by Tl Reeve
He didn’t even have her phone number or e-mail address.
“Maybe the town wanted you to leave.” Lyle shook his head.
Perry pointed at him. “Don’t think I didn’t think that.” The vision of Eden watching him leave had replayed in his mind the entire ride back to the city. Right as he’d gotten to the edge of the tiny town, he’d looked back to find the Hanukkah candles glowing in the window. The same lights that had lured him had sent him on his way. “But I know why I’m here, why the town let me go.”
“I can hardly wait to hear this.” Lyle looked up at the ceiling and yawned.
“To make good with you.” Perry showed his partner all his cards.
Lyle raised an eyebrow.
“May I have a glass of water?” Did he dare tell Lyle the water in Eden was second to none?
“No.” Lyle’s voice fell flat.
At least the man was honest, something Perry needed to model. “I did wrong by you. I promised, and I didn’t deliver. I sold sizzle and no steak.”
“So where’s my steak?” Lyle leaned forward.
“I thought I had it.” He looked down at the tabletop, but he could see the town, see Eden, feel the family he had there. “I found this little oasis, and I thought we could do an Untethered Concert there. Have the bands perform unplugged, bring business and fame to that little speck in the desert.”
“Untethered,” Lyle repeated. “A concert without being tied to technology.”
“Exactly.” With Eden telling him to leave, the vision had vanished.
“Wouldn’t a concert designed to be untethered by virtue of the publicity and such bring a tether to the town?” Lyle asked.
His world stopped, skidded to a halt. “Isn’t that the point?”
“Not if they don’t want to be tethered.”
Perry stared out at the empty club. “That’s what Eden meant. She didn’t want the town to change.” But wasn’t life about change? Maybe, maybe not. During those few days in Eden, a strange calm had encompassed him. The pressure of being hooked up 24/7 didn’t exist, and there was something soothing about knowing what the day brought.
“I think the idea of an untethered concert is amazing though,” Lyle offered.
“It’s yours. At least I can give you that.” He held his hand out to his one-time business partner.
Lyle shook his hand. “What’s next?”
He shrugged. “I promised I would return to Eden by New Year’s.”
“So you are going back?” his partner asked.
“No. I’m not going back.” He stood and glanced down at his brand-new cell phone with plenty of reception bars to weigh him down. “It will be the last promise I break.” Yes, he would go back to spinning records and looking out into the crowd searching for that one person in the crowd and knowing she would never be there.
Off in the distance, Eden spied a little white dot, a vehicle coming down the road.
Her heart seized, but she found the strength to step outside and pull her hair out of her ponytail. Perry was back.
For the last two weeks, she had waited. Well, not as much waited as gloating on the outside that she was right he wouldn’t return, and then crying on the inside. The torment was horrible. At one point she even gave in and drove to a cell site to see if he tried to call, then remembered she’d never given him the number.
They made it through the end of Hanukkah and seemed extra busy the week of Christmas leading up to New Year’s, as if the town knew she needed to stay distracted. Yet now, a day earlier than Perry said he would return, he was here.
She hated the relief and excitement that encompassed her and didn’t know if she should go back inside the garage as if she didn’t care, or run toward the vehicle like one of his groupies.
Who cared? He was back. That said everything she needed to know, and she decided she would turn into a groupie and jogged down the street.
No sooner did she reach the corner of the boarding house than she stopped.
The white car wasn’t some fancy Ferrari. Yes, she’d looked in the glove compartment and found the papers. Instead the vehicle was simply a deceitful mid-sized sedan.
As she prepared to pump gas, give directions, or fix something, the town took a small amount of pity on her when the car passed her and parked in front of the diner.
She glanced down at the ground, sure she would find where her heart had fallen, then turned around. Rather than return to the garage, she entered the boarding house, grabbed a magazine off the side table, and slumped down on the couch in the sitting room.
Without even looking at what she’d chosen, she flipped the magazine open. Images of people in plaid polyester suits, bell-bottom jeans, and bizarre hairstyles met her. “Ah!” She jumped up and tossed the magazine to the floor.
“What’s wrong?” Her mother ran out of the kitchen and over to her. “Are you all right?”
Still catching her breath, Eden pointed down at the magazine as if it were a large cockroach. “That is over forty years old.” They were stuck in some time warp. No wonder no one stayed there. This situation wasn’t normal.
“Oh yes.” Her mother picked the magazine up. “I put out all the magazines from January that have been saved through the years, I thought it would be fun for any guests we get for the New Year.”
She faced her mother. Took in the woman who’d grown up in a city, gone to the university, held a job, and given up all those things. “What made you stay here?”
Her mother glanced down at the magazine, then put it aside. “Simple. I fell in love.”
“Is it really that simple?” Once more Eden returned to the couch. Back when her parents had gotten married, back when that magazine had been printed maybe the small-town life cut off from everything didn’t matter as much.
“Nothing in life is ever simple.” Her mother sat next to her. “You know back when your great-grandfather was alive, God rest his soul, he thought everything was as simple as putting Eden on the map. He worked his whole life to try to make it happen.”
“Maybe something simple is better,” Eden whispered. “Maybe we don’t need to be on any map.”
“Maybe we do,” her mother said. “Maybe not. Maybe things need an update every so often.” She handed the magazine back to Eden. “Sometimes it’s fun to look back, but you should always be looking forward as well.”
Eden traced the magazine cover with her fingertip.
“The future is always scary because no one knows.” Her mother took her hand. “He’s coming back.”
Eden shook her head and suddenly tears she didn’t know she had clouded her eyes. “Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve.”
“That’s tomorrow.” Her mother hugged her. “Not today.”
Her mother didn’t understand. What would possibly keep Perry that he couldn’t come back? “It’s not like he’s rushing ’cause he couldn’t live without me.”
“You know, I have a hard time believing that somehow, just by the twist of fate, he ended up here for eight days on a repair that should have taken one.” Her mother repeated what they already knew.
Eden shrugged.
“Some would say the town wanted him here. Some would say it was a Hanukkah miracle,” her mother continued.
“What would you say it was?” Eden asked.
Her mother tilted her head. “I think it is whatever you want it to be. It is as simple as that.”
Eden stood and dropped the magazine on the coffee table. “Maybe it wasn’t anything.” At the end of the day perhaps it was just that simple. Somehow she always knew he wouldn’t keep his promise.
10
New Year’s Eve
A club had a few nights that were absolute breadwinners. One was Halloween and the other was New Year’s Eve. Only the best and most sought-after DJs spun on those evenings, as they would bring the most people through the doors.
Tonight, on New Year’s Eve, Perry had secured a prime spot, courtesy of Lyle. However, his name still held some
merit, and even at six p.m., his reputation had begun to pack the house. Right then, he spun some simple tunes, just to warm up the crowd, but later the tunes would be hard, pounding, and electric.
He pressed his headphone to his ear, blended one song into the other, then stepped back. No, he didn’t need to look out at the crowd, as there was no way she would be there, and, worse yet, he had broken his promise to her.
Not that it mattered. She didn’t believe in him, and that alone made all his promises null and void. He’d spent the week lining up some work and finding he was stepping back from the cell phone and technology more and more. The only issue was he didn’t have his girl to share it with.
However, out in the darkness, among nameless, faceless people, there was one bright light in the form of Lyle.
At least he’d managed to preserve his friendship.
Now, as he scanned the sea of people, he spied Lyle flanked by Dirk and Donald.
Lyle waved, and the three men joined Perry behind the turntables.
“Hey.” Lyle shook his hand.
Perry patted his friend and then nodded at the two men. The last time he’d seen them in Vegas, he’d been a complete moron. “Hey.”
“I was just telling the guys about our Untethered Concert.” Lyle corralled them away from the electronics.
“Your Untethered Concert,” Perry corrected and lifted his chin at the two men he’d tried to give a snow job to only a little over two weeks ago. “You can trust Lyle. He will do a good job. Sorry about the runaround.”
“I told you.” Lyle elbowed Dirk. “He changed.”
Donald stepped forward. “We like the idea of Untethered. It will show off the band’s natural talent. We will front it for you.”
“As I said, this is something to discuss with Lyle.” Perry returned to the turntables and seamlessly changed the song.
“We will only do it if we have our duo back.” Dirk elbowed him, then reached in his back pocket and pulled out his phone. “We want to do it in that magical town Lyle told us about. It’s not even on the map. It’s perfect.” As if to prove his point, Dirk showed him the screen.
Yes, he knew Eden wasn’t on the normal map. If one searched for on the Internet, it could be found, but it was only a simple paragraph that described the area as a quick rest stop on the way to the city. No one would really understand the place unless they went there and fell in love with the land and a resident.
Fine, he’d fallen in love. This too shall pass, just like everything else.
“No.” He pushed Dirk’s hand aside. “Not in Eden. I don’t want to ruin it.” That was why he had to stay away.
“The way Lyle described it, an event like this would really help the town.” Dirk continued to shove the phone in his face. “He said the town would want it.”
Perry pulled off his headphones and went to leave. He didn’t need anyone making light of his time in Eden. It was magic, the town, the people. He could never go back—he didn’t belong. Worse, the town had let him leave. “Screw you guys.”
“Dude.” Lyle caught him. “We’re not making light of it. We think it’s brilliant.”
Perry stopped and spun toward the men. “What if I told you it couldn’t be in Eden? What if I told you that I’ll find an amazing location, but it wouldn’t be what you wanted?”
“Then we would thank you for being honest,” Doug said. “All we would ask is that you keep your promises and be real. Then we could believe in you.”
At the man’s words, Perry clenched his jaw. He couldn’t do anything if he couldn’t see Eden. The image of the clock striking midnight and him not being there was like a punch in the gut. Was she waiting for him, or would she be cheering and blowing a horn when he didn’t arrive? He could already hear her telling her family she knew he would be a no-show.
Lyle came up to his side. “You need to keep your promises. All of them, especially one.”
If he were to ever work on the Untethered Concert, even if it wasn’t in Eden, he had to keep his promise, at least show her what he could do. “Lyle.” His blood sped. Just the thought of seeing Eden made him feel exhilarated, alive.
“Go.” Lyle took the headphones. “Go there, and then we will figure out the business.”
He grabbed his friend by the shoulders. “Do you have a telegraph?”
“No, you need to just go.” Lyle pushed him.
“What if—” He cut himself off. There were too many variables.
“What if the town wants you there?” Lyle pointed for him to leave.
If nothing else, he had to keep his promise. Tell her he loved her and that the concert could be anywhere.
In essence, he had to give her a reason to believe in him. Of course he had less than six hours to make a seven-and-a-half-hour drive. Let’s see how the town handles that.
Only because Eden’s entire family was crowded in the boarding house to count down to New Year’s Eve did the place look full. In truth, they hadn’t seen anyone all day.
Eden went to the window, crossed her arms, and gazed out at the town.
Everything was dark except for the one lone sign for the garage.
“This is the first New Year’s Eve that we haven’t had any business.” Her father joined her. “Strange.”
“Maybe the town wanted us to be alone.” She pressed her lips together and swallowed. Never would she admit that somehow she thought Perry would magically appear. A quick glance at the time told her unless he arrived in the next five minutes, he had broken his promise.
“Maybe the town is giving you a glimpse of what life will look like if we stay stagnant.” Her father put his arm around her.
She faced her father. Since Perry had left, aside from missing the man she had somehow fallen in love with, she had thought about what the Untethered Concert could do for her town. “The town would change,” she said, mostly to herself.
“Your great-grandfather loved change,” her father said. “That’s why he started Eden, to try something different, see something grow.”
“But all these years, nothing has happened.” She searched her father’s eyes for answers.
A soothing smile took over her father’s face. “Perhaps we weren’t ready.”
She didn’t know if she was ready. All she knew was if she didn’t go to the city, confront Perry, and at least open her mind about the concert, she would never be able to live with herself.
Her mother rushed over. “We are just beginning the countdown to New Year’s. One more minute.”
One more minute. Her mother’s words echoed in her ears. One more minute to another year that would be exactly like the year before, if she didn’t do something. Was that what the town wanted? What about her? “Maybe the town is telling me to give up.” No sooner had the words left her mouth than a pair of headlights sparkled in the corner of her eye.
Her father pointed outside. “Or perhaps it is telling you exactly what it wants.”
Her heart filled. Could it be?
The headlights dimmed.
Before she had a chance to get to the door, it flung open, and a glorious, disheveled Perry fell inside. “What time is it?” He scrambled to his feet.
“Thirty seconds to midnight!” Her mother screeched.
Gasping for air, he went right for her and took her by the shoulders. “I made it, I made my promise. I’m here, and I don’t care about Wi-Fi or Internet or anything as long as I can be with you.”
He was here. She took his face in her hands and pulled him down for a kiss. “It’s time for a change. We need to have the concert and need to make my great-grandfather’s dream come true.”
They stared into each other’s eyes.
“What are you saying?” He pulled her in closer.
“That I believe in you.”
He joined their lips in a kiss, and her whole family applauded.
“The town wants us to be together,” he whispered into her ear.
“Do you promise?” She held him tight
.
Once more he kissed her. “I promise.”
About the Author
Kim Carmichael began writing nine years ago when her love of happy endings inspired her to create her own.
* * *
A Southern California native, Kim's contemporary romance combines Hollywood magic with pop culture to create quirky characters set against some of most unique and colorful settings in the world.
With a weakness for designer purses, bad boys and techno geeks, Kim married her own computer whiz after he proved he could keep her all her gadgets running and finally admitted handbags were an investment.
A multi-published author, Kim is a PAN member of the Romance Writers of America, as well as some small specialty chapters.
When not writing, she can usually be found slathered in sunscreen trolling Los Angeles and helping top doctors build their practices.
* * *
Find Kim on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimcarmichaelnovels
Twitter: @kimcarmichael4
Website: kimcarmichaelnovels.com
Tarnished Knight
K. Williams
1
Maia
“Your tarnished knight is waiting for you,” Emma smirks, flipping her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. Miranda stands beside her, giggling, covering her mouth with her hand.
I roll my eyes.
“Don’t worry about them, sweetie, they’re just jealous. Are you sure you don’t want to go out with us and have a drink tonight?” Tina places her hand on my shoulder.
