Follow Love (Diamond Creek, Alaska Novels Book 2)

by Croix, J. H.

  Before Nathan could respond, Jared started laughing. “What now?” Nathan asked.

  “Oh just that I don’t think I can say no. Susie says she knows I don’t have anywhere to be…” There was another pause, and Nathan could hear Susie laughing. “She says that you have to come too and update her on your visit with Tess.”

  Nathan shook his head, laughing as he did. “Tell her I’ll be there. When are you two headed that way?” he asked.

  “In a few minutes. I have to get gas, but then I’ll be right there,” Jared said.

  “Okay, see you in a few,” Nathan replied before tapping to end the call.

  When he arrived at Sally’s a few minutes later, he took a look around as he walked in. Sally’s was in an old renovated barn with two sides to the restaurant. One side held the bar and tables scattered in front of a small stage for live music. Booths lined all walls. The kitchen was in the center of the barn with the other side holding the quieter sit down area with large tables for families. The old hayloft was above the restaurant side and held additional seating for full nights, which were common year round. Sally’s was a local favorite and had been around for decades. The original owner, Sally James, had passed away many years ago, but the two owners since kept the name. Aside from its local stature, Sally’s was a hub for good music, often booking small-scale bands from all over the country, hosting comedy shows and all sorts of functions and fundraisers. It was almost always busy and filled to capacity on weekends. Diamond Creek was small but social and active.

  Nathan used to spend a lot more time at Sally’s than he had in the last year or so. He still came in every few weeks, but he used to be here at least several times a week. While he hadn’t yet met Tess when he’d eased off his late nights and casual dating patterns, Nathan was glad he already had when he met her. He didn’t know if he would have noticed her in the way he did if he’d carried his old mindset. Oh, he’d have noticed she was cute and sexy as hell, he just might have moved right on when faced with her reserve. Now, he knew he’d have lost the chance at something amazing. Yet again, he cringed internally as he considered that he needed to let Tess have this time so she would come to him on her terms.

  Nathan forced his thoughts away from Tess, waved at a few friends and snagged a booth over on the restaurant side. He ordered a beer and was perusing the menu when Susie sat down across from him. Looking over at her, he automatically smiled. Susie was warm, friendly and funny. She was petite and curvy with wild brown curls and kind brown eyes that almost always carried a spark of mischief.

  “Hey you!” Susie exclaimed. “When were you gonna come see me and fill me in on what’s going on with Tess?” she asked and then continued, clearly not expecting his answer just yet. “I consider her a friend, you know. She may have only been here a few weeks, but we got to know her. She’s a sweetheart. Did you convince her to get her butt out here?”

  Nathan opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Jared who slid into the booth beside Susie. “Do tell,” Jared said with a wink at Susie. “He’s been keeping this on the lowdown. All we know is that he’s hoping Tess will visit soon. But there’s more to the story because he gets cranky every time I ask about it. Even Hannah tried to pry some details out of him but got nothing.”

  Nathan took a sip of beer. Irritation flared. He knew they were only asking because they cared, even if caring meant that they gave him shit about it. But he didn’t have the heart to tell them he may have blown it by losing his temper and slugging Chad.

  “Well?” Susie asked, her eyes wide and expectant.

  With a sigh, he set his beer down. “Just like Jared said. I’m hoping she’ll be out for a visit in a few weeks.”

  “Oh that is soooo not all there is to tell. If things were going great, you’d say so. I pretty much had it decided that you two were meant for each other, so you have to give me a little more info here. Maybe I’ll call Tess,” Susie said.

  “Oh god, don’t go calling Tess,” Nathan said. He looked back and forth between Jared and Susie. “Promise me you won’t bug Tess about this when she does visit.”

  Susie huffed and nodded while Jared rolled his eyes.

  “Seriously? You know I wouldn’t say anything,” Jared said.

  “Okay, here’s the quick and dirty version…” Nathan started and gave them a sketch of the situation with Chad and how that had prompted Simon to call Nathan to begin with because he’d been worried about Tess.

  “So her ex is a total asshat, we all have at least one of those in our past. Could you get to the part about why you seem not so sure Tess will visit?” Susie asked impatiently, circling her hand as she did.

  Conversation paused when the waitress arrived to take their order. They elected to share a pizza with Susie insisting on extra pepperoni. “I’m starving and I need the protein,” she said. “And don’t you dare imply I shouldn’t eat whatever the hell I want. I’ll take that as a passive aggressive way of telling me I need to lose weight.”

  Nathan almost choked on his beer when he saw the look of affront on Jared’s face.

  “Since when have any of us ever commented on what you eat?” Jared asked.

  Susie shrugged. “Well, old Mrs. Simmons—you know her, she works at Dr. Stevens’ office. She told me young ladies—not that I’m all that young—were supposed to eat smaller portions in public. She happened to be at one of the galleries on the First Friday Art Night and saw me help myself to the buffet. God knows why she was there. I hate that kind of crap.”

  Nathan watched a barely discernible flush rise of Jared’s neck and tucked that away for future reference. Luke had once mentioned that he wondered if Jared had the hots for Susie. He and Nathan had agreed that the likelihood of Jared admitting that and acting on it was next to nil. Nathan thought that was too bad because although there wasn’t the slightest spark for Nathan with regard to Susie, she was smart, cute, sexy and a damn good friend. She was also one of the few women he’d met that wouldn’t just kowtow to Jared, which would be good for Jared.

  “Well since you hate that crap, I’d suggest you ignore it,” Nathan said when it became apparent Jared wasn’t going to respond. He was relieved to have Jared slightly thrown since it took the heat off of him.

  Susie, of course, immediately beamed her focus back where she wanted it. “So ex is an asshat, et cetera. Tell us what else matters.”

  Nathan sighed and chuckled, giving in to the inevitable. Susie would get her answers one way or another. “Yup, ex boyfriend is an asshat…” Nathan explained, relaying the events that led up to the fight. “When he wouldn’t back down and actually started talking trash, right in the middle of the boardroom with everyone there, I couldn’t think straight and hauled off and punched him…” Nathan paused for a fortifying swig of beer.

  “You punched him in the middle of the boardroom?” Jared asked.

  Nathan gave him a flat look. “Uh, yeah,” he said succinctly. “That’s where we were. And to be honest, I punched him more than once. Just enough to knock him down, but…it was an event, to say the least.”

  Susie clapped her hands in glee. “Oh my god! He totally deserved it. You were avenging Tess’s honor, that’s so romantic!”

  “Maybe it was romantic, but I’m guessing Tess didn’t exactly love that it happened where it did.” Jared said wryly.

  Nathan nodded. “Bingo.”

  Susie scrunched up her face. “So maybe Tess was upset about that part, but she’s got some sense. She had to see that maybe it was a bit public, but Chad deserved it, and you just did what you did because you love her.”

  Nathan shrugged. “I think she knew all that, but… She didn’t talk much about it here, but she runs her own fundraising business. The dinner was work related. So she’s worried about cleaning up that mess. I kinda blew it.”

  Jared gave him a questioning look.

  Nathan explained further. “Tess had some doubts about this whole ‘us’ thing anyway. Can’t say I blame her. I didn’t
expect to fall for her the way I have. It’s definitely not convenient that we’re on opposite sides of the country. Either I move there, or she pulls up stakes on her work, along with the rest of her life. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. She just said she needed some space and couldn’t think straight if I was there. She’s supposed to fly out here in a few weeks, but that’s all I could get for now.”

  Susie harrumphed and leaned back when the waitress arrived with their pizza. As soon as the waitress stepped away, Susie returned to the topic. “Well between now and when Tess gets here, she’ll come to her senses. If not, she just might hear about it from me.”

  Nathan shook his head. “For god’s sake, no pressure. Tess doesn’t do pressure well. She just pushes back.”

  Jared glanced over a Susie as he slid a slice of pizza onto his plate. “I’m sure it’ll kill you, but maybe take Nathan’s word for it.”

  Susie gave Jared a soft punch on his shoulder. “I might listen to Nathan for his sake, but not because you said so.”

  Jared chuckled and took a bite of pizza as Susie turned her focus to Nathan again. “Don’t be stupid and forget to tell her how you feel. She might want space, but that’s not an invitation to act like she doesn’t matter.”

  Nathan found himself nodding obediently before he burst out laughing. “What is it with you? You boss everyone around and we all go along with it.”

  Susie’s return smile was broad, her eyes impish. “Hey, I’m the one that set the ball in motion for Hannah and Luke and look how that turned out. Not to mention that you had your own opinion about what Luke should do when he got all wishy-washy. You might want to remember your own advice.”

  Nathan recalled that he’d told Susie he thought Luke was about to lose something amazing because he was too afraid to make sure Hannah knew how he felt. He just didn’t know how to follow his own advice with Tess four thousand plus miles away.

  Chapter 18

  Tess stood in line at the coffee shop. It had been just over a week since Nathan left, or rather since she’d asked him to leave. Slipping her phone out of her purse, she opened her calendar and counted the days until her flight to Diamond Creek—twenty-two days left. She’d begun to think she’d been stubborn and stupid to ask him to go. Instead of feeling clear-headed and logical, as if she could make a decision about her life in a rational way, she missed him fiercely, her thoughts drifting to how it felt to wake up beside him in the morning, so many moments when he took her breath away, and his eyes…those blue, blue eyes.

  As much as Tess had worried about the fallout from Nathan’s fight with Chad, her business contacts had been surprisingly supportive. In the intervening week, Chad had been formally charged and arrested for embezzlement. All of his assets were frozen. His parents had bailed him out, although the court had ordered him to wear an ankle monitor because some of the emails on his computer indicated he might have been planning to fly to Mexico. Once the news about Chad was out, she received a number of calls that she needn’t worry that what happened would affect her business. Tess had discovered that she’d cared far less than she thought she would’ve. Since returning home to her empty condo after dropping Nathan off at the airport, she had shifted from fretting about her business and the situation with Chad to wondering if she’d just blown up the best thing that had ever happened to her.

  While it hadn’t been clear to her a few weeks ago, one thing had come into sharp focus since Nathan left: she simply wanted to be with him. She stood at the edge of a decision—a decision that held a possibility she’d given up—the possibility of love and passion. And it was terrifying. Every time she considered it, she couldn’t imagine Nathan living anywhere but Diamond Creek. Nor did she think it would be fair to ask that of him. That meant she’d have to be the one with the courage to leave behind the safe and familiar. In doing so, she’d make herself vulnerable in a way she’d sworn never to do again. The link between her and Nathan was so potent that it was be crushing if she threw caution to the wind, embraced the chance that their connection could blossom into something solid and long-term…and it fell apart.

  Tess was startled by a tap on her shoulder, turning to find Deanna. “Hey! What brings you here?” Tess asked.

  “Coffee,” Deanna said, a hint of sarcasm in her tone. “I’ve been standing behind you for a solid minute, and you didn’t even notice. Let me guess, obsessing about Nathan? Do yourself a favor and stop trying to think your way out of this one.”

  Tess rolled her eyes. “Just spaced out. That’s all,” she replied, not ready to fess up and admit Deanna hit on precisely what she was obsessing over. “Good to see you. Want to sit with me for a bit once we get coffee?”

  Deanna nodded and then nudged Tess’s shoulder. “You’re up next.”

  “Oh!” Tess turned and stepped to the counter, quickly ordering and getting Deanna’s drink while she was at it.

  Once they were seated, Tess took a welcome swallow of her latte. “Oh, that’s good. I’ve been behind the ball all morning.”

  “So when did you say you were flying to Alaska?” Deanna asked, avoiding any preliminaries.

  “I told you the other day, in a few weeks. Why?” Tess countered.

  “Because Simon says you’ve been down again and you look like it. I think it was dumb for you to make Nathan leave. Sure, the whole fight scene at the hospital board dinner wasn’t the best move, but I was damn happy to see Chad get the lumps he deserved. So now you need to stop dilly-dallying and admit that Nathan’s worth it and move to Alaska,” Deanna said matter-of-factly.

  Tess felt herself bristle inside. Deanna knew she didn’t like to be pressured, so why she was doing this, Tess didn’t know. “Dee…” Tess said, an edge of warning to her tone.

  “What? Is now when you remind me that you hate being pressured? Honestly, I don’t know anyone who likes it. And we’ve known each other for way too long now. I usually lay low when it comes to stuff like this. But that’s what I did when you started dating Chad and that was a huge mistake. Wished I’d spoken up sooner. So I’ve decided I’m not gonna sit back and watch you let Nathan go. You don’t have to listen to me, but at least I won’t wish I’d said something before it was too late.”

  Tess took another sip of coffee, stalling for a moment. Deanna knew her so well, and she trusted Deanna’s opinion. In a way, she was relieved. She needed Deanna’s blessing on this, and she needed something to help jolt her out of her indecision. She glanced around the restaurant before bringing her eyes back to Deanna. “Fair enough. Huge mistake is a good way to describe Chad. I may not listen right off, but I trust your opinion. And don’t go telling everyone about this, but I’m seriously thinking about moving to Diamond Creek…”

  Deanna held her hand up for a high-five. “That’s my girl! Thinking about it is enough for now. Say the word and I’ll help however I can. Packing, whatever you need.”

  “Give me a little time here. I said I was thinking about it. It’s not like I can make it happen overnight. I’ve got to make plans, figure out what to do about my condo lease and office lease, sort out just what I’m going to do with my business…” Tess began before Deanna cut her off.

  “Since I’m all about stating the obvious today. Sure there’s plenty of practical crap to deal with if you actually move to Alaska. That will fall into place because it has to. As for whether or not you’ll move…I’ve known you long enough to know that if you’re ready to admit you’re thinking about something…it’s not a matter of if, but when. My vote is make it sooner rather than later,” Deanna said before draining the rest of her latte in a long gulp.

  Tess’s heart cheered, drowning out her rational brain for the moment. While she wasn’t ready to let her heart run the show just yet, just saying out loud that she was thinking about moving to Diamond Creek almost made her dance for joy. Deanna’s confidence buoyed her.

  Deanna opened her purse to pull out a tube of bright red lipstick. Quickly applying a fresh coat to her lips, sh
e glanced back over at Tess. “What can I do to help you make this decision?” she asked, mischief in her eyes.

  Tess sighed and shook her head. “Maybe you do know me well, but it’s not easy to uproot my entire life and move away from my family and friends. And you happen to be one of my best friends, so you’re part of this equation.”

  Deanna’s expression sobered. “Look, I’m not trying to make light of this. I get it. Moving anywhere is a big deal and a pain in the ass to boot. I just think the stuff you’re worried about will be okay. You’ll miss your family and they’ll visit plenty. I’ll miss the hell out of you, but I’ll visit too and see you every time you’re here. End game is that Nathan is worth it. Move.”

  Tess couldn’t help but laugh. Deanna tended to make bold decisions quickly. Much as she wanted to tell Deanna to butt out, Tess knew that she needed someone to cast light into the dark corners of her mind that harbored doubts. Rather than engaging in a debate, she merely promised Deanna she’d let her know as soon as she made her decision. Fortified with coffee, she headed back to her office and promptly sank into a few hours of futile efforts to stay focused on work. Nathan’s dark blue eyes, his dimpled smile, and the feel of his touch circled into her thoughts again and again.

  ***

  A few days later, Tess walked briskly toward her office. When she stepped inside, she was startled to find Chad leaning against her desk. In a brief glance, she saw that he was perfectly put together – dark blonde hair slicked back, pressed khakis and button down navy shirt. What struck her was the expression in his eyes—they held uncertainty and wariness. Tess was immediately on guard and purposefully left the door to her office wide open.

  “What are you doing here Chad?” she asked.

  “Coming to see you. Thought maybe we could talk,” Chad said, a thread of hesitance in his tone. “Your boyfriend still around?” he asked.