Box of Hearts (The Connor's Series Book 1)

by Nikki Ashton

  Millie

  As we pulled into town, I started to bounce in my seat with delight at the joyous, colorful scene that was unfolding in front of me.

  The whole of Central Avenue, the main street that ran through town, was full of stalls and sideshows while balloon sellers walked around clutching dozens of brightly colored strings as the balloons hovered up above them. There were hotdog and burger stalls and a lady wearing a huge floppy hat with flowers on it was making candy floss – sorry cotton candy – while a long line of children snaked along the sidewalk, waiting to buy some. Red, white, and blue bunting was streamed across the width of the street and a huge ‘Bridge Vale Welcomes You’ banner, above the Civic Offices building, fluttered in the breeze.

  “Where have all these people come from?” I asked Brandon as I stared through the window. “I didn’t think Bridge Vale was this populated.”

  Brandon chuckled besides me as he manoeuvred onto the playing fields at the end of Central Avenue that had become the site of the fair and designated car park for the event.

  “We have a population of about nine thousand people,” he stated.

  “Really?” I gasped. “Where do they all live? I know that there’s the small housing development just before you get into town, but I can’t imagine there’s more than a thousand people living there.”

  “You’re classed as a resident of Bridge Vale if you live in a twenty-five mile radius. You become a Knightingale resident when you hit the bridge.”

  “The bridge with that huge oak tree next to it?” I asked.

  Brandon grinned at me and nodded. “Step over that bridge and you become the enemy.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No, I’m joking about us being enemies, unless its High School basketball, then it’s war,” he said with a chuckle. “But the bridge is the unofficial border.”

  We drove slowly over the grass, directed by a tall, gangly teenager wearing a high visibility vest, towards a row of cars and trucks that were already parked up.

  “Hey,” Brandon said. “There’s Jesse and Addy.” Brandon gave his horn a short burst and stuck his hand out of his open window to wave.

  Jesse lifted a hand in greeting, while Addy, too excited to notice us, continued doing a jumping trot next to Jesse while she clutched his hand.

  “That child is so excited,” Brandon laughed.

  I stared at Jesse and Addy as they continued to walk across the field ahead of us. “Maybe we should catch up to them?” I said hesitantly.

  Brandon looked at me and arched his eyebrows. “Well I kinda wanted to spend some time alone with you, but yeah we can do that.”

  “I just thought it might be nice for Addy to have her dad and her Uncle Brandon spend some time with her.” And I would get to spend time with Jesse.

  Brandon didn’t say anything else, but jumped out of the truck, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.

  “Hey Jess, wait up.”

  Jesse swung around, and gave Brandon a chin lift.

  “We’re going to hang with you for a while,” Brandon called as I closed the truck door.

  Addy looked up at Jesse and beamed at him. She pulled her hand from his and came running back across the field towards us.

  “Millie, Daddy is going to win a teddy bear for me.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. Okay, so now it was twenty-one times I’d been informed of this.

  She ran to me and instinctively I held my arms out and scooped her up so that her legs hooked on my hips.

  “You’re a little excited about this aren’t you?” I asked.

  Addy nodded vigorously. “Daddy didn’t come last time. I came with Uncle Garratt, which was real fun, but I wanted Daddy to come, too.”

  Her eyes shone like perfectly cut topaz jewels and the happiness she was feeling radiated from her every pore. She adored Jesse and now she had him back I don’t think anything could dampen her spirits. I could probably tell her that Santa didn’t exist and she wouldn’t care.

  As we reached Jesse, Addy leaned over for him to take her from me. He held out his arms and Addy practically jumped into them. Jesse’s eyes met mine over Addy’s shoulder and he gave me a quick smile.

  “Millie.”

  “Hey, Jesse. You don’t mind us joining you do you?”

  Jesse shrugged. “I don’t mind, but does Brandon?”

  I turned to Brandon who was walking alongside of me. He reached down and took my hand in his. “No problem, I get to spend time with two beautiful ladies.”

  Addy giggled joyfully, while I gave a tight smile and glanced down at our conjoined hands, and then up to Brandon.

  “You want a hot dog?” he asked.

  “Yay,” Addy cried. “Hot dogs.”

  “Hot dogs it is then,” Brandon replied and high-fived Addy.

  We had eaten hot dogs, cotton candy, jelly beans, and a toffee apple and I felt as though one prick of a pin and I would burst. Jesse had rationed Addy’s cotton candy and jelly beans, but I would still put money on her getting a stomach ache.

  “She may just vomit later,” I said to him as we watched Brandon spin around in a dodgem car with her.

  “Yeah, Mom did warn me not to let her eat too much. Good job I’m staying with her tonight, in case she barfs.” He laughed quietly.

  “How come you’re staying with her?” I asked.

  “Mom called me before, when you and Addy were on the Ferris wheel. Sorry, I was supposed to tell you, but Addy running off to the coconut game kinda took over.”

  “Yes, it would do,” I sighed.

  From the Ferris wheel, Addy had seen that there were teddy bear prizes for knocking the coconuts down, so as soon as we were on the ground, she’d bolted for the stall. Jesse had sprinted after her, trying not to lose sight of her blonde head bobbing in the crowd, but she was determined and fast, only stopping once she’d reached the stall. Jesse didn’t win the pink and yellow bear that she wanted, but as we’d moved a sulky Addy away, I turned and noticed Jesse hand over a twenty dollar bill to the stall owner. When Jesse gave the bear to Addy, she was beyond happy, almost toppling a kneeling Jesse over as she jumped into his arms to kiss him.

  “Well, she and Dad have had to go out of town. My great aunt Ruby has had a fall. They got the call not long after we left the ranch.”

  “Oh no, is she okay?”

  Jesse nodded. “Yeah, she’ll be fine, there isn’t anything broken, but she’s almost eighty-five and only has Mom. She has no kids of her own.”

  “How long will they be gone?” I asked casually.

  A little shiver ran over my body. It could have been excitement or simply fear at being alone in the house with Jesse; which one I wasn’t sure. As Jesse’s beautiful blue eyes found mine, I knew it was excitement that I was feeling. I could put money on him being one of those men who wore low slung pyjama pants for bed, and I might just get a glimpse of them.

  Jesse shrugged. “Not sure, Mom did say they may have to bring her back with them for a while.”

  “Okay.” I looked down at my feet, and kicked at a tuft of grass. “You don’t have to stay at the house, I’ll be fine with Addy.”

  Why those words came out of my mouth, I had no idea, because I wanted to have him close. Close enough that I could try and persuade him that taking me to bed would be a great idea; the best idea that he’d ever had. I knew that if it happened it would be a one night thing, and life would be difficult for the rest of my time on the ranch, but I didn’t care. At that moment, all I wanted was to have sex with Jesse Connor. God, I’d go for it now if it wasn’t for Addy being with us. As for Brandon, he wasn’t even a consideration, and I knew that I needed to tell him that nothing was going to happen between us. I would do it as soon as we got back to the ranch.

  “I’d prefer to be in the house,” Jesse said flatly. “I don’t like the idea of there being only you and Addy there and no men.”

  “Okay,” I replied, trying desperately not to grin, yet at the same time s
pit out that I was perfectly capable of looking after myself. “Whatever you think is best.”

  We continued to watch Addy and Brandon for a few more minutes, until their turn was over and Brandon carried her back to us.

  “That was fun, Uncle Brandon,” she chimed as he put her down. “What are we going to do now?”

  I glanced at my watch to see it was almost four, and we’d already been there for two hours.

  “I think,” Brandon said, putting an arm around my shoulder, “I’m gonna try and win Millie something to remember today by.”

  “There’s no need,” I said breathily and feigned a stumble so that I could move away from Brandon’s arm. “I’ve taken lots of pictures on my cell to remind me.”

  “No,” Jesse grunted. “If Brandon wants to win you something then he should try.”

  I shot Jesse a glance but he was looking down at Addy who was trying to pull her bear from his arms.

  “Come on then,” Brandon said, moving towards the shooting range. “Let’s go and win you a memory, honey.”

  “You too, Daddy,” Addy cried, running up beside me and grabbing my hand. “You see if you can win something, too.”

  “Now, Addy,” Jesse laughed. “We all know that I’m a better shot than Uncle Brandon. We don’t want him losing face now do we?”

  Jesse gave Brandon a playful punch in the arm, and while Brandon smiled back at him, I got the distinct impression that he didn’t find it amusing.

  “We’ll see,” he muttered and strode over to the stall and slapped some money down. “Ten dollars of shots.”

  “Okay,” Jesse laughed. “You asked for it.”

  He took his wallet from his back pocket and took out a ten dollar bill, putting it on top of Brandon’s.

  “Same here,” he said to the man handing out the air rifles. “Let the best man win.”

  “What do you want, Millie?” Brandon asked, nodding at the array of stuffed toys.

  I looked up at them and shrugged. “Anything, I don’t really care.”

  “You must have a favorite,” Brandon insisted.

  I scanned the toys again and my eyes landed on a gorgeous, fluffy, white rabbit, clutching a red, velvet heart. It was bigger than the rest but it looked soft and comforting and it was just like one my dad had bought for me on Valentine’s Day when I was seven years old. When I was nine, Javi fed it to Buster, our neighbour’s Great Dane. He was pooping white fluff for a week and I cried for almost the same length of time.

  “That one,” I said, pointing at the rabbit with tears in my eyes as I thought of my dad.

  “Lady has good taste,” the stall owner chuckled. “That’s the main prize.”

  “The rabbit it is,” Jesse said. “So let’s see what we can do.”

  In front of Jesse and Brandon were moving targets, and each segment of the target was numbered, the bull’s eye being worth 100 points. The more points you scored, the bigger the prize; the ultimate evidently the huge five feet tall rabbit that I had set my heart on.

  “You go first, buddy,” Jesse said, stepping to one side and waving Brandon forward.

  “Okay, oh and don’t tell us who got the highest score until we’ve both had our shots.” Brandon addressed the stall owner who grinned and nodded.

  As the targets came whizzing past, Brandon’s face was one of grim determination, firing off shot after shot, until finally the last target disappeared. He placed the gun down and stepped back, standing a little away from me.

  While the man unclipped the targets and replaced them with new ones, I glanced over at Brandon. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his brow and his arms were crossed firmly over his chest, and when Jesse finally picked up the rifle, Brandon’s nostrils flared like a bull ready to rampage.

  As the noise of the fair buzzed around us, the three of us watched silently as Jesse prepared himself. His stance was a little more relaxed, and he didn’t rest his arm on the countertop as Brandon had done, but the clench of his jaw revealed his desire to win.

  “Go Daddy,” Addy called just as Jesse nodded for the targets to be started.

  His shooting was leisurely, despite the speed of the targets, and I couldn’t see how he could possibly have hit as many as Brandon. When the last target came past, he waited until the very last second to let off a shot before handing back the rifle.

  “Who do you think won?” Addy whispered, although rather loudly it had to be said. “I think Daddy.”

  I placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I don’t know, but we’ll soon find out.”

  The man at the stall flipped through both lots of targets and then took a pencil from behind his ear and wrote a number down on two different targets; one from each pile.

  “Here you go guys,” he called, holding up the targets that he’d folded so we couldn’t see the number. “That’s twenty targets each with a possible total of two-thousand points.”

  Jesse and Brandon stepped forward and took their target from him and each unfolded them.

  “Well?” Jesse asked, crossing his arms, with the hand holding the target tucked under one of his armpits.

  “One thousand and nine hundred points.” Brandon beamed as he slapped the target against the palm of his hand. “What about you, you anywhere near beating that?”

  Jesse dropped his hand and placed his hands on his hips. Disappointment flooded over me; Brandon had only missed two bull’s eyes.

  “I knew it,” Brandon cried. “I damn well beat you. Come on then, let’s see what you got.”

  “Sorry Brandon, but I think you’re getting a little carried away there.” Jesse grinned as he passed the target to his friend. “I’m damn mad that I missed a bull there. Knew I’d left that last one too long, but I still got one thousand nine hundred and fifty.”

  Addy screamed with delight, and jumped up and down on the spot, alerting passers-by, who slowed down to find out what was happening. The smile on my face was huge and I took a step towards Jesse to hug him, until I realized that Brandon was looking at me. My smile quickly dropped and I shrugged.

  “Oh well, that’s still a really good score,” I said.

  “Yeah, I guess so.” He turned and slammed Jesse’s target onto the counter. “Jess you’d better give the lady her prize.”

  The stall owner unhooked a black bear from the mass of bears hanging up and held it out to Jesse.

  “I thought I got the rabbit?” he asked, refusing to take the bear.

  “It’s fine, Jesse,” I protested. “It’s only a bit of fun.”

  “No way, I want you to have the rabbit.”

  “Need a perfect score for that son,” the man’s deep voice rumbled.

  “Jess, just take the god damn bear and then we can get to the diner.” Brandon impatiently kicked at the ground.

  “Honestly, Jesse, the bear is fine.”

  Jesse looked at me and then at the bear, shrugged, and took it from the stall owner and passed it to me.

  “Thank you,” I said and clutched the bear against my chest. “I’ll call him Lucky.”

  “Whatever.” Jesse held a hand out for Addy. “Come on, baby, let’s go and get some dinner.”

  There was no chatter from any of us as we walked across the field, towards the exit and Central Avenue. Even Addy was quiet, content to have her bear hugged to her chest with one hand, while the other remained securely in Jesse’s. Brandon walked slightly ahead of us with his hands in his pockets and his chin dipped low. We passed lots of people that said hello, but all they got from Brandon was a simple chin lift in greeting. Jesse at least did say ‘hi’.

  As we reached the door of The Vale Diner, Jesse pulled up short and patted his back pocket.

  “Damn it,” he cursed. “I think I’ve left my wallet on the counter of the shooting stall.”

  “You’d better go and get it,” I urged. “Hopefully no one else picked it up.”

  “No one around here would do that,” Brandon said. “It’ll be there. You want me
to order for you Jess?”

  Jesse handed Addy off to me and nodded. “Yeah, Joe’s special burger, fries, and a coffee. Addy honey, stay with Millie, I won’t be long.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” Addy said on a yawn.

  “Get her a small bowl of Joe’s stew, would you Millie?” Jesse asked. “I think she’s eaten enough junk today.”

  I nodded but had a feeling she wouldn’t stay awake long enough to eat anything. And I was right, as she was fast asleep by the time Jesse returned with his wallet.

  The three of us ate our meals, interspersed with a smattering of conversation and then Jesse took Addy home, while Brandon insisted on taking me to Rowdy’s for one drink. One drink became two, but after that I was yawning myself so Brandon agreed it was time to go home. By the time we pulled up outside the house I was almost asleep, despite it only being just after eight. I was so weary that I couldn’t muster up the energy to have ‘that chat’ with Brandon, so allowed him to kiss my cheek and then I thanked him and got out of the truck with Lucky, my bear.

  When I let myself into the house, it was silent, except for the distant giggles and splashing of water that I could hear upstairs. The sound lifted my energy and made me smile as I walked up the stairs to shower and change. As I passed the family bathroom, I heard Addy squealing with delight and Jesse grumbling good naturedly that he was soaking wet. The door was slightly ajar, but because of the layout of the bathroom, all I could see was the basin with a bath towel folded up on the counter. The noises were enough to tell me though that there was one happy little girl in there, so I tiptoed past, not wanting to disturb their fun.

  As I reached my bedroom door, I opened it and stepped inside. I let out a loud gasp and my heart thudded. There on my bed, smiling at me, was one huge, fluffy, white rabbit clutching a red, velvet heart.

  Jesse

  Fuck knows what that woman was doing to me, but I could see it in her face that the damn rabbit brought back some sort of memory for her. Her smile got all dreamy and her eyes were bright with tears, so I knew I had to go back and win it for her.

  And what was that pissing contest with Brandon all about? I had never felt the need to do that before. Not even with Melody, when half the jocks in school were desperate to get into her panties. There was one time when the school star Quarterback asked her out, knowing she was my girl, but I wasn’t worried. Yeah, I told him that she wasn’t interested, but I didn’t throw any punches or slam him against his locker, or any shit like that. I caught up with him at lunch one day and asked him not to ask Melody on a date again because we were going steady. Then I just walked away, bouncing my basketball all the way to the gym for practice.