June hands me a glass of iced tea, then collapses into the rocking chair beside me.
"Seriously, I should be getting that for you, you know," I say, taking a sip. "I don't know how you're running around after little Stan and taking care of a new baby and keeping up with the bed and breakfast. And making iced tea."
June laughs. "Well, Cade has been immensely helpful," she says. "He's my saving grace, really. He's cutting back on hours at the bike shop, and has taken up more around the house and at the B&B. He's inside right now, doing daddy duty with Callie so I can enjoy a little girl time."
I watch as Olivia takes a plastic car and runs it over the sandcastle Stan is building in the sand box, and he lets out an ear-piercing scream. "And peaceful kid time," I say. "Olivia, that is not nice. Tell him sorry."
June laughs as Olivia wraps her arms around Stan, which immediately appeases the easy-going kid. "I think this is as relaxing as it's going to get for a while," she says. "The bed and breakfast has been busier lately, especially since River moved to West Bend, and Cade has had more demand for custom paint jobs the past month or so."
"That's great, right?" I ask. River Andrews is a movie star, a big one, and she stayed at June's bed and breakfast when she first came out to West Bend. Then she fell in love with a guy from the town and moved here. Supposedly, a studio is making a movie out of it. It's like a fairytale romance. June's bed and breakfast has gotten a big boost in tourist traffic because of River.
June sips from her glass. "When it rains, it pours, right?" she says. "Anyway, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Being a surgeon was good training for parenthood – at least for the sleep deprivation part of things, anyway."
"I'm really not sure I can picture you as a Navy surgeon," I say, looking at the June I know here, the one who's so laid-back, calm, and casual.
"Says the woman with an MBA from Wharton who ran a multi-million dollar bourbon company," June says, laughing.
"Uh-huh." I sip my iced tea again. "That was my family's company, not mine. And I ran a department, not the company. It's not nearly the same."
June holds up her glass. "Well, cheers to new beginnings and leaving behind prior lives. And to leaving dirtbag exes."
"I'll definitely toast to that."
"Stan, do not pour that on Olivia's head or you're getting out of the sandbox," June says, her tone warning. Olivia bats a cup out of his hand and laughs as it falls into the sand with a thunk. "Speaking of new beginnings…"
"Yes?" I ask innocently, even though I already know the question June is about to ask. It's been almost two weeks since our last play date with the kids, since I cancelled last week. I know she's heard through the grapevine by now – one of the side benefits of running a bed and breakfast is having a direct line to all of the town gossip – that Luke is working at the orchard.
Besides, West Bend isn't exactly the kind of place where you can keep a secret, not with Mary Lou at the bakery or Alice at the salon, two of the biggest busybodies in the world. They always have their fingers on the pulse of the town, and are only too happy to go spreading information. And Luke Saint isn't the kind of guy whose arrival goes unnoticed in a small town like West Bend.
Or anywhere really, I'd imagine.
"I heard you have some help at the orchard," June says. Her comment sounds innocent but it's laden with all of the implication of one friend's interest in another's dating life. Or lack of a dating life, to be more accurate.
"Yep." I sip my iced tea, almost hoping one of the kids will pour a cup of sand over the other one's head, just for the distraction, but they're playing too contentedly to be bothered with my internal angst about the sexy younger man working for me.
"Oh, cut the coy crap, Autumn Mayburn," June says. "I've known you for two years now, since you turned up in West Bend, and I think I have a pretty good idea now of what makes you blush. And I've never seen you blush, not one single time, over a guy in this town. Not even when I tried to set you up with Billy Horton. And here you are, blushing when I mention the new guy working for you."
"Billy Horton was not as hot as Luke Saint," I blurt out, and immediately slap my hand over my mouth.
Damn it. Where the hell did that come from?
June squeals and claps her hands together, and the kids echo her squeal, as if they're in on the secret, then turn back to babbling to each other in the sandbox. "I knew it," she says. "As soon as I heard he was there, I knew it."
"There's nothing to know. Nothing. Absolutely nothing," I protest.
"Nothing," June says, laughing. "That's why you've said the same word three times."
"What do you know about him?"
"Oh, now you're curious?" June asks. "I thought there was nothing going on."
"I'm asking for purely professional reasons. He's my employee."
"Uh-huh," she says. "I don't know him."
"But you know everyone in this town," I say, trying to sound disinterested and failing miserably.
June shakes her head. "I've never even met him. But I've met his brother. I’m familiar with the family.”
The way she says it, I know not to pry about the dealings June has had with the Saints. When June shuts down a conversation, it’s shut down. But it makes me wonder what kind of family Luke comes from. "He has a brother?"
June nods. "Three," she says. "They're pretty legendary around here."
I can't imagine anyone who looks like Luke – or swaggers around like he's God's gift to women – not being legendary in a town like this. "I'd imagine so."
"Well, if he looks anything like Elias, I can see why you're all flushed right now."
"That's the heat," I lie. "It's unseasonably warm out here."
June laughs. "Like hell it is," she says. "It's damn cold. Just admit it. You've got the hots for him. You wouldn't be the first girl to lose her mind over a man. Shoot, River Andrews gave up everything for Elias Saint."
I'm momentarily distracted from vehemently protesting my attraction toward Luke by the mention of River Andrews. "The actress? She's with Luke's brother?"
"The one and only," June says. "She's really very nice."
"Luke never said anything about his brother dating a famous actress." Of course, why would he? I remind myself that I know virtually nothing about him.
"Oh?" June asks, her interest clearly piqued. "Have you been talking to Luke? I thought he was just your employee."
"No. Yes. A little bit. I'm just…curious, that's all."
"Uh-huh."
"He's young."
June chuckles under her breath. "Young means he has stamina."
"And that he's immature."
"So?" she asks. "How many dates have you been on in the last two years?"
"Dating?" I ask, my voice a squeal. "We're not talking about dating. I didn't mention dating."
But she ignores me. "Zero. You've been on a grand total of zero dates, even though I've tried to set you up. You're basically a nun, holed up there in your orchard like you've taken a vow of celibacy."
"I have a baby," I protest, my voice indignant. "And a fledgling business to run."
"Your business isn't fledgling anymore," June says. "And in case you haven't noticed, Olivia is getting bigger. You could use a little fun." She pauses when she sees the expression on my face. "I say all of this with love, obviously."
"Yeah, I can tell. Saying I need to – " My voice drops to a whisper. "Have a fling with the teenage hottie I hired to be a foreman sounds like a super responsible thing to do."
"He's hardly a teenager," June says, laughing. "And a fling sounds like exactly what you need. It wouldn't hurt you to get some."
"Who's getting some?" A male voice booms from behind us, startling me, and I turn to see June's husband Cade, walking with Callie in his arms, wrapped in a warm cotton blanket.
"Cade, take her back in the nursery if she's sleeping," June chides. "It's too chilly for her to be out here, even wrapped up in that blanket."
"Hush, woman," C
ade says, the edges of his lips curled up in a smile. "I don't want to put her down. Let me be proud papa if I want to be. I'll bring her back inside in a minute. Besides, I'm toasty warm."
June rolls her eyes and sighs, but she smiles and pats Cade on the arm as he slides into the chair beside her. The way she looks at him and then at their children, like they're the center of her world, makes me simultaneously happy for her and jealous of her.
I don't know what Cade's story is exactly. June is quiet about his past, mentioned in passing once that he used to run as part of an outlaw biker club out in California – the Inferno Motorcycle Club. The sleeves of tattoos that run up his arms, down the back of his neck, hint at his past. He's a good man, though. And he adores June and the kids.
So maybe, just maybe, Cade is proof that bad boys are capable of settling down and becoming good men.
"I'm not interrupting any girl talk, am I?" Cade asks. Olivia's high-pitched squeal cuts through his question. "Come on, Stan, don't put dirt in her hair. When she screams, she's telling you clear as day she doesn't like it. Put the shovel down."
"Nope, you're not interrupting," I say, too quickly. "At all."
"I was just telling Autumn she should have a little fun," June says.
"June," I warn.
"Oh God, this is girl talk," Cade says. "I should go back inside – that's what you're saying, right?"
"Luke Saint is working the orchard." June looks at Cade meaningfully.
"If there's one thing in life I've learned this far, it's when to keep my mouth shut about things and stay out of people's business, June-bug," Cade says. "That might be some good advice for you, you know."
"Oh shut your mouth." June slaps him playfully on the arm. "She's single. He's single. And he's also hot."
"Oh, so my wife is telling you Luke Saint is hot, is she?" Cade asks.
"More like the other way around, sweetheart," June says.
"Luke Saint is telling you you're hot?" Cade asks.
"Shut up," she says. "You know what I mean. Autumn is telling me how irresistible Luke Saint is."
"Oh my God, that's not true," I protest. "Well, I mean, it's true, but it's irrelevant. And seriously, when did my visit turn into an interrogation about my dating life?"
"Non-existent dating life," June says pointedly.
"Okay, my non-existent dating life. The very full, very busy, very scheduled, very orderly non-existent dating life that I have. I have a routine."
"See?" Cade asks. "She has a routine, June-bug. Leave her alone. You're starting to become as bad one of the ladies down at the hair salon."
"Oh my God, I am not."
Cade leans forward, Isabella in his arms, looking around June at me. "Luke Saint. I don't know him, but I know of him. His brother Elias is seeing the actress, River Andrews," he says. "Elias is a good guy. Ex-Navy. You want me to check this Luke guy out?"
"Yes," June says, grinning.
"No!" I protest.
"Didn't you check him out when you hired him?" she asks.
Did I check him out? A flush comes over me at the thought of how very well I checked him out, from his chiseled jawline to his muscled chest to the way his ass looked as he walked away in his jeans.
June giggles. "Forget it," she says. "I can tell by your reaction that you've been doing a lot of checking him out."
"Shush, you." I wave dismissively at her, focusing my attention on Cade. "Okay, fine. What do you know about Luke?"
"Nothing really," Cade says. "Aside from the business with his family."
"What happened with his family?"
"Well, I assume that's why he's back in West Bend," Cade says. "At least, that's why Elias came back here. Their dad died a little while back, some kind of accident in an illegal mine on their property. Their mother killed herself after that – guess she couldn’t handle being apart from him or something. No big loss there, when it came to the dad. Dad was a mean sonofabitch. Angry drunk, evil through and through. Everyone knew that, even back when I was a kid."
"Ahem," June says, throwing a warning look at Cade, then back at the kids in the sandbox. "Language."
"Did you know the brothers, when you were growing up here?" I ask.
June tosses Cade another one of those looks. “Cade,” she says. I’m not sure what the warning look is about, but there’s clearly some kind of past history that June has with the Saint family.
“Not really, aside from the dad being mean,” he says. “Didn’t think much of them, but Elias has grown on me. If Luke’s anything like his brother, he’s probably a decent enough guy. That father of theirs, though, was a real piece of work.”
"And no one said anything," June says, shaking her head.
"West Bend is one of those places," Cade says. "Justice tends to get doled out outside of the regular channels. West Bend has always been old school like that."
"Is that what happened to the dad?" I ask. "Justice got doled out?"
Cade shrugs. "I doubt it," he says. "I'm sure he fell down the mine shaft or something. But I'd imagine there were plenty of people who'd like to see him dead."
"Well, Autumn has the hots for Luke," June says. "And I was trying to convince her that she should go for it."
"June!" I protest. Except I know what she's saying is true. The fact is, ever since I laid eyes on him, I haven't been able to stop thinking about him. The trouble is, I can't act on it. Acting on it would be a total and complete disaster.
CHAPTER NINE
Luke
"I figured you'd be running headlong out of town by now." Killian doesn't move his head, just faces forward, his gaze seemingly directed toward the wall opposite us in Bud's Bar, a wall that's covered in twenty years worth of dirt and grime. He gives me a glance out of the corner of his eyes, or maybe I just imagine that he's looking for a reaction from me.
And I'm not going to give him one. My brother Killian has always had an uncanny ability to read me like an open book, and the last thing I want to do is talk to him about Autumn. Shit, I don't even want to think about Autumn. Thinking about that girl is giving me the biggest case of blue balls known to man.
"Well, I'm still here," I answer, my tone short. The words leave my mouth, sounding defensive.
"Uh-huh," Killian says, still looking ahead. He takes a long pull on the glass bottle, a local craft brew that's way too hipster for my roughneck brother to be drinking, but Killian has never been one to care much about trends or social convention. "That's why you're taking a job out at the Mayburn place."
"Another?" The owner, Bud himself, saves me from having to scramble for a reasonable justification for Killian about why the hell I'm sticking around here in town. Why the hell am I sticking around in West Bend, anyway? I tell myself that I'm here to find out what's going on with my mother's suicide, but that's not nearly all there is to it.
Not now, anyway. Not since I started working at the Mayburn place.
I nod, and Bud pops the top on a bottle and sets it in front of me at the bar. "You boys sticking 'round here a while more?"
The question catches me off guard and I look at the old man blankly. He shuffles down to the other side of the bar, a wet towel in hand, wiping the edge of the bar top half-heartedly, as if it's going to do any good when it comes to this decrepit place.
The weathered sign that hangs outside Bud's Bar proclaims it "West Bend's oldest drinking establishment." That may or may not be true, but it has certainly earned its reputation as the most disreputable establishment.
This bar used to be one of our asshole father's old haunts, and there were too many times that Bud had to send for Killian and I to pour our drunk father into the bed of the old pickup and drive him home before either of us were legally allowed to drive.
Luke Page 6