Just A Little Taste (Moments in Maplesville)

by Farrah Rochon

  He nodded. “If you want to see exactly what I can do when it comes to renovations, this is the best example.” He climbed up the steps and motioned for her to move further into the space. “Go ahead,” he encouraged. “Check it out.”

  Trey couldn’t stem the pride pumping through his veins as Kiera surveyed his home, her eyes filled with awe. She ran her fingers along the gleaming Australian cypress that covered the floors, walls and ceiling.

  “This is amazing,” she murmured.

  The first half of the bus was an open kitchen, living room, and dining room area. He’d made the most of the limited space, modifying the appliances as best he could so they would fit and building shelving that ran along the entire rim of the bus’s interior. The living room furniture was upholstered in dark brown leather, adding to the opulent feel.

  “This is what I wanted to show you,” Trey said, walking over to the custom countertops that folded down to create more counter space. “I can do something like this in your food truck.”

  “That would be perfect,” Kiera said. She flipped the countertop back and forth a few times. “How long have you lived here?”

  “A couple of years. It started as a hobby. I went to an auto show a few years back and someone had tricked out one of those old conversion vans, like the one Mr. Pratt used to drive to school.”

  “Ah, the Scooby Doo Mystery Van. I remember it well.”

  “Yep. Just like that one. I decided I would try to do the same thing, but on a larger scale. I bought this bus and spent about a year working on it. I never thought I’d be living in it, but things worked out that way.”

  She looked over at him, her raised brows inviting him to elaborate.

  “I was a partner in an engine repair business with a good friend back in Houston, but I was forced to sell my share in the business.”

  Yet another instance of the shit that had become a normal part of his existence.

  Trey shrugged. “I’d gotten tired of working on engines anyway. And I discovered that I’m pretty good at this conversion thing.”

  “I think you’re amazing at it, but I thought you renovated mainly food trucks?”

  “So far it’s been mostly food trucks; they’re what’s in demand right now. There aren’t many people lining up to live in a converted bus, and honestly, for the amount of money I put into it, I could have bought something much bigger, but this is the best example I have of the kind of work I can do. It also makes for a pretty cool house that I can drive wherever my work takes me.”

  “It’s a very cool house,” she said. “You have an amazing talent.”

  If she paid him one more compliment Trey was sure his chest would burst. He’d probably given tours of his home to over a hundred people—friends, people in the mobile home conversion business—and they all had reacted with the same kind of awe. There was just something about getting that kind of praise from Kiera—his Kiera—that made it so much more special.

  “It suits you,” she said. “You never struck me as the ‘house with a picket fence and two-point-five kids’ kind of guy.”

  Trey swallowed the response that nearly escaped his lips. Instead, he asked, “So, what do you think? You willing to trust me with your food truck?”

  She blew out a heavy breath before she turned to him and crossed her arms over her chest. “It will all depend on the cost. After seeing this, I’m not sure I can afford you.”

  “I’m sure that brother of yours will be willing to front you some cash.”

  Her smooth skin tightened over her cheekbones as the friendly mood that had occupied this space just a second ago evaporated.

  “Mason doesn’t have anything to do with this,” she said. “Let me know your price and I’ll let you know whether or not the renovation is a go.”

  “My price is negotiable. Why don’t you tell me what you can afford?”

  “Let me worry about what I can afford. Tell me your price and we can negotiate from there.”

  Well, one thing hadn’t changed; she was still stubborn as hell.

  “Give me until tomorrow to work up an estimate. I’ll crunch some numbers based on the things you pointed out today. You think you can email me a list of the equipment you already have?”

  She nodded, and her eyes softened just a touch. “I haven’t really thanked you for agreeing to do this, but know that I appreciate it. When I made the decision to contact you, I knew this would be…well, awkward. How could it not be after all this time?” She put a hand on his forearm. “But I’m happy I called. I need this food truck to succeed, and after seeing the kind of work you can do, I know I made the right decision.”

  Trey’s skin heated where she touched him. That’s all it took, one simple touch.

  His lungs constricted as their gazes locked. The full weight of this moment, of once again occupying the same space with her, breathing the same air she breathed, hit him square in the chest.

  He lifted the hair off her right cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “Damn, it’s good to see you again, Slim.”

  Her eyes dropped to his lips and lingered there for several heartbeats. The air in the Bluebird seemed to evaporate, leaving nothing but intense awareness pulsing around them.

  “It’s good to see you, too,” she said, her voice hoarse. Sexy.

  Time stood still, then it crawled backwards, to years ago when the woman standing before him was a young, innocent, stunningly beautiful girl. A girl who’d wrapped herself around his heart and hadn’t let go, even after all these years.

  Regret, deep and wide and soul breaking, gripped his chest, clutching so tight Trey could barely breathe. He’d lived with regret over the way things had ended with Kiera for so long, he thought he’d gotten used to it. But being here with her brought back all the remorse he’d suffered for taking the easy way out and not fighting for their love.

  Was this his chance to make up for the way he’d left?

  “Do you want to hang out for a while?” Trey asked. “Maybe we can have a beer, talk a bit?” He took a step closer. “Come on, Slim,” he said, brushing the backs of his fingers along her smooth jawline. “It’s been a long time. We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

  Her chest heaved with the pronounced breath she sucked in. She took two steps back and wrapped her arms around her waist.

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No. I…I have to go.”

  Disappointment pummeled his chest.

  “Kiera—”

  “I’ll get that email out to you as soon as I can,” she said as she backed away from him like a frightened kitten. “Let me know when you have the estimate ready. And remember my timetable. The shrimp festival is less than five weeks away.”

  With that she turned and left him standing in the middle of his living room. Apparently, when it came to strolling down memory lane, Kiera wasn’t particularly interested. But after seeing her again, Trey was all too ready to take that journey.

  ***

  Kiera carried the chocolate torte she’d bought from Jada’s favorite bakery up the porch steps of Callie’s brown and white creole cottage in one of Maplesville’s older neighborhoods. This area had managed to avoid the rapid growth most of the town had undergone in the last few years.

  Callie opened the door before she could knock and planted a kiss on Kiera’s cheek. “Seems as if I haven’t seen you in forever,” her friend said.

  “Not since last month at Jada’s,” Kiera returned. “Any sign of her yet?”

  Callie nodded toward the driveway. “Pulling up as we speak.”

  They both stood in the doorway watching as the third member of their trio parked behind Kiera’s SUV.

  Kiera and her two best friends, Jada Dangerfield and Callie Webber, were meeting at Callie’s for their monthly wine, dessert and gossip session—a tradition that started several years ago, after Callie’s husband left her for a younger woman.

  “Hello, my lovelies,” Jada called, shouldering her bag as she kicked her car door closed. S
he hurried over to them and issued out kisses. “How are you two doing?”

  “I think the question of the day is how are you doing?” Kiera said. “You have some news to announce, don’t you?”

  With a squeal, Jada stuck out her left hand and showcased the two-and-a-half carat cushion cut diamond engagement ring Kiera had helped Mason pick out last week.

  “Oh, my God!” Callie gasped. “I didn’t realize he was going to ask so soon.”

  “He popped the question at the beach house in Biloxi Saturday night,” Jada said. “Great going on the ring, Kiera. It’s perfect.”

  “Well, you did send me at least a dozen pictures.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t know which one he would pick.”

  “I think Mason did a great job.” Callie twisted Jada’s left hand from side to side so she could look at the ring from various angles. “This is gorgeous.” She enveloped Jada in a hug. “Congratulations, honey. I’m so happy for the two of you.”

  “So am I,” Kiera said, joining in the hug. “Who would have ever imagined you and Mason would end up together?”

  “No one,” all three of them said simultaneously, and burst out laughing.

  They went into the house and dug into the decadent torte while Jada gave them a play-by-play of Mason’s proposal, which included a moonlit picnic on the beach. Kiera was rather stunned to hear the lengths her normally serious brother had gone to in order to make Jada’s proposal special.

  The discussion naturally segued into a discussion of Callie’s upcoming wedding to her fiancé Stefan, which they had decided would take place on an island in Turks and Caicos over the Thanksgiving holiday.

  Kiera was happy for her friends. Honestly, she was. They’d both been through horrible divorces with husbands who’d treated them like dirt. But, dammit, at least they’d already had a chance at married life. Of the three of them, she was the one who’d always believed in a happily ever after. Even after suffering the trauma of heartbreak at Trey’s hand, she’d never lost sight of love. Yet, she was the one who had yet to experience a man dropping to one knee and pledging his love and life to her.

  Fortunately, she stopped obsessing over her happily ever after a long time ago. She might not have given up completely, but it wasn’t a priority anymore.

  Her last serious boyfriend, Garrett Benson, had turned out to be a possessive, clingy jerk whose main goal in life was seeing how far he could climb the social ladder. As if Maplesville’s social ladder was all that high to climb.

  She no longer had the patience or energy to expend on waiting for Prince Charming to come and whisk her away. She had other things to concentrate on, like growing her business.

  “Where’d you get this wine?” Jada asked, peering at the goblet of zinfandel she held up toward the light in Callie’s living room.

  “I stumbled upon this adorable wine bar when I met Stefan for lunch in New Orleans the other day.” A light entered Callie’s eyes just at the mention of her fiancé. “They have an awesome selection. We’ll need to take one of our Girl’s Night In on the road one of these days and hang out there.”

  “I’m working downtown at the Fortier Foundation three days a week,” Jada said. “Maybe we can meet one day after work.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Kiera said, holding her glass up so they could toast to it.

  She and Callie had been friends since elementary school. Jada had moved to Maplesville during their sophomore year of high school. Petite, gorgeous, and a cheerleader to boot, she instantly became one of the most popular girls in school. Callie and Kiera had hated Jada on the spot, until the day they found her defacing the head cheerleader’s locker, whom they hated even more.

  After that, the three of them had become inseparable. They’d supported each other through numerous heartbreaks, the death of parents and disaster dates.

  The disaster dates were now a thing of the past for Callie and Jada, both having found love in the past year. It was particularly astonishing that the person Jada had found love with was Kiera’s older brother, Mason. For years the two could hardly stand being in the same room with each other.

  Kiera folded her legs underneath her as she settled into the comfy chair she always commandeered at Callie’s. She tried to pay attention as Jada filled them in on her new job with a local non-profit, but only listened with half an ear. Much of her mental energy was taken up by what had transpired in her brief visit to Trey’s home this afternoon.

  Who would have thought the hell raiser who used to hotwire the mayor’s car and take it for joyrides would turn into a successful business-owner with a knack for turning decrepit old vehicles into mobile works of art? She thought she’d prepared herself for the emotional overload she knew would come when she first laid eyes on him after fourteen years, but Kiera now realized that nothing could have fully prepared her for the life force that was Trey Watson.

  She’d told herself over and over again not to get pulled in by him. He was bad for her in so many ways—mentally, emotionally. She knew this! But when faced with his devastating smile and that relentless charm, it was hard to remember exactly why he was so bad for her. All she could think about were the multitude of ways he had been so very, very good.

  “Kiera!”

  She jerked to attention and looked over to find both of her friends staring at her. “What?” she asked.

  Jada dropped her head in her hands. “Please don’t start this spacing out shit on us again, Kiera.”

  “I did not space out.”

  “I called your name three times.”

  Callie reached over and covered her hand. “You would tell us if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?”

  The concern in Callie’s voice tugged at her heart, but Kiera had decided before she arrived that she wasn’t ready to tell her friends about Trey’s return. Jada and Callie had both cautioned her against dating him from the very beginning. Even when things between her and Trey had turned serious, her friends had both been concerned that he would break her heart.

  In the ultimate display of true friendship, neither had bothered to say I told you so when he eventually did. They’d simply sat by her side, providing an endless supply of tissues and damning Trey Watson to hell.

  No, she didn’t think telling Jada and Callie about Trey’s return to Maplesville was a good idea.

  “Would you two please stop looking at me like that,” Kiera said. “I’m fine.”

  “Forgive us if we don’t automatically believe you when you say you’re fine,” Jada said. “You’re track record isn’t the best.”

  “Yeah, Kiera,” Callie said. “The last time you were acting this way was when you were suckered into that bad deal on Craigslist for the food truck. Is something else going on with the business? Do you need help?”

  “No,” Kiera said, grimacing at the defensiveness in her voice. “I’m good,” she said. “Really. I just landed a catering contract with the Magnolia Ridge Country Club, I’m close to nailing down my recipe for the Louisiana Shrimp Festival, and best of all, Kiera’s Kickin’ Kajun will soon be operational. Everything in my world is peachy, so stop worrying about me. I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.”

  The expressions on their faces told Kiera neither of her friends had been swayed. Jada’s words confirmed it.

  “Everything is peachy?” Her future sister-in-law asked with a snort. “Yeah, and I’m the freaking Queen of England.”

  Kiera blew out a tired breath. They both knew her way too well.

  “Look, I just have a lot on my mind, okay.” She came up with the one excuse she knew her friends would buy. “I haven’t perfected my Shrimp Napoleon wrap recipe yet and I’m starting to freak out a little. The recipe is due to the festival’s committee soon.”

  “That’s what you’re worried about?” Jada asked. “Girl, please.”

  “I can’t help but worry,” Kiera said. “I really want to win that cook-off so that I can pay Mason back the money he loaned me as soon as possible.” />
  “You know he’s not thinking about that money.” Jada waved off her concern before draining her wineglass. “Honestly, you’ll probably have to tackle him to the ground and literally ram the check down his throat to make him take it.”

  “If that’s my only option, then so be it,” Kiera said. “The only reason I accepted the loan to renovate the truck is because he promised he would let me pay him back.”

  Jada put her hands up. “You can try, but I don’t have to tell you how stubborn your brother is.”

  Kiera fully expected a battle of epic proportion when it came time to pay Mason back. There was no doubt he would find every reason in the world for her to keep the money: She should put it in her nest egg, reinvest it in her business, put it on the side for a rainy day.

  A measly twenty thousand dollars was nothing to Mason, who made a phenomenal living as a tax attorney at a high-powered firm in New Orleans. For him, loaning her that money was just another opportunity for him to take care of her.

  When their father died of a heart attack when she was eleven-years-old, Mason had taken it upon himself to take care of both her and their mother, despite the fact that he was only fourteen at the time. She knew Mason was only doing what he’d promised their father he would do, but it was time for him to step out of that role. She wasn’t a little girl anymore.

  Of course, it would be easier for him to stop treating her like a little girl if she didn’t need him to bail her out all the damn time.

  She was done with that, too.

  She’d meant what she’d said earlier today. If she couldn’t make this food truck venture happen on her own, then it would not happen at all.

  Of course, just the thought of her newest business venture immediately conjured thoughts of the man she’d hired to help her get it off the ground. The image of that glistening tattoo flashed before her mind’s eye, and Kiera had to bite back a moan.

  God, but she didn’t want to deal with the complications Trey brought into her life. Just the sound of his voice caused feelings she’d buried a long time ago to reemerge.