Southern Storms

by Cherry, Brittainy

  “Yeah, okay, partner. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge,” he said, bumping me in the shoulder. “Do you want me to come up with a name for the business? Maybe have me make up some business cards and taglines? How about this? We trim your bushes and fertilize your soil? Oh! Oh! Or Two Men and a Hoe?”

  “Connor. Hold your hustle. We’re not starting a landscaping company. We are just helping out a woman who fired Lars.”

  “Lars,” he grumbled. “Our competition.”

  I wasn’t even going to dive deeper into why Lars wasn’t our competition, seeing how we didn’t have a landscaping company. It wasn’t even worth talking about. “One job, and then we are done, you got it? I called you over to look at the blueprints I drew up. I picked up some layouts of the property, and we have pretty much free rein on what we can do with it.”

  Kennedy’s only request? Daisies, and blue flowers.

  I couldn’t help but smirk at the blue flowers request—it was for sure a request to drive the nosy, judgmental neighbors insane. That seemed very much like the old Kennedy I knew. She never put up with people’s opinions.

  Connor rubbed his hands together. “Let’s use the most expensive material to drive up costs. Also, speaking of costs, how much are we charging for this project? Because knowing you, you’re probably lowballing us. You really need to up your plumbing prices sooner than later. You are an artist when it comes to those pipes, Jax, and if you undervalue yourself, so will the rest of the world.”

  I never rolled my eyes harder. “We’re not charging for this project.”

  His eyes widened, and he tilted his head in disbelief. “Uh, come again?”

  “We’re doing it as a favor.”

  He laughed. Connor laughed so hard that he bent over and grabbed his sides as he fell into a complete snickering fit. “Oh my gosh, my mom always says I need to clean the wax out of my ears. So, forgive me for hearing you wrong, so can you repeat how much I’m getting paid for this gig?”

  “Nada. Nichts. Nothing. It’s a passion project.”

  “My passion, Jax, is money.”

  I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I can’t take it all on by myself, Connor. I’m going to need your help.”

  “And I’m going to need funds. Since when do you even do favors for anyone outside of Joy? Whose yard are we doing?”

  “Kennedy Lost. The new girl in town.”

  “Oh my gosh.” Connor grew a sinister smirk and began nudging me in the arm. “Is this a booty call type thing? Are you two bumping uglies?”

  “Never say bumping uglies again…like…never.”

  “Listen, if you two are bumping uglies, then that’s something I can get behind. I’m all about my bro getting laid, and if you need me to plant a few seeds as your wingman, I’m all in. Are you doing her yard to get into her garden? Are you trying to lay down some cucumbers next to her peach tree? Is there an oversized eggplant—”

  “Connor!” I shouted. “Shut up.”

  He couldn’t stop snickering to himself. Even if he wasn’t amusing me, he was highly entertained. I swore, that kid was his own biggest fan.

  “I’m not sleeping with her,” I said, hoping to shut that idea down.

  He raised an eyebrow. “No sex?”

  “No sex.”

  “Maybe foreplay?”

  “Nope.”

  “A little tongue twister?”

  “Not at all.”

  I’d never seen him look so disappointed. He pushed his hands against the countertop edge, shaking his head in utter disbelief. “All right, Imma head out.”

  “Connor, come on.” I grimaced and sighed. “Please.”

  He turned to me as if I’d grown another head. “Did you…did you just say please?” he asked, placing his hands against his chest in shock. “Never in my life have I heard you say the word please to me!”

  “Don’t be so dramatic.”

  “I’m not being dramatic. You have never said please to me. Ever.”

  “It’s that important to me.”

  I couldn’t believe I was pretty much begging a seventeen-year-old to help me on this project. Desperate didn’t even begin to cover it.

  “Okay, but I have some guidelines.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Three times a week, we get to eat shitty food for lunch.”

  I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. “Two times a week.”

  “Four times a week and we’ll have a deal.”

  “No chance in”—he began to walk away, and I groaned—“fine, three times a week.”

  “Okay, cool. And! You have to come to my banging birthday bash that you missed last year because you said you were busy, which—by the way—I know you weren’t busy because you don’t have any friends, therefore there was nothing to be busy with. I’m turning the big one-eight, so the turn up is going to be huge Jax! My mom’s throwing the biggest party yet, and I have the biggest news in the world to announce at the party, and I need my partner in crime to be there, So, you have to come.”

  “Fine. Deal.”

  “It’s a twenty-five-dollar entry fee, but for you, it’s going to have to be a hundred.”

  This punk was really putting it on heavy.

  I cocked an eyebrow. “All right. You done?”

  He held his hand out toward me. “You got a deal, partner.”

  “Boss,” I corrected as I shook his hand.

  “Whatever. As far as I’m concerned, we are in a fifty-fifty partnership from this point on.” He closed the box of pizza and took it as if I offered him the whole thing. “I gotta get home to search what it takes to be a landscaper so I’m a professional by morning. Send me an email with your blueprints, and I’ll make them better.”

  “Thanks, Con.”

  His eyes widened. “Please and thank you in one conversation? I better tell my mom to play the lottery tonight because I’m feeling lucky. By the way, if we don’t use Two Men and a Hoe for our landscaping company, we should highly consider Two Men and a Wrench for our plumbing business. It has a nice ring to it.”

  “Good night, Connor.”

  “Night, Jax.”

  * * *

  Connor wasn’t kidding about going home to research the ins and outs of landscaping. When we met up again to pick up supplies, he was well equipped with his knowledge on tools, plants, and soil.

  No one could ever say that he wasn’t a hard worker. He put his all into every project he took on. After we got to Kennedy’s property to start digging up the land, Connor tackled the backyard while I took on the front.

  After offering both Connor and me water, Kennedy returned to her porch and picked up her reading material. I couldn’t stop myself from glancing her way whenever she’d laugh out loud. Her laugh was one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard. Truthfully, even when she wasn’t laughing, I was still looking her way.

  Sometimes she’d catch me, and I’d turn away fast. Other times, I’d give her a halfway grin before getting back to work. When a little girl came riding past the front yard on her bicycle, with her father holding her steady, Kennedy’s eyes snapped up from the book and fell to the father and daughter duo.

  I saw the light in her eyes vanish from watching the two of them interacting. It was the same way when she saw the little girl eating ice cream. Was it always like that for her? Whenever she saw children, did her mind freeze in a daze of confusion and hurt?

  “Sun,” I called out, breaking Kennedy from her own thoughts.

  She turned my way and tilted her head. “Yes?”

  “Who do you talk to?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Who do you talk to about everything you’ve been through?”

  She gave me a broken smile and shrugged. “No one. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

  “You should talk to a therapist, or something. They can help.” True, I wasn’t one hundred percent fixed, but I liked to think that no human being on this Earth was one hundred percent healed from past tragedies. Yet I d
id think talking to Eddie throughout the years did help me. Sometimes it was nice to have a professional person to reach out to for a hand.

  “I’m okay, Jax.” She pressed on a fake smile. “Don’t worry about me.”

  She went back to her book, and I did the exact opposite of what she said, I worried. As she kept reading, I kept shoving and overthinking.

  “Uh, hello? Earth to Jax?” Connor said, walking in front of me and waving his hands around. “Dude, are you deaf? I’ve been calling you for the past two minutes and you’ve been in some like weird daze staring at Kennedy like a psychopath.”

  I shook my head. “What? I wasn’t staring at her.”

  “Yes, you were.” He narrowed his eyes as Kennedy stood to head into the house. He snatched the shovel out of my hands. “I thought you said you two weren’t screwing each other.”

  “We aren’t.”

  “Then why are you eye-fucking her in public?”

  “Don’t say eye-fucking,” I groaned.

  “And don’t avoid my question.”

  “You don’t get it. Kennedy and I have…history.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows, pleased.

  “Not that kind of history, dork. Don’t get excited,” I explained. “We used to be best friends when we were kids. It was a long time ago, but she was a big part of my life.”

  “Wait. Time out. Smoking hot Kennedy used to be your best friend?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What are you guys now?”

  “Nothing. We’re just two people who live in the same neighborhood.”

  Connor laughed. “But you want more. Does she want more? Does she want to be your friend or something?”

  “No, I mean, I don’t know.” Damn, was it really that hot outside? Was I sweating? Why was Connor asking me so many questions? “I mean, she mentioned being friends a while back in the woods, but I figured it was just because she felt bad for me.”

  “Orrr,” he dragged out. “She wanted to be your friend.”

  I paused.

  I thought.

  I denied.

  “No. I don’t think so.”

  Connor laughed and rolled his eyes. “For a big strong guy who runs his own business, you sure are stupid sometimes. If this isn’t a Disney movie in the making, I don’t know what is. You’re Elsa and she’s Anna, and you need to hang out with her. Don’t make her beg you to build a snowman. Just do it.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Do you often reference the movie Frozen for your pep talks?”

  “It seems you knew exactly what my reference meant, so it worked. I mean, hell, Jax. Look, you have this woman, this insanely beautiful woman, who is asking to be friends with you and share her company with you, and you declined? Are you insane?”

  “I offered to help with her yard.”

  “What does that have to do with hanging out with her? Dude. I know I can be annoying and dramatic, but you should be her friend. You need more friends than me.”

  “Since when are we friends?” I joked.

  “Don’t play with my feelings, Jax. You know I’m emotional. Seriously. Just hang out with her. What was the worst that could happen?”

  I shrugged. She could realize I wasn’t worthy of her friendship. I didn’t say that, though. It seemed too emo, even for me.

  “Just find something she likes and hang out with her doing that stuff. Then, it can get even better than that, because do you know what’s the best thing this could happen?” Connor asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “Friends-with-benefits.” He started humping the air.

  “And that’s the end of this conversation.”

  “Ask her out, Jax.”

  “No.”

  “Ask her out on a friendship-date.”

  “No.”

  “Just ask her—”

  “Okay!” I hollered, tossing my hands up in the air. “If I asked her to hang out will that get you to shut up about it?”

  “Obviously. Don’t worry, you can thank me later.”

  18

  Jax

  I dropped Connor off at his house, said hello to his mother, and checked in if they were in need of anything. She declined but thanked me for the offer. Before heading to visit my father,

  I made a pitstop at Eddie and Marie’s house. As I rang the doorbell, a knot sat heavily in my stomach. When Eddie came to the door, he looked perplexed to see me standing there, but then a small smile curved his lips.

  “You missed another appointment,” he commented, opening his screen door to talk to me.

  “Yeah, I know. Been busy. Listen, can I talk to you really quick?”

  His eyes lit up with hope as he stepped aside. “Yes, of course. My couch is always open for you, Jax. Come on in.”

  I walked into the house, rubbing my hands together.

  Marie came out from the back room and grinned brightly when she saw me. “Oh, hi, Jax. How are you doing? I haven’t seen you since the ana—”

  “Marie, can you make some coffee for us? We are going to hold an impromptu session in the living room.” Eddie clearly did not want to bring up the last time I crossed paths with Marie and their bathroom sink.

  I smirked a little at the annoyed therapist. “I don’t need coffee. I won’t be staying long.”

  “Are you sure? I have all the time in the world to give you, Jax. Really, it isn’t a problem. I know with everything going on with your father—”

  “This isn’t about my father,” I said.

  “Oh?” He sat down in his living room chair and clasped his hands together as I took a seat on the couch. “Then what is it about?”

  “Your neighbor, Kennedy. The new girl.”

  “Well, that’s not what I was expecting you to talk about, but if there is a new woman in your life after Amanda, I am more than—”

  “No, she’s not in my life. I mean, she was at one point, but she’s not anymore. I’m just helping her with her landscaping.”

  “What do you mean she was in your life at one point?”

  “She used to be my best friend when we were younger. We went to summer camp together.”

  Eddie’s brows furrowed, and he nodded very slowly and therapist-like. “Intriguing.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s nothing.”

  “Oh?”

  “Stop it, Eddie. That’s not why I’m here. I’m not here to talk about my past with Kennedy or dive deep into my psyche. My visit actually has nothing to do with me.”

  “Then…why are you…?”

  “She needs your help.”

  Eddie scratched at the side of his salt and pepper beard. “Jax, that’s not how it works.”

  “She went through a trauma. She lost both of her parents and her daughter in a car accident that she blames herself for. She can’t even see a child without being hit with a panic attack. Joy told me Kennedy doesn’t drive because of the accident, and she hasn’t spoken to anyone professional about her issues.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Jax, but I can’t offer her help without her—”

  “You don’t have to therapist her, Eddie. Just…I don’t fucking know—be nosy like the rest of the people in this town and go check on her out of neighborly kindness. She’s broken and just needs someone to talk to.”

  “Can she talk to you?”

  “I don’t know how to fix her.”

  “I don’t either, Jax. Plus, as a therapist, we don’t fix people, because in my mind, they aren’t broken. They are just complex.”

  “Yeah, well, just go see about her complexities.”

  “Ja—”

  “Fuck, Eddie,” I shouted, jumping up from the couch. I gestured in the direction of Kennedy’s house. “She’s drowning. She’s in that house alone, and she’s drowning in her memories and guilt. I know what that’s like. I know what it’s like to drown from all of that shit, but at least I had you to go to. At least I had someone to talk to over the years. Kennedy has no one. Please, Eddie. Just…” I sighed and rubbed m
y hands down my face. “Help her.”

  I looked his way and saw the guilt sitting in his eyes.

  He wasn’t going to help her.

  Fuck.

  “You know what? Never mind. It was stupid for me to come over here. Sorry for wasting your time.”

  “You didn’t waste my time, Jax. This is good. This is all good for your progress,” he said as he pushed himself up from his chair.

  “My progress? I told you this wasn’t about me.”

  He gave me a knowing look, and I hated it.

  “She was your best friend,” he stated. “It’s not shocking that your feelings have resurfaced about her with her arrival in town. That’s completely normal, and you don’t have to be freaked out by your feelings. Your concern is warranted.”

  “I’m not freaked out by my feelings because I’m not feeling anything about it. What don’t you get? I’m fine. I healed. I did my therapy.”

  “You healed?” he asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his slacks.

  “Yes. I did the work. I got better.”

  He narrowed his eyes and swayed back and forth. “How are things with your father, Jax?”

  My hands formed fists and my nails began digging into my skin. “Don’t do that, Eddie.”

  “Do what?”

  He knew exactly what I meant. I didn’t have to talk to him about my father. I was dealing with it. I was getting through it. I was fine. I was more than okay. I was better. It was Kennedy who needed his therapist stares. It was her who was falling apart.

  “Forget it. I’m leaving. Thanks,” I muttered, walking toward his front door.

  Eddie followed me, and when I stepped onto his front porch, he spoke. “It’s good that she has you. Maybe that’s what she needs more than therapy—just someone to be there for her.”

  “I’m not a good person to be there for others, doc. That shit doesn’t work out for me.”

  “Every day is a new opportunity to try again. Maybe you can renew your past friendship with Kennedy. That could be healing for the both of you.”

  What is with these people? First Connor was telling me to build a fucking snowman with Kennedy and now Eddie was pushing me to befriend her, too. I was pretty sure Joy would get on that train soon enough, too.