Always My Hero

by Jennifer DeCuir

  “Oh, sweetheart, it was plain to anyone who saw the two of you that you were in love.” Anne placed her hand on her son’s shoulder, patting lightly.

  “We hid it.” He rolled his eyes. “Okay, we thought we’d hidden it. We didn’t want to hurt Haley. I’d been dating her for two years. In high school terms, that was a freaking lifetime.”

  Ryan thought back to all those times sitting at his parents’ kitchen table. The stolen glances, the way one or the other of them would accidentally brush an arm or a leg up against the other. When he was with Bree, they were in their own little bubble. It was so easy to pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist—and, therefore, that nobody else could see just how they felt about one another.

  “You would have done Haley a favor if you’d told her the truth.” Her voice was sad but matter-of-fact.

  “But then you wouldn’t have Wes.” Take that!

  “No, but I might have a whole passel of grandchildren to love and spoil, and a daughter-in-law I could truly admire.”

  A child with Bree. How perfect that would be. Deep in his own thoughts, Ryan gathered the empty boxes and started for the back room to toss them aside until later. The jingle of the bell above the door had him spinning on his heel.

  “Hullo, Ryan! And Anne, perfect. I have some amazing news and it’s good that you’re both here for it.” Toby Horace, the real estate agent, burst into the store, all smiles and waving arms.

  “Can I get you a cup of coffee, Toby?” Always the gracious hostess, Anne was halfway to the office to fix it before he called her back.

  “I’m afraid I have to be on the other side of town very shortly. But I wanted to stop by and tell you that you got an offer. My client understands your situation and has offered to buy the hardware store outright. You wouldn’t even need to liquidate your merchandise. He plans to keep the store here, as is. Every town needs its hardware store, right?”

  That did make things easier, but it seemed too good to be true. Mr. Horace handed him a piece of paper, detailing the offer made by this stranger from out-of-town. Shaking his head, he gave it a quick scan, blinking when he got to the numbers listed clearly in bold print. It wasn’t anywhere near what they were asking. It was more. A lot more. Holy shit. His fingers so shaky they were flapping the paper around, he shoved it toward his mother.

  Anne let out the first expletive Ryan had ever heard her utter. And that was saying a lot, given all the damage he’d caused around the house growing up. Her lips trembled and her eyes were filling with tears.

  It would set them up for life. No worries. Ryan saw that as a very good thing. But it would mean letting go of a piece of family history, something that had been part of the Pettridges for four generations. For the first time since he’d come back to Scallop Shores, the enormity of what they’d be letting go finally set in.

  “What’s the catch? This guy isn’t even from Scallop Shores. Why our store? Why our town?” It didn’t make any sense.

  “From what I gather, the gentleman has a daughter in town. He’s trying to find a way to connect, to gain some sort of tie to Scallop Shores that she can’t reject outright.”

  “How long do we have to think about this?” Just because it looked like a no-brainer didn’t mean they would be able to part with the store.

  “He’s in no hurry. Take your time and come to a decision as a family. I know how important this is to you all. I’ve attached his business card. His name is Frank Wattley. While I’d rather you direct all questions and concerns to me, I figure it couldn’t hurt to let you do a little research on the man who could potentially take over the family business.”

  Horace shook Ryan’s hand, gave Anne a brief hug and waved goodbye. “Tell Bo hello for me. Hope he’s well on his way to dancing the two-step.”

  Ryan watched the man leave just as quickly as he’d dropped by. His mother turned around to wipe at a tear that had snuck past her defenses. Well, if they had time to think about it, then that’s exactly what they’d do. He was going to head to the apartment and tell Haley to get off her lazy butt because she had a job—and she started today.

  Chapter 13

  The scent reached her before she’d even opened the door. Sweet with just a little hint of spicy. Bree wasn’t any good at picking out ingredients individually. She just knew that whatever her friend had taken from the oven smelled heavenly. Eagerly, she yanked on the handle and plunged into Cady’s Dream.

  “I’ll have a coffee and two of whatever is causing my taste buds to sit up and beg.” Waving to a few regulars, Bree took off her heavy coat and draped it over the back of one of the padded chairs at the counter.

  “Gingersnap cookies. Good choice.” Cady beamed. “Talk ya into a latte today?”

  “Sure, why not. I’m in a spectacular mood.” She stretched her arms out lazily over her head and winked at her friend.

  “So the photo shoot went well? All those hot guys in next to nothing?”

  Bree blinked. She’d almost forgotten how well the photo shoot had gone. They weren’t finished, but they had gotten some great shots yesterday. Another day ought to do it.

  “Yeah, it couldn’t have gone better.” She accepted the espresso drink that Cady slid across the counter, refusing to break eye contact until the woman figured out what she was trying to communicate without sharing it with the gossips seated at the counter alongside her.

  Like they were playing a silent form of twenty questions, Cady nodded, obviously trying to figure out what her next move should be. Bree nearly chortled when she saw the light bulb go off in Cady’s head.

  “And then after … That went well?”

  “The post photo shoot activities went very well.” She didn’t even bother to hide the grin that stretched her cheeks to the point of aching.

  “Excellent!” Then, as though she’d forgotten something important, Cady’s brow wrinkled in confusion. Distress? She lowered her voice as she leaned across the counter. “I’ve been hearing some talk about Ryan’s ex popping back into the picture. Should we be worried?”

  We. God love her. Bree took a sip of her latte before answering.

  “She’s staying with him, if you can believe it. Not my favorite scenario, but it sure didn’t change things any. In fact, she makes a great babysitter.” Twisting to the side just enough so the men at the counter couldn’t see her profile, Bree wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

  Message received. Cady flashed her a thumbs up.

  “Am I gonna get grossed out over my brother’s photo in this calendar?” she asked, changing the subject before Old Man Feeney and his cronies caught wind of what they’d really been discussing.

  “Truth? His was one of my favorites. You’ll probably hate it. Though I highly doubt any other woman in town will commiserate with you—except maybe your mom and Auntie.

  “Oh, and Burke? Cady, he was a natural. The camera loves him.”

  “He came home so embarrassed. It was hard not to tease him about it. He wore a T-shirt to bed for the first time since I’ve known him.” Both of them laughed at this.

  The bell over the door ushered in a new customer and Cady looked up, frowning. Bree turned around. Wonderful. Haley was busy looking around the coffee shop and hadn’t spotted her yet.

  “I’ve seen her before.” Cady tapped a finger to her lips.

  “Yeah, that’s Haley. Ryan’s ex.”

  “No, I mean ... where did I see her? It was just recently too.” She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and worked at it.

  “Oh! At Smitty’s. She was sitting right behind you.”

  Bree’s eyes widened as she thought back to that night, remembering the blonde who had so rudely invaded her personal space. She’d never caught a glimpse of the woman’s face, but now she realized that had been intentional. The woman hadn’t wanted her to know who she was.

  They came to the horrible realization at the same time. Ryan’s ex had overheard Bree’s confession about the miscarriage. The sneaky snoop!

/>   “You want me to kick her out? I can do that. It’s my place.” Cady put her hands on her hips, battle face on.

  “Thanks, you’re a doll. But I’ve got the advantage here. She doesn’t realize I know. She’s not going to threaten me with something I fully intended to tell him about anyway.” Eventually. Someday. When the time was right. Crap.

  Aware that she’d unintentionally drawn the attention of Mr. Feeney and his peanut gallery, Bree sighed, gathered her coat and purse and moved to a table in the corner. By the time she got back for her latte and plate of cookies, Haley was standing at the counter, perusing the menu.

  “Hey there! Let me buy you a cup of coffee, Haley. I got us a table over there.”

  “Okay ... A tall, skinny macchiato. Extra foam.”

  “You should try one of Cady’s pastries. They are just to die for.”

  “I don’t eat sweets.” Ryan’s stick-figure-of-an-ex grimaced. Glancing around the shop, she added, “The last time I was in town, this place was a Chinese restaurant. Tealeaves, I think it was called.”

  “Yep, it’s changed hands a lot over the years. But it’s all mine now,” Cady offered proudly.

  Haley shrugged, like it didn’t matter to her either way. Cady turned to fire up her espresso machine and Bree felt just a moment’s panic as she tried to decide if she should wait at the counter with Haley or return to the table. When the other woman made no effort to acknowledge her presence, she gritted her teeth, ignored the heat flooding her cheeks and tried to walk, not run, back to her seat.

  Her days of intimidating me are in the past. She can’t bother me anymore. They were mature women who didn’t need to pigeonhole themselves with labels like they’d done in high school. Sure, she was still a bookworm, but she was a sexy, confident bookworm. Bree tried to gobble down her cookies before Haley could see them and comment on the added calories she was consuming.

  She’d come so far. She felt really good about herself now. Her life was exactly the way she wanted it. Except that the one person who had the ability to make her feel like a scared little ugly duckling was back in her life. Well, it was up to Bree not to give Haley the ammunition to tear down her newly built confidence.

  “Thanks for the coffee.” Haley set her drink down, pulled out a chair and perched on it.

  “Um, you’re welcome.” Maybe Haley really had changed and the mean girl tendencies were a thing of the past. “How did things go with Wes, the other night? He’s a great kid, huh?”

  “Oh, we had so much fun. I was surprised to see how much we had in common.”

  “Really?”

  “Of course not!” Haley barked out a cruel laugh. “My little boy spent the entire evening singing your praises. ‘Bree this.’ And ‘Bree that.’ It was nauseating.” She rolled her eyes before returning her attention to her coffee drink.

  Trying to keep from grinning at this revelation, despite the venom in the other woman’s voice, she simply watched her. Haley could disguise her words to look as though she’d been bored, but Bree knew better. She was jealous of Wesley’s relationship with Bree. And if she could get jealous, then there had to be a heart in there somewhere.

  “So really, what does he see in you anyway? I mean, when I chose you for his tutor, I thought I’d found the homeliest, dullest creature in our graduating class. That’s always been a mystery to me.” Haley narrowed her eyes as she watched to see how deeply that barb would embed itself. And just like that, she was back, folks!

  Bree sighed at the not-so-subtle turn of conversation from Wesley to Ryan. Mentally brushing off the hateful insult, she shrugged.

  “I don’t think it matters really. As I heard it, you left him ... and Wes. What’s the deal? After all these years you’ve decided you want to be Donna Reed?” Might as well put all her cards on the table. If Haley had her sights on Ryan, she wanted to know now, rather than later.

  “Why, do I make you nervous? You should be. Honey, I won him last time and I could easily do it again. Your type,” Haley paused to flick a skinny, perfectly manicured finger at her, “can never keep a man’s attention. They need a real woman.”

  Last time. So she had overheard what was meant to be a very private conversation.

  “Why does it bother you so much that he loves me? I mean, you guys were over a long time ago.” Even before you got married, if truth be told. Bree lifted her heavy stoneware mug, leaned back and watched Haley as she took a sip. The old Bree would have been terrified to reveal such a truth to anyone, let alone the one woman she feared could take it all away from her. But the new Bree was more direct.

  “Oh, please, you think he loves you? How cute! He knows about your little puppy dog obsession with him and he took advantage of an easy target. All he wanted was to get in your pants. Honestly, you really make it too easy for him.”

  “I’m sorry you see things that way.”

  And she was. She felt sorry for Haley. The woman had spent a lifetime using her looks to get what she wanted from men. It was no wonder that she saw their motives differently than other women might

  “Clearly you’re going to make me say it.” Haley’s lips twitched in a smirk. She amped up the tension by taking a sip of her coffee, licking the foam from her lip with a delicate swipe of her tongue.

  Bree waited. Here it came. Haley wasn’t going to be happy when she realized she no longer had the power to cow her competition into submission. Bree calmly took a sip of her latte, her arched brow the only indication she had any interest in this big threat.

  “Ryan and I share a history. We share a child.” The sneer on Haley’s face left no mistake that she twisted the knife intentionally. “Your feeble little attempt to force him to stay with you failed. Just back off. He chose me last time and he’ll choose me again.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Bree’s voice came out louder than she’d meant, and she looked up guiltily.

  Cady looked like she was ready to haul out a baseball bat and chase Haley to the next county. Old Man Feeney and the rest of the men at the counter had swiveled in their seats to see what the commotion was about. Bree shot them a “mind-your-own-business” glare and turned her focus back to the serpent sitting across from her.

  “Yes, I know all about your miscarriage. Boo hoo. How sad you must have been when that little bun in the oven didn’t turn into a ring on your finger.

  “And because you failed, you kept it from Ryan. So now I’ve got a lovely little secret. Stay away and I won’t spill. Everyone’s happy. You might even get to keep him as a friend. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

  “And if I tell him the truth first? Hmm, who do you suppose he’d choose? The woman who loves him and his son and would do absolutely anything for them? Or the woman who left him once already for fame and fortune—neither of which she got, as it happens.”

  Haley’s face had turned a sickening shade of purple and she looked as though her head was going to explode. Nope, she hadn’t anticipated any fight from Bree whatsoever. If the subject had been anything but the most painful time in her life, she would have almost enjoyed herself. But having it tossed in her face this way, it was an all-time low—even for Haley.

  Immersed in their intense discussion, they didn’t notice Ryan until he loomed tall over their table. Had he heard any of that? They both eyed him, mouths slightly open.

  “Not the pair I would have expected to see enjoying a cup of coffee together, but stranger things have happened.” His smile was friendly and devoid of censure, so Bree let out as shallow a sigh as she could manage, without him noticing.

  “Hey, Hal, I looked for you at the apartment. I found you a job. Finish up your coffee and we can go.”

  “Now? Today?”

  “Yeah, you need the money. I need you out of my apartment. Win-win.” He winked at Bree. “Come on, drink up.”

  “What kind of job? Where?” She looked at him in horror.

  “You’re going to run the hardware store.”

  “The family business
? Really?” Her calculating gaze turned to Bree.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “I’m not thirsty anymore. Let’s go, sweetheart.” Haley stood up from the table, put on her coat and tangled her arm in Ryan’s.

  “Wish me lots of luck today, babe.” He leaned down and gave Bree a breath-stealing kiss before leaving with the duplicitous woman intent on making her life a living hell.

  Was she worried that Haley really would steal Ryan back? No. But she had forced Bree’s hand. She’d have to tell him about the baby now. And when she did, she had to believe that he’d understand her reasoning for not mentioning it much sooner.

  She had wasted far too many years of her life dwelling on the heartbreaking loss of their baby. Now that things were finally on the right track between her and Ryan, she felt an even stronger compulsion to protect him from the pain she’d lived with for so long. It was a lie by omission and bringing the truth to light could draw them closer together or it could tear them apart for good.

  But he deserved to know what had happened. And if he was unforgivably angry for her having kept it from him, then that was a consequence she’d have to accept. Haley no longer had the power to hurt her. Ryan did.

  • • •

  Pleading a headache, his mother had left the hardware store fifteen minutes after he’d arrived, Haley in tow. Ryan envied her. He pressed his lips together and looked heavenward as Haley cooed over all the cute gadgets, the pink handled tool sets and the flowered gardening boots.

  He left her rearranging the seed packets he’d just spent the morning setting up, by color. Customers would be more attracted to the rainbow spectrum, she’d insisted. Yep, sure. Either they were in there to buy seeds or they weren’t. But it had kept her busy and out of his hair, so whatever made her happy.

  There was a gaping hole where Jonah Goodwin had bought out all the fluorescent light bulbs he’d had on the shelf. Ryan had suggested he head to the nearest Sam’s Club, where it was cheaper to buy in bulk. But Jonah told him their company only bought local. Good guy. Nice policy. Heading into the storage room, Ryan prowled through the endless stacks of boxes looking for more.