“Huh?” Apparently Elizabeth had never heard the idiom before.
Tal’s head shook in disgust. “Look, I wish someone else would take the damn Taphouse, but dad’s too stubborn and seems to think he can trust that fool. So convince him already, would you?”
“Yeah, how sweet of you, Tal. How about I just tell him you said that and we’ll see how well that convinces him, huh?” I didn’t really hate my brother, but he’d been getting on my nerves so much more ever since he’d taken over dad’s real estate business on Buena Vista. Somehow it had all turned him into a real asshole.
“Jesus, Marissa, I just want dad off my back, okay? And come on, he’s not getting any younger. He’s going to give himself a damn heart attack if he keeps going like he is.”
My lips pursed into a thin line as I looked in hope for some out from the conversation. My best bet was definitely the group of older ladies, including Mrs. Dalton. Hopefully she wouldn’t quiz me on any math.
I hurriedly snagged Elizabeth’s arm and yanked her away from Tal without so much as a goodbye. Maybe someday he’d learn to be less of a jerk, but I didn’t think it was going to happen anytime soon.
“Oh, Marissa and Elizabeth! How good to see you,” Mrs. Dalton hadn’t changed a bit. She was still the sweetest lady who grasped both of our hands in a miniature hug. “How are you both?”
“I’m -- we’re great,” Elizabeth beamed, proud as ever with the haze of alcohol making her day bright and shiny. She leaned hard against my arm for support, leaving me to wonder just how many bottles she’d had before I arrived.
“Oh how I do miss seeing the pair of you with Olivia out on the playground.”
The comment sobered both Elizabeth and I into momentary silence. Olivia had been the last piece to our trio growing up. We’d all been inseparable, like some girly version of the three musketeers. She was also Henry’s younger sister, and years ago she’d drowned at Lake Carson at age twelve.
“How long has it been now?” Mrs. Dalton pressed sweetly as one could.
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth murmured, “umm…”
“Ten years,” I said, making all the memories rush back to me. Time was apparently supposed to heal all wounds, but I still missed Olivia terribly. I wondered for a moment what she’d be doing now that we all graduated and were trying to make our way in the world. Would she have kept to her love of horses?
“Yeah, in just a few weeks,” Elizabeth breathed as if she’d just heard the news all over again.
“Such a sweet girl she was,” Mrs. Dalton added, garnering the smallest of my smiles. I knew she meant well, but I would have been just fine letting it go.
“I think we should hold a memorial party for her. In honor of her,” Elizabeth spat out suddenly, “in just a few weeks. Marissa! We can hold it at your parent’s lake house, right?”
My brow pinches and as I stare at Elizabeth I swear we’re twelve again and we’re trying to plan a series of covers to get ourselves out of the house late at night.
“Marissa?”
“Uh yeah,” I answer with a sudden shake of my head, “I don’t see why it would be a problem.” But, as Elizabeth rambles on about all of the people that should be invited and what color the lanterns should be that we can let go into the sky, I can’t get the onslaught of memories to dissipate.
Olivia, with her beautiful sandy blonde hair that fell in tight curls past her shoulders had always been the brightest and happiest in our group. Somehow, even when things were going completely against us she found a reason to smile and laugh.
I wasn’t even certain I could remember the sound of it anymore.
The entire gathering around me suddenly felt foreign, and dimmed somehow by the memories that refuse to give up. Seeing that Elizabeth was already talking up a storm with her planning ideas I snuck off and found a park bench no one had yet laid claim to. It faced the river, but half of it was spackled with bird shit.
A loud sigh left my lips as I sat on the single, untouched corner of the bench.
Henry had been there that night that his sister had died. I couldn’t even imagine what it must have been like, to have seen her pulled from the water with the life having already left her eyes. There had been an open casket funeral, and seeing her looking so unlike herself was heart-wrenching enough.
Beyond the haze of my own guilt and self-pity something in the parking lot of the River Grille had my head popping up in question. It was Henry’s truck, large and blue as it was, parked outside.
It was probably for the best he was there, given his lack of culinary skills.
For a moment my lower lip found its way between my teeth. Part of me wanted to go to him and part of me knew it was a bad idea. In the end, I decided I haven’t always made the best decisions, so why start now?
I raced down the hill just as Henry stepped out of the restaurant with a to-go bag in hand. He slipped into his truck, and just before he turned the key I had reached the driver’s side door.
Luckily, the window was open and the side rails were high enough I could jump up and be at his level.
“Hey.” I hadn’t really planned much beyond that; I just wanted something else to push my visions of Olivia out of my head. “You know there’s a ton of food just up the hill, right?”
“Sure, and probably with your brother, Mrs. Merriton, Elizabeth…”
“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with Elizabeth.” Except maybe he could smell the pheromones rolling off of her.
“No,” one of his hands draped across the steering wheel while his other drifted out the window and curled a tendril of my hair up into his calloused fingers. “There’s nothing wrong with Elizabeth, but she’s not Gator Girl.”
My eyes rolled at the name he’ll never drop, but I still found myself tugged in by his pull on my hair. I should’ve resisted him, I should’ve said no-
His lips pressed against mine, silencing every thought in my head. It was just what I’d needed when his rough hands slid around the back of my neck and pulled me in even closer. His lips tasted strong of cloves and peppermint, and my lips parted in a hurry the moment I felt the sweep of his tongue.
He was intoxicating, wired hard as hell, and I wasn’t certain how long I’d be able to say no to him.
The kiss deepened then, dragging me under into the exhilaration of his tongue seeking passage beyond my parted lips. He could have asked for anything in that moment, and I quite possibly would have given it to him.
In a sudden halt he stopped, leaving me breathless and clueless as he cranked up the engine, leaving the truck vibrating under my feet.
“I gotta go feed Teddy,” he said, snapping me back to reality as I jumped down from the truck. It would have been a lie for me to have said it didn’t sting that our kiss had ended so abruptly.
“Why don’t you just get a cat?” I asked. It would have made more sense, given that Teddy wasn’t really a pet at all. He was a fox, a wild one that often snooped around Henry’s backyard and waited quite happily to be fed extra scraps.
“Cats? I hate cats. All they do is sleep and shit.”
“Hey, they snuggle, and meow.” Admittedly, I couldn’t think of much more than that.
Henry’s eyes swung my way and froze me in their wake. I hated how much he affected me. “Come home with me?”
It wasn’t an offer for a date, that was for sure.
Though my core tingled at the idea of spending the night with him, my logic wouldn’t let me. He was still the same Henry that wanted a spin for free.
“I can’t.”
“Right.” Usually he would have tried to convince me otherwise, but he said nothing as he slipped the truck into gear. “See ya, Gator Girl.”
I grumbled to myself as he drove off, shadowing me in plumes of dust, “Yeah, see ya.”
3
There’s always those people who know what they want to do in life from the moment they’re able to walk. I never had been one of those kids, and even though I’d already gr
aduated from college, I still hadn’t figured out what I wanted to do in life. It had always been a slight sore spot, and with the Corner Roast behind me and a day of work ahead of me it really had me thinking.
Maybe I was pushing Henry so much because he had a chance at something. I never would be any good at running the Taphouse, it had just never been my thing. If it was though, I would have done it in a heartbeat.
It’s not that I hated my job, but as a twenty-two year old I kind of expected more out of myself than working for Pup Wash Mobile Grooming. On the positive side though, I’ve always spent more time with dogs than cranky humans. It beat basic customer service.
My days always start out at the office, which is a good thing since I’d never fit the mobile truck in my dad’s driveway. It’s a bit clunky, and I’ve never been a huge fan of driving it.
One glance at the appointment book had my heart sinking. I was booked for an appointment at the Brown house, which is Henry and Olivia’s parents. It’s the same house she grew up in, and a place I spent a lot of my childhood at. I kind of wished I could pass the job off on someone else, but I was the only one on the books that day.
With a deep breath behind me I set off for their house, the entire drive there reminiscent of the days I rode my bike by the towering rhododendrons to see Olivia. It had always been one of the reasons I loved coming to her house, besides seeing her, of course. I had never been much for traditional flowers like roses or carnations, but seeing those feathery blooms in shades of lilac and peach made the street feel magical when I was young.
They still bloomed even now, and by the time I’d reached the Brown house and parked out front I felt heartsick for Olivia. I had half expected to see her race out the front door to greet me, but the door to their old plantation home remained solidly shut. Every step toward their that front door made me feel like I was getting smaller and smaller, and with the ring of the doorbell things didn’t get any better.
Dog nails skimmed across the floor on the opposite side of the door, eager to get to whomever was on the outside. The moment Olivia’s mother Deborah opened the door the two energetic balls of fur raced around my legs. It was a wonder they were still so full of energy after all these years, after all, I had been there the day the Brown’s brought the two new pups home.
“Marissa,” Mrs. Brown cooed, “how good to see you.” It had been a long time since I’d seen them, not because I had purposefully gone out of my way to ignore them, but just because seeing them hurt too much.
“Hi Mrs. Brown.” I smiled quite genuinely, but it was hard not to with two golden retrievers vying for your attention. I crouched down and let one of them lick my cheek. “How have you been?”
“Oh please, you know you can call me Deborah, dear. I’m good.” The woman’s soft Southern drawl was one I’d always loved. “You know, just trying to keep up with the garden out back.”
“You always did have the best smelling yard.” Even now, from way around front I swore I could smell hints of the lavender and honeysuckle Mrs. Brown had always been so proud of.
“Well, I hope it still lives up to your standards,” she said with the warmest smile. “Now go on, don’t you let me hold you up from your work.”
It was a welcome reprieve from the scents that stirred up too many deep memories.
“We’ll be done in no time!” I called out with both Max and Prissie hot on my heels. It was going to take a while to get the pair of them all cleaned up with just how much fur they had flying every which way.
“Come on guys.” Into the truck I coaxed them with nothing more than the promise of treats. Luckily, neither one had ever had a problem being bathed or having their nails trimmed before, which always made my job so much easier.
“Come here, Max.” The old dog was graying around the eyes but was happy as could be as I got him into the washing station and began soaking him down. Us three girls, me, Elizabeth, and Olivia were only seven when Mr. Brown first brought Max and Prissie home. We had all been playing in the backyard, screaming at the top of our lungs as we ran around with sticks pretending we were on some grand adventure. I wish I could I remember what our tale was about, but it all felt so distant, like some piece read in an old history book.
We’d been somewhere further out from the house, toward the old apple orchard that abutted their property when we heard Olivia’s father calling to us to come back. Of course, at first we hadn’t wanted to go back in. We figured that we would be forced back inside to wash up and maybe go home, but that wasn’t it all. Instead, when we finally ducked our way back under the bending trees at the back of the property we collectively gasped.
Two tiny golden puppies were let out of Doug Brown’s hands, and with a curiosity that only let them trundle a handful of feet before stopping to sniff everything they began their way toward us. Of course, as seven year olds we hadn’t had the patience to wait and ran for them immediately.
Max still holds the same sweetness he did back then, especially as he licked my face in glee from the comb I was pulling through his fur. The old dog loved the scratches, and while the memory was a happy one, I couldn’t help but look at him with sadness.
Did he miss Olivia as much as I did?
“Do you miss her too? Huh, bud?” I scratched behind his ears, and quiet as could be he sounded like a large cat purring. Maybe he was okay after all. Maybe, it was just me that still held onto the past.
In stark quiet, save for the tapping thump of Max’s tail on the wall, I worked away trimming his nails and fixing him up so I could get started on Prissie. She was just as easy going, and happily jumped into place for a crunchy well-deserved treat.
I wasn’t sure why, but that day they found their forever home wouldn’t get out of my head. All I wanted to do was pretend that I wasn’t hurting again over the loss of Olivia, but that wasn’t easy to do when I couldn’t stop thinking about the latter half of that same day.
All of our adventurous play had come to a halt the moment the puppies were introduced, and we happily sat in the grass playing with them for hours on end. I swore I could still feel the damp of the grass under my pants, but it just turned out to be Prissie shaking and spraying the inside of the truck and me before I could finish rinsing the soap from her fur.
Whatever happened that day so long ago I don’t remember, but somehow I did something that upset Elizabeth and Olivia. I’m sure now that we… now that Elizabeth and I were older we’d think it trivial, but back then it felt like my world was ending.
I’d run off and hid in the trees out back, snapping off twigs and kicking the toes of my shoes through the dirt and fallen leaves. They’d hollered at me, shouted in their upset, and my young heart had ached.
Henry had come after me, and he found me back then with tears streaming down my face and didn’t poke or prod. Somehow, he’d found it in himself to care.
“I don’t think you did anything wrong,” he’d said to me, with his hands tucked nervously into his pockets. He was sweet back then, and wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable. It was a huge change from what he’d become.
“You… don’t?” My tiny fingers had wiped at the tears on my face and served only to smear them clear across my cheeks. I looked at him in that moment like he was a white knight, come to save me.
His head shook, tossing his much longer hair into his eyes. “No.” Even then he’d had a smile that could light up a room, and it somehow healed part of my wounds. “But, if you want, we can play. I built a secret fort, if you want to see it…”
That was the first time I really spent any time with Henry, and it was when my crush on him first began. As far as I was ever aware, not once did he ever share that fort with anyone else, not even his sister.
With a sigh I finished up with Prissie and let her back down onto the floor. She sat expectantly, her tail wagging as she stared up at me waiting for a treat. I happily gave her one and glanced back out the small window.
I knew now why it all hurt twice as much. I hadn
’t lost just Olivia ten years ago, I’d lost the real Henry, too. He’d closed himself off and put up walls meant to protect himself, but all they seemed to do was make things worse.
It took all my effort to put on a smile as I opened the door to the truck and saw Mrs. Brown waiting on her front porch. In a hurry she greeted her cleaned up dogs and turned her usual Southern charm toward me.
“Why don’t you come over for dinner later on tonight, Marissa? We’re going to grill up some chicken, and it would be great to catch up.”
The mere thought of spending time in their backyard had my heart trembling in fear. Yet, I couldn’t say no, not when she had asked so nicely.
“Sure, that’d be great,” I lie, knowing it’ll be torture for me. At least Henry wouldn’t be here - he had his own place, so the odds of him showing up were slim to none.
“Great, see you around six!” Deborah sauntered off with both her dogs hot on her heels leaving me perched on the bottom step of the truck. My stomach twisted at the thought of coming back, but I had no choice now. I’d have to come back to the Brown house and somehow keep myself in check. After all, they had to be hurting far worse than I was.
4
The entire drive to the Brown house felt like torture. I’d spent hours roaming around my closet, wondering what to wear and unable to ask Elizabeth, who I lived with, for her help. It would have been too awkward telling her I was going to the Brown’s while she wasn’t.
They’d always had a pretty fancy house with crystal chandeliers and shiny walnut banisters. Family meals at my dad’s house had always consisted of plenty of chatter and raucous laughter, while the Brown’s had more than one fork on the table per person and regularly served things in courses.
Now, behind the wheel of my car on the way over I wondered if I should have put something fancier on than my pair of dark wash jeans and loose fitted button-up. For me it was a bit dressier, but for their house, I wasn’t so sure.
Hard Wired: A First Love Second Chance Romance Page 2