Crashing Hearts: An Oakport Beach Romance

by Emily Bowie

  “Crawl back up there and come down, man,” I plead.

  Epic doesn’t say anything, and it seems to stretch on forever until we see him start to stand up. No one says a word, watching, hoping he doesn’t slip.

  CHAPTER 25

  Waking up the next morning, my ass feels like I sat on a pile of coals. It feels like a blender was taken to my heart. When I pat beside me, Piper’s side is cold and vacant. In just a few short weeks, she has become a constant in my life. My bed feels empty without her, and I’m scared my life will soon feel like this too.

  Each step I take hurts, and I slowly move, getting dressed. I can see Piper’s bed is made from her doorway; a suitcase sits outside on my porch. My temples throb with the stress of the last twenty-four hours.

  Soft music is floating its way out of the barn as I hobble, taking an extreme amount of time to get there. Leaning on the doorjamb, I watch as Piper dances around Aunt Millie, who’s eating all by herself.

  “You have a way with her.” I nod toward my foal. All I can think about is how much this woman has changed me, and I don’t want to go back to how I was before.

  Piper pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. “We seem to understand each other.” She shrugs, grabbing a brush, and she starts brushing the little filly down. Millie stops eating and stands there, liking the attention.

  “I don’t want you to go. I like having you here.” Her hand pauses, and I keep going. “I’ve never had this type of connection with someone before. I like you, Piper. I know I screwed up, and I am sorry. Can you give me another chance?”

  “We both know this job has an expiration date. We had a great fling while it lasted.” Each word she says breaks off a piece of my heart, leaving it to be stomped on. She keeps her back to me, focusing on Aunt Millie.

  “Turn around and tell me to my face. I’m not above groveling.” My heart shatters with a break in my voice. Sucking in a pained breath, I already know her answer before she says a word.

  Slowly, she turns to me, her eyes looking teared up. “I can’t get between family. If we stayed together, that is what would happen. I can’t have that on my conscience.”

  “Do you have a brother?” My hand drags through my hair as I try to steady the shakiness of my hand.

  “You know I don’t.”

  “Brothers are different than sisters. We’re guys who are pigheaded and stubborn. We fight. But after we fight, we forgive. What you witnessed and got in the middle of was an old feud we never fought out before. It was hard with the distance between us.” I pause. “Please stay, for me.” A lump in my throat forms as I wait for her answer.

  She stands there looking at me, a small tear escaping. I watch it run down her cheek and fall to the ground with the rest of my heart. She has the smallest of sad smiles, giving me hope she may change her mind.

  A horn interrupts us, and I swear everyone in this town has the worst timing ever.

  “That’s Frankie. She’s here to drive me to the bus station. Let me know how much my car is once it’s ready.”

  Frankie? How could my cousin do this to me? Piper walks past me, refusing to choose us. It’s irrational, but in this second, I also blame Frankie for the ruin of my whole being. If she hadn’t come to pick up Piper, I could have time to change her mind. My cousin is taking that chance away from me.

  Frankie doesn’t get out of the car and tries not to meet my gaze. I’m not going to make this easy on her. I follow behind Piper, keeping my eyes on Frankie until her eyes accidentally meet mine.

  “Thanks for helping out a friend.” My tone is full of sarcasm.

  “She’ll be back when her car is ready.”

  I feel like she’s trying to tell me something with her eyes. Girls love to talk in code, and we never know what they’re trying to say.

  Frankie doesn’t ask how I am and remains silent as I rest my head on the window, watching the beach town float by me. I don’t try to stop my tears, welcoming the grief I feel. I deserve this. Things like this don’t happen to other people. At some point, I have to recognize that I do it all to myself. Crash will always be the one who got away. Without him knowing or trying, he has taught me so much about myself, and I became a better person around him. He showed me I could love with everything in me. He showed me the life I want.

  CHAPTER 26

  It’s been two weeks since I left Oakport Beach. I’m miserable, living with my sister Bex. She keeps telling me to paint a picture of how I feel but it isn’t that easy. I thought once I left, I would forget about Crash and I’d hurt less. It’s impossible. I shouldn’t like him as much as I do. I hate that I know what must be running through that town’s mind when they learn I dated his brother first. It’s weird. My heart isn’t getting the memo from my brain though.

  “You know what you need?” my sister prompts. Another piece of unwanted advice. “You need to stay in the city where there are job opportunities. Find a live-in care gig, find a nice guy, and settle down. Make an honest try to get your life back in order.”

  Sighing, I turn to her. “I have that rent thing all squared away. I don’t have debt collectors calling me anymore.”

  “That’s because they started to harass me, so I paid it all off.”

  “And I paid you back with interest. Like I told you before, I just needed to get a job to pay it. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to.”

  “Yes, but you’re back to being out of a job. You could still be working that sweet gig, soaking up the rays by the beach, but you somehow thought kissing your boss was a good idea.”

  I’ve been doing interviews, but I feel like each place sucks the life out of me. It’s instant when I walk through the doors. I don’t want to be inside, working twelve-hour shifts anymore. But that’s what I signed up for when I became a nurse.

  I also cut up all my credit cards, refusing to use them until they’re under control again. In Oakport Beach, I found it a lot easier not to use them.

  “Anyway, a guy called saying your car is ready. Do you need money for that?”

  I sit looking outside her kitchen window. My heart accelerates, and immediately hope squeezes it. I’m not sure what that hope is for, but I feel lighter hearing he called—or at least I hope it was him.

  “They called you?” I question, feeling confused as I turn toward her.

  “No, I answered your phone while you were outside. I know you’ve been waiting for your car. I figured if I answered, I could give you some good news to get you to smile.”

  “What did they say? Who was it?” I ask immediately, hating how desperate my voice sounds to my ears.

  “Tony? Maybe. I honestly didn’t pay attention to who it was. But your car is ready for pickup. I can drive you there today.” She smiles at me, trying to be helpful. I should be ecstatic; I’ve been waiting for that phone call. Instead, my stomach drops when I learn it wasn’t Crash. He couldn’t even be the one to call and let me know. But why would he? Our little fling is over, and I caused a huge rift between him and his brother.

  I thought summer love was meant to be fun and easy, but I feel like all I have done is mourn the loss of it.

  “It’s way out of your way. I’ll take the bus.” I wave her off, going to fix myself another cup of coffee, hoping she doesn’t notice my mood becoming sour.

  “Are you okay for money?”

  “Bex, yes. I’m a grown woman. I don’t need your money.”

  I can feel her eyes on me, but when I think she’s going to press the issue, she doesn’t.

  “I haven’t seen you around much,” Danger says to me as I finish replacing the tall billboard on the outskirts of our town. This was my second investment, all because Danger wanted me to buy it so he could advertise on the thing.

  “You know me, man. I’m always working.” I shrug, looking up at my new advertisement I just spent hours putting up. A job that should have been an hour is now onto hour three. Piper keeps getting into my head. I hate that I never fought harder for her. I let her walk away.r />
  “Is that what you’re doing?”

  I’ve been avoiding everyone, focusing on working. I neglected it for a month. The sad part is that I honestly don’t have that much work to do, leaving me with way too much time to think about Piper. I keep thinking of her as the girl who got away, and this feeling is digging deeper and deeper into me. I can’t get more than three hours of sleep a night, because it’s her face that keeps waking me up.

  Ignoring his question, I reply, “Remember the time you made me put your ugly mug up here?”

  He laughs, shaking his head. “I had to change my phone number, because you refused to take it down, and people all over the world started to call me.”

  We both chuckle at the memory.

  “I noticed Piper’s car is fixed. You call her?” Danger is back to his interrogation.

  I look back up at my sign. I wanted to call her, but I chickened out. Not that I would tell anyone that. I made Tony do it for me. Another regret. What I wouldn’t do to hear her sweet voice right now.

  I once loved working. It’s why I kept buying up places. The more I flung myself into a new project, the more I didn’t have to focus on my family or anyone else. But now, without Piper, my life feels empty. I might hate being wrong but without Piper life doesn’t feel as important or as vibrant. The perfectionist in me is going crazy, knowing deep down I fucked up.

  What if I forced Piper to leave, and she wanted to stay? Did I sabotage my chance at love, because I was too scared?

  Danger taps me on my shoulder. “Man up and just tell her you’re sorry.” I grunt, still looking at my sign. “Don’t forget to get her some type of flower. Girls love that shit.”

  “You’re forgetting that everyone leaves Oakport Beach eventually,” I finally say what has been on repeat in my head. Why would Piper be any different? Reluctantly, my eyes move from my billboard to Danger.

  “That’s bullshit. Look at me, Frankie, Haven… we all stayed. Look at how many of the summer people have moved here to retire. If anything, man, people always come back to Oakport Beach. No one leaves forever. If you honestly think that, you have been lying to yourself, and you will never be happy.”

  My gut rolls at his words, knowing he’s right. Danger is almost never right, but this time, he hit a home run. I feel sucker punched, knowing I let the best thing to ever happen to me walk away.

  CHAPTER 27

  Stepping off the bus, I almost expected to see someone I recognized immediately. But I don’t. I stand watching the bus leave before I take my first steps toward the mechanic shop. I search everyone’s face on the sidewalk for some familiarity, only to be met with strangers.

  What stands out is a new sign that says Epic Law. I can’t help but laugh about the names those boys use. I’m happy he was able to find something here. Maybe he won’t be quite the same kind of douche when he finds his way. I no longer harbor any resentment toward him, realizing he was dealing with way more shit than I was. He could have been more honest, but that’s hard to be when he wasn’t being truly honest with himself.

  Walking into the Crash and Go Mechanics building, I see Tony behind the counter.

  “Hello, young lady. I’ve missed your face around here,” he greets me warmly.

  “There’s something about Oakport that has me missing it too.”

  “Something, or someone?” He eyes me knowingly.

  “You called saying my car is ready?” I change the subject.

  He gives me a look, and I start to wonder if my sister messed up the message. “It is…” His words linger to a pause before he starts again. “There was a pretty big fender bender in town, and we had to move your car to Crash’s to make space.”

  My heart slowly starts to accelerate as I realize I’m going to have to face Crash again. Tony looks around, probably seeing if I came with anyone.

  “I took the bus here,” I tell him before he asks.

  I flash my credit card, waiting for him to tell me the price. He waves my card away, “Crash, said the two of you were square.”

  I go to argue, only for him to interrupt me before I can get a word in, “I’ll drive you out there to get your car.”

  My body is full of nerves as we make the short drive to Crash’s house. His Jeep seems to be missing, making my heart beat a little less radically. My car sits where his Jeep normally is, looking better than when I first got her. It looks like they painted her up.

  “I waxed it, wanting it to look extra nice for you,” Tony says, making it sound like no big deal.

  “Thanks, Tony. Think Crash would mind if I stopped in to say hi to Aunt Millie?” I ask, my hand on the door handle as I take in what I thought would be my summer home.

  “I think he would be disappointed if you didn’t.” Tony gives me an encouraging smile. “You’re keys are under the front seat.”

  “Thank you.” I can feel my emotions starting to get the best of me, so I open the door, wanting to escape.

  The walk to the barn is natural, and my heartbeat start to become more normal. I don’t know why I thought Crash would be home. Maybe it was more wishful thinking, or my way of trying to create a tornado of my life. At some point, I need to take responsibility for what happens to me. Not everyone is a hot mess with drama swirling around them. I can control myself, which in turn can control what happens around me.

  I’ve been making an effort in at least acknowledging my part in everything. It can’t always be blamed on fate.

  My hand pauses on the handle of the barn as I lift the small garage-like door, wanting to see Aunt Millie in the beautiful light rather than go in by the small door.

  Crash is standing in the middle of the barn with a single sunflower in his hand. Aunt Millie lays by his feet and stands as soon as she sees me. I’m lost for words as I take a step farther in.

  “What’s this?” I ask cautiously. Excitement, hope, and nervousness swirl deep in my gut.

  “My apology, and your Welcome to Oakport Beach Party,” he says with a cocky grin. It feels like an electric shot is jabbed right into my heart, making it skip a beat, with a deep pound when it returns.

  Crash comes to me and goes down on one knee. “I’m sorry for everything. We—” He points to the horse, then himself. “—I need you. Can you please give me a second chance?” He lifts the sunflower, and I take it, bringing it to my nose to smell.

  It’s in the way his eyes shine, looking incredibly somber and sincere, that I melt. All of my emotions come crashing back into me.

  “I will do anything to make it up to you,” he pleads, slowly standing on his feet. Taking my hand, he brings it to his lips and places a chaste kiss on my knuckles.

  “I forgive you,” I concede. In reality, I was miserable not being here with him.

  He wraps me in a strong hug. “Thank goodness,” he breathes. “Everyone is out back waiting for me to bring you around.”

  “Well, in that case, maybe I should go and make you walk there alone.” I wink at him, making sure he knows I’m teasing.

  “I would walk a mile on hot stones if that meant you’d forgive me.”

  With that, he kisses me. His lips are soft, but the kiss itself knocks me breathless. I can feel our hearts pressed together, beating in sync, knocking each other with their thuds.

  “This is more than a summer fling for me, Piper. I want the whole thing with you. Please say you’ll stay.” He bends his head, staring into my face, watching each flicker of emotion.

  “Yes,” I whisper, feeling like this is the best decision I have ever made.

  Millie’s nose tries to nudge into the middle of us, and I allow a few tears to slip. This is the happiest I have been in a long time.

  “See? She loves you too.” Crash moves my hair behind my shoulders. It takes me a second to register what he says. I look at him, wanting to say the same words to him, but he beats me to it. “I love you, Piper.”

  “I love you too.” I hug him again, needing to feel him close.

  “We should he
ad back; otherwise, they’ll start to get imaginative on what we’re doing.”

  I laugh, wiping under my eyes.

  This is home.

  CHAPTER 28

  “How was your day at work?” Crash asks me, leaning against his Jeep as I walk out from the new retirement home in Oakport Beach.

  “My boss is a jerk.” I smile at him, my eyes raking over the way his shirt clings to his strong stomach muscles. I’ll never get tired of him picking me up from work or tire of being with him. He’s the most caring, kind, and good-looking man I have ever known. Each day, he does something else to remind me of how perfect he is for me.

  This is my third shift, and I love it here, even with my boss being who he is. This nursing home opened up with perfect timing. Aunt Millie finally got better and stopped needing me so much, and then this place opened, needing a nurse.

  “Is he at least a sexy jerk?” He lifts a brow in question.

  I pause to think about it, turning to the building before responding. “Nope. Ugly. Horrible breath. Complete asshole.”

  He steps into me, wrapping his arms around me and chuckling. The name Crashing Into Retirement lights up where we stand. My heart flutters in the way I have grown accustomed to whenever he comes close.

  “Sounds horrible. You probably shouldn’t be seen kissing him then.”

  Turning me to face him, his lips come down on mine. Even after six months, my heart still can’t get enough of him. My finger trails over his chest.

  “Let’s get you home so I can show you what type of boss I really am.” He nips at my neck, making me flush under his attention.

  “I don’t know if that goes with Augustine Jennings Staffing protocols.”