Love Song Series Box Set

by Emily Minton

  I shake my head again. “I should’ve warned Julie, should have told her the truth the moment she met him.”

  I swear, the day Julie and Dean met was one of the worst days of my life. I knew, I just knew he was going to use them to hurt me. I was sitting in the dorm room Kristen and I shared when she came bouncing in with a smile on her face.

  “Bethany, there’s some guy downstairs wanting to see you. He is hot as hell. You’ve been holding out on us!” Kristen says as she walks into our dorm room.

  “A guy? Did he tell you his name?” I wasn’t expecting any company, and what few guy friends I have already know to give me a heads up before they come over. I hate being surprised.

  “Dean,” she says over her shoulder as she makes her way to her bed, ungracefully plopping down and plastering a ridiculously huge smile on her face.

  As soon as I hear his name roll off of her lips, my heart stops, and then starts again, only to leave me feeling like it’s going to jump out of my chest.

  “Dean? Are you sure?” I ask while silently praying that this isn’t happening.

  “Yeah, girl! He’s so cute! Is he the reason you don’t date anyone here? Was he your boyfriend back home or something?” she asks, not knowing how much pain her question causes me.

  I shake my head. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my brother.”

  She cocks her head to the side as her smile grows wider. “I know, babe. He said he was your brother. I was just giving you a hard time.” She lets out a hearty laugh, but I don’t join in with her.

  “Did he tell you what he wanted?”

  “No. He just said he needed to talk to you,” she says as her laughter dies down. “But, I don’t think he’s in any hurry to see you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s talking to Julie, and by the way he was looking at her, I could tell he wanted to do a lot more than talk,” she says, attempting to wiggle her thin eyebrows and failing.

  “Where are they?” I ask, trying to keep the fear that is coursing through my veins out of my voice.

  “I think I saw them heading toward the rec-room. You should give them a few minutes though. Maybe he’ll ask her out. Lord knows Julie needs a date almost as bad as you do. Wouldn’t that be cool, Julie dating your brother? They could get married. Then, y’all would be like sisters or something.”

  I don’t even take the time to respond to her suggestion before racing out the door and running downstairs. My stomach violently churns when I grasp the brass knob of the rec-room door, which is the only thing that is currently separating me from the nightmare of my past. Taking a deep breath, I quickly twist the knob and step into the room.

  Dean is squatted down on the ground, eye level with Julie’s daughter. He’s rubbing his hand over her brown baby curls. The sight of him touching her sends chills up my spine. Snapping out of my stupor, I rush over to them and grab Jenny out of his reach. “Dean, what are you doing here?”

  “I came to visit my beautiful sister. Why else would I be here?” he answers me, as he smoothly rises to his feet, his eyes instantly connecting with Julie’s. “Now, I have met someone else to visit.”

  I hug Jenny closer to my chest and look over toward Julie. She’s looking at Dean with a shy smile on her face, and I can already tell she is attracted to him. I know any man would have to be dead to not be attracted to Julie, so there’s no doubt in my mind that he wants her. Dean usually gets what he wants. Unfortunately, I would know.

  I close my eyes and say a quick prayer. Lord, please don’t let Julie fall for his lies.

  I shake off my memories when I hear Sherri calling my name.

  “Bethany,” she says, giving my arm a squeeze. “You can’t blame yourself for what your brother did, not to me or to his wife. Most importantly, don’t blame yourself for what he did to you.”

  I shake my head and take a step away, then lie right to her face. “I don’t.”

  She starts to say something else, but I turn and run away. As much as I liked Sherri, the last thing I need today is her filling my head with memories of Dean. He is dead and buried, and I want everything about him to stay buried with him. I don’t want him to be part of my life anymore, not even in my memories.

  I make my way to Jenny, but stop as I near her. I see Brandon wrapping his large hand around hers. “Come on, tater bug. Let’s get to our seat.”

  She smiles up at him. “Why did you call me tater bug?”

  A boyish smile spreads across his face. “When your momma was little, Aunt Angie used to call her tater bug. You remind me of her back then, so it just seems to fit.”

  “Everyone says I look like dad, not Momma.”

  “You look a lot like your dad, but you act like your mom.”

  It’s obvious that neither he nor she even realizes I am near. They’re in a world of their own, uncle and niece. This morning, I thought he was intruding on the special day I had planned for Jenny and me. Now, I realize that I’m the one intruding. I stop in my tracks and let them walk away, feeling a pain radiate through my chest.

  I look toward the exit and wonder if I should leave. Just as I start to take a step away, I hear a little voice coming from behind me. “Come on, Aunt Bethy. It’s going to start.”

  Shaking away my thoughts of running, I turn toward Jenny and Brandon, keeping my gaze directly on her. “I’m coming, sweetheart.”

  The circus lasts nearly three hours, and each of the one-hundred and eighty minutes passes by at a snail’s pace. When the lights finally come back on, I grab Jenny’s hand. “Come on, baby.”

  The walk to the car is filled with stories of all the amazing things Jenny saw. I start to laugh as she goes on and on about the bear in a tutu. My laughter dies abruptly when I notice Brandon watching me. His anger has faded some, but it’s still present under the surface.

  Wanting to get this day over as quickly as possible, I give Jenny’s hand a gentle tug. “We have to hurry. I don’t want you missing dinner.”

  Nearly an hour later, I stare straight ahead as we drive down into Cromwell. The car is quiet, only the sound of the radio playing softly breaking the silence. Luckily, Jenny is asleep and has no idea of the tension in the car. I look at his reflection in the windshield and wonder how I could’ve been so wrong about him. In his letters to Julie, he seemed like some sort of knight in shining armor. In reality, he’s just an ass. Worse than that, he’s a handsome ass.

  Why oh why, did I read those letters? Why did I have to fall in love with some figment of my imagination? I have to face the facts; I will never have Brandon, and I will never have a happily ever after. I’m going to be alone forever, and I have to learn to deal with it. It’s time I stopped pretending to be a heroine in some fairy tale that I made up in my mind.

  I shake that thought away and whisper, “If you want to drop me off at my apartment, I’ll get Kristen to bring me to get my car later.”

  “No need. I can take you to it now.”

  I shake my head. “No thanks. If I go to Angie’s house now, she’ll want me to come in and chat about the circus. That would just mean you have to be around me longer, so I think it’s better for me to wait.”

  He blows out a very loud and obviously very frustrated breath. “I don’t have a problem with being around you. I just have a problem with hearing about your brother. If that chick wouldn’t have brought him up, today would have been fine.”

  “Well, I have a problem being around you, so I’d prefer to go home,” I say, not knowing where the words came from. Never before have I stood up for myself. I learned at an early age there wasn’t any point. That proved to be true the few times I tried to tell someone what was happening at home. Nothing ever happened, well nothing good.

  “What the fuck do you mean by that?” he growls out, squeezing the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles are turning white.

  I’m not sure where my courage is coming from, but I decide to go with it while I can. “I don’t like constantly being attack
ed, constantly reminded of how I failed my best friend. That seems to be the only thing you can talk about when I’m around, so I’d rather just not be around you.”

  He’s quiet for a second before replying. “If you’re sticking around, we’ll have no choice but to be together occasionally, so you need to get used to it.”

  He’s right. I won’t be able to ignore him forever. He’s Julie’s brother and Kristen’s cousin; we’ll be seeing a lot of each other. My only option is to stay away from Julie and Kristen, and that’s not going to happen. “Can we at least try being civil to each other? You don’t have to like me, but I ask that you not throw Dean in my face at every opportunity.”

  “Me not liking you isn’t the problem.”

  I turn in my seat, my body facing his side. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Nothing,” he mutters. “I’ll drop you off at your house.”

  After that, we’re quiet again and stay that way until I climb out of the car. As I’m walking into the house, his words replay in my head. Me not liking you isn’t the problem.

  Chapter Four

  Looking through the array of frozen meals in the freezer section of the grocery store, my phone starts to ring. I pull it from my purse and see Shane’s name flash across the screen. “Hello.”

  “Hey, I was just checking in to see if we were still on for this weekend.”

  There’s a part of me that wants to tell him no; the same part that feels safer having book boyfriends than going out with a real live man, but I refuse to be that woman anymore. She died when she left Missouri, and the new me is going to live a little. “Yes, Shane. I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Great, I’ll be at your place around seven.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “If you want, we can go to Nashville and hit Music Row?”

  Hmmm, going on a date is one thing, but Music Row at night is another. I don’t think I’m ready for the whole bar scene just yet. “Are you okay with dinner and movie?”

  “We can do that.”

  He sounds so excited that I can’t help but smile. “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

  “See ya.”

  “Bye,” I say before sliding the phone back into my purse.

  I grab some frozen lasagna from the freezer and toss it into my basket. Not paying attention, I turn around quickly and run into the hard back of a man. “Sorry, excuse me,” I say quietly as I try to step around him.

  “Not a problem.” I hear, stopping me in my tracks.

  Taking a step away, I look up into the eyes of the man that has been on my mind since he dropped me off nearly a week ago. Scratch that; the man that has been on my mind since Julie read me the first letter.

  “Oh, um, I…” The words stumble over my tongue, so I just give up and look down.

  I hear him chuckle and force myself to look up, determined not to make an idiot of myself. I will speak to him, and I will do it without blushing. “What are you doing here?”

  He looks downs at his basket then motions toward mine. “The same thing as you.”

  “You’re grocery shopping?”

  A smirk forms on his face before answering. “How else would I eat?”

  “But you’re living with Angie and Mack, right?”

  “Yeah, but I’m also a grown ass man. As soon as I can find a place, I’m moving out. Until then, I’m gonna help out. I’m not letting them take care of my ass.” His voice is defensive, letting me know I had offended him.

  So much for not making an idiot of myself. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that Angie loves to cook for her family. I can’t imagine her letting you bring food in her house.”

  His face softens as a smile plays across his lips. “She hates it, but she compromised. She and Uncle Mack won’t let me pay rent, so she allows me to buy a few groceries every now and again. That way, I don’t feel like I’m such a mooch.”

  “Uh huh,” I mumble, lacking anything better to say.

  We stand there staring at each other, neither of us having any idea what to say. I finally take a step to the side, planning to walk past him. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

  Before I can take a step, his hand wraps around my arm. “You and Shane going out?”

  I stand frozen, surprised by his question. “Yeah, we are.”

  He lets go and takes a step away. “If you change your mind about that date with him, give me a call.”

  I stand there, stunned, as he walks away. What just happened?

  Chapter Five

  It’s Friday night, I’m supposed to be getting ready for my date with Shane, but instead, I’m running around my apartment like a chicken with its head cut off! I have never been on a real date before, and I have no idea what to wear or how to style my hair. I’ve taken nearly everything out of my closet and tried it on twice, but nothing seems to be right and to make things worse, I now have clothes thrown all over the place.

  I am shimmying into my black pencil skirt for the third time when I hear someone lightly knock on the front door. I hurry to finish pulling my skirt up and safely secure it in the back while walking to the front door. I quickly look through the peep hole and see that Kristen is standing on the other side, smiling back at me. I jerk the door open and grab her hand. “I am so glad you’re here. I need your help.”

  Not even batting a lash, Kristen follows me to my bedroom and carefully looks over the mess that I’ve made over the past hour. “Did your closet explode?” she asks with a hint of laughter in her voice.

  “I don’t know what to wear.” I sigh, exasperated as I plop down on the edge of the bed, causing a small avalanche of discarded clothing to fall to the ground.

  “Ok girl, first things first. Where are you going?” she says as she clears a spot and takes a seat beside me on my bed.

  “Well…I’ve got a date.”

  Kristen pops off the bed in an instant and grabs my arm in a tight hold. “What? Saint Bethany has a date, a real date?” Her eyes are beaming with excitement, and I can already tell that the rest of the free world will be hearing about me scoring a date before I step foot out of my front door.

  “Yeah, and I don’t know what to wear,” I say with a small smile.

  Her grin beams brighter as she walks toward the massive heap of colorful fabrics on my bed and starts to sort through them. “I can help you find something.”

  She takes a minute to look through all of the clothes before biting her lip and nodding her head in approval. “Brandon would love this,” she says, picking up my light green sundress.

  “What!?” I ask, startled by her words and not fully understanding why she would bring him up.

  “Oh, come on, Bethany. This is perfect.” She pushes the dress toward me. “You have to wear this dress. Brandon has always liked green. Plus, with your hair, green always looks great on you.”

  I shake my head in confusion. “Why do I care what Brandon likes and doesn’t like?”

  “Um, because you’re going out with him? Aren’t you?” she asks as a puzzled expression begins to fall across her face.

  I shake my head again. “No, I’m going out with Shane.”

  “Ohhh,” she replies, letting the word drag out before wiping her face clean of any emotion and shrugging her shoulders. “I just assumed it was Brandon.”

  “Why would you assume that?”

  “Well, I saw the way you two were looking at each other during the wedding. I also noticed that he didn’t take his eyes off you the entire time you were at the reception.” She smiles toward me and tosses her long locks over her shoulder. “I just figured that he had asked you out.”

  “I am not going on a date with Brandon tonight. Scratch that. I’m never going anywhere with Brandon,” I state firmly, trying to hide the pain the words cause.

  “Okay, it doesn’t sound like you like Brandon that much. What did he do?”

  I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. It really isn’t that big of a deal.”

  “
Oh, come on and tell me. I know he can be an ass sometimes, but deep down, Brandon is a good guy.”

  I snort at her description of him. “Good?”

  She smiles her sneaky smile. “Then tell me what he did. Maybe it’ll change my mind.”

  I don’t plan on telling Julie how big of an ass her brother is, but I know I can tell Kristen, and she’ll keep my secret. I end up telling her everything, starting with our time beside his truck and ending with the fiasco at the circus.

  “Oh, wow! It sounds like he’s got it bad,” she says with a sharp laugh.

  “Got what bad?” I ask, feeling more confused than I was before.

  She smiles at me. “A bad case of the hots for you, babe.”

  “You’re crazy. He hates me. He blames me for everything Dean did to Julie. There’s no way that Brandon would like me in this life or the next,” I huff as my heart twinges around its edges.

  Kristen shakes her head before grabbing my hand. “No, Bethany, he doesn’t blame you. He blames himself. Brandon has always protected Julie. He hates that he wasn’t there when she needed him the most, and in turn, it’s causing him to take his anger out on you. He doesn’t hate you, Bethany. He hates himself.”

  “It wasn’t his fault that Dean hurt her though,” I say in a shout, doing my best to defend him.

  A sad smile forms on Kristen’s lips as she gives my hand an even tighter squeeze. “No, it wasn’t, but it’s not your fault either.”

  “I should have warned her,” I whisper as tears begin to fill my eyes. I swear, I have cried more in the last week than I have in years. Dean taught me not to cry when I was just a kid. Now it seems like that’s all I do.

  Kristen drops my hand and places both of her hands on my cheeks, forcing me to look her in the eyes. “You tried. You even tried to warn me. Neither one of us would listen. That’s not your fault. You’ve got to forgive yourself, darlin’, because I promise you that you did nothing wrong.”