Love Me Timeless--A Willow Oaks Sweet Romance

by Melissa Crosby

  “I haven’t had time to eat anything.”

  “Good!” Jenna pulled him in and Mick bent down to give his little sister a kiss. Although it’s been a long time since she was little, to Mick, she would always be the family’s little girl. “We’ve got plenty to eat,” she said.

  “Hey, Mick, my man! How’s it going?” Jenna’s husband appeared through the kitchen door, an apron over his neck and a kitchen towel hanging over his shoulder.

  “How are you, Dave?” Mick walked over and took his brother-in-law’s hand for a tight handshake.

  “Cookin’ up a storm.” Dave motioned for Mick to join him in the kitchen. “Can I get you a beer?” Dave asked over his shoulder.

  “Just what I need.” Mick wasn’t a real drinker. But this time, he felt he needed it. Mick pulled up a seat at the large dining table. It was the same one he’d sat at when he had last visited Willow Oaks.

  Jenna pulled up a seat next to Mick. “Okay, now tell me everything!”

  “Jen—at least let the man take a breath for a minute, will you?” Dave placed a beer in front of Mick.

  Jenna scowled at Dave. “I just wanna know what’s going on with my brother—nothing wrong with that.”

  “Cheers,” Mick said tipping the bottle towards Dave and took a swig of the cold drink. He closed his eyes and swallowed. Mick leaned his head back for a moment and then looked at Jenna. “What do you wanna know, Jenna?”

  Jenna grinned. “Seeing as you’re asking... what’s going on between you and Carly?”

  “Okay then, don’t hold back...” Dave mumbled.

  Mick curled his bottom lip in and bit down on it. He drew a breath in and took another swig of his beer. “What do you mean?”

  “I’d stay out of it if I were you, Jenna.” Dave got up and peeked in the oven. A light smoky steam filled the room. “She’s looking juicy!”

  “What’ve you got in there, Dave?” Mick asked.

  “Uh-uh,”—Jenna wagged her finger at Mick—“don’t you try and change the subject on me.”

  “Got a beautiful pork belly roasting and only the best crackling you’ve ever had,” Dave winked.

  “Dave!” Jenna scolded her husband. “I wanna talk to Mick!”

  “How about you help me out and get your brother some appetizers before you interrogate him?” Dave raised an eyebrow, which Jenna didn’t appreciate.

  “Fine.” Jenna got up from her seat. “But that shouldn’t stop you from talking,” she said, giving Mick a sideways glance.

  Mick considered his sister and narrowed his eyes at her. “There’s nothing to know—”

  “Nope—not true. That’s not what people are saying.” Jenna placed a basket of sliced baguettes on the table.

  “So you’re happier believing what other people are saying,”—Mick used finger quotes to for emphasis—“instead of hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth?”

  Jenna returned with a platter of antipasto.

  The array of cold meats, cheeses, and vegetables made Mick drool. He licked his lips and reached for a slice of bread and cut a wedge of cheese. “Camembert?”

  “Brie,” Jenna said.

  Mick tore a piece of the bread and popped it in his mouth. “I’m in love with her.” And then he shoved the wedge of cheese in his mouth too. That was the only thing to do—be straight up.

  “What?” Jenna blurted.

  “You heard me,” Mick said with his mouth full.

  “Oh my gosh!” Frustration was rife in Jenna’s voice. “Can you swallow your food so we can talk properly?”

  That was just the thing, though. Mick didn’t want to talk. What he wanted was to find a way to get Carly to forgive him. He was in love with her. He admitted it. In love. “L-O-V-E,” he spelled it out loud for Jenna. He figured that if anyone could help him gain some insight into how Carly might forgive him, it might be Jenna.

  “You’re not drunk, are you?” Jenna wrinkled her nose at him.

  He eyed her—didn’t she know him? Didn’t she know the effect that their father’s alcoholism had on him? On all of them? “I never get drunk, Jenna. You know why.”

  “Fine—just asking.” Jenna grabbed a baguette and spread some butter on it. “How and when did you fall in love with Carly? I mean,”—she took a bite and chewed thoughtfully for a moment—“you only just got back.”

  Mick hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell her. Just tell her, Mick thought. Holding back on the truth was what got him in this trouble in the first place. “We first met online.” Aaaand... there, he said it. Another swig. Easy on the beers, he told himself.

  Dave let out a laugh. “Ask a silly question, get a silly answer,” he said as the sound of chopping continued.

  Jenna shot Dave a look. “Shush—go back to your vegetables, please.” She turned back to Mick. “I’m being serious here.”

  “So am I,” Mick said with a grin.

  “You are so—so—incorrigible!”

  “Why, thank you, ma’am.” Mick tipped his invisible hat.

  “It’s not a compliment.” Jenna rolled her eyes. “Can we just be serious for a moment?”

  Mick put his beer down. “I’m being serious. We met online.”

  “Like on Tinder?” Jenna was horrified.

  Mick picked up an olive and popped it in his mouth. “A bit more old school. It’s a website called Love Is Blind.”

  “Okay,”—Jenna slowly shook her head—“and then?”

  “We got to know each over six months... and we fell in love. When I found out she was from Willow Oaks—and that it was Carly—it was too late.”

  Jenna leaned in. Her big blue eyes reminded Mick of times when he used to tease her when she was just a child. “What do you mean? How could you not know?”

  Mick went on to explain the mechanics of the website and how it worked.

  “So you sent emails to someone you didn’t know? No photos, no real names or anything like that?” Jenna’s shock was impossible to miss.

  “Hmmm—I see what you mean by old-school,” Dave chipped in. “Kinda like pen-pals in the digital age.”

  “Exactly,” Mick agreed. “But we’d also do instant chats. So it’s not like I had to wait days to hear back from her.”

  “But, how could you fall in love with someone you’ve never seen?” Jenna asked. “Without even knowing what they looked like.”

  “Hence the name, Love Is Blind.” Dave reached over Jenna and took a cracker. “Do we have any hummus?”

  “Oh yes, I forgot—it’s in the fridge.” Jenna got up and made a beeline for the fridge.

  “Let’s take other online dating apps, for example. You can see what they look like, yeah? Swiping left on who you’re attracted to, or whatever. But even then, I mean, even if you have a photo of them, do you know for certain that you can trust them? Or that guy you met by chance at a Starbucks—do you really know if you can trust him?”

  “What guy?” Jenna asked.

  Mick rolled his eyes. “As an example, Jenna.”

  “Oh my gosh—sorry. Duh!” Jenna laughed at herself.

  “Yeah, duh, Jenna,” Dave teased.

  “Okay, fine... but then how did you end up falling in love?” Jenna leaned back into her chair, her head resting on Dave’s stomach as he rubbed her shoulders from behind. “That’s a pretty big deal.”

  Mick sighed and leaned back into his chair as well. “I don’t know. It just happened. I guess when you’re chatting with someone—and you have no preconceived notions about what they look like or anything—then it’s easier to be yourself.”

  “That’s called hiding behind a screen,” Jenna joked.

  Mick waved a hand. “Whatever—but you get to open up more.”

  “What did she say to you?”

  “Hey, Jen?” Dave interrupted. “I think I’ve found your nose.”

  “Huh?” Jenna turned to her husband.

  “Let’s put it back on your face,”—Dave pretended to attach her nose on—“
where it belongs, and out of Mick’s business.”

  “Ha-ha, very funny.” Jenna pulled a hair tie out of her jean pocket and pulled her hair up in a ponytail. “Seriously, now. What could you possibly have in common with her? I mean, Carly... she’s just a child. What is this? Are you going through like a mid-life crisis or something?”

  Mick shifted in his seat. He could feel the heat rising behind his neck. “Jenna—I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

  “Here we go,” Dave said in the background.

  Mick put his beer down and looked his sister straight in the eyes. “But I’m going with the premise that you mean well, so I’m going to ignore the tone you’re using now, and I’m going to answer you straight up and honestly. But first, let me set something straight for you.”

  “I’m just—” Jenna interrupted.

  “Let me finish—you asked, so I’m answering you.”

  Jenna slumped back in her chair.

  “Carly is not a child. I don’t suppose you thought that you were a child when you were thirty-two with a child of your own? Or did you already have both Macy and Rory by then? You’re not much older than her yourself.” Mick raised his eyebrows at his sister. “What we have in common is nobody’s business. But since you’re asking, we talk about anything... and everything. We laugh. We talk about life—the hard questions. She gets me, and I get her. I’d appreciate if you stop referring to her as a child.”

  The more Mick talked about how he felt about Carly, the calmer he felt. More certain. More assured.

  “When I’m with Carly,”—Mick took a breath—“everything feels like it should. Everything feels right. And when we’re apart, all I can think about is when I can see her again.”

  Jenna’s blue eyes softened as Mick continued.

  “All my life, I’ve pushed myself to go forward. Upwards. Never stopping. Jen, when I’m not with Carly—wherever she is, is where I want to be.”

  “Oh, Mick,” Jenna sighed and took her brother’s hand. “I’m so sorry. I was a bit—”

  “Don’t say it,” Mick said.

  “But—”

  “You don’t need to explain.” Mick squeezed his sister’s hand. “You won’t be the first to question our relationship. Even I did. That’s why I didn’t tell her who I was right away. I almost walked away.”

  “What do you mean you didn’t tell her who you were?”

  Mick explained how when they’d first arranged to meet and what transpired when he realized that it was Carly he was meeting.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Jenna asked.

  “Jenna—your nose,” Dave tapped his own and opened the oven door to pull the roast out, placing it on the kitchen counter.

  “I’m just asking.” Jenna rolled her eyes at her husband.

  The smell of the roast pork overtook Mick’s senses, and he felt a tingle at the sides of his mouth. The sizzling was music to his ears. “I am so looking forward to that feast, man.”

  “Is there?” Jenna asked. “I mean, is there anything I can help with?

  “She’s mad at me now,” Mick said. Taking a swig of his drink, Mick explained how he’d finally told Carly that he was NYJedi and that she said she needed some time to think about it.

  Jenna gasped. “And then?”

  “And now I’m here. Waiting for dinner to be served.”

  Jenna jumped up from her seat with excitement. “I have an idea!”

  “No, you don’t,” Dave said quickly.

  “Yes, I do!” Jenna quipped.

  Chapter 20

  Carly walked for what seemed like ages. Everything looked different. The dullness of the sky compounded the confusion not just in her mind, but in her heart. As much as she wanted to be with Mick, she couldn’t shake the betrayal she felt in knowing that all this time—he was NYJedi007. All this time... Mick had watched her, gotten to know her, and dare she say it, manipulated her.

  Carly tripped over a rock and looked down on it with spite. She kicked it as hard as she could. “Ow!”

  “Why does everything have to be so hard?” she mumbled under her breath.

  Carly fished for her phone as it buzzed in her pocket. “Hello?”

  “Where are you?” It was Charlotte.

  Carly cast an eye over the still waters of the lake. “At the lakeside.”

  “Which side?”

  She’d been walking for a while. “By dock, on the far eastern side.”

  “Are you alone? What happened on your date with the Jedi?”

  “You don’t wanna know.” Carly sighed. “Even I don’t wanna know. If could just go back and unlearn it, I would.”

  “What happened?” Charlotte asked with concern in her voice.

  “Nothing.”

  “What do you mean, nothing?” Charlotte’s voice echoed in her ear. “Wait for me—I’ll meet you there.”

  Carly shook her head. “What? No! Wait.”

  “I’m coming.” Charlotte insisted, ending the call quickly.

  Carly turned around and looked for any sign of Charlotte. What did she want? She wasn’t ready to talk to anyone just yet and wanted to figure things out on her own.

  “Yeah right. As if I can figure out this mess!” Carly sat on the edge of the dock and let her legs dangle over the edge. The pull of gravity played with her senses as she imagined what the cold water would feel like on her bare skin.

  As Carly waited for Charlotte, she leaned back into her palms and lifted her face to the sky. Eyes closed, she thought about the mess she’d found herself in. She was glad that Mick had come forward with the truth, but the aftershock of the betrayal lingered—on her skin, where his hands caressed her. Her lips, where Mick’s own had touched hers. And in her heart that Mick had forced open.

  “Okay, so what’s happening?” Charlotte’s voice broke through Carly’s thoughts.

  Carly sat upright and turned around to see Charlotte nearing. “What do you mean?” She cast her eyes back over the water.

  “So you met with the Jedi and you said you wished you hadn’t.” Charlotte handed her two milkshakes. “What’ll it be? Strawberry or Chocolate?”

  She smiled at the sight of the milkshakes. “You’re sweet—but I didn’t say that,” Carly said. “And can we stop calling him the Jedi now?”

  “Come on,”—Charlotte shook the two cups in front of Carly—“strawberry or chocolate?”

  “Strawberry, please.”

  “Great! So it’s good news then?” Charlotte asked, handing her the strawberry milkshake.

  “No—it means that I want a strawberry milkshake.” Carly took a long sip and let the cold fill her mouth.

  Charlotte parked herself next to Carly. “Well, you said that—”

  “I know what I said,” Carly mumbled.

  “Well, then—what’s happened? I’ve known you since you were a baby, Carly. I think I’d know if something was bothering you.”

  “That!” Carly furiously waved a hand. “That’s what’s bothering me.”

  Confusion flashed across Charlotte’s face. “What?”

  “That everyone has known me since I was a baby. And that’s all anyone will ever see me as—Baby Carly!”

  “Goodness, what’s gotten into you?”

  Carly put the milkshake down next to her and laid down on the dock with her legs still dangling. “It’s Mick.”

  “So you like Mick. Okay. But what does he have to do with the Jedi?”

  Carly turned to face Charlotte with a hand shading her eyes from the glare of the sun. “Who said I like Mick?”

  “Please,” Charlotte rolled her eyes and took a sip of her chocolate milkshake—“I told you, I know you well. So what does Mick have to do with all this?”

  “He’s the Jedi.” Carly said the words and let it sink in. “Mick is NYJedi007.”

  “No!” Charlotte gasped and covered her mouth.

  Carly covered her face with her hands. “Yes.”

  “No!” Charlotte said with disbel
ief.

  “Yes.” She reached over and crossed her arms over her eyes. “Why does this always happen to me?”

  “So Mick is really the Jedi?”

  Carly nodded.

  “What are you gonna do?” Charlotte asked. “I mean, how do you feel?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know how you feel? Or you don’t know what to do?”

  “Both.” She turned to face Charlotte. “Any bright ideas?”

  “But you like Mick, so that should make things easier, right?”

  “I’m confused.” Carly exhaled slowly. “He lied to me. I mean, why didn’t he tell me he was the Jedi? Like, when we first met—why did he lie?” The more she thought about it, the more it confused her. It was as if her life was now one big tug-of-war.

  “Okay, let me think about this for a moment.” Charlotte adjusted herself so that she was facing Carly. “You like Mick—is that right?”

  Carly pulled herself upright and nodded.

  “He lied to you and that’s what you’re upset about—is that correct?”

  Carly threw her head back, wincing as the glare of the sky pierced her eyes.

  “Did he say why he lied?”

  “He said that it was because he didn’t want to hurt me.”

  Charlotte scoffed. “Bit late for that, isn’t it?”

  “He said that he’d initially walked away, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave me waiting at the cafe as if I’d been stood up. So he decided it was better to come in as himself and just pretend he knew nothing about NYJedi.” No matter how much Carly told and retold the story out loud, it just didn’t sit well with her. It still felt as if, like the other men she’d dated in the past, Mick was a scumbag liar.

  “What changed?”

  Carly took a thoughtful sip of her shake. “I don’t know...he says that he fell in love with me—all over again.”

  “All over again?”

  “We fell in love”—Carly said, using finger quotes for emphasis—“while emailing and chatting online. And even after Mick decided he didn’t want to pursue it with me, the real me, he said he still ended up falling in love. Does that make sense?” Carly turned to Charlotte.

  Charlotte pursed and twisted her lips. “Hmm.”