by C. A. Harms
“Love the enthusiasm.” I looked back to Jessie finding her smiling at Anna before turning her attention to me. “And you?”
“Caramel macchiato.” Granted my order was a little less enthusiastic but definitely desired. I’d been practically salivating since we walked in and I smelled the scents engulfing me.
We paid, and then moved off to the side to await our order. It didn’t take long before Anna was in full-fledged gossip mode. Whispering about this person and that person, who married who, who had a one-night stand, and who got left at the altar. Secrets of alleged affairs, and so much more, it was a bit overwhelming.
I was so wrapped up in her whispering and trying to focus and keep up I’d missed the newest customer who entered the coffee shop. Suddenly I was lifted off my feet, spun around in a circle and the surprised squeal that ripped from me could have woken the dead.
“Well, if it isn’t little Miss City Girl.” I knew that voice. Once my feet were safely planted back on the floor, I turned to face none other than Levi James. He was no longer the scrawny boy from high school, definitely a man now. Tall, built from all the manual labor on his ranch, and confidence rolling off of him in waves. Just another person I’d missed desperately.
“Decided to return home finally?” He smiled, already knowing a little more detail about my city life than most. Levi had always been like a big brother to me, nothing more. We didn’t look at one another any other way. Over the years I was trying to tackle LA, he was my sounding board. He’d heard in great detail of all my failures and yes, even some of my accomplishments. Though I felt like those were few and far between. But talking on the phone or video chat was nothing like the real thing.
“I knew you missed me, so I felt like I’d better come back, for your sake.”
Grinning wide, that familiar gleam in his eyes, some things hadn’t changed. Most of the girls in town thought of him as dreamy and charming, they giggle in his presence and do about anything to gain his attention. But to me he’d always be the boy I wasn’t afraid to show my true self in front of.
We chatted and teased one another until Jessie called out Anna and my name. After saying a quick goodbye to Levi with the promise of getting together very soon, we slipped out of the shop and immediately I regretted it.
Wishing I’d stayed a little longer, maybe around a few other people to chat with, but my good day had gone to shit real fast.
My drink was smashed between my chest and that of another. An unforgiving, strong, masculine chest that belonged to someone much taller than me. The whipped cream, and drizzled caramel that I’d been dreaming about from the very second Anna mentioned it to me was no longer drinkable. The sweater I wore was adhered to my chest by the sticky substance and I almost cried at its loss.
“Shit,” the mumbling of a man and then Anna’s giggle pulled my attention away from my shirt and I looked up. My heart feeling as though it seized in my chest, and the easy breathing became much more difficult.
My cup fell from my hand and the remaining contents sloshing from the cup and landing on both my shoes and those of the biggest asshole of my adolescent life.
Wyatt Murphy, wearing a cop uniform and a sympathetic look that only managed to infuriate me more.
Chapter Three
Wyatt
* * *
“I’m so sorry.” I bent down and grabbed the cup, then gently grabbed the woman’s hand and pulled her off to the side. “I was too busy looking at my phone.” She appeared flustered and I couldn’t blame her. I’d just plowed into her and what drink she did have, she was now wearing.
“Let me get you a new one,” I offered, like that would help, but I was at a loss. She seemed familiar, though I couldn’t place her. Something about her was like a blast from the past, only I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, and tried to walk around me only I sidestepped to block her path. She was beautiful in the sweet innocent kind of way.
“Really you gotta let me do something—,”
“I think you’ve already done enough.” I noticed the way her nostrils flared as she looked up at me. I knew her, in that instant I knew I did. But there was something about her I couldn’t quite pinpoint. “Anna.” She motioned to the person at her side and that was the moment I realize exactly who this beauty was.
Sadie Michaels, the girl I’d stood up my senior year. The girl I’d thought of often only I’d pictured her as the girl with glasses, a sweet smile and a wild array of curly hair. The same girl I wished I’d gone out with instead of going two towns over to hook up with some cheerleader who later ended up as a fiancé. The same fiancé that couldn’t keep herself out of another man’s bed.
“Real smooth, Wyatt.” Anna, my best friend’s wife shoved my shoulder and I stumbled, still completed lost in the memories of my youth. I was a dumb kid, with a one tracked mind and shit friends that I’d allowed to lead my decisions. “You don’t just owe her a caramel macchiato, you owe her a hell of a lot more.”
“He doesn’t owe me a thing.” Again, the hatred she obviously held for me was written all over her face. Narrowed eyes, her lips pressed tightly together as if trying her best to avoid saying what she truly felt. Her nostrils flared, and that alone was enough to indicate she wanted to be anywhere else but standing in front of me.
Before I had the chance to say anything more Sadie walked off and left me staring after her.
“Bet you’re wishing that you didn’t pull a dick move by leaving her waiting on her front porch for you while you ran after a bimbo in a skirt. She’s hot, and you missed out. Karlie was your karma, I’ve told you that for years.” Anna flipped her long dark hair, the reflection of purple catching the light just right. Beau had managed to land the sassiest girl in town, and she kept him on his toes. Daily, she hassled him, and he’d fallen in line. He was a sucker for Anna, had always been and always would be. Hell, she kept everyone on their toes.
“Still pissing off the ladies I see.” Levi walked out of Java Jitters holding a cup of coffee in his hand. Lifting it to his lips he took a swallow, hiding his smirk behind his cup. I knew he was close with Sadie, they were always together years back. I used to think there was something between them, but now I know they’ve never been more than friends.
“You think you can—”
Holding up his hand he shook his head, “Let me stop ya right there. In no way am I sticking my neck out for you. That mess is all yours to clean up. The one today and the one you made years ago.”
Levi, just as the ladies had, walked off and left me standing in a puddle of sticky goo and no resolution to the problem I’d now had on my hands.
Sadie Michaels was back, and she was one hell of a woman. Built perfectly in all the right places, and those eyes, damn her eyes were intense. They were almost emerald in contrast to her dark hair. She’d always had amazing eyes. It was one of the first things I’d noticed about her, even in high school.
Looking across the table in Biology, seeing her looking back at me like I was a God, it fed my ego. I loved the way she looked at me, but all my friends, the assholes who thought they ruled the world thought Sadie was beneath us. Problem was, I let an image I was trying to convey become the most important thing to me.
I hadn’t thought of those years in so long. Chalking up the choices I’d made as nothing more than a lost cause, I couldn’t do anything about now.
One wrong move and I ended up with a girl who at the time I thought was the perfect key to the image I was striving for. A football star with a hot cheerleader on at my side.
The same hot cheerleader became one of the ugliest people I’ve ever had in my life. After I blew my knee out the final game of my senior year, the dreams going pro were no longer a reality. Karlie stuck around which surprised me. But I was still blinded by the girl. She showed me all the attention I was in need of, carried herself with a pride at the time I actually respected.
What a joke!
Too many ye
ars later I found out what I thought we’d had wasn’t even close to the reality. She’d tell me what I needed to hear, but she was telling those same things to another guy when I wasn’t around.
I was the fool.
Attempting to roll over in bed, I’m met with the resistance that is Gus. A year ago, shortly after the disaster that was Karlie, I adopted Gus. At the time he was a pup, looking up at me from a small pen with those big puppy eyes of his. He looked exactly how I felt, sad.
I couldn’t walk away and leave him there. I felt like he was meant to be mine.
We bonded in that interaction, and the decision was made. Gus was going home with me.
Now a year later, I had a one-hundred-and-thirty-nine-pound St. Bernard and felt like my home was more his than mine. I’ve tried to keep him off my bed, off my furniture, but Gus was determined to act like a human. What was good for me he felt was good for him too.
Stubborn and adventurous, he had no problem wandering off sometimes ending up over on the neighboring land that belong to a good friend Grady Jackson. I think Grady’s little girl loved finding Gus pawing at their back door on weekends. It was like he’d made a friend and was going over to play.
The problem with him sharing my bed with me was he was a bed hog. I’d never seen a dog sprawl out the way he did. Whether on his back or stomach he took up every inch he could and that meant most of the time that left me with very little room to move.
“Bone,” I said, and within seconds he was up off the bed, pouncing around barking as if to say, come on now, don’t tease me. It was the fastest way to get him moving. Peanut butter bones, or his toy monkey with roped arms and legs, those were his favorites. Toss either of those two around, and he was moving without hesitation.
My bare feet padded against the hardwood floor as I walked down the hallway to the kitchen. Everything in my house still smelled new. I bought the land that only had a small one bedroom home on it. The place was in desperate need of some TLC, but I lived in it, while my cabin was being built. I’d work any shift I could at the station, and on the side, I’d created quite a name for myself. Quickly I’d become what is now known around Mason Creek as the handyman. You name it, I’ve done it. It was a great way to gain the extra cash I needed to finish my home.
Four months, that’s how long it’s been since I moved into the place I knew I’d call my forever home. It had everything I could ever want.
The day after I moved into the cabin, I started redoing the small one bedroom cottage. Now after the last shutter had been hung and the porch swing was mounted, it was ready to rent. Just another source of income that would pay off the debt of adding every amenity into my massive home.
I’ve tried to talk my mother into moving in, I’d have her close and she could live there for free. But she was stubborn, she wouldn’t leave the house her and my father shared. It held a lifetime of memories and after he’d passed it was all she had left of him. That, and her boys, the spitting image of the man she’d spent her life loving.
My brother was there with her now, yet he was a mess. Even at twenty-two you’d swear Will was a hormone driven fifteen-year-old boy. He thought with his dick, and it got him into a heap of trouble almost daily.
I wasn’t sure he’d ever truly grow up.
Chapter Four
Sadie
* * *
“Are you comfortable?” I could already tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t.
“Yeah,” my mother mumbled, followed by a wince when she tried to shift her weight.
Arching my brow, I stared at her and she smiled.
“You’ve never been a good liar.”
“Because I’m too pure of heart.”
“You’re rotten,” I said, leaning forward I kissed my mother’s cheek and tried once more to readjust the pillow at her side. “I wish there was something I could do for you though.”
“You being here is helping,” she replied, placing her hand on my arm. I paused and let out a slow frustrated breath. I hated seeing my mother in this state. She had always been so active. Always determined, which was exactly how she ended up with a broken hip in the first place. Instead of asking for help getting some large boxes of vases off a top shelf she tried doing it herself.
Needless to say, the vases did not survive, and her hip may take six months to a year to fully recover. She could move, but very little. She was miserable which was killing me. I wished more than anything I could take her pain away.
“You need to stop worrying about me.”
Like that was going to happen.
“Miley will be opening the shop soon and you need to be there, not here.” I hated leaving her. “I trust her, but she is still new and I know you’ve been away, but if there is anyone who can run the shop in my absence, it's you. Blossom’s is my baby.” Her smile widened. “Well, it's my other baby and I’d be better knowing you’re there keeping everything moving smoothly.”
I began to argue but of course, my stubborn and strong-willed mother lifted up her hand and I immediately pressed my lips tightly together.
"Besides Granny Char will be here soon and you know with her there won't be many ways I can hurt myself. I'd be surprised if she allowed me to go to the restroom alone." Her statement couldn't be closer to the truth. Gran was more overbearing and more of a control freak than my father. The apple didn't fall far from the tree there. God love her but she was without a doubt one very difficult lady to handle. If you planned on having things your way, well you better just throw that ridiculous idea right out the window if Gran was nearby. That woman ran the show, always had, always would and she would have it no other way. And you’d be a fool to challenge her.
"You do know if you are still here when she gets here, you'll be forced to tell her detail for detail about the last five years of your life. Then you'll spend the following two to three hours listening to all the ways you could have done better."
The idea of rehashing my life made me cringe. "Okay, I'll go but if you need anything, you better call me."
"I will," she insisted, yet I knew it was simply a way to get me moving out the door. I came from a long line of independent, stubborn as hell women.
During the ride back to town I couldn't help my mind from wandering back to the interaction I had with Wyatt. Saying I hated him would be a little harsh, but the annoyance from many years ago was still there. We were young, I would give him that, but it was what happened after he stood me up that lingered in my mind.
I was humiliated, and not just once.
All my friends immediately wanted to know how the date with the hot football player went. They were so giddy and curious and then it all blew up. Wyatt pulled up in his lifted truck and out climbed a blonde, wearing a short skirt, and tight shirt. I said nothing as all my friends watched with eyes wide and their mouths hanging open in shock. When Wyatt grabbed the girl around the waist and pulled her to his front she lifted up and kissed him for everyone to see, I shrunk back and became even more invisible.
He was just like all the other guys, self-absorbed and arrogant.
From that point on, I kept my head down and counted down the days to when I could leave behind all the small-minded men of Mason Creek.
* * *
I was back home and being forced to remember all of those embarrassing times I’d hoped I’d never have to revisit.
I wondered how happy he and his little cheerleader were now. Were they married, living in a happy home, did they have kids?
I shook the thoughts from my mind, I didn't want to care. I couldn't.
I pulled into the empty parking space behind the flower shop, thankful for my tiny car, but already knowing it would be pointless once the snow comes. Grabbing my bag, I climbed out and walked toward the back entrance.
The lights inside were already on and I could hear the faint sound of soft music playing.
As I emerged from the back, I stepped out into the main lobby and felt instant joy. My mother was amazing,
she'd always had a knack for taking something plain and making it beautiful. The designs, by using an assortment of flowers, placed in the perfect vase were mesmerizing. Throw on some glitter and ribbon and you've got a masterpiece.
"Hello," I jumped at the sound of a soft-spoken voice, just before a petite girl stepped out from behind the countertop. She looked like she was twelve, so tiny and sweet looking. Her long golden blond hair was in a side braid, laying over her left shoulder. "You must be Sadie, I'm Miley,” she looked a little timid. "I've heard so much about you. I've been so worried about your mom, but she is stubborn, she won't take help from anyone."
I placed my purse on the counter and reached out to offer her hand a gentle shake.
"You've got that right. But since she refuses to allow us to help her physically, we are left with the only other way we can offer assistance." I looked around the room and a warm remembrance of my childhood washed over me. No cares, no worries, just happiness and the smell of fresh flowers.
I spotted the winding staircase that led upstairs to a small nook and balcony overlooking the showroom below. That was the place I would spend hours, just reading and listening to music while enjoying the scent of all the fresh flowers. I’d watch as men would walk in ordering arrangements to be delivered to the woman they loved, or a blushing bride that would work with my mother and express the vision she’d had for her perfect day.
“I’m a bit rusty,” I admitted, still looking over the space. “But I think with your help,” and turned my attention back to Miley, “you and I can keep this place going. Maybe not as perfect as my mom does, but enough that when she returns, she doesn't want to strangle us."
"I've only been here a month," Miley looked a little worried while she twisted her hands together in front of her. "I've paid attention but—"
"Don't worry,” I said, reaching out and placing my hand on her shoulder to offer her a gentle squeeze. “Like I said, I'm rusty but when I was younger I practically lived here. It will all come back to me quickly.”
