Sweet Harmony (Harmony Falls, Book One)

by Elizabeth Kelly

  “Thank you, by the way, for pretending to know me so well before the ceremony. It was feeling a bit awkward and you really helped break the tension.”

  “Not a problem. I’m Connor’s best friend and it’s my duty to help convince people his fake relationship is anything but fake.”

  The whiskey sloshed unpleasantly in Kira’s stomach. “I’m sorry?”

  Lucas studied her, a small frown crossing his face. “Are you okay? I thought you knew Connor told me about this being fake. You’re trying to make some firefighter jealous, right?”

  “Oh, um, yeah we were, but Connor and I decided to date for real,” Kira said. “He didn’t mention it to you?”

  Lucas shook his head. “No, he didn’t.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m sure it’s just because he was busy. Plus, he’s not really one to share a lot, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know.” Kira made herself smile at Lucas, but the nausea was growing. Why hadn’t Connor told his best friend that they were dating for real? Was he having second thoughts? Once the wedding was over, would he tell Kira they were over?

  “So, I heard that you found the perfect place for Stark’s new office.”

  She blinked at him. “What?”

  “Isaac Stark? He’s my boss. You were the agent who found him the new office in Harmony Falls, right?”

  “How did you know that?” she asked.

  “Didn’t Connor tell you? He called and asked me to recommend you to Stark.”

  “He did?” Kira said.

  Lucas nodded. “He didn’t say anything?”

  “No, I … he didn’t.” Warmth infused her entire body. Connor had helped her get her first sale.

  A flash of purple caught her eye. Gina and Lisa were standing together near the dance floor, talking to a few other wedding guests. She swallowed hard. Lisa was gorgeous and sweet, and she ran her own business. It didn’t matter how many houses she sold, Kira would never be as successful or beautiful as her.

  “Hey.” Lucas touched her hand. He was staring at Gina and Lisa as well and he shook his head. “Don’t let Gina’s obsession with Lisa get in your head.”

  “He didn’t tell me they were engaged,” Kira said. “He won’t even tell me why they broke up.”

  Lucas sighed. “Well, it’s Connor’s story and not mine to tell so I can’t say anything. But trust me when I say he has no interest in Lisa anymore.”

  “Why not?” Kira said. “She’s smart and sweet and beautiful, and his mother loves her.”

  “Lisa is not sweet,” Lucas said harshly. “Don’t let her fool you. She’s a snake in the grass and Connor dodged a fucking bullet with that one.”

  “If she’s so terrible, why does Gina want them to get together so much? You’d think she’d want what’s best for her son,” Kira said.

  Lucas drank the rest of his drink in two big swallows. “Gina is a wonderful person, Kira. She really is, and she loves Connor. He’s her only kid and she wants him to be happy. She believes Lisa is the one who will make him happy.”

  “Maybe she’s right.”

  “She’s not,” Lucas said. “She’s blinded by the fact that Lisa and Connor were together for so long, blinded by her belief that she knows what’s best for Connor. She had Connor’s life all laid out in her head and when it went sideways, when nothing turned out the way any of them believed it would, she never really got over it.”

  He studied the top of the table, running his fingers over the soft white cloth that covered it. “She wants Connor to be with Lisa so much that she isn’t seeing what everyone else in this damn room saw almost immediately.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The way Connor looks at you.”

  Warmth burned in her belly and she took another sip of her drink. “Thanks, but you didn’t even know we were dating for real. Connor isn’t looking at me in -”

  “I might have thought it was still fake, but it doesn’t mean I couldn’t see Connor looking at you like a love-struck puppy,” Lucas said. “Truthfully, I am fucking relieved that you’re actually dating. Connor’s got it fucking bad for you, and he’s been hurt enough in the past by a woman who was supposed to love him. I don’t want to see it happen again.”

  “What did she do to him?” Kira said.

  “I can’t say,” Lucas said with genuine regret.

  “He won’t talk to me about it.”

  “He will. Just give him a bit more time. You know how he is. It’s hard for him to open up and be vulnerable,” Lucas said.

  “I know.”

  There were a few moments of silence before Lucas smiled at her. “Me, on the other hand? I wear my goddamn heart on my sleeve. Hell, the ladies can’t get me to shut up about my feelings.”

  She laughed and took another sip of whiskey. Lucas grabbed his glass as a woman with tightly permed, violet coloured hair and wearing a billowing leopard print caftan clumped her way toward them. “Shit, here comes Ethel. I gotta run, beautiful. She’s grabbed my ass so many times since the ceremony, I’ve got bruises from cheek to cheek.”

  He left just as Ethel approached the table and eased into the chair next to Kira. She studied her silently before saying, “You seem all right for a Falls girl.”

  “Thanks?” Kira said.

  The old woman grunted in reply as she stared at the dance floor. Connor had escaped his aunt and was now dancing with his mother and Ethel watched them for a few minutes. “I’ve been watching the two of you tonight. He seems real happy with you. That’s good. After what he went through, he deserves to be happy.”

  Kira wasn’t sure what to say. Ethel glanced at her before looking back at Connor. “Real shame about that boy’s career.”

  Kira frowned. “There’s nothing wrong with being a dentist.”

  “I ain’t talking about that,” Ethel said. “I’m talking about his baseball career.”

  Kira didn’t know how to respond. Luckily, Ethel went on like she wasn’t even there. “I wasn’t surprised when he moved away, even if it did break his mama’s heart. Hard to live in a place where you ruined so many people’s hopes and dreams.”

  “What do you mean?” Kira asked.

  “Of course, it was a real shitty thing for the town to do to him. He might have been the best baseball player Willington had ever seen, but it wasn’t right the pressure they put on him. He was just a kid, you know?”

  Kira nodded and clenched her hands in a tight fist in her lap as she watched Connor dance with Gina. She prayed Ethel would continue, releasing her breath in a soft rush when the old woman did.

  “He was the town’s golden boy. Top athlete in the school. We had scouts come and watch him play. Scouts! To our little town. The mayor nearly shit his pants he was so giddy. I tell you what, the entire town showed up to that ball game. Connor was only seventeen, you’da thought the pressure of that would have gotten to him, but it didn’t. He played his best game that night. He was planning to go to college in New Cassel, play some college ball while he got his degree. But rumour was after they watched him in that game, they was gonna draft him right out of high school. That’s how good he was.”

  Ethel stared moodily at the dancers. “He was good too. Like a dancer out there, you know? Moved fast and was a natural leader. And his batting? Shit, you ain’t never seen someone hit so many home runs. He still playin’ ball in the Falls?”

  Kira nodded. “Yes. He plays for the local league.”

  “Figured he would. Baseball is in his blood. He wouldn’t be able to give it up for good. It’s a damn shame the accident ruined everything.”

  “The quads?” Kira whispered.

  “Yeah,” Ethel said. “He and some of his friends went out on their quads a few days before graduation. They weren’t drinkin’ or anythin’ like that, but they were being reckless and stupid. But that’s how teenage boys are, aren’t they? Can’t think of nothing at that age but baseball and the balls between their legs.”

  Ethel shook her head. “An
yway, Connor got into that accident, tore his knee to hell and just like that his career was over. The town’s golden boy was tarnished.”

  Kira stared at Connor. He was smiling at his mother and something in her chest tightened until she could barely breathe. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.

  “His parents were disappointed,” Ethel went on as if she didn’t even notice Kira’s heart falling right out of her damn chest. “Real disappointed. They had high hopes for their boy, believed he would be a famous baseball player. Hell, everyone did. When he became a dentist, it sucked the life right out of most of the townsfolk. Even with his knee messed up, most of them believed that he’d still make it as a ball player. They was ready to name a goddamn street after him and then… hell, it was like he didn’t even exist.”

  “That’s awful,” Kira whispered. She wanted to march across the dance floor and tear Connor away from his mother. She wanted to take him home to Harmony Falls where he belonged, where no one looked at him like he was a failure.

  “Sure was,” Ethel said. “His girl broke up with him and I think that was the straw that broke him. He didn’t have his career or his girl and every day he had to face an entire town’s disappointment. I don’t blame him for leaving. Do you?”

  “I hate this town,” Kira said.

  “We ain’t all bad,” Ethel said with a shrug. “Besides, it looks like it worked out all right for him. He’s got you now, don’t he?”

  Kira gripped her knees when Gina pulled Connor to a stop next to Lisa who was dancing with Connor’s father. Gina said something to Connor before practically pushing Lisa into his arms. She took Rob’s hand and tugged him away as Connor stared down at Lisa. She said something to him, and he nodded before putting his arm around her waist and taking her hand. As the music turned soft and slow, they started to dance, and Kira looked down at the table.

  Her pulse was thudding, and the music was muted by the whoosh of blood in her eardrums.

  He doesn’t love her anymore, she reminded herself fiercely. He doesn’t love her anymore.

  “Ain’t no need to be jealous now.” Ethel patted her hand in an almost comforting way. “He ain’t hot for her anymore. Besides, just between you and me, his mama might be pulling for him and her to get back together, but I ain’t never thought that Lisa was after him for anything but the fame. Why, the minute his ball career was done, you could practically see the light dying in her eyes. She wasn’t nearly as taken with him after that. He worshipped the ground she walked on and after years of saying she loved him, she tossed him aside just like the rest of the town did.”

  Ethel made a sound of disgust. “Why Gina can’t never see that, I don’t know. She thinks Lisa walks on water, and she ain’t ever gave up hope that the two of them will get back together. Just because she married her high school sweetheart don’t mean that everyone will.”

  Kira didn’t want to look at Connor dancing with Lisa, but she couldn’t help it. She glanced at them again, her stomach tightening. Even from here, she could see how upset Connor was. His face was red, and he was staring at Lisa with a combination of anger and hurt.

  She jumped to her feet. She had no idea what was wrong, but she wasn’t about to sit here and watch Lisa upset the man she loved. She didn’t care if it made her look like a jealous shrew, she was breaking up their damn dance.

  Before she could move, Connor tore away from Lisa. His face still red and his shoulders hunched, he walked away from Lisa and straight toward Kira.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “You look really good, Connor,” Lisa said.

  “Thanks.” He glanced across the dance floor to the table where Kira was sitting. Ethel was sitting with her and he groaned inwardly. Ethel was the biggest gossip in town, who knew what the hell she was telling Kira.

  “Hey? You still with me?” Lisa touched his face and he jerked his head back.

  “Don’t, Lisa.”

  “I can’t touch you now?” Hurt was written across her face. “We were together for years, Connor.”

  “And now we’re not,” he said.

  “We’re still friends.”

  “Since when?” His tone was blunt, but she gave him a soft smile.

  “I’ve missed you, Connor.”

  “Why?”

  She sighed. “What do you mean, why? Look, I know things didn’t end well between us, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking in the last year. We used to be good together, didn’t we?”

  He shrugged, his gaze returning to Kira. They’d been here long enough. After this dance, he’d take her back to the hotel room and try and give her an acceptable answer for why he hadn’t told her he was engaged to Lisa.

  The truth would be better.

  “Kira seems really nice.” Lisa squeezed his shoulder.

  “She is,” he said. “She’s amazing.”

  “How did you meet?”

  “She’s a client.”

  “How is dentistry treating you?” Lisa asked.

  He sighed. “Do you actually care? You hate that I’m a dentist.”

  “I don’t hate it,” she insisted. “I was young, and I was stupid and disappointed.”

  “You were disappointed? It was my dream that ended,” Connor said.

  “Both of our dreams ended,” she snapped. She took a deep breath, arranging her face into a calm mask again. “Look, what’s done is done, okay? We both made some mistakes that we regret. But that doesn’t mean that how we felt – feel – for each other is over.”

  “What are you talking about?” Connor said.

  “Us,” Lisa said. “I’m talking about us.”

  “There is no us. You ended it two years ago when you couldn’t stand the thought of being a dentist’s wife.”

  “Can you blame me?” she said. “I thought you were going to be a famous baseball player. I thought we were going to leave this stupid town and we were going to make something of ourselves. And then the accident happened, and everything changed. You changed.”

  “Well, sorry that I couldn’t be all sunshine and happiness after my career was destroyed,” Connor said.

  “Look, I don’t want to fight, okay?” Lisa said. “I’m sorry for what I said and did, I really am. I know it isn’t an excuse, but I was young and immature, and really sad.”

  He could see the tears in her eyes, and familiar guilt inched from his belly and into his chest. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Lisa.”

  “I know you didn’t,” she said. “I forgive you for that, Connor, I do. I miss you a lot. In the last year, I’ve realized just how much. I want to try again.”

  She smiled up at him, her face soft and warm, and rubbed his back. “Let’s try again, sweetheart.”

  “I’m with Kira now,” he said.

  “You’ve known her what? Two months? She doesn’t know you the way I do. She never will. She hasn’t been through what we have. Don’t let an infatuation with her ruin our chance to try again.”

  “It’s too late,” he said.

  “It isn’t. Think about how happy your mom would be if we started dating again. You have the chance to make up for disappointing her the way you did. Don’t you want that, Connor? I know how much it hurts you that your parents are unhappy with how your life turned out. You can fix that. Come back to me and make your parents proud of you again.”

  He stiffened, his hand squeezing onto hers until she gasped. “Connor, ouch.”

  He released her hand, staring down at her as the back of his neck grew hot and a fire burned in his belly. “You think the only way I can make my parents proud is by dating you?”

  “They love me,” Lisa said. “They know that I’m good for you. You could move back home, open your own practice here in Willington. We’ll get married and give your mom a couple grandchildren. We’ll be happy together, just like we were before the accident.”

  “I don’t love you anymore,” he said.

  Anger flashed in her eyes. “You don’t mean that. You’ve loved me since yo
u were fifteen years old, Connor MacMillan.”

  “I don’t love you now.” His voice was slow and deliberate. “I have a life outside of this town, and maybe it isn’t the life I planned, but it’s my life and I’m happy. I’m happy with Kira.”

  “She’s isn’t right for you,” she said.

  “She’s perfect and I love her,” he said.

  She froze in his arms, the sneer transforming her face from beautiful to cold and ugly. “Fine. Go be with your stupid Falls girl. Let’s just hope that you don’t fuck up her life the way you fucked up mine.”

  Heat flooded his face, bile bubbled in his belly, and for one brief moment he thought he would throw up. He swallowed thickly, staring at Lisa as she gave him a defiant look.

  “There you are,” he said. “I wondered when the real Lisa would make an appearance.”

  He pushed away from her and headed toward Kira. She was standing at the table and, ignoring Ethel, he held his hand out to her. “Time to go.”

  “All right.” She took his hand and he led her toward the door.

  “Connor? Where are you going?” Gina was approaching them.

  “We’re leaving. I’ll call you later,” Connor said.

  He walked faster, ignoring the pain in his knee. He pushed open the door of the rental hall and stepped out into the cool night air. Holding Kira’s hand, he walked away from his past without a second look back.

  * * *

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was engaged to Lisa.” Connor paced in the hotel room as Kira sat on the edge of the small loveseat.

  They’d decided to rent a room for the night, rather than drive back to Harmony Falls, and he was regretting that decision now. He wanted to be back in Kira’s home, in her bed and between her legs and not thinking about his hometown or Lisa or his parents’ disappointment. The guilt was always stronger when he was here, he could feel it in the very molecules in the air, and it was threatening to drown him.

  “It seems like there’s a lot that you didn’t tell me,” Kira said. “Or your best friend. Why didn’t you tell Lucas we were dating for real now?”