by Jill Sanders
“Thanks.” She almost walked out with her, but Savannah stopped her. “April, give Tessa the keys to upstairs. She wants to look the place over.”
“Will do. By sweeties.” She waved to the kids. “See you tomorrow.”
“Night.” Savannah turned back towards her. “Think about it.” She moved to go, but stopped. “And stay in town.” She winked and left.
“Here they are,” April said after a moment. “The entrance is out back. Just up the stairs.”
“Thanks.” She took the key ring and walked towards the door. It was funny, her car was parked right by the stairs, and she’d never known the apartment was up there. Glancing up, she thought of how nice it would be to live in town.
Her dorm room had been on campus, and there hadn’t been anything close. It had been at least a five-minute drive to the nearest coffee shop. Now, she was thinking of living above one.
Still, just the thought of paying two rents made her head ache. Maybe she should look for a different home in town, one big enough for both her and her father?
When the door slid open, she instantly knew she wanted the place. Large windows overlooked the main street of Fairplay. There was a beautifully remodeled kitchen near the back of the building. She walked into the bedroom and liked the size and the large windows that overlooked the side of the building. When she walked into the bathroom, she gasped and fell in love with the place.
There was a large garden bathtub, which sat next to a huge glass-walled shower with stone tiles. Double sinks sat on a marble countertop that ran on the inside wall. The large frosted window, which she assumed overlooked the back alley, let in natural light and made it look cheery.
There were dark oak floors and the walls were painted a soft gray with crisp white crown molding. The kitchen cabinets were off-white French Country style. She’d never seen anything more beautiful before.
She took her time walking around the place, looking out the large windows and enjoying setting up everything in her mind. She’d never had a space of her very own before. She’d also never had a man kiss her the way Luke had the other night. Nor had she ever felt the way she did when she was around him.
Her mind kept telling to get out of Fairplay as quickly as possible, but her heart… She was worried about her father and excited about the possibilities with Luke.
By the time she walked the key back downstairs, she was determined to make the finances work and even more determined to stay in Fairplay until Luke kissed her again.
Chapter Seven
Why did it seem that everything working against him? He’d been planning on painting his deck and working in the yard, but glancing out the window, he frowned at the rain streaming down at an alarming rate.
The south was known for its torrential rains, but this was just plan ridiculous. He’d been locked in his house for almost three full days. His backyard and parts of his driveway were now under so water, he was thinking of renting a backhoe and having several loads of dirt delivered, just to smooth his yard out so the water didn’t stick too long in several areas. He even spent some time drawing his yard and trying to figure out how to get the rain water to flow towards the back of his property where there was a creek running away from his land.
Nothing could be worse than spending three days alone in a house with nothing to do. Being not only physically but mentally locked away was making him wonder why he’d decided to move into the middle of nowhere.
At first he’d done everything in his power to keep mentally busy. But, after a while, he’d found himself drifting deep into the back of his mind, even if he didn’t want to.
The worse day of his life played over and over in his mind. He’d driven into town and spent as much time as he could, walking around the big hardware store, but after bumping into too many people who all had too many questions about his past, he was done trying to wait his boredom out.
But what had really sealed the deal with him was when he’d run into Christy at the Grocery Stop. The woman just couldn’t take a hint, and he was finding it almost appalling how she flung herself at him. It made him wonder just how many men in town actually fell for her act.
So, he’d decided he wouldn’t spend any more time around town, hoping he’d run into Tessa. He buckled down and stayed at home.
Instead of being bored, he embraced being alone by pulling out his guitar and spending time tuning it. Then he spent the next day and a half playing every song he could remember. He even worked on one of Tessa’s songs from last week.
He’d thought about calling her, but every time he did, he remembered how raw he’d felt after hearing her sing. The truth was, he didn’t think he was ready for that kind of emotion. The emotions and her.
He’d been at a different place in his life last year, before he’d started dating Kristen again. He’d had several other girlfriends over the years, and even in basics, after he’d haltingly proposed to her, he’d run around on her.
He’d never really felt guilty about being with other women during that time. Maybe it was because he knew he’d made a big mistake asking Kristen to marry him. After all, all through school, they’d broken up and gotten back together so many times, he’d lost count.
After school, things had changed and he knew everyone, including his parents, had all but planned out their wedding. But if the military had taught him one thing, it was that he no longer wanted to just fall in line with what other’s wanted for his life.
That’s why he was here, in the middle of Texas, alone, without telling anyone where he’d disappeared to. He’d needed to escape the memories and guilt, but more important, he’d needed to escape the look everyone gave him. The look that said, “Oh, your heart is broken and you’re the one to blame.”
He’d had enough of it. Enough of everyone telling him what he should or shouldn’t do with his life. So, he’d done the first thing that had come to his mind. He’d cashed out a few stocks his father had given him as a graduation gift and run.
He’d stopped in Fairplay on a whim and noticed the property auction sign. It had either been fate or sheer dumb luck that he’d had just enough to purchase the place. He’d pulled every last dime from his checking account to fix the place up and was surviving on his savings account. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to do for the rest of his life, but so far he was content planning out his cattle and learning how to be a full-time rancher.
He knew that he always had the option of crawling home, where there were even more stock options and trust funds—and all his troubles—but he was determined to stick it out. Even if it meant spending several days locked in his mind alone, waiting out the rain.
When the sun finally did show again, he’d worked out a lot of things. First and foremost, he wasn’t ready for a relationship again, but was very interested in playing guitar some more. He’d even thought about showing up to the Rusty Rail next Thursday night to sit up on the stage himself.
He’d forgotten how much playing music made him forget things. To him, music was the best medicine. The more he played and sang, the more he felt healed and, after what he’d been through, he was determined to feel that way as often as he could.
With his guitar in the back seat of his truck, he headed towards Tessa’s place. He was shocked to see a ‘For Sale’ sign out front with the red sticker across it marked Sold.
She hadn’t told him that her father was thinking of selling the place. Then again, he hadn’t really opened up to her, so how could he expect her to open up to him?
He parked his truck and realized her car wasn’t in the driveway. He’d been about to back out, but then noticed her father sitting on the front porch and stepped out to greet the older man.
“Hi,” he called out.
“Evening.” He continued to swing. “Theresa’s at work right now.”
“Work?” he asked as he stepped up onto the front porch.
The man nodded. “She started last week at Mama’s.” Luke frowned and stopped at t
he top step. “She’s already moved into her new place in town. I’m moving into my new place this weekend. The new owners are supposed to be here on Monday. I can’t believe how fast it all happened.” He sighed and glanced around the front yard. “I’m going to miss this place.” Then he smiled. “I’m not going to miss the upkeep though.”
Luke glanced around and nodded. “It is a pretty big place.” He shoved his hands deep into his jean pockets. “Where is Tessa’s new place?”
“Above Holly’s place.”
“And yours?”
“The little blue house right down the street. She made a deal with Savannah and Billy Jackson. Got me a good deal on rent there.” He stopped swinging. “Never thought I’d want to live in town again, but…” He started to swing again. “At my age, I need to be close to people again.”
He wasn’t sure what to say, so he remained silent for a while.
“Leslie and I always planned on watching our grandkids running around this old place, but we waited so long to have kids ourselves that we ran out of time. When you’re young, you always think you have more time than you do. We were in our late forties when we had Theresa. She had a hard time growing up, because we were older. We could hardly keep up with her.” He chuckled. “My god that child could go. She was running from the time she could walk. It seemed we were always trying to catch up with her.” The man’s eyes floated off towards the yard and Luke could see that he was lost in a memory. “We were too selfish when we were young. We wanted to travel, see places, experience things before we settled down to a family.” He sighed and his eyes grew sad. “You know the funny thing was, with all our travels and excitement, it’s the times with our daughter that we cherished the most.” He turned back towards Luke. “Don’t wait too long to grab happiness.” He shook his head slightly. “I don’ meant to preach at ya, but…”
Luke nodded. “I understand.” He leaned against the post. “My folks were barley twenty when they had me. It didn’t stop them from doing what they wanted, going where they wanted. My dad took over my grandfather’s business when I was fifteen. That’s when they had to settle down.”
He nodded in agreement. “We should have given Theresa a brother or sister, but Leslie… well, we were lucky to have one.” His eyes moved back to his. “You want kids?”
He almost coughed, but cleared his throat instead. “I hadn’t given it much thought.” It was a lie, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud. At least not yet.
“Some advice from an old man… find an answer. Sooner rather than later.” He stood up and rolled his shoulders and stretched. “And do it soon enough so you can enjoy grandkids.” He walked to the front door. “Tessa gets off at eight.” He smiled and winked then walked inside.
***
She was made for this kind of work. It had been almost a week since she’d started at Mama’s. To say she’d gotten the hang of it would be an understatement. Working a job like this gave her plenty of time to dream about her music. The people that came and went gave her other things to write about.
She imagined the stories of the couples that came in and snuggled in the back booths. Then she wrote those stories down. She imagined the friends that laughed and joked with one another, the older people’s lives and stories.
Since starting at Mama’s, she’d written over a dozen new songs. Never had she been more inspired. Not even when she’d been so emotional herself.
Of course, she’d written a song about Lucas and the kiss. Which she had no intention of ever letting him see. Or anyone else for that matter.
Her shift was over in less than half an hour. She planned to finish unpacking her place and then spend some time on her laptop, buying a few more things online.
When the bell chimed, she glanced over to greet the customers, and her smile grew when she saw Luke walk in.
“Hi. Sit wherever you want. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
He nodded and took an empty booth. She delivered the tray of food and then took a moment to straighten her blouse before walking over to his table.
“When did you start working here?” he asked, glancing over his menu.
“Last Thursday.” She didn’t know why, but she was nervous about him finding out about her job. She knew people now believed she was staying in town, but the truth was, she didn’t know herself if she was going to stay or go. She was thankful that Holly and Travis were letting her rent the apartment month to month.
Her father had signed a year lease with Savannah and Billy. She figured, after a year, if he was happy there, they would sign a longer lease.
“You look happy enough.” He set his menu down and smiled up at her and she felt her heart skip. The dimple on the side of his mouth was almost too sexy.
“I am.” She tilted her head slightly as her eyes ran over him. “You look like you have a secret.” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited as his eyebrows shot up.
“Secret? No, but I did bring my guitar to your house, only to find out that you’d moved.” He tilted his head and looked at her, much like she’d done to him. “Sounds like you’re the one with the secrets.”
She held in a chuckle. “I moved above Holly’s. My dad moves in to Savannah and Billy’s old place across the street this weekend.” She glanced over as someone, two tables down, called her. “I’ll be right back to take your order.”
“I’ll be here. You get off in half an hour?” She nodded. “Join me after?”
She smiled at him, giving him his answer with a quick nod.
When she finally put his order in, she added an extra burger in for herself. When the order was up, she closed out of her station and delivered their food and sat across from him.
“It’s amazing how great it feels to get off your feet.” She tucked her feet under her as she opened her napkin.
“I remember basic training when they had us running most of the day.” He poured some ketchup on his plate. “I had bruises on my heels.”
“That’s why I wear these shoes. I bought the memory foam kind.” She sighed. “Saved my feet.”
He chuckled. “Don’t you love technology?”
“So,” she said after taking a bite of her burger, “you brought your guitar?”
His dark eyes moved up to hers. “I’ve been locked in the house for three days. So, I pulled out the guitar out and tuned it.”
“Do you know many songs?” She grabbed a French fry from his plate. She regretted not ordering some for herself, but figured she could get away with snagging a few more of his, since she had planned on sharing some of Willard’s chocolate cream pie with him.
“I taught myself every song I could find online.” He finished off his ice tea, so she got up and grabbed him some more.
“I took several classes.” She frowned. “Okay, so I flunked several classes before I finally got the gist of it.” She chuckled. “It seems I have no talent for finding a rhythm.”
“I’ve heard you sing. That’s not true.”
She smiled. “You’ve heard the polished Tessa. You should have heard me a few years back.” She laughed at the memory. “One of my teachers in college was pretty sure I had what he called opposite rhythm.”
“Opposite?”
“If there is such a thing, he was pretty sure I had it.” She sighed. “He was one of the most patient men I knew. He’s the reason I turned my poems into songs. That day, things with the guitar just… clicked. I suppose it was because I had a reason to play. Something to play to.”
She could see in his eyes that he understood. She’d never talked about her struggles to anyone before. It felt wonderful and scary at the same time. Especially, since it was Luke she was opening up to.
“Would you like some pie?” she asked when he took the last bite of his burger. “Willard makes the best chocolate cream pie… My treat.”
“I never turn down pie.” He smiled and pushed his plate away.
“I’ll be right back.” She rushed from the table, carryin
g their empty plates.
“Honey, you better grab that one,” Carol, one of the other waitresses, said as she entered the back kitchen. “That boy is something to look at.” She sighed as she headed back out front with a tray full of food.
“I’m trying,” she thought as she cut an extra-large piece of pie and put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
Sharing a piece of pie and ice cream was even more romantic than she’d ever imagined. Luke was such a gentleman. He even gave her the last bite. He watched her lips as she licked the sweet cream from them.
She’d spent years imagining a scene like this before, but her imagination paled in comparison to reality.
By the time they walked out the front door, her entire body was aware that he was standing beside her.
“If you want, you’re welcome to come up to my place?” She felt her face heat when his eyebrows shot up. “To play… guitar.” She almost choked it out. “That was the reason you came into town?” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as he chuckled at her.
“If you’re sure you’re not too tired? I’d like to bring my guitar over.”
She opened her eyes and saw his dark ones laughing back at her, but there was more kindness there than humor. Not trusting her voice, she dipped her head and started walking. He put his hand in hers and pulled her to a stop. “Let me grab my guitar.” He nodded over towards his truck.
“Oh, sure.” She followed him to his truck and watched his backside as he reached in to get his guitar. Her mouth watered when his jeans stretched over his butt. They were worn and bleached, and fit him perfectly. She ached to get her hands on him and wondered if he felt as good as he looked.
When he turned around, her eyes were still lowered and she found herself salivating once more at his front package. Her imagination ran full force, until he coughed. Her face heated once more, and her eyes jumped to his face before she turned around and started walking towards her place.
“I like living in town,” she blurted out. “I can walk to work, the grocery store…” She continued to chatter all the way back to her place. By the time they reached the staircase, she was pretty sure he’d gotten over catching her staring at the sexy bulge in his jeans.