Jane Austen Girl - A Timbell Creek Contemporary Romance

by Inglath Cooper

  He stood there against the door, thinking about his dad’s apathy. There had never been anything momentous that Kyle could pinpoint as a single cause. Instead, as he’d gotten older, he’d come to see in his dad something that terrified him more than a physical disease ever could have. Defeat. His dad had given up. Let life beat him. Finally admitted that he was never going to get ahead. The hill had gotten too steep, and he’d just stopped trying to climb it altogether.

  It was this realization that made Kyle wonder sometimes if he would ever really have another life. If he would struggle like a fish on the end of a hook, until, like his dad, he just one day gave up and accepted his fate.

  Not if he could help it. There were things he wanted in this world. Things he intended to have. And at the top of the list was respect. Respect for himself. And the respect of other people. Neither of which he’d ever seen in his dad.

  Kyle shoved out of his clothes, then went to the bathroom next to his room and took a hot shower. When he sat down at the desk he’d put together out of milk crates and an old table top, he picked up his cell phone and texted Andy. Don’t like it when you’re mad at me.

  He waited a few moments, and when there was no reply, he tossed the phone on his bed, and opened his science book.

  But he couldn’t concentrate. He kept thinking about Andy and how great she’d looked in that cocktail dress. . . evening dress. . .whatever the heck it was called. She never wore things like that. And even though he felt like he’d been looking at someone other than Andy, his heart kicked up a notch at the memory of her in it.

  Andy was the only real friend he’d ever had. The one person he’d shown all his emotional baggage to, piece by piece, until he’d thought for sure she’d back off big time. Not want anything to do with him.

  He thought about her happiness when she’d told him about the interview for that show. He’d been a jerk. There was pretty much no other word for it.

  But a date with a duke? How real could that be? Andy was so much better than something like that. He wondered sometimes if she could even see it, though.

  All through elementary school and junior high, he and Andy had been best friends. Their friendship was the one thing in his life he knew he could count on, and he valued it above everything else.

  But then last year, things had started to change. Andy didn’t seem as comfortable around him. He’d started to think maybe she was bored with him. And then this whole dating thing. Part of him felt like he ought to be able to talk to her about the girls he went out with. And part of him didn’t think it felt right at all.

  With the beginning of this school year, she’d started to pull away from him. Just little things at first. Not meeting him at their lockers in between classes. Not sitting together at lunch. Not studying together after school. And then not having time to get together on the weekend.

  It was like they were standing on opposite sides of a canyon that kept moving farther and farther apart. Sometimes, it felt like even if he shouted, she could no longer hear him.

  He slapped the book closed and blew out a heavy sigh. He wanted what they used to have back.

  He’d start tomorrow with an apology. And as for that stupid show? He’d be her biggest supporter. Because wasn’t that what friends did? Supported each other. Even when you didn’t always agree on what they were going after.

  By some accounts, a man gets exactly what he deserves in this life.

  Words of wisdom from Bobby Jack’s father on the day he died

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Bobby Jack met Andy at the door.

  “Where have you been?” he asked, trying to keep his voice level.

  Andy refrained from rolling her eyes. “Kyle brought me home, Daddy.”

  “Can’t he actually drive you up to the house?”

  “I wanted to walk.”

  Bobby Jack ignored the sass in her voice. “Why did you leave the Inn without telling your mama?”

  She gave him a look.

  “You should have told her where you were going.”

  “Sorry,” she said, even though her tone clearly said she wasn’t.

  She started up the steps, but he stopped her with, “So, how did it go?”

  “What do you care?” she asked.

  “Andy—”

  “It went fine. I made the first cut. I don’t know about the second yet. Sorry to disappoint you.”

  “That’s not fair. I never said I wanted you to lose.”

  “All but.”

  “No, I don’t want you getting your hopes up over some silly date with a royal jerk. What kind of duke needs to get a date that way, anyway?”

  She didn’t answer, disappearing at the top of the stairs.

  “Andy,” he called out, “did you forget Darryl Lee and the kids are coming over tonight?”

  “No, I didn’t forget,” she tossed back.

  “I’m getting the grill started. We need to get some tomatoes and onions cut up for the burgers.”

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  Bobby Jack sighed and headed for the kitchen. Yes, Daddy used to sound so sweet to him. Now it sounded like Whatever, Buzz-Kill.

  The cookout hadn’t been his idea. In fact, it was the last thing he wanted to do, considering his current level of aggravation with his brother. But he’d hoped it might cheer Andy up. She loved her cousins, and they thought she all but walked on water.

  He glanced at his watch. And they would be here in fifteen minutes.

  He got busy pulling dishes from the cabinets, locating some napkins, forks and knives, pulling a case of Coke from the pantry. The doorbell rang. He frowned. It wasn’t like Darryl Lee to be early for anything, but he guessed there could be a first time.

  All the way to the front door, he warned himself against getting into it with his brother.

  But it wasn’t Darryl Lee and the boys standing on his front porch. It was Grier McAllister.

  “Hi,” she said, holding up a familiar looking purse and looking awkward in a way he didn’t imagine she often did. “Andy left this in the meeting room at the Inn. I thought she might need it.”

  He took it from her, words tangling on the end of his tongue. “Thanks,” he finally managed. “Did you want to see her?”

  “That’s not necessary. I just thought I would drop it off.”

  “Okay, then. Thanks again.”

  Footsteps clattered down the stairs behind him.

  Andy bulldozed her way in between him and the doorframe. “Ms. McAllister! What are you doing here?”

  Grier smiled. “You left your purse at the Inn. I just dropped it off.”

  Bobby Jack swung the purse in front of Andy.

  She smacked at it. “Daddy!”

  Grier’s smile grew.

  “Thank you,” Andy said, looking embarrassed.

  “You’re welcome,” Grier said, opening the car door and starting to get in.

  “Would you like to stay for dinner?” Andy called after her.

  Stunned into silence, Bobby Jack stared first at Andy, then at Grier.

  “Oh, that’s all right,” Grier said. “I better get back.”

  “No, really. It’ll be fun,” Andy insisted. “We’re cooking out on the grill.”

  Bobby Jack started to speak, then stopped. This was the first time she’d made any mention of the plans for the night being anything close to resembling fun.

  Andy jogged out and took Grier by the arm, tugging her back towards the house. “Come on, really. You could use some good home-cooked food, I bet. You probably don’t get that in New York City.”

  Grier looked at Bobby Jack, as if certain he would axe the idea. But he surprised even himself when he shrugged and said, “We have plenty.”

  Grier opened her mouth, as if to protest again, then promptly closed it. “Well, then, thanks.”

  Andy led the way to the kitchen. Flo was stretched out on the rug next to the table. She lifted her head, looked at Grier and thunked her tail once in greeting before
promptly going back to sleep.

  “Once Flo’s called it a night,” Andy said, “she doesn’t get up for much of anything.”

  “I never realized hounds were so laid back,” Grier said.

  “Unless Daddy’s heading for the truck. And then you’ll never beat her to the front door.”

  Grier laughed. “Is there anything I can help with?”

  “You can cut up the onions,” Andy said with an impish grin.

  “Sure,” Grier said. “They don’t make me cry.” She began peeling, and then used the cutting board and knife Andy passed to her for slicing.

  Watching them, Bobby Jack felt at a loss for what to do with himself so he got busy in the backyard getting the grill going.

  He came back a few minutes later to find that Darryl Lee and his three boys, Jake, Joe and Jameson had arrived. He wasn’t sure who looked more shell-shocked, Darryl Lee or Grier.

  Andy made the introductions with the boys, and they politely shook Grier’s hand, each adding on a nice-to-meet-cha.

  Watching Grier’s reaction to Darryl Lee was like watching a cage door close behind a lioness. She was clearly determined to find a way out. And yet, it was as if Andy had picked up on this, and was heading her off at the pass.

  “Grier’s staying for dinner, Uncle Darryl Lee.”

  “Is she now?” Darryl Lee asked with that woman-snagging smile of his. “Well, surprises never stop around here, do they?”

  Grier looked at Andy. “You know, Andy, I really do have to —”

  “Are you finished with those onions yet, Ms. McAllister?” Andy interrupted.

  Bobby Jack couldn’t begin to guess what Andy’s agenda was, but it was clear that she had one.

  “Darryl Lee,” Bobby Jack said.

  Darryl Lee looked up and gave Bobby Jack a nod. “Thanks for having us over, brother.”

  “Hey, boys,” Bobby Jack said, ruffling their hair and giving them a hug.

  “Hey, Uncle Bobby Jack,” each of them chimed in unison.

  “Can we go play out back?”

  “Sure you can,” Bobby Jack said.

  “Y’all be careful on those swings,” Darryl Lee called out after them as they headed for the door.

  “Dreama couldn’t make it?” Bobby Jack said pointedly.

  “Bobby Jack, you know dang well Dreama and I have been living apart for the past two months.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” Bobby Jack said evenly.

  “Where’s that pretty little nurse you’ve been seeing after church on Sundays?” Darryl Lee asked, deadpan.

  Bobby Jack pinned him with a look. “I would imagine she’s at home.”

  “Well, you should have invited her tonight. Then we could have coupled things up,” he said with a suggestive glance at Grier.

  Grier raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think so.”

  Andy stood watching all of this as if she’d just stumbled across a steamy soap channel on the cable box.

  Disgusted with himself for participating, Bobby Jack opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a platter of hamburger patties.

  Darryl Lee looked at them, then glanced at Grier. “You still vegetarian?”

  “Yes, I am, but I’ll be fine with tomatoes and onions.”

  “I’d be happy to fix you something else,” Bobby Jack said.

  “Actually, I love tomato sandwiches,” she said.

  “All right then,” he said and headed outside for the grill. The boys were romping and playing on the swing set, making enough noise to warrant a pair of earplugs if he’d had them.

  A minute later, Grier appeared beside the stone based grill. “This is really awkward,” she said. “Would you mind if I—”

  “If you want to go, I totally understand. But don’t let him run you off.”

  The idea seemed to sting because she said, “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.” But something in her tone told Bobby Jack differently.

  “I remember when you two dated in high school.”

  “Some things are better forgotten,” she said.

  “Darryl Lee’s always had a way with the girls.”

  “Girls plural,” she said.

  Bobby Jack laughed. “I never did think you seemed like his type.”

  “You barely ever saw me. How would you know whether I was his type or not?”

  He hesitated, and then, “I knew who you were.”

  The admission seemed to startle her, leaving her at a loss for words. “Oh, I, well, you were older, and I guess I never dreamed you knew I was alive.”

  “A lot of guys knew you were alive, Grier.” He glanced at her face, saw the color staining her cheeks.

  “You’re making me blush,” she said.

  He laughed, flipping a burger. “Well, it’s true.”

  They looked at each other, wary, assessing. And maybe that was the moment that it clicked deep inside him. Some little spark of something that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Attraction. Real attraction.

  Darryl Lee slapped open the back porch door and took the stairs to the patio two at a time. “Y’all got it going on out here?”

  He looked at them both as if wondering what they’d been up to.

  “Just about,” Bobby Jack said. He placed another round of burgers on the grill and then closed the lid.

  The three boys ran up, Joe tugging at Darryl Lee’s sleeve. “Daddy! Will you and Uncle Bobby Jack give us a piggy back fight?”

  “Awww, I don’t know if we’re up to that tonight, son.”

  “Dadddy, pleaassee!”

  “Bobby Jack?” Darryl Lee said.

  “Okay.”

  The two youngest boys went first, Joe hopping on Darryl Lee’s back, Jake climbing aboard Bobby Jack’s.

  Andy came outside and stood beside Jameson while the two boys began jerking Darryl Lee and Bobby Jack all across the yard as one tried to unseat the other.

  Grier and Andy laughed, watching them, and Bobby Jack found himself catching Grier’s gaze more than once before he and his brother ended up in a heap on the grass, giggling boys piled on top of them.

  I've decided the kind of man I want

  in my life doesn't actually exist.

  Why bother continuing to look?

  Grier to her assistant Amy just last week

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Grier was starving by the time they sat down to eat on the stone patio. Andy had covered the wrought iron table with a beautiful country French tablecloth. The table held plump sour dough buns warmed in the oven, a platter of tomatoes and onions, a roasting pan of sweet potato French fries. The grilled burgers held court in the center.

  Bobby Jack said the blessing before they ate, and Grier couldn’t be sure, but she thought Andy had deliberately seated her next to him, putting Darryl Lee at the other end of the table, surrounded by his boys. Darryl Lee seemed to have noticed because he was looking at his brother now with a suspicious glare.

  “Let’s eat,” Bobby Jack said, picking up a platter and passing it to Grier.

  She took one of the buns and began making her own veggie sandwich, noticing as Andy copied her choices.

  “What’s it like to live in New York City, Ms. McAllister?” Andy asked.

  “Please, call me Grier,” Grier said.

  Andy nodded.

  “It’s exciting, most of the time.”

  “Isn’t there always something new and fun to do?”

  “There are a lot of things to do there, that’s for sure.”

  “Do you just meet like the most incredible people every day?”

  Grier smiled. “Well, not every day.”

  “I think it would be an amazing place to live.”

  “It has its good points and its bad,” Grier conceded.

  “Isn’t that what you always wanted, Grier?” Darryl Lee piped up. “To live in a big city?”

  “I suppose so,” she said.

  “Or was it that you just wanted to live somewhere other than here?” D
arryl Lee added.

  “There’s some truth to that, too,” Grier answered.

  “Timbell Creek isn’t exactly the most exciting place on earth,” Andy said.

  Grier glanced at Bobby Jack who looked as if he wanted to argue, but restrained himself. “There’s a lot to be said for living in a place where you know everybody and somebody’s always watching out for you,” she said.

  “We have another word for that,” Andy said. “Busybodies. This town’s full of them.”

  “Now, Andy, is that fair?” Bobby Jack spoke up.

  “Well, it’s true,” Andy said.

  “Most of those people just care about you.”

  “Yeah, well, I could do with a little less caring,” Andy answered.

  “When you live in a big place like New York,” Grier said, “you kind of have to get used to fending for yourself.”

  “I would like that,” Andy said. “What do you do there? What’s your typical day like?”

  “I doubt if all the men at this table really want to hear about that,” Grier said.

  “Well, I do,” Andy objected.

  “Go ahead,” Bobby Jack said, “we’d like to hear.”

  The boys were done with their burgers now, and Jake asked if they could go play.

  Darryl Lee said, “Sure, son,” and the three bolted up from the table and resumed their wrestling in the middle of the yard.

  “I usually work with people interested in refining their look, whether they’re pursuing an acting career or applying for a higher level job and want to go at it with a new level of confidence.”

  “Have you worked with anyone who’s gotten famous?” Andy asked.

  “Yeah,” Grier said. “I have.”

  “Who?”

  She unraveled a couple of names while Andy sat back, staring at her with her mouth open.

  “You’re kidding!”

  “No,” Grier said, laughing. “Everyone has to start somewhere.”

  “But he’s such a great dresser now.”

  “You should have seen the plaid pants he wore to our first meeting.”

  Andy laughed.

  “So you basically teach people how to dress?” Darryl Lee said.