by Brynn Hale
She raises her head from her phone. “Hi, Breck.”
Tilly’s grip tightens on my hand and I squeeze it back. Grace is no threat to us, she knows this. Grace is a threat to my baby brother. My instincts are to bombard her with questions, but something has changed in me. I want to listen to her and understand her.
Weird.
“How long have you been back?”
“Not long.” Her gaze won’t meet mine.
“Have you seen Luke?”
She shakes her head almost imperceptibly.
I raise Tilly’s hand and kiss the back. “Can you give us a moment?”
“I’ll go start the truck and get it warmed up.” Tilly passes by Grace. “Welcome home, Grace.”
Grace smiles at her. “Nice to see you and… congratulations.”
Tilly chuckles. “Thanks.”
As soon as I hear the door to Tilly’s truck close—she insisted on driving and as long as we’re together I could care less who drives—I’m shaking my head trying to figure out where to start.
“Where’d you go?” I ask, not that it’s the most important thing. I hold up a hand. “First…” I step forward and wrap my arms around her. “Grace… we were worried about you. Glad you’re safe and back.”
Her body hiccups against me and I know she’s going to break if we don’t keep this much more business-like and with an apron in her hand, I’m sure she has places to be.
“Are you going to contact Luke?”
“I don’t know if I can…or should.”
“Yes, you should. And Grace, you can. If you could walk away after what you guys had, you have guts.”
“I didn’t walk. I ran.”
That was true, but I could see the fear and remorse in her eyes. I didn’t need to confirm the truth.
“I don’t need to know why, but I’m asking you to please text him. Just find a way to let him know that you’re okay.”
“Please don’t tell him I’m back. I’m not ready. I know he’s going to be mad.”
I step back. “He’s not mad. I know that fact like I know Peacock Ridge. Grace, I heard the man cry himself to sleep. He’s broken. You broke him.”
“I know. I don’t regret leaving, but I regret what it did to him. I didn’t think and I did it all wrong.”
“Do you want to be back with him?”
“Do you think he’ll have me?”
I actually didn’t think… I knew. But there was a tiny chance, miniscule chance that I could be wrong. Luke was so broken, so I wouldn’t guarantee her. Luke was known for being the most emotional of all of us, plus, the most untrusting and the most impetuous. He and Grace were very similar. I wondered if that was part of the issue.
“If he asks, I won’t lie,” I clarified.
“I don’t expect you to.”
“You look good. Healthy. And happy?”
“Yeah, put on a few pounds in the last year.” She sighed. “I’m not totally happy, but I feel like I know what happiness is now. I really want to be happy, Breck.”
“I hope you get your Christmas wish, Grace. Okay, I need to get back to…”
“This is new?” she asks.
“Very.”
“I’ve always thought Tilly was amazing. You know that she paints.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, I’ve seen some of her works. They’re… um, vivid.”
Her head tips. “I don’t know what that means but good luck, Breck.”
I give her temple a kiss as I pass by. “Good luck, Grace.”
I’ve always imagined that when the right person came into my life, I’d know who it was. My brother had thought that too. He was wrong. But maybe he wasn’t wrong about the love, just wrong about the timing.
I give Tilly a wave as I put my truck into gear and head off. We’re going to meet at the Snow Ball. I’ll have the most beautiful woman on my arm, and I can’t wait to hear Cole’s reaction.
I run a hand through my hair. I don’t know what he’s thinking about, but I see no surprises with this beautiful woman and if anything, I only see potential. A partner for life to go through the ups and downs. But I also used to see kids running around the ranch. I saw animals, dogs, cats, maybe a lizard or snake. I never got to have one when I was a kid because my mother was deathly afraid of slithering things, but my kids, I thought they’d have it all.
But there is my music and I want that, too. I want so much now.
I pick up my phone and dial to the chair of tonight’s event.
“Hello, Breck.”
“Hey, Ursula.”
“What’s my favorite Reeves guy up to today?”
“Just had lunch at the new restaurant inside what used to be Johnson’s Eats, Featherbone. It was great.”
“Yeah, we went there for dinner last night. I wasn’t impressed with the meatloaf, but Darren thought it was better than mine. Bastards,” she mumbles under her breath.
Never admit your lady’s food is less than someone else’s, Darren. Rookie move, bro.
“I was wondering if tonight, I might be able to get up on stage?”
“Sure! We’d love to have our soon-to-be nationally famous singer giving us something to swoon over.” She sucks in a quick breath. “Oh, I forgot, another singer is scheduled to go on, too. You okay with that?”
“The more the merrier as Mom used to say.”
“Great, then just meet up at about eight behind the stage curtain and you can work it out.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Anything for you, Breck.”
Cole will just have to understand that sometimes love is bigger than secrets. I know in my heart that Tilly is meant to be mine and I’m not going to wait to make her mine.
Tonight, I will be something that the whole town will remember. Especially Tilly.
TILLY
“Stupid dress! Stupid shoes! Stupid hair!” I readjust the fabric and it just bunches in another area. “I give up.”
And as soon as I stop acting like a two-year-old having a tantrum, the silky fabric hugs my curves and I can see it differently.
I examine myself. “Oh, that’s not bad.”
“Yes, like I said, darling, it’s the perfect dress for you.”
I continue allowing these two women in the neighboring town, Heraldsville, to poke and prod me like I’m some sort of alien at the Touch of Magic Boutique. Magic? My ass! More like torture chamber of ridiculous grandmas!
The shorter of the two, I think her name was Connie, stands back and her gaze darts to all corners and curves of my body. “I don’t know MaryJane, I think the red one would be better.”
“But Ellie is wearing the red one! This one skims her beautiful figure perfectly.”
I didn’t know about “perfectly”, but if this didn’t make Breck’s eyes pop out of his head like a cartoon character, I would owe these ladies a huge apology. I had said something that was “fancy.” They gave me fancy and then some.
“I’m not sure I can drive back to Peacock Ridge in this, ladies.”
“It has Lycra in it. It’s made to stretch, sweetie.” Connie pats my cheek. “Now for the last piece. You need…” She looks to MaryJane and MaryJane looks to me.
“Those new earrings!”
“Ladies, I don’t wear earrings,” I announce.
“These aren’t clip-ons or posts. They’re this new kind that don’t even sit on your earlobe. They wrap around your ear!”
I’m slightly intrigued by the apparatus that she pulls out of the display case. They pile my hair up on one side, pinning it creatively so that the bobby pins are hidden, and slip the, for better lack of a term, ear-cuff onto the upper portion of my ear and long lines of fake diamonds trail down my neck. They do the other side and I’m staring at myself in the mirror. I don’t recognize this person.
And I’m not sure I like it.
I don’t like it.
I need to say something now or regret will cover my evening.
My eyes start to well and Connie st
eps in front of me. “Oh, goodness, what have we done?” She pulls a tissue from her bra and dabs at the tears. “Sweetheart, what can we do? Have we overwhelmed you? Do you not like it?”
“It’s…it’s not me.”
MaryJane gasps dramatically, and I roll my eyes. They’ve overdone me. I wanted fancy, but this feels fake.
MaryJane scuttles off. She comes back and holds up a hanger and the outfit falls down. “What do you think?”
Connie clasps her hands together. “Oh, MaryJane, it’s perfect. Wait, Tilly? What do you think?”
I smile. “It’s perfect.”
I’m back at the truck after putting my case inside the auditorium. I have yet to see Breck. He said be there at 7:45 p.m. which is right before I need to be. I’m not nervous. Well, not to see him. I’m excited and almost giddy.
Ursula Whitcomb saunters over to me as I sip on my tequila sunrise. “Tilly, you look beautiful. Just beautiful.”
“Just a little magic, Urs.”
She laughs. “Honey, we all need that.” She glances around the room. “I love seeing everyone enjoying themselves. Are you excited for the evening?”
I inhale a deep breath. “I am.”
She glances to her phone. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that Breck Reeves is going to be singing tonight. He called and asked me. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
My stomach crashes. I certainly don’t mind, but to follow him would make me look like a fool. He’s a professional singer. I’m just trying to give the people something special for the evening. I’m good, don’t get me wrong. But Breck…he’s…
My mouth drops open. I point at the stage.
Ursula lets out a whoop and the crowd joins in. “I guess he decided to just go on.”
I stand frozen. He looks effortless in the spotlight. His cool exterior radiating his confidence. His gaze searches the crowd and he finds me.
My body shivers under his laser focus.
“Tilly, sweetheart, join me?”
My mouth turns into cotton and my head spins.
“I think he’s asking for you.” Ursula gets closer. “Maybe you should go…”
I take off toward the stage. All eyes are on us. The silky black suit I’m wearing moves with me, the lapel decorated with rhinestones in a swirling pattern throws sparkling patterns into the air. My hair is still pulled up on one side, but the dangling ear-cuff is replaced by a silver and rhinestone hair comb that has a trail of rhinestones falling into my hair. And the shoes…black velvet flats.
Comfortable and me. Thank God.
He reaches out, his suit jacket pulling up and showing his cuff-linked white shirt sleeves. “Hey, you.”
“Hey.”
“Is this new?” he asks away from the mic. I nod. “Good choice. It’s you.”
“Definitely.” I get closer and whisper in his ear. “I was supposed to sing tonight.”
He pulls back quickly. “Really?”
I nod. “I was trying to be the person I want to be. People in the area don’t always like me. I hate that I know they talk about me at coffee. I want to show them I’m human. That I’m a part of the community.”
He wraps an arm around me, adjusting his guitar. “You don’t have to convince me.”
But there’s more I need to tell him.
“You want to sing?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, you’re the professional.”
“Sing with me…” He brushes his hand down my arm and laces his fingers with mine.
I glance to the crowd and they’re all staring.
My voice. I need to have a voice.
“Okay. Yeah, I’ll do it.”
“What do you want to sing?”
This might be the harder part. I run through every duet that I can think of.
“Maybe Don’t You Wanna Stay?”
“Jason Aldean?”
“And Kelly Clarkson.”
“Right.”
He turns back to the mic. “Ladies and gentlemen, a special musical treat for you. This is Ms. Tilly Warren, and I’m Breck Reeves, for those of you who don’t know. Tilly protects those who don’t have a voice. She finds a way to explain how we can live with those rascally vermin that we want to just leave us alone. This beautiful woman is special. And we’re going to sing you a song to make your Snow Ball a little more special.”
He starts out with a few chords and notes and then digs right into the lyrics and they seem to float from him. I take a deep breath and jump in, my voice surprising me. It’s clear and crisp, like a day after a night’s snow.
The room is quiet. People look like statues.
I’m belting it out and he’s right there to meet me. Our voices blending into one and sending a shiver of what this night will be down my spine.
The last nights bellow out into the hall as he strikes the final chords on his guitar, lingering the final chord into the air and then picking the final few tinkling notes as it fades away.
The crowd erupts in cheers. He wraps an arm around me and draws me close.
I look up at him. “That was amazing.”
“You have a beautiful voice, Tilly.” His lips claim mine and I sink into the moment. His lips part from mine and they brush my ear while the guests still roars. “I love you, Tilly Mae Warren.”
I stand on my tiptoes and whisper back to him, “I love you, more, Breck Carson Reeves.”
And with that. He slips his hand into mine. “Let’s go…”
Yes, let’s go…
Breck
I follow her back to her place. We could go to the ranch and use one of the cabins, but I have a feeling Cole and Ellie are going to do that. I saw them leave the hall while we were singing. I also saw Luke and Grace and although I wasn’t sure what was happening, it didn’t look like they were fighting. I was hopeful.
I pull into her driveway and something catches my eye. What the…
I look into the backseat.
Shit. If you cockblock me, dog…I swear, no treats for you!
It’s partially my fault. I left the door open while I put my guitar into the truck.
Tilly comes along side of the truck. “Is that Roscoe?”
“He must have snuck into the truck. Do you want me to take him home? Or we can go out to the cabin.”
“Can’t…Bella. Well, no better time to see if they get along.”
“Um…I don’t know how to tell you this.”
“What?” She opens the back door and Roscoe runs to the front door, sitting and waiting.
“He’s not fixed.”
She crosses her arms. “Are you kidding me?”
“No.”
“Why not? You do know the importance of fixing your animals to stop the procreation of unwanted animals, right? Controlling the pet population so that we don’t end up with strays and the damage they can do to the environment. I swear Cole told me that he was fixed.”
“I made the appointment and then Doc Roberts, the original one, had his gallbladder attack and I never rescheduled.”
“She’s wearing a diaper, maybe he’ll leave her alone.”
Right. Sure, that’s gonna happen.
“If you think so.”
“We can put her into my office. She doesn’t mind being in there.”
“That would work.”
We let them get acquainted and let them outside to go to the bathroom, watching carefully for any interest by Roscoe or Bella in mating and they seem to have no interest.
“I guess that was less to worry about than we figured.”
“Kinda reminds me of you and me,” Tilly says as she lets them in the sliding door.
“You know, Tilly, I think I was respecting Cole by not understanding my feelings for you. I thought… I thought that maybe you two were a thing.”
She stills. “No…a long time ago, he saved me and helped me become…me.” She tells me a story of how he saved her at camp and then was there for her after. My brother was protecting her. I know he’ll still be u
pset that I went against his wishes, but hopefully he will understand. And when it comes to her secret, I’m wondering if he didn’t understand and thought she couldn’t have sex. Sex is important, but intimacy and connection are so much more important to me. And with Tilly I feel those like an intense summer storm, but I know this won’t pass. It’s here to stay.
“I guess he was trying to protect you still.”
“I don’t need to be protected from you. I need to be loved by you, Breck.”
I step close to her. “We don’t have to do anything, sweetheart. Just to sleep with you in my arms will be enough.” My short whiskers brush her forehead and I hug her tight.
She steps back and flicks the button on her jacket, allowing the slick fabric to fall from her shoulders into a black puddle on the floor. The black lace bra underneath awaits me. She reaches to her hip and the sound of the teeth of a zipper clicking hits my ears. She slips the fabric over her hips, then turns so I can see the fabric skim her round butt cheeks. A matching thong to the bra magically disappears between her round cheeks and I can’t wait to tug it down her legs.
“Fuck…that’s beautiful.”
“I want to make love, Breck. We just have to go slow. Be careful.”
“Sweetheart, if you tell me anything hurts, I will stop. I don’t care what’s happening. I will do anything to make sure this is pleasurable and a memorable experience for you.” But then it hits me. “Shit. I don’t have a condom.”
She laughs. “Not really needed.”
I’ve never gone without protection, with anyone. I shiver thinking about it.
I consider her comment for a moment. “Oh, that’s true. And I’m clean. I haven’t been with anyone for almost a year.”
She looks back at me as she starts down the hallway. “Your trip to NYC?”
“Yeah. I got tested after. Clean.”
“What ever happened with that manager?”
I’d talked to a production company, an agent, and a manager, but it seemed what I was offering wasn’t what they wanted. Life moves on.
“Nothing. He dropped off the face of the earth.”
“That’s too bad. I know everyone was rooting for you.”