Hawthorne Harbor Box Set

by Elana Johnson

  So she turned away from her reflection, feeling powerful and strong in a way she hadn’t in years. She’d never realized how much of herself she changed to please someone else, alter how they thought about her, or try to impress them.

  But that was the old Jennie. The new Jennie was who she was, and she owned ugly black sneakers that didn’t go with anything in her closet.

  She blew a kiss to Snowball, her puffy white cat who only showed up to express her displeasure with the dietary options, and skipped out her front door to find Bennett with his head bent over his phone in the cab.

  “Someone interesting?” she asked as she opened the door and climbed in. The ride over to her place had been a bit strained, with unspoken “things” between them. Jennie used to be really good at diffusing tension, but it seemed that skill had fled when Kyle did.

  But now, the atmosphere felt lighter. Casual, almost. Bennett looked up from his phone and said, “Just my mom. She’s insisting I come for dinner this weekend, but I keep telling her I can’t.”

  “Why can’t you?” Jennie reached behind her and pulled the seatbelt down.

  “Work,” he said, easing out of her driveway and pointing the truck back toward the Mansion.

  “How often do you work?”

  “Is that a real question?”

  Jennie frowned and forced herself not to play with her hair. “Of course it is.”

  “I’m full-time. We just have to work overnight sometimes and on the weekends.” He cut her a glance as he looked for traffic at a stop sign. “It’s not nine-to-five.”

  “Neither is my job.”

  “No, I suppose not.” He took another peek at her. “Still a night owl?”

  Jennie wanted to fold her arms and deny it. Why, she didn’t know. Instead, she said, “Yes,” as if she were clipping a bullet out from between her teeth.

  “No wonder you were trying to burn your place down at midnight last night.”

  “I wasn’t—”

  Bennett’s laughter silenced her. “I know, Jennie. Jeez. You used to be able to take a joke.”

  His words stung, and the awkwardness that had lingered between them after the hand-holding and her confession about being stood up at her own wedding returned.

  “Look,” he said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “I know.”

  “All right. Who did you call to come get your outlet fixed?”

  Jennie looked away. “Um, Paul, maybe. Enrique.”

  “Oh, not Enrique.”

  “He gave me a quote. I might need to save for a few weeks.” And by that, Jennie meant she’d have to get a loan or ask her parents for money. Because she didn’t exactly have clients beating down her door here in Hawthorne Harbor for a painting.

  “You should call Glauco.”

  “Was he on the list?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell me to call him?”

  “I can’t do that,” he said. “We have a standard list of tradesmen we send out when necessary. I can’t be hooking my buddy up with jobs all the time. I work for the city.” He spoke in a somewhat condescending tone she’d heard before. Loads of times. She’d actually told him once in the past how he sounded, and he’d tried to do better.

  “I’ll call Glauco right now.”

  “You don’t need—” This time she cut off because of his laser glare.

  “He’s the best,” Bennett said as he turned down the drive toward the Mansion. “And you want the best, right?” He searched her face, and Jennie finally let herself look fully at him.

  He was the best man she’d ever had in her life, and she’d thrown him away when she’d turned her back on this town, vowing never to return.

  She nodded, afraid of so many things in that moment, she couldn’t catalog them all.

  Chapter Five

  Bennett waited while Glauco’s line rang, thinking he’d never be able to get the lemony-citrus scent of Jennie out of his truck now that she’d ridden in it for a while.

  “Hey, hombre,” Glauco answered.

  “Hey.” Bennett smiled. “I have an electrical job for you. A kiln that needs a special high-voltage outlet.” He looked at Jennie, and for once, she didn’t immediately cast her eyes somewhere else.

  “And it’s got to be cheap, man,” he said. “We don’t have a lot to pay for it. And not much time.”

  “Electrical?” Glauco asked. “I can do that.”

  “I know you can. That’s why I called you. When can you come see what she’s got and give an estimate for price and timeframe?”

  Glauco started muttering to himself and Jennie leaned toward Bennett. “Tell him I can pay him. It doesn’t have to be super cheap.”

  But Bennett had seen the worry in her eyes. She didn’t own a car, and he knew it wasn’t because she was a fan of public transportation.

  “Tomorrow?” Glauco asked at the same time Jennie whispered something else at him. He held up his hand to get her to be quiet.

  “Morning or afternoon?” Bennett asked.

  “Seven-thirty, man. I gotta job out in Forks the rest of the day.”

  “Seven-thirty tomorrow morning.” He looked at Jennie, who now wore what could only be described at panic on her face.

  Bennett almost started laughing. “That’ll be fine, Glauco. Let me give you the address.” He looked at her expectantly. Just because he’d been there twice didn’t mean he had the numbers memorized.

  She recited them and he said them to Glauco, finally hanging up after saying, “Thanks, man. You’re the best.”

  He faced Jennie and smiled. “He really is the best.”

  “I can pay him.”

  “I didn’t say you couldn’t.” Bennett twisted to get out of the truck.

  “It would be nice if it were cheap,” she said. “I mean, I don’t want to spend more than I have to, right?”

  “Right.” He got out of the truck, his mind turning over what kind of secrets she might have. Uno came running toward him, his tongue lagging out the side of his mouth. He looked so happy and carefree, and Bennett laughed as he scrubbed the dog’s head and ears.

  Jennie, of course, stood at the front of the truck with a horrified look on her face.

  “What?” Bennett asked.

  “Is that your dog?”

  “Nope. He’s the fire house mascot. Aren’t you, buddy?” He scratched down the dog’s back and looked back at Jennie. “I just take him home once a week. Get him out of the fire house. Socialize with other dogs. Train him. That kind of stuff.”

  “Oh, so you’re a dog trainer too?” She practically marched toward the front door of the Mansion like he’d done something wrong.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She whirled on him. “Don’t call me ma’am.”

  A lesser man would’ve fallen back and held up his hands in surrender. Bennett just started laughing. “What? You think you’re too old to be called ma’am? You’re younger than I am, Jennie.” Bennett hadn’t minded the gray that had shown up in his beard over the past year or so. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone.

  Until now….

  The thought crept through his mind like a snake in the grass, and it wouldn’t go away even when he tried to replace it with something else.

  Jennie’s sudden fury faded, and she sighed as she turned around and started toward the Mansion again, slower this time.

  Bennett had so many questions for her. Why was she so mad? What had this guy done to her? Why was she back in town? How long would she be staying?

  But he valued his life—and he wanted to try holding her hand again in the future—so he simply followed her inside silently. When they reached the stairs, he said, “Nice shoes,” in the nicest voice he could muster.

  She glared at him, and he wondered if he’d ever be able to do something right when it came to Jennie Zimmerman.

  * * *

  Hours later, Mabel had insisted they all stop to eat a late lunch. Bennett wasn’t complaining.
He hadn’t seen free meals in his contract, but he wasn’t going to turn down Magleby raspberry punch or the ham sandwich Mabel brought out from the kitchen. He’d attended several events at the Magleby Mansion and the food was always delicious.

  Jennie had worked hard throughout the morning, and Bennett liked her drive and determination. He always had. She did seem different, though, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

  In high school, they’d gotten along great, though their banter sometimes went back and forth as it had today. She’d never been so cold one moment and then boiling hot the next, though. Maybe that was what was different.

  He texted her twin brother, a lieutenant at the police department with, How long has your sister been back in town?

  Jason knew of Bennett and Jennie’s teen relationship. Heck, the whole town knew. Bell Hill too. After all, Bennett was set to be a baseball star, and that kept people’s tongues wagging for what felt like forever.

  Not sure. Three or four months?

  You didn’t tell me. Bennett didn’t put a question mark at the end of the sentence.

  She needed to do things her own way, Jason said, as if that explained everything. Maybe for him, but not for Bennett, who frowned at the message and then at the woman sitting down the stone wall from him.

  They’d talked a little while they worked, but nothing like the trip down memory lane Bennett wanted. He had learned she’d come from San Francisco, from a ritzy art studio there, as she told Lauren a bit about herself and her art. Bennett had been in the same room, in plain sight, so it wasn’t like he was eavesdropping.

  Mabel appeared on the front steps of the Mansion, and she waved one weathered arm at him. She yelled something, but Bennett couldn’t hear what. So he shoved the last of his delicious ham sandwich in his mouth and got up, crumpling the paper in his fist.

  He approached Jennie and saw she’d finished her lunch too.

  “Want me to take this trash?” He bent to retrieve it before she could answer.

  “Oh, sure,” she said, the pleasantries back in her voice. Bennett didn’t allow himself to get his hopes up. After all, she’d probably quip at him before the day finished.

  He walked toward Mabel, who pointed out in the fields. Bennett followed her finger to find Uno and Gemma in a face-off with a herd of horses.

  Fear curdled his blood, and he dropped the trash he’d been carrying. Hawthrone Harbor didn’t have many problems with the wild herd, but they were spotted a few times a year.

  Rumored to be very territorial and extremely wild, the public had been told never to approach the horses.

  Bennett didn’t care. He wasn’t going to let his dog and his mascot get trampled. He marched down the graveled road and toward the fields on the south side of the Mansion, calling for Uno and Gemma to “Come! Come on, guys! Let’s go!”

  Gemma, the bigger of the two dogs, and clearly the wimpier, tucked her tail and ran toward him.

  “I’ve got her,” Jennie said from Bennett’s side, and he almost tripped over his own feet to find her there.

  “You don’t even like dogs.”

  “Doesn’t mean I want to watch one get stampeded.”

  Bennett received Gemma with a pat and a quick stroke, before latching onto her collar and passing her to Jennie. “Thank you,” he said, deep appreciation welling in him.

  He focused on Uno again, the dalmatian steadfastly refusing to budge though the big, black-coated leader of the pack pawed the ground with his hoof. Didn’t he know that hoof could cause some real damage?

  “Uno!” he called again, but the dog didn’t even flinch. If only he hadn’t finished his sandwich before knowing the canines were in trouble.

  Bennett slowed his walk almost to a crawl, some of the horses making minute shifts in their position too. His phone chimed, but he didn’t move to check it.

  “Whoa, now,” he said as his boot touched the longer grass of the field beyond the borders of the Mansion’s estate.

  Guilt pumped through him that he hadn’t been paying more attention to where the dogs were, what they were doing. He’d been so caught up in Jennie. The sight of her back in town. The smell of her in the air around him. The hope that maybe, just maybe, they might be able to have a second chance at something meaningful.

  Bennett almost scoffed. He didn’t even want something meaningful with another person…did he?

  He held up both hands to show the horses he meant no harm. That was universal language, wasn’t it?

  I come in peace.

  Both hands up.

  From somewhere in the herd, a horse whinnied, and that made Uno flatten to the ground. He could probably run circles around these horses, but Bennett didn’t want to take any chances. He couldn’t even imagine showing up at Fire House Two in a couple of hours with an injured mascot.

  “Uno,” he said when he was within fifteen feet of the dog. “Come on, boy. Let’s go.”

  He turned toward Bennett just as an ear-splitting whistle rent the air.

  Instinctively, Bennett turned toward it, back behind him, taking his eyes off the wild horses.

  Jennie stood at the top of a little hill, just west of the Mansion. Even as he watched, she lifted her fingers to her mouth again and let loose with another whistle. What she was trying to accomplish, Bennett didn’t know. Maybe she wanted him and the fire house dog to get trampled.

  The horses launched into motion, the thundering of their hooves shaking the ground beneath Bennett’s feet and forcing his attention back to them.

  He barely had time to comprehend the situation in front of him when Uno streaked past him.

  He took off after the dog, pumping his arms and legs as fast as he could, not daring to look back to see if the leader of the wild horses was bearing down on him.

  Jennie waved her arms over her head, almost like you’re good, you can stop. And while Bennett thought he understood what that meant, he kept running anyway.

  The noise of the herd faded and he chanced a glance over his shoulder to find them racing in the opposite direction from him, obviously not interested in a fight today.

  He slowed, his chest burning and his muscles screaming that they hadn’t warmed up properly and these were the wrong shoes to be wearing while running.

  Uno’s wet nose touched his hand, and he stroked the dog absently, trying to regain his composure and his temper before he faced Jennie.

  Too bad she arrived at his side only seconds later. She pushed out her breath and watched the horses fade from sight.

  “What the devil was that?” Bennett barked.

  Chapter Six

  “That was called helping.” Jennie glared at him, her blood on fire and not just because she’d almost witnessed someone get hurt.

  Not just someone, her mind whispered though she didn’t have time to entertain ridiculous fantasies right now. Bennett.

  “I don’t think you know the definition of helping.” He stomped away from her, the dalmatian he obviously cared so much about going with him, sticking right to his side.

  “It broke them up, didn’t it?”

  “I almost got trampled.”

  “Please.” She scoffed. “I knew they wouldn’t follow you.”

  “You did?” He spun back to her, his beautiful face not wearing any kind of mask now. Oh, no. His anger and frustration were plain to see. “How on Earth would you know that?” He didn’t wait for her to answer, but turned and marched away again.

  She followed much slower, because she didn’t have a proper answer. So while annoyance filled her that he hadn’t even said thank you, she supposed he did have a point.

  “Fine,” she said when they reached the Mansion again. “I assumed.”

  He tossed a broom in the back of his truck. “Next time, assume with someone else’s life.” He glared at her and moved around the truck to open the passenger door. “Load up, Uno.”

  The dog obediently jumped into the cab, and Jennie catalogued the tenderness in Bennett’s voice
despite the storm still raging on his face. “Where’s Gemma?”

  “I put her inside.”

  “The Mansion?” Panic paraded through those dark eyes now, and he started toward the doors at a jog.

  “Mabel said it was fine,” she called after him, wondering if she could ever do anything right when it came to Bennett. He hadn’t been wrong when he’d said she didn’t like dogs. Especially big ones, and Gemma was a giant.

  But she was gentle, and she’d done exactly what Jennie had commanded her. So maybe she wasn’t all bad.

  A moment later, Bennett came out again, his apologies to Mabel loud enough for Jennie to hear. A twinge of regret stole through her as she watched him soften, lower his voice, smile, and embrace the older woman.

  She caught a snippet of his conversation when he said, “…tomorrow afternoon,” and turned to get in his truck.

  He glanced at her, and she suddenly knew what it was like to have someone look at her but not really look at her. Not see her. And she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it one little bit.

  Bennett put Gemma in the truck and climbed in behind her before starting the ignition and driving away in a scattering of gravel.

  Jennie watched him, a frown pulling through her whole body. Her muscles ached, and her head hurt, but she hadn’t complained once. She did whatever he or Lauren said, and she answered the other woman’s questions even with Bennett’s listening ears within range.

  “Are you coming back in, dear?” Mabel asked, and Jennie startled away from the road where she couldn’t even see Bennett’s truck anymore.

  “Yes, ma’am,” she said. “If there’s work to be done.”

  “Oh, there’s plenty of work to do.” Mabel looked down the lane too, and added, “He’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to finish up. He just had to go to work.”

  Like Jennie had asked. Like she cared where Bennett would be or what he was doing. But as she followed Mabel back inside to resume working, Jennie realized she did care. Very much.

  “Can I work tomorrow too?” she asked before they could climb the stairs and be joined by Lauren.