by Claire Adams
I had been a womanizer. I used them for sex, using a variety of ways to meet my needs. It was no wonder that this was happening to me. Mia was far more manipulative than some of the others. She wasn’t going to make this easy, and I didn’t know what to expect from her now that she seemed to know where I was staying.
My thoughts moved to Rebecca. She was the one woman who wasn’t impressed by my wealth. While she enjoyed dinner in Dallas, she made it clear when I dropped her off that it wasn’t necessary for me to love her. She was so much more complex than the others. I needed to prove myself to her in a different way.
I dialed a number on my phone with a smile.
Rebecca was spending time with Kim tonight, having dinner out and watching a movie at her house. As much as I wanted to see her, I’d never interrupt that time because I knew how close they were to one another. But being apart from her tonight worked out. I could plan ahead and make the next time I saw her special. I wanted to put my mistakes in New York behind me and show Rebecca that I loved her.
That last call I made outside was to Rebecca, telling her to expect a surprise on Saturday. That was her next day off, and I wanted to do something that she’d never forget. She didn’t pick up, so I left a message and sat back to enjoy the lemon blueberry muffin that Frannie had been making for fifty years. They were always my favorite as a kid, and I appreciated that Mom remembered that.
I joined my parents for dinner a little while later, enjoying the grilled chicken and vegetables that she made. I watched as they talked about their day and what was going on in town. I took in the way things seemed so much slower here, and I thought ahead to Saturday. I wanted to show Rebecca that you could mix slow and fast to come up with the perfect combination. I wanted to show her things she’d never seen before. Points of view that might surprise her.
I wanted to impress the hell out of her. I’d done that with other women just by being another version of myself, but it didn’t feel genuine. It felt like the game that it was.
Rebecca was different. She was special, and I would have to do a little digging and show that to her. I would have to break myself down in the process and find the right combination for this to work.
I pushed aside the uncertainty about the future and focused on enjoying dinner here with my family. I listened to the wind outside and tasted the food as I enjoyed the moment to its fullest.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Rebecca
We went out to dinner as planned, but here I was at the library with Kim afterward, instead of watching a movie. She was chomping at the bit to organize everything, now that they had the funds. It was the way Kim worked. Once she had a plan, she was all in. She carried a notebook and pen with her around the building, and I followed her.
It really was a small library, but this was a tiny town. I didn’t see the need for it to expand in size all that much, though the building did need some work. It had been built years ago, and everything weakened with our weather here. Kim rattled off her thoughts in the same jumbled manner that they must be playing through in her mind, making me smile at her. “What do you think about adding on a children’s section all to itself? I was picturing a little play area, a huge picture window, and as many books as I can fill it with.” She jotted something down. “Wouldn’t that look pretty, looking back to the hills? So many kids don’t read enough, but if it felt comfortable and more like home to them, that might do the trick.”
“I think that’s a great idea. Give the parents some room to relax with chairs and maybe couches while the kids play or look at books.” I remembered being here with Mom when we were little, and it felt as though we were stuffed into the small corner that held the children’s books now. She wasn’t comfortable waiting for us, but Mom made the best of it.
“Yes!” Kim agreed with a wide smile on her face. “I think I might even make small sections of certain age groups. Shelves that they can go to for what is geared towards them or even books we let them choose.”
My sister had always read above her grade in school by several years. I enjoyed reading a lot, but it was more to relax and not my life calling. I still loved the idea of a new library.
She wrote something else down. “I definitely want this to have more of a comfortable feeling all around. I want people to sit down and relax a little bit while they take a peek at all the books we’re going to have. I was thinking about vending machines where folks could get some coffee or hot chocolate and sit outside if they wanted. I was thinking of having a stand out front, but I don’t want to compete against the North Reed Grind. It’s been here for so long that I’d never take away their business, and I really love it there.” She turned to me with excitement in her eyes. “Unless they’re willing to go into a partnership with us here. Maybe they could be the ones that could set up shop outside and serve the coffee, and we could work something out. That isn’t taking away from the shop itself, is it?”
I shook my head with a soft smile on my face. I had so many memories of that place that they were stacked inside of my brain by now, the best ones being with Austin. We hadn’t gone there since he came back into town. Maybe we should, just to relive old memories. “Not at all. the Grind is too epic and cozy. I think it’s a great idea to talk to them about the stand though. I imagine that since that Starbucks place has a shop on every corner and keeps doing well, it would work out.” I’d noticed that on the television at work during the business section of the news. From what I’d seen, it was small and uninviting. In Dallas, when we’d had dinner at Austin’s place, I’d also peered inside and hated it compared to my coffee place here.
“You have a point there. I am so glad that North Reed told them no.” Kim shook her head and looked around. “I want computers for book checkout, too. I saw something online about that, and it looks so convenient. It makes the person pay off the balance if they’re too late returning books, and I’d love to spare myself that speech.” She rolled her eyes. “Thank you so much for this, Rebecca.”
I looked at her with my head tilted, not understanding what she meant. “What did I do?”
“The donation, silly.” Kim smiled at me as she stopped and looked at me.
“I didn’t give you the donation,” I said. “Austin did, remember?” I reached out to touch a book that I read a million times as a kid.
“He gave the donation to the library because he loves you,” Kim said. “If he didn’t, he already would have high-tailed it out of here back to New York.” Kim hugged me tightly.
I let out a breath that it felt like I’d been holding for a while. “I don’t know about all of that. He’s smart with his money and donates a lot. I mean, there’s the hospital and everything as well.” I hugged her back, loving him for keeping her here with me. “I should be thanking him for keeping you here.”
“Has he mentioned going back to New York at all?” Kim asked as she leaned against a shelf and took a close look at me.
“No. He seems to be focused on staying here for his dad right now.” I creased my brow as I looked at her.
“That’s great. Between that and taking you out on these fancy dates you two go on, I’d think you would be thrilled about that.”
“I would like dates with him if he just took me to the diner or for coffee. I don’t need limos and planes and French restaurants in Dallas.” Kim had loved that when I told her about it, claiming that she was so jealous.
“I think the idea of a gorgeous, rich man spoiling you is beyond romantic. It is what half of the books here are written about, you know.” She waved a hand around, and I looked at all the shelves, knowing that she was right. “You’re living the fantasy, Becs.”
“What if he’s doing all of that just to turn around and ask me to move with him again?” My family were the only people in my life who knew he’d asked me to go to New York with him before he left. To the rest of the town, I played it like we’d separated because of distance and moving on. “What if he’s doing a little extra to try and make me wa
nt the life that he lives there?”
“Would that be so terrible? Mom and Dad are happy, and they moved.” Sadness flashed through her eyes for a fleeting second. She offered me a bright smile, and I pressed my lips together.
“I have seen hints of his life there, Kim. The women and the parties are just too much for me.”
Kim chuckled. “I think he’d give up the women if you moved with him,” she offered.
I laughed for a minute. “Yes, of course. I’m just not the girl to go to a club or a big party and enjoy it. I’m happy with simple food and an easy life. Besides, I have you here and my friends. I have my job and my house. I have my peace here. Why walk away from that when I could end up miserable in the end?” I shrugged. “I love him, but maybe that isn’t enough for us.”
“You are a small-town girl. I would love to visit you there, though. Think about how fun it would be to go to the theater and out to fancy dinners, or even shopping. Can you imagine the clothes they sell there?”
“No, I can’t. I struggled with the idea of a limo and a plane to go to dinner. I don’t want to be the woman who just goes about and spends his money while Austin works himself to death.” In my head, that’s what he did there, as opposed to enjoying life like he should. I didn’t want to fight with him about that, and I didn’t want a part of the city life. “I just know we’d drift apart, and all of my insecurities would settle in. I’d end up coming back home and feeling worse about the fact that we failed.”
“You are a pessimist, sis.” Kim smiled sadly at me.
“This isn’t Pretty Woman, Kim.”
Her eyes widened, and she laughed. “No, you’re definitely not a hooker with a heart of gold,” she assured me.
“I know that. I just want to follow my heart, and contrary to what people say about it, my life is not waiting for me in New York. I like it here. I want Austin to want to be with the real me and find the real him. I’ve seen more and more of the old Austin in the last few weeks, and I like it. At least, until he pulls up in a limo.”
“He picked a stubborn one when he picked you. I love that you want to stand up for yourself, though. Just try to enjoy the spoiling a tiny bit for me? I am so jealous.”
“I should ask him to bring a friend here for you,” I joked. She giggled. Preston left soon after any of us met him, but I didn’t think he was Kim’s type at all. Kim was as small-town as I was. “He’s taking me somewhere Saturday. It’s a surprise, and I don’t know whether to be excited or not.”
“Oh, be excited,” Kim urged me as she glanced at the clock on the wall. “Look! We have enough time to stop by the coffee shop and get some dessert and coffee. I’ve been stumbling around here enough with this list tonight on our girl night. Let’s go watch a sickeningly romantic movie that will make you see what you deserve.”
We left the building, and she locked up before we walked to her car. Kim drove us over to the Grind and talked to the girls about her idea, who got excited over the new venture. They told Kim that they’d have the owner call her in the morning to talk about it, and even gave us our treats for free.
“Will the stand have these desserts?” I asked with a sigh as she drove.
“If so, I am going to gain one hundred pounds. The chocolate cake is to die for.” We’d gotten a slice of that, as well as cheesecake that the owner’s wife made for him, and both were amazing. “I might eat it for breakfast every single day. Maybe I should have a healthy, vegan truck or something instead. That’s healthy, right?”
“So, I hear, but yuck!” I groaned as we pulled into the driveway of my house. She got the desserts, and I grabbed the coffee, following her to the door as she unlocked it with her key. There were no secrets between Kim and me, though I didn’t tell her every detail about Austin. Some things a girl just needed to keep private, something that was much more of a presence in my life now that he was back.
I couldn’t stand the idea of not seeing her all the time. We were too close, and we’d only gotten closer when Mom and Dad left. It was unbreakable now. If it came down to it, Austin would have to deal with it.
We sat down on the couch and found a movie on Netflix. I was fine with romantic, but I insisted that it not be ridiculous. Kim offered up You’ve Got Mail. I liked Sleepless in Seattle, but that ended in New York, and I vetoed the very idea of the movie. We snuggled up on the couch and watched it, sharing our treats and sipping coffee as we recited every line from memory. Kim loved the idea of a small bookstore like that and cursed the male lead when he took over and closed her store.
“That’s why I don’t want to live in New York City,” I said. “I am all about the small businesses and not the chains taking over.” I took the last bite of cake.
We giggled and watched another movie about a cowboy in a small town a lot like ours who sweeps a new girl off her feet and saves her.
“Cowboys are so sexy,” Kim swooned as she reached for a handful of popcorn that I’d made in between movies.
“Did you know that Preston is still wearing that cowboy hat over in Singapore? Austin showed me a picture.”
She laughed at the idea. “An English cowboy. That’s new. You know, I saw Austin with his old hat on in town. There’s still a little cowboy under all that city boy yet.”
I’d noticed. I memorized every moment he slipped into the old Austin who I knew before he moved. I added them to the file in my head of memories from high school. We finished that movie, falling asleep on the couch as I reached for the blanket to cover us up.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Austin
It was gorgeous on Saturday. I’d be more excited about it if there weren’t several calls and messages from Mia on my phone by the time I was up for coffee. I left the phone in my room as I ate breakfast with my parents, enjoying the fruit salad that Mom prepared with the eggs and toast. She used to do that for me as a kid, but this had a lot more variety in it. I helped myself to a second serving. “Thanks, Mom, this is great,” I told her in too high of a voice.
She looked at me with concern in her eyes.
“Are you okay, son?” Dad asked.
I wiped my face with a napkin and nodded. My nerves were getting to me, and I needed to relax before the date today.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think that I had some trouble sleeping last night, and I feel kind of restless. I’ll relax.” I gave them both a reassuring smile.
“A date with a pretty woman will do that to a man,” my dad said softly, giving Mom a tender smile. “I think we should have one soon, don’t you? Maybe dinner at the steakhouse.”
“That sounds wonderful,” she said. “Everyone is always asking how you are, and they’d love to see you.”
I leaned back and watched them with a smile. The town really had pulled through for my family. I thought about Rebecca, North Reed, and New York all over again. Damn it, this was hard.
They went for a walk outside after breakfast, and I went to take a shower. There was another call from Mia, and I threw the phone down on the bed. What the hell did she want?
I took my time in the shower, washing off and enjoying the feel of the hot water on a cold day. I had some time before I picked up Rebecca, in my rental this time since she insisted that the limo was way too much for her.
I agreed to that part, but I was still out to impress her this time. I just wish that my former life would stop trying to get in the way.
I got out of the shower and used some of the product that Rebecca had given me to make my hair look perfectly messy. I shaved off the hair that had taken up residence on my chin over the last four days, annoyed at my laziness here. I was always shaved and ready for meetings in New York, even though I did let my hair go towards the end there. Girls seemed to like it, and it was the trend anyway. The only girl I wanted pulling on it now was Rebecca, and she did an excellent job cutting it for me. I went to some high-end places in New York, but nobody had her touch, looking back at my first day here in North Reed. She’d done an amazing job, even w
ith the surprise of seeing me after all these years.
She hit me like a truck that day, still looking so beautiful. Now I was in love with her all over again, or maybe I never stopped feeling that way at all. It filled me with so much peace and fear as I finished shaving and looked in the mirror. Was I good enough for her? I’d messed up in New York in a few ways, one of which I was paying for now with the unwanted attention from Mia.
Mom and Dad were home when I walked back out in my favorite jeans and a button up shirt that brought out my eyes. Today’s date was more of a casual thing than Dallas, and I’d told Rebecca to dress for comfort as well. I wasn’t going to impress her with money, as I tried before. I was trying a completely different method today.
“Don’t you look nice today?” Mom said from the kitchen as she admired me. “What do you have planned for Rebecca, Austin?”
Dad chuckled. I’d already discussed the idea with him. “Our son is going to try and woo that girl the best that he can, Sally. Don’t you worry.”
“I’m not, as long as he keeps the both of them here in town,” she told me pointedly. I shrugged and looked at the clock before getting my jacket.
“We shall see, Mom.” I gave her a hug and a kiss before telling Dad to spoil her tonight. Sliding on my jacket, I walked to the rental car with the thought that Rebecca probably hated that as well. She’d be happy if I drove a pickup and lived here in a small house, but would I be content doing that? Life had been so different for me since the old days here.
I walked out to my car and went to pick her up. Rebecca was dressed in her favorite worn jeans and a pretty teal sweater when she opened the door and smiled at me. Damn, she was beautiful.
“Hey, you,” she said.
“Hi, gorgeous. Ready to go?”