Circle on Home (Lost in a Boom Town Book 5)

by MJ Fredrick

  She wished she hadn't insisted on driving, because she could sleep, and now she’d still have to deal with the streaming traffic of shoppers coming and going.

  “See, that was fun,” her mother said as she dropped into the passenger seat.

  It had been. They’d laughed and joked, and she felt closer to her family than she had in years.

  “You might be too tired to move tomorrow,” her mother went on, her voice lifting in hope, as Miranda joined the queue of cars lining up to exit the shopping center.

  “Good thing I don't have too much to move.”

  “What about the other girls? Do they have furniture?”

  “I think so. We haven't really discussed it. I know they both had apartments, so I presume that they have furniture. If not, we can work it out, order a couch online or something.”

  “Why didn't you get any of your things shipped down from New York?” Allison asked.

  “I didn't ask for them.”

  “Why not? You bought some of them, right?”

  “Yes, but nothing I can’t replace, and it’s cheaper to buy it again instead of having Damian ship it.” And having to deal with Damian to tell him what she wanted. “I brought most of my clothes.” The things she could wear in Evansville, anyway.

  “But they’re your things.”

  “They’re only things,” Miranda corrected quietly. “I’m starting fresh.” So much of what she left behind wouldn't fit in here, anyway.

  “We can help you move.”

  “Mom, really, I don't have that much. It will take me two trips up the stairs, max. Maybe an hour or two to get everything put away.”

  But when her mother stiffened, she added, “I’ll have you both for dinner after everyone is settled in, how is that?”

  That seemed to appease them both, and Miranda waved another car into the line ahead of her. She was in no hurry to get home.

  Chapter Five

  On Saturday, as she said, moving her belongings didn't take very long. Both Riley and Jolie had started moving their belongings in the day before, so the kitchen was mostly set up—with two coffee makers, Miranda was happy to see. Not many dishes, but as long as there were coffee cups, they could survive. A small kitchen table sat near the back window. Miranda wondered briefly if she’d have time to enjoy the big porch and the shaded back yard. And who was going to take yard duty? Miranda was certainly willing to hire someone for that.

  Two mismatched couches sat at an angle in the living room, one a sage green and one a bright floral. Miranda didn't know her roommates well enough yet to know who had brought which. No TV, but Miranda had thought she’d buy a small set for her bedroom anyway.

  The dining room was empty, as was the den. As she started up the stairs, a knock sounded at the door and she opened to the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Tall and broad-shouldered, with dark wavy hair over blue eyes, high cheekbones and a cleft in his chin, he offered her a flash of a smile.

  Please let him be our new neighbor, Miranda wished fervently.

  Then he looked past her and his face brightened. She turned to see Riley coming down the stairs. Riley looked up and stalled.

  “Jackson. What are you doing here?” Her tone was not at all the welcome this man deserved.

  “I thought I’d come by to see if you needed help moving in.”

  Riley broke his gaze and continued down the stairs. “We moved all the big stuff yesterday.”

  “I wasn't in town yesterday.”

  Riley hadn't invited Jackson in, so Miranda did, with a motion of her hand. She stood waiting for an introduction, but instead got to witness a palpable pull between the two of them.

  Riley shook it off first and took a step back. “Miranda, this is my friend Jackson.”

  Friend. Right. Miranda held out her hand. “Miranda Bonner, new roommate.”

  “Allison’s sister?” Jackson asked.

  Miranda saw Riley bristle a bit at that, and wondered what the story was. Well, she could imagine the story. Hot guy. Her sister. “Yes.”

  He didn't say any more, and she didn't know what to say, so she opened the door again. “I’m just going to see if I left anything in the car. Nice to meet you, Jackson.”

  When she walked out, she saw his truck on the street, a big shiny thing with his name lettered on the side, not one of those magnet boards. A contractor, apparently.

  She didn't have anything in her car, but she made a show of checking, anyway, to give the two of them privacy.

  When she walked back in, empty-handed, the two were nowhere to be seen. Miranda thought about going up to her room, but the internet wasn't on yet, so she wouldn't be able to shop online. She didn't want to buy anything on her phone. She’d take her laptop and head over to the bakery, the only place in town that had WiFi. She supposed she could drive to the big box store an hour away, but why drive, when she could have the television delivered?

  She parked in front of the bakery, thinking she’d just have maybe some coffee, and was getting her laptop out of the car when she saw Noah walk out of the antique store down the block. She looked from him to the sign over his head and blinked.

  He saw her and color rushed to his cheeks. “My tia is there with Selena. I just drove because I had some stuff to do in town. You get moved in all right?”

  “Sure. Just need to get a TV.”

  “There’s a place in Pearsall that has good prices.”

  She held up her laptop. “So do the online stores, and they deliver. I just need to borrow the WiFi here.”

  “How are you going to know which one has the best picture?” he asked.

  “I’ll read the reviews.”

  He scowled. “How is that going to help? And how do you know if the reviews are accurate? We can just drive into Pearsall, look at what they have, and hell, if you don't like the price, at least you’ll know what you’re getting when you order online.”

  “We?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Sure. I mean, if you find one you like, you want to get it in the truck, not your little car.”

  “Are we good enough friends to drive to Pearsall together?”

  “We could be.”

  He called Ben to pick up Selena and his aunt, then signaled to his truck. She hesitated, and took a deep breath before walking to the passenger side of the truck. The last time she’d been in that truck, she’d been ready to ditch her clothes and her dignity just to be in his arms one more time. She set her computer case between them, as if that would slow down temptation.

  “So I was going to come talk to you once you got settled in,” he said as he pulled onto the main road leading out of town. “I checked with the grocery store, and they told me the same thing Dad did, that the customers were unhappy with him being there, and wanted him gone. They said they tried to move him to where he wouldn't deal with customers but they still got backlash, so they let him go, like you said, during his probation period. His position is already filled, so they can’t hire him back. I guess it’s good that they sounded sorry about it. They said he was a good worker.”

  “So what are you going to do? He needs to have a job, right?”

  “He’s waiting to hear from a few places, but if he’s not hired by mid-December, I guess he’s going to have to come work for me.”

  She grimaced, knowing how their relationship had been. “How’s it been with him back home?”

  “I mostly deal by not being there as much as possible. To be fair, not hard to do with my job.”

  She wondered if he could afford to pay his father much to work for him. “Can you send your dad on some of your calls? Or have him work in your clinic?”

  “I’d have to train him first, and I don't know if you remember, but he’s not the most compassionate person.”

  “Maybe that can come in handy. I mean, there have to be parts of the job when compassion is an obstacle.”

  “But anything like that, he’d have to be trained. I don't see that going well.”

  �
��And the oilfields aren't hiring?”

  “Not unskilled labor. Even Ben, who has experience, hasn't been able to get another job with them.” He glanced across the cab at her. “You probably picked the wrong time to come back home.”

  “Maybe. It’s the right time for me, though.” She shifted on the seat toward him. “What’s going on with Riley and a guy named Jackson?”

  “Who’s Riley?”

  She rolled her eyes. “One of my roommates. She owns the bakery.”

  He shrugged. “I don't keep up. Your mom would know. Or, you know, you could ask your roommate.”

  “I could, but I don't think she’d tell me. She was very careful of her words when I met him at the house.”

  “Then clearly there is something going on between them.”

  “Yeah, but what? Why is it a secret? Is he married?”

  “From what I recall, he doesn't live in town. So I don't know. I do know he helped renovate the Sagebrush Saloon and the Inn, and the bakery, too, I think.”

  “Huh.”

  “So what about you? Is there anyone in your life?”

  “You think I would have kissed you the other night if there was someone else in my life?”

  Well. She hadn't thought he’d bring that up. “You stopped kissing me. I wondered if guilt was the reason.”

  “No. There isn't anyone.”

  He left it at that, and she wasn't sure what to say next. Seemed only fair he should share since he knew about her and Damian, yet she knew nothing about what his life had been like the past fourteen years. That didn't seem fair.

  She had him as her captive now. Maybe she could get him to open up. He’d volunteered to drive her, after all, and he knew she was a lawyer.

  “But there has been?”

  “Are you asking if I’ve been pining for you for the past fourteen years?”

  Trust him to turn it around on her. “Not asking if you’re celibate, of course, but has there been someone serious?”

  “One. But I had too much baggage and it ended.”

  “Is she still in town?”

  “Nope. And most people won’t remember her if you go asking.”

  “That’s why I’m asking you. Were you together long?”

  “A little over a year.”

  That wasn't very significant considering he was thirty-two years old. He’d only had a relationship in high school, and a year-long relationship here? “Were you a wild child in college?”

  He shook his head. “Couldn’t afford to be. If I didn't keep my head down and study, I’d lose my scholarships.”

  No wonder he was so solemn all the time. He had too much weight on his broad shoulders. His father, his siblings, his career. She didn't know how to help him loosen up. He’d never been particularly happy-go-lucky, not with the home life he had, but he had known how to relax, and she needed to help him find his way back to that person. She didn't know why she felt the burden was on her, but no one had been able to do it so far, and it wasn't fair that such a good man should be so unhappy.

  She needed to think about this.

  “Is Selena excited about the Christmas festival coming up?” She’d heard nothing but details about the festival on the way home from San Marcos yesterday.

  “We haven't told her about it yet, but I’m sure once she sees everything being set up, we won’t rest until we take her.”

  “From what Mom says, it sounds like it’s going to be better than ever.”

  “Hope the weather holds, for their sakes.”

  The weather was always a risk for the festivals, no matter if it was the Bluebonnet festival in April or the Halloween festival.

  “Maybe someday someone will build something so we can celebrate indoors in case of bad weather.”

  “I think something like that was on the table until the oil prices started dropping. Now most of the money’s going to the roads damaged by the tanker trucks. We do have a shiny new school and hospital, though.”

  “I heard. One of my roommates works at the hospital.”

  “I bet your mom is happy you’ve moved back to town.”

  “She’d be happier if I was living there with her and Allison. I just couldn't go back to being her daughter after being on my own, though, you know?”

  “I have some idea,” he said dryly.

  “Has your dad done that? Come back and tried to be a dad?”

  “No, he’s pretty much accepted that I’m head of the household right now.”

  “And is he going to stay there? I mean, always?”

  “Eventually one of us will move out. I hope it’s him, but it’s more likely to be me, since he doesn't have a job and won’t have money for a mortgage. But I’ve got the stables there, and a place to park the trailer. I like it the way it is.”

  “Also it’s isolated, so you can get away from all of us busybodies.”

  He grunted. “There is that.”

  “Speaking of the vet thing, though, I was thinking I might want a kitten. Do you know anyone who has kittens right now?”

  He shot a look across the cab. “Are you serious?”

  “Well, I guess I should ask my roommates if they’re okay with it, but Mom never let me have a pet, and Damian definitely didn’t, and I’ve always wanted one.”

  “I know of three different litters about ready to leave their mamas.”

  “So many!” Of course, Evansville had more animals than people, so she shouldn't be surprised.

  “After you check with your roommates, I can take you around so you can pick one out.”

  She opened her mouth to say she could drive herself, but clearly he didn't want to be home, and maybe that meant he wanted to be around her, right?

  “How long is your aunt going to be in town?”

  “I think she’s leaving tomorrow.”

  The way he said it conveyed relief.

  “I thought you were close.”

  “We were, when Mom was alive, not so much when I went away to school, though she took care of Ben and Selena after Dad went inside. And it’s been a while since we’ve seen her. Dad actually invited her. Apparently she went to visit him in prison on a pretty regular basis.”

  “More power to her. I don't think I could visit the man who was charged with killing my sister.”

  “I know I couldn't do it.”

  “You never went?”

  “Not even once. Couldn't make myself do it. Never been to my mother’s grave, either.”

  “Oh, Noah.”

  “I know it’s taken care of, and that’s all that matters to me.”

  “We go to Dad’s grave every Father’s Day and Christmas. Mom always makes him a little tree.”

  They’d be picking up that tradition soon. Not for the first time, she wondered why her mother hadn't considered remarrying. Her dad had been gone almost seven years, and she didn’t think her mother had gone out on even one date. She knew her parents had been in love, up until the day her father died, but her mother was still young, only fifty-three. She had a long life ahead of her, she shouldn't be alone. But Miranda hadn't been home much in the past few years. There might be a reason she was completely unaware of.

  “I figure she’s not there, anyway. Ben takes Selena pretty regularly, but I don't think she understands. I don't think she remembers Mom. She was really young.”

  “How is she doing? I know she’s working. Does she like it?”

  “She likes being around people. She always has. More social than Ben and I put together.”

  Miranda laughed. “That’s not hard to beat. I think the Unibomber was more social than you and Ben put together.”

  “Har har.”

  “I haven’t seen Ben since I’ve been back. I bet I wouldn't recognize him, all grown up.”

  “All grown up and sour as a bear. Talk about someone who needs to find a woman. Yeesh. Since he got laid off from the oilfields, he’s absolutely miserable to be around.”

  “Is he looking for a job?”

 
“He got one, as a hunting guide, so at least he’s out of the house more now. I hope he gets some of his aggression out while he’s out there. I think he thought the boom would last longer and make him rich. He wasn't great about saving money, so he’s bitter.”

  “I think everyone thought the boom would go on longer. But that’s the nature of the beast, isn’t it?”

  They drove in silence a bit before he asked, “So why are you waiting until the first of the year to start your practice here?”

  “I’ve been working a lot the past few years. Long days, long weeks. The few vacations I had were not too relaxing, too filled with seeing this, or having that experience. So I thought I’d take some time to myself before I start up again. Not that I expect to be half as busy as I was in New York, but the actual setting up of the office and my books is going to be a challenge. I’ve never run my own business before.”

  But he had.

  “It’s a challenge,” he agreed. “But worth it in the long run. You might ask Sage Tscheulin for some pointers. She’s got her hands in a lot of businesses—the Sagebrush, the inn. Or MJ Fechter. She owns the new boutique. Or, hell, you live with Riley. Any one of them would probably be glad to give you a hand.”

  That was true. And she’d done enough research to know what she needed to do. Just…her brain was on vacation. She would do a little at a time, so she wouldn't be overwhelmed when she opened her office.

  “Are you going to rent an office?” he asked.

  “I’m looking at one of the upstairs rooms on the same part of the square as the bakery.”

  “Smack in the middle of town. You think you can get enough business to pay for that?”

  She didn't want to tell him she was very good at managing her money, and she didn't have to turn a profit off the bat. Her bills were paid, her money invested wisely, something she and Damian had argued about, but her father had drilled that practicality into her head.

  “I think, even with the boom fizzling out, there are going to be people who need the services of a lawyer. Trusts, wills, that kind of thing.”