It was ridiculous to think Sylvia could handle maintaining a yard her size. The lots in our neighborhood were massive, the houses set far back from the street so the front and backyards were huge. Sylvia was a deft hand at all things gardening, so I let her handle that, but I took care of the grass, keeping it cut to a manageable length at all times, as well as fertilizing in the fall and spring so it always stayed lush and green. Every month for the past three years now, Sylvia had won Yard of the Month, and every month she insisted I stand with her when they took the picture to include in the town’s little newsletter.
“Well, who else is gonna do it? I wouldn’t expect you to get out here with a push mower by yourself. You keep yourself healthy, but that shit’s dangerous for you. And those punk-ass kids in the neighborhood charge a small fortune.”
“Because you’re a good man. You’ll see. One of these days, you’ll meet a woman who’s gonna knock you on your behind, and you won’t know what to do with yourself. Personally, I can’t wait to see that happen.”
At that, my mind wandered for a moment, and I saw Hayden’s smile. I pictured how she’d looked back at that bar in Richmond when she’d laughed with abandon.
“Unless . . .” Sylvia dragged out, pulling me back into the present. Her eyes were narrowed in intrigue as she studied me closely. “You’ve already met her, haven’t you?”
“What are you talking about? Of course not,” I semi-lied.
“Goodness me,” she cooed, placing her palms to her chest. “You have! I just saw it written all over your face. Can’t say I’m not disappointed it wasn’t my girl who got you there, but I am happy some lucky woman’s finally caught your eye.”
“All right. This conversation’s over. You need to get back to your yoga, and I need to mow your lawn before the grass reaches to your knees.”
“By all means,” she said on a tinkling laugh, waving her hand as she moved backward toward her mat. “Mow away.”
Shaking off the discomfort caused by the turn in that conversation, I moved back to my lawnmower, determined to put the conversation out of my head as I checked the gas level and cranked it up.
Then, pretending Sylvia wasn’t watching me, laughing her ass off at the scowl etched into my face, I got to work.
* * *
Hayden
It felt like someone was drilling into my skull. My eyeballs were actually pulsating, and my mouth tasted like I’d eaten hot garbage.
“Oh God,” I groaned as I gingerly rolled to my back, and slowly peeled my eyes open, one at a time.
Needless to say, the drinks had gotten a bit ahead of me last night. In comparison to everyone else, I hadn’t had all that much, but it had been years since I really drank, so I was the very definition of a lightweight. Everything that came after getting into yet another fight with that arrogant bastard was fuzzy.
I remembered he stuck close to the group the whole time, hanging out with the man I’d discovered was Dani’s fiancé, a man by the name of Leo Drake. A few other guys had shown up as the night progressed, boyfriends, husbands, and the like of my new group of girlfriends, but I didn’t remember names or faces. The one thing I did remember with almost perfect clarity was feeling Micah’s eyes on me the entire night. They seared into my skin like a brand and made my heart race.
“Get your shit together, Hayden,” I cursed to myself, staring up at the ceiling. “He was a one-night stand, for God’s sake. Was he amazing? Yeah, sure. But you’ll find another guy who’ll do those same things without making you want to commit murder.”
I could tell myself that all day long, problem was, I wasn’t completely sure it was true. There was actually something . . . I don’t know, almost fun about how we fought.
“God, there’s something wrong with me.”
Pushing up to sitting, I brushed my hair back off my forehead and blew out a steady breath. Once I felt like I was no longer at risk of my head splitting open, I climbed out of bed and padded across the floor to the bathroom. Halfway there, the loud, teeth-clattering roar of a motor sliced through the peace and quiet—and my skull.
“What the living fuck?” I rushed to the big bay windows that faced the back of the house but couldn’t see anything past the huge garden. Moving as quickly as my pounding head would let me, I stormed to the bathroom and pulled my satin robe off the hook behind the door.
I stabbed my arms through the sleeves and cinched the belt at my waist as I charged down the stairs and out the back door.
“Sylvia!” I yelled over the grinding noise as soon as I saw her, rising up from half-moon pose. That was a mistake. Hell, this whole scene was one huge mistake. I’d shot down there in an indignant rage, and now the evil sun was making my brain feel like an egg being scrambled.
“Oh dearie. Someone looks like their feelin’ the effects of a good night this mornin’.”
“Yes,” I gritted, lifting my hand to shield my poor eyeballs from that bastard, daylight. “So can you please explain to me what the hell is going on?”
“Of course!” she smiled brightly, rubbing her sunny disposition in my hungover face. “My—well, now our—neighbor cuts my—our grass every once in a while. Isn’t that just the sweetest? He really is quite the gentlemen. I’d been hoping to set the two of you up, but it seems he’s already smitten with another woman.” She stuck her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. “Such a shame, really.”
“Oh my God,” I groaned, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples. “This isn’t happening. Look, any other morning, I’d be the first one out here to thank him for doing me a solid, but right now it feels like someone’s using my head as a piñata. So please, please, can you just ask him, really politely, to knock it the fuck off?”
I’d been so busy trying to keep my brains from leaking out of my ears that I hadn’t noticed the mower had cut off. That was, until I heard a rich, sinful voice come from behind me. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me? You’re Sylvia’s niece?”
I slowly turned and faced a sweaty, shirtless Micah, holding on to the handle of a lawnmower, looking too freaking good to be legal. It took a few seconds for my alcohol-soaked brain to catch up. “Wait . . . you’re my neighbor?”
Those grassy green eyes did a full-body sweep, reminding me I was standing out in the back garden in nothing but a nightie and short satin robe—which had come untied. Son of a bitch! “Looks like,” he answered, a sinful grin stretching across his lips.
In reaction to that news, I threw my head back and looked up at the sky, shouting, “What the hell have I ever done to you, huh?” at the top of my lungs.
Me and the man upstairs were about to have some serious words, because this shit was getting ridiculous!
Chapter Ten
Hayden
“Oh my.” Aunt Sylvia looked far too pleased when I righted my head and pointed an unhappy frown in her direction. “Well, isn’t this an interesting new development?”
I didn’t see it that way, but of course she would.
“Sylvia,” Micah said, his tone holding a hint of warning, but also humor, like he and my aunt were the best of friends. And isn’t that just freaking great?
“What?” she asked innocently. “I didn’t say anything. I certainly didn’t say how pleased I am to find out the best sex my precious niece ever had just so happened to be with my strapping young neighbor.”
“Sylvia!” I yelped.
“And I most certainly didn’t say boo about the fact the woman that very same strapping neighbor is completely hung up on is my niece. Nope. Not me. Not a word. I’m just here, minding my own business.”
“That’s it!” I threw my arms up and spun around, my bare feet slapping on the cobblestones as I headed back for the house. “I’m drinking an entire pot of coffee and pretending this morning never happened. This has all been an alcohol-induced nightmare.”
Slamming the door on my aunt’s laughter, I moved straight to the coffee maker and hit the switch, glaring at it as it gurgled and began to spit out
the much-needed liquid, like my anger might actually make it work faster.
I heard the creak of the back door opening, but didn’t bother turning around as I stated, “Now’s really not a good time, Sylvia. I think it’s safe to say I’ll be skipping yoga this morning.”
“Gotta say, that’s some nightie.”
At that, I spun around so fast my poor, abused head wobbled like it was at risk of falling off my shoulders. “Did you seriously just walk in here without even knocking?” I asked as I slapped my robe closed and retied the belt.
“Look, Red, we need to talk.”
He’d put his shirt back on before he followed me inside, but it was clinging to his sweaty skin, showing off those slabs of defined muscle I’d spent hours licking. I want to lick them again, the devil on my shoulder said on a dreamy sigh.
Pushing that thought to the back of my head, I crossed my arms over my chest protectively. “Pretty sure we don’t, Micah.”
His eyebrows lifted as he moved deeper into the kitchen, rounding the counter between us and resting his hips back against it. “So, what? We’re just gonna live next door to each other and pretend the other person doesn’t exist?”
“Sounds like a brilliant idea,” I muttered. “How about you get the hell out and we start now?” I was acting like a brat. I knew it and I hated it, but there was something about this man that pushed every one of my buttons, turning me into a petulant little shit, and I couldn’t seem to stop it.
Letting out a beleaguered sigh, Micah reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose before he started speaking again. “Us ignoring each other wouldn’t make Sylvia happy, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of making her unhappy. For her sake, we at least need to pretend to get along. It’s what she wants.”
“Oh, is it?” I asked snidely. “So you think you know what my aunt wants more than I do? Why? Because living next door makes you an expert?”
I regretted the nasty words almost as soon as they spilled out of my mouth. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t a bitch, and I really hated that, whatever it was about him, it brought out this kind of behavior in me.
His vibrant green eyes flashed with something unpleasant as he uncrossed his arms and braced his hands on his trim hips. The wall of anger radiating from him slammed right into me, nearly stealing my breath as he pushed off the counter and took a step closer.
“Exactly,” he seethed with his brows drawn. Just like that, he’d gone from sexy—in a wildly irritating way—to intimidating, and if I’d been able to, I would have taken a step back. “Because I’m the one who’s been cuttin’ her grass, and carryin’ her groceries in every goddamn weekend. I’m the one who sits out in her garden drinking Tom fuckin’ Collins with her when I hate gin, but she likes it, so I suck back the foul-tasting shit every time she makes me one. I’m who has dinner with her twice a week just so I can keep my finger on her pulse and make sure she’s doin’ okay, in this big house all by herself. Meanwhile, you’ve lived less than an hour away, and I haven’t seen your face once in the past five years. So yeah, I’d say I’m an expert on your aunt. Certainly more of one than you are, ’cause I’ve been here while you couldn’t take the time outta your precious life to visit.”
By the time he finished his little diatribe, my chest was rising and falling like I’d run a marathon at a full sprint, my sinuses were burning and my vision had grown blurry thanks to the dampness building up in my eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered, feeling each word he’d said like a slap against my skin.
His chin jerked back in mock surprise. “I don’t? I find that really fuckin’ hard to believe, Red, since I’m the one who’s spent the past five years listenin’ to her go on and on about how incredible her niece is. You know, she’s done nothing but sing your praise constantly since the moment she found out you were moving here, and I gotta tell you, the woman she described isn’t the woman I see standing in front of me. All I see is a spoiled selfish brat who couldn’t be bothered to spend time with her own flesh and blood until her world fell apart and she had nowhere else to turn.”
After landing that well-placed blow, he turned and started for the back door, stopping once his hand landed on the knob to look back at me over his shoulder. “You know what? I think you’re right. It’s probably best we pretend the other person doesn’t exist.”
With that parting shot, he slammed the door behind him, leaving me standing there, feeling like I’d just been cut right open.
* * *
I’d spent the better part of the day stewing over my confrontation with Micah. During my first two cups of coffee and all through my shower, I’d been outraged that a man who didn’t know me at all would accuse me of being such a selfish, inconsiderate person. It was halfway through my failed attempted at yoga, where I was trying to calm my swirling thoughts, that I realized I had no right being angry at anyone but myself.
Falling back onto my mat, surrounded by the stunning beauty of the garden my aunt had created, the truth hit me like a slap to the face as I stared up at the perfect blue sky. Micah was right. My stomach sank like a rock being dropped in the middle of an ocean.
Shoving up to my feet, I took the path, not back toward my new home—a home my aunt had so generously given to me—but to the apartment behind.
“Sylvia?” I called as I rapped my knuckles against the door. “Sylvia, you there?”
My aunt’s figure appeared through the wavy glass set into the door. “Hayden, what on earth—?”
“I’ve been a selfish asshole,” I blurted, pushing my way inside the adorable little apartment. It was decorated just as bright and crazy as the main house, every inch of it screaming my aunt’s—and now my—name.
“What are you talking about, sweets?”
“Micah said something this morning, and at first it really pissed me off. But then I realized he was totally right. I’m a selfish asshole!”
“Come on, darlin’. Sit down and I’ll make you a cup of tea.” She guided me to a stool at the small kitchen island upholstered in a paisley fabric with tassels hanging all along the edges. “You’ll have to explain what you’re talking about, because I’m afraid I don’t follow,” she said as she filled a kettle with hot water and placed it on the stovetop, lighting the gas burner beneath it. “Are you tellin’ me Micah called you a selfish asshole?”
“Yes—well, no. Not in those exact words. More like, he pointed out some ugly truths I’d been avoiding.”
“And those would be?”
Letting out a sigh, I slumped my shoulders and looked down at my hand, pulling the sleeves of my tight-fitted yoga jacket down past my fingers. “I should’ve made a better effort to come see you the past several years,” I admitted. “Or any effort, really. I let Alex dictate every aspect of my life, and that’s not who I am. It’s not who I ever was. And honestly, I’m kicking myself for not seeing it all as it was happening. I let him turn me into someone else entirely, and I did it at the expense of the one person who’s always been there for me. You.”
She placed two delicate china tea cups on the island, dropping a teabag into each one before looking back at me. “Oh, honey. I never felt that way.”
“I know, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Hayden, you don’t—”
“Please, just let me get this out.”
I waited for her to give me a nod before continuing. I leaned deeper into the island, placing my palms on the top of it. “I want you to know, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Every single thing. And not just recently, but my entire life. I’ve always known I could count on you, and I think a part of me took that for granted. But that’s done.”
She didn’t say a word once I finished, and I found the silence we lapsed into pretty damn uncomfortable.
“Uh . . . are you gonna say anything, or just stand there looking at me?”
“Well, I wanted to make sure you were finished first.”
“Oh, o
kay. Um . . . I’m finished.”
“Good. Then it’s my turn.” The kettle began to whistle, cutting her off. She moved casually, extinguishing the flame and pouring the boiling water into both cups before returning the kettle to the stove. Once she finished, she came back to the island and scooted my cup in front of me, picking hers up and dunking the bag a few times before blowing on the steaming liquid inside. “Right, where was I? Oh, yes. Darlin’ girl, you’re being completely ridiculous.”
I paused with my tea cup partway to my lips. “I—huh?”
She rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Hayden, you couldn’t be selfish if you tried. You don’t have a selfish bone in your body.”
“But I—”
“Still talkin’, lovely.” I quickly clamped my mouth shut. “As I was saying, you aren’t selfish. You think for one second I’d bend over backward to help you if I truly thought you were just takin’ advantage?”
“Well . . . no. I guess not. But then—”
“You were flounderin’. You were stuck in this life that was pullin’ you down, and you were fighting to stay afloat. And yes, while you were stuck in the midst of that, there were other aspects that got pushed to the wayside. That doesn’t make you selfish. People do bad things sometimes, that doesn’t mean they’re bad people, and sometimes people do selfish things without actually being selfish, simply because they’re tryin’ to keep their heads above water. You see what I’m sayin’?”
“I-I think so.”
“You were pre-occupied. I get that now, and I certainly got it then. Let the past stay where it belongs, Hayden. Enjoy the present.”
Enjoy the present. I was pretty sure I could do that. Hopefully.
“Now, are you finished with this silliness? ’Cause there’s a marathon of Supernatural on right now, and you know how I love those Winchester boys. You’ll stay and watch it with me.”
Love to Hate You: a Hope Valley novel Page 8
