Falling for You (Starlight Valley Book 1)

by Hunter J. Keane

“Stop making fun of my stage name,” Wyatt said, but his eyes were sparkling.

  The girls flew down the stairs at lightning speed and I spent the next five minutes acting as their personal photographer. Once I’d taken at least 100 pictures of each of them, Kelsey said, “Now it’s your turn, Aunt Brook.”

  “Me? Nah, I’m good.” I avoided looking at Wyatt.

  “Come on!” Kelsey shoved me toward Wyatt.

  His voice was buttery smooth when he said, “Don’t I deserve a once-in-a-lifetime picture?”

  I groaned and stepped closer to him. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

  Wyatt’s arm went around me, his hand resting at my hip. His thumb made a slight stroking motion against my skin. “Smile, Monroe.”

  I turned to look at him and was surprised to find him staring right back at me. Neither of us were smiling, but the look we exchanged clearly conveyed the unspoken feelings that had been lingering between us. I might have told everyone that Wyatt was just an old friend, but we both knew that wasn’t true. And now Wyatt also knew the truth about the heart-breaking song I had written ten years ago about an unrequited love.

  I might have been dating Ryder when we were eighteen, but I had been desperately in love with Wyatt Hudson. I couldn’t deny that part of me still was in love with him and I was beginning to suspect that feeling might be mutual.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  W yatt left not long after the pictures were taken and I fell asleep on the couch watching cartoons with the younger kids. I was woken by the sound of the twins excitedly screaming every detail of our breakfast to their mom when she came home.

  “Girls, some of us are trying to sleep!” I yelled.

  “Yeah!” Jax yelled, too, even though he wasn’t even close to being asleep.

  Trisha came into the room with the twins trailing behind her. “Are you in love with Wyatt Hudson?” she demanded.

  “No,” I said, closing my eyes.

  “Then how do you explain this?” She slapped my arm until I opened my eyes. A phone was shoved in my face.

  “What is this?” I asked, trying to focus on it. “Were you recording us at breakfast?” I asked the twins.

  “Just you and Wyatt,” Kelsey said, as if that made it okay. “This is right when he feeds you from his plate.”

  “Dear god,” I muttered. “Delete this. Now.”

  Kelsey pouted. “Why? You said it’s not a big deal.”

  “Wyatt did not give you permission to do that, Kelsey. He’s a public figure and he has to be very careful about protecting his private life. If that video got out, it would upset him.” I handed her the phone. “Delete it now. Please.”

  “Listen to your aunt, Kels,” Trisha said.

  “Fine.” Kelsey snatched the phone and tapped the screen a few times. “There. All evidence of your love affair has been erased.”

  “Not all,” Arya said. “I’ve still got their picture on my phone. It’s adorable.”

  Trisha snatched her phone. “You two are so smitten!”

  “Do you think Wyatt will want a copy of this?” Arya asked. “He seemed pretty determined to take a picture with you. Maybe I should send it to him?”

  “Send it to me. I’ll make sure he gets it.” It was only then that I realized I still hadn’t texted him, which meant he still didn’t have my number.

  Arya sent the picture to me and I pulled it up on my phone. It was a candid shot of us staring at each other, just the faintest hint of smiles playing at our lips. Wyatt’s hand was resting firmly at my hip and my hand brushed his stomach. We were staring hard into each other’s eyes, oblivious to the rest of the world.

  I typed a quick message to Wyatt and attached the picture, hitting send before I could change my mind.

  “What did you say?” Kelsey asked anxiously.

  “I said, I thought celebrities were supposed to be photogenic.” I smiled at my own wit.

  “No! You didn’t!” Arya gasped dramatically. “Aunt Brook! Don’t you want him to like you back?”

  “I’m not too concerned about it. Wyatt has a decent sense of humor.” I tried to close my eyes again, but Trisha was still standing next to the couch, glaring at me. “What do you want? You’re just as annoying as your kids.”

  She tapped her foot. “You never explained how Wyatt Hudson ended up in my kitchen this morning? After seeing him leave the bar with you last night.”

  “Whoa. It’s not what you think.” I turned to the twins. “Girls, go upstairs. This is an adult conversation.”

  “No!” Arya shrieked.

  Kelsey was only more intrigued. “Did you have sex with Ryder Strong?”

  “Oh god.” I dropped my head into my hands.

  “Kelsey Lynn! You do not just go around asking people about their sex lives!” Trisha glared at her girls. “Both of you. Go upstairs.”

  They stomped out of the room grumbling and Trisha sank onto the couch next to me. Jaxson was still watching cartoons, but he was so engrossed he hadn’t paid attention to a single word we had said.

  “So, did you?” Trisha asked.

  “Did I what?”

  “Have sex with Wyatt last night?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Trish!” I groaned. “I really need to stop spending so much time with family.”

  “You didn’t answer the question,” she pressed.

  I shook my head. “I absolutely did not have sex with Wyatt last night. We talked a little at the bar and then we went to the café and…” This part was just as embarrassing as admitting to having sex with him. “We sat on the roof and wrote a song together.”

  “You wrote a song together?” Trisha repeated doubtfully. “Is that code for something?”

  “No. We wrote a song.” I glared at her. “You really need to get your mind out of the gutter. It is possible for adults of the opposite sex to just be friends.”

  “He fed you food from his plate,” Trisha said. “That’s not a friends thing.”

  “You sound just like your daughters,” I grumbled, getting to my feet. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I’m going to my place to crash.”

  I had every intention of doing just that, but my notebook was waiting for me at home. I picked it up and scanned the words I’d written just a few hours ago. Some of them were crap, but some of them were quite good.

  I sat at my desk and wrote for an hour, adding ten pages of new lyrics straight from my heart. I’d meant to take a quick nap before work, but now I was out of time. I threw my things into my bag and went to my closet. In the back, I found my old guitar. I hadn’t played it in years and I was sure it needed to be tuned, but it felt good to hold it again.

  Tyra didn’t comment on the guitar, but she did watch me closely during my shift. I knew she wanted to ask more questions about Wyatt, but she wisely refrained. I was done talking about Wyatt for the day. The café emptied out by 5:00 and I was alone with my thoughts. My notebook was calling to me, so I sat at a nearby table and began to write again.

  “Not a friends thing?”

  I jumped and let out a yelp. “Holy shit, Wy. What are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

  “The bell over the door chimed when I came in. How did you not hear me?” Wyatt dropped into the chair across from me and balanced his guitar case next to him.

  “I was in the zone,” I said lamely.

  “Not a friends thing?” Wyatt repeated. “Sounds like there’s a story behind that.”

  “Just something that’s been bouncing around in my head.” I shut the notebook and took a good look at him. “Where’s your hat?”

  He smiled shyly. “I figured there was little risk of running into any fans tonight. Plus, I didn’t want to obstruct your view of my eyes.”

  “You’re too cute for your own good, Hudson.” I sniffed the air. “Do I smell pizza?”

  Wyatt gestured to the counter. “I told you I would bring dinner.”

  “It’s like you want me to fall in love with you,” I
joked. “What kind of pizza is it?”

  “Dante’s Special,” Wyatt said smugly. “What else?”

  I grabbed the pizza and set it on the table and we ate straight from the box. We’d eaten that same pizza at least once a week all throughout high school.

  “Thanks for being so sweet to the twins today,” I said in between bites. “They spent an hour deciding which picture to post on the internet.”

  “Hopefully it’s better than the one of us,” he joked. “Since you don’t think I’m photogenic.”

  “Hey, you’ve got my number now. Be happy.” I hesitated before asking, “Did you really not know that Falling for You wasn’t about Ryder?”

  “Like I said, I just assumed.” He shrugged. “You never told me it wasn’t.”

  “The lyrics should’ve done that,” I said, frowning. “In the hallway where we met, faded lights and broken hearts? You and I met in the hallway outside the art room, with that mural of broken hearts. Did you not remember that?”

  Wyatt tossed his last bite of pizza into the box and closed the lid. “You were dating my best friend when you wrote those lyrics. Even if I thought it might be about me, I was never going to say anything.”

  “We broke up,” I said quietly. “Ryder and I broke up for good two days before I wrote that song about you.”

  He flinched. “You two broke up before he died?”

  “I broke up with him.” It felt good to finally admit it to someone. “I told Ryder that I thought I might have feelings for you. I didn’t want to lie to him. We broke up, but we decided not to tell anyone because we had that performance coming up in Nashville. Ryder didn’t want to make things even more awkward between us.”

  Wyatt just kept staring at me, not saying anything.

  “Would you please say something?” I said. “That look is unnerving.”

  “You broke up with Ryder and then a few days later, came to me with that song. You had me compose the music for it and never thought to tell me that the song was about me? That Ryder was going to hear it and know it was about me?” He shook his head. “We were going to perform that song in Nashville. All of us, together.”

  “Yeah, well. We didn’t make to Nashville, did we?” I had to look away from him. “When Ryder died in that car accident, it felt like the universe was punishing me. I felt so guilty for breaking up with him less than a week before he died.” I got up from the table. “And the worst thing was, I couldn’t even tell you. If I had told you, I would have had to tell you everything and the only thing that would’ve been worse than how I already felt would’ve been if I had lost you, too. And then I lost you anyway.”

  I headed up to the roof without Wyatt. I couldn’t wait around any longer for him to finally say the words I knew he was going to say. My heart already hurt enough. It turned out that I didn’t need to worry. Wyatt never came upstairs. I stayed for almost an hour before going back into the café. He was gone and I was alone, again.

  The next few days were absolute torture for me. I kept expecting to see Wyatt around every corner, or standing at my counter ordering a coffee. When I wasn’t busy looking over my shoulder, I was checking my phone. I knew that my revelation had likely been surprising, but I hadn’t expected Wyatt to just disappear. I’d thought we would talk about it and move past it. I thought we’d still be writing songs together at night.

  On Thursday morning, a courier delivered an envelope addressed to the twins. It was the backstage passes that Wyatt had promised them. At least he wasn’t taking his anger at me out on the girls. When Saturday morning came, I stubbornly refused to get out of bed. Tyra and Zack were in charge of opening and closing the café all weekend, so I had no reason to jump out of bed. But someone was pounding on my door.

  “What?” I said, yanking open the door.

  “Miss Monroe?” the man on the other side of the door said. “I have a delivery for you.”

  I squinted at him. “Okay…”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I stood there in shock, waiting for him to return. When Trisha rushed out to ask what was happening, I could only shrug. “He says he has a delivery for me.”

  “Are you sure he’s not going to murder you?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure of anything,” I said.

  The man returned holding a giant box. He set it just inside my door and then left again. After three more boxes were delivered, he handed me a smaller one with an envelope taped to it. My name was scribbled on the envelope in familiar handwriting.

  “Mr. Strong says he looks forward to seeing you this evening,” the man said with a smile. “The car will be here at 6:00.”

  “The car?” I asked, but the man was already gone.

  Trisha had snatched the envelope and she was already opening it, ignoring my angry glare. “What if this is a love letter?” she said.

  “Then you should feel like a total brat for opening it,” I replied, setting the box on my desk and opening the lid. Inside was a bouquet of fragrant calla lilies.

  “Brooklyn,” Trisha read loudly from the card. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to see you these last few days. Hopefully, you will understand when you come to the concert tonight. I’ve been working on something special for you. I’m sending a limo to pick up you and the girls. Inside these boxes, you’ll find some gifts for them and their friends. I hope you still like calla lilies. If not, I’ll make it up to you. I can’t wait to see you tonight. Love, Wyatt.”

  Trisha tore into the other boxes while I put the flowers in a vase. I did still like calla lilies and I was surprised that Wyatt had remembered. I was rereading his note when Trisha said, “He’s in love with you, Brook.”

  “Why did he just leave me on the roof?” I asked. I had run into Trisha that night when I was trying to sneak to my carriage house. She had been sitting on the back deck and instantly spotted my tear-stained cheeks.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he panicked. I’m sure he was overwhelmed.” Trisha looked around at the boxes. “He wouldn’t have done all this just because he felt bad for leaving you. You need to give him a chance to explain.”

  “We should get the twins,” I said, gesturing to the piles of t-shirts, posters, CDs and other Ryder Strong paraphernalia. “All of this stuff is for them.”

  “Nice deflection,” Trisha mumbled.

  The girls were ecstatic over their gifts. They called their friends right away and soon my carriage house was swarmed with teenage girls. They took turns asking me questions about Wyatt and I did my best to give them the answers I knew they’d want to hear. When they finally disappeared into the main house to get ready for the concert, I was exhausted.

  I decided to take a hot bath to relax and I sent Wyatt a text thanking him for the gifts and flowers. He replied right away, asking how my day was going and if I was as excited to see him as he was to see me. I was feeling bold, so I told him I was naked in the bath and that I was very excited to see him.

  There was a long pause that made me worry I’d misread the situation. Then he replied with two words– Prove it.

  Against my better judgment, I snapped a picture of my legs in the water. The bubbles I’d added hid any naughty bits, but the picture was still suitably sexy. I attached the photo and said If you want to see more, you’ll have to wait until tonight.

  When he replied, his words made my breath catch. I’ve been waiting since I first fell in love with you twelve years ago.

  Twelve years. We would’ve been sixteen at the time. I hadn’t even started dating Ryder yet. Had Wyatt really been in love with me back then? If so, why hadn’t he ever said anything. I didn’t know what to say in response, so I just said, See you soon. XOXO

  I finished getting ready, opting for a casual look of jeans and a white tank top. I knew that Wyatt wasn’t impressed by skimpy clothes. I did throw on a pair of heels just to show that I’d put in a little effort. My hair had naturally dried in waves and I left it down. When the limo pulled up in front of the house, I was
the least fancy of all the girls. Even Trisha had put on bright red lipstick.

  While the girls bounced around the back of the limo, freaking out about every little thing, I showed Trisha the text exchange.

  “Twelve years?” she said, eyes wide. “Do you think that’s true?”

  “Why would he lie about that?” I could tell that she was doing the math, too.

  “He was in love with you the entire time you were with Ryder?”

  I shrugged. “Apparently.”

  “Aunt Brook, tell us again about how you met Ryder Strong,” Kelsey said.

  “I was best friends with another boy named Ryder, the real Ryder. His name was Ryder Jackson. He lived next door to us when we were kids. When we were fourteen, a new boy named Wyatt Hudson moved to town. The three of us decided to start a band and we used to write all these songs together. We were pretty good and some folks in Nashville booked us to come play at their venue. But the real Ryder died in a car accident before that could happen. Wyatt kept performing as a solo act, and he started using the stage name Ryder Strong as an homage to our friend.”

  “Why didn’t you keep performing? You could’ve gone solo, too, or you could’ve performed with Wyatt,” Arya said. “I’ve heard you sing and you’re really good.”

  “It just didn’t feel the same without all three of us,” I said. “I never really wanted to be a performer anyway. That was Wyatt and Ryder’s thing. I just wanted to hang out with my friends.”

  “I think you should date Wyatt,” Kelsey said. “Look at everything he’s done for you. He’s such a nice guy.”

  “You don’t date someone just because they give you stuff and do nice things,” I said.

  Kelsey scoffed. “Um, that’s exactly why you date someone.”

  “Oh! We’re here!” Arya bounced excitedly in her seat.

  I looked out the window for the first time and gasped. Starlight Valley was a small town. It seemed impossible that so many people had shown up for the concert. “Look at all the people.”

  “I heard on the news that they are expecting 50,000 people,” Trisha said. “The concert is in this big field, so they can fit a ton of people and I guess people have driven from all over the country. Some people are saying this might be his last tour.”