by Olivia Miles
She patted her hair and straightened her blouse just the same. Looking her professional best, she told herself.
“What’s he doing here?” she grumbled to Maddie as she watched Robbie clasp hands with some of the locals who were already gathered at the doorway.
Her sister just shrugged. “He’s the manager. He comes every Sunday.”
Britt thinned her lips. He may be manager, but she was family. And technically, her father had put her in charge of the business in his absence.
“I’ve got things covered today,” she said lightly as Robbie approached, wearing jeans and a light blue plaid button-down shirt that was rolled at the sleeves. She was starting to regret her decision to wear light grey slacks and a silk shell top, because from the way he was looking her up and down, he wasn’t checking her out.
“I didn’t realize we’d gone corporate,” he observed.
Britt gave another self-conscious pat to the tight bun at the nape of her neck and said, “Just professional. This is a business, after all, even if it is a Sunday.”
Maddie muttered something about needing to check the stock of the jams and slipped away, leaving Britt to deal with Robbie on her own.
“It’s a local business. And the market is a community event,” Robbie countered.
Britt lifted her chin a notch, refusing to defend herself. “Still, there are no reasons to let standards slip. This is my family business, and my father did ask me to oversee things.”
“Temporarily,” Robbie said pointedly. He raised an eyebrow. “You do know you’re wearing silk in a barn right now.”
“I didn’t realize you knew your fabrics so well,” she replied steadily. “Besides, this is a store. A converted barn.” She gestured to the gleaming exposed beams, the polished hardwood floors they stood on, and the bright white walls that boasted large, colorful framed oil paintings that a local artist had done of the orchard years back. Each wall shared a different season. Winter had always been Britt’s favorite, because it was so quiet and serene.
Robbie’s mouth quirked, but he just lifted his eyebrows. “If you say so. Boss.”
Her nostrils flared. “I’m not your boss.” She was his…nothing. She was nothing to him. He’d made that clear. And he was nothing to her. Just a painful reminder of the past. Like she needed another one.
“Good.” He set his hands on his hips. “So you don’t need to send me away. It’s my job to be here on Sunday mornings, and I don’t intend to go anywhere.”
“Neither do I,” she said.
“Well, that’s news to me,” Robbie said. “Last I heard you couldn’t wait to get out of this town.”
“My home is in Chicago now,” she said, even though she wasn’t so sure about that. Since graduating from college, half the time she was living out of suitcases in extended-stay hotels as much as she was in her apartment, which bore bare bones furnishing and take-out containers instead of groceries in the fridge. Travelling so much for work didn’t leave much time for friends, much less relationships, and other than her neighbor across the hall, an unmarried and childless woman in her late sixties who liked to make pleasant small talk when they bumped into each other outside their doors, she really didn’t have much to return to at all.
But she didn’t have much reason to stay, either.
“Chicago isn’t that far from here,” Robbie said, and Britt opened her mouth to defend herself before deciding against it. She was here to work, not argue, and besides, Robbie was correct. Chicago was over half a day’s drive from Blue Harbor. It wasn’t the distance that was keeping her away.
And he knew it.
Britt glared at him, but even though the words hurt, she knew there was truth to them.
“I visit. I’ve visited,” she snapped. “And I call. All the time. I know everything that’s going on around here.”
He lifted an eyebrow.
After all, her father had failed to mention that Robbie was back in town and had been for more than a year. Or that his wife had died, three months before that. Or that he was now the manager of the business.
Robbie held up his hands. “I’m not here to judge.”
“We both left town, Robbie,” Britt said on a sigh. “We both made our choices a long time ago.”
“And now we’re both back, and we’d better learn to work together, at least temporarily,” Robbie said. He gave her a long look. “It’s what your father wanted.”
Britt narrowed her eyes on that statement. It was what her father wanted, she realized, and why was that, exactly? Her father knew how hurt she had been by Robbie. That he’d chosen to attend college locally, when he could have come away with her.
When he’d let her go, and didn’t even try to stop her.
And when he’d moved somewhere else, after saying he would never leave. He’d moved on. Without her.
“Your father is thrilled to have you here,” Robbie added.
“And how do you know that?” she asked, as she smiled at the stream of people now entering the open door, grabbing baskets on their way.
“Because he talks about you all the time,” Robbie said mildly.
Britt didn’t know how to reply to that. She frowned, wondering just how close her father and Robbie were, and what Robbie knew about her life. Did he know that she was single, woefully so, and that the only consistent men in her life in the past few years were named Ben and Jerry?
“Britt!”
Britt turned away from Robbie to see her cousin Gabby striding toward her, her arms full of sunflowers. As usual, Gabby looked beautiful, with glossy auburn hair and a smile that always lit up her eyes. She’d been in Britt’s grade growing up, and no matter how close they were, Britt couldn’t help but feel sometimes that she was living in her cousin’s shadow.
She embraced her with a big hug, the flowers pressing against Britt’s back, before pulling back to dart her eyes over at Robbie. “Hey, Robbie.”
“Hey, Gabby.” He gave her a friendly smile and something twisted in Britt’s gut. Something that could not be jealousy. That would be ridiculous! Gabby was her cousin. Her beautiful, sweet, and yes, single cousin.
Who lived in Blue Harbor. Like Robbie. Who was also single.
She blinked hard at the stems in her cousin’s hands and forced her attention back to business matters. Comfortable terrain.
“Do you sell these here?” They’d never sold flowers at the market before, but then, as Robbie had pointed out, she hadn’t been to a Sunday market day in as many years as she’d been gone.
“Just some seasonal bouquets,” Gabby explained as she walked over to the table beside the pies and set them down. “I have more to get out of the back of my car. It was my dad’s idea, and Robbie agreed.”
Britt gave him a sidelong glance. Did he now?
“I’ll let you ladies catch up,” Robbie said, backing away. “I should really tend to the guests and make sure everything is in working order, anyway.”
Britt opened her mouth to protest. Shouldn’t she be the one to greet everyone to her family’s market? But he had a point. He’d been working here for over a year now, and the last time she’d helped out, she’d been a teenager.
A teenager very much in love with the man who now turned and walked away from her.
For the second time in her life.
*
Robbie climbed in his truck and flicked on the radio. One of his favorite songs was playing, but it did little to lift his mood. Frustrated, he switched it off and focused on the road ahead.
Keira was spending the day with his parents, who had promised to take her to the beach for the day with their neighbor’s granddaughter. Robbie was all too happy to give Keira the chance to build a friendship and have a little fun, and he had intended to use this time to catch up on work, try to come up with a strategy for paying off that business loan before Britt got her hands in things and had room to comment. Present a case to Dennis Conway upon his return, because the man was set in his ways. And in the pas
t.
Not that Robbie supposed he had room to talk.
Now, with Britt hanging around the orchard, questioning everything from the price of the jams to the cost of the labels, he saw no use in sticking around unless he wanted to end up in an argument with her before dusk.
And from the way things were going, he had a bad feeling that argument could turn personal. And there was no room for personal feelings when it came to Britt Conway, and not because she was his boss’s daughter, either.
He pulled up to the Carriage House Inn, knowing that his older brother, Jackson, would be inside, managing the pub that pulled in as many locals as it did visitors. The inn was one of several in town, each similar in appearance with their white paint and black shutters and quaint furnishings inside. The competition was friendly, because tourists flocked to Blue Harbor from spring through fall. The Winter Carnival at Christmastime was nearly as big of an attraction as the summer festivals and the lure of the scenic lake views and cool, clear water. There was something quiet and charming about the town when the snow fell. It was an escape. From the hustle of daily life.
Or from memories of the past.
Only with Britt back in town, it seemed that some of that past had encroached on his present.
He bypassed the lobby door and instead took the side entrance, directly into the pub which was open to patrons as well as the public. It was a dark room, with scuffed walnut floorboards and black Windsor chairs. The menu options trended toward comfort food, and Robbie’s stomach grumbled as he slid up to the bar, where his brother was polishing wine glasses.
“What can I get you? Cider? Beer?”
Robbie glanced at his watch. It was early afternoon and already the day felt long. “Coffee. And…the burger.”
“Meaning cider and the cheeseburger, extra fries.” Jackson grinned.
Robbie shook his head. “I don’t have the same freedoms as you,” he said. “I’m picking Keira up in a few hours and I’m watching my cholesterol.”
Jackson’s expression sobered, and Robbie almost wished he hadn’t brought it up. Jackson knew the reasons why Robbie wanted to stay fit, and it wasn’t because he was trying to attract the ladies. Far from it. He had a daughter to protect, and he wanted to be there to raise her. And Stephanie’s cancer diagnosis had hit him out of nowhere. She was the healthiest person he knew, taking a daily jog, maintaining a vegetarian diet, and even popping a multi-vitamin each morning with her green tea. If she could get sick, what hope was there for him? And where would that leave Keira? He was all she had left.
“Coffee coming right up,” Jackson said, slinging a towel over his shoulder. He put the order slip into the kitchen and returned with a steaming mug. “So when were you going to tell me that Britt Conway was back in town?”
Robbie looked up at him. “You knew?”
“I hear everything in this place.” Jackson grinned. “But it’s Blue Harbor. Everyone knows everything. And the Conways are a big family around here.”
That they were, with Dennis’s four daughters and Steve’s three. Seven pretty girls. Seven single girls. At least, he assumed Britt was single. Dennis had never mentioned a boyfriend. Sometimes, Robbie wished he wouldn’t bring her up so much, but then he thought about Keira, his heart warming at the mere image of her, and he knew that Dennis was just a proud father. Certainly there wasn’t any more to it than that.
“Everyone was wondering what would happen when Dennis took that fall,” Jackson continued. He helped himself to a cider, ignoring Robbie’s look of passing judgment. “As you said, little brother, I have my freedoms.”
That he did. Unmarried. Unattached. No kids. He was two years older than Robbie, but when it came to life experience, Robbie was ahead. More ahead than he’d planned, he thought, his mind once again trailing back to Stephanie.
“There are some perks to settling down you know,” Robbie advised him, but Jackson just shook his head. Keira had been the greatest gift from the moment he first held her in his arms, bundled in a striped cotton hospital blanket.
He had no idea then just how much he would need her.
“Why would I want to settle down when I’m perfectly fine on my own?” Jackson’s grin was wicked. “While you’re grocery shopping and meal planning, I’m playing pool down at Harrison’s Pub. And when you’re filling in camp forms, I’m down at the water, sitting on my boat with a cold one in my hand and the wind in my hair.”
Robbie raised his eyebrows and took a sip of his coffee. He wasn’t sure why he would encourage his brother to pursue a relationship when he had no plans for one himself.
“You’ve always been the one who seeks out relationships,” Jackson continued.
“Not anymore.” Robbie stiffened his back. He didn’t appreciate the cock of his brother’s eyebrow.
“Think she’s back for good?” Jackson asked and stepped back to lean against the counter. He wasn’t going to let the topic of Britt drop.
Robbie shook his head. “Just until Dennis gets the arm cast off.” Luckily, it was just a fracture and didn’t require more extensive measures.
“You okay with that?” Jackson asked, and Robbie gave him a hard look.
“Of course,” he said, only from the heaviness that landed squarely in his chest, he wasn’t so sure that was true at all.
But Jackson didn’t seem to have any interest in jabbing him on the topic any more today. He jutted his chin, looking at something over Robbie’s shoulder as his mouth curved into a grin. “Well, look at that.”
Robbie didn’t like the sounds of this. “Look at what?” he asked, refusing to turn around and see what—or whom—his brother was talking about.
Jackson’s eyes gleamed as he set down the cider and tapped the space next to Robbie’s coffee mug a few times. “Like I said. Small town. Bound to hear things. Bound to run into people.”
With a grin, he pulled the towel off his shoulder and walked round the bar toward the back table near the window, where Gabby Conway was just taking a seat, across from Britt.
Robbie swore to himself under his breath and wondered if it was too late to cancel that burger. Or too obvious to take it to go.
Jackson, meanwhile, for a man who claimed he had no interest in a relationship, seemed to have no problems chatting up the ladies with the ease of a professional. And that was exactly what he’d call it if Robbie questioned him, Robbie knew all too well. Professional hazard. Part of the job. He was friendly. He was in the business of keeping his customers happy. Especially ones of the female (and attractive) persuasions.
If Britt had seen him, she didn’t react. Her back was to him, her hair still pulled back in a no-nonsense knot. She was still wearing that ridiculous, stuffy outfit. She looked like a different person. And she was a different person.
The girl he used to know was gone. And she’d left a long time ago, long before he’d stopped waiting for her.
His brother caught his eye, and, not much different than he used to do back when they were teenagers and Jackson was up to trouble and thought that Robbie was a little too stiff for his liking, he decided to stir things up, and held his hand, drawing attention to the man at the bar with his coffee, just trying to mind his own business. Just trying to do his thing.
Just trying to get through each day since his world fell apart fifteen months ago.
Jerk. But he couldn’t stay mad at Jackson. Never could. His brother, like his parents, was one of the reasons he’d moved back to Blue Harbor. Sure, his excuse was that Keira needed family, but the truth of it was that he did, too.
He might be a single dad. And he might stay that way. But he couldn’t be completely alone.
Britt looked over her shoulder with curiosity, her annoyance showing the moment their eyes locked. She turned back to Gabby immediately. Jackson watched it all with an amused grin. He claimed the best part of the job was the daily drama that unfolded. Didn’t even need those television sets hanging above the bar.
Right. Forget the burger. Ro
bbie didn’t need it anyway. He should head home. Get some things cleaned up before Keira returned. Make sure he got her registered for camp before all the spots filled up, now that Jackson had reminded him about those darn forms. Summer break was just around the corner.
Keira would come home soon. They could take a bike ride. Clean up the yard and plant those flowers he’d been meaning to get around to. Put down roots. Maybe they’d order a pizza. And then she’d go to bed.
And that was when things got tough.
He slapped some bills down on the counter and, heaving a sigh, finished the last of his coffee and pushed off his stool.
His brother looked at him in surprise as he patted him on the shoulder. “Heading out?”
“I have to get some stuff done before Keira gets home,” he explained, knowing that Jackson would never argue with anything when it came to his niece.
Robbie glanced at the table. Gabby’s face was friendly, in an open smile. Britt, however, was giving him an icy stare.
He tipped his chin. “Ladies. There’s a burger on the way to the table if you’d like to share it.”
“Thanks!” Gabby exclaimed.
Britt’s shoulders relaxed a bit at this, and she gave a reluctant smile.
“You didn’t have to,” she protested.
“It was that or let this guy eat it,” Robbie said good-naturedly, but it hurt him, bantering like this, almost as much it hurt him to argue.
Once, he and Britt had been close. Closer than he was to Jackson. Closer than he’d been to his wife in many ways.
Now, they were strangers. It felt tense. And unnatural. And wrong.
And for reasons he couldn’t describe, it felt lonely.
5
Britt was sitting in her father’s office, a spreadsheet open on the computer screen before her, open files of invoices and bank statements spread out on the desk. The coffee in her mug was cold when she reached for it, and that was the second time that this had happened this morning, since she’d arrived early, wanting to get a start on things before Robbie came into work.