When I found her, she’d been scoping out chips and dip. It might have been years since I had seen or talked to her, but I still knew her well enough to know the girl — well, woman now — was a massive junk food junkie. And because of me, she’d stormed out without her fix.
I lifted the basket the best I could while trying to balance it and my crutches at the same time as I scanned the shelves in front of me. A plan was taking form in my brain as I spotted a jar of salsa I’d seen Eliza eat a ton of times growing up. I put it in the basket with the rest of the junk food, along with a bag of tortilla chips, and headed for the register.
“Well, I’ll be,” Mabel said as I lifted the basket onto the counter and began unloading it. “If it isn’t our very own football star. It’s been a long time, Ethan. How have you been?”
The ‘football star’ thing grated on my nerves. Especially now that I was out for the whole fucking season. Tipping the brim of my ball cap up in order to see her clearly, I offered a small smile that didn’t come close to reaching my eyes. “I’m good, Ms. Mabel. How about you?”
Her eyes trailed over what she could see of my frame from behind the counter as she scanned my purchases. “Better now.” The creepy grin the plump old woman gave me probably would have made lesser men run in fear. I couldn’t lie, I’d always been leery around Mabel, mindful to never stand too close or run the risk of getting certain parts of my body fondled. The woman had a knack for sneaking up on a poor, unsuspecting guy and grabbing his junk before he knew what the hell was happening. I’d been on the receiving end of such treatments more than once.
“Mmm mmm,” she hummed appreciatively. However, I’d grown used to her over the years, so the hairs on the back of my neck no longer stood on end. “You sure did grow up fine, didn’t you, honey?”
“And you’re just as beautiful as ever,” I replied, giving her a wink.
Her wrinkled cheeks grew a deep shade of red as she waved me off and giggled like a teenager. “Oh, you. So shameless.”
“That’s me.” I watched as her fingers as she hit a few buttons on the register, lost in thought until she spoke.
“So… you getting this for Eliza Anderson?” My head gave a startled jerk up to find her staring back at me with a knowing smile stretched across her face. She didn’t bother waiting for me to respond before continuing. “I saw that pretty little Eliza take off like a bat outta hell, looking all kinds of mad. You two used to be close friends, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I answered at a near growl, feeling my brows pull down into a deep frown at the woman’s nosiness.
“And, if my old mind is recalling correctly, you haven’t been back home in quite some time, have you?”
“And I don’t recall you ever being one to beat around the bush,” I stated, already over the back and forth she seemed to be getting off on. “Why don’t you just go ahead and say what’s on your mind?”
Her head fell back with a cheerful laugh before she surprised me by walking around the counter and passing me on the way a wine display set up about fifteen feet away. She came back, still smiling with humor before ringing the bottle up and recalculating my purchases. “You’re going to need that if you’re hoping to get back into her good graces any time soon, boy.” She held up the bottle and gave it a little wave before bagging it and the rest of the items in a canvas bag. “That’ll be fifty-two fifty. Normally I’d have grabbed a cheaper bottle of wine. But you’re a professional football player with two Super Bowl rings. I figured you could afford the good stuff.”
She slid the bag toward me as I reached into my back wallet and pulled out a couple bills. Little did she know I’d been known to drop three times as much on a bottle of bourbon.
“Keep the change,” I said, trying and failing to keep my smirk at bay. The damn woman used to be a handful on a good day, and seeing as that hadn’t changed in the past six years was a little refreshing — beneath the skin-crawling creepiness of being hit on by a senior citizen that used to get off on grabbing dicks, that is.
Some things never changed, and Mabel would stay the same until the day she died. I wasn’t sure why, maybe it was because I was hoping it would be the same with Eliza, but that realization gave me a tiny sense of comfort.
Slinging the handles of the canvas bag over my shoulder, I started hobbling my way toward the store’s entrance, my sole focus, getting to Eliza with a bag full of her favorite stuff that would hopefully make headway in getting her to forgive me.
I was almost there when something hit me. I looked over my shoulder. “Uh, Mabel?”
“Yes?”
I gave her a sheepish smile. “You wouldn’t happen to know where she lives, would you?”
Mabel slow blinked for several seconds before asking, “Ran off any boy within a ten-mile radius of the girl most of her teenage years, and you didn’t even bother to keep up with where she lives?”
All I could do was shrug as her chastisement pierced right through my chest. I really had been a shitty friend to her. It wasn’t as though she could have controlled how things changed in my mind. Hell, she didn’t even have a clue. It was no wonder she took off rather than talk to me earlier. “It’s been a while,” was all I could come up with in response.
“She lives in the apartment over the café.” She huffed with irritation before muttering to herself — loud enough for me to hear, “Lord blessed the boy with looks, but made him dumb as a box of rocks,” as she turned away.
I took that as a sign and escaped the Corner Store relatively unscathed after a run-in with the owner. The rubber bottoms of my crutches thumped softly on the wooden walkway as I passed storefront after storefront. The trek took longer than usual, thanks to my bum knee, but it gave me the time to think up a plan to get myself back into Eliza’s good graces. And after that first brief glimpse of her on the sidewalk earlier, I knew I had to get back there. Just one look and I felt the loss of her like a physical thing crushing down on me.
I missed her like crazy.
And God, did she look good. From our exchange in the store, I knew that the teenage girl I knew before I left was long gone. I never doubted she’d grow up to be beautiful, she was beautiful as a girl, but I was stunned at the change six years could bring.
It was like looking at a stranger. And thinking about it, I realized she was a stranger. The familiarity in those beautiful hazel eyes of hers was absent when I’d looked into them. I had a feeling that earning her trust back was going to take a hell of a lot more than a simple “I’m sorr’.”
With that realization, I decided it was best if I just left the bag of groceries on her doorstep with a note. Maybe that would thaw her out enough to allow me a chance to apologize face to face.
Rounding the building that housed the expanded Sinful Sweets and a dance studio that hadn’t been there when I’d left Pembrooke, I found the back stairs that led to the landing of the upstairs apartment. That was when I realized I hadn’t really thought this out. Because getting up those steps was going to be a bitch and a half.
“Fuck,” I mumbled to myself as I tried to figure out the best way to maneuver the stairs. I finally decided it would be best to only use one crutch. It took longer than it should to get to the top, and by the time I made it, my knee ached and I’d tripped on at least two of the steps, nearly losing the bag of groceries along the way. I released a relieved sigh once I finally made it to the top, followed quickly by a “Goddamn it,” when I realized I didn’t have a pen or piece of paper to leave a note. I quickly spun around to look for anything I could use, and immediately sent the leg of my crutch crashing into one of the planters that sat on the miniscule landing. I winced and froze as the loud sound of the terracotta pot breaking echoed through the otherwise silent night.
I was just about to bolt — knee be damned — when the porch light flipped on and the front door swung open.
“Ethan? What the hell are you doing?”
My mouth opened to answer, but the words died in my throat
at the sight of Eliza standing in the open doorway wearing nothing but silky blue pajamas. The spaghetti strap top did nothing to conceal her boobs — which were obviously much bigger than I remembered them being — and the shorts were barely long enough to cover her ass.
Her hair was wet, hanging down around her shoulders, causing the sorry excuse for a shirt to turn damn near transparent. The most disturbing thing about the sight of Eliza, all grown up and looking gorgeous, was that I actually felt my cock begin to stir behind the zipper of my jeans. My feeling for her were definitely changing by the time I left, but standing there just then, I experienced something completely different, the desire so strong, so carnal, it was almost impossible to keep it in check.
It was as if all the blood in my body rushed to that particular region, leaving my brain deprived. That was the only excuse I had for the words that came out of my mouth next.
“That’s what you wear to answer the door?!” I yelled. “You’re practically naked!”
The confusion that had been on her beautiful face just seconds ago instantly morphed into anger. She crossed her arms over her full, luscious — Christ, Ethan! Get your shit together! — breasts and scowled so hard I thought she was trying to set me on fire with her mind.
“I’m not naked, you asshole,” she bit back. “And the only reason I opened the door like this was because I thought you were someone trying to break in!”
I was pretty sure my brain exploded with that statement. Every single protective instinct I ever had when it came to her reared back up to the surface. “You thought I was an intruder so you opened the door?! What the fuck, Eliza! Your dad’s the Sherriff, for Christ’s sake, you know better! I have half a mind to call Derrick and let him know you’re just asking to be raped and murdered.”
“Don’t you dare! You have no right, Ethan. You’re not my brother. You’re not even my friend! You can’t just blow back into town after six years and act like nothing’s changed!”
“When it comes to your wellbeing, I’ll do whatever the fuck I have to, to make sure you’re safe!”
“Stop yelling at me!” she shouted back before sucking in a deep breath and taking a step back, running her hands through her damp hair in obvious frustration. It made her tits stick out further and strain against her top. It took all the willpower I had to pull my eyes from the amazing view. I was pretty sure there was a special place in Hell just for me.
Fortunately, her momentary silence gave me the opportunity I needed to pull my mind out of the gutter and screw my head on straight. I was there to try and win my best friend back. I wasn’t going to be able to do that my yelling at her and staring at her tits like they were the first pair I’d ever seen.
I sighed running a hand over my face. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
Her glare remained firmly in place as she ignored my apology and demanded to know, “What are you even doing here?”
Balancing on the one crutch, I leaned down, grabbed the grocery bag and held it out to her. “You dropped this stuff on the way out. I know what a junk food fiend you are, so I figured you’d want it.”
Hesitantly taking the bag from my hands, she pulled the handles open and peeked inside. Her brows lowered, but this time, in confusion, not anger. Or at least that was what I hoped. She turned those amazing hazel eyes back to me. “You bought this?”
I shrugged and gave her a small smile in response. Eliza reached into the bag and pulled out the jar of salsa that I’d picked on my own. “I remembered that used to be your favorite. I wasn’t sure…” I trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence and draw even more attention to the fact that I didn’t know her the way I used to.
“It still is,” she whispered, her eyes trained on the jar before she dropped it back inside and looked up. “And the wine?”
“I guess you could look at it as an apology.”
Her head dropped as she cleared her throat. She refused to meet my gaze again as she spoke quietly. “Well, thanks… I guess.”
“You’re welcome,” I said softly, hoping she’d look at me again and feeling bereft when she simply turned around and went back inside without giving me another glance with those eyes before shutting the door on me.
I carefully made my way down the stairs knowing one thing for absolute certain.
I had my work cut out for me.
Eliza
MY HEAD HAD been throbbing for the past two days.
That was why, as I drove up the long, tree-lined driveway that led to my father and Chloe’s house further up in the mountain, I dreaded being summoned to a family dinner. I’d suffered from migraines all my life. Fortunately, they were infrequent, but they were bad enough that I knew the signs that pointed to the throbbing behind my eyes being more than just a standard headache.
And I was pretty certain the current throb in my head was about to get much, much worse before it got better. The tiny, nagging pain started shortly after I closed my apartment door on Ethan the other night, and it had only gotten subtly worse as the days progressed. The only saving grace after that epically disastrous exchange was the fact that Lilly slept like the dead through the whole thing, so I didn’t have to deal with her rapid-fire questions.
The moment my car pulled to a stop in front of the house the front door flew open and my sisters Cate and Abbi came bounding down the front walk, pushing and shoving at each other like getting to me first was some sort of competition. Sure enough, poor Abbi’s hair was several inches shorter than it had been the last time I saw her. Luckily, she was only five, and adorable, so the terrible haircut could be overlooked.
“Hey munchkins!” I kneeled down, ignoring the pain in my head in order to give my sisters a great big hug. “I’ve missed you guys!”
“We missed you too!” Abbi exclaimed before Cate added, “You should come see us more. Daddy says he never should’ve let you move out on your own. Now you never come home.”
“Of course he did.” I grinned, knowing full well my father had put that particular guilt trip in Cate’s head because he knew she couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. That was his passive-aggressive way of letting me know he was not happy with my once a week visits.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chloe coming out of the house and slowly making her way in our direction. I looked up to give her a smile, only to have it fall when I saw the worry on her face. I’d just opened my mouth to ask what was wrong when Abbi jerked on my hand.
“Guess what! Guess what!”
“What?” I asked, tipping my head down at her.
“Aunt Harlow and Uncle Noah are coming to dinner! And they’re bringing Lucy and Evan! It’s gonna be so fun!”
Suddenly I knew exactly why Chloe had looked so concerned. My head shot up, my wide eyes hitting hers in question. She knew exactly what I was asking and shrugged in response. She had no clue if Ethan was coming with them or not.
Well shit.
My lips pursed in agitation as I frowned. Clearly having lost interest in their big sister, Cate and Abbi took off back inside the house as I made my way to Chloe.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Your dad didn’t tell me you were coming over tonight.”
With a deep sigh, I tried my best to paste a smile on my face. It wasn’t her fault after all. “It’s fine. I’m sure he probably won’t be with them anyway.”
Just then, the sound of a vehicle — or more importantly, two vehicles — coming up the drive drew our attention in that direction, and my hope vanished.
“Damn it,” I muttered as Chloe breathed a soft, “Oh hell.”
I wanted to run and hide, but I knew that would only make me look childish. And I didn’t want to give Ethan the satisfaction, so I stood there and held my ground next to my stepmom while the cars came to a stop. I watched on as Harlow climbed from the passenger seat of her car and offered me a hesitant smile. Of course, being Chloe’s best friend, she knew all about my pain over her brother’s abandonment. Lucky for me, she was in my corner.
Harlow stepped in front of us and leaned in to kiss my cheek. “Hey ladies.” Then her eyes came directly to me as her voice lowered, “When he heard where we were going, he insisted. Just walked out of the house before I could say a word.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her, even though it so wasn’t. The loud creak of metal caused my head to snap up just as Ethan climbed down from the old beat up truck he was driving. When his gaze caught mine, he offered a tentative grin. I didn’t return the sentiment. Instead, I closed my eyes and reached up to rub my temples as the dull pain turned into a shooting one.
Chloe’s soft touch on my arm caught my attention. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I lied. “Just a bit of a headache.
Her brows shot down, forming a deep V over her bright green eyes. She knew I was prone to migraines, but the last thing I needed was for her to worry about me. It would have only added to my stress. “Do you need to take something?”
“I took some Advil just before I headed over here. I’ll be good in a few minutes. Don’t worry.”
She didn’t look convinced, but before she could question me further, I was saved by the rest of Harlow’s family joining us, with the exception of Evan who ran into the house, no doubt to join Cate and Abbi in something destructive. I adored Harlow’s family… well, most of them anyway, so I prayed they would be a decent buffer between me and Ethan. Noah pulled me into his side and pressed a small kiss to my temple before releasing me to move on to Chloe. I could feel Ethan’s eyes burning into my skin as he joined our little huddle, but I refused to look his way. Thirteen-year-old Lucy mumbled, “Hey” in everyone’s direction while keeping her eyes glued to her phone, thumbs moving at lightning speed while texting. So maybe I wasn’t going to have the buffer I’d hoped for.
Coming Full Circle (the Pembrooke series Book 2) Page 5