by R. Linda
Chapter Two
Harper
I should have gone over and said hello to Nate and welcomed Indie home, but I was too stunned to see them there. In our diner, of all places. Instead, I ducked my head and pretended not to notice them. It would have been too awkward. I had been avoiding Nate Kellerman for three months. He walked into a room, I walked out. But tonight I was going to be crammed into a small cottage with no escape.
I pulled my car to the side of the road just around the corner from “The Love Shack.” I laughed at the name, thinking it was genius. But I couldn’t have imagined Nate would be too impressed about his sister moving into a house that sounded like a place where sex parties happened. I got out of the car, slammed the door, and jogged up the dirt track—because it wasn’t really a road, it was gravel, and not much of it—toward the shack. Indie wouldn’t have recognised my car, but I thought it was best to hide it with everyone else’s so it didn’t ruin Linc’s surprise.
I opened the gate of the little picket fence the guys spent last weekend building and let myself in the back door. The only access to the house was through the back. The front had a wraparound porch that led straight onto the beach—perfect for Linc, since he was basically a fish.
“Surprise!” everyone called as I walked into the kitchen, followed by a chorus of groans.
“Sorry. Sorry.” I held my hands up in apology as I approached Nate and Indie’s mother. “Need help with anything?”
She had been helping Kenzie and Nate set up all day while I worked, and the woman looked flustered and tired. Her husband was in the living room with Ryder and Brody, having a beer.
“I’m okay, dear. You just go in there and relax.” She smiled at me.
I glanced into the small living room and was relieved to see Bailey and Kenzie on the sofa, while Ryder was standing over by the huge window that overlooked the beach with Nate and Indie’s dad, and Brody.
“Grab a glass and sit down.” Kenzie waved the bottle of wine she and Bailey were sharing in my direction.
Brody looked up at the sound of Kenzie’s voice and smiled and gave me a small wave. He must have excused himself from whatever conversation he was having because he was suddenly walking in my direction.
“Harper! Hey, how’s it going?” The grin on his face was too keen. Too eager. He still held a flame that I didn’t. We’d dated a few years ago when I was just starting out in university, but it didn’t stick. We just weren’t right. As awesome as he was, we didn’t mesh well together. Besides, I had too much going on with my family to make any relationship work. I had the feeling, though, that he still held on to some residual feelings that weren’t going to go away until he moved on. Kind of ironic, since he was the one who left me because I couldn’t commit.
But whatever.
“Hey. Good. You?” Small talk was so damn awkward, I didn’t know where to begin.
“Can’t complain. Though I wish I lived somewhere else sometimes.” He chuckled into his fist.
“Oh, really? Why?” This had me interested. Brody was the most easy-going, carefree roommate a person could want. And living with Nate should have been a breeze. The fact he couldn’t handle me or my issues was a huge testament to his self-control. I knew he tried to make it work as much as I did, but it simply didn’t. I couldn’t deal with relationship issues on top of my family issues.
“Nate.” He shrugged.
“Nate?” My voice was coarse, hesitant. I didn’t know how to react. Calm. Cool. Collected. Or pissed off. Why the hell was Nate making things difficult?
Why was Nate, of all people, making my ex-boyfriend wish he lived somewhere else?
“Yeah…Nate. The girls, the late nights. You know how it goes,” he said. “The life of a single man.” He laughed.
“Girls?” was all I managed to choke out, my breath getting caught in my throat.
Girls. Single. Available. As in…every other girl but me.
I was single. Available. Ready to mingle, with and without the one person I wanted to mingle with. It was wrong. I knew it. Nate knew it. But there was nothing I could do about it.
“Heartbreak, he reckons. Personally, I just think he likes getting laid.”
I couldn’t argue there. Not after Fiji and Nate’s parents’ wedding. One night was all it took to hook me. To have me thinking, dreaming, imagining his smooth, lean, tanned body moving against mine. One night made me so crazy with desire that I couldn’t stop myself. I knew it was wrong. Nate was Brody’s cousin. Brody, my ex-boyfriend. Our fling broke all the rules, and for the first three months, it was unstoppable, until Linc told me to walk away. It wasn’t worth hurting Brody over, and he was right. Brody still didn’t know, and for that, I was grateful, because I doubted he’d be standing here talking to me otherwise.
But it still stung to hear Nate had been having the time of his life while I was stagnant. Going through the motions but not really living. I’d lost my spark and zest for life years ago. A poor excuse for a family had that effect on a person. Brody brought me back to life for a little while, but I was too lost, and I knew I’d only drag Brody down with me, so I distanced myself from him, and when it got too much, when family detonated around me, I ran. Brody broke up with me, and we never saw or spoke to each other again until the Kellermans renewed their vows six months ago.
Not knowing what else to say, I smiled and said, “Well, it’s good to see you.” We hadn’t really seen a lot of each other since he moved back to town, with both of us always working and me trying to finish my nursing degree.
Brody’s face lit up. “You too.”
“Harper!” Kenzie called again, saving me from any more awkwardness with Brody. If we had to make much more small talk, I was sure I’d blurt out that I had been sleeping with his cousin.
“I better go over there.” I nodded in the direction of the still waving wine bottle.
“Ah, sure. Right.” Brody turned and walked back to Ryder, leaving me standing there stupidly for a moment before Bailey shuffled over and made room for me on the sofa.
“Is it weird?” Bailey asked.
“Is what weird?” I watched Kenzie pour a generous amount of wine into a glass that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
“Having Brody back in town. He’s going to always be around now.”
I looked over at Brody, who had just answered a phone call. Yes, it was weird, but not for the reasons she expected, obviously.
“No, not all. We can be friends. We dated. We broke up. It was a long time ago.” I reached for the glass in Kenzie’s hand and gulped half of it down. She quirked one eyebrow at me and smirked, while Bailey scrutinised my face, assessing my reaction. I didn’t have a poker face; I gave away everything with one look.
“You’re hiding something.” Kenzie pointed with the hand holding her wineglass.
“Nope.” I looked away, searching for anything that could be a distraction, a way to change the subject and to avoid Kenzie’s third degree. It wasn’t that I was hiding things from her. I was hiding things from Brody, and I couldn’t risk him finding out. They were all so close, and I was still very much the outsider. Someone was bound to open their mouth and tell him.
“Guys, sorry, I gotta go. They’re short at work, and I need to cover the shift,” Brody said, pocketing his phone and grabbing his jacket. “I’ll see Indie tomorrow, I guess.” He said goodbye and walked out the door.
I breathed a sigh of relief. With Brody not here, Kenzie would ease up on the inquisition. She was too intuitive for her own good sometimes, always watching and analysing. She saw things most people failed to see, just like her brother, Ryder. There was no hiding anything from them.
“Definitely hiding something. You have shifty eyes.”
“You have had too much wine.” I pushed her hand away from my face before she stabbed me in the eye with a violet polished fingernail.
“Nathaniel! Really? Sneaking in here quietly like that. I thought it was Indiana.” Mrs. K’s voice provided the
distraction I both needed and didn’t want. All our attention turned to the kitchen where Nate was apologising to his mother for sneaking up on her while trying to reach around her to swipe some of the frosting from the “Welcome Home, Indie” cake on the counter.
“They’ll be here in two minutes. We left the diner at the same time,” Nate announced, giving me a pointed look. He had seen me rush past without stopping. I swallowed more wine, a lump suddenly forming in my throat.
“Oh, good. Get ready, everybody.” Mrs. K clapped her hands then threw them in the air. “Nate, quick, I forgot the banner.” She darted around the other side of the counter and pulled a tube out of a bag and handed it to Nate. “Hang this right there.” She pointed to the exposed timber beam that divided the kitchen from the living room. “So Indie can see it as soon as she walks in.”
Nate unrolled the banner, his eyebrows pinched together and his jaw set in a firm line. “No. I’m not hanging that.”
“You will do as you’re told,” his mum scolded, holding out the tape.
“I’m not hanging a banner that says ‘Welcome to The Love Shack!’ Why couldn’t he just get one that says ‘Welcome Home’ like a normal person would?” He shook his head slowly and rolled the banner back up.
“Well, I think it’s lovely,” his mother argued and waved her hand at the beam again.
“Only because it’s Linc.” He held the banner out for her to take. “Still not hanging it.”
“Fine,” Mrs. K huffed and snatched it from him. “Ryder, be a dear and hang this for me.”
“Sure.” Ryder grinned and elbowed Nate as he walked past him. “Just here?”
Nate growled and stomped away, muttering something about stupid shacks and his sister.
Ryder hung the banner with an amused expression on his face and stood back, biting his bottom lip. “Looks great. What do you think, Nate?”
Nate took a deep breath. “I think—”
Headlights shone through the kitchen window, silencing Nate and alerting everyone to Indie and Linc’s return.
We all stood and gathered under the garishly bright and tacky love shack banner while Nate hung in the background. I glanced over my shoulder—I shouldn’t have, but I just couldn’t help it—and he was looking right at me. His blue eyes, unblinking, sent shivers down my spine as I took him in. He had this whole James Dean thing going for him now—blue jeans, white t-shirt with the sleeves folded up, short hair slicked back. I liked it. Too much.
“Can’t I just wait in the car? It’s been a long day. I don’t want to—” Indie’s voice was muffled from the other side of the back door.
“Two minutes, Ace,” Linc said.
The door creaked as he opened it. I turned back around, removing my gaze from Nate’s before I did something stupid like kiss him.
“You can’t just walk into someone’s house, Linc! Oh, my god. I’m waiting outside. This is so embarrassing. I don’t know these people, and what if—”
Linc dragged her through the door, cutting off any further argument.
“Surprise!” everyone cheered. Someone whistled. Kenzie, I thought. Someone else threw streamers, and Mrs. K lunged for a stunned Indie.
“Welcome home, precious.” She hugged her tight before stepping back and hugging Linc as well.
“I don’t understand,” Indie said with a wide yet confused smile on her face.
“It’s your welcome home party, sweetheart,” Indie’s dad said, stepping forward to wrap her in his arms then turning to Linc and holding out a hand to shake.
“But?” She looked at each of us in turn before setting her sight on the banner above our heads. “The Love Shack?” She snorted. I pressed my lips together to stop from laughing at her reaction. “Who would name their house The Love Shack?”
“We would, Ace.” Linc wrapped an arm around her waist.
“We would?” She turned in his arms and tilted her head back to look at him, her nose scrunched in confusion. “What?”
“Welcome home, princess.”
“Welcome home?”
“Are you going to repeat everything I say?”
“Repeat everything you say? Umm…” She looked back at us then up at the banner, a dazed expression on her face.
Linc chuckled and repeated, “Welcome home.”
“Home. Our home?” she asked slowly.
Linc leaned in. “Surprise.”
Indie looked back at the sign. Her mouth spread into a wide grin. “Oh, my fu—” Mr. K cleared his throat, cutting off Indie’s curse. “Fudging god. We have a house!” She jumped on Linc, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, and kissed him. Hard.
It was uncomfortable to see. I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt to avoid watching their open display of affection. Nate stepped in behind me, and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled with awareness.
“All right, get a room, you two,” he called before changing his mind. “Actually, no. Don’t. No rooms. At all.” Linc and Indie pulled apart. Linc had the decency to at least look as though he was sorry for practically mauling Indie in front of her family and friends, though I suspected he didn’t care.
But Indie just grinned as she detangled herself from Linc, “We don’t need a room, we have a whole freaking house!”
“Welcome home. All of you,” Mrs. K said with a watery smile before turning away to make herself busy in the kitchen, her husband following close behind.
“Mum?”
“I’m okay. I’m just…” Mrs. K sniffled. “So happy to have you back.”
“You sure?” Indie frowned, moving toward her mum, only to be held back by Nate.
“She’s okay, In,” he reassured her.
“Okay.” Her voice was hesitant, and I thought I understood why. In the whole time I’d know the Kellermans, they’d never seemed overly emotional. They were posh and well spoken, perfectly presented at all times. They loved their children, that much was obvious, but they weren’t big on displaying it.
Indie walked back to Linc. “Show me around?”
“Come on.” He grabbed her hips and pushed her from the room, laughing as she twisted around and spoke in his ear.
“Glad to be home?” I asked Bailey, trying to ignore the fact that Nate was standing just behind her, but I couldn’t. Not when I could feel his eyes on me. I ran a hand through my hair.
Do not look at him.
“Yes. I’ve missed this place so much.”
I gulped down the last of my wine. “Really?” She missed Blackhill? The small seaside town with a population of barely two thousand people? There was nothing here.
I handed Kenzie my empty wineglass.
Do not look at him.
“This is where our family is,” she replied, looking over her shoulder at Ryder. He caught her staring and winked before turning his attention back to his conversation with Nate.
I looked. I caved. I was weak. But I already knew that.
Indie’s squeal of delight echoed through the cottage, causing everyone to turn in the direction it came from. Everyone but Nate and me. We were locked in a staring contest.
“Guess he showed her his hard—” Ryder grumbled as Nate, jaw clenched and still watching me, shot an elbow into his side in warning. “Work, finishing the studio.” Ryder hissed out a laugh, holding his side.
He enjoyed tormenting Nate whenever they were together.
“Cake,” Nate muttered. “Where’s the damn cake?”
Cake? He looked away, and I sagged slightly, taking a deep breath.
“Nathaniel!”
“Sorry, Mum.”
“Go and get your sister, and I’ll get the cake.”
“Ahh.” Nate rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, his biceps flexing from the movement, drawing my eyes right back to the one person in the room I shouldn’t have been drawn to.
Well, actually, that was a lie. There was no one in that house I should have been attracted to, enticed by. Why couldn’t I meet someone wh
o was not related to or friends with my ex-boyfriend?
“I don’t really want to do that.” Nate looked down the hall in disgust. “I wouldn’t want to…actually, no! I will go and get her. It’s her party. She should be out here with her guests.” He sounded like he was giving himself a pep talk, like he had to convince himself to walk down that hallway and bring his sister back out, regardless of what she was or wasn’t doing with Linc.
“Come on, you big baby.” Kenzie grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down the hall in a show of moral support.
My heart lurched. It was stupid. Kenzie touching him meant nothing, but still I couldn’t stop my heart from sputtering in my chest as they walked into the dark hall together.
Stupid emotions.
Chapter Three
Nate
“Brody! Oh, my god! You’re here too.” Indie climbed onto the seat, jumped over Linc, and rushed for our cousin. We were back in the diner, the same one from the night before. Brody wanted to surprise Indie, so there we were in the booth at the back of the empty diner once again. But I wasn’t complaining, because those burgers…
“Of course. Where else would I be?” Brody hugged her.
“Umm, at work or, you know, your home, maybe?” She climbed back over Linc and situated herself in the corner again.
“Didn’t Nate tell you?” Brody pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Tell me what?” Indie glared at me.
“That I moved back to Blackhill?” Brody looked at me, and I shrugged.
Truth be told, I didn’t tell Indie. And it wasn’t because I didn’t want her to know, but because I avoided all topics regarding Brody at all times. Hell, I avoided him as much as possible too. Not because I didn’t like the guy. I did. We grew up together, and he was as much my best mate as Linc was. I avoided him because the guilt was too much to bear. Every time I looked at him, I felt terrible. So I tried to steer clear of all things Brody related. He hadn’t noticed because he worked insane hours as a paramedic, or if he had, he’d not mentioned it to me yet.