy with him. He was only briefly sad he’d be sleeping on the couch, but he was so tired it didn’t much matter.

  Joe was thankful that the episode was only half an hour long. He could barely keep his eyes open and when he turned to tell Harper she could take his bed, she was slumped to the side, asleep herself.

  He nudged her. “Harper, go to bed.” When she didn’t respond, he nudged her a little more and told her once again to go to his bed.

  She opened her eyes, looked at him and blinked slowly once. “Okay,” she said half asleep as she stood taking his hand. He let her pull him up and he followed her to the bedroom where they both climbed in. He said good-night to her and rolled the opposite way. Once again, she sidled up to him, wrapped her arm around him and snuggled in.

  Chapter Five

  Harper woke up hot as hell. Literally. She was plastered to male warmth. The type of male warmth she hadn’t had in a long while, but it was Joey she was up against. They were friends. Nothing more.

  The sun was still bright out as she slid out of bed, as quietly as possible, so she didn’t wake Joey up. She dressed as quietly and quickly as she could, grabbed her papers and set out to the block house.

  When she pulled up, the electric company was there. She got out and walked up to the two men who were coming around the side of the house. “Hi, I’m Harper. Is there anything I can help you with?”

  The two men introduced themselves and then flipped through a clipboard filled with paper. “Ma’am, unfortunately, we can’t turn the power on here. The wires are corroded and pose a fire hazard if we run current through them. You’ll need to get an electrician out here and once they’re done, we’ll re-inspect and go from there.”

  Harper frowned. “Definitely not the news I was hoping for. Do you have any recommendations? I’m sort of new…again. Whatever, I haven’t lived here in seven years.”

  The two men gave her some names and numbers and told her she could always get more quotes from looking online. She thanked them for their time and when they were gone she sat on the porch, hugged her knees and pouted.

  It wasn’t even noon and she was delivered her first road bump. “Suck it up buttercup,” she told herself and pulled out her list. After the electric company, was the back door. She got up and walked around to the back. While she’d been at Joey’s house, she helped herself to his laptop and looked up how to put on a door from YouTube.

  She gathered some supplies and put the door on the dolly she’d bought, then wheeled it around back. Taking her bad news out on the current door frame, she pummeled it out with a sledge hammer. After she cleaned up the mess, she carefully set in the door and screwed it in. She’d also learned it’s better to use screws than nails. She took a broom and swept all around the door on the inside and outside. When she was done, she took a step back and smiled. She’d done it!

  The next thing on her list was the hole in the roof. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a long ladder. She was secretly grateful for that because the roof looked so far off the ground and it didn’t look too safe. She circled “hole in roof” and made a note to call a roofer.

  Deciding to divert from the list for a little bit, she started cleaning windows. This way she could inspect for damage or missing windows. Luckily for her, she remembered the year she’d graduated, the Mitchell’s had replaced most of the windows. When she was done, there was only one window that needed to be replaced in the house.

  Needing a break, she walked out on the front porch and sat on the steps. She pulled her list out again and eyed the next thing. Inspect plumbing. She’d also looked up how to turn the water on from YouTube and she just had to find the main water breaker. She stood to play detective when she saw Joey pull up in the driveway.

  She met him halfway. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  Joe looked up at the house. “Came to see how you were coming along.”

  It felt like old times. He’d come to her place or she’d go to his. They had been inseparable. He really had been a good friend to her. She wasn’t so sure she had been a good friend to him, though.

  “Oh,” she said excitedly. “Come look.” She took his hand and practically dragged him to the back of the house. “Look, I am the proud owner of a back door, now.”

  Joe walked up and inspected the door inside and out. He opened it and closed it a couple of times before looking at her with a smile. “Good job, Harper.”

  “As if I wouldn’t do a good job?” she snickered, teasingly.

  He nodded toward her hand. “What’s next on your list?” he asked.

  She looked down at the paper. “I need to turn the water on. I’m kind of afraid,” she said with wide eyes. She was teasing. She wasn’t afraid of much. Except being lonely.

  Joe walked into the house. “Let’s go take a look,” he said from the kitchen.

  Harper stomped in after him. “Are you here checking up on me? Well, let me tell you, I’m capable of doing this by myself. I’m not an invalid,” she huffed.

  Turning and giving her a look, he replied, “Stop getting so pissy. I know you’re capable of doing this by yourself. I’m only here to help, so quit being so damned stubborn.”

  She raised her hands to her hips and stared him down. “I’m not pissy.” She totally was and she knew it. She couldn’t help it, it’s who she was.

  He shook his head and walked toward the basement door. “Stubborn as a mule,” he said teasing her and disappeared down the stairs.

  Harper followed him down but didn’t comment because she knew she was stubborn as a mule. With a flashlight, lighting the way, they made their way near the hot water heater and furnace that looked a thousand years old. Joey took her hand and positioned the flashlight exactly where he needed it to see. She froze her hand there so he could work. Within seconds, she heard the rushing of water through the pipes.

  Joe took the flashlight from her and shined it along the pipes in the basement. After he inspected all of them in the basement, they went upstairs to inspect further. In the kitchen, Joe turned the water on. It hissed and sputtered and then brownish water spit out.

  “Great,” Harper breathed out disappointed.

  “It’s been sitting a while. The pipes need to be flushed. I’ll leave it running while we check out the rest of the house,” Joe said.

  She followed him through the house where he turned on the water in the first bathroom. Then they made their way upstairs where there were two bathrooms. When they got to the first bathroom, Harper heard Joe swear.

  “What is it?” she asked as she rounded the corner and heard water. She looked inside and water was spraying wildly all over the place. She gasped. She watched as Joe bent down and did something to magically make the water stop.

  He stood and turned toward her. Soaking wet. She sucked in her bottom lip and bit on it to prevent herself
from laughing at him. Water dripped of his head. His shirt and shorts were soaked.

  “As you can see,” he said pointing behind him, “there’s no toilet.”

  She couldn’t take it any longer. Laughter slipped through her lips as she doubled over with laughter. “I’m. Really. Sorry,” she said in between bursts of laughter.

  He narrowed his eyes and gave her a look. “You are not,” he said flatly.

  When she finally calmed her laughing fit, she took a deep breath and looked at him. “I am totally sorry you got wet, but I’m not sorry for laughing. This is great.”

  His jaw twitched, which she knew meant trouble. Before she could get away, he’d grabbed her by the waist and huddled her to the floor. Holding her with his whole body, he reached down and turned the knob, which then spit water all over the both of them. She screamed and tried to get away, but he was much stronger than she was.

  Harper thought about kicking him in the balls, but she was laughing so hard and she didn’t want to be mean. It wasn’t until they were completely soaked, head to toe, that he reached down and turned the water off.

  “I haven’t laughed that hard in a really long time,” Harper said on the floor still being held in place by Joey.

  “It’s good to see you laugh,” he said laughing with her.

  She looked up into his dancing eyes. It was the first time she’d seen him really happy since she’d come to Harpers Ridge. She didn’t know what got into her. They were friends after all, but she slid a hand along the stubble on his face then lifted up and put her lips on his. He dropped her other hand which freed her to get closer to him. She parted her lips, hoping he’d take advantage of it. It’d been a long time since a man kissed her. Her choice, of course.

  Instead of deepening the kiss, he gently pushed her away, stood, and then walked out of the bathroom. She just watched him leave, feeling like an ass.

  When Harper’s lips touched his, he wanted to groan out loud. Hell, maybe he had, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t know why she kissed him, but he wasn’t giving into her games. He broke his heart many years ago. Nope, he’d been there, done that.