Back Home Again: A Small Town Romance (Yosemite Flats Book 1)

by Cassie Hayes

  “Mom, come on—“ Hale started to guide her out of the room, but Charlotte shrugged him off.

  “You know exactly what I mean, young lady.”

  “Mom, don’t,” Brett warned.

  “Why not? We all know it’s true. Russell worked himself into an early grave to give her the education she needed to take over the family business.”

  This time Nash stepped in. “Mom, that’s enough.”

  Lex’s heart thumped hard and fast, waiting for the inevitable, wishing it would never come, but knowing it was futile.

  “Not hardly! This spoiled brat got everything she ever wanted, then left us to rot. It’s her fault he’s dead, it’s all her fault!”

  This couldn’t be happening. But it was. Again. She couldn’t stay in this woman’s presence one minute longer. Grabbing an alarmed Sophia, she tore out of the room, tears blinding her.

  From behind her, her mother’s shrill voice echoed down the hallway. “Oh sure! Run away, just like you always do!”

  The sun had set an hour earlier, but the air was comfortably warm when Grayson spotted the hand-carved sign of the Alpine Inn. A sense of peace and relief flooded him, like coming home.

  Technically, this was his home, for a little while longer anyway, but it was more than just a place to sleep. From the massive solid wood doors, to the fireplace a full-grown man could walk into, to the inviting plush furniture that decorated the lobby, the place had a simple, rustic charm that The Eyrie never would. That was by design, and he was fine with it, but he couldn’t imagine ever feeling about his high-end, luxury resort the way he felt when he pulled into the parking lot of the Alpine Inn.

  Of course, there was a suspicious correlation between his growing affection for the Alpine Inn, and the arrival of a certain spunky city girl. Just thinking about Lex set his skin on fire. A busy day for of them prevented them from being alone again since their near-kiss in the sequoia grove the day before. The minute they could sneak off, he planned on finishing what they started. It couldn’t come soon enough.

  The scent of pine slammed his senses when he got out of the car. This was just one of the many reasons he wanted to raise Sophia here. The air was so much cleaner than in LA, even the beaches there. Rush hour in Yosemite Flats meant you reached your destination three minutes later than usual instead of three hours, time he much preferred spending with his daughter instead of in grid-locked traffic. And the people couldn’t be beat…one in particular.

  He was about to head in to find ‘his girls,’ as he’d come to think of them, when he heard their voices. Following them around the back of the inn, he found Lex sitting on the steps of the gazebo with Sophia in her lap staring up at the sparkling night sky.

  “See the one that looks like a W?” Lex asked. “Wait, you know the alphabet, right?”

  Sophia crossed her arms and huffed in exasperation. “I’m not a baby, Lex. I’m six!”

  “Of course you are. How silly of me. Anyway, that one is called Cassiopeia. In ancient times, she was known for her extreme beauty.”

  “Maybe they should have named it Sophia,” Grayson said as he sat next to them.

  “Don’t be silly, Daddy. I wasn’t born yet. You probably weren’t even born yet.”

  After a quick tickle-attack, they settled into comfortable silence as they watched the stars. Lex leaned back with her hands planted behind her for support. Grayson followed suit, then inched his fingers over to hers until they touched. She didn’t move away, but he heard her quick intake of breath and smiled. She hooked a finger around one of his, but paused when Sophia leaned back and used her as a backrest. Only when Sophia’s breathing eased into a soft, sleepy rhythm did they entwine their fingers fully, allowing him to stroke his thumb along her wrist and palm.

  “How was your day?” she finally asked, keeping her voice low so they didn’t wake Sophia.

  “I’ve had better.”

  She turned her head to him, though it was too dark to really read her expression. “Want to talk about it?”

  Part of him wanted to unload on her and tell her all about Tassie, the crazy woman who seemed to delight in making his life hell. Simply thinking of how she, once again, delayed issuing the permit for the parking lot set his heart thumping in anger, when it should have been thumping with desire for this beautiful, confusing, amazing woman next to him. No, his stressful day was over. Nothing he could do about it tonight anyway, and he didn’t want to spoil the moment.

  “Not in the slightest. What about you? Did your meetings go well?”

  She’d mentioned something about her accountant and possibly a bank when he’d dropped Sophia off that morning. Judging from her resigned sigh and the tension radiating off her like heat, he guessed her day went about as well as his.

  “Um, no. I’d tell you all about it but I wouldn’t be able to without using words Sophia shouldn’t hear until she’s thirty.”

  He frowned and gave her fingers a squeeze. “Anything I can do to help?”

  She let her head fall back as she sighed. “I really wish there was, Grayson.”

  He liked how she said his name, like a whisper of a breeze. It made him feel lighter somehow. If heaven was sitting under the stars for eternity, listening to her say his name, while Sophia snored in her lap, he’d wouldn’t complain.

  “Wait,” she said, snapping her head up to look at him. “I don’t suppose you’d be up for murdering my mother, would you?”

  He pretended to think about it. “My fee for such services is pretty steep. I’m not sure you could afford it.”

  Her devilish smile sent thrills of desire licking along his nerve-endings. “Oh, I’m sure we could work something out, don’t you think?”

  If his daughter hadn’t been there, Grayson would have pulled Lex to him and shown her the “something” he’d like to work out. But there she was, snoozing away, while he and Lex shot heated looks at each other, wishing for a little adult time.

  “You’re a vixen, you know that?” He took a deep, shuddering breath that made Lex grin.

  “You’d do well to remember that, sir.”

  It took a few minutes for his brain to start working again, and when it did, concern set back in. “So…your mom. Still being difficult?”

  The ghost of her smile fled. “You could say that. Honestly, Grayson, I don’t know how much longer I can deal with it. If it hadn’t been for Sophia, I probably would have driven home today.”

  “Home?”

  “Marina del Rey,” she said with a wistful sigh.

  Of course, that’s what she meant. That’s where she lived, technically. So why did he feel like she’d just dumped a bucket of ice water on his head? Disentangling his fingers from hers, he sat upright but kept his focus on the back door of the inn.

  “I guess I’m confused. I thought you were going to stick around and run the inn.”

  She took her time responding, and when she finally did, she sounded defeated. “I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen. Everything’s up in the air right now.”

  A sour taste filled his mouth. Never in a million years would he have allowed Lex to get past his defenses if he thought for a minute she’d high-tail it out of town at the first sign of trouble. Short-term romances no longer interested him, if for no other reason than to protect Sophia from a broken heart. Forget about his own heart.

  Lex had blown into town like a tornado, spinning his head and heart out of control. He couldn’t help being charmed by her disdain for small-town ways while unconsciously clinging to them for dear life. When she’d decided to watch Sophia and stay in Yosemite Flats, a community he’d grown to love, the planets had seemed to align and he’d slowly opened himself up to her. To the possibility of her.

  Now this.

  He didn’t know what to think, but he knew he needed to. And not with her distracting scent teasing him from just inches away., where she sat holding his daughter.

  “It’s getting late,” he said, standing. “Probably should
take her up.”

  “Oh, okay…”

  Even in the dim starlight he could see the confusion on her face. He was sorry for that, but he was confused too.

  She cradled Sophia to her chest and stood. In her slumber, Sophia tucked her head into the crook of Lex’s neck. Fifteen minutes ago, his heart would have warmed. Now all he felt was worry.

  Then, Sophia mumbled something that transformed worry into sheer terror. He’d barely caught it, but the shocked look on Lex’s face told him he’d heard correctly. That one little word turned his blood to ice.

  “Mommy?”

  Chapter Seven

  “Here, have another shot.”

  Zoe poured the tequila and handed it to Lex as they sat on her tiny twin bed in Lex’s old room. As much as she wanted to toss it back like a college freshman, now was not the time. Maybe later.

  Definitely later

  “Nah, one’s enough. I have to watch Sophia in a couple hours.”

  Zoe shrugged and swallowed it herself, wincing at the sharp bite, then smiling as the warmth spread. The taste of the last one still lingered on Lex’s tongue, but nothing could penetrate the chill inside her.

  “Where is she now?”

  “With Grayson.” Her heart clenched just saying his name. “They went up to Nelder Grove.”

  “Without you?”

  She avoided meeting her best friend’s sharp gaze. All she could do was shrug and continue folding her laundry. Speaking might betray the bitter sting of rejection she’d been feeling for the last week.

  “Girl, you’d better tell me what’s going on with that man right now, or I’ll drive up there myself and confront him right in front of Big Buck. You know I’ll do it.”

  Lex knew it all too well.

  “Nothing is going on.”

  “Fine, be that way,” Zoe said, launching herself off the bed and toward the door.

  “No! I mean it. Nothing. Nothing is going on. Absolutely nothing.” She choked on her final words, but refused to cry. She barely knew the guy. Nothing was lost here. Nothing.

  Then why did it feel like everything was lost.

  Zoe stood with her hand on the doorknob, tapping her foot impatiently. The look on her face said, if you don’t start talking… So she did.

  “I’m not sure what happened. One day he’s holding my hand and flirting, the next he’s the ice king. I thought maybe he was just having a bad day or something, but it’s only gotten worse over the last week. Guess whatever I thought was there…wasn’t.”

  The bed springs squealed when Zoe sat next to her. “Have you asked him about it?”

  “Are you high!”

  “You know I don’t smoke the ganja,” Zoe said, totally straight-faced. Lex didn’t feel much like laughing, but it did bring a smile to her face.

  “Exactly what am I supposed to say? ‘Um, hey, why don’t you like me anymore?’ Or should I just pass him a note that says ‘If you like me, check this box?’”

  “No, you’re supposed to act like an adult and have a, ya know, adult conversation with the man. You did almost kiss after all, and there’s been all this touchy-feely crap going on. I think it’s warranted.”

  Lex tossed a balled-up pair of socks into an open drawer, then fell backward on the bed. She’d avoided thinking — much less talking — about Grayson since she realized he was giving her the cold shoulder. Maybe it was time to talk it out with someone. And if it couldn’t be with him, Zoe was a good substitute.

  “I like him, and I’m pretty sure he likes me.” She turned to Zoe. “Don’t you think so?”

  Zoe flopped down next to her. “I thought he was about to do you right up against Big Buck. Totally against regulations, but I would have turned a blind eye.”

  She felt a blush creep up her cheeks. “Don’t be gross. Anyway, we didn’t really discuss it. I just thought we were taking things slow, getting to know each other. He’s a devoted dad, which I had no idea would get my wheels spinning, but apparently that’s a thing.”

  “Uh…duh! I think every woman on the planet gets all tingly over those photos of shirtless muscle-heads holding tiny babies. It’s definitely a thing.”

  They both sighed in unison thinking about those photos.

  “So what happened?”

  “I’m not exactly sure.”

  “Break it down. One day his daughter catches you almost doing it—“

  “We haven’t even kissed!”

  Zoe flapped a hand in her face. “Whatever. That’s one day. What happened the next?”

  Lex thought for a moment, trying to remember. It had been a jam-packed month since she arrived. “Let’s see, we both had meetings, I think. Yeah, that’s the day I met with Mike.”

  “And?”

  “And then I gave my family the 411 on the inn’s finances. And my mom blamed me for my dad’s death. Again.”

  Zoe pulled Lex into a fierce hug. Lex didn’t know how to comfort her crying friend, so she simply held her until Zoe’s shoulders stopped shaking. “I’m fine,” Zoe said, wiping her eyes. “Go on.”

  Lex’s heart burst with love for her best friend. She’d never blamed her for running away from her dad’s funeral. She’d listened and understood.

  “That’s it. That’s when things changed. Some kind of switched was flicked, but I’m still not sure why.”

  Zoe frowned. “You think he stopped liking you because you couldn’t get a loan? Or because your mom isn’t going to win Mother of the Year anytime soon?”

  That wasn’t right. In her heart, she knew it was something else. Then it dawned on her.

  “Oh, I’m an idiot!”

  “What?”

  “I really can’t believe what an idiot I am.”

  “What!”

  Lex pressed the heels of her hands to her forehead, mortified at what she’d unwittingly done.

  “I told him that I almost went home that day. Idiot!”

  “Maybe it’s the tequila, but I don’t get it.”

  Lex sat up, frustration and understanding duking it out inside of her gut. “Imagine you are a single parent. You don’t date much, because you don’t want your kid to get messed up wondering who daddy is. Then you fall for your ‘manny’ and things seem cool until the day he says—”

  “I want to go home,” Zoe finished, comprehending the problem.

  “I repeat, I’m an idiot.”

  Zoe pulled herself upright and wrapped an arm around Lex’s shoulder. “You really are.”

  Lex laughed. “Gee, thanks.”

  “Hey, it’s not too late, you know. All you need to do is talk to him.”

  “What’s the point?”

  Zoe gawked at her. Her breath was atrocious from the liquor. “Dude. True love?”

  Lex shook her head. “You’re crazy. We’ve barely held hands. Besides, I can’t stay here.”

  Now Zoe really did look distraught. “What are you talking about? You just got back. You can’t leave.”

  “Well, I certainly can’t stay. My own mother thinks I was the cause of my father’s heart attack.” She thought for a moment. “I dunno, maybe I was.”

  Zoe jumped up, completely animated, and a tiny bit tipsy. “No! I reject that statement! You were not culpable in your father’s death. His love of bacon and ribeyes, maybe. But you? Never!”

  “Shh, someone will hear,” Lex said, pulling Zoe back to the bed.

  “Let them!”

  She was still riled, but at least she sat down. Lex grabbed the bottle of tequila and set it out of reach to make her point.

  “Fine, I’ll be good,” Zoe promised as she pouted, then locked her lips and threw away the key.

  They sat in silence for a few minutes, Lex taking comfort from her friend’s nearness. She really had missed her. Phone calls just didn’t cut the mustard when she needed a Zoe-fix. Same went for her brothers. Her stinky, bossy, wonderful brothers. Over the past couple of years, she’d even found herself missing her mom a little. The old Charlotte, not the bitt
er new Charlotte.

  “Just tell me one thing,” Zoe said, giving another one of her patented shrewd looks. “Why are you still here?”

  Lex had been wondering the same thing. Grayson had shut her out, her mom barely looked at her, and there was no point in trying to save the inn if her mom didn’t want it anymore. Why was she still here?

  “I’ll tell you why.” Zoe nudged her shoulder. “As much as you want to deny it, you love Yosemite Flats. It’s home. No, don’t you dare try to deny it.”

  Lex had opened her mouth to do that very thing, then slammed it shut. Her emotions were a total disaster zone. Might as well hear what an outside observer saw.

  “We’ve known each other since we were eight. When I moved here with my folks, I hated it. I wanted to be back with my old friends in my old school that had 100 students for every teacher. I thought the tiny class sizes here were lame. I thought the fact that everyone knew everyone else was creepy. I couldn’t believe that people were so friendly to their neighbors without wanting something in return.”

  All of this was news to Lex. Zoe had always seemed so outgoing and ready for any challenge. Students, parents, kids — they’d all loved her from day one. And as far as Lex knew, she’d loved them all right back. She’d seemed to fit in instantly, as if she’d been born to live here.

  “You opened my eyes to what an amazing community this is, Lex. You showed me the wonder of nature. I never had that before, not really. The closest to ‘wilderness’ I ever got was a school field trip to Angel Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Then, your family took me on a hike in Yosemite and I fell in love. Maybe you won’t believe it, but you changed my life.”

  Lex grabbed her hand and squeezed hard. Tears blurred her vision as she recalled that hike. Yet another perfect mid-summer day in the park. The easy trail they’d chosen was packed to the gills with bodies, but as far as Zoe and Lex had been concerned, they’d been the only two people in the universe. Zoe’s mom had bought the girls a couple of Kodak Max disposable cameras, and they’d had a ball taking snaps of birds and flowers and waterfalls. She still had a photo album dedicated to that hike. Somewhere.