Come Back Home Again (Hope Valley Book 2)

by Jessica Prince

  With that, I hung up and stomped the rest of the way into the house. The peacefulness I’d been feeling after my ride on Stargazer was blown to smithereens with that one phone call, and now I was going to need so much more than fresh air and nature to soothe my frayed nerves.

  The Tap Room had been a staple in Hope Valley for as long as I could remember. It wasn’t the only bar in town, but it had the reputation as being the best back in the day, and to hear people talk, that reputation had held strong while I was gone.

  As I pushed through the doors at seven on a Thursday evening, I saw the place had a decent-sized crowd. It wasn’t wall-to-wall, but most of the tables were occupied, and the air was full of laughter and muffled conversation. The chill that came with winter in the mountains clearly hadn’t stopped the residents of this small town from enjoying a night out.

  Winding my way through the tables, I was headed for an empty one off to the side of the stage when I heard my name called over the crowd.

  “Temperance?”

  My head swiveled in the direction of the bar and my mouth dropped open in shock. “Oh my god, Rory?”

  “Tempie?”

  Rory let out a loud squeal and rounded the bar quick as a flash. I did a little girly hop of excitement just as she reached me, and the two of us slammed together and swayed side to side as we held onto each other.

  Rory Hightower had been my best friend since kindergarten. As a matter of fact, she was more than just a best friend, she’d been like a sister to me. She was the one I trusted with absolutely everything, and she was the only one who knew the whole truth about my past. Leaving her had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done, but I’d thought it was necessary to make a fresh start with a new life. There were a few phone calls, some letters, and a couple Christmas cards exchanged between us over the years, but those eventually petered out, leaving behind a large friend-sized hole that I’d never managed to fill.

  Seeing her and hugging her now made me realize what a huge mistake it had been to distance myself from her. My throat closed up and my sinuses began to sting as I battled back a flood of tears.

  “Oh my god,” I repeated on a breath, squeezing her even tighter. “It’s so good to see you.”

  My voice was thick with emotion as she pulled from my hold. She kept her fingers wrapped around my upper arms as she studied me closely. “It’s so good to see you too, babe. More than you know. You look fantastic!”

  “Me?” I scanned her up and down, taking her in. She had a bright multicolored scarf laced though the beltloops of her fitted, extremely-faded-in-a-good-way jeans. Up top she wore a tight red tee with the words “I’d Tap That” in large white letters across her chest. Her left wrist had a multitude of mismatched bracelets and bangles that totally worked all together, while the right had a killer brown leather cuff with a silver disk that had the word “Troublemaker” stamped on it. She matched the ensemble with a pair of kickass scuffed brown cowboy boots that rounded the whole look off in a cowgirl-meets-hippie way that totally worked for her. Her long black hair was hanging thick and loose down her back, and her face was made up just enough to highlight her sharp cheekbones, plump lips, and wide doe eyes. “You look absolutely amazing!”

  “I’m so sorry about your aunt, honey. I was at the funeral, but I didn’t want to intrude—”

  “Don’t even worry about it,” I said, waving her off. “I wasn’t in my right mind to talk to anyone anyway, but I should have made an effort to see you before now. There’s no excuse for it.”

  Her expression grew sympathetic, and her fingers clenched around my arms. “Please, you’ve had a lot goin’ on lately. You’ve got nothing to feel bad about. You’re here now, and that’s all that matters. We have a ton to catch up on, babe. Pull up a stool and fill me in. I wanna know everything.”

  And just like that, it was as if no time at all had passed between Rory and me.

  Chapter Four

  Temperance

  “Holy shit, Tempie. That guy sounds like a freakin’ psycho,” Rory declared from across the bar, her face lined with worry.

  I’d been camped out on a stool at the curve of the bar for the past thirty minutes as she hung with me, occasionally breaking away to get someone a refill or close out a tab. We were interrupted a couple of times by men coming up to flirt, but Rory was a deft hand at brushing them off so politely that they probably walked away wanting her even more.

  I had just finished regaling her on all things Perry Frasier, and as soon as she finished that statement, she moved to the glass shelves at the back of the bar, grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the top shelf, and poured me a shot, stating, “Don’t think beer’s gonna cut it for you, babe.”

  “No kidding,” I muttered unhappily before picking up the shot glass and downing the contents, relaxing a bit as the warmth of the whiskey traveled down, creating a pleasant numbness before it settled in my belly.

  I plunked it back down on the bar top and tapped the rim with my finger, indicating I needed another. Rory didn’t hesitate in pouring, and I shot that one back just as quick as the first.

  “You think he’s finally taken the hint and plans to leave you alone?” she asked, crossing her forearms on the bar and leaning onto them.

  “I hope so,” I sighed.

  Rory’s brows dipped together in a V. “And if he doesn’t?”

  That was the million-dollar question. “I don’t know,” I replied, my voice dripping heavy with defeat. “What would you do?”

  Rory gave me a look. “You know me, honey. I own a gun and have been able to shoot since I was three years old.”

  She wasn’t kidding. She was the only child of a man who was all man, and Rory’s dad, Bill, had taught her to do all the things he’d have taught a son if he’d had one. He taught her to hunt and fish. Every Sunday they camped out in front of the TV and spent the entire day watching football. And when she turned sixteen, he took her out and made her change one of the tires on his truck over and over until he was certain she knew how to do it herself just in case she ever found herself stranded on the side of the road with a flat. No way in hell was Bill Hightower raising his girl to depend on a man when she was more than capable of taking care of herself. His words.

  Rory’s mom was the quintessential girly girl to her dad’s alpha male. She taught her daughter all about makeup and hair, instilled in her the confidence to find her own style and totally embrace it, and helped teach her how to walk in heels because, as Becky Hightower said, “Nothin’ wrong with a woman wearing boots, but there’ll come a time in your life when heels are necessary, and the last thing you want is to make a fool of yourself.”

  Because of her folks, Rory was the only girl I’d ever met who could toss back beers like one of the guys while watching a game on TV and doll up for a night out with her girls and look totally hot while doing both.

  “I can tell you what I’d do if I were in your shoes, which is fill his ass full of buckshot, but you aren’t me.”

  I really wasn’t. Being my best friend and all, Rory was well aware of my aversion to guns. The damn things terrified me. I went shooting once with my dad and had been the first and last time I ever held a firearm in my hands. Everything from the kick to the deafening bang scared me. I’d been working as an ER nurse for more than a decade and had seen up close and personal, the damage guns could do, which only compounded my fear of them.

  “I think it’s pretty safe to say I’m not capable of something like that.”

  Her lips quirked up in a knowing smirk. “Didn’t think you would be. I remember going with you when your dad tried to teach you to shoot. That shell casing flew into your shirt and you started screaming and flailing around like your ass was on fire. With the gun still in your hand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen your dad move as fast as he did to hit the ground that day.”

  I narrowed my eyes into vicious slits. “That shell casing was hot. It left a blister on my boob, thank you very much.”

  �
��Whatever,” she muttered, rolling her eyes good-naturedly before turning serious a few seconds later. “But really, Tempie, I think you might need to go to the cops. Get that restraining order you threatened him with.”

  I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and bit down as I gave that some thought. “You don’t think that’s a little dramatic?”

  “Hell no,” she declared passionately. “This guy hassled you so badly you had to go to your board at work to get him off your back and change your phone number. Then the nutjob hunted down your new number.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not like he’s hurt me or anything,” I argued. “He’s just a nuisance.”

  Her expression blanked, and her head cocked to the side as she said, “Babe. Haven’t you ever watched those shows on Investigation Discovery? That’s how stalkers start.”

  I let out a snort of laughter and shook my head. “Now I think you’re being dramatic.”

  Standing tall, she held her arms up in surrender and said, “Suit yourself. But don’t come cryin’ to me when he tosses you down a well and demands you rub the lotion on your skin.”

  At that, I threw my head back and let out a deep belly laugh, something I hadn’t done in a long time. It felt damn good to laugh like that, even if it was about something not so pleasant, and as I struggled to compose myself, I had to wrap an arm around my stomach against the ache in my abs.

  I’d been so caught up in my hilarity that I didn’t notice who had just walked through the door until Rory’s excited “Hey, I didn’t know you guys would be here tonight,” caught my attention.

  Sitting tall on my stool, I looked over my shoulder and froze solid at the sight of Eden heading in our direction. She was no longer on her crutches but was making her way carefully to the bar with a small limp. “Hi!” she chirped back. “Impromptu girls’ night. I needed to get out of the house.”

  At that comment, I took notice of the women on either side of her. One was a gorgeous buxom redhead, and the other was an equally gorgeous tall blonde. The three of them walking side by side was like something you’d expect to see in a movie, where all the guys watched on with lust in their eyes and the girls stared in envy as they passed by everyone in slo-mo.

  “That’s awesome,” Rory continued brightly, clearly close with these women. “You picked the perfect night. Pull up a stool, ladies. I want to introduce you to my BFF from way back in the day. This is Temperance.”

  I had two choices in that moment. I could either stay and get to know these women, or find an excuse to bail out now to avoid spending time with a woman I was incredibly—albeit irrationally—jealous of. The last choice would undoubtedly make me look like a mean bitch, and I was neither mean nor bitchy. In fact, I did my best every day to be nice anyone I came into contact with. It was something Aunt Reenie had instilled in me. She used to say that you never knew what a person was struggling with in their personal lives, and that just a small bit of kindness could be all it took to make a crappy day good again.

  With that, my decision was made and I swiveled on my stool to face the whole group. “Eden and I actually met at the diner the other day. It’s good to see you again.”

  “You too,” she returned with obvious sincerity. “This is Nona,” she introduced, pointing to the redhead before shifting to the blonde. “And this is Gypsy.”

  I exchanged greeting with the other two, then Eden asked, “So, you’re a Hope Valley native?”

  “Oh… well, uh….” I felt something radiating off Rory and slamming into me. “Well, not really. I mean, I grew up here until I was eighteen, but I’ve lived in Chicago the rest of the time.”

  “Wait….” Nona’s eyes grew big and I knew, I just knew she’d heard the rumors. “You’re Temperance? Like, the Temperance of Hayes and Temperance?”

  And there it was, the thing that was coming off Rory, and the very thing that twisted and coiled in my stomach like a poisonous snake.

  “Uh….”

  “What’s this?” Eden’s gaze bounced between us like a tennis ball, and I felt a slow, uncomfortably hot blush start to creep up my neck as my hands grew clammy.

  “It’s nothing,” I said at the same time Nona carried on like she was telling the best secret in all the world.

  “They were the most famous couple in Hope Valley, even as teenagers.” Oh for Christ’s sake. “I didn’t live here at the time, so I only got the scoop after the fact, but to hear people talk, they were the closest thing to a real-life fairy tale this town’s ever seen.

  Jesus. People said stuff like that? Or more to the point, they were still saying stuff like that twenty years later?

  “Holy shit,” Eden breathed, turning her wide sweet eyes my way. My skin suddenly got tight and itchy under her speculative gaze.

  “It’s really not like that,” I blurted, trying to lighten an extremely uncomfortable situation. “We were just kids, for God’s sake. And it was like a million years ago. You’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about,” I assured her.

  Eden’s lips curved down, and her forehead puckered into a frown that, as crazy as it sounded, made her look even more adorable than she already was. “Wait. What?”

  I hurried to explain things so she wouldn’t get upset. For some reason, the thought of that cute, kewpie doll face crumbling in sadness because of me made me feel like the most terrible person in the world. “I just mean, I saw you guys at the diner, and he was totally all about you.”

  A snort from across the bar pulled my gaze in that direction, and I found Rory fighting back a laugh, her lips curled between her teeth as her eyes danced.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You think I’m with Hayes?” My head spun back around at Eden’s choked question, and I found she was losing her battle not to crack up.

  “Well...yeah. I mean, at the diner.... Did I read that wrong?”

  “Oh honey.” I turned back to Rory as she shook her head. “Damn, I’ve missed having you around.”

  “Tempie,” Eden started, calling my attention back to her humor-filled expression. “I’m not with Hayes.”

  “I—huh?”

  “We’re just friends,” she said on a giggle.

  The relief at hearing that was so intense and so instantaneous, I nearly fell off my stool. They were just friends. Holy shit. Why did I love hearing that so much?

  “You’re just friends,” I repeated, craving confirmation.

  “Yep. Just friends.”

  My shoulders visibly sagged before I could mask my reaction, and from the way every one of their eyes brightened, I knew for a fact that they hadn’t missed it.

  “You’ve just been adopted into our club, doll,” Nona said with a smirk. “That means it’s story time. Next round of drinks is on me. Time to get our newest sister liquored up!”

  I looked to Rory for help, but when I saw her lining up four shot glasses, I knew I was in serious trouble.

  Chapter Five

  Temperance

  My head wobbled on my shoulders, feeling light and floaty from all the shots I’d consumed with Nona, Gypsy, and Eden.

  Rory was on the clock, so she didn’t partake, but she still hung with us at the bar as much as possible while we tied one on and really got to know each other over the past couple of hours.

  The more time I spent with these ladies, the more I grew to really like them. They were open and honest while still being sweet and downright hilarious, and it was easy to see why Rory was a part of their crew.

  Eden, being somewhat the sage of the group, had noticed my discomfort at Nona’s initial prodding at the beginning of the night, and had easily swayed the conversation away from me by talking about the drama that had gone down with her recently.

  She told me all about her criminal brother and the nefarious activity she got sucked into that led to her being kidnapped and shot. Then she went on to talk about how her actual boyfriend—who, from the sounds of it, was hot as hell and all man—started building her a dream cabin in the mountain
s just a few weeks after all that went down, and how she couldn’t wait to move into it when it was completed. By the time she reached the end of her story, I was quite literally on the edge of my seat. Sure, I’d heard gossip at the diner, but getting a firsthand account was totally different.

  I was in awe of her courage and strength, and thanks to the alcohol loosening my tongue, I didn’t hesitate in telling her so.

  “Wow. You’re incredible, you know that?”

  Eden’s cheeks turned a dewy pink as she cast her eyes down and murmured, “Thanks,” shyly.

  “And now your hot guy is building you a cabin!” I exclaimed excitedly.

  Eden’s expression grew dreamy as she thought of her man. “Yeah. He’s okay, I guess,” she teased, the breathiness in her voice contradicting her casualness of her words.

  Rory let out a snort, and we all turned to her. “Oh please. That man’s so hot you could fry bacon on his abs and he worships the ground you walk on. If I didn’t love you, I’d hate you.”

  “Amen, sister.” Gypsy lifted her shotglass to Rory.

  “Speaking of hot guys….” Nona broke in, looking at me and arching a brow. “You wanna tell us what it was like to date Hayes Walker before he turned into one of the hottest cops in the tri-state area?”

  Oh God.

  “Seriously, guys,” I tried. “It’s really not that big a deal. We dated for four years when we were kids a lifetime ago.”

  The words left a sour taste in my mouth as I spoke them, because even though I’d spent all this time trying to convince myself of that very thing, my heart and head rebelled at speaking them out loud.

  Yes, we were young when we were together. And yes, it felt like a million years ago. But for twenty-one years, every man who entered my life was put up against the memory of Hayes, and every man came up short by miles. I’d always dreamed of having a family. I wanted the kids and the dog and the loving husband. But I was a thirty-nine-year-old woman with nothing to show for my life but a crappy apartment and a job that took up my entire life. And it was all because the memory of Hayes was so strong I could never fully push it away.