This was personal. He was Cheyenne’s brother. Cheyenne, the only girl in school that I would’ve ever described as a friend. Jimmy was her brother. I’d heard people say that it was a small world, but this was ridiculous.
My only hope to get through this without embarrassing myself further was to maintain whatever shred of composure I had and then get the hell out of there the first second I could.
After the awkward introductions, I was doing my level best not to look in his direction, even though my eyes kept trying to defy me and glance his way. In my sad attempt not to make eye contact with Jimmy, I did with Billy and Hank.
Maybe I was being paranoid, but I would swear that they had some form of recognition when they looked at me. Not that they knew me, but that they knew of me. They were giving each other these little brother looks. Knowing looks. I was sure of it.
Had Jimmy talked to his brothers about the girl that blew him on the boat, and that he pleasured on the Ferris wheel?
As soon as I asked myself that question, I answered it.
Of course he did!
Why wouldn’t he? That was exactly the sort of things brothers told each other.
At least, I thought it was. Since I’d never actually had siblings, I couldn’t be sure. But if I’d had a sister, I more than likely would’ve told her about the encounters.
As I stood beside Cheyenne, facing her brothers, I felt exposed. Raw. More vulnerable than I ever had in my life.
Out of habit, I lifted my hand to twist my mother’s earring and…it wasn’t there.
Great. So, I’d lost my mother’s earring and humiliated myself.
I checked my other ear and the right one was still in. Well, at least there was a small silver lining.
“What are these?” Cheyenne picked up some paperwork that sat on the bar.
“Nothing.” Billy tried to grab them out of her hand, but she maneuvered so they were out of reach.
Ignoring her brother, she began to read them. “Are these Mama’s…”
I noticed Hank, Billy, and Jimmy exchanging a different sort of look, one that had nothing to do with me.
“We can talk about them later.” Billy reached for them again.
The energy had shifted since Cheyenne picked up those papers. This was definitely a private family meeting and I was very out of place. “It was nice meeting you all. Cheyenne, I’ll see y—”
“No.” Cheyenne grabbed my arm. “Stay.”
I wanted to do as my friend asked but I’d never done well fitting in with people, and this situation was no different.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a movement and when I looked over, I saw that there was a pig standing between two tables. Not a tiny piglet, or a pot belly-type pig, but a full-grown pig.
“Umm…” I pointed, wondering if I was the only person that saw what I was seeing.
“That’s Kevin.” Jimmy stepped beside the pig and gave him a scratch behind the ears. The pig grunted. “Kevin Bacon.”
I felt my jaw was still hanging open and I shut it. “Hi, Kevin.”
The pig grunted at me.
“What is he…is he supposed to be…”
“He’s sort of the bar mascot,” Jimmy explained. “Or I should say co-mascot, with Skittles.”
“Skittles?” I questioned.
“The parrot.”
“Right.” Why did it even surprise me that there was a pig and a parrot at the bar? This town was filled to the brim with quirky characters, it made total sense that that would extend to the animal population. It truly did feel like Firefly Island was a town where a fairytale had come to life. If Kevin Bacon had started talking, I don’t know that I would have even been shocked.
“Time?” Cheyenne questioned as she read the paper. “What does she need time for? What secret?”
Jimmy turned his attention toward Cheyenne. I could see the concern brimming in his light-brown gaze. I tried not to let his response affect me, since it had nothing to do with me, but my heart swelled at the care and worry I saw there.
“Does this mean?” Cheyenne looked between all of her brothers. “Do you think I’m the secret?”
I wondered if I could slip out the door without anyone noticing. But I didn’t feel like I should leave without saying goodbye to Cheyenne. My brain was battling over whether I should stay or go.
“This doesn’t change anything,” Billy assured her.
Cheyenne let out a forced laugh. “Well, it changes who my father might be.”
Yep. That was my cue. Go now. I decided I wasn’t going to announce my departure. Instead I just turned and left quietly. I’d apologize to Cheyenne later. Thankfully, I made it to the door and out without anyone noticing.
I was halfway out of the parking lot before I heard footsteps behind me. Somehow, I knew who it was before I even turned around. I kept walking.
“Bella,” I heard Jimmy say behind me. “Wait.”
It looked like this time I wasn’t going to make a clean break. The third time was not the charm for me.
I turned around. “You should go back inside with your family.”
“They’ve got it handled,” he dismissed my plea. “You really don’t like saying goodbye, do you?”
I’d wondered if he was going to call me out on that. “Normally, yes. But these have all been situations with extenuating circumstances. You really should go back.”
“Sorry, darlin’ it’s not gonna happen.” The look in his eye was causing all sorts of feelings that I had no business having for my friend’s brother while she was going through a crisis.
As tempting as it was to keep this banter up, I didn’t want to have to answer Cheyenne when she asked why her brother had come after me. “Jimmy, just go back inside. Please.”
“I’m under strict orders, from my sister, to escort you home and get your number.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “For Cheyenne, although I’d be lyin’ if I said I wasn’t going to program it into my phone as well.”
The boyish half-grin that had first caught my attention on the boat was back, and it was no less potent than the first time I’d seen it. If anything, it had become even sexier.
“I’m just going back to my room.” His eyes darkened and I quickly clarified, “That wasn’t an invitation.”
His smile grew even wider. “I would never assume it was.”
I felt silly being so defensive considering our…history. But that history happened before he was a real person, not just a fantasy come to life, which is the category I’d put him in. Which made perfect sense considering both of our interactions were straight out of a porno.
But now he wasn’t a handsome stranger I felt comfortable with. He was connected to someone I knew. All of the embarrassment that I’d been shocked I hadn’t felt sooner flooded through me now. I turned and started walking toward Mrs. B’s.
He easily kept up with my pace. “So, you and Cheyenne went to school together, huh?”
“Yep.”
He didn’t seem at all put off by my clipped response.
“I’m glad I ran into you again. I was actually going to go looking for you after the meeting, so you saved me the footwork.”
I let out a soft chuckle, figuring he was just saying that. From the comment Calvin had made about him being on the wheel before with a lot of ladies, to the trio of bombshells that we’d run into as soon as we got off the ride, I was sure that I probably didn’t even register as a blip on his radar.
“I’m serious. I needed to return this to you.”
I felt Jimmy stop beside me. When I turned I saw that he’d held out his hand. My eyes dropped down to see that in his palm was my earring.
“Oh my gosh! Where did you find it?” I picked it up and examined it. It was definitely my mother’s. One of the prongs was misshapen. I’d thought about getting it fixed but somehow the imperfection made it more personal.
“I found it on the boat.”
I didn’t care about him mentioning our now-embarra
ssing meeting. I was just so relieved to have the earring back. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much these mean to me,” I gushed as I put it back in my ear.
Jimmy put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said that he was nervous. But that’d be ridiculous. Besides the impression I’d gotten that he didn’t really suffer from any sort of shyness, Cheyenne had said as much. She’d talked about how easy-going and self-assured he was. Surely, I had to be misreading the signals he was giving off.
“How long are you gonna be in town?” Even his voice didn’t sound quite as confident as it had in the past.
“I’m not sure.” I’d only planned on staying the weekend before heading out on my next adventure, but each second I stayed in Firefly had felt like more of an adventure than the last.
“What are your plans? Later. Tonight?”
“Um…” I started to say that I was going to be hanging out with friends. But if he asked me who, I’d have to confess that it was Mrs. B and her friends, and we’d be playing mahjong. That wasn’t exactly sexy. All of my insecurities from never fitting in returned with a vengeance.
“Or tomorrow?” He offered. “I have tours booked all day, but I’m free after seven. I’d love to see you again.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
“Good. Now what’s your number?” He pulled out his phone and clarified as he pressed his thumb on the home key to unlock it. “For Cheyenne.”
“Actually, I think I’d be more comfortable if you just gave me her number,” I teased.
His eyes shot up to mine and when he saw that I was joking, his lips pulled up in a smile. A smile that I knew, even if I had eighty more years on this earth, I’d never get tired of seeing.
CHAPTER 9
Jimmy
I sat in a rocker on my deck and watched the leaves on the hundred-year-old maple tree in my backyard blow in the wind. It was a breezy Southern night, I had no plans other than to relax. Everything should be perfect, but it wasn’t. It was going by at a snail’s pace and I needed it to speed up.
I’d never been one to want to rush anything. The opposite was actually true, I thrived on the slow pace of the South. But tonight, I would’ve done anything to have the power to press fast forward. If I didn’t know any better, in fact, I’d have sworn someone had pressed pause and time was actually standing still.
As happy as I was that I had plans with Bella and knew when I’d be seeing her again, it was also its own unique form of torture. Twenty-four hours. That’s how long I had to wait before I’d see those blue eyes, smell the sweet floral scent of her hair, and touch that soft, silky skin.
It was too long to wait.
Damn, that woman had me tied up in all sorts of knots.
I couldn’t stop thinking about her. The way she looked, walked, talked, and felt. I was captivated by everything that made her uniquely her.
I’d never believed in love before meeting Bella, but now I was starting to come around. What else could possibly explain my infatuation with her?
It wasn’t just the physical stuff that I was jonesing for, either. It was hearing the sound of her laughter, seeing the way her chin dipped when she got shy. Watching as she brushed the hair behind her ear and noticing the flush that always appeared on her cheeks.
It was addicting. She was addicting.
My phone dinged, indicating a text, and I picked it up so fast it disturbed Sherlock, who had been sawing logs at my feet. He lifted his head, the left half of his face smooshed up from where his cheek had been resting on my shoe.
I tried not to let myself be too disappointed when I saw that it was a text from my brother and not Bella.
Billy: Got a beer here with your name on it.
“What do you think, boy? Do ya think we should go down to the bar?”
Sherlock’s only answer was rolling over on his back and sticking his legs straight up in the air. That was his not-so-subtle way of letting me know that he was in for the night. In his younger days, he would’ve been more than up for a night out. We’d been going down to Southern Comfort together since I got him as a puppy, when I was only twelve years old.
I remembered back then I’d felt so grown up being able to walk into a bar. I was only allowed entrance since my Pop owned it. My brothers and dad never paid me much mind, but Ray would put me to work. He always made sure I kept busy and didn’t get into too much trouble. Sherlock and I used to bus tables, run out for ice for whoever was behind the bar, and even change out kegs. Ray called us his dream team.
It looked like tonight I’d be venturing out alone.
“Alright, then. You stay here and hold down the fort.” I patted him on his belly and grabbed my ball cap from the table.
As I set out to walk the two miles to the bar, I tried to shake off the agitation I felt. I’d never struggled with this sort of unsettled energy before, but since meeting Bella, it seemed to be a permanent state.
I had sunrise and afternoon charters scheduled for the next day, and normally I’d be looking forward to them. Instead, though, I just wanted to get them over with. I tried to take in the stars, which looked like they’d been hung by the angels themselves, and listen to the crickets and magpies that provided the soundtrack of this hot Southern evening, but nothing worked.
The edginess hadn’t subsided when I walked through the door at Southern Comfort. The bar was packed. I hoped that it would serve as a distraction.
“Jimmy!” Clyde, Earl, and Jed, the so-called “three wise men”—so-called because they’d given themselves the nickname—shouted my name Cheers-style as I entered the bar.
I lifted my hand in a wave and a smile before settling on a lone stool at the end of the bar. I’d always been a social guy. If I was at the bar, I was chopping it up. But tonight, I didn’t feel like getting into a random conversation.
“Beer or shot?”
I looked up and saw Billy standing in front of me, a towel flung over his shoulder. “You seriously are turning into Sam Malone.”
“Shot it is.” My brother poured a shot of whiskey and slid it over to me. “That was quick.”
I downed it, hoping it would take the edge off of whatever was going on with me. “What was?”
“For you to start moping and spending time with our good friend Jack Daniels.”
“I’m not moping.” I poured another shot.
He didn’t respond, instead he just stared at me.
“What?”
“I’m waiting for you to tell me.”
“Tell you what?” I downed the dark liquid.
“That Isabella, or Bella, is the mystery woman.”
“Was it that obvious?”
“It was pretty obvious.” Billy chuckled, clearly enjoying this. “So, what’s with the double? Is she the one woman on this planet who is immune to your easygoing charm and boyish good looks?”
“It’s not like that.”
“So, she’s not immune?”
“I barely know her.”
“And yet you’re whipped.” Billy grinned.
“I’m not whipped,” I lied.
Billy turned to the “wise men,” aka The Three Stooges. “Show of hands, who thinks this is the face of a man that is whipped?”
The men all smiled, some of them with more empty spaces where teeth should be than others, as they lifted their beers in a toast to me being whipped.
“I don’t remember you being very chipper a few months ago when you met Reagan.”
“Yeah, well, it was right after Pop died.”
Shit. I should’ve thought of that.
“And I didn’t know things were going to work out the way they did. It’s much more fun on this side of the fall.”
“The fall?”
He nodded. “Falling in love is a lot more fun to watch than live through. At least this part, anyway.”
“This part?”
Billy grinned. “When you don’t know what’s happening, but you
can’t stop thinking about the person. You have no clue if they feel the same way you do or if you even want to feel the way you do. You feel completely out of control of your emotions and your thoughts. You feel powerless.”
Fuck. He wasn’t wrong.
“That’s why it’s called falling,” he continued. “If it was climbing, you could have a plan. When you climb there are holds you could put your feet in and ledges you could grab onto. Falling, ya just gotta close your eyes and hope for the best.”
My brother and I had never really talked about stuff like this. He’d never gotten so deep. The only advice I’d gotten from him was to wrap it up, so I didn’t knock anyone up.
This was the second deep conversation I’d had today. The first had been with Ray. I wasn’t sure I enjoyed this new trend. I poured myself another shot, but this one I planned on nursing. “Did you learn that on Married at First Sight?”
Some new customers came and sat at the end of the bar and he flipped me off before helping them.
I sat there at the end of the bar, just sippin’ my whiskey and wondering if my brother was right. I’d considered the fact that Bella was different. I’d even figured it was probably love. But that was in my own mind. Hearing Billy say it out loud was something different, and it felt both more real and unreal now, having heard him use the “L” word to describe my feelings for Bella.
I didn’t know her last name.
I didn’t know if she had any brothers or sisters.
I didn’t know what her career was.
I didn’t know what kind of music, movies, or TV shows she liked.
I didn’t know if she was a dog or a cat person.
But, in fairness, I knew all of those things about several dozen women and I never felt a tenth for them of what I felt for Bella. So maybe that kinda thing wasn’t what love was built on. Maybe what love was built on was whatever sorta magic Bella and I shared, even if I couldn’t corral it into a list of facts.
CHAPTER 10
Isabella
Sex on the Beach (Southern Comfort Book 2) Page 7