“Sure you do.” Kyle laughed and the world began moving around me again.
Billy draped his arm over my shoulder and spoke into the phone. “Don’t you worry, your pretty little head, Kyle. I’ll keep an eye on her tonight.”
“What’s he talking about?” Kyle grumbled.
I loved the timbre of his voice and grinned even wider when I heard the hint of jealousy. Maybe this really had been nothing more than a misunderstanding.
“It’s true. I might as well stay down in Portland overnight since it’s so late, and I’d be hitting rush hour in three different cities. Anyway, Billy’s staying at his brother’s house and invited me along to crash there.”
The other end of the phone was silent for a split second, and then Billy squeezed me tightly.
“Can I talk to Billy?”
I glanced over at my friend, who was enjoying tormenting Kyle far more than he should, and I handed him the phone.
He flashed a puzzled expression and took the cell. “What’s up?”
Billy went silent, and I strained to hear Kyle on the other end, but with all the city noise I couldn’t hear a thing, and Billy’s continued silence worried me.
“Whatever you say.”
I took in a deep breath the moment Billy spoke.
“Yup. I’ll make sure she gets there.” A few more seconds of silence. “I don’t believe that to be the case, no.” He gave me a funny side-eye glance, and my stomach knotted. “Never gave it much thought. Okay, here she is.” Billy handed me the phone back and I began walking toward the car. It was several blocks away from where we were standing.
“What was that all about?” I asked Kyle.
“What was what all about?”
“Why’d you want to talk to Billy?” I said a little breathless as we went up the short hill.
“Just needed to set him straight.”
“Excuse me?” I nearly snapped into the phone and Billy laughed.
“I was waiting for it,” Billy nearly sang into the phone.
“What makes you think you have the right to talk to my friends that way?”
Billy pushed his hands into the air and whispered, “Easy, now.”
“What way?” Kyle laughed. “Why do you always think the worst of me?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” I asked, feeling completely at ease over the phone with Kyle, which was unnerving.
“Probably not.” A few seconds of silence went by, and I heard him take a deep breath.
We finally made it to the car, and Billy unlocked the doors, and I slid into the passenger seat. I was still clutching the phone, feeling like I was back in high school.
“So, Brooke, I really want to make this up to you.”
“It’s not your fault,” I assured him, feeling awful about the thoughts that came flashing through my mind.
Billy pulled out into traffic.
“I’m busy this weekend and through the week, but what do you say if we try it again at the falls?”
“The one in Washington?” I confirmed.
“Yup, and I can pick you up from the ferry or—”
“Don’t trust me to get there?” I teased.
“I wouldn’t,” Billy said under his breath, and I elbowed him.
“Or you can come to my property and leave your car there and we can drive into town. The falls sit just east of town.”
The idea of being back at his property sent all kinds of thrills and tingles through me.
“How about we do that? I’d feel horrible if you came all the way to the ferry.”
“I don’t mind. You drove all the way to Oregon for me.” I felt his smile come over the phone, and my chest clenched with worry combined with false hope.
I’d spent my adult life keeping the boundaries as clear as day to the men I got involved with, but with Kyle that was becoming trickier with each missed opportunity.
“Don’t let it go to your head, North,” I said, stretching in the seat.
I caught Billy rolling his eyes, but it wasn’t like he’d heard what Kyle said.
“Never would. So if you need to get a hold of me for any reason this week, I might not be the most responsive, but I promise, I’ll be more accessible than what happened earlier. Cell coverage isn’t quite that bad where I’m headed.”
With what he did for a living, it sounded like he could be going anywhere in the country to be looking at cabins to move and restore. Although, he never said that was what he was doing. He could be going on vacation for all I knew.
“Are you there?” he asked and I laughed.
“Yeah. Sorry. Just flashbacks from earlier,” I teased.
“Brooke, I’m really sorry about this morning. It never dawned on me that you’d think Oregon… but I look forward to making it up to you in all ways.”
The resonance in Kyle’s voice turned me on instantly. I glanced over at Billy and felt my cheeks redden from my reaction.
“I look forward to it.” My breath caught in the back of my throat, and Billy shook his head as he turned onto a smaller residential street. “Talk soon.”
“Enjoy your weekend,” Kyle said, and I hung up, feeling my emotions completely betray me as we pulled into the driveway.
Chapter Eight
Aunt Hildie had asked me to swing by Maddie’s tea store on Fireweed Island to pick up some items for her farm. It sounded like the perfect way to spend my Saturday before heading home and trying to regroup from the missed connection.
I was slightly concerned because even Billy made mention that I needed to go to Maddie’s store, and he even sent a reminder text on the way up to Washington.
Once I pulled off the ferry to Fireweed Island, I felt immediately transported to another world. Tourists were busily wandering the sidewalks, holding bags from local shops, paper-wrapped tulips, and ice cream cones.
It didn’t matter if it was Fireweed or Hound Island, the people were always so kind and welcoming. I parked in front of Maddie’s shop and saw Holly, her sister, opening the door to wave me inside. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail, and she was wearing a purple apron, a white shirt, and black leggings.
I waved back and climbed out of the car. I noticed Holly look behind her nervously.
“What’s up?” I asked, giving her a quick hug before making my way inside the teashop.
The moment I stepped inside, a group of my girlfriends all screamed, “Surprise”, and I nearly fell over.
Gina dashed over and gave me a huge squeeze. “I’m so sorry we all bailed on you and left you in the woods with your evil ex.” She stepped back and grimaced, shaking her head. “I just can’t believe that happened.” Her big blue eyes canvassed me for wounds, but all I could do was smile in disbelief.
“It wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” I assured her.
“Do tell.” She twisted her brown hair around her finger and laughed wickedly. “Did you teach him a lesson or two?”
“Not even.” I blushed. “But I thought about it.”
Gina chuckled as she moved aside for Chance and Jakes’ fiancées.
Maddie, who was in her third trimester of pregnancy, thanks to Chance’s handiwork, and Jewels each gave me a quick hug.
“We’re so sorry about last weekend,” Jewels said.
“I’m off the hook since I’m about to pop, but I still feel awful about everything.” Maddie’s eyes widened. “I can’t believe Hildie set you up. She usually behaves herself.”
Jewels gave her future sister-in-law the side eye. “I’ve never known Hildie to behave.”
I laughed and had to agree. Hildie and her sons often skated on the edge of trouble. I glanced around the teashop, smelling the wonderful aromas of citrus, cinnamon, and mint before my eyes landed on platters of sweets.
“Did I just get sent to heaven?” I ogled one of the buttery croissants with drizzled chocolate and took a deep breath in.
“From Gabby’s Goodies,” Gina informed me.
It was a local
bakery for the islands that had grown by leaps and bounds, and everyone always went out of their way to go to one of the locations.
“Well, I have a confession,” Gina began just as Natty, my good friend and Fireweed Florist, came through the front door holding a humungous floral arrangement filled with every tulip color imaginable.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I told her, taking in the beautiful arrangement as Gina stood next to me.
Natty poked her head around the large arrangement. “I didn’t. They’re from—”
My heart rate spiked with a mix of adrenaline and embarrassment. The very man I’d blamed for the disastrous weekend was now sending flowers.
“Mr. Kyle North.”
“That’s so sweet,” Maddie gushed, clearing a spot on the counter. “Isn’t that sweet?”
I took in the brilliant pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges as they hung gracefully beyond the vase.
“Yes, it’s very kind of him,” I muttered, lifting my gaze to see Maddie, Jewels, Gina, and Natty, who all looked extremely suspicious.
“He’s actually the one who pulled this together for you,” Gina blurted out.
My brows arched and I put my hand on my hip. “What do you mean? What did he say?”
Gina let out a deep breath and tugged on her plaid shirt, looking extremely uncomfortable while Maddie just shook her head.
“Kyle reached out to Chance—” Maddie began as I took a bite of the croissant.
“And Jake,” Jewels added.
“About the weekend. He thought you might have been more down than you’d let on about the snowstorm and being stuck in the mountains by yourself,” Maddie said, smiling.
“He thought you might like some girl time.” Jewels took a butterhorn Danish from the pile of sweets.
“He did, did he?”
“I have to be honest,” Gina sat down next to the platter of pastries. “I think he seems like a really nice guy.”
Jewels and Maddie exchanged a look before taking seats next to Gina. Natty scooted a chair forward and plopped down, stretching her legs.
I still hadn’t said anything. I just kept chewing my croissant, staring at the ground. I was horrible at sharing, and I was especially horrible at sharing details that involved emotions. It made me feel exposed, like someone could narrow right in on my weaknesses and, someday, use them against me.
“Or not,” Gina added. “Probably definitely not.”
Natty snickered and took a chocolate cookie from the pile and stared right at me.
“You know, I once had a first love,” she said, her lip turning up slightly on the corner.
I cocked my head slightly. “I’ve never said anything about Kyle being anything, let alone a first love.”
“It’s the islands.” Jewels chuckled. “Word travels fast, but it’s always best from the horse’s mouth so take a seat and fill us in.”
I laughed, looking around at this group of women and drew in a deep breath. Really, what had I been fearful of? That they’d tell me I was an idiot for believing in the power of first love or that I was ridiculous to avoid relationships?
I didn’t avoid relationships, exactly. I just paired myself with men who weren’t looking for more than a little fun now and again.
Except now the thought just sounded awful.
I sat down and Maddie got up, wandering over to make us all a cup of tea while Holly popped up and turned the Open sign to Closed before making her way back to the group.
“I know you don’t like talking much about feelings or much of anything, really.” Gina’s brows scrunched. “But it can be cathartic for the soul. I’ll even start. The man I’m currently dating has a second Facebook profile that I found last week, and that’s the reason I couldn’t come up to the getaway. I spent the entire weekend crying and listening to his pathetic excuses for why he has it.”
My mouth and everyone else’s dropped open in disbelief.
“Gina, I’m so sorry.” I shook my head. “I had no idea. It makes my stuff seem absolutely ridiculous.”
“Yours is the least ridiculous.” Gina shook her head. “I’ve had signs I’ve been ignoring for far too long.”
I looked around the room and saw nothing but admiration and understanding for Gina’s circumstance. There was no judging, no gloating, nothing of the sort, just a group of friends lending an ear.
“So, there.” Gina smiled. “I started. Now, it’s your turn to share a little.” She winked. “I swear it gets easier the more practice you have.”
Holly giggled and shook her head. “Not necessarily.”
Maddie kicked her sister on the way over with a tray of tea.
Holly shrugged and laughed. “Just being honest. Opening up has been a hard one for me. Besides talking to my sister, I really spent most of my life ignoring adult conversation.”
“Which is what I love about you.” I giggled and took the cup of tea from the tray Maddie was holding. I wasn’t really sure she should be moving around so much, but she seemed to be fine with it. “Okay, so I had planned last weekend thinking we’d do some fun spa treatments and binge on Netflix, food, and wine. When I realized no one was going to make it, I decided to experiment on myself. I was halfway through a bottle of wine when a knock on the door panicked me because I had a clay mask smeared all over my face and neck that had turned to concrete, and my stomach had been shrink-wrapped with cling wrap.”
“Oh, no,” Holly muttered, shaking her head.
“Oh, yes. Anyway, I answered the door, and my teenage crush was standing on the other side.”
“And he didn’t run?” Gina asked, genuinely in awe of the man, not the problem at hand.
“No. He is extremely polite.” My cheeks instantly burned “And extremely good-looking, sexy, kind, and the man who—” I stopped myself.
“Who what?” Gina prompted.
“He was my first.” I let out the biggest sigh, and it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted.
“So he was more than a crush.” Holly nodded. “He was your first love?”
I had spent so many years suppressing every emotion tied to Kyle North that I wasn’t even sure of how to answer. The emotion felt vague and unattainable, like I never really experienced it in the first place.
“I guess so. I mean, actually… he was more than that. We’d been best friends for years. He’d come visit my cousins in the summer and I hung around them all. Since I was an only child, I always tagged around Jake and Chance. When Kyle would come to visit in the summer, I was a natural fit. I loved to hike, climb, build forts.”
Natty smiled. “Makes perfect sense.”
“As we got older, Kyle would often sneak away from my cousins to hang out with just me, but long before that even started happening, I idolized everything about Kyle. He was strong, smart, cute, kind, and protective.”
Holly brought in a breath and nodded, patting her sister’s knee as if this was the story heard around the world.
“I wouldn’t say I thought we’d be together forever, but I didn’t have any reason to believe we wouldn’t.” I swallowed hard, leaving an ache in my throat. “Anyway, we’d fused faces every chance we got, summer after summer. Kissing him was like a drug and then finally, we went to the next level. The whole thing happened because the weatherman said the weekend was going to be beautiful, so we all went camping, my cousins included. We had two tents. My cousins took one, and Kyle and I had the other.”
“Go on,” Holly whispered.
“Instead of beautiful weather, we got stuck on the mountain in a torrential rainstorm. The river flooded. The trip was awful, yet wonderful. Kyle and I stayed in the tent for the entire storm doing what teenagers do, only we didn’t stop.” My mouth fell into a pout. “You know how you hear about the first time being awful? Well, it wasn’t. He somehow managed to rock my world and I was ruined in more ways than one.”
“You’re not ruined.” Gina scowled.
I laughed and shook my head. “Believe me
. I know that now, but temporarily it felt like it. When he never came back after that summer, never returned my calls or letters, I knew I would never hand over my heart so easily. Sex became something without emotion. I never went deeper than the physical and never really plan to.” I let out a deep breath. “There. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” I took a sip of the hot tea and Maggie spoke up.
“It’s a calming blend.” Maggie smiled. “But it might take a few minutes.”
I knew I was a strong woman, but just thinking about Kyle North made me feel weak, and I didn’t like that.
“Well, did he say why he never reached out again?” Gina asked, and Jewels gaze shot to hers.
“No. He wanted to tell me, but I was so shocked from seeing him, I didn’t let him.”
“Do you want to know?” Gina asked.
“It won’t change anything, but my curiosity is killing me,” I confessed and all the girls laughed.
A loud knock sounded at the door, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.
I couldn’t handle another Kyle sighting. I needed the upcoming week to get my head back on straight.
“I’ll get it,” Holly said, way too briskly, and I realized she knew whoever was behind that door.
“Order up.”
The moment I heard the words, my entire body relaxed as Billy made his way into the teashop, holding a metal pan with several smaller containers stacked on top.
His eyes connected with mine, and he grinned as he set the tray of hot dogs and a bag of buns on the counter, and removing all the containers of toppings.
“This is a special delivery from Kyle. He knew how much you appreciated food and wanted to make sure you were taken care of.” Billy winked. “He made sure I included your favorite.”
I stood up and folded my arms across my chest. “He did, did he?”
“Coconut relish and extra bacon bits.” Billy glanced around the room, but his eyes seemed to do a double take on Gina, who was unfortunately, staring at her phone and missed the whole thing. Not that she was single. I wasn’t quite sure of the status of her relationship since everything went down.
“My truck’s outside. Is there anything else I can get you before I take off toward the Marina and feed the hungry boaters?”
Irresistible Love at Silver Falls (Island County Series Book 7) Page 7