by Sara Arden
“You might be right.”
Noah snorted. “I’m always right.”
“Yeah? Really? I think you need to spend more time with Erin. She’ll fix that for you.” Royce laughed.
“Don’t I know it.” He shook his head.
“I should warn you, Grammie, my mom, Sophie, and even Livie all think you and Erin would be a great pair.”
Noah coughed. “Uh, no. I’m not that kind of guy. Erin is a forever kind of girl and I’m a until the next town kind of man.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way.”
“Not everyone grew up like you did.”
He clamped his hand on Noah’s shoulder. “No, I know that few people grew up like I did. But you’re part of the family now. It doesn’t matter what town you’re in, or where you go, you’ll always be part of it. Even when you go to the Nine. You’ll have more family than you know what to do with.”
“I guess Grammie’s fried chicken is the best reason to stay.”
“She’ll make you pay for it.” Royce nodded. “Eventually, she always gets what’s hers. And apparently, seeing the whole fire house married what’s on her agenda.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed. “And I think turn about is fair play, don’t you?”
“Oh no. Grammie has taken down better men than you.” Royce shook his head. “Don’t wake the dragon.”
“Why, what’s she going to do to me? Set me up with a beautiful woman and feed me? That doesn’t sound so bad, honestly.” Noah grinned. “But what about her?”
“You heard her at dinner. She has no interest in widowers with roses and a Viagra prescription.”
Noah snorted. “Maybe not. But what if we set her up with someone who could keep up with her?”
“I am probably going to regret this, but who are you thinking of?”
“LT.”
“You’re shitting me.” Disbelief and incredulity warred for dominance.
“I absolutely shit you not.” Noah leaned in. “He actually might be too old for her. Soul wise, I mean. Grammie is young at heart, but a strong personality.”
“You think he’s grumpy now? Can you just… No. This will go down in flames.”
“I plan on buying him for her at the auction. I bet we could get everyone here at the house to chip in.”
“Grammie might think you’re making fun of her.” He frowned.
“I doubt it.” Noah snorted. “She’d probably put him to work. You can’t deny she needs a night off and maybe a meal she didn’t have to make.”
“Okay, well… if she doesn’t kill us, McCade will.”
“You scared?” he taunted.
“No.” He grinned. “In fact, I’m liking this idea better and better. Even if she is twenty years older.”
“First, Grammie doesn’t look or act twenty years older. Age is just a number, anyway, right?”
Yeah, Grammie would definitely murder him slowly for this, but the idea had merit. She needed someone to take her dancing and keep her young. Especially since her friends were either getting remarried or dying.
Which to Grammie, they were kind of the same thing.
“Okay, let’s start a collection.”
“Wait, wait. I might have outsmarted myself. If we buy McCade for her, who is going to bid on me?”
“My mother, probably.”
“Your father would kill me slowly.”
“I know.” Royce couldn’t help the gleeful smile. “Actually, I bet my mother and Sophie will nag Erin into bidding on you. Not to mention… what was it Erin said to you? Throngs of women?”
Noah smirked. “Well, yeah. There is that. But I really wanted more of Grammie’s fried chicken.”
“Dude, when she finds out that we were behind this stunt, you should be prepared.”
“For what?” Noah looked genuinely upset for a moment.
“You will be cut off. No friend chicken. No pie. No cupcakes. Well, maybe cupcakes, because my mom makes the best cupcakes. She’d still hook you up.”
“Okay, you know, why don’t we rethink this whole thing.”
“What happened to not being scared?”
“There’s not being scared and there’s cutting of my nose to spite my belly.” He rubbed his stomach. “I don’t think I can live without that fried chicken now.”
“Oh really? Guess that means you’re more than a next town kind of guy, then.”
“You think you’re smart,” Noah grumbled.
“Just a little.”
“A smart ass,” he added.
“Yeah, I won’t deny that. I mean, you’ve met my family. You know where I get it.”
An awareness prickled down his back and he turned to see Livie standing there in the doorway. She was smiling.
“What kind of trouble are you two getting into?”
So many things washed over him at the sight of her. How good and right it was for her to be there. How he’d never expected to see her there. What it meant that she’d come.
“Plenty. We’re planning on matching Grammie Rose with McCade,” Noah answered dutifully.
Her eyes lit up. “That is the best thing I’ve heard all week.”
“The best thing?” Royce cocked his head to the side.
“Maybe.” She put her finger to her chin, as if that would help her ponder the question. “Hmm, yes. Definitely.”
“Are you in?” Noah asked her.
She quirked a brow. “Not a chance. I’m not giving up my pie.”
“What did I tell you?” Royce said to Noah. “Everyone knows better.”
“I still think it’s perfect,” Noah said.
“Well, yeah.” Livie nodded. “It’s definitely perfect. Except for the part that interferes with my pie delivery system. Grammie got me hooked.”
“With all of her matchmaking schemes, I’d say she needs a taste of her own medicine.”
She met Royce’s gaze. “I’d say that she maybe knowns what she’s doing,” she said softly. So softly, it was almost a whisper.
“Let’s not tell her that. She’d never let us live it down.” He meant for the tone to be light, playful, but it came out low and raspy.
Noah rolled his eyes. “I see where this is going. You two want kissy time.”
Livie was unfazed. “No, actually I came to steal him away. Then we’re going to have kissy time.”
“I’ve got another twenty-four on, sweetheart. I can’t leave yet, as much as I’d like to.”
“You think? Your dad called me and said you were going out sick and I should come and get you.”
“Oh yeah?” He crossed to her and pulled her into his arms. “What am I sick with? Is it contagious?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I think it must be. I’m feeling feverish.”
“I guess I better get my things, then.”
“Yeah, get out of here.” Bill waved his hand at them. “You’re stinking up the place. Now, Allie is going to want a weekend at Table Rock. Or something. You’re giving people ideas, boy. No one needs that.” But his dad grinned.
“You know you’re taking her to the Bahamas. That’s a bit fancier than a weekend at Table Rock.”
“Pricier too.”
Royce laughed. “Don’t act like you don’t want to go.”
“You’re right. I just need something to complain about, and since I don’t want the Almighty trying to find it for me, I figure I’ll find something with what’s already in stock, if you know what I mean.” He nodded.
“The Bahamas sound nice.” Livie nudged him.
“Do you want to go?” Royce asked. “I’m sure if you agree to a double wedding with Sophie and Hayden, they’ll give us their tickets.” It was meant to be sarcastic, but something sparked in Livie’s eyes before she frowned.
“Really? If all it will take is the tickets, they’re yours! That would make Allie happier than all the damn islands in the Caribbean.”
“You’re just as bad as they are, Bill.” Livie shook her head.
> “Don’t I just know it? If I can keep my mother in law happy and the wife, well there’s not much I wouldn’t do for those two women, I’m not ashamed to say.”
“I guess I should warn you that come auction time Grammie Rose is going to be pretty mad at me.”
“What did you do?” He narrowed his eyes.
“It’s what I’m going to do.”
“Oh lord, boy. What kind of scheme are you into?” Bill looked to Livie. “I swear he gets that from his mother.”
“She says I get it from Grammie.” Royce smiled. Yeah, that wasn’t the worst thing. His grandmother was an amazing woman and to be anything like her, well, he was sure that was a compliment of the highest order.
“I don’t think I can tell you just yet. It’s going to be a surprise.”
“Well, get on with you, son. You should start enjoying the last days of your life.” Bill patted his shoulder.
“Are you ready for our adventure?” Livie asked.
Royce was definitely ready. He’d been ready since he’d first seen the girl across the courtyard with the raven dark hair shining in the sunlight. “Yeah, I have to swing by the house and pick up my bag.”
She put her arm through his. “Hayden and Soph are going to come down tomorrow. I thought we could take a detour.”
“Oh? Where are we going?”
“The Crescent Hotel. I booked us a night in one of their suites. I had a discount code. It’s not far from Table Rock and it’s supposed to be haunted.”
“Are we going to go on a ghost hunt tonight, then?”
“Maybe, if we can drag ourselves away from the couple’s massage.” She leaned against his shoulder. “And don’t say one word about how I shouldn’t spend my money on you.”
She was right. He’d been about to say just that.
“I spent it on something I want. An extra day with you.”
He found when she put it that way, he couldn’t argue. Right now, he could almost say his life was perfect. He was getting everything he ever wanted.
Noah was right, he realized. He did get everything he wanted.
While he was an optimist, he still couldn’t shake that feeling that the other shoe was going to drop like a hydrogen bomb.
Royce supposed like anyone with only moments to live, he should make the most of those breaths left to him and inhale all the joy he could.
Right now, that joy smelled like cinnamon and fit against him as if she belonged only there.
They were going to have an adventure.
11
Livie wasn’t sure what had possessed her, but the more she thought about it after Bill had called her, the more it seemed like a good idea to start their adventure a day early.
She’d had so many ideas, but she’d always wanted to stay at The Crescent and she wanted to do it with Royce.
She’d been so excited about this coming trip that she hadn’t been able to keep her head on anything else. She’d screwed up the vodka order, and she couldn’t care less. The last trip she’d been on had been so long ago and she itched for newness.
Literally, she was ready to jump out of her skin. She’d always had the travel bug, but she’d ignored its bite for so long she’d stopped feeling it. She’d resigned herself to what she’d been stuck with. Until Royce had shown her a tiny doorway out into the world.
Now, she’d give anything to push herself through it, but she didn’t want to go alone.
Livie realized that the whole time she helped him load the truck, she was smiling. She hadn’t had reason to smile like this in so long. She’d forgotten what it felt like.
“If I’d known loading up my truck would make you grin like that, I’d have had you out here doing it every weekend,” Royce teased her.
“It’s more than just stacking crap in the back of your truck.”
“Yeah? Tell me.”
“Why?” She bit her lip, trying to keep from smiling again.
“Because you should always smile that much. If you tell me why you’re smiling, then I can make that my singular goal.”
She’d wondered what it would be like to be loved by a man like him, and now, she was pretty sure knew. He would do anything to make her happy. To make her smile.
It made something blossom inside of her. Her insides felt like a flower unfurling beneath the sun for the first time.
She realized this was why she’d told him no when he’s asked her out in high school.
It had felt like this then, too. It had been too much. Livie hadn’t understood it and the heat from it was intense. Those feelings all new and strange. She could barely cope with it as an adult and as a kid, there was a no way.
“You’re good to me, Royce. Always have been.”
“Good.”
“What do you mean good?” She wrinkled her nose at him. “The proper response is… not that.”
“It means I’m glad you know that this is special treatment.” He kissed the top of her head before opening the door to the truck for her. “When you strive to be a good person, sometimes your actions aren’t seen for what they are.”
“I do see you, Royce.” Finally, she did. She didn’t doubt him. She no longer thought about why a man like him would want a woman like her. They fit. They were right.
That scared the shit out of her.
Although, it didn’t change what it was.
He didn’t smell like cupcakes today. The scent of his aftershave was just as delicious though. It was woodsy, and light.
“I know, no cupcakes today.”
“You still smell really good.” She tucked herself against him.
“You feel really good.”
“So do you. Like nothing has in so long.”
She watched the scenery go by out the window and allowed herself to simply enjoy the moment. To enjoy being next to him, the quiet in her head, and the quiet in the cab of the truck. There was so much unspoken between them, but it didn’t need to be said.
Not now.
Everything was as it should be.
For a second, she let herself think about a life with him. Not just the pretty fantasy, but the reality of being his partner. His wife. Part of his family. For her, it seemed more surreal than winning the lottery. Yet, here they were.
After a time, she spoke again. “Have you been to The Crescent before?”
“Can’t say that I have. What about it intrigues you so?”
“The history, mostly. It’s been in operation since 1886. At the turn of the century, it became a part time conservatory for young women. Then it stopped being a hotel all together and was turned into a hospital run by a con man claiming he could cure cancer. That’s what spawned all the ghost stories. All those poor, restless souls who were swindled.”
“Sounds interesting. Is there a ghost hunt?”
“There is! You know what I love about ghost hunts at these kinds of places? It’s the history that you get a long with them. You don’t mind going, do you?”
“Of course not. It’ll be fun. I’ll get to hold your hand and you can save me from the scary monsters.”
She laughed. “Aren’t you supposed to save me?”
But she liked that he didn’t assume she’d be the one who needed saving.
“Anytime you like.”
“You actually do it all the time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fixing the screen door. Coming in to help me with the inventory. Even the widows and orphans thing. You were right. I was drowning and I was just going to let myself because I was so tired of treading water. But you were always there with whatever I needed. So thank you.”
“Thank you for letting me.”
“That’s weird isn’t it?” She studied his face for a long moment. “How people who need the most help have a hard time accepting it.”
“It’s pretty common. Survival instincts often demand we do things contrary to logic because we perceive the immediate threat instead of the long game.”
For the l
ongest time she’d just been surviving. The long game had been too far away. She’d only been trying to breathe in the moment, not worrying about breathing in the next.
“You look like you just had some kind of epiphany. Care to share?”
She scooted closer to his warmth, the solid wall of him that always seemed to be between her and harm and she breathed.
Livie inhaled as deeply as she ever had, holding it there in her lungs until it hurt, then exhaled slowly. It felt good and right, a simple pleasure that she hadn’t realized she’d been denying herself. She’d been so caught up in the mechanics of surviving, she’d forgotten to acknowledge the victories, the actuality of what to do with her survival.
“Nope,” she finally answered. “But it’s good.”
“As long as it’s good. Let me know if you want to stop for snacks.”
“You know I always want snacks.” She sighed. “And cupcakes.”
“The snacks I can handle. The houseboat has a complete kitchen. We could bake some.”
“Baking is not a thing that I do.”
“Why not? It’s chemistry, and you’re great at chemistry.”
“I… I hadn’t thought of it that way. I remember that stupid quarter of Home Ec that we all had to take freshman year. My bread literally exploded.”
“Like, with fire?”
“There was fire, yes. The class behind me didn’t get their quarter of Home Ec because I ruined the ovens.”
“That was you? Maybe I’ll bake the cupcakes. You can frost them and eat them.”
“No, I feel pretty confident I want to try. You said it was chemistry.” She grinned. “Plus, if I make anything blow up, I have an honest to goodness firefighter to take care of it for me.”
“I’m not sure that I can, I mean, blowing up bread is a skill that’s beyond me,” he teased. “I can’t figure out how you did it.”
“Extra vinegar and too much baking soda.”
He turned to look at her for a moment before directing his eyes back to the road. “That would have to be a lot of damn baking soda.”
“Yeah, I might’ve grabbed the wrong container. I thought it was the flour.”
“Holy shit.” He laughed. “Okay, so we just have to make sure our supplies are clearly labeled.”
