Winning Ruby Heart

by Jennifer Lohmann

  He hoped that was the case as he slowed in front of a stop sign near the sandwich shop that his father had gotten on the historic registry two years ago. The registry had described it as quaint. Looked just as rundown as it always had to Mack.

  “You heard right.” Scott’s voice lowered as if he didn’t have a lot of privacy on his end of the call. “Nina Spencer is in town.”

  “Hell.” The sucker punch still rattled Mack’s teeth the second time around. He drove by rote memory, his brain too stunned to process anything more than that one simple sentence and the overwhelming scent of peaches.

  “I would have called sooner, but I only just found out.”

  “Nina never comes back here.” About five years ago he’d stopped trying to make sure she wasn’t around whenever he came to town, as it became clear she avoided Heartache like the plague.

  That had suited him fine, especially since he’d been married then. Another woman he did not want to think about, especially not today. His hands tightened on the wheel of the convertible as he coasted past an antiques store that marked the end of the main street.

  “And she never came here. She’s over at Mom’s house.”

  At their mother’s house?

  Which meant Mack had all of a minute to get his head on straight before he faced her again. Damn, this was getting worse by the second.

  The house where Mack had grown up sat at the end of a cul-de-sac that had once been his grandfather’s farm. Now, two of Mack’s four siblings had homes on the same street. The lot his father had given to Mack still sat vacant. His ex-wife hadn’t wanted to settle in Heartache any more than he had. That had been one of the few things they’d agreed on in their brief marriage.

  “What is Nina doing there?” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he turned the corner past the high school football field where he’d left behind a record or two.

  The same field where—underneath those bleachers—an ill-fated party had sent his life and Nina’s into a tailspin. “Beats me. I was working in the garage when I saw her pull into Mom’s driveway with her grandmother. They brought...looks like a homemade pie. Mrs. Spencer still bakes a lot when the peaches are in season.”

  Nina Spencer was at his mother’s house. With a peach pie.

  “Shit,” Scott muttered finally. “I know you drove a long way, and you did it to help me out. But if you want to turn around—”

  “No.” Mack hadn’t just made the trip for the Harvest Fest. He’d made it because his brother’s wife was threatening to walk out, and the guy was dying at the thought of losing her and their teenage daughter. So if his being here could help his brother work on his home life, then nothing—not even Nina standing stark naked in front of him with that peach pie—could chase him off. “I’m not leaving. I’m going to stay and do whatever I can to take some of the pressure off you so you can spend time with your family.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Actually, he’d rather walk through fire. But family came first.

  “I’m...yeah. I’m sure.” Mack squeezed the sides of his temples and willed away thoughts of peach-flavored kisses.

  He’d always known they’d see each other again. For that matter, it was probably long overdue, if only to sweep the past under the rug and forget about it. Move. The Hell. On.

  “Thanks for the heads-up, Scott. I’ll be there in a minute.” Disconnecting the call and now two streets away from his mom’s house, he steeled himself for the sight of Nina.

  No matter the nightmarish way that he’d parted with her, he regretted that she wouldn’t have a minute to prepare herself, too. Damn it, he should have asked Scott to somehow give her a heads-up that Mack was on the way. Because he had the feeling this meeting wasn’t going to be any easier for her than it was for him.

  But by that time, he was already pulling up to the old farmhouse. Switching off the ignition.

  He listened to his engine tick, tick softly in the still summer air, his gaze landing on the old blue Ford pickup in front of him that had been an antique even when Nina had driven it during their senior year. Nina’s grandmother must have stored it in one of the barns at her place all these years. He’d changed the oil on that truck. Watched drive-in movies from a musty sleeping bag in the bed of it.

  He shoved open the car door and stalked up the gravel driveway lined by old sheds that hadn’t held farm equipment in twenty years. Luce—his father’s black lab—wagged her tail in greeting and sniffed his pocket. Seeing no treat in her future, she didn’t bother walking him to the door, retreating to a shady spot under a massive red oak.

  The farmhouse needed a coat of paint and new shutters, something his father hadn’t let Mack do while he’d been alive. Stubborn to a fault, the old man had liked to do things himself even when the effort had exhausted him. Maybe Mack would be able to accomplish more than just helping with the Harvest Fest while he was in town. He could use the distraction of painting if Nina was going to be nearby.

  Then, without warning, he heard her voice from around the side of the house. What would she be doing back there?

  His step faltered. Nina had a laugh he could have picked out from a thousand other women’s. Low and throaty, like she’d just confided a wicked secret. The sound drifted around the corner and out to the front of the deep wraparound porch just as he hit the painted wooden steps.

  The screen door creaked on its hinge as the two Spencer women emerged from the old enclosure near the side door. Mack had a nanosecond to see Nina before she spotted him, and he drank in the sight.

  Dark blue jeans hugged lean curves and a thin, silvery belt wrapped around a slim waist. A simple black T-shirt and a long chain around her neck with a heart pendant both looked like things she would have worn eight years ago.

  Her shoulder-length blond hair was a shade darker and she had styled it sleek and straight. From her profile, he could tell she still had the same broad grin and moody gray eyes. She hadn’t aged a day. Then their gazes collided. Her gasp was audible. Sharp. And about as warm and welcoming as a woman who had just seen a ghost.

  “Nina.” His voice caught on her name even though he tried to smile through it. “Welcome back.”

  * * *

  WHEN A WOMAN dreams of running into an old flame—the one who took her virginity then really and truly shredded her heart—she imagined looking like a million bucks, not something the cat coughed up.

  Nina couldn’t have been any more humbled to come back to Heartache now, her career in ruins, while Mack Finley cruised up in a vintage Cadillac convertible and looking good enough to eat. There’d been a time when she’d confided all her secret ambitions of success in New York City to the tall, incredibly well-sculpted man standing in front of her.

  How ironic that he’d found plenty of success a stone’s throw away in Nashville with a country-music bar, while she was crawling back home to debate the merits of declaring bankruptcy for her cupcake bakery.

  From his light brown hair and square jaw to the rogue dimple in one cheek, he was a hot guy by anyone’s standard. And no matter how long she spent outside of Tennessee, Nina was still particularly vulnerable to a man who knew how to wear a pair of jeans—present company undoubtedly included if she allowed her eyes to venture any farther south than his shoulders.

  Awkward silence stretched.

  “Hi.” Her heart hammered a crazy rhythm in her chest, which pissed her off considering the way things had ended between them. “Thank you. Nice to see you, too. We were just leaving as your mother doesn’t appear to be home.”

  A social nicety to say as much; Nina was certain Mack’s mom was hiding behind a curtain of that big farmhouse and glaring down at her even now. Mrs. Finley had bipolar disorder, a disease that made her unpredictable. She’d made it clear eight years ago that everything that had gone wrong in Mack’s life was Nina
’s fault, and he’d be better off—they’d all be better off—if she left town.

  Her grandmother, though, had been perplexed when Mack’s mom hadn’t answered the door, and they’d ended up leaving the pie inside the screen porch.

  “Oh, good gracious, Mack Finley, let me look at you,” Nina’s grandmother exclaimed, her fingers digging into Nina’s arm for support as she inched forward across the wide plank floor with the help of a cane in deference to her bad knee.

  “Careful,” Nina warned, her arm going around Gram’s waist as her priorities shifted to what really mattered—her eighty-four-year-old grandmother’s health. The only thing that could have dragged her back to Heartache.

  Daisy Spencer had given Nina a home and a family even before her parents’ bitter divorce sent them to opposite coasts to get away from each other. And away from the burden of parenting. As a child, Nina had been dropped off at her grandmother’s house for longer and longer stretches until her parents just never returned. She owed her Gram more than she could ever repay.

  “How are you, Mrs. Spencer?” Mack smiled before he reached down to carefully wrap his arms around her grandmother’s shoulders for a gentle hug. “It’s great to see you.”

  The mayor’s son had inherited his father’s charm. Nina met his golden-flecked dark gaze over her grandmother’s shoulder, her body trapped close to his for that brief moment. She caught a hint of his aftershave and her thoughts caught on an old memory of whisker burn on her cheeks after a date at the drive-in.

  “You’ve been too much of a stranger these last few years,” Gram chided him, shaking a manicured pink fingernail in his direction while Nina tried to pull herself together.

  “But I’m home now,” Mack assured her grandmother, keeping a hand beneath Gram’s elbow in a way that put his fingers in close proximity to Nina’s where she held her grandmother’s waist. “I figured I should give Scott a hand with the Harvest Fest, so I’ll be sticking around for a couple of weeks.”

  Nina stumbled. Her gaze shot to his over her grandmother’s head, but Mack was already talking about hay rides and the Harvest Dance as he helped her grandmother down the porch steps. Collecting herself, Nina matched her step to theirs along the front walkway, but realized that Mack was doing the majority of the work where Gram was concerned.

  Had he honestly just said he was in town for two weeks? Right when her cupcake shop had failed and her business partner was up to her ears in scandal? Nina had never thought Mack was the type to gloat. Then again, they’d ended on bitter terms.

  “I can manage from here,” Nina interrupted as the Finleys’ old black lab walked with them toward Nina’s pickup truck. “Thanks for the help, Mack, but we’ll be fine.”

  Her heart beat hard in her chest. Indignation and wounded pride were stupid things to feel toward a guy who’d dumped her eight years ago. Apparently, coming home brought out her childish side.

  “Actually.” Gram cleared her throat. “I have my own ride and I’ll be fine.” She freed her elbow from where Mack had held it and waved at a silver sedan just cruising up the street. In her pink track suit with a big silk daisy pinned to the collar, she was tough to miss.

  “A ride where?” Nina squinted into the sunlight. “Gram, I came home to take care of you—”

  “But I’m in very good hands,” Gram protested as the car slowed to a stop behind Nina’s truck. “Scott’s daughter, Ally, works at the hairdresser and I need a little color touch-up.” She cupped a handful of white curls and winked at Mack. “A girl is never too old to want to look her best.”

  “That’s Ally?” Nina waved at the young woman behind the wheel of the car, trying to reconcile the sad-eyed teen with the wild-child nine-year-old she remembered from when she’d dated Mack. She used to babysit the girl regularly.

  Ally held up a hand in the barest excuse for a wave, but her expression remained sullen.

  “She picks me up once a month for my salon day,” Gram explained as she shuffled toward the car, favoring one knee. “This time, I texted her to let her know I’d be right around the corner from her house.”

  Nina watched Mack help her grandmother move toward the car as he exchanged a few words with his niece and made sure that Luce didn’t trip up the older woman. Had Gram suspected Mack would be here today? Was that the reason for this hasty exit that would leave her alone with Mack?

  Nina started digging for her keys to be sure she could make a fast departure of her own.

  “Call me if you need a ride home, Gram.” She backed toward her truck once Mack had Gram comfortably settled in the car.

  The two of them were chatting as easily as if they saw each other every day. Gram had always had a soft spot in her heart for Nina’s first boyfriend, but then, she didn’t know the whole story.

  He’d always accused her of being too impulsive—one of many reasons they’d broken up. But she was different now. Stronger. Smarter. Though Mack Finley—and especially his mother—would likely always see her as little more than a headstrong teenager. Had Mack’s mom called him to say Nina was coming home? He hadn’t been surprised to find her here. No doubt the older woman had also filled him in on Nina’s recent humiliation.

  “Ally brings me home on her break,” Gram called through the lowered window after Mack shut the door to the vehicle, wrenching Nina from her dark thoughts. “Don’t worry about me, sweetie. You should enjoy a few hours of freedom.”

  Nina attempted a smile as the sedan drove away. But as soon as her grandmother was out of sight, she didn’t bother pretending anymore.

  Mack Finley stood ten feet away from her. She hadn’t seen him for eight years and she was better off that way. So, striding closer, she got into his line of vision and folded her arms.

  “Satisfied?” She tried not to fume. But it wasn’t easy when frustration roared inside her and the pain of her own failure was still so fresh.

  He lifted a brow. Tucked a thumb in the front pocket of his jeans. Stared at her.

  “With what, exactly?” His gold-flecked gaze wandered over her.

  Her heart raced, which only ramped up her anger.

  “With yourself.” She pointed to his well-cut dress shirt that was probably custom-made. To his expensive vintage convertible sitting nearby. “With this chance to make me feel like dirt when my life is imploding—”

  “Whoa. Wait.” He held up both hands to stop her, his strong forearms bared where he’d rolled up his shirt sleeves. “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, please.” She shook her head. “It can’t be a coincidence that you show up in Heartache just when my business has gone down in flames and my partner has fled to the Cayman Islands with all our assets and a celebrity groom.” Nina had always known her business partner was selfish, but she’d never expected her to do something criminal.

  Mack frowned and raked a hand through his hair, a gesture she’d seen him make a hundred times before. Back when she’d spent her days studying algebra with him or playing cards on that sprawling front porch a few yards away. Back when she’d thought nothing of leaning over to kiss his cheek or walk her fingers up his shoulder just for an excuse to touch him.

  “Me being here at the same time as you is a coincidence.” He lowered his voice and glanced toward his mother’s house. “At least, as much of a coincidence as it can be when two people from a podunk town end up back home in the same week. If you ask me, it’s a damn miracle it hasn’t happened before now.”

  He’d stepped closer to make his case and the scent of his aftershave had her thinking about whisker burn again. It was all she could do not to put a hand on her cheek to make sure her skin wasn’t really stinging the way she imagined.

  “Is that so?” She felt shaky. Embarrassed at the possibility that he hadn’t come to town to humiliate her at the suggestion of his mother.

  What if her accusat
ion had been yet another impulsive leap, just like he’d always accused her of?

  “That’s the absolute truth.” His eyebrows furrowed in a way that meant business. “You’re the one at my house, remember? If anything, I ought to be calling you out for showing up at my mom’s house with—” his expression darkened “—peach pie.”

  “Excuse me? You’re angry I brought food?” She didn’t understand him any better now than she had eight years ago. “For that matter, how did you know about the pie?”

  She looked up at the house again, convinced more than ever that his mother was in there, grinding her teeth until Nina left.

  Mack’s chin jutted. “Scott called to give me a heads-up that you were here.”

  Even in their tight-knit family, the brothers had been particularly close. Mack said it was because Scott had hauled him out of a frozen pond once when Mack had fallen through while skating. Nina remembered Scott as the family ringleader, carting his siblings to sports practices and showing up at Mack’s football games.

  “We came over because Gram did a lot of baking yesterday and had some extra pies. She figured your mother could use some company.” Mack’s mom had been widowed last spring, but even before then, she had rarely left the house due to...personal issues. Not wanting to dwell on the topic, Nina shifted gears in a hurry. “I’m staying with Gram for...a while.”

  “How long?” He loomed over her and she realized her back was almost against the pickup truck.

  Too bad reclaiming her ground would mean getting closer to him.

  “A few weeks at least.” Needing a distraction, she whistled softly to Luce. The black lab lumbered over to have a seat beside her, offering her head for a scratch. “I originally planned to come here to escape the flak around my business’s closure. But Gram’s health has also gotten worse. Bad enough that my dad mentioned assisted living—”

  She stopped herself from confiding anything more personal. Mack hadn’t been a friend for a long time.

  “Nice of him to show up and help his mother out,” Mack muttered, obviously remembering her father well.