by Josie Kerr
A Hemlock Creek Novel
Josie Kerr
This is a work of fiction and does not in any way advocate irresponsible behavior. This book contains content that is not suitable for readers 17 and under.
Any resemblance to actual things, events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, places, brands, products, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademark status and ownership of any location names or products mentioned in this book. The author received no compensation for any mention of said trademark.
Edited by Bethany Pennypacker
Cover image: Bigstockphoto.com #49942544
Copyright © 2018 Josie Kerr
Published by Hot Words and Cold Coffee, LLC
All rights reserved.
Digital Edition
For all the single parents
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Epilogue
Rob and Tally’s Playlist
Other Books by Josie Kerr
About the Author
“What in the world?” Tallulah Douglas wondered as her mother’s upper body emerged from the vintage truck’s rolled-down window.
“Catch, y’all!” Liddie Harper called as she waved her bouquet in the air. Her new husband, Tobias, slowed down, and she flung the flowers into the crowd. Tally just stood there, frozen in horror, as the bundle of flowers arced through the air directly toward her. She couldn’t very well dive out of the way as if the bouquet were a red rubber dodgeball. Well, she could, but that would leave the bouquet on the ground. So when the crimson, white, and green floral sphere thumped her in the chest, she’d had no option other than to grasp them.
“Mom! You’re not getting married! You’re not even divorced yet!” The horrified reaction of her daughter, Chloe, mirrored exactly what Tally was thinking.
“Honey, I know. But I couldn’t let the bouquet just not be caught.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her soon-to-be . . . something . . . step-aunt? Aunt by marriage?
“Heads up, Bridget! Hot potato!” Tally tossed the flowers at her mother’s husband’s brother’s fiancée—Lord, she really needed to figure out what to call this surplus of relatives she’d suddenly gained.
“What the hell?” Bridget exclaimed, though she easily caught the bouquet.
Tally wagged her finger at Bridget. “I tossed you the flowers. You caught them. It’s official.”
Bridget sniffed the flowers and gave Tally an uncharacteristically shy smile.
“Whoa, you caught the bouquet.” Nolan, a gentle giant of a man, touched one delicate petal with his index finger. “Guess it’s really official now, huh?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Bridget said with a light laugh, almost a giggle.
“I like the sound of that.” Nolan dipped his head for a kiss.
Tally shook her head at the happy couple. She was the absolute last person who needed to catch her mother’s wedding bouquet, being in the middle of a fairly obnoxious divorce, but she couldn’t help feeling a little wistful.
“Tally, doll, I hate to say this, but we gotta head out.” Tally’s uncle Bunny kept his voice low. “Ace is fading fast but is too stubborn to leave unless we’re sneaky.” He nodded at a tall man and a little girl who were talking to Nolan and Bridget. “Robbie Mac gave us an idea, but it entails us borrowing your daughter.”
Tally glanced at her other uncle, who was indeed looking a bit peaked from all the excitement of the day. “Oh, I’m sure Chloe’s about had enough of partying with the old folks and is ready to get out of here anyway,” she assured her uncle. “Go on home, and before you even ask, I’m sure I can get a ride with someone.” She gave him a peck on the cheek.
“That’s right,” Bunny replied with a wink and a smile.
Before long, the subterfuge was in place and Bunny and Ace went home with Chloe and Lily McFerrin in tow. Emotionally and physically drained from the day, Tally sank into a booth and closed her eyes. She rolled her neck and kicked herself for not having the forethought to get a drink, preferably one with a high alcohol content, before she sat down.
“Here’s to the hardworking maid of honor.”
Tally cracked open an eye to see Robbie Mac offering her a very large glass of wine. She grinned at him.
“Don’t mind if I do,” she said as she took a sip from the proffered glass. “Is there more of this? Because I think I need to get a little drunk.”
The last thing Robert McFerrin expected Tally to say was that she needed to get a little drunk. Though, if anyone could help her achieve her goal, it was Robbie Mac, son of a bootlegger and owner of Owl Creek Orchards and Vineyards.
“Well?” Tally held out her empty glass, and Rob refilled it before sliding out of the booth. “Hey, where are you going?”
“To get another bottle,” he called out over his shoulder. He made his way over to the refrigerators where Cal kept the Hemlock Creek Tavern’s chilled wine. There were four bottles of what they called the Robbie Mac Special—one hundred percent muscadine wine—and he made a mental note to bring more in on Monday to replace what they’d consumed during the reception.
Robbie Mac, you do not need to start up anything with this girl, the little nagging voice in his head warned him.
Robbie Mac, she’s just looking to have some fun. She’s had a hell of a run these past few months, another little voice whispered. Besides, she’s a potential customer. Think of it as market research.
Rob’s mama called that second voice his “bad angel,” the one who encouraged him to take his father’s souped-up Impala out for a spin when he was thirteen and to skinny-dip with the sheriff’s daughter when he was seventeen. Yes, he and that bad angel had some good times, but at the age of forty-five, he usually knew better than to listen to it. Usually was the operative word here, because he opened up another bottle of wine and headed back to the table occupied by the young, pretty brunette.
Yes, she is young, the good angel scolded. She’s young enough to be your daughter.
Not unless he fathered her when he was fifteen, he rationalized. He might have gotten an early start in the sex department, but it hadn’t been that early. She was, though, the daughter of someone he attended youth group and Sunday school with, which did give him pause. Was it weird? Kind of. Was it inappropriate? Nah. They were both single adults. Well, maybe. He knew, courtesy of the Hemlock Creek Gossip Brigade, that she’d returned from California with a smashed-in face and had immediately filed for a restraining order, but he didn’t know if she was actually single. Still, her erstwhile husband was literally on the other side of the continent, and besides, a little flirting never hurt anyone. Right?
“I really should stop,” Tally sa
id even as she accepted Rob’s offer to top off her glass. “But I really don’t want to. It’s been years since I’ve had a buzz.”
Rob McFerrin arched an eyebrow at the pretty brunette. “ ‘Years’? Honey, you aren’t old enough for it to have been ‘years’ since you’ve been tipsy.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t ‘honey’ me. I’m thirty—I’ve had plenty of time.”
Hearing her age gave Rob pause. He knew she was a young mother, but he hadn’t realized exactly how young.
“Sixteen.”
“Hmm?” Rob’s attention snapped back to Tally, whose playful, flirty grin had disappeared.
“I had Chloe when I was sixteen. Yes, that’s young. Blah, blah, blah.” Tally exhaled her breath with an audible huff and took another sip from her wineglass. “This is really good. So sweet.”
Rob held up his glass so that the setting sun shone through the golden wine. “This is my favorite. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste, but then again, I think people lie a lot about what they truly like in order to seem more sophisticated than they really are.” He closed his eyes and drank from the glass, savoring the sweet flavor of the wine. “By the way, you’ll get no judgment from me. Glass-house dweller, rocks, and all that.”
Tally inclined her head and held out her glass for a refill. “I was serious about getting drunk.”
“I can see that.” He refilled her glass halfway. She arched an eyebrow in question, and he poured the remaining liquid into his own glass. “So, you wanna tell me why you feel the need to get your wine on?”
Rob could tell she was thinking, weighing how much she was going to share. He was interested, however much it was, though he probably shouldn’t have been. In fact, Rob knew he should probably stay as far away from Tally Douglas as humanly possible, even though it would be hard given the size of Hemlock Creek.
“My mother and Tobias met when they were eleven. That’s the same age I was when I met Chloe’s father. Tobias and Mom had to wait thirty years to be together. Greg and I got married when I was nineteen and he was twenty, and at the time, it seemed like we’d waited forever. We should have never gotten married. Mom actually told me on my wedding day, ‘You don’t have to do this.’ ” Tally smiled at the memory. “I told her, ‘It worked for you and Daddy,’ even though I knew he wasn’t faithful, because I’d met his girlfriend.”
“Ouch.” Rob winced at the idea of his daughter running into his mistress, not that he’d ever do that to his wife.
“Yep. And now I’m getting divorced, and I’m thirty, with a fourteen-year-old daughter, and I’m terrified of her making the same sorts of mistakes I did because we are essentially the same person.” She drained the wine from her glass. “So that’s me. You still want to flirt?”
“ ‘Flirt’? Me? Darlin’, I don’t flirt.”
Tally narrowed her eyes at him and pushed her glass toward him. With a quick tap to the rim to indicate she was ready for a refill, she casually remarked, “Oh, then you’re a liar, too, because I’ve heard about you, Robbie Mac.”
Now this tidbit of information gave him pause. He wondered whom she’d been talking to. Penny at the Scuppernong Café? She’d know about his hijinks with Calhoun Harper because she and Rob’s mother were friendly. And anyway, high school was almost thirty years ago. And no, he wasn’t going to think about the fact that his high school experience was nearly as old as she was.
But if she’d heard about his most recent dating life? Then that was a definite problem, because if she’d heard about it, other people would have as well, and he didn’t need that sort of a headache. Not that he’d done anything wrong, but he just didn’t need his personal life splashed around any more than it already had been.
“Wow, you just had a whole conversation with yourself, didn’t you?” Tally bit her lip, and, boy, did she look adorable doing that. Add in the slight flush from the wine and her luminescent dark eyes? He knew what he had to do.
He leaned over and kissed her.
Not a deep kiss, but more than a peck. Then he did it again, but with more vigor. When Tally leaned into his space and snaked her arms around his neck, he tested her mouth with his tongue. She moaned a little sigh and leaned against him, pressing her breasts against his chest. Rob eased up on his kiss, and she whimpered a little as he did so.
“You . . . are really good at that. Wow.” Tally’s eyelids drooped, and her mouth hung open a little. “Just . . . wow.”
“I . . . think I ought to take you home. I mean, to your uncles’ house. You’re staying there tonight, right? And that’s where Lily is?”
“Yeah.” She fanned herself with her hand. “Wow. Whoo.”
Rob kissed her cheek and gave her a wink. “Lemme go cork this and we can take off. You can finish the bottle in the privacy of your own home.”
“Oh, okay,” Tally stammered, still seemingly dazed.
Rob slid out of the booth, holding the bottle in front of him and hoping it hid his burgeoning erection. Holy crap. What in the world had he gotten himself into?
Bad angel, but oh-so good.
“Oh, thank you.” The woman managed a small smile as she accepted the cup of cool water from Tally.
“I have some peanut butter crackers in my desk. Would you like a package?”
“Oh, no, thank you. This water is perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever talked so much in one sitting.” She fell silent and blew out a nervous breath while looking around the small makeshift conference room.
“You’re doing so well. We’ll get all this down, and then you can start putting the whole situation behind you.”
“ ‘The whole situation,’ meaning this nightmare of a marriage.” Tasha closed her eyes and slowly rubbed her temple. “It never seemed that bad, you know. At least not until I starting listing stuff and filling out that calendar.”
“I know.” Tally exhaled a quiet breath. “Believe me, I know. It never does. It’s amazing how normalized abuse can become.”
“You’re not just a paralegal, are you?” Tasha smiled that sad smile again.
“Oh, I’m not a paralegal. I’m just a transcriptionist.” Tally shrugged. “But I get it. And I know it’ll all be okay, because Billie’s top-notch. She’ll do you right and get everything sorted.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Now, let’s both take deep breaths, okay?” Tally counted to three, and she and the latest client at the legal aid office both inhaled the stale office air through their noses and blew it out through their mouths. And then they did it again. A few seconds later, Billie Lanier swept into the room and slid into the chair across from Tasha.
“That took longer than I expected, and I’m sorry,” she apologized. “Are you ready to pick up where we left off?” When Tasha nodded, Billie gave her a big grin and said, “Okay, let’s do this.”
Tasha spent the next three hours detailing the abuse she and her children had suffered at the hands of her husband. When she was finished, she gave both Billie and Tally a hug and left the office clear-eyed and seemingly hopeful.
“Whew!” Billie shook her head. “It never gets easier. And I still get so damn mad at everything that I’m not fit to be around for days. I guess it’s good that I’m in court for the next week.” She winked at Tally. “Tell me something good that happened this weekend. You know, I can’t say that phrase without singing it, but then again, you’re probably not old enough to remember that song.”
Tally hummed the tune and grinned at the older woman. “I know the song, and yes, I’m the same way. Hmm, something good . . .” Tally ran through the events of the weekend. So many things happened, and miraculously, they were all good. “Well, we got my mother married off to her high school sweetheart. The wedding was beautiful, no one problematic showed up, and everyone behaved themselves during the reception.”
“Well, hell. I say that’s stellar! Though, I will say, I think it’s not really a wedding unless there’s some sort of shenanigan, say a tipsy bridesmaid who makes out
with someone in the cloakroom or a scuffle over the bouquet.”
“Oh my Lord. Of all people, I caught the bouquet.” Tally shook her head.
“You know what they say . . .” Billie leered at Tally, who scoffed at the lawyer.
“Please, I’m not even divorced yet. I can’t even petition for divorce for another few months. I am not going to be the next one married. I didn’t have a wedding with this marriage, and heaven forbid that I do get remarried, I’m not planning on having a wedding. I don’t even really like weddings.”
Billie’s jaw dropped. “What? What is wrong with you? Who doesn’t like weddings? I love weddings.” A dreamy look drifted across Billie’s face for a split second, and then she was back to her no-nonsense self. “I’m good at weddings. After all, I’ve had four. It’s the marriage part I have a problem with.”
A cell phone buzzed and Billie jolted. She pulled out her phone and grinned. “And speaking of, that’s potential wedding partner number five giving me a ten-minute warning. That’s your ten-minute warning, too. I don’t want you hanging around after everyone’s cleared out.”
“Chad’s here—” Tally began, but his presence didn’t actually reassure her.
Billie moved, now nose to nose, into Tally’s personal space. “Do. Not. Ever. Be alone with Chad Bryson. Ever. He is not to be trusted with anything.” She looked around conspiratorially. “You didn’t hear that from me.”
Tally swallowed hard and nodded. Chad Bryson had already officially asked her out twice. She’d demurred, claiming familial obligations, and then he’d downshifted to getting coffee. She’d made the mistake of agreeing to that, and now he wouldn’t leave her alone.
Billie’s phone buzzed again.
“Go. I’m going to grab my stuff, and I’ll be right behind you, Billie. And thank you for all that you do around here.” Tally cut her eyes toward the office where Chad usually sat and pushed papers around during the time that he supposedly volunteered at the legal aid office, though Tally didn’t recall ever actually seeing him with a client. “I mean it. All of it.”