CHAPTER ELEVEN
Nicole lay in her bed the next morning far longer than she should have. After watching the clock all night long, she had no energy to get up and start her day. The therapist her grandparents insisted she see would have said she needed to process her feelings. She felt blindsided by not only Will, but by the people in town she thought were her friends. She knew they were part of it. The song, the flowers, the cookies, those weren’t accidents. They had Will and deception written all over them.
It had been over five years since she had seen Will. His looks had changed. He’d filled out into a muscular and virile man. She didn’t remember his shoulders being quiet so broad or his chest filling out a shirt so well. His hair was cut short, and she missed seeing the flop of brown over his eyes. His eyes were the same intense blue, but they lacked the innocence from their youth. Losing Juan and then Juan’s baby must have been responsible for the haunted look buried there.
It had been a shock to see him, and she wasn’t proud of the way she’d handled it. Hiding in the bathroom was something Nicole would have done. Sugar would have laid him out and then laughed in his face for even thinking she would take him back.
Her face flamed red at the thought. Will actually expected them to take right back up where they left off as if nothing had happened. He’d married someone else, knowing it would be temporary.
She sat up in bed. Will never intended to stay married to Reca, yet he failed to mention that to her. He assumed poor little Nic would go along with his plans.
Did he think she was so pitiful and unlovable that nobody else would want her? Did he feel safe in deserting her for five years because good old Nic would still be waiting on him when he got around to divorcing and looking her up again? How insulting.
Nicole threw her legs over the side of the bed and rooted around for her house slippers. Once she stuffed her feet into the fluffy blue shoes, she padded to the kitchen for a cup of wake up coffee, then jumped in the shower, and was out the door in less than thirty minutes. Her first stop, the diner. She intended to have a few words with some seriously in trouble people.
But that opportunity was not what greeted her when she stormed through the diner door.
“Sugar! I’m so glad you’re here. Cookie didn’t show up today. Can you take over?” Babs asked, her arms filled with a tub of dirty plates and cups. She disappeared into the back and came back out holding a white apron in her hands which she quickly handed to Nicole.
Nicole put the loop over her head and started tying the apron in the back while making her way to the kitchen. “Babs, we need to talk,” she called over her shoulder.
“Later, after breakfast. Now get busy. I already have ten orders waiting on you.”
Nicole read through the orders and assessed the situation before firing up the grill and getting down to business. As much as she loved her job at the library, working behind the massive stove at the diner was comforting and familiar to her. There had to be order and consistency, and she thrived on knowing what to do and how to do it. It was where Sugar was born. And where she learned to survive without Will.
Nicole kept up with the steady stream of orders and pushed all other thoughts from her mind. That was probably why at first she didn’t feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. She knew he was behind her even before she turned around.
“When did you learn to do all of that?” Will asked, from the door where he had been watching her.
Nicole turned around and frowned. Will held a clean-up tub in his hands and was making his way to the sink. “What do you think you’re doing?” Nicole asked with way too much attitude, and tried to put the brakes on the rollercoaster in her stomach from seeing him standing in the doorway.
“Babs put me on clean-up duty. She said I owed it to her. She thought you left me. It seems to make a big difference that I was the one who did the leaving. Parker blabbed.”
Great, now the whole town would know her business. Just what she’d fought so hard against. She couldn’t do anything about it now. Darn, small-town gossip. Nicole’s back straightened along with her resolve. She may have let him bother her yesterday, but not today. She turned back around and began plating. “Soap’s under the sink.”
“I have to wash them too?” he whined, as he sat the tub by the sink.
An evil smile crossed her face Oh, this would be fun. “Wash, dry, and stack. Get busy. I’m running out of clean plates.”
“Why don’t you have a dishwasher?” Will grimaced and started filling the sink with the dirty dishes.
“We do.” Nicole pointed at Will with her spatula. “You. Now less talk and more washing.”
All morning long Nicole cooked and plated the food. Babs took orders and delivered the prepared food to the tables while Will quietly washed, dried, and stacked the dishes beside the old cook stove.
Will couldn’t help but admire the way Nic took charge. There was a graceful elegance to her movements as she worked behind the stove. Every action was practiced and precise. Even when she broke two eggs at a time onto the griddle and then tossed the shells into a big bowl, there were no wasted movements.
Her hands appeared rougher than he remembered. He could still feel those hands in his hair, pulling his head down to her breasts. Those hands had taken him to heaven and back so many times. If her grandmother could see her hands now, she would have one of her famous spells. Will smiled, remembering those silly white, cotton gloves her grandmother insisted Nic wear. How she kept them clean, he didn’t know, but she did. He couldn’t remember Nic ever getting dirty or wearing anything other than perfectly put together outfits like matching sweater sets and those knee-length skirts that drove him crazy.
Will put another dozen plates in the sink and chanced another glance at Nic. She had on blue jeans and a plaid shirt which was faded and worn. He wanted to see her in pretty clothes again. She deserved to wear pretty things. His eyes strayed to her hands as he scrubbed the dried egg from the plate. What he wouldn’t give to have those hands explore his body again.
His eyes zeroed in on Nic’s left hand and he froze. Will dropped the plate he was cleaning with a splash and soap suds erupted into the air. He marched across the room and grabbed Nic’s hand. “What is this?” he asked, trying to keep the anger in his chest from rising.
Nicole jumped and dropped the spatula on the grill. “What are you doing? You scared me.” His touch fired up sparks that went up her arm and straight to places long dormant. She tried to pull her hand out of his grasp because she didn’t want those feeling anymore, but he held tight.
“Talk, Nic. Now. What happened to your hand?” He turned her hand over to check for other injuries.
Nicole fought his grasp. His touch after so many years still affected her exactly the same. “Turn me lose.” When he still held her, she said the one thing she knew would secure her release. “You’re hurting me.”
Will turned her lose and stepped back, just as she knew he would.
“What happened, Nic?” he asked quietly, determined to get an answer
“The name’s Sugar. This stove happened.”
Will continued to glare at her, waiting for an explanation for the scar on her hand. It covered her palm and part of her wrist.
“The real world happened, Will. I had no idea how to use this stove, but I had to eat, so I told Babs I knew how to cook. Life lessons. Another one I had to learn the hard way.” She turned back to the stove to flip a dozen pancakes.
“Why did you have to work? Didn’t your grandparents give you money?”
Nicole laughed and turned back to flip the bacon. “My grandparents never gave me money.”
“I don’t understand, Nicole. You were to get an inheritance when you turned twenty-five.”
“I did get a small inheritance from an insurance policy when my parents died. But my grandmother thought it only fair that I pay them back for all the money they lost on our monstrosity of a wedding.
Wait. Can you call it a wedding if it didn’t happen?” She shrugged her shoulders and cracked two eggs with one hand over the grill.
“I never knew.” Will dropped his head in shame. He never thought she would be without money. When he’d asked for permission to marry Nic, her grandfather told him about her inheritance. Will had assured him that he would always provide for Nic and she’d never have to dip into her funds to support them.
“Of course not. You deserted me, remember? Left me at the altar without a word. You and your family deserted me. Another life lesson learned. People lie when they say they love you.”
“I’m sorry, Nic.” Will should have had his people dig deeper into her life in Dirty Ankle. He’d never wanted too much detail reported because it hurt to hear about Nic moving on without him. She’d been all alone and in a strange place. How she must have struggled.
Nicole shrugged, dismissing his apology. “Get back to washing. I need more plates.” She flipped the eggs and didn’t break a single yolk.
Will went back to washing, but all he could see was the scar and the pain it must have caused her. Another way he had failed her. He had so much to make up for. He would spend a lifetime making it up to her if only she could forgive him.
Nicole was surprised, and if she was honest with herself, a bit disappointed when Will finished the dishes and left without another word to her. Why that disappointed her she didn’t know. It would be fine if she never saw him again. He only brought back memories she never wanted in her head again. Memories she had exorcised and laid to rest years ago. Or had she?
Later, Nicole turned out the lights in the kitchen and joined Babs while her friend refilled the salt shakers.
“Thanks for your help, Sugar. Come on and sit down. I imagine you have a lot you want to say.” Babs pushed out a chair for her with her foot.
“What do you mean going behind my back and helping that man kidnap me? I thought you were my friend.”
“Come on, Sugar. I’m not stupid. I knew when you got here, something bad made you run away to a place like this. It was a year before I saw even a smile cross your face. You don’t belong here, Sugar. You never did, but it didn’t stop us all from falling in love with you. We only wanted to help. When he showed up here asking for Nicole, I thought maybe he was the reason you ran. He seemed so…lost when he said your name.”
“He…” Nicole had to stop and clear her throat. She hadn’t talked about it for so long, and she didn’t want to dredge it all back up now. But she owed it to Babs. “We were supposed to get married, but he decided to marry someone else…without telling me.”
“What? What do you mean without telling you?”
“He just didn’t show up.” Nicole didn’t like to go back to that time. It still had the power to bring her to her knees if she let it. Sugar learned to bury all those images and feelings way down deep.
“Oh, honey, how awful.” Babs patted her on the hand and declared, “That man will get no service from this diner anymore.”
“It’s okay. I’m sure he will be gone soon. Just don’t help him anymore.” She was sure once he realized she wasn’t going to fall into his plans, he would disappear as fast as he could. After all, he was good at that.
Babs shook her head in disagreement. “I don’t know about that, Sugar. He’s building that huge house up on the ridge. I think he plans to live here.”
“That may have been what he was planning, but I’m sure since I didn’t jump at his reconciliation attempt, he’ll leave. Just like always.” Then she would never see him again. That thought made her…sad. But that’s what she wanted. She wanted him to leave her alone, just like he did before. Right?
“You love him, don’t you, Sugar?”
“I did once. Since I was eight years old, he was my whole world. Whatever I felt for him died long ago, on a front porch far away from here.” Nicole looked away, not wanting Babs to see too much.
“Oh, Sug. I don’t know about that. All morning I saw the way you glanced his way when he wasn’t looking. The look I saw on your face wasn’t the look of someone without feelings.”
“You’re mistaken, Babs. I had to make sure he cleaned the dishes properly. I don’t think he’s ever washed a dish in his life.” She grinned, remembering the time Will’s parents left him to clean the kitchen after dinner while they went to a movie. Before their car had even backed out of the driveway, Will had run to get her. She’d known from the moment his head popped in her window exactly what he had in mind. She’d washed, he dried and then they…
Nicole shook her head. Stop it, stop remembering!
“You keep telling yourself that, Sugar, if that’s what you need to protect yourself while he’s here. But I wouldn’t count on him leaving anytime soon.” Babs gave her a hug and went back to close out the register.
Nicole refused to waste any more time or energy on that man. She needed to get to the library; she didn’t like to be late. Of course, nobody would notice. They’d just come back.
The afternoon flew by. After work, she stopped by the grocery store to pick something up for dinner, and wouldn’t ya know it, the first person she saw was him. She grabbed a box of spaghetti noodles and a few cans of tomatoes before he spotted her.
Will pushed his grocery cart next to hers. “Spaghetti for dinner tonight, Nic?”
“Sugar,” Nicole corrected, and turned to leave, but his cart blocked hers.
“I thought I’d have a hamburger. How hard can that be to fix, right?” Will shrugged.
Their gazes met and Nicole knew he was remembering their last attempt at cooking. He’d been home on leave. Will’s parents had gone to visit relatives so they’d had the house to themselves. Back then they really knew nothing about cooking. The hamburgers flamed up, the smoke alarm went off, and Will tossed the flaming pan in the sink and turned the water on. The house had smelled so bad, they opened all the windows and escaped to the treehouse where Will had claimed he’d rather feast on her anyway. And he had. Nicole felt her panties dampen and her breasts swell at that long ago memory. She couldn’t mistake the longing in his eyes. He remembered too. A lock of hair fell onto his forehead and Nicole gripped the cart to keep from reaching to brush it back and jumping into his arms.
“Excuse me.” Nicole needed to leave before he saw exactly what he was doing to her. She grabbed some lettuce, salad fixings, and a loaf of French bread before heading to the checkout. Will still contemplated which buns to get for his burger. That same pesky lock of hair still out of place. She knew he would eventually run his hands through it, and then it would look all sexy and rumpled. Just like it did after they…Stop it!
Nicole pretended to read the headlines of the trash magazines by the register, but really, she watched every moved he made in the small grocery store. Will picked up a bag of buns and put them back before picking up another bag. Nicole rolled her eyes; he didn’t have a clue what to buy. His mother had tried, she really had. She’d insisted each of her sons know their way around the kitchen. But Will never picked up many more skills than sandwiches.
She picked up a big bag of M&M’s, paid for her groceries, and left not only the store, but her memories behind, as well. She looked back just before going through the door and smiled. Will still hadn’t made his bread selection. How cute. Stop!
CHAPTER TWELVE
Nicole sat at her tiny dining table, eating a meal she’d thrown together and thinking of the way she’d reacted to Will earlier, when she stopped mid bite and sniffed. Smoke. The charred smell came through the opened window and almost choked her.
It must be the new neighbors. The smell became even more intense, causing her eyes to water. She got up to close her window and saw smoke billow from the neighbor’s back door. Before she could decide if she should call the fire department, a smoking cast-iron frying pan flew through the door, followed by two burning oven mitts, and if she wasn’t mistaken, a few muffled but very colorful and inventive words.
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nbsp; Nicole giggled and stepped out her back door to get a better look as a large man darted out of the door and ran for the water hose to douse the flames. A large man that looked suspiciously familiar. Nicole narrowed her eyes and blood began to boil through her veins upon recognition. Will! She quickly stepped back inside her door before he saw her. Did he know she lived next door? She smacked her forehead with her hand. Of course he did. Later she’d examine why her heart sped up and began to flutter at the thought of Will’s living next to her.
She pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes, and slammed her back door in frustration. She marched back to the table, but her appetite had disappeared. The nerve of the man. Would he keep popping up wherever she went?
She knew when she heard the first knock on her door who would be standing on the other side. She closed her eyes and wished she could ignore him. But that would have been the old Nicole. Sugar wouldn’t avoid the obnoxious person.
At least when she opened her door, he had the good sense to look remorseful. Nicole crossed her arms and asked coldly, “What do you want?” She tried to remain totally unaffected by his nearness. Even through the smoky smell on his clothes, she could still get a whiff of his aftershave; the musky one, her favorite. Stop it!
“The dial on the stove said low heat. It lied. I burned my dinner.”
She bit her lip to keep from smiling. Will had the audacity to use his puppy dog eyes on her.
Nicole rolled her eyes and casually checked her nails to be sure none were chipped before the power of Will consumed and made her burn in places long dormant. “I know. It wasn’t hard to smell. What do you expect me to do about it?” She couldn’t care less that he’d burned his dinner.
“I noticed you were having spaghetti for dinner. It smells delicious.” He sounded hopeful, looking over her head and then giving her one of those smiles.
“Yeah, so?” Suddenly she didn’t like where the conversation was headed; he wouldn’t…
You Promised Me Forever (The Dirty Ankle Series Book 1) Page 13