Finding Faith (Return 0f The Dragons Book 1)

by Grace Brennan

  Exhaling, she continued on. She was almost to town, and the truck, while running rough, was still running. It should hold until she got back home.

  She aimed for the grocery store, but when her eyes fell on the bookstore, she quickly parked in front of the charming building. A few minutes to pick up some novels wouldn’t make the truck any worse, not since it would be parked and shut off.

  And she desperately needed something to get her mind off the clusterfuck building around her, and a few new books were the perfect way to do that.

  This time, she didn’t sit in the truck, fighting for her courage. She immediately got out and shut the door, and only hesitated for the briefest moment before she strode toward the store.

  See, Carlie? I don’t let my fears dictate what I do or don’t do, she thought to herself.

  Stopping at the bookstore might seem like something miniscule, but for Olivia, it felt empowering. It was a small act, but it felt like she was taking her life back with this action—or at least, beginning to.

  Walking inside felt like coming home. She’d spent most of her youth in the library back home—at least, until she started high school and suddenly, inexplicably, became popular. Something she wished had never happened, because it changed her and her sister’s lives forever.

  They would have been much better off if she’d spent her time right where she was now.

  Returning the smile the clerk gave her, she began wondering up and down the aisles. She wasn’t discriminating when it came to genres, but her feet seemed to be steadily pulling her toward the romance section.

  Honestly, it was probably her favorite of all the different genres, but she wasn’t too sure about reading them right now. Not when she was still undecided about Cody, and everything going on there.

  Her feet and hands didn’t seem to care though, because she ended up in front of a row of books with covers ranging from couples in love to bare chested men. And her hands were reaching for them even as she told herself to find the mystery and suspense section.

  Before she knew it, she was reading the back of a contemporary romance, and when she was finished, she didn’t put it back. Instead, she held onto it as she searched the others.

  “Hi, are you Olivia?”

  Startled, she dropped the book in her hands, quickly turning to the woman who spoke. She was a little taller than Olivia, with light brown hair, and brown eyes that seemed familiar.

  That, coupled with the woman knowing her name, had her shoulders tensed within seconds.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” the other woman said, her smile open and guileless as she bent to retrieve the book Olivia dropped, handing it back to her. “And you’re probably wondering who the crazy lady who knows your name is. I’m Lindsey Aaron. I’m Cody’s sister. I asked him if Olivia was the blonde or the brunette who comes into town sometimes, and he said blonde, so I took a guess.”

  Relief washed over her as her eyebrows rose at Lindsey’s rapid-fire words. Chiding herself for overreacting—yet again around members of the Aaron family—she smiled and hoped her momentary suspicion hadn’t been noticeable.

  It should have been obvious from the get go that Lindsey was related to Cody. That was why her brown eyes seemed so familiar—and it wasn’t just that they shared the same eyes. Their noses, cheekbones, and lips were similar, although the features were much more feminine on Lindsey.

  “Yes, I’m Olivia. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Same! I wish I’d been in the shop when you came in. Based on my conversation with my brother, it seems like you made quite the impression on him.” Her cheeky grin faded as her expression turned sincere. “I really wish I’d have been there so you didn’t have to deal with Pops. He’s always been on the grumpy side, but it continues to get worse as he gets older. I can only imagine how rude he probably was to you. I’m sorry about that.”

  She was so stuck on the comment about how she made an impression on Cody—and what exactly that meant, and most importantly, had he said something that hinted her attraction wasn’t one sided—it took her a moment to process the rest of Lindsey’s words.

  There was no way she could zone out while the other woman was speaking. Her words came so fast, she had to keep up or she’d be hopelessly lost.

  “It’s fine,” she replied with a wave of her hand—even though it hadn’t been. Maybe if she hadn’t gone through what she had, his behavior wouldn’t have scared her, but it had until Cody walked in. She smiled wryly. “Besides, Cody said he wouldn’t be involved in the actual renovation. That makes up for it.”

  Lindsey let out a laugh that was genuinely amused, relieving her fears that she went too far with that last bit. While it was pretty much the truth, she didn’t want to come off as rude to the only person in town besides Cody that she’d had an actual conversation with.

  “Sometimes I wish I had that option too,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes. Gaze darting to the book Olivia held, she smiled. “Oh, that’s a good one. You like romance novels, then? Do you read paranormal romance?”

  “Vampires and ghosts and all that? Yeah, I enjoy them.”

  “What about shifters?”

  Breath freezing in her lungs, she stared at her and swallowed convulsively a few times. “Shifters?”

  Not seeming to notice the strained quality of her voice, Lindsey nodded. “Yep, like shapeshifters. I love them, and I recently found a new author that I really like. If you like paranormal, I think you’ll like her books.”

  Thankful she didn’t seem to expect a reply, since she wasn’t sure she could get a word out of her tight throat, she followed her over to the shelves the shifter books were apparently on.

  Shifter books. She’d had no idea there was any such thing aside from Twilight, and as much as she read, she wasn’t sure how she’d missed that genre. The thought of humans having access to those books made her heart race uneasily, but she told herself it wasn’t a big deal.

  After all, there were multitudes of paranormal books. Vampires, witches, ghosts—all of which actually did exist—and humans devoured those books without believing those entities were real.

  She needed to read one. See how close the author was to the truth of shifters. If it was off base, she’d let it go and stop worrying.

  Plus, if she was being honest with herself, the thought of reading one for pleasure was appealing. Even if the author’s shifters were nothing like the real ones, it would be nice to read something she could really relate to.

  Lindsey gestured at the rows, and she leaned in closer, looking at the covers with fascination. All of them had some kind of animal, whether it was a grizzly, bird of prey, big cat—really, all kinds of different animals—and she had to assume those were the shifters’ animals.

  Her interest was definitely piqued.

  “This is the new author I found. The bookstore just started stocking them last month,” Lindsey said, picking up a book and showing it to her. “S. Fire. She’s amazing. She has a few standalones, but I prefer her different series. But really, you can’t go wrong with any of them.”

  Taking the offered book, she flipped it over and read the blurb. It did sound good, and she wasn’t sure why that surprised her, but it did. “Which ones are her standalones?”

  Lindsey pointed them out and she grabbed the other two and added them to her pile without reading the backs of them. Shrugging wryly when she gave her a pleased smile, she grabbed one more contemporary book by an author she’d read and liked before, and decided five books were enough for now.

  But if she liked S. Fire’s standalones, she’d come back and get the two series.

  An alert dinged on Lindsey’s phone, and she pulled it out with a grimace. “Well, my break’s over. The shop is closed, but I do all the clerical work too, so my workday’s not quite over yet.”

  Arching an eyebrow, she looked at her in question. “It’s closed? It’s only three on a weekday.”

  Lindsey shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s a Friday
night in a tiny town. Pretty much everything but the grocery store closes early. Oh, and the drive-in is open on Friday and Saturday nights. The bookstore will be closed in another half hour, just like pretty much everything in New Leaf.”

  “Wow. I didn’t realize that.”

  She looked at her with curiosity as they moved to the counter. “You haven’t spent a lot of time in town since you moved here, have you?”

  “Not really,” she replied, shaking her head. “Only to get groceries. Then your shop the other day, and here today. I’ve been enjoying the solitude at the farmhouse too much to explore much.”

  The curiosity in Lindsey’s eyes intensified, but thankfully the cashier started ringing her up before she asked anymore question. Once they both had bags of books in their hands, they walked outside together.

  Olivia was worried that she would pick up where they left off, but Lindsey didn’t press the subject.

  “It really was so nice meeting you, Olivia. There aren’t many people around my age in this town, so I hope we can become friends one day. I need to get back to Aaron’s, but I’m pretty sure Cody will be contacting you soon. He was almost done with the estimates when I left.”

  Her belly fluttered at the thought of him contacting her, but with a stern reminder that it was business related, she ignored it as she focused on Lindsey—her new almost-friend.

  “I’d like that, and it was nice meeting you, too.”

  Giving her one last smile, Lindsey turned and walked swiftly in the direction of the company’s headquarters. She watched her go for a few moments and then turned to her truck. The grocery store wasn’t too far from here—no businesses in this town were far from each other—and normally she’d walk, but she didn’t feel like lugging gallons of water down the street.

  Getting in, she cranked the motor, brow furrowing when the same roughness she felt earlier came from the engine. She hadn’t expected it to disappear, exactly, but she’d gotten distracted in the bookstore, and it slipped her mind.

  Backing into the street, she started down the road to the grocery store, frown deepening. The truck was, if anything, acting even worse, and she focused most of her attention on it as she made her way down the mostly deserted street.

  Besides the rough ride, the engine began missing out, and it was sluggish, like it could barely pull its own weight. Pulling into a parking spot, she bit her lip, debating. She desperately wanted to look under the hood, but she also really needed to get the water before the store closed.

  Exhaling heavily, she shoved open the door. The water would need to come first, since she wasn’t sure how long it would take to fix the truck—or even figure out what was wrong—and Lindsey said the town rolled up the sidewalks pretty early on Fridays.

  She’d just be in and out, and then she’d figure out what was wrong with her truck. And hopefully, be able to get back to the house as soon as possible. Venturing out of her comfort zone to quickly visit a bookstore was one thing.

  Diagnosing the problem with the engine, and adding more time in town to fix the problem, was another.

  And no matter how hard she swallowed, the unease and fear crawling up her throat at being stuck here, so exposed, all of her dragon friends back home, wouldn’t go away.

  Chapter 7

  Cody

  Frowning when his call to Olivia went to voicemail, Cody left a message, letting her know it was him and that he sent the estimates. He hated talking to machines, but she might not be answering because she didn’t recognize the number.

  If that was the case, the voicemail was necessary. Shutting off his computer, he stood and stretched before leaving his office. Even though basically the whole town shut down early on Fridays, he generally stayed and continued working out in his workshop.

  When he wasn’t on a job, he was building something new or refurbishing something old. He wasn’t feeling up to it, though. His thoughts were still stuck on a certain blonde, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate. He’d end up cutting a finger off before the night was through.

  He’d heard his sister come back in earlier, so he walked toward her office to let her know he was heading out for the day. Lindsey handled the front desk and also most of the paperwork. Usually, he felt guilty if he left before her, but not now.

  He wasn’t sure what it was, but he felt like he had to get out of there. He was too antsy to spend another moment in there.

  Coming to a stop, he stuck his head in her office. She had files spread in front of her and she was on the phone, so he didn’t interrupt, just waited on her to notice him. When she did, she raised her hand in a distracted wave.

  Returning the gesture, he mimed that he was leaving for the day. Her eyebrows shot up, and a million questions sprouted in her eyes. Never had he felt more grateful that she was on the phone and couldn’t voice them, and he gave her a half smile and a salute, walking quickly away before she ended her call and chased after him.

  He loved her more than words could say, but she was a fast-talking chatter box who never seemed to shut up. And she had more curiosity and nosiness than anyone else he knew, so he definitely didn’t want to get caught in that.

  For about a block, until he was sure Lindsey wasn’t going to come tearing after him, he strode quickly and with purpose, even though he didn’t really have anywhere to be. Finally slowing to a stroll, he smiled and nodded at some people he passed, but he tried to avoid eye contact or invite conversation.

  He was in a mood and wasn’t up to speaking. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but he didn’t question it. Just shoved his hands in his pockets and kept walking.

  So consumed by his thoughts, his head down as he tried to sort through what he was feeling, he nearly missed Olivia. As it was, he didn’t see her—he felt her. The cells in his body came alive in that electrifying way he’d only ever felt when she was around, in the way he was coming to associate with her.

  Lifting his head, he saw her coming out of the grocery store, carrying four jugs of water to her truck. Quickening his step so he could help her, his brow furrowed as he wondered how she was carrying so many at once.

  But then, he shouldn’t be surprised that she could manage it. Olivia seemed to be different in every way from anyone else he knew. He had no doubts that if she decided she was going to do something, she did it, no matter how difficult it was.

  By the time he was close, she already had the gallons inside the truck. He wasn’t quite close enough yet to stop her from leaving—not without looking like a crazy man, running down the street after her—and he resigned himself to missing his chance to talk to her.

  But to his surprise, she went to the driver’s side, and in the next moment, the hood latch released with a pop. Like she’d done it a thousand times before, she opened the hood with ease and propped it against the stand, gazing into the depths of the engine.

  She was reaching in to fiddle with something when he finally reached her. Remembering how easily she startled, he thought of ways to announce his presence without scaring her, but he was coming up blank.

  Walking to the side so she could see him, he waited until her eyes moved from the engine and looked around before he spoke.

  “Hey, Olivia. Having engine trouble?”

  Her eyes widened when she saw him with his hands on the sliver of exposed hood, smiling easily at her. Her throat worked in a swallow as a tremor skated through her fingers, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t from fear this time.

  No, this was a different kind of reaction, one he was confident was reserved for him and him alone. And it confirmed what he’d already suspected.

  He wasn’t the only one feeling the pull, the sparks, between them.

  “Hey,” she replied with a slight smile. Raising her hand to push her hair back, she paused as she took in her grimy fingers from where she’d fiddled with the engine, and used her other hand instead. “How are you?”

  “Pretty good. I emailed and tried to call a little bit ago, but I see you’ve had othe
r things to worry about,” he said, nodding his head to the truck.

  “You did?” Frowning, she used her clean hand to dig her phone out of her back pocket. “Oh, I had my phone on silent. I thought I changed that when I came into town. Sorry about that.”

  “No worries. Having engine issues?”

  He nodded to her truck, and she looked down in surprise, like she’d forgotten what she’d been doing for a moment. Combined with her other quirks, some might think she lived up to the stereotype about blondes, but he knew better.

  He’d seen the intelligence in her light green eyes every time he spoke to her. He suspected that her mind was so full of different thoughts all the time, that she was always so busy flipping through them, that she sometimes lost track of what was happening in the moment.

  And he wouldn’t be lying if he said he hoped at least some of her distraction was because of him. Lord knew, she’d been distracting him from the moment they met, even when she was nowhere around.

  She nodded, her intense gaze turned back toward the engine. “Yeah. It started running rough on the way to town. I came to get some water, but decided to stop at the bookstore first. I figured I could just check it out once I got home. But when I left to come here, it was even worse.”

  He wasn’t a fan of anything that caused her stress, but he had to be honest, at least with himself. He couldn’t bring himself to be mad about it this time, either. If she hadn’t been having engine trouble, he would have missed the chance to talk to her face to face.

  “You want me to take a look?”

  Head rearing back, she frowned at him. “No, thanks. I got this. You know, not all women need a man to run in and save them. We’re not all helpless. I’m perfectly capable of figuring out what’s wrong with my truck and fixing it.”

  The corner of his mouth tugged up as he raised his hands in surrender. “You’re absolutely right. It’s just…” he trailed off, and her glare intensified. Despite the look that clearly said watch what you say or I’ll fuck you up as only a woman can, he forged on. “A lot of women—most, really—don’t have any interest in learning how to work on vehicles. I’m not saying they don’t have the ability,” he added quickly, tempted to take a step back from the look she was leveling on him, “but they just don’t have the interest. You have to admit that.”