Second Chance on the Corner of Main (A Nestled Hollow Romance Book 1)

by Meg Easton

  But somehow, everything felt different now. It was like he’d been living without being able to see the color green for so long that he’d gotten used to it. It had been normal. Then he went back to Nestled Hollow and gotten to know Whitney all over again, and he could suddenly see green in all its vibrancy and shades and tones, and could see what the color green brought to everything all around him. It was like seeing a color that breathed life into his soul.

  And now that he was back in Sacramento without Whitney, it was like the green was gone. It hadn’t been here when he’d left, but now that he knew what it was like to have it, everything felt different. Now that he knew what he was missing, he longed for it, and wasn’t sure how he was ever going to live without it again.

  Ben seemed to get that if Eli went home after the teens left, that he’d have too much time to spend doing nothing more than thinking of Whitney and wishing things were different, so he insisted that they go grab some dinner, then join up with a larger group of their friends to rock climb at an indoor facility, before teaming up to play laser tag.

  Eli had only agreed to the plan because he knew that getting Ben to accept no for an answer was going to take more work than he was willing to put in. And it did feel good to be around friends again, joking and laughing. But instead of making him feel happy like it usually did, it made him realize how many opportunities for the same thing that he’d missed while he’d been in Nestled Hollow.

  Eli was exhausted by the time they played their last game and wanted to collapse. But the moment he walked out of the adventure park, the emptiness and loneliness hit him with the fierceness of a storm blowing in.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  When Whitney woke up the next morning, her heart felt the pain before her brain caught up enough to remember why. She decided the best course of action to deal with missing Eli would be to throw herself into her work. She wrote three articles, edited four more, interviewed someone about a service project they were doing, called two of her suppliers, worked on the next layout, emailed a couple of advertisers, and texted everyone who was going to help get the leaves and lights ready to remind them to meet at Back Porch Grill at seven. All before Scott and Kara made it in to work after school, and all without thinking about Eli more than a few dozen times.

  The informal team meeting she always had with Scott and Kara when they arrived had stopped the momentum she had gained, though, and left her sitting at her desk, her mind wandering again. She touched the letter she’d framed that she had gotten from Mr. Annesley, turning the paper over to her. Every time she was discouraged or overwhelmed, she reread it and a different part would stand out to her. Today, it was the part that said “Be strong. Don’t be afraid to go after what you want” that stuck with her.

  What exactly did she want? And how could she possibly go after it? Every answer she came up with to those questions scared her. She didn’t think she was strong enough to go after any of them. Mr. Annesley had always believed in her, though, long before she ever believed in herself. She trusted him.

  A text message lit up her phone, and Whitney picked it up off her desk. It was from Brooke.

  I’m baaaaack! Which means it’s time to meet for dinner. I know you’ve probably got prep for Fall Market. Can you meet early? Like 6:00 at Back Porch Grill?

  Whitney didn’t even have to think about it. She needed to get out of her own head and talk about Eli with someone else.

  Yes, please! I’ll meet you there.

  When she arrived at the restaurant, Brooke was already inside, talking with the owner. “We need that booth over there in the corner and out of the way. Pretty please?” She made a show of batting her eyelashes. Cole, the owner, made a show of rolling his eyes, then chuckled and led them to the booth.

  “So,” Whitney said as she looked at her menu, “how was New York? How was meeting the designer you were going there to see?”

  Brooke’s words came out in a rush. “It was incredible and he loved my designs and he wants to license two of my dresses to create them and sell them to his distributors and he has a lot of pull in the design community, so this has some potential to go even further.”

  “What? Brooke, that’s so amazing! Wow! That’s about the furthest thing from being blacklisted there is. Congratulations!” The whole time Whitney was talking, Brooke was giving her the hurry up and get to the end of your story gesture.

  “Yep, it’s awesome and exciting and all that. Small talk over.” She placed her menu at the edge of the table, like she was setting the conversation aside, too. “Now let’s get on to talking about you and Eli and why you didn’t text me about him once while I was gone.”

  Whitney looked down as she set her menu on top of Brooke’s. “We broke up.”

  “What?” Brooke exclaimed. “I feel like I can’t trust you to make good decisions in my absence.”

  Whitney chuckled.

  “Seriously, though, what happened? I figured the two of you were headed for perennial bliss.”

  Raising one shoulder in a shrug, Whitney said, “He had a work thing and headed back to Sacramento much earlier than he had planned.”

  “So that’s it? He had to leave, and now it’s over?”

  It sounded like such a weak excuse when she said it out loud. She wasn’t about to relive the emotions she’d had over the past several days, just so that Brooke would understand better, though. “What am I supposed to do? He chose to leave, just like he did last time.”

  Cole walked over to their table. “You look like a couple of ladies who have figured out exactly what they want.”

  Whitney let out a single huff of a laugh. Figuring out what she wanted felt like the most unobtainable thing in the world right then. But she did know what she wanted to eat. “I’ll have a club sandwich with chips and a giant Cherry Coke. I’ll need it for tonight.”

  “I’ll make sure to keep the refills coming.”

  “And I’ll have the chicken pesto panini with soup and a water with lemon. Surprise me on the kind of soup.”

  He winked, said he’d get it right out to them, gathered up their menus, and walked away.

  Brooke put her elbows on the table, her chin resting on her palms, and studied Whitney. After a moment, she said, “Tell me about when your dad died.”

  Whitney’s brow furrowed. “Why?”

  “Just tell me.”

  “He got cancer during my sophomore year.” Whitney took a deep breath. “He told me he’d beat it, but he didn’t. He died that summer.”

  “Were you close?”

  Whitney nodded. “The closest. As close as my mom and my sister are.”

  Brooke bit her lip, looking off into the distance, thoughtful. Then she turned back to Whitney. “Who left you next?”

  “Left me?” Whitney’s confusion turned into an eye roll. “Brooke, we don’t—”

  “Humor me.”

  “I know what you’re doing.”

  “Humor me anyway.”

  Whitney huffed, and then said, “Eli. The first time around.”

  “That was graduation night, right?” After Whitney’s nod, she said, “And you didn’t hear from him again until this trip?” Whitney nodded again. “Who’s next on your list of people who’ve left?”

  Whitney sighed. There was no use fighting— Brooke was relentless when it came to getting information out of someone. “My sister, the beginning of my junior year of college. My mom joined her in South Carolina the beginning of my senior year.”

  “Did they ask you to join them?”

  “I still had a year at D.U., and I was dating Ryan, and it was just starting to get serious. Plus, I had my job here at the paper. So no.” When Whitney’s mom had moved, she’d prayed to know if she should go, and she had gotten the distinct impression that she should stay. She had assumed at the time that it was because of Ryan, but after he left and she was recovering from heartbreak, she had prayed again, and still felt like it was important that she stay.

  “What happ
ened with Ryan?”

  Whitney looked up and nodded a thank you to Cole as he wordlessly set their drinks in front of them. She pulled the wrapper off her straw and swirled it in her drink. “We got engaged after college. He was an ambitious business analyst, and wanted to be in a big city. So we had planned to live in Denver, and I’d just commute to the paper. Then when we started a family, we’d move here and he’d commute.

  “But I guess he had his eyes set outside of Colorado, and didn’t bother telling me that he had been secretly applying for jobs in New York and Boston. He got a job offer two months before our wedding date, and left ten days later. He’d asked me to join him, but I hesitated. I’d realized how much this town had become my family when I had none, and everything about moving felt wrong. I begged him to stay in Denver, but he said his career was more important than Denver. He’d love me to join him, but leaving was more important than me, too.”

  Brooke scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Sounds like you dodged a bullet there. Goodness, girl. No wonder you’ve got issues. Next?”

  This game was getting old, fast. “Mr. Annesley.” Whitney crossed her arms.

  “I think he died right before I moved here.”

  “He’d been my boss since I was sixteen. In many ways, he was my adoptive dad, and his wife was my adoptive mom. He told me I was the closest thing he had to a daughter.”

  Brooke sucked in a breath. Movement caught Whitney’s attention, and she looked over to see that Cole was carrying a tray with their food over to their table, which was good, because she didn’t think she could’ve handled Brooke’s response just then, and she knew she definitely couldn’t handle her own reaction if she kept thinking about Mr. Annesley.

  “A club sandwich with chips for you,” Cole said as he set a plate down in front of Whitney. “And a chicken pesto panini for you with a cup of Tuscan vegetable soup.” A second later, he placed a second glass of Cherry Coke in front of Whitney. “Figured you might need this.”

  A laugh escaped, and she wiped an errant tear. “Thanks.”

  “Anything for a couple of my favorite people.” He took a breath and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something more to Whitney, then thought better of it, and just gave her a sympathetic smile. She wouldn’t have known what to say to her, either.

  Whitney wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, but she wasn’t feeling particularly like meeting Brooke’s eyes, either, and at least eating was something to do. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite.

  “Do you wish your dad had died when you were a baby?”

  “What?” Whitney nearly choked on her sandwich. She quickly finished chewing and swallowed. “No! Why would you say that?”

  “Do you wish you’d never known your mom or your sister? Do you wish you’d never worked with Mr. Annesley? Or that Ryan had never been in your life?”

  “Of course not!”

  Brooke put her elbows on the table, arms crossed, and leaned forward. “Then why are you running from a relationship now, just because there’s a chance he’ll leave? All those people you just listed in your life who have left— wouldn’t you say they were the most influential people in your life?” Whitney nodded. “When you told me Eli was leaving, you asked ‘What am I supposed to do?’ You’re supposed to fight, Whitney. If he is someone worth falling in love with, he’s someone worth fighting for. Are you in love with him?”

  Whitney looked down at her sandwich and chips, not really seeing them. Her voice came out a whisper. “Yes, I’m in love with him.”

  Brooke reached across the table and held both of Whitney’s hands in hers. “Listen. I know it’s scary letting someone in when there’s a good chance that you’ll open your heart and be hurt. But you won’t lose him by being vulnerable. You’ll lose him by pushing him away from your heart.”

  Whitney thought about how well she’d built those walls around her heart. Could she truly take them down and let him in, regardless of what happened after? Could she try to make a relationship with Eli work, even if she could be hurt all over again? Could her heart handle being hurt again?

  “They say fortune favors the brave. Be brave, Whitney.” Brooke picked up her sandwich and took a bite.

  Whitney pulled out her phone and looked at the response her mom had sent after she’d said to set up the interview. For real? You want me to set it up? But you love Nestled Hollow! Is this Whitney talking, or fear?

  Brooke, her mom, Mr. Annesley—they were all saying the same thing.

  Whitney picked up her sandwich, too, and the two of them ate in silence as everything ran through her mind. What, exactly, did she want from Eli? What was she willing to give? Could she really be that brave?

  She studied her friend across the table. Brooke was one of the most fearless people she knew— she had just flown to a party on one side of the country to meet a designer, then flew to the other side of the country to present her creations to a designer he’d recommended her to, and it paid off in spades.

  But of course, Whitney wasn’t Brooke.

  But she was Whitney. And she was brave— she was brave enough to run an entire newspaper without a mentor. She was brave when she chose to live in a town half a country away from her only family. She could be brave when it came to relationships, too. She didn’t know if Eli was interested in trying to make it work, but she decided she was determined to do everything she could.

  “You’re a good friend, Brooke.”

  “I know. That’s why you love me— not just because I never stay in one place long enough to be pushed away.”

  Whitney laughed a hearty laugh that apparently she’d really needed by how good it felt. Then she said, “Thank you.”

  The talking at the front of the restaurant suddenly got louder, and Whitney turned to see Gloria, Donald, Christy, Mike, Sherry, Evia, and the Stone family. “Must be seven.” Whitney took one more quick bite, then finished off the first Coke and took a few gulps of the second. “I need to head into the other room to work on decorations. Are you doing anything?”

  Brooke picked up her napkin and dabbed at her mouth. “Nope, and as usual, I’m up for anything. So whatever you’ve got planned, count me in.”

  Whitney grinned as Cole walked up to their table with a paper cup and lid in his hand. “Dinner’s on the house tonight, ladies. Have fun with the Fall Market preparations.”

  “You’re the best, Cole,” Brooke said.

  It was hard to tell through Cole’s scruff, but Whitney was fairly sure he blushed. He glanced toward the doors. “It looks like you’ve got a good twenty people heading in there already and more on the street coming this way. I’m betting you’ll need this,” he said as he finished pouring her second Coke into the paper cup and handed it to her.

  Whitney gave him a heartfelt thank you, and headed into his side room.

  The space was large, open, had good lighting, and was filled with people ready to help. Whitney demonstrated how she wanted various lengths of string tying leaves to the strands of lights. Then she assigned some people to start stretching out the one hundred strands from wall to wall, and some to deliver boxes of leaves, strings, and scissors to everyone who sat spread out on the floor among the strands of lights.

  Happy chatter filled the room as everyone worked. Now that everything was laid out, she was able to see how truly monumental the job was going to be. She hoped that happy chatter stayed strong through to the end, no matter how long it took.

  She sat down at one of the strands of lights and started working. As she looked around at the crowd that had now swelled to at least thirty-five, she realized that she was ready to stop surrounding herself with people that she kept at a distance. No matter how painful it was going to be to tear down those walls around her heart, she was ready to start. She had been praying again to know if she should move, and right now, watching everyone, she got that same distinct impression that it was important to stay. She sent up a little thank-you prayer to God for giving her His answer. She pulled out her
phone and sent a text to her mom.

  Will you cancel that interview for me? I’m so sorry, Mom. I’ll call and tell you the full story later. The short version: you were right; it was fear talking. But I’ve decided to be brave, whether it ends in heartbreak or not.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As Eli and Ben waved goodbye to their friends at the adventure park, Ben walked with Eli to his car.

  “We’ll have to do that again soon,” Ben said. “It’s been too long.”

  “It was fun.” Eli hadn’t realized how badly he’d needed it until he was there. “I’m glad you talked me into it.”

  Ben studied him for a moment, and then said, “You’re always the life of the party. Even on days like today, when you feel like dirt, you’re the one with the jokes, making everyone laugh.”

  Eli cocked his head to the side, not sure where this was going.

  “But you don’t let people in.” Ben studied him for a moment. “Why did you let me in?”

  “Maybe because you saw me at my lowest and didn’t judge me for it. Plus, we make a pretty good team.”

  Ben’s grin lit up under the street lamp. “You’re a brilliant businessman, Eli. You really killed it today at Smithfield.”

  “Thanks. You too. We’ve got a good thing going here.”

  Ben looked at his watch. “We finished the day at TeamUp, and it’s now after midnight and no longer Friday, so I figure bringing up Whitney is free game now.” Ben cleared his throat. “So, Eli Treanor, as someone with the aforementioned qualities of ‘brilliant businessman,’ are you honestly telling me that you can’t think of a single way to keep both TeamUp and Whitney?”

  Eli tossed and turned all night, Ben’s question continually running over and over in his mind, keeping him from being able to fall asleep. He must’ve fallen asleep at some point, though, because he woke to the sound of his phone ringing.