by Annie Rains
Going to the Tipsy Tavern with the guys last night had been a welcome distraction, so Mitch was back again tonight, drinking soda this time.
A waitress came up to his table and laid a beer down in front of him. Lucky for him, Nadine was off tonight. That was one thing Mitch could be thankful for. Another was two friends willing to put up with his scrooge-erific demeanor.
“What’s this?” he asked. “I didn’t order alcohol.”
“Courtesy of the woman at the corner table,” the waitress told him.
Mitch’s gaze followed the direction that she was pointing and saw three women staring back at him. They all appeared to be in their midfifties and waved as he looked over.
“What do you want me to tell them?” the waitress asked.
Mitch didn’t want to hurt the women’s feelings by sending the drink back, and something told him they weren’t flirting. “Nothing. I’ll walk over and talk to them myself.”
“Suit yourself,” the waitress said with a half shrug and then turned and continued to the next table.
Tuck raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You dump Kaitlyn, and now you’re going to go seduce a bunch of fifty-year-olds? No offense—they’re beautiful fifty-year-olds but they’re pretty much your mom’s age. That’s a little weird.”
“I’m not seducing anyone.” Mitch pushed back from the table. “I’m just going to thank them for the drink.” Working at the bed and breakfast and at the police station these last several weeks had softened his antisocial tendencies. He had to admit he kind of liked meeting new people now, even if he wasn’t in the best mood tonight.
Without another word to Tuck or Alex, he grabbed the beer and walked over to the women’s table. “Hi, ladies. Just wanted to say thanks for the gift.”
The woman on the left nodded. She had overstyled white-blond hair that made a helmet around her round face. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
Mitch zeroed in on her in the darkened tavern. Something about her eyes was familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on where or how he knew her. “I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head.
“It’s okay. I was your language arts teacher in high school.”
“Mrs. Lambert. Right,” Mitch said, remembering her immediately with the hint.
“You were more interested in the girls than my lessons back then.” She shared a glance at the other two women.
Mitch gave them a closer look too. Both had also worked at Sweetwater High, although he didn’t think he’d ever been in either of their classes. “I paid more attention than you know,” he said. “I rather enjoyed reading Moby Dick.” And it was weird saying the word dick in front of his old high school teacher.
All three women laughed.
“So, you’re back in town?” Mrs. Lambert asked.
“No, actually, I’m leaving in a couple of days.”
A frown settled on her lips. “Oh, what a shame. You know, I always worried about you after what happened. I worried about Brian for a while too, but I stopped being concerned for his well-being a long time ago.”
That statement struck Mitch as odd. The tavern was crowded so maybe he misunderstood. If there was anyone to worry about, it was Brian. He was the one whose entire life had veered off course. He was the one who was supposed to be an Olympic gold medalist by now. The one in a wheelchair for life. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Brian took something terrible that happened to him and found his purpose in life. If he had become an Olympian like he had planned, he might not be where he is today.”
Mitch’s brows knit more closely together. Fifty years wasn’t old but he was beginning to wonder about Mrs. Lambert’s mental status. “You mean the printing store?”
Mrs. Lambert nodded. “Yes, among the other businesses he owns.”
“You mean his family owns,” Mitch corrected.
“No, Brian. He’s quite the businessman,” Mrs. Lambert told him. “Of course, owning your own business is nice but it’s his work with the Special Olympics that I’m most impressed with. The way he coaches those children is so inspiring. The newspaper has done several write-ups on him over the years.”
The other two women nodded in unison.
“Brian coaches for the Special Olympics?” Mitch asked. “I didn’t know that.” How would he though? He’d closed himself off from knowing anything when it came to the Everson family.
“Yes,” the third woman at the table said. She had a librarian look about her, with thick glasses and shoulder-length, pin-straight hair. Mitch thought maybe she actually was his school librarian once upon a time. “His wife too. She has a physical disability as well, you know.”
“No.” Mitch hadn’t known that either.
“She doesn’t use a wheelchair too often but sometimes when her multiple sclerosis flares up, she does.”
“Oh, Brian seems to adore Jessica,” Mrs. Lambert said, beaming under the dim lights of the bar. “I’ve never been a fan of Brian’s father, Frank, but those two couldn’t be more different. I mean, even though Brian doesn’t get along with his father, he still lets him run the printing store.”
Mitch pulled out a chair and sat down at the table with the women now. His body was suddenly too heavy to hold up. “Brian and his father don’t get along?” he asked.
“Well, no,” Mrs. Lambert said. “Not for some time now. His father was always so sports oriented. Even after the accident, he pushed Brian to enter the Olympics. It was never Brian’s dream to be an Olympian though. He wrote a narrative paper in my class once telling me so. He asked me not to share it so I didn’t.” Mrs. Lambert shook her head. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag now so it’s okay.”
Mitch was trying to wrap his head around this new information. Even though he hadn’t planned on drinking tonight, the beer in his hand looked appealing right about now. He pulled it to his mouth and took a long pull. When he set it back down, he asked, “So Brian doesn’t work at the printing store with his father?” Because that little tidbit stood out.
“Well, I’m sure he drops by there from time to time but he has so many businesses. He practically owns all the downtown shops,” Mrs. Lambert continued.
Mitch leaned forward. He’d been policing the stores on Main Street for weeks. He’d seen Brian at Dawanda’s Fudge Shop once but that was as a customer. He’d seen Brian’s sister Penny too.
“All those store owners would have lost their life’s work if Brian hadn’t swooped in and bought it all. Some bigwig commercial businessman wanted to snap up all that realty, and he would’ve too.”
“That would’ve ruined some of Sweetwater’s charm,” the woman on the right said, shaking her head with a cluck of her tongue.
Mrs. Lambert nodded in agreement. “Brian was a real hero to save it all. And you,” she said, pointing her finger. “We hear you’re a hero these days as well. You caught the thief who was wreaking havoc down here.”
Mitch shook his head. “He wasn’t much of a thief, if you ask me.” Just a scared kid who reminded Mitch a whole lot of his younger self.
Mitch wrapped his fingers around his beer as his mind raced. It was Frank Everson who’d turned him away both times Mitch had tried to see Brian. Did Brian even know Mitch wanted to talk to him?
Mitch stayed and chatted with the ladies just a few minutes more, and then he got up and returned to the table with Alex and Tuck.
“Thought you weren’t drinking tonight,” Tuck said, lowering his gaze to the beer in Mitch’s hand.
Mitch set it down in front of him. “Brian Everson owns the downtown shops we’ve been patrolling,” he said, looking at Alex.
Alex stared at him for a moment and then gave a slow nod. “On paper, but the shop owners still have complete control. They all had substantial flooding after the last year’s winter storm. The costs to repair were steep and a commercial realtor wanted to buy it at a steal. The store owners couldn’t possibly have afforded to turn him down, if not for Brian.”
“Why didn’t yo
u tell me?”
“A lot of people around here don’t know. Besides, you’ve always insisted you didn’t want to hear about the Everson family,” Alex told him. “I respected that.”
Mitch nodded. He’d shut down every conversation pertaining to Brian over the years. It was too painful. His philosophy had been that what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. “I want to know now. Where can I find him?”
Alex pulled out his cell phone and tapped the screen. “The man is everywhere. Sometimes I go long stretches without seeing him, and sometimes I run into him several times a day.”
Tuck agreed. “The wheelchair doesn’t slow Brian down one bit. He’s even been climbing with me a time or two.”
Mitch raised a brow. The image he’d carried in his mind along with all the guilt wasn’t accurate. Mitch was more paralyzed than Brian, it seemed.
“I have his contact information in my phone,” Alex said. “You want his number?”
Mitch hesitated and then nodded. He’d already been shot down twice in his efforts to talk to Brian. Maybe the third time would be the charm.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Kaitlyn awoke the next morning with mixed emotions. Mitch was no longer in the space beside her like he’d been for the last few weeks. Along with the empty space in her bed was a void in her heart. She’d never been in love before so she guessed she’d also never felt the full extent of a broken heart.
It hurt. A lot.
After dragging herself out of bed, she went to the bathroom and then retrieved fresh clothes from her chest of drawers. A few minutes later, she walked into the kitchen to get started on breakfast: a sunrise frittata. She wanted to start off her parents’ day with the full bed-and-breakfast experience. After that, she planned on giving them a tour of the inn. She hadn’t gone into detail last night about what had happened with Bradley but she suspected they’d have questions. They told her they believed her story though, and would stand beside her no matter what she decided to do.
Honestly, she just wanted to let the past go. It was a mess but everyone had messes. Some weren’t as easily forgotten, like Mitch’s. She understood that. What she couldn’t come to grips with was the way he’d treated her when he’d ended things the other day. She wanted to believe he thought he was doing her a favor by being such a brute but maybe that was just the real him, the Mitch she’d first met two months ago, standing in the front room and adamantly stating that he wouldn’t be agreeing to the stipulations of Mable’s will.
But he’d changed his mind. And after a while, he’d changed. She’d watched the transformation. He’d become happy here. At home here.
Unwilling to waste a moment more dwelling on something she couldn’t change, Kaitlyn carried the breakfast plates to the table and greeted everyone, playing the part of the happy hostess. Since she’d arrived, she hadn’t had to pretend that was true. Today, however, it took effort.
“Good morning, dear.” Her mom beamed from the table, sitting beside her father. As usual, her mom was perfectly put together. Her hair was already styled and her makeup applied tastefully.
“How did you sleep last night?” Kaitlyn asked, joining her parents after all the guests had been served a plate.
“Like a baby,” her father said with an appreciative nod.
“Oh, the bed was so soft. And it’s amazing how quiet it is here. You’d think being in a house full of people would be dreadfully loud but it wasn’t.”
“Well, you’re used to being in a home smack-dab in a city full of millions, Mom. Sweetwater Springs is a small community.”
“It is. And it’s a nice change of pace.” Her mom forked a piece of her frittata into her mouth and closed her eyes. “Oh, George. You must try this food our daughter has prepared. It’s so good.”
He dutifully took a bite, and Kaitlyn couldn’t help the satisfaction mounting inside her at impressing her parents. “Delicious,” he affirmed. “She definitely didn’t get her cooking talents from you, Marjorie,” he told Kaitlyn’s mom, whose mouth popped open before laughing.
“No, I’ll admit that’s true,” her mom said.
After breakfast, Kaitlyn took them through each room of the inn while her mother oohed and aahed at all the furnishings.
“You always did have so much imagination,” her mom commented.
Kaitlyn ended the tour of the house in the ballroom and told them about the movie nights they’d had here and her plans to possibly hire someone to teach ballroom dance lessons in the future. “It really has been so magical seeing this place come alive. I know exactly why Grandma Mable loved this B and B so much.”
“Your grandparents didn’t buy this place until after I left for college,” Kaitlyn’s father said. “I never spent enough time here to really fall in love with it.”
Kaitlyn’s mom placed a hand on her shoulder. “I might not have supported you coming to stay here at first but I was wrong, honey. If this place makes you happy, then your father and I will just have to plan on coming down here every couple of months to see you. An added bonus is we can stay in a different themed room every time we visit.”
Kaitlyn’s father chuckled. “You’ve been saying we need to have more romantic getaways. I hear this is one of the most romantic towns in the country.”
“For the holidays, at least.” Kaitlyn grinned. “Sweetwater is planning their annual Sweetwater Festival this spring. I hear it’s an amazing time. You two should come down for that.”
“Maybe we will,” her mom said, casting a glance at Kaitlyn’s dad.
Kaitlyn hoped they would as she led them toward the back door. “Do you want me to show you outside?”
“Sure,” both her parents said with what sounded like sincere excitement.
“We’ll have to get our coats,” Kaitlyn said. “It’s freezing out there. But I’ve started making plans for the landscaping once it warms up.” She’d be carrying out those plans on her own, however. From here on out, she and this inn were on their own.
* * *
Mitch nearly missed the turn into his mom’s driveway. With his cloud of thoughts hanging heavily on his mind, he was on autopilot, driving toward the B&B and Kaitlyn. But he’d broken up with her. It was for the best, he kept telling himself, even if he couldn’t seem to convince his heart. It felt like someone had used that vital organ inside his chest as a punching bag over the last four days.
After parking, he walked up the driveway carrying a treat for the two women inside.
His mom and aunt Nettie were sitting at the dining room table playing a game of Rook when he walked in.
His mother immediately lifted her head and sniffed the air. “Dawanda’s fudge,” she said, her eyes rounding like a five-year-old child’s.
“And you’re excited to see me too, right?” he asked, dipping to kiss her temple. As he did, he scrutinized the color of her complexion and the skin under her eyes. She really was doing better these days. The symptoms she’d had when he’d first come to town had been alleviated with rest and supplements. That would make leaving for his security job so much easier.
“Of course, I’m excited to see you,” she said. Mitch turned to his aunt. “Hey, Aunt Nettie. Is Mom behaving?”
“What do you think?” Nettie asked.
“I think I’d be worried if you said yes.”
Nettie emptied the bag of fudge onto a paper plate at the center of the table. “You were always my favorite nephew. And if you keep supplying us with this stuff, you always will be.”
“You plan on staying awhile?” he asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down across from them.
Nettie looked up at him and then flicked her gaze to his mom.
This tripped his gut’s radar. “What?” he asked, looking between them.
“I haven’t told him yet,” his mom said, looking a shade guilty.
“Told me what?” He sat up straighter, suddenly going through the worst-case scenarios of what she would say. Maybe he’d let his guard down too soon. Maybe sh
e wasn’t doing better after all.
His mom frowned. “Stop your worrying,” she ordered. “It’s written all over your face. What I have to say is no big deal. Nettie is just moving in with me, that’s all.”
He raised an eyebrow as his thoughts caught up to speed. “Why? I thought the doctor said you were just exhausted. You just need to slow down, which means not taking on more jobs,” he said, reminded that his mom had been helping Kaitlyn at the Sweetwater B&B a lot these days.
His mom raised a hand. “The doctor says I’m fine, yes. But my small health scare got me thinking that I’m tired of being alone. What if you hadn’t shown up when I collapsed?” She shook her head. “Not only that, with you here, I realized that I’m lonely in this house all by myself.”
“And I’ve been lonely living in my RV,” Aunt Nettie added.
“We’re not getting any younger,” his mom explained. “People need someone to grow old with, and, well, we’ve decided we want to be that for one another.”
“Sure beats waiting on another loser to break my heart.” Aunt Nettie laughed as she licked remnants of a piece of fudge off her fingertips. Mitch’s aunt had never married. Growing up, he’d watched her get close a time or two but it had never worked out. “An added bonus is that I get to see my nephew from time to time.” She winked. “If you come around,” she added, and then took another bite out of her fudge square.
“He will. Mitch has a girl here,” his mom shared.
His mom and aunt really were like two best friends when they got together. Mitch almost felt like a third wheel in this conversation.
“Actually, Kaitlyn and I have decided it’s best if we end things. I’ve been staying with Alex for the last couple of days.”
“What?” His mom was visibly upset.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back to visit you and Aunt Nettie.” And Alex, Tuck, and Dawanda. He had family here. Friends. This was his hometown. “I’m happy for you two,” he told his mom and aunt. “I think this is a good thing.”
“It is,” his mom agreed as he reached for a piece of fudge himself. Both his mom and Nettie swatted at his hand.