Any Time You Need Me

by Farrah Rochon

  Aubrey laughed as she got back into Deanna’s car and plugged Sam’s address into her GPS. It was on the east side of town, in an area that had been nothing but sugarcane fields and pastures before she left for California.

  She followed the GPS’s instructions to The Carriage House. The condo complex was definitely not something she would have seen in Maplesville ten years ago. Stucco covered walls, a huge swimming pool complete with several cabanas surrounding it, tennis and basketball courts; it looked like something she would have seen in the other L.A.

  Apparently, Sam’s love for computers had paid off. If he could afford to live in a place like this, he was pulling in some pretty serious bank. Aubrey thought about the one-room studio she’d lived in for most of her time in L.A. Sure, the cost of living in Los Angeles was vastly different from Maplesville, but this was still impressive.

  Just as she exited the car, she paused, contemplating the wisdom of showing up at Sam’s place unannounced.

  “Well, if he’d given me his number I could announce myself,” she reasoned.

  Aubrey inhaled a fortifying breath and continued across the parking lot.

  * * *

  Sam stood next to the pool table in the space separating the living room from the dining room, his thumb pressing rhythmically against his sealed lips. He stared at the old sofa he’d taken from his parents a few years ago, after they decided it was time for an upgrade. It should be out on the curb, not in his living room.

  Nothing in this apartment was new, down to the mismatched storage container collection he’d built from the leftovers he’d brought from his mom over the years. Hell, he still slept on the full-size bed he’d slept on as a teen. Most embarrassing were the milk crates. They were only supposed to be temporary, but for the past two years, whenever he thought about buying a coffee and end table set, he got this anxious feeling in his gut.

  “It’s just a coffee table, not a chain and handcuffs,” Sam said.

  But that’s how it had felt for so long. If he so much as pulled up a website for a furniture store, he practically heard the cling of the handcuffs snapping closed around his wrists.

  This shit had him so mixed up inside.

  For two years, ever since Noah first talked about branching out to an office in L.A. with Sam as the head of software development, Sam had been in a constant battle. It felt as if he’d had two forces pulling at him—one trying to keep him here in Maplesville while the other pushed him toward moving to the West Coast.

  His biggest obstacle had been not wanting to live in the same city as Aubrey. Then it had been his dad’s illness. When that was no longer an issue, it had been his reluctance to leave his mom. But lately Sam had started to realize that his mom didn’t really need him. She had her own set of friends—her own life. She would be just fine.

  Yet, in the most ironic twist of fate he could have possibly imagined, Sam now found himself wanting to stay in Maplesville because of Aubrey. It wasn’t all that long ago that he would have considered her moving from California as a sign that he should finally take Noah up on his job offer.

  But not anymore. Now, the fact that Aubrey was here made him rethink leaving. He was intrigued by this…whatever it was they’d started.

  So maybe it was time to finally get some real furniture in his condo. If he was ready to accept that the job in L.A. wasn’t in the cards for him, he should be ready to get an actual coffee table in here, right?

  Unless?

  Maybe?

  Maybe Aubrey’s thirst for the big city would come back sooner rather than later. Maybe she would return to California. Maybe, this time around, he could follow her and they could start living the life they could have had together ten years ago.

  That was a lot of damn maybes, but just the thought created this odd mix of hope and anticipation in his chest.

  The knock at his front door startled him out of his pondering over furniture. When Sam opened it to find Aubrey standing on the other side, everything instantly turned brighter, felt lighter. Just seeing her put him in a better mood.

  Who would have ever thought that would be the case?

  “Uh, hi,” Aubrey greeted.

  “Hi,” he returned with a smile.

  Had it only been a week ago that he was so sure that he would hate her forever? Everything changed after that talk in her sister’s backyard last Saturday night. Now, just the thought of spending time with her changed his entire outlook. Without that underlying animosity clouding his judgment, it had only taken a few afternoons of being with Aubrey to bring him to the point where thoughts of her now consumed him.

  Seeing her here right now, dressed in short white shorts and a yellow tank top that looked amazing against her deep-brown skin, made Sam want to drag her into his apartment and have his way with her mouth. That kiss they’d shared over melting ice cream sundaes Thursday evening had been the thing of dreams.

  “Can I come in?” Aubrey asked.

  “Oh. Yeah. Of course,” Sam said, taking a couple steps back to let her inside.

  “Your mom told me where you lived. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Sam shook his head. “No, of course not. I guess you wouldn’t know where I live. These condos weren’t here the last time you were in Maplesville.”

  “It’s nice,” she said, looking around his sparsely furnished apartment.

  Sam gestured to the couch. “Have a seat.”

  “Oh, no, that’s okay. I don’t mean to stay. I just came over because I didn’t have your phone number either.” Her forehead wrinkled as she grimaced. “I guess I could have asked your mom, but I didn’t even think about it.”

  Sam held his hand out.

  “What?” Aubrey asked.

  “Give me your phone.”

  She slipped it from her pocket, handed it to him, and looked on with her mouth slightly agape as Sam punched his phone number into her contacts list. He then called his phone from hers before handing it back to her. He declined the call on his phone and held it up so she could see the screen.

  “Now I have yours too.”

  Aubrey stared at his phone for several seconds before returning her attention to his face.

  “Umm…okay. Thanks,” she said, giving her head a light shake as if to clear it. “Anyway, I, uh, came over to ask you for a favor. No! Not a favor. This isn’t a favor. It’s a job request.”

  Sam frowned. “You need me to help you find a job?”

  “No, not a job for me, a job for you.” She released an exasperated sigh and Sam was suddenly struck by the memory of how cute she was when she became flustered. She raised both hands. “Let me explain. So, I have this website that I use to advertise myself as a soloist. I sing for weddings and things like that.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  “Well, Felicity came over as I was updating it today, and her words were—and I quote—‘your website is trash.’”

  “Ouch.” Sam laughed. “The harshness of today’s teens.”

  “Yeah.” Aubrey snorted. “Except she happens to be right, and Deanna agrees. I really need to update my site, especially now that it will be my sole selling tool. I just don’t have the word of mouth connections here that I had back in L.A.” She hunched her shoulder. “Anyway, that’s why I’m here. Since you work with computers, I’d like to hire you to update my website.”

  “I build databases,” he said. “It’s not really the same thing as designing a website. Actually, it’s an entirely different skill set.”

  Her mouth dipped into a frown. “Oh.”

  Sam couldn’t suppress his laugh. “Luckily for you, I like to toy around with quite a few things, including web design.”

  Relief replaced her disappointed expression. “Thank God. In that case, I’d love to hire you to work on my website.”

  “I’m not going to charge you to help build a simple website, Aubrey.”

  She shook her head. “No. No, Sam. This is your business. I can’t ask you to do it for free.”


  He was tempted to tell her his hourly rate just to see her reaction.

  “You’re not asking, I’m offering,” Sam said. “When it comes to friends and family, I never charge for help. I just built a brand new website for Ian’s new motorcycle shop, and I’m currently working on one for Dale’s girlfriend. Actually, I’m helping to design two for Nyree, one for her salon and another strictly to handle the online sales of her skin and haircare products.”

  “So you won’t take my money even though I’m offering it?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  Her shoulders wilted in defeat. “Okay, then. If that’s the case, you can call me if you ever need a soloist.”

  He held up his phone. “I’ll put you on speed dial.”

  The smile that broke out across her face made his entire condo sparkle. They just stood there for several minutes staring at each other. Both grinning.

  Sam’s smile faltered when Aubrey said, “So, I guess I should be going.”

  But he wasn’t ready for her to leave.

  “Wait!” He looked around his place. “How do you feel about a trade?”

  “A trade?”

  “In exchange for me working on your website.”

  Her brow creased with wary suspicion. “What exactly are you asking for in return?”

  Shit. He suddenly realized how she could have taken his words the wrong way, especially considering what she told him about that asshole she was caught on tape with at that party years ago.

  “It’s not what you’re thinking,” Sam said. Though, damn! Now that his mind had gone there, there was no turning back. He wouldn’t be able to get the thought of he and Aubrey going a lot further than just those kisses they’d shared out of his head.

  “I meant furniture shopping,” Sam clarified. “I’d just decided that it’s past time I get some real furniture in this place. Problem is, I’ve never bought a piece of new furniture in my life.”

  “You want me to help you pick out furniture?”

  He nodded. “You help me decide what would look good in here, and I’ll redesign your entire website, free of charge.”

  “That doesn’t sound like an even trade to me,” she said. “Seriously, Sam. Just let me pay you. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to take advantage of this new…I don’t know…friendship? Is that what this is?”

  “Friendship.” He tested the word out on his tongue. “Yeah, I guess so. Does that seem weird to you?”

  She nodded. “A little, I guess. Especially after all this time.”

  He took a step forward. “But it also feels right, doesn’t it? At least it feels right to me.” He took her hands in his and brought them up to his lips, placing a delicate kiss across the crest of her fingers. “This past week has been…surprising.” Amazing. “It’s been nice.”

  That smile curled up the edges of her mouth again. “I think so too. It’s pretty nice having you as a friend, Sam.”

  “That settles it then. A website for your interior design expertise,” he said. “Can we go right now?”

  “Shopping?”

  He nodded.

  “I guess so,” she said. “I don’t really have anywhere else to be.”

  “Give me a minute to change out of this shirt and we can go over to the outlet mall. There’s a furniture store there.”

  Sam walked over to the couch where he’d set a basket of unfolded laundry earlier this morning with the intention of putting it away. He pulled out a light blue polo shirt. Propriety didn’t cross his mind when he drew his T-shirt over his head in the middle of his living room and donned the polo, but the look on Aubrey’s face when he reemerged from the neck hole told him that maybe it should have.

  Or, maybe not.

  He didn’t mind that she looked at him like she wanted him for dessert. Her frank gaze centered on his torso, her mouth parted slightly as she stared. Seeing that heated look in her eyes reminded him of all the other times he’d seen it, like when he was braced above her, seconds from joining his body with hers.

  Shit. Maybe friendship wasn’t the right label for whatever this was they had going. He didn’t have those kinds of memories about his other friends, and the more he was with Aubrey, the more he wanted to be with her, creating new memories with her. Sam was still floored by just how swiftly the animosity he’d held onto for ten long years had dissipated.

  Aubrey’s eyes returned to his face and her dark brown cheeks grew even darker as she flushed. “I’ll…uh…I’ll…” She pointed over her shoulder. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

  Was there anything more attractive than a flushed, flustered Aubrey Laurent? Not that he knew of.

  “I’m ready,” Sam said, fighting a grin. He should feel ashamed at deriving pleasure from seeing her so discombobulated, but knowing that he’d put her in this state did wicked things to his ego. He grabbed his keys from the shallow dish where he kept them on the counter and locked up behind her.

  Once they were both settled in his truck, Sam nearly felt whiplash at how quickly the tides turned on him. A giant elephant had immediately wedged itself into the cab with them, leaving him feeling like the one a bit thrown off his game.

  He should have expected this reaction the first time he found himself in the confines of a truck cab with Aubrey after ten years. They’d spent their share of Saturday nights cruising around town in his dad’s truck, and just the memories of the things they used to do once they found a dark, quiet place to park was enough to make him instantly hard.

  He coughed to hide his groan.

  Sam turned the volume up on the radio to fill in the space, but lowered it a few minutes later when Aubrey asked about some of the new businesses that had come to Maplesville. He was still amazed at how quickly they fell into the kind of easy conversation they used to share back when they were dating. He filled her in on the controversy that had surrounded the outlet mall a few years ago, and how it sparked something of a war with the neighboring town of Gauthier.

  “Have you been to Gauthier since you got back in town?” he asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “They’ve made it into a destination town.”

  “Gauthier?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “I’m sure Deanna told you about the stop on the Underground Railroad that was found hidden in the walls of the Gauthier Law Firm. It put Gauthier on the map.”

  “She did mention that, but I didn’t realize it was such a huge deal.”

  “They’ve managed to keep the town small. Although, Main Street is something to see on the weekend.”

  Aubrey released a wistful sigh. “Remember how much fun it used to be during football season when the Gauthier Lions played the Maplesville Mustangs?”

  “Epic,” Sam agreed with a chuckle. “Nothing better than driving down Main Street in Gauthier after Dale and his crew put a whooping on those Lions.”

  “Those were some fun times,” Aubrey said. “I really need to make my way out there soon.”

  “Maybe we can go sometime,” Sam said. He glanced over at Aubrey. Her expression was a mixture of hope, excitement, and just a touch of heat.

  “I’d like that,” she said.

  So would he. So much more than he ever thought he would. It seemed unbelievable that he would even consider taking Aubrey out on something resembling an actual date, but now the thought of it sent a rush of desire shooting across his skin.

  Aubrey continued to point out new structures as they made their way to the outlet mall, but Sam only listened with half an ear. He was more concerned with dissecting this new thing they had going on here. She called it a friendship, but he’d be damned if that was what he’d settle for. When he looked at her, he didn’t see someone he wanted as just a friend.

  Why did it take him so long to reach this point? He’d wasted all these years hating her, and for what? To save his own pride?

  Stupid!

  He’d laid the blame at Aubrey’s feet for what happened in that video, but he’d been just
as much at fault. He’d been too caught up in nursing his wounded pride to consider how his selfish, unfair ultimatum had been the real catalyst for what happened. It wasn’t until she’d pointed it out to him the other night in Deanna’s backyard that Sam had taken the time to really look at his fault in all this.

  He could kick himself for suffering the heartache of not having her in his life all these years because of his own stupid pride.

  Once they arrived at the furniture store and started to browse the selection, Sam remembered something else he used to enjoy when he and Aubrey dated. He loved getting under her skin.

  He pointed out a bright green sofa with clusters of white and pale purple flowers peppering the fabric. He was pretty sure his grandmother had had one like it.

  “How about this one?” he asked.

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Now do you see why I picked out your clothes for school dances?”

  “You don’t like this?” Sam asked, trying to keep the teasing tone from creeping into his voice, but he couldn’t hold it in.

  Aubrey’s eyes narrowed as a slow grin made its way across her lips. She swatted at him. “Get away from that hideous thing before it bites you.”

  “I’m sure the salespeople won’t appreciate you calling their inventory hideous.”

  “Then they never should have brought that ugly sofa in here,” she said with a laugh.

  Sam let her take the lead, following her around the furniture store as she pointed out different pieces that would go well in his condo, but in the end he decided against buying anything but a lamp for his living room.

  “Are you seriously not going to get even an end table?” Aubrey asked.

  He shrugged. “The milk crates work okay.”

  She folded her arms across her chest and hit him with the stare his old English teacher would give him when he tried to bullshit his way through explaining why he didn’t complete his homework.

  “I have to think about it more,” he said. “I’ll let you know which one I decide on.”

  “If I see that ugly sofa in your living room the next time I’m there, I may have to murder you.” Her eyes grew wide as she quickly shook her head. “Not that I think I’m invited to your place or anything.”