Begin Again (Home In You Book 2)

by Crystal Walton

  He ran his tongue along the corner of his mouth. “We’ll see.”

  With her brow raised in challenge, she pushed her hair off her forehead with her wrist. “We sure will.”

  Man, she was seriously going to demolish his pride before it was all said and done.

  His laughter slowly transitioned to a pang of sobriety. “I’m really sorry for earlier. For these last few days, actually. I haven’t been fair to you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You were shooting it straight, just like I asked.”

  A trail of self-consciousness crawled up his cheeks. He’d been far from straight with her. Or with himself, for that matter. His heart rate elevated.

  He trained his gaze on the wall, like he’d morphed into a building code inspector. What was he, twelve? What was his problem? Swallowing, he faced her again. “Ti, I—”

  “There you guys are.” Cooper rounded the corner in flip-flops, a pair of board shorts, and an O’Neill T-shirt. “Figured you’d be ready for a night out after working all day. Beach party starts at nine, so that leaves us . . .” He checked his phone. “Four hours to hit up the festival first. You game?”

  Ti had to be tired after the hard work she’d put in today, but her eyes couldn’t hide the lure of a party. “As long as I can shower first.”

  Cooper’s dimples sank around his smile. “I’m sure we can make that happen.”

  Oh, brother. That was Drew’s cue to leave. Restraining an eye roll, he backed away. “Have fun.”

  “You’re not coming?” Ti looked surprised.

  Unlike Cooper. “C’mon, hoss. Have fun for a change, and drop the ‘I have business to take care of’ excuse.”

  Better than the business Cooper obviously had planned tonight.

  Drew cut off the thought. That wasn’t fair. Ti deserved to have a good time, and Coop was the guy to show it to her. Besides, Drew already had a dinner date.

  Chapter Seven

  Secrets

  Ti met Cooper outside the trailer in an off-the-shoulder blue romper, silver Gladiator sandals, and a matching silver fringe necklace.

  His eyes shimmered compliments over her.

  She ran a glance down his low-hanging jeans and white T-shirt against his tan body. “Not bad yourself. How many girls you planning to pick up tonight with the casual model look you’re rocking?”

  Cooper laughed. “Now, what makes you think I’m like that?”

  “If you’re trying to keep it a secret, you might want to tell those dimples and scruffy jaw to play along.”

  His boyish grin obviously couldn’t be tamed. “I might just be a chivalrous guy, wanting to show the new girl in town around without any ulterior motives.” He hooked an arm out for her to hold. “Worth taking a chance, right?”

  He had her there. Ti took his arm as he led them around the side of the house.

  From the screen door, a Jack Russell barked with the chutzpah of a pit bull.

  “Easy, Jasper,” Drew said as he approached the door. One catch of Ti’s gaze, and he backed out of view with the dog.

  For the hundredth time today, the look in his eyes melted over her. The man had more depth than she could uncover. Maybe she shouldn’t stay in Ocracoke to try, but fleeing was what’d landed her here to begin with. She couldn’t keep running away when things got difficult.

  “Don’t let him get to you.”

  “Hmm?” Ti faced Cooper as they walked.

  “Drew. He doesn’t mean to come off as hard as he does sometimes.” Cooper ran his fingers through his sandy blond hair the way his brother often did. “He’s carting around some hefty baggage.”

  Ti stared at her sandals and twisted the bangles lining her wrist. “Aren’t we all?”

  “Some more than others.”

  If he only knew.

  She peered back at the house. Drew deserved a good future, despite what his past held. She’d almost left earlier today. But whether he wanted her around or not, she needed to see this through. For him and Maddie both.

  Hollers rang from a few blocks up the road. “If you try that nonsense again, Miss Allen, you’re out. You understand me?”

  Ti and Cooper traded a quick glance and hustled over.

  A white-haired man in starched dress clothes stood outside the hotel Livy worked at, ranting at her. Must be her landlord-slash-boss, Mr. Fiazza. Didn’t matter who he was. The fact that he was giving her friend the third degree was all Ti needed to know.

  She charged straight for him, but Grandma Jo beat her to it. Where’d she come from?

  “Now you listen, here, Stan.” Ms. Spunk marched him backward. “There’s no need for you to take your grumpiness out on Livy. Why don’t you loosen that tie you bought for prom and go back in to entertain your guests?”

  Ti’s laugh tumbled past the hand she clamped over her mouth. The old geezer speared a look at her, but a clamor behind them drew all their gazes to the hotel’s side door. A staff worker dumped a wooden pallet onto a stack beside the dumpster. He turned, froze at everyone looking at him, and ducked back inside.

  Good call.

  Stan’s dark brown eyes returned to Grandma Jo and challenged her back a step. “You’d do good to mind your own business, Jolene. This is between me and a noncompliant employee.”

  “Hogwash.” She waved off his power trip. “If you weren’t wound up so tightly, you’d see your lack of people skills is the problem, not Livy. Never have known how to treat a girl,” she said with a huff.

  Stan shuffled a foot closer, jaw retracting. “And maybe if you weren’t busy driving me crazy all the time, you’d acknowledge my people skills run a very successful business.”

  The inch separating them brimmed with a current Ti could feel ten feet away. Those were sparks if she’d ever seen any. The kind that’d been charging for years. Decades, even.

  Filing that tidbit away for later, Ti gently eased toward Livy and tiptoed away with her.

  “Thanks for the intervention.” Livy untied her apron. “That man’s a total prat.”

  And yet she kept working for him. Was she that tight on money? It didn’t add up. Ti peeked behind her. With his attention still locked on Grandma Jo, Mr. Fiazza didn’t even notice they’d left. “He wasn’t ranting about me staying with you the other night, was he?”

  Ti grabbed her friend’s arm when she didn’t answer. “Liv?”

  She bit her lip. “I told you he’d freak if he found out.”

  Cooper caught up to them. “It’s not your fault. Marcus probably ratted Livy out to his dad because of something he got peeved at Drew over.”

  “Hold up a sec. Mr. Fiazza is Marcus’s dad?” Ti tapped a knuckle to her forehead. Comprehension settled, guilt on its tail. More like Marcus had gotten peeved at her. She wouldn’t have hurled an insult at him the other day if she’d known it’d backfire on Livy. “Um, I think I might’ve caused this.”

  “No, trust me.” Cooper lounged an arm across Livy’s shoulders as they entered the festival. “It’s always about Drew.”

  “What’s the deal between them?”

  “Family rivalry junk.” Cooper steered them toward a stand selling cold drinks. “But after Drew out surfed Marcus in every competition growing up, let’s just say it got personal. Marcus even opened his own gift shop just to take away from our business.”

  “Wait, back up. You’re telling me Drew’s a surfer? The guy who rails me for being spontaneous?” Seriously?

  Livy shooed away a horsefly. “There’s a lot more to Drew than he lets on.”

  “Tell me about it,” Ti mumbled. There was a lot more to this little town, too. Maybe her visit would keep her secrets hidden more easily than she thought.

  Or tangle her deeper into new ones.

  Cooper handed each of the girls a drink while peering toward an Italian businessman across the crowd. “Excuse me for a moment, ladies.”

  Livy took a sip of her lemonade. “And there he goes.”

  “To ask that guy his suit measureme
nts?”

  “To mingle with the life he lost.” Livy swirled her straw around her cup. “He had a big corporate job in Nags Head. Moved back home about a year ago when he got laid off.”

  “A year ago, huh?” Ti followed Livy’s line of sight toward Cooper talking with Guido, looking as smooth as an executive bagging a deal. And the curious world of Ocracoke just keeps getting more intriguing.

  Livy nudged Ti with her shoulder. “So . . . ?”

  “So, what?”

  “You’re gonna make me pry it out of you? You and Drew. You two have enough sparks shooting between you to start your own welding company. Give me the deets. Are you two hooking up?”

  Sweet tea ran down Ti’s chin. “Hook up with Family Man?” She had to be joking. Drew was anything but the hooking up type. “Sorry. I don’t date hopeless romantics.”

  “Who said he was?”

  “Are you kidding me? If he stares into the horizon for a long-lost love for much longer, a message in a bottle is going to float to shore.”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “It doesn’t matter. The guy’s marriage material.”

  Livy stopped her by the elbow. “Is that so bad?”

  “Not for someone like you. C’mon, Liv. This is me we’re talking about here. You do remember Murray, right?”

  Her lip curled. “Hard to forget a guy who treats women like used laundry.”

  “Exactly why we worked.”

  “Do you even hear yourself right now?”

  Ti turned to the closest booth and nearest form of distraction. She fingered through a stack of canvas prints.

  Drew had every right to be a hopeless romantic and miss the wife he loved. What man wouldn’t? The poor guy’s fairy tale had gotten cut short. Ti wasn’t about to put him through any more heartache. “Drew’s dealing with a lot right now. I don’t want to add to his hurts.”

  “No one said you would.”

  Now, who wasn’t listening to herself?

  They passed a guy with a shaved head and black T-shirt leaning against the side of a booth while scoping out the scene. If his tattoo sleeves and unshaven jaw hadn’t screamed he was Ti’s type from a distance, the suggestive eyebrow he’d just shot her way confirmed it.

  Walking backward, Ti resisted the default instinct drawing her to the sultry grin fading in the crowd. She’d been down that same road a hundred times. Same guy, different faces. What if there was more for her?

  Livy dragged Ti on by the wrist, as if reading her thoughts.

  A little ways down, a florescent orange flyer on one of the vendor’s stands practically reached out and tripped her. She had to have misread that. She snagged a copy and scanned it over. “A surf competition’s coming here? To Ocracoke?”

  Livy peeked over Ti’s shoulder at the flyer. “Yep. In less than a month, this place will be packed.”

  That could be great for business. Ideas ignited. It’d only give Ti a few weeks to prep, but she could pull it off. If Marcus wanted a fight, she’d bring him one. “You know what? I’m gonna skip the party this time. I have some things I need to work on.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, you go ahead with Cooper.” Ti pecked Livy on the cheek. “I’ll come another night. Promise.” Right now, she had a competition of her own to plan.

  Drew propped his surfboard against the back of the house, unhooked the strap from his ankle, and glanced up at a light on in Cooper’s trailer. Back already? Then again, he wasn’t surprised. Coop never failed at his agenda.

  Pangs Drew had no business feeling lurched to the surface. Stomping them back down, he faced the stars and soaked in the night’s breeze rushing over his wet skin. He’d needed the ocean tonight. But as usual, he came back empty-handed.

  He entered the kitchen through the back door.

  Grandma Jo set a mug in the drain rack and offered him the same steady smile he’d leaned on for years. “Conquer any demons this time?”

  Drew tugged his ear. “There’s always tomorrow.” He went to grab some cash from his jacket on the coat rack. He’d only been gone an hour since tucking Maddie in for the night, but Grandma Jo had watched her most of the day.

  She stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Are we really going to do this same dance every time I babysit? It’s been ten years.”

  “I don’t ever want you to think I take you for granted or assume—”

  “That I love that little munchkin like my own grandbaby? That’s one assumption you’re more than welcome to make, young man.”

  Drew dipped his chin in concession. “How’d she do tonight?”

  “Perfect. The spaghetti dinner you two had must’ve knocked her out. She hasn’t stirred an inch since you left.”

  “Good.” He breathed a sigh on his way to check on her.

  “And Drew?”

  He peered behind him to a sage-like expression.

  “Those answers you go seeking in the waves . . . You might want to start thinking about what happens when you find them.” Grandma Jo slipped outside, leaving him with something else he didn’t want to deal with right now.

  Better for her to be evasive than to dive into her usual rant about divine providence. If God had a hand in things, He would’ve offered more than a decade of silence. Drew wasn’t looking for the answers she thought he was.

  Upstairs in Maddie’s bedroom, he swept his girl’s bangs to the side and pressed a light kiss to her head. Jasper yawned, stretched his paws in opposite directions, and burrowed under her armpit. One thing was for sure. Maddie never had to question whether she was loved.

  What he’d give for that to be enough.

  Drew ruffled the dog’s ears and turned to leave, but a catalog on the nightstand caught his attention. He flipped to a page flagged with a bright pink sticky note. Boots. Just like the ones she’d seen Ti wearing.

  His arm drifted to his side, his heart a mirror of the tangled spool of yarn Grandma Jo must’ve left behind. How could he expect anything less?

  He set the yarn over the catalog, crossed the room, and stopped in the doorway to peer back at Maddie one more time. The steady heartbeat on her neck sent concerns about her illness colliding with the need to protect her.

  Drew eased the door shut and lowered his forehead against it. He was supposed to be stronger than this. Strong enough to focus and provide for her. To get himself together and keep Ti from dismantling the safeguards he’d erected for a reason. Maddie didn’t need to cling to hope that’d disappoint her. Not again.

  In the bathroom, he turned the shower all the way to cold, but thoughts of Annie burned from somewhere he couldn’t reach. Where embers should have died a long time ago.

  Drew balled the washcloth into a wad, hating that he’d allowed old frustrations to resurface. He’d shut them out for good. Moved on. But the tighter he wrung the cloth, the faster locked-up emotions unraveled.

  He chucked the washcloth against the shower wall and rinsed the salt and sand from his hair. Water streamed down his skin until unanswered questions drained into a pool of regret for ever giving Annie control of his heart. At least the scar she left behind promised one thing.

  He’d never make the same mistake again.

  Chapter Eight

  Challenge

  In Grandma Jo’s backyard, Ti waved away a mosquito with her camera and scooted to the shady end of the picnic bench to block the sun. After being here nearly a week, she should’ve built up a base layer for a tan by now.

  She’d certainly built up a thick skin being around Jekyll and Hyde the last few days. All business, Drew’d shut her out again. Probably thought she’d sweet-talked her way into crossing his rigid work boundaries by coming to the cookout. Ha. If Grandma Jo had given her an option, Ti would’ve gladly passed on being the fifth wheel.

  A commotion from behind the picnic table lured Ti around and stole her focus. She zoomed in on a shot of Maddie dribbling a basketball. No surprise, the girl had mad coordination to match her grace and style.
/>
  “You got nothing on me, old man.” Maddie left her arms up in Cooper’s face after swishing a basket.

  And trash talking to boot.

  Ti bit her lip to squelch a laugh. Bury her heart? Too late.

  “Old man?” Cooper spun the ball around his back, checked it with her, and dribbled it between his legs. “You’re getting it now, Freckles.”

  Hiding her smile behind the camera, Ti captured their banter, laughter, and horsing around. Candids had always been her favorite. They told stories most people didn’t notice.

  “Taking more notes?” Drew set a plastic cup in front of her as he straddled the bench. “Lemonade. Hope that’s okay.”

  “Yeah, fine.” Ti tucked her camera in its bag and took a sip. Bittersweet. Kind of like being here right now.

  She swirled the base of her cup in mindless circles over the checkered tablecloth, looking everywhere but at the green eyes capable of stirring feelings she didn’t understand. At least behind her camera, she could pretend to have a legit reason to crash their family barbeque.

  Grandma Jo placed a covered salad on the table in front of Drew. “Is the grill fired up?”

  He tipped his cup toward the smoke in the air. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “No burning my chicken this time, young man.” She waved a giant spoon at him. “You hear me?”

  “Hey, now. That wasn’t my fault last time.”

  “Mm-hmm.” She nudged Ti in the arm with her elbow. “Come help me in the kitchen, sugar. We need to make sure we have something edible.”

  Drew scrunched his face. “Very funny.”

  Caught between laughter and panic, Ti tried not to spew her drink. She dabbed her mouth with her sleeve. “I’m the last person you want near the kitchen. Trust me. I don’t cook.”

  “Nonsense.” Grandma Jo tugged Ti up by the arm. “My house, my rules.”

  A flicker of a grin quirked Drew’s dimples. “Have fun.”

  She almost accidentally spilled her cup of lemonade down his shirt on her way up. So tempting.

  An oversized glass jar full of dark liquid stopped Ti at the back steps. She raised her sunglasses to the top of her head. “Um, Grandma Jo, you want me to bring this in? Looks like you might’ve left it outside by mistake.” Like, a month too long. Did she even want to ask?