by Lucy Score
Beau shook his head. He had. Alli had made the entire team watch it on a road trip once, but he wasn’t about to admit that. “No, but I know the gist of it.”
“This is like My Big Fat Italian Thanksgiving,” Bob said, chugging the beer as if it were medicinal.
Beau sat back in his chair, popped the top on a beer, and finally started to relax.
––—
The relaxation came to a screeching halt when Violet came to collect them. The men were welcomed back into the house by a slightly tipsier group of women than he’d left. They all crowded around the table in the Quinns’ tiny dining room. Violet and Bristol had to crawl under the table that had been extended to its full length to accommodate the crowd just to reach their seats in the corner.
Beau took a seat next to Bristol. There was a box of tissues in front of his plate. In fact there were three boxes of tissues on the table.
Once they were all seated Nana Ludavine cleared her throat, and everyone quieted. Ready for whatever grace the Quinns said, Beau bowed his head.
“Okay the rules are everybody passes the food unless your arms are broken, and everybody tries a bite of everything with no whining,” she looked fiercely at Violet who smiled. “And no crying. Anyone starts to cry, we change the subject. We have a lot to be thankful for, and that’s what we should be thinking about today.”
Beau looked around the table to gauge the reaction to Ludavine’s laws. Since the food was already being passed, he assumed all had accepted the edicts. Bristol squeezed his thigh under the table. “How’d it go in Man Land?” she whispered.
“Very peaceful,” he said, heaping potatoes onto both their plates from the bottomless bowl that Mary helpfully shoved at him.
Nolan and Lissa sat at the foot of the table crammed against the bay window. Lyric smeared potatoes and corn into a pattern on the tray of her highchair. Vince caught Beau’s attention and mimed drinking. Beau nodded vigorously. From a cooler at his feet, Savannah’s fiancé produced four cans of light beer and tossed them around the table.
“Who’s sitting at that place?” Violet asked through a mouthful of stuffing. She pointed down to the empty place setting on the opposite end of the table next to Great-Aunt Cara. Beau saw Mary’s hand tremble when she reached for her wine glass.
“That’s for Aunt Hope,” Bristol explained quietly.
“But she’s not here anymore,” Violet pressed, confusion written on her pretty little face.
“We don’t want to forget Aunt Hope,” Bristol said, her voice thickening with emotion. “We want to feel like part of her is still here with us.”
Beau reached under the table and squeezed her leg. They all heard the whimper, and Beau looked on in horror as Lissa’s face crumpled, and she reached for her napkin.
“Oh, crap,” Bob muttered, his eyes watering. “Lissa, you hang in there, you hear me?”
Someone else sniffled.
“Subject change!” Vince announced at a near shout. “Mary, this turkey is delicious. Is it free range?”
“What does free range mean?” Ludavine demanded.
Lissa put her napkin down and took a large gulp of wine. Aunt Lia passed the bottle around.
He admired them all. Their determination to stay grateful to enjoy their time together, even when the absence of one was so painful, was a testament to the strength of their family. They protected their own, just as he would. He respected that.
They chattered on, Beau deflecting questions about yoga and Bristol deflecting questions about marriage. They stumbled a few times but managed to make it to dessert without breaking any of the rules.
Mary and Lia got up to bring the desserts in despite the fact that no one at the table had any room for more.
When Mary placed Bristol’s pecan pie on the table another silence descended. “Is that…?” Savannah asked, not wanting to finish the question.
Bristol nodded. “Yeah. I found her recipe.” She wiped at her eye.
“It’s a good pie, not a reason to be sad,” Nana Ludavine said, dabbing the corners of her eyes with the napkin.
Beau looked down at the pie. In the very center was a small heart. He felt his throat start to tighten. Mary trembled next to him, trying to hold back a flood of emotions. He put one hand on Bristol’s leg and patted Mary’s shoulder awkwardly with the other. The aunts were sniffling, and Bob was blowing his nose. Nolan, his own eyes damp, wiped a tear from Violet’s cheek.
“Subject change!” Beau announced in desperation. “Who wants another drink?”
“Me!” Everyone including Violet wanted one.
“Can I have a soda?” Violet asked.
“Kid, you can have anything you want,” Beau said, and everyone laughed. They opened another bottle of wine, and Bob grabbed another round of beers out of the refrigerator and doled them out. He looked around the table, eyes still misty and raised his beer. “Look, I know we’re all missing our Hope. It’s a hard day for all of us, being reminded of what we lost. I’d just like to thank you all for being here and for making this day as special as it can be.”
No one was bothering to try to hide it now. Beau grabbed a fistful of tissues and handed half to Mary and half to Bristol. He shouldn’t be here, he realized. They should be able to grieve in peace. Coming here had been a mistake. They weren’t ready, and maybe neither was he.
“I’d also like to thank Bristol,” Bob continued. She looked up to meet her father’s red eyes. “You helped us make the decision to donate Hope’s organs. Without you speaking up when you did, I don’t think we would have had the guts to do it. And now, knowing that pieces of her are living on in others is what gives us the greatest comfort.”
Bristol stifled a sob, and Beau unfroze from his seat long enough to slide a comforting arm around her shoulders. He had her to thank. She had saved the only thing in this world that had mattered to him… until now. She was his hero.
The guests around the table blew their noses and raised their glasses and cans.
“To Hope,” Bob said, laying a hand on his wife’s shoulder.
“To Hope,” everyone echoed.
To Hope, Beau repeated in his head. I promise you, Hope, I will make things right for your family.
A sad silence settled in the room, and no one seemed willing to change the subject this time.
“Hey, who likes puppies?” Violet piped up.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Bristol woke early. It was still dark, her body still blissfully used and sore from another night with Beau. They’d waved Violet off with Nolan and Lissa on their annual road trip to Lissa’s family in Monterey. And Beau had given her an extra hard hug when she’d cried.
But he’d taken her home, taken her straight to bed where they’d napped for two hours. And when they woke, there was no more napping.
Physically their bodies were so in tune. He knew everything she wanted from him without her ever voicing it. And it wasn’t just in the bed—or on the floor or the kitchen island.
He’d been a rock for her entire family yesterday, supporting them with humor and sweetness and, in the end, some impressive bartending skills. Even Nana had approved. She’d given Bristol a good hard look on her way out the door and nodded in Beau’s direction.
“He’s a good man. You let him marry you,” she’d insisted.
Bristol smiled at the memory. He was a good man, and she’d had more than a few not-so-fleeting wishes that he’d stay in the past twenty-four hours. Even longer, if she was being completely honest.
She let herself daydream for just a second. Beau in Hope Falls, Beau coaching Violet’s hockey team, Beau in her kitchen, her bedroom… their kitchen, their bedroom.
She rolled over, reaching for him, but found his side of the bed empty. A glance at the clock told her she still had fifteen minutes before she had to get up for the anarchy of Black Friday at Early Bird. It wasn’t that it was a big shopping day in Hope Falls, Bristol thought as she pulled on Beau’s discarded t-shirt. It was that
everyone had just spent the last twenty-four hours cooking, cleaning, and entertaining family. It was time to get out of the house.
She padded out to the kitchen and found it dark. She felt the tickle of worry in her belly when she walked to the front window. It was snowing steadily. Beau’s SUV had been parked in front of her car. It was gone.
She hurried back to the kitchen, desperate for caffeine to help her make sense of it all. Had she dreamed it? Had he told her he wasn’t staying the night?
She flicked on the lights over the island and was reaching for the coffee maker when a piece of paper caught her eye. It was propped up against the vase holding the slightly squished roses he’d given her.
Gorgeous,
I owe you an explanation for why I came and why I left, but I can’t. Not yet. These last few days have changed everything for me. You’ve changed everything for me. Well, you, Violet, your family, hell, even the rest of this crazy town. I’ll be back. I promise, and I’ll explain everything. I hope you can forgive me for lying.
Love,
Beau
––—
The snow didn’t scare anyone off of breakfast. Not in a town that was walkable end to end in twenty minutes. Early Bird was at full capacity by seven-thirty. The coffee was strong and the windows were steaming up as plates of eggs and sausage and pancakes rotated with the crowd.
But gone was Bristol’s postsex buzz. Gone were her daydreams of Beau in Hope Falls. And gone was her heart.
He’d lied to her, slept with her, and left her. And he was going to pay.
“Take a break.”
Her sister’s voice snapped Bristol out of her revenge fantasy.
“What are you doing here?” Bristol frowned.
She saw her sister skate a look at Margo who whistled innocently as she turned around and slunk back to the kitchen.
“I see.”
“Grab a mug and take five and tell me why you don’t have orgasmic bliss written all over your face. And I want an egg white omelet with turkey bacon and coffee.”
Bristol glared at her sister while she rang in the order and snatched two mugs off the wall.
Savannah snagged a table as it was abandoned by Mr. King and aging hippie Art Gardine. “So talk.”
“Beau’s gone.”
“What the hell do you mean he’s gone? He was slobbering over you yesterday. Lissa used the ‘L’ word,” Savannah argued.
“What? Lust?” Bristol snorted. “Loser?” She was so mad she couldn’t come up with any other ‘L’ words.
“What happened when you went home yesterday?” Savannah asked, determined to get to the bottom of it.
“We took a nap.”
“Is that a euphemism?” Savannah frowned.
“No! We fell asleep all snuggled up together like an idiot and a liar and then when we woke up we… did other things that occur in beds. We ate the leftovers Mom packed up for us and then went back to bed for more…”
“Occurrences,” Savannah provided.
“And when I woke up at four, he was gone, and this was in the kitchen.”
She yanked the note out of her pocket and slapped it on the table.
Savannah snatched it up, read it. “What the fuck is this?”
“I would really like to know!”
“You changed everything, but he can’t explain why he was lying or leaving?” Savannah reiterated. “We’re getting to the bottom of this, and then we’re driving to Chicago—if that is where he’s from— and setting his house on fire.”
“Thanks for having my back.”
“No one messes with my sister. Not even someone who looks like Beau French.”
“If that’s his real name.”
––—
Savannah and Bristol agreed to meet at Bristol’s that afternoon for some cyber stalking, but first, there was one thing Bristol needed to do.
She drove out to Mountain Meadow B&B in the still falling snow. She already knew Beau wouldn’t be there, but maybe Shelby or Levi could shed some light on the man’s mysterious disappearance.
“Hey, Bristol! How’d you fare in the snow?” Shelby asked with a warm grin. She was on a ladder decorating the B&B’s Christmas tree.
“Uh, good. Everything was fine. You?”
“Levi had the paths and sidewalks cleared in no time. We ended up with a good crowd at JT’s last night despite the snow. Everyone hiked in on snowshoes,” Shelby laughed. Shelby was a San Diego native and was still adjusting to the culture shock of Hope Falls. “So what can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if Beau French was still here?”
Shelby frowned down at her. “You mean Beau Evanko?”
Bristol shook her head. “French. He was here for the yoga retreat,” Bristol tried again.
“We had a Beau Evanko, and I believe he was the very attractive man who went to Thanksgiving lunch with you. He made the green bean casserole here.”
Bristol felt a sick feeling of dread slide through her stomach.
Shelby climbed down the ladder. “What’s wrong? You look like you’re going to be sick.”
Bristol reached into her bag and dug for her phone. “Is this Beau Evanko?” she asked, pulling up a picture on her phone.
Shelby leaned in to look. “Yep, that’s him.” She pulled back to study Bristol. “He left his room key at the desk overnight. I found it this morning.”
With a heavy heart, Bristol shoved her phone back in her bag.
“There’s no way that guy is a yoga instructor. He told me he was here to visit a family connection. Come to think of it, he was super vague about it, but I never was able to weasel out of him who it was.”
“He worked out at Lucky’s once or twice,” Bristol tried again. “Do you think Lucky or Levi know anything about him?”
“If Levi knows anything about Beau and didn’t tell me, he’s going to be sleeping on the couch tonight,” Shelby threatened. “He really told you his name was French and that he was a yoga instructor?”
Bristol nodded already feeling like a prize idiot.
“He seemed really nice, sweet even. He was so nervous about Thanksgiving with your family. Why would he do that to you?”
Bristol took a deep breath. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”
“If he shows his face here again, you can bet I’ll be dialing you while Levi beats the hell out of him,” Shelby said, angry now.
“Thanks, Shelby. I appreciate it.”
––—
“He’s a professional hockey player?” Bristol screeched.
“Was,” Savannah corrected her, squinting at her laptop screen. “This says he retired suddenly about a year ago.”
“Why? Was he caught embezzling from the NHL? Did he sleep with the team captain and then disappear off the face of the earth?” Bristol snapped.
Savannah shook her head. “He was the team captain. The official statement says ‘personal reasons.’ Lots of speculation, but he never went public with his reason for leaving the sport.” She wiggled her empty wine glass at Bristol. “Need more stalking fuel.”
Bristol took the glass into the kitchen and opened a new bottle of wine while Savannah clicked and scrolled some more. Today had been the single biggest day in Early Bird’s history. She should be celebrating. Instead, she was pacing her apartment trying to unmask the man who had brought her back to life and then discarded her like the unwanted bottom of a muffin.
“Holy effing shit.”
“What?” Bristol asked, practically climbing over her sister’s shoulder to see the screen. “Is he under investigation for murder? Oh, my God,” she gasped. “Is he married?”
Savannah swiveled around to look at her. “Why would married get a bigger reaction out of you than murdering?”
“I don’t know!” Bristol said as she paced back and forth behind her chair. “I just—shut up and tell me if he has a criminal record, okay?”
“News today out of Chicago says that Beau Evanko just put hi
s swanky downtown penthouse on the market for a cool $2.5 million.”
Bristol handed Savannah the full glass and took a sip of her own.
“We’re missing something here. Why would a professional hockey player fly out here, pretend to be a yoga instructor, seduce me, and then vanish again?”
Savannah rolled her shoulders. “We’ve got to be missing something. Some connection. Maybe he’s looking for something to do with his millions, and he wants to franchise Early Bird?”
“Maybe he’s an asshole who gets off on seducing single moms and then disappearing on them.” Bristol flopped down in one of the dining chairs. “I really liked him. Like really liked him.”
Savannah covered her hand. “B, we all did. That couldn’t have been an act, not all of it. He’s a hockey player, not a member of the Screen Actors Guild.”
Bristol dropped her forehead to the table. “I feel like such an idiot. I trusted him. I let him be around Violet!” She thunked her head once. “The other team parents are going kill me! How could I have let a stranger coach those kids?”
“No one in Hope Falls has ever been strung up for falling in love.”
“Love? This isn’t love!” Bristol sat upright. “Even if I was feeling something similar to love, it was not real love because real love is based on honesty, not lies some really hot asshole tells to get laid.”
“Something is not adding up here,” Savannah said, not even pretending to listen to Bristol’s tirade. “He’s totally hot. He wouldn’t have to lie to get anyone in bed. There has to be a reason why Beau Evanko came to Hope Falls.”
It flashed into her mind, Beau’s words two nights ago before…
“Wait, gorgeous. There’s something I have to tell you.”
In the heat of the moment, he’d tried to tell her something. He’d tried to stop her, and she’d told him it wasn’t important. It could wait.
“What? What’s wrong?” Savannah demanded. “You look like you smell something bad.”
––—
The days passed swiftly thanks to Violet coming home with stories to tell of Monterey and the last minute wedding preparations. But always in the back of her mind was Beau Evanko. At night, when Violet was in bed, Bristol dug deeper into the man she’d thought she’d known. She’d seen every highlight of his career thanks to an Evanko Fans channel on YouTube. Even with her limited knowledge of the sport, she could tell he’d been an incredible player. He was an MVP god on skates.