“Oh, stop. You know it was all in good fun. We were rooting for you the entire time,” she said with a sweet smile. “Although it seems a little anticlimactic that we won’t get to see you kiss her and catch her at the booth. That would have been the best way to end that chapter.” Hailey turned when Ty walked over and almost purred when he wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Is she giving you a hard time?” Ty asked with a grin.
“No more than usual,” Will said, but he was grinning too.
“I was just telling him that we’re all bummed that we’re not going to have anything to bet on this year. I was certain that this was going to be the festival where he got the girl!”
Ty shook his head and laughed softly. “But he already got the girl, so…victory.”
“But the town’s been so involved!” she cried softly. “It just would have been nice if…”
“Hales? Let it go,” Ty said, kissing her on the head. “And just for the record,” he said to Will, “the town is just fine with the way things turned out.”
Now he chuckled. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“I saw what she did with Dylan’s website,” Hailey said before they walked away. “She does good work. We didn’t talk about that too much – work is a taboo subject when we’re out having fun – but I can almost guarantee she’d have a lot of clients if she decided she wanted to do a little more freelance work. I gave her my number so she could call if she was interested. Just FYI…”
“You’re amazing, Hales. You know that, right?”
She beamed at the compliment. “Of course I do,” she teased and then kissed him on the cheek. “Now go get the girl and go home. I’m sure we’ve talked her ear off and she needs someone to kiss it and make it better.”
He straightened and grinned. “I’m just the man for the job.”
Ten
“WHAT A GREAT night!” Serena said with a happy sigh as they walked through Will’s front door. “This was exactly what I needed after such a crappy day.” She kicked off her shoes and went over and flopped down on Will’s couch. “Your friends are amazing. Truly amazing. So nice. So funny. I’m kind of surprised that Peyton wasn’t there. That could have been interesting.”
She was babbling and she knew it but she couldn’t help it. It had been a great night and for the first time in weeks, she felt completely relaxed – in a way that hadn’t directly involved Will and his bed. Just the thought of those two things had her sliding him a sexy grin.
Sitting down beside her, Will pulled her close as he wrapped his arm around her. “I’m glad you had fun. It was a great night.”
“Mm-hmm…”
“Everybody loved you.”
“Mmm…” she purred and then sat straight up. “Well damn.”
His eyes went a little wide. “What? What’s the matter?”
“We were supposed to be celebrating you and we never did!” She pouted. “I’m sorry!”
Chuckling, he tucked her back at his side and kissed the top of her head. “We celebrated just fine. The guys and I talked about it – we even had a toast to it – but it was while you and the girls were dancing to that Elle King song.”
“Why didn’t you wait for us?”
“Because we figured we wanted to keep this quiet for a little longer and the more attention we drew to it, the less likely that would be to happen.”
Without a word, Serena jumped up from the couch and walked to the kitchen. She was surprised that Will hadn’t followed her, but she was quick. Finding the things she wanted, she strolled back into the living room.
“Nice,” he said, laughing.
“I think it makes a statement.” With a grin, she handed him a can of soda and a wine glass and then went about pouring her own soda into her glass. “It’s fizzy, it’s cold and non-alcoholic. The perfect end to the night.”
“Caffeine?” he teased.
“Okay, maybe not perfect, but I was going more for the fizz.” She sat back down beside him and raised her glass. “To you, Will, and to your dreams coming true.”
They touched glasses and Serena giggled at the sound and then they drank. She’d barely had a sip when Will took the glass from her hand and placed it on the coffee table. Rising, he took her hand and with his eyes on her, led her to the bedroom.
As soon as he closed the door, she was in his arms and he was kissing her and she had to silently ask herself just whose dream was coming true.
****
They spent the entire weekend as if they were on some sort of vacation. They drove for hours just for the sake of sightseeing. They ate out at every meal and at the end of each day, they came back to Will’s and spent the night making love.
Best vacation ever, Will thought.
Although, that wasn’t quite right. The best vacation would probably be someplace tropical where they could listen to the waves crashing on the shore and not have to worry about anything for about a solid week. He could picture Serena in a bathing suit on the sand – and without one – with the sun beating down on her and a smile on her face.
Yeah…that would be damn-near perfect.
And he made a mental note to work on that and feel her out on where her dream vacation spot would be.
Unfortunately, life quickly became less like a vacation and was replaced by an exhausting reality that consisted of work, work and more work.
Things began to move fast on the expansion of Dylan’s – and now also Will’s – business. Sapphire Falls Auto Care was garnering a lot of attention due to all of the permit requests and before Will knew it, crews were circling the building and marking out the space for the new body shop bay that would be somewhat separate from the rest of the bays.
He was putting in extra hours and although he was tired, it was a good kind of tired – the kind that left him sore and happy rather than miserable. It was a good feeling.
Serena was having her fair share of work-related issues as well. Her boss had taken her sick day personally and added a lot more work to her plate – but not the kind she wanted. Every night they talked on the phone and she would gripe about it. It was as if the guy was having an adult version of a temper tantrum and had her doing all of the grunt work around the office – filing, making copies, and running for coffee for everyone – while still giving her the crap design jobs.
Small-town living meant that Will saw almost everyone who lived in Sapphire Falls throughout the week and he had started to feel out the local businesses – see who might need some graphic design work.
And it seemed like everyone did or knew someone who did. At last count, Will had a dozen customers who would love to work with Serena. It didn’t even take much to convince them. The only one who required convincing was Serena.
Which he would put some serious effort into – just as soon as he found a little extra time to breathe.
****
“You’re not coming? Again?” he asked three weeks later.
She knew he wasn’t happy with her plans to skip her weekly trip to see him, but…she just couldn’t swing it. And honestly, she was a little miffed that he was copping an attitude with her over it. Other than two weekends where Will came to Lincoln early on in their relationship, she was always in Sapphire Falls. The Friday-night drives there were always rough because she had to drive through Lincoln at rush hour so it took almost twice as long to get to his house. And as much as she tried to get ahead on her work, her boss was a stickler about her not leaving early.
She hated her job more and more each day. Will kept giving her leads on clients that would love to utilize her skills, but…she still wasn’t feeling confident about taking that step. Plus, everyone he referred her to was in Sapphire Falls. Not that she didn’t love it there. She did. And the people were great – the few that she’d actually gotten to meet – but she was a stickler about wanting to make some connections in a big city.
Will would argue that Sapphire Falls was big – not Lincoln big, but big enough – and that i
t was all in her head about needing to be successful in her home city. Was she? Was she psyching herself out over something so trivial? Wouldn’t getting started in a small town help her build her portfolio of work? Wouldn’t…?
“Serena?”
Oh. Right. “I know you’re disappointed about this weekend, Will. I’ve just got a lot on my plate right now and I need some down time at my own place to take care of some things. Laundry’s piled up, the refrigerator is empty and all of the things I normally do on the weekends, I haven’t because I’m away by you. You understand that, right?”
He sighed. “I guess. I just…I feel like…” He paused. “I don’t know. I guess I feel like you’re backing off and I don’t understand why. Did I do something wrong?”
It was weird to be on the receiving end of this conversation. That was a line she knew she’d used on previous boyfriends when they pulled away.
“Long-distance relationships are hard, Will. Especially when…” She stopped herself. Not wanting to open that can of worms right now. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with him. “They’re just hard.”
“No, you had something else you were going to say, Serena. What’s going on?”
“Will…”
“We’ve always been honest with each other, Serena. Always,” he added softly.
And then she was. Honest. Sort of. She told him about her frustrations about the traveling being fairly one-sided and how it was wearing thin. Then she went on to talk about all of the things that were a draw for Lincoln and how even though she didn’t love everything about it, it was still her home and that it would only be fair if he gave it as much of a try as she’d given Sapphire Falls.
“I don’t know what to say to all of that,” Will said when she was done. “I guess I thought…I thought you enjoyed coming here.”
“I do, Will. I really do. But…sometimes I need to take care of things here. My job is here. My friends are here. My family is here. And with everything moving forward with the body shop, it sounds like you’re going to need to be spending even more time close to Sapphire Falls.”
He sighed. “I will…I mean, I have to. The shop, the expansion…well, it’s important to me, Serena. You’re important to me.”
“You’re important to me too, Will. Maybe…maybe we just need a couple of weeks apart to re-evaluate things.”
He was silent for so long that Serena began to worry. She was about to say something when he gruffly said, “Yeah. Maybe we do.”
And even though she knew it was the smart and logical decision, it still felt incredibly wrong because she wasn’t completely honest. The truth was, she was scared. Her feelings for Will were so strong and overwhelming that…that she knew if she spent too much time with him, she’d end up blurting out the truth.
She was in love with him.
Hopelessly and completely in love with him.
It was different than what she’d ever felt – she knew that now. But it was scary nonetheless.
They were opposites in so many ways but she found that she kind of enjoyed it. And the things that they had in common were amazing. He cooked for her. No man had ever done that before. And when they were together, he made her feel like she was the most important person in the world. Something else that no man had ever done before.
So why was she balking?
Why was she freaking out and backing down?
Why…? She sighed loudly, her head resting on the arm of the couch she was sitting on.
It was time to have a serious talk with someone who knew her. Really knew her. Someone who could straighten her ass out and make her see things clearly.
Her straight-talking, no filters, no-holds-barred cousin.
It was time to call Peyton.
Eleven
“WAIT…WHAT? YOU’VE been holding out on me? How did that happen?”
Serena sighed and sat down on her couch and got comfortable. Conversations with Peyton were rarely quick and she had a feeling that now that she was finally coming clean, they’d be talking for a while.
“Oh come on,” Serena began. “Will has mentioned the gossip grapevine in Sapphire Falls on several occasions. You can’t honestly say that this is brand new information to you. I’ve met half the people in town.”
Peyton made a non-committal sound. “Which still doesn’t answer why you were keeping this a secret from me.”
“At first, I really didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t think I’d find him. And…might I point out…you knew who he was all along and you never told me. So just on principle, I didn’t want to tell you. I wanted to do this on my own, without any interference, and see where it led.”
“And?” Peyton prompted anxiously. “Where did it lead?”
Ugh…where did she even begin? “I’m crazy about him.”
“Really?” Peyton cried giddily. “That’s awesome! This means we’ll be seeing more of each other and you’ll be around so much more and no more sneaking around during the festivals…oh, Serena! This is great!”
“Seriously?”
Peyton was quiet for a moment. “What? What did I say?”
“For three years you’ve basically encouraged me to kiss and run, and like an idiot I listened! Now you’re all on board with this? Why? Do you have any idea…?”
A sigh was the immediate response. “Okay…here’s the thing,” Peyton began, her tone mildly cautious. “At first, you weren’t ready for a new relationship. You were just barely processing that breakup. I had no idea you were going to go so crazy over one kiss from Will.”
“He’s a really good kisser…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…so you’ve said. For years. Anyway, I wanted you to see that you can be fun and flirty and not have to jump into another relationship. And then…I don’t know…it was just kind of a fun thing we did. Maybe it was childish, but…I kind of enjoyed it.”
Serena sighed again. “At the time? It was. But it was humiliating to have to admit that to Will.”
“Was he mad?”
“A little, I think. From what he’s told me, it became – he became – sort of the town joke. I feel horrible about that.”
Peyton chuckled. “Don’t feel too bad, he took it like a champ and – from what you’ve said - it seems like he’s over it. So are you coming to town this weekend?”
“No.”
“Oh…how come? Is Will coming by you?”
“No.”
Now it was Peyton’s turn to sigh. “Seriously, Serena. I’m going to need more than single syllables here.”
“I’m sort of…kind of…I’m having some doubts.”
“About Will? Why? He’s a great guy. That’s what you’ve been rambling on about for the last fifteen minutes. Did I miss something?”
It took every ounce of strength she had to not go off on her cousin about all the time she lost with Will because she didn’t know what a great guy he was and remind her whose fault that was! So after mentally counting to ten, she explained about the traveling back and forth, Will’s schedule and his reluctance to come to her and…
“And I hate cars.”
“I’m sorry…um, what?”
Now that she’d said it out loud, Serena realized how stupid that sounded. “I hate cars. I hate talking about them. I could not care less about how they run or what kind of engines they have or all the ways you can enhance the horsepower. I mean…who cares?”
“Um…most people?” Peyton suggested. “How can you hate cars? You own a car, right?”
“Don’t be a moron,” Serena said wearily. “Yes, I have a car, but…it’s just a car. A means of transportation. I don’t need to talk about it all the damn time. And trust me, Will talks about cars all the time. And now he’s going to invest in Dylan’s shop and they’re going to start doing auto body work and…”
“I heard! Everyone’s really psyched about it. I think it’s great! Will’s really good with cars and I’ve heard he has some serious skills in the auto body department…”
“Focus, Peyton!”
“Fine. Whatever. So…you’re telling me that you’re thinking of…what…breaking things off with Will because you don’t like cars? Wow. Shallow much?”
“Ugh, I know. I know. But…I don’t know. Maybe the timing’s off. Maybe I waited too long. He’s going to be busy with the business and I’m stuck here with this crappy job and trying to figure out my own shit.” She paused. “It was fun while it lasted I guess.”
Silence.
And more silence.
And still more silence.
“Uh…Peyton? You there?”
“I am so disappointed in you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Like beyond disappointed.”
Yeah. Serena couldn’t argue with her. “Me too.”
“Then why? What’s really going on?”
Serena cursed under her breath before she even tried to get her thoughts together. After a minute, she said, “Do you remember why we started this whole thing with the kissing booth?”
“Uh, yeah. Duh. We’ve been talking about that this whole time,” Peyton said, her voice laced with sarcasm.
“Yeah, well…then you know how I am. I jump in right away and then end up…you know.”
“Oh,” Peyton said slowly, thoughtfully. “Okay, so you’re second-guessing all of this. Like you’re thinking that you’re not really in love with Will. But you are.”
“How do you even know?” Serena said wearily. “Just a few minutes ago you had no idea that Will and I were even dating.”
“Sweetie, please,” she replied with a chuckle. “Do you think word didn’t spread around town pretty much immediately? It’s all everyone’s been talking about. We’re all kind of a little bummed that we’re not going to be able to see what stops Will was going to pull out at the Halloween festival to get you to stay.”
Unable to help herself, Serena growled with frustration. “Seriously, Peyton! What the hell?!”
“You’re not the only one who wanted to see how it went,” she said lightly. “I thought…when you’re ready, you’d tell me. And now you have.”
Sapphire FallsGoing To Be Yours Page 7