Whiskey and Serendipity (Hemlock Creek Book 1)

by Josie Kerr

  “Well, thank you. They’re my favorite pair. I don’t like wearing non-matching sets. Makes me feel off-kilter.” Now she was staring at him from the passenger seat of his Nova, those long fingers of hers stroking the top of the door panel. Cal shifted uncomfortably, trying to unobtrusively ease the pressure on his rapidly hardening cock, because he knew she was wearing the matching brassiere today. Did that mean she was . . . Hot damn.

  “Nice car,” she said.

  “Thanks.”

  “You know, I never thought of asking what you drove. I pictured you as more of an SUV guy, or maybe a Jeep.” She wriggled closer to him.

  “Stop, woman. I’m trying to be a gentleman here.” Cal tried to get his imagination under control because all he could think about was getting her into the back seat of his car. Or maybe over the hood. Or, hell, both. “Your wriggling is making me crazy.” He had his hand on her thigh, ostensibly to stop her sexy, maddening gyrations, but now that he’d made contact with her body, all he wanted was a heavy, sweaty round of naked wrestling.

  They stopped at a traffic light, and Cal took the opportunity to steal another kiss. And then another. And then another. Kat giggled while they were still in a lip-lock, and Cal wrapped his hand around her neck and deepened the kiss.

  “Miss Fahey, you keep this up and we might have to go back to Nolan’s for a quickie,” he murmured, followed by another kiss. A car honked, and Cal grunted his displeasure at having to focus on the road and not on Kat, but then she pulled his arm around her shoulders and nestled as close to him as she could while still wearing a seat belt.

  “Bench seats are very underrated.” She patted his hand and didn’t say anything more, but she had a little secret smile on those pretty lips of hers. He snuck another kiss, then settled back, content to stroke the creamy skin of her neck, at least for now.

  “You’re thinking dirty thoughts,” she murmured.

  Cal just shook his head and grinned. Kat Fahey was the woman for him, but was he the man for her? He was determined to find out tonight, period.

  ´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´

  “Cal, this is gorgeous.” Kat let her gaze become unfocused, so the whole world seemed to go by in a blur. When she did fix it on something, the object became that much sharper. “I mean, I liked Cabbagetown a lot, but this is . . . something special. I can see why your main house is up here.”

  Cal snorted. “We’re coming up in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the week. The commute is a whole other thing on Friday afternoon or Monday morning, and heaven forbid there’s rain. For an area whose annual rainfall is greater than Seattle’s, you’d think people wouldn’t lose their damn minds every time there’s a little wet pavement.” He squeezed her hand. “But yeah, I love it.”

  Though constrained by the seat belt, she settled as near to him as she could. “So, tell me about your little town.”

  And he did, though Kat suspected he was only telling her about the good things. She got that he’d had a complicated upbringing and that he didn’t make the decision to live in his hometown lightly. There would be time enough to find out what the little town was really like.

  Kat’s stomach growled. She closed her eyes, mortified.

  “Darlin’, I know of a little place that’s right on the way. You’ll love it.” Cal gave her a quick kiss and turned his eyes back to the road. “You ready to experience Nappalachia?”

  He turned off the interstate onto a state highway, and immediately, it was like another world, a world of covered bridges and tiny wooden houses and barns. And trees, so many trees, and rivers. Cal pointed out a waterfall that could be seen from the road, and Kat decided that even though she wasn’t necessarily the most outdoorsy type, she was getting close to that cascade before she left.

  Kat sucked in a breath. She didn’t want to think about leaving at all. Even though she’d gotten an open-ended ticket, she’d decided on the plane that she’d stay for five days. That would allow her to spend some quality time with Cal and still be able to sort things out, like what she was going to do now.

  “Chickadee? You okay?” Cal gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

  “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” She nodded. “Just hungry.”

  Cal snickered and then turned into a gravel parking lot in front of a log building with a large porch. “Well, I’m glad you are, because we’re here. Good thing you wore your eatin’ pants.” He leered at her, and Kat laughed and shook her head.

  “You’re so silly, Calhoun,” she murmured before giving him a peck on the lips, which, of course, happened to coincide with another thunderous rumble of her stomach. Cal cackled, and then he pulled her into his lap and gave her a proper kiss, and then another, before pushing open his door and helping her out through the driver’s side.

  Yeah, bench seats were totally underrated.

  ´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´

  “Whoo! Look who’s a member of the Clean Plate Club?” Kat stuck her tongue out at Cal, who whispered in her ear, “You’d better watch where you put that tongue, darlin’.”

  “Hon, I’m so full that I can’t even banter. Oof.” Leaning against his side in the booth at the Scuppernong Café, Kat settled in and yawned. “How far are we from your house?”

  “Just about twenty minutes. And by the way, this is the big city. We have to come here to do major grocery shopping or just about anything else. You wanna walk around the town before we head home?” he asked, stalling and suddenly questioning the wisdom of bringing Kat to the Owltown house. He didn’t doubt her at all, but rather himself. What was he thinking?

  “Cal?”

  “I’m good.” He pressed his lips against her forehead. “Let’s get the check and get out of here. We can take a nap in the hammock.”

  Kat looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Cal, I fall out of the bed. How do you think I’m going to function on a hammock?”

  “It’s a big, stable hammock.”

  “Uh-huh,” Kat snorted, still obviously skeptical.

  Cal chuckled. “You’ll like it; you’ll see,” he predicted and signaled for the check.

  A waiter, who had not had their table earlier, put the slip of paper on the table. “Hey, I’m Rob. Shelly went off shift, but I’ll be—holy shit! Cal?”

  “Robbie Mac! Holy shit!” Cal stood up, and the men swapped enthusiastic handshakes and backslaps while Kat looked on in amusement. “Kat, I’ve known this guy since we were in first grade. Robert McFerrin, this is . . . my Kat.”

  Kat blinked. “Robert McFerrin?”

  Robbie held up his hand. “As long as you don’t tell me to ‘don’t worry, be happy,’ we’ll get along just fine.”

  “I promise,” she answered somberly, though Cal could see the side of her lip twitch.

  Cal scooted the paid tab across the table. “Here you go, Rob. Hopefully, we’ll see you around.”

  “I’m either here at the Café or at the Hemlock Creek Tavern at night.”

  Cal frowned. “I thought the Hemlock Creek Tavern closed?”

  “Nah. It’s still open but I don’t know for how long. The group that originally bought it is trying to sell it now because they aren’t happy with the performance. I’ve made a bunch of suggestions, but they’re not interested. It’s almost like they want it to fail.” Rob shook his head. “And they refuse to stock my wine or moonshine, even though I’m one hundred percent legal these days. If that Tavern closes, it’ll put me in a real tight spot. I’ve already taken out a second mortgage, so I’ve got too much invested in specialized equipment to just give up.” Robbie took a deep breath. “Sorry – working here, at the tavern, trying to run the distillery, and making sure everything else gets taken care of at home is getting to me.”

  A little voice whispered in the back of Cal’s head, but he shoved it down as much as he could and turned his attention to further introductions. “Robbie Mac here has some of the best local fruit wine in the state.”

  “Oh yeah? I love frui
t wine. And other types of wine. And food. And just about anything you can put in your mouth.” Cal aspirated his beer, and Kat just batted her eyelashes.

  Robbie hooted a bit but then slid the tab off the table. “Well, I’ll see you around, Harper.”

  Cal extended his hand, and the two old friends shook on it. “If you ever feel like visiting . . . you know . . . come by the house, okay? Anytime.”

  “I’ll do that. Thanks. Nice to meet you, Kat.”

  “Nice to meet you, too, Robbie.”

  When Robbie stepped away from the table, the little idea knocked louder, so Cal squashed it even more. When he was finished mentally compressing the idea, he caught Kat’s eye and realized she knew everything that had run through his head in the last five minutes.

  “You miss this, don’t you?” she whispered in his ear.

  “Yeah. You’re the second person who has said something similar in as many days.”

  “Pretty wicked friends, huh?” She winked at him. “But you don’t want to talk about it right now, do you?”

  Cal chuckled through a huffed breath. “No, not yet. Thanks for understanding, darlin’.”

  Kat offered her cheek and he gave her a kiss. She blushed prettily and then motioned for them to go, so they made their way back to the car. Cal put the key in the ignition and paused for a moment.

  Okay, Calhoun. Reckoning time.

  Kat had her face pressed up against the window, while Cal looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Oh my God, is that a tin roof?”

  “Rusted, yup.” He was totally laughing at her. “There’s a screened-in porch in the back, plus a river where there’s trout-fishing.”

  Kat was fascinated by this development. Cal. In, like, a real house. She’d always assumed a mountain lakehouse was more . . . rustic. Like a log cabin or something. Son of a ham sandwich. “What are you laughing at, Calhoun Harper?”

  “If I’d known you’d get so excited, I would have brought you up here that first night.”

  Cal was smiling, as in a huge, natural smile. She wanted him to look like that all the time, wanted to know what it took to keep that look on his face. He’d talked about the history of the area as they’d made their way to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She could almost see the stress rolling off of him. Everything slowed down—the pace of his speaking, his driving, everything. Even his grip on her hand seemed to mellow.

  They walked down a gravel driveway to the house, Cal carrying her suitcase in one hand and grasping her hand with the other. He was chuckling softly as he unlocked the front door.

  He turned to her, suddenly serious. “Now, I gotta warn you, Kat,” he said. “I bought this house furnished and as is, and to be honest, I couldn’t be bothered to make any changes. This is exactly how it was sold to me, so, uh, fair warning. It’s a lot of look.”

  How bad could it be?

  He threw open the door, and Kat stepped across the threshold and tried to take it all in.

  “Wow. Um.” She hadn’t moved, just stood there in the tiny foyer and gawked. “Yeah, you’re right—this is a lotta look. It’s like . . . a granny’s house, but only if that granny was obsessed with both Gunsmoke and Miami Vice. It’s something my grandmother or mom would have loved. Oh my God, is that a wood stove?”

  He chuckled and nodded. “Let me give you the grand tour. It’s not really big, but then again, it’s only . . .” His voice trailed off, and he gave her a weak grin. “So, I call this the white room.”

  They spent the next few minutes walking through the house, Cal not saying much, until they got to the kitchen. Unlike the rest of the house, the kitchen was fully updated, complete with a double-oven range and a built-in refrigerator. Kat whistled. This was a kitchen made for someone who cooked and entertained. But the dining room was totally empty.

  “Cal, why did you buy this house?”

  “Honestly?” Kat nodded. “I bought this house because I hated the thought of living in Buckhead, in one of the newly constructed McMansions that are crammed four to a lot where one majestic house used to be. This is where I grew up, and I love it. I mean, not here. The house where I grew doesn’t exist anymore, but I’ll show you where it once was. Anyway, I got this house for a steal right after Amanda and I got engaged because, let’s face it, she would get a charge out of saying, ‘We’ll be going to the lakeside homestead, you know, the one with the vineyard.’ But when I brought her up here, she complained the whole time.”

  Kat scoffed. “About what?”

  “The drive, the lack of cell phone reception, the fact that the streets kind of roll up after nine.” Cal sighed, defeated. “I thought if I redid the kitchen to make it an entertaining kitchen, she might want to be here, to play lady of the manor. She always wanted to be a party planner, but her parents push her to simply be a wife.”

  Kat threw herself at him and wrapped him in a tight hug, and when she looked up at him, she had tears in her eyes. “Cal, you said you didn’t love her the way you probably should have, but you did. It might not have been the kind of love you should build a marriage on, but you loved her.” She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his cheek. “So, you’ve told me why you bought the house for her, but why did you buy it? Why this house? And don’t feed me some crap about it being a good deal, okay? We both know that’s you avoiding stuff.”

  Cal rested his lips on the curve of her neck and, after a long moment, pulled Kat against him. She could feel him balling her shirt in his hands before giving her a little squeeze. “You wanna see why I bought this house?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “Let me show you, then.” Cal guided her to the back door and out to the closed-in porch.

  “Hot tub?” Kat eyed the Jacuzzi, and Cal gave her a wink.

  “That’s a bonus. We can try it out tonight. Come on. You said you wanted to see.”

  Cal pushed open the screen door and pulled Kat in front of him. Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed at the panoramic view. She could see the sun glinting off the river as it twisted and turned through the pine trees.

  “After dark, the frogs drown out the river. I heard it the first night I spent in the house.” Cal rubbed Kat’s shoulder. “But yeah. This is why I picked this house, and when it comes down to it, I thought that if I showed Amanda how much I loved it, then she would love it because I did, you know?” He exhaled loudly. “Yeah, I know how crazy and desperate I sound.”

  Kat ventured into some scary waters. “You know this is not completely about your marriage, right? This is about Pickett and Spence, and about your father’s death, and probably a whole lot of other stuff as well.”

  “You and Meghan and probably Suki had a talk, didn’t you?” Cal smiled his crooked grin. “They told you all about the big bad and everything.”

  “Don’t forget Bridget.”

  Cal groaned. “God, how could I forget her?” he said with a laugh.

  “You know, when I met Nolan, Bridget promised she’d never try to fix me up with either of his brothers because you both needed hand trucks to haul around your emotional baggage. But you know what?”

  “What?” Cal gathered her hands in his and pressed his lips against her knuckles.

  “I’ll take you, baggage and all.”

  Cal looked at Kat and just shook his head in confusion. “Dear Lord, you’re a miracle. You chose to ride with me up to the mountains, meet my crazy hillbilly friends and family, and are still be sweet and listen to my whining. Why the fuck am I even talking about her when you’re here with me? I mean, Lord knows why you’re with me, putting up with my bullshit, when you could be back in Boston, being your successful, badass risk-management self. You could be—”

  “Because I’m in love with you, Cal.” Kat held her breath for a moment and then decided she was being ridiculous. She took the risk to come to Atlanta and surprise him; she might as well go all in, go for the whole shebang. “Because I love you, Cal.”

  Cal looked at her and then wh
ispered, “Say that again.”

  “Which part?”

  “All of it.”

  Kat squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. “I love you, Cal, and I’m in love with you.”

  Suddenly she felt Cal sweep her into his arms, almost pouncing on her, before kissing her like she’d never been kissed before.

  Abruptly he broke the kiss. “I’m an idiot.”

  Kat, still halfway stunned from the kiss, stammered, “Wh-what?”

  “Kathleen Fahey, I think I fell in love with you the moment you tried to put that damn carry-on bag in the overhead bin, and I knew for sure when I heard that damn rooster alarm.”

  Kat cackled and clapped her hands with delight. “You are a nut, Cal Harper.” She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “But you’re my nut.” She took a deep breath. “And, uh, I guess this is a perfect time to tell you something else. I think I might be . . .”

  Cal’s eyes grew wide, and he looked at her belly.

  Kat frowned, and then the realization hit her. “Oh God, no. No, no, no, no, no.” She kissed him again, harder. “Uh, no. No. Donald Reynolds, you know, my former boss? He gave me some leads on positions here.” She gave him a shy smile. “So, um, I think you’re kind of stuck with me, here and now.”

  Cal stared at her, then swept her off her feet and carried her through the white room and into the bedroom.

  “First, thank God you’re not . . . you know, and second, I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather be stuck with, here and now, wherever and forever. I love you, too, Kat. More than anything in the world.”

  ´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´

  Cal sat bolt upright in bed to the sound of Kat’s hysterical screaming from another part of the house. He leapt out of bed, ignoring the fact that he was completely naked, and grabbed a baseball bat he kept under the bed, then stampeded from the bedroom and almost fell down the stairs to get to the back of the house, where she’d renewed her screaming with vigor. Finding the living room empty, he burst into the kitchen, baseball bat over his head and ready to pummel whatever was threatening his Kat. What he found was Kat, naked in the kitchen with a round of cheese clutched in her fist, and a very large possum hissing at her.