Small town romance boxed set

by Goodwin, Emily

  “Thanks, Jackie.”

  I’ve given up telling her to stop calling me that. I finish eating then go upstairs and shower. Charlie rides shotgun on the way over, sticking his head out the window the entire way.

  I ran into Nora yesterday. Yeah, she lives next door, but the chances of coming face-to-face with her again have to be low. Still, I look at the Kellers’ house before I get out, remembering all those times before school when I’d find Nora sitting on the porch steps, eyes closed with her face turned up to the sun.

  My chest tightens, and I kill the engine and get out, taking hold of Charlie’s leash just in case he decides to be stupid and run away again. There is a large box on my parents’ porch. At least Mom wasn’t lying. I pick it up—it really is too heavy for her to carry—and take it in through the garage, sticking it in the backseat of her car.

  The cool air feels so fucking refreshing when we step inside. Veronica is at the kitchen table, finishing a smoothie. She’s dressed with her hair done, which is out of character for her. It’s not even ten AM yet and she’s on summer vacation.

  “Hey.” She looks up from her phone for half a second. “And hi, Charlie.” He sticks his nose in her lap, demanding attention. “I saw you yesterday, goof.” She sets the phone down to pet him. “You act like you haven’t seen me in ages.”

  “He’s not that lucky.” I go right to the fridge, even though I ate before I came.

  “Shut up.” She pets Charlie and then gets up to fill his empty water bowl. “Did you see Nora?” she asks quietly.

  “I saw her.”

  “Did you talk to her?”

  “Yeah.” I take a box of leftover pizza to the table.

  “And?” Veronica sloshes water all over the floor and grabs a towel from the counter to wipe it up.

  “There’s nothing to tell. So stop bringing it up.”

  “Then why do you sound so annoyed?”

  “Because I am,” I say a little too loudly. “She doesn’t want anything to do with me, okay?”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Yes, I do. She fucking told me to leave her alone.”

  Veronica’s eyes wide. “Oh. Shit. I’m…I’m sorry.”

  I shake my head, not hungry anymore. “Just drop it, okay?”

  “Okay.” She throws the towel into the laundry room and sits at the table. “She doesn’t have a boyfriend. I saw her this morning and asked.”

  “What part of drop it don’t you understand?”

  “Just thought you should know.” She gets her purse from the coat closet. “I’m going to the lake with the girls. I saw Alex there yesterday, and I bet he’ll be there again today. Want to come?”

  “No. I have to work.”

  “What are you working on now?”

  “Zombie mermaids. Plus a couple logos.”

  “You have the coolest job. And you get to work from home. It’s not fair.”

  “I put in my time,” I say, reminding her of the shitty job I worked for several years while in school and then after I graduated, designing ads for asshole clients at a marketing firm. It was so far from the dark digital art I did as a hobby, and for once I got a little lucky when a small publisher reached out and asked if I ever did cover design. I took a chance and quit my job, and barely got by for half a year. Then the small publisher got bought out by a bigger one, and instead of firing me and replacing me with an existing digital artist, they put me on full-time.

  “Can I bring Charlie?’ Veronica asks before she walks out the door. “There was a cute guy at the lake yesterday with a black lab. It would be a good way to start a conversation.”

  “It’s too hot for him to be outside, and you are not pimping out my dog.”

  “I’m not pimping him out, I’m using him to pimp myself out.”

  “And that’s better?”

  She makes a face and rolls her eyes. “Fine. I can get a better tan if I’m not dealing with a dog anyway.” Her face softens, and she takes her hand off the doorknob. “I’m really sorry, Jack. I want you to be happy, and I thought maybe she…I’m sorry.”

  It’s easy to fault my sister with being immature. She hasn’t changed much since graduating high school, though I’m not sure I have either. But she cares and is the only person who knows both sides to the story. She was friends with Nora too.

  “I’m all right.”

  Veronica nods. “Sure. If you change your mind, I’ll be at the lake all day.”

  “Okay. I’ll text you if I do.” I lean back, picking pepperonis off the pizza to give to Charlie. Mom comes downstairs in a whirlwind, rushing around to get to work on time. Running late is one of the few traits she passed down to Veronica.

  “Hey, Jackie.” She comes over and kisses the top my head. “Thanks for coming over and putting the shelf in my car. I feel like a wimp for not being able to lift it. Ronnie and I even tried picking it up together.”

  “No problem.”

  “Sorry if I woke you.”

  “You didn’t. I was already up and ran five miles before you called.”

  “It’s too hot to be running. You’re going to get overheated.”

  “I’m fine, Mom. And I’m gonna hang out here and enjoy your air conditioning for a while, so coming over isn’t a big deal.”

  “Good idea. Who would have thought you’d need AC at your place?”

  “Yeah, it’s weird. The heat won’t last much longer though.”

  “Let’s hope not. Dad said the heat is making people irritable. They’ve been busy with petty cases all week.”

  I close the pizza box and push it to the middle of the table, out of Charlie’s reach. “My laptop is in the car. I need to get it before it melts.” I follow Mom out, and she hugs me goodbye. I’m only half an hour away, but I don’t come here often. I like the solitude of my cabin, and work keeps me busy. I’m not happy, but what I told Veronica is true. I am all right, and when I think about it, I can see how I’ve grown over the last four years.

  I’ve lost the love of my life, but I’m alive. I’m trying to act like it. She taught me that. It took a long time for me, but I make a point to be grateful for what I have. My life. My health. My art. Charlie. A roof over my head and a family that just won’t give up on me, no matter how annoying their persistence is.

  I crack the windows in the Jeep, hoping it’ll help to keep it cool and grab my computer. I’m walking up the sidewalk to go inside when Nora comes out of her house. She freezes, then sidesteps back toward the porch.

  “Nora,” I start, angling my body to hers. “Wait.”

  She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t turn and run either. I cross the yard, stopping a foot from her. Gold streaks her dark hair, hanging in loose waves around her pretty face. She’s not wearing makeup—or a bra, and it’s killing me to keep my eyes off the slight outline of her nipples through her pale pink tank top. Nora was always well endowed, but I’m certain her breasts are bigger.

  “Yeah?” She pulls her hair over her shoulder.

  I swallow hard and look into her eyes. The pain is back, deep in my chest. I embrace it, feel it, knowing it’s there by my own doing. “I’m not going to invite you over or even ask you to sit and talk with me. I just want to tell you I’m sorry.”

  “I will.”

  “You will what?”

  “Sit and talk with you.”

  “Really?” I wasn’t expecting that.

  “Yeah. It’d be nice to catch up.” She motions behind her. “Want to sit on the porch?”

  “In this heat?”

  Nora laughs, and fuck, I’ve missed that sound. “It’s not that hot, you know.”

  “Hey, it is for us mountain folk. I didn’t put an air conditioning unit in the cabin because I didn’t think I’d need it. I’m hanging out over here for Charlie’s sake.”

  She smiles again. “For Charlie?”

  “Yeah. Just him. The heat doesn’t bother me at all,” I say sarcastically, making her laugh again.

 
; “I told Stephanie to turn the air off.” She turns, walking back up the steps of her porch. “It’s such a waste of energy.”

  “Spoken like a true Berkeley grad.”

  “Hey now,” she says playfully. “Actually, that stereotype is pretty accurate.” We sit on the porch swing, keeping a careful distance between each other. “It’s really not bad in the shade.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “So,” she starts, pushing off the porch with her feet. “You didn’t get a degree in criminal justice?”

  “Nope. I switched to art and narrowed it down to graphic design by the time I graduated.”

  “I’m glad. It suits you.” She blinks and looks away. “Or it did.”

  “It does.”

  “What do you do?”

  “I design and create book covers for a publisher.”

  Her green eyes widen. “Really?”

  “Yeah, and I do other stuff on the side. Mostly to stay busy. I like to build things and have been getting into wood carving lately. Kinda random, I know. Turns out I’m good with my hands.”

  “I could have told you that,” she says with a cheeky grin. Is she flirting with me?

  “What about you?”

  She pushes the swing back once more then brings her feet up. “I have a degree in civil engineering, and just completed an internship in design and construction.”

  “Sounds like a bit of Mimi rubbed off on you after all.”

  She smiles. “It did for sure, though instead of making things pretty, we focus on making them safe.” Her gaze goes to my side. “I was actually working on a project centered on school safety in case of a shooting.”

  “That’s a good thing to work on.”

  She nods. “It was pretty important to me. I hope to intern with the same company again while I go for my master’s next year.”

  “They’ll hire you in a heartbeat once you’re done.”

  “I can only hope. They don’t have room for a full-time employee right now.” She wrinkles her nose. “But that’s okay. Graduate school can be intense.”

  “I’m guessing you have a place there, right?”

  “Yeah. I have an apartment with Becca. And Binx.”

  “He must like being back with you.”

  “Yes, but I think he misses how much Becca overfed him.”

  “Did Becca get into Berkeley?”

  “No, she took a few classes at a community college nearby for a while. It was close enough living together made sense.”

  That was supposed to be us, sharing a home and both going to school. She rakes her fingers through her hair. “How did you end up in the haunted cabin?”

  “It got put up for an auction two and a half years ago. There was a rumor going around about a corporation buying it and the property around Ridge Road to open up another ski resort, but something fell through with the zoning at the last minute. I was the only one who bid on it.”

  “That’s incredible. But…why?”

  I shrug. “It’s quiet and lets me be the social recluse everyone expected me to become.” I meant it as a joke, but it fell flat. Nora’s brows come together.

  “Jack.” She speaks my name with such emotion, turning to face me. Her hand lands on top of mine, and I flip mine over and lace our fingers. “I never—”

  “I know. You were the only one who’d look at me and see a normal person.”

  “You are a normal person.”

  I tighten my grip on her hand. “I never told you this before.” I look away, thinking telling her is a bad idea.

  “Told me what?”

  “I used to think I had this…this darkness inside of me. I thought it came over me after Jason died, but that day the guy broke into the house I realized it was inside me the whole time. I didn’t break up with you just so you’d go to Berkeley. I broke up with you because I didn’t want to make your world dark too. You were my light at the end of the tunnel, and I couldn’t risk dimming you in any way.”

  Her lips part and she squeezes my hand. Her eyes convey everything I’m feeling inside, and I want nothing more than to kiss her and forget the world.

  “That’s not how darkness works,” she says softly. “If the light is on in the hallway and you open the door to the dark room, the darkness doesn’t come out. The light goes in. It fills the dark spaces. You wouldn’t have—” She cuts off suddenly, closing her eyes for a beat the way she does when she’s trying not to cry. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For doing what you thought was best. I like to imagine it wasn’t easy for you either.”

  “It wasn’t, and don’t thank me. I messed up and I’d give anything to go back and make things right. I’ve missed you every single day for the last four years.” I take my hand from hers and cup her face.

  “I’ve missed you too,” she whispers. “But we can’t go back.”

  “I know.” I move my head back and look into her eyes. “I know,” I repeat, and she gets it. A tear rolls down her cheek. I brush it away. My heart speeds up and I lean in slowly. Nora doesn’t move away. Her eyes close and her tongue slips out ever so slightly, wetting her lips.

  And then she jerks her head back. “We shouldn’t.”

  “We shouldn’t have done most of the things we did.”

  She smiles with tears in her eyes. “Yeah, that is true.”

  I run my hand through her hair. “I guess I’ll go. Thanks for, uh, talking to me.”

  “It was nice. Maybe we can do it again.”

  It takes effort to keep from physically cringing. Nora just put me in the friend zone. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

  She puts her hand on mine, fingers lingering for a moment before standing and going inside. I let out a breath and get up, unable to shake the feeling that Nora was never meant to be mine.

  Chapter 27

  Nora

  I can’t get in the house fast enough. The door slams behind me and I lean on it, heart in my throat. Every nerve inside me is on fire, every fiber of my being longs to turn around and go to Jack.

  I miss his touch. I miss his lips on mine. I miss his body on top of me, and I miss the tight feel of his cock inside me. I miss him.

  Surrendering to him would be easy. It would be fun and very enjoyable…for the time being. But then what? I’ll go back up north, and he’ll stay here. The pain I’ve tried to bury will resurface and I’ll have to get over him all over again.

  And I don’t want to do that.

  I want to enjoy my life. I want to get a job and leave my mark on the world. I’m supposed to change the world after all, not let it change me.

  Stephanie’s voice echoes through the house. I pull myself together and find her in the sunroom talking on the phone. All the windows are open, and the overhead fan is on high.

  “Call me anytime, it’s never a problem, I promise.” She pauses while the person on the other end of the phone talks. “All right. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Is everything okay?” I ask and enter the room once she hangs up the phone.

  “It will be. A friend took in her first foster and is having a rough time.” Stephanie frowns. “The girl was sexually abused by her stepfather. Sometimes, children don’t know how to handle their pain and act out. Melissa, my friend, is having a hard time dealing with the situation.”

  “That’s so sad. The poor kid. And I feel for your friend.”

  “I was her mentor before she got approved to foster. She and her husband are wonderful, caring people who will provide a safe and supportive home, but I had the feeling the whole time she was hoping to adopt the first kid they took in. You hear about the bad but there’s always this hope in the back of your mind things will be different for you because you can love this kid.”

  “Is the stepdad in jail?” I ask.

  “Not yet. The trial got pushed back.”

  “It’s terrible, isn’t it?” I sit on the couch next to Stephanie. “Get caught smoking pot in a state where it�
�s not legal and you get locked up for years and years. But you do something so damaging to a child and you’re free until things finally go to trial.”

  “It’s messed up, and it’s not right. It kinda makes me want to become a vigilante and kick some scumbag ass in the middle of the night.”

  “That’s not a bad idea, actually.”

  “You do it for me. You’d look better in a tight leather suit than me.” She pats my hand. “We both know the world isn’t fair. The best we can do is take care of these children while we can and pray assholes like that get their ass pounded in jail.”

  “Multiple times. And throw in a shanking or two.”

  Stephanie nods. “At least two.” Her phone vibrates from a text. “That’s Melissa again. Oh, she wants me to come over.”

  “Go,” I say, knowing the only reason she wouldn’t is because I’m here. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

  She pats my knee. “I know. We love you, Nora.”

  “I love you guys, too.” And I do. Stephanie and Doug have filled a weird role in my life. They’re not my parents, and they don’t try to be. But they’re too much like parents to be my friends. It took until my second semester my freshman year to come to the realization they don’t need a label.

  Foster parents.

  Guardians.

  Adoptive parents.

  Family.

  In the end, what they are doesn’t matter. It’s who they are that count.

  “Well, I’m going to head to the grocery store now then, so I’ll have something to feed you and Doug for dinner. You’re welcome to join if you want, but I won’t be offended if you don’t tag along.”

  “I don’t feel like putting on a bra,” I admit.

  “I understand completely.” She stands, stretching her arms over her head. “Do you want to go to lunch later?”

  “I’d love to.”

  Stephanie leaves through the garage, and I go to the front to lock the door. The fear diminished after the break-in, but the paranoia never did. I keep the doors locked at all times.

  I shoot the deadbolt into place and consider shutting the front windows. It would take minimal effort to push through the screen. When I go to the window in the living room, I see Jack’s black computer case on the porch.