by Meg Maxwell
And, hell, was Marissa ready for someone to step into their lives just like that?
Whatever. He wasn’t asking to stay, anyway. He wasn’t asking to be her children’s father.
“I care about all of you, Marissa. You know that. I wish things could be different.”
Right. If wishes...
She lifted her chin, ignoring the stabbing sensation in her chest. “After the lime rickeys, I think you should go, Autry. Give everyone a hug goodbye and then...go. Tomorrow, just leave. No stopping over, no calls. Tonight is it.”
He sucked in a breath and ran his hand through that sexy dark blond hair. “Marissa—”
“There’s nothing to say, Autry. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for a magical three weeks. But even if you were the small-town type, which you aren’t and never will be, who says I’m ready for a relationship? I wasn’t ready to date when you sauntered into town. I’m still not. There’s just too much to consider and too much on my plate, like my daughters’ lives and hearts. So these weeks were all we’d ever have, anyway.”
For a moment before he walked away, he’d held her gaze, and she wished she were a mind reader. She knew he didn’t love her. Maybe if he did he’d fight for them. But what was there to fight for? He was leaving. Tomorrow.
“Mommy! Mr. Autry is handing out presents!” Kiera called.
She closed her eyes, grateful for the privacy of the foyer. Bracing herself, she forced herself into the backyard. Abby was modeling her new school backpack, her initials embroidered across the pocket in hot pink. Inside were school supplies, everything she needed, which meant he’d actually gone on her school website and looked up the list for the fourth grade. He’d even managed to find a 2LOVEU pencil case.
“Lyle might be leaving 2LOVEU but that doesn’t mean I can’t still love their music,” she said. “And I got to see them before they broke up!”
Kiera had a new backpack, too, her very first, with her initials embroidered in her favorite color, royal blue. Inside was a monkey key ring holder to chain on the outside loop and school supplies for the kindergarten class.
And Kaylee, starting preschool, had brand-new light-up sneakers in her favorite color, purple. She was jumping around the yard, showing them off.
The Raffertys received a voucher for a cruise around the Caribbean islands anytime in the next year. Ralph was still gasping, and Roberta had tears in her eyes.
“You all have given me so much, you have no idea,” Autry said. “I came to Rust Creek Falls a different person. I’m leaving a changed man. Thank you.”
The three Fuller girls fell on him, crying and hugging and laughing.
And then Marissa walked Autry to the door.
“Last but not least,” he said, handing her a small wrapped box.
“I don’t think I should,” she said.
He tilted up her chin with his finger. “Please.”
She took the gift and unwrapped it. It was a light blue box she’d recognize anywhere. She opened the lid. Inside was a heart-shaped locket. She opened the locket and there was a tiny photo of her and her three girls. On the back was engraved: You changed my life. AJ.
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, she told herself.
“Thank you, Autry.”
He took the box and set it on the hall table, then fastened the locket around her neck. Then he took her face in his hands and kissed her. One more time.
One last time.
And then he was gone.
* * *
Passport, check. Boarding pass stored electronically, check. Tablet, phone, Thorpe Corp. folder for the flight, check.
Autry checked and rechecked his carry-on bag in his room at Maverick Manor, anything to avoid thinking about the house he’d left a little while ago. The family he’d said goodbye to.
He wasn’t a small-town guy—that was true. And he’d never be. That was true, too. But he was a Fuller-Rafferty guy. His brothers had found happiness settling down here, so why did the idea of it fill Autry with a sense of dread?
Because it’s not right for you. No matter how much you love Marissa.
He did love her.
And he loved her kids.
But he knew where that led, and maybe that was why he couldn’t imagine settling down here. Maybe it wasn’t so much that he wasn’t a small-town guy as he wasn’t a settling down guy. He wasn’t a family guy. He might have become pretty good at soothing tears and choosing gifts and playing charades, but that didn’t mean the life was for him.
You loved and you got stomped on. That’s what he knew for sure. That had been the case in his life ever since he was a kid. His father had disappointed him time and again. His mother had forgotten his and his brothers’ birthdays several times as they’d grown up. Maybe with five kids that happened.
Autry doubted that. If Marissa had ten kids, she’d know their birthdays.
But then he’d finally let love in and Karinna had taken a bat to his heart. He’d lost her and Lulu. And now he’d let in Marissa and her three girls. Hell, he’d let in her parents. And someday, Marissa would probably realize that he’d been her rebound guy, her entrée to dating, and she’d find the guy she really loved, the guy she was supposed to be with. Not some jet-setter whose life she didn’t understand.
He thought of his father, and how he’d failed to bring Walker Jones the Second closer to Walker the Third and Hudson. He’d had three weeks, and all his attempts to make his father see reason, see love when it was right in front of him in the form of his happy sons, had been fruitless.
He was giving it one more try.
He pulled out his phone and pressed in his dad’s number.
“Ah, good, Autry,” his father said. “Did you convince those brothers of yours to see reason and move home?”
Autry shook his head, literally and figuratively. “With or without their wives?”
“With, of course. Once they see Tulsa, both women will never want to go back to that dot on the map. Is Rust Falls Creek even on the map?”
“Rust Creek Falls, Dad. And doesn’t it mean anything to you to know that Walker and Hudson are happy? Truly happy?”
“Of course. But I don’t see why they can’t be happy in Tulsa.”
“Is that Autry, dear?” he heard his mother say. “Let me talk to him.”
“Autry, honey, I hope you’ll be a better influence on Gideon and Jensen than Walker and Hudson have been on you and your younger brothers. You are leaving for Paris tomorrow, right?”
Autry could only hope his two younger brothers were as lucky as Walker and Hudson some day. “I am leaving tomorrow. But Mom, you and Dad are being unfair to Walker and Hudson—and their wives. They’re happy. Truly happy. I wish you could understand that.”
“We do, dear. It’s difficult to understand how they could be happy in that town, but if they are, they are.”
That was the best he was going to get. Resignation and acceptance. Unbelievable.
“Well, your father and I are off to a fund-raiser. Best to your brothers. Bye, dear.”
He’d tried.
When he thought of the differences between his family and the Fuller-Raffertys, it was almost comical. Polar opposites.
He sat on the edge of his bed and pulled out the antique pocket watch he’d bought in the Rust Creek Falls thrift shop. Twenty bucks and he loved it. The minute he’d seen the old bronze cover with a compass symbol on the front, he’d known he had to have it. And he’d printed out another copy of the photo he’d put in Marissa’s locket and put it on the left side of the pocket watch.
He clicked it open now and there they were. Marissa and her daughters.
The family he was walking away from.
His heart heavy, he closed the watch and put it in his carry-on, then went ou
t to say a final goodbye to the town, the general store and the doughnut shop and the Ace in the Hole. He wanted to stop by all the places he’d visited while in town. And then tomorrow night, he’d be on a plane, headed toward the future.
For a moment he let himself imagine staying here. Moving here. Shipping the contents of his office to the Jones Holdings, Inc. in Rust Creek Falls. He and Walker would probably order in from the Ace all the time. He smiled at the thought.
Except he didn’t want to move to Rust Creek Falls. He didn’t want to work out of this town. He wanted to go to Paris. He’d be there for at least a year.
And all he’d have to remind him of Marissa? Her picture in a pocket watch.
He’d said goodbye. She’d said goodbye. And reminded him that she wasn’t up for a relationship, anyway. Not a real one. Three weeks when she knew he was leaving—that was one thing for a widow with a lot on her plate and three young lives to manage. A real, in-person, constant relationship with a man was something else. She hadn’t been planning on that.
So that was that.
His heart breaking, Autry headed out to say goodbye to this town that had slipped inside his heart when he wasn’t looking.
Chapter Sixteen
Autry woke up at the crack of dawn. The sun was just peeking over the horizon. He’d barely slept, his hand wrapped around his phone, the need to call Marissa and hear her voice so strong it took everything in him not to press in her number. Last night, when he’d walked around Rust Creek Falls, saying his mental goodbye to this special town, everything had reminded him of her and the girls. He’d been about to swing by the Ace in the Hole and have a draft when a pang hit him so hard he’d avoided Sawmill Street entirely. He would never forget looking around the crowded bar and the entire world falling away except for that brunette beauty’s lovely face, the twinkle in her dark eyes, the way her silky brown hair fell over her shoulders. A single mother in a T-shirt and shorts, though of course he hadn’t known she was a single mother then.
I didn’t know you were a single mother... I wouldn’t have approached you...
He remembered the look on her face when he’d said those cruel words. At the time he’d thought the truth was all that mattered, and, yeah, the truth always mattered. But he didn’t have to say that. You couldn’t fix some things to make other things work, but nothing would change the fact that Marissa Fuller was a single mom.
Except if you married her, he could hear his brother Hudson saying as a joke, with a Groucho Marx wiggle of his eyebrows.
A new truth? Autry could see himself married to Marissa. He could see himself as a father to her daughters, the three girls he’d come to love despite all his trying not to. He smiled, thinking about how easy it was for the Fuller family to get inside his heart. Just by existing. By being themselves.
But then there was another truth—that Marissa lived here in Rust Creek Falls and he was about to leave for Paris for a year. He was going to Paris; there was no getting around that, and he didn’t want to get around it. This trip was important to him, to the family business. And Marissa and her daughters were important. But they lived here.
Problem.
Autry pulled a fluffy down pillow over his head and groaned. He chucked the pillow aside and got out of bed and took a hot shower. Under the spray of the water he realized that maybe he should go say goodbye to the Ace in the Hole. Maybe doing so would give him some closure. He’d see the place where it had all started, acknowledge it and accept that this was just how it was, and then he’d board his corporate jet for France.
It was barely six o’clock in the morning and the Ace wasn’t open, but he figured he could just peer in the windows. Except as he approached, there was a light on inside, a dim light over by the pool table. A sign on the door said the bar’s hours were noon to 1:30 a.m., so the place definitely wasn’t open. But he could see two people inside, talking and hugging and sipping something from mugs. Maybe they wouldn’t mind if he came in and just took one last look around?
He tried the door and it opened. The couple, a man and a woman, started, clearly not expecting anyone to be coming into the bar at 6:00 a.m.
“Sorry to barge in on your—” he began to say, then froze.
Whoa. He was pretty darn sure that Brenna O’Reilly and Travis Dalton, of The Great Roundup fame, stood not two feet in front of him. He’d seen them around town over the past few weeks but hadn’t had an opportunity to meet either of them since both were always surrounded by friends and family and fans. Brenna’s long red hair was up in a bun or something and hidden under a hot-pink cowboy hat, and Travis wore his dark brown Stetson low over his forehead, but the dark hair, bright blue eyes and confident expression was unmistakable. He had no idea why they were here at the crack of dawn but that was none of his business.
“—private something or other,” Autry finished. “I just wanted to take a look around for old times’ sake.”
“Old times’ sake?” Travis said. “Look, I’d know a Jones brother anywhere, and you are definitely a Jones. You have the face and the four-hundred-dollar shoes. But how could there be an old times’ sake for you here in Rust Creek Falls? Aren’t you from Oklahoma?”
He laughed and extended his right hand. “Autry Jones. I’ve been here for a few weeks visiting Hudson and Walker. And I met someone here, someone pretty special.”
“Ah. Love. Got me, too,” Travis said, grabbing Brenna around the waist and pulling her close.
“Yup, a Jones, all right,” Brenna said, studying him as she shimmied out of Travis’s hold. “I’m Brenna Dal—O’Reilly,” she added fast. “And this is my—this is my fiancé, Travis Dalton.”
“The two of you need no introductions,” Autry said. “I’ve now seen three episodes of The Great Roundup. Great job on that button-sewing challenge, Brenna.”
Brenna beamed. “Thanks. So this special person you met here. Why isn’t she with you?”
Autry sighed. “I’m leaving the country on business today. For a year. And Marissa lives here.”
“Marissa? Marissa Fuller?” Brenna asked. “We went to high school together—well, I was a year behind her. I always looked up to Marissa. She knew what she wanted and nothing stood in her way, you know? She had a life plan. I was more a wild child—until this guy made it easy to settle down. Okay, fine, I’ve loved Travis Dalton since I was a kid.”
A life plan. Marissa’s life plan had gotten a left hook to it. That was how it was, though. Who was it who said that life happened when you were making other plans?
Autry smiled. “You two are lucky.”
“You could be, too, man,” Travis said. “If you want this woman, go get her. That’s all there is to it. If you can walk away, then do that. That’s how you’ll know. You’re either going to break down her door—though I wouldn’t recommend that, since I know Marissa and her kids live with her parents, and you don’t mess with Roberta Rafferty—or you’re going to catch a plane to wherever. So which is it gonna be? You don’t have to answer that now.”
Good, because Autry didn’t have an answer.
“I’m sorry I barged in,” he said. “Looks like you two are having a little private remembrance of your own.”
“No problem,” Travis said. “We sneaked in for some time alone in one of our favorite places. Since the show’s aired, we get mobbed. If we want to make out and slow dance, we have to do it at 6:00 a.m. in a closed bar.”
Brenna laughed. “I like all the attention, though. Filming on location was exciting, but there’s no place like home, and Rust Creek Falls is home. I used to think I couldn’t wait to leave this small town, but I was sure wrong.”
“Thanks to me,” Travis said, swooping her into his arms. “You would never have left town or Bee’s Beauty Salon with me still here, and you know it.”
“Darn tooting I wouldn’t have,” Brenn
a said, winking. “And now you’re mine.”
They started making out, so that was Autry’s cue to leave. He took one last look around, his gaze stopping on the table where Marissa had sat with her friend Anne. His heart had stopped in that moment he’d first seen Marissa. And restarted—without him realizing just how restarted it was.
You’re either going to break down her door...or you’re going to catch a plane...
The problem was, he wanted to do both.
* * *
Marissa glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was 6:20 a.m. and she hadn’t slept a wink. She’d tossed and turned, Autry Jones’s face flashing in her mind all night long like a blinking neon sign. She’d heard his voice, seen him hugging her girls, talking for hours with her dad about stocks and fishing. And then she remembered their night in Seattle in his hotel room, where they’d finally made love.
Would that be enough? One amazing night with Autry to remember him by?
It wasn’t like she had a choice. She had to let him go.
She reached into the bookshelf below her bedside table and pulled out one of the photo albums she kept there. Sometimes, when the girls couldn’t sleep and would come tearfully into her room, talking about monsters and bad dreams and sore gums, she’d lie with one or two or all three Fuller girls and pull out the album and show them pictures of themselves as babies, their father holding them. And they’d quiet down like magic, loving to look at their dad and see what they couldn’t remember. Abby could, of course; she’d been seven when they lost Mike Fuller, and one of the last things he did was teach her to ride a two-wheeler. Marissa had photographic evidence of her wipeouts, of Mike holding the back of the bike as she pedaled along, of Abby soaring down the sidewalk, Mike pumping his fist in the air. Abby loved that photo.
On the first page of the album were pictures from high school, Marissa and Mike holding hands, kissing under the bleachers on the baseball field. And of prom night, when Abby was conceived. Then there were the wedding pictures, the reception in the Raffertys’ backyard and the tiny first house they’d rented in town, new parents at eighteen.
