Always The Hero

by Callahan, Kelli

“How’s the coffee coming?” Logan shouted from the bedroom.

  “Great,” I answered back, hoping he didn’t come into the kitchen for another ten—okay—fifteen minutes. A container that said Folger’s sat in the corner along with some white thingies that said filter on it.

  I could do this. Instructions had to be somewhere, right? The ones that belonged to the coffee pot explained how to set it up, so I did that and plugged it in. The clock flashed blue, and I filled the pot up with water and poured it in the back of the machine. Next, I lined the inside with the filter and scooped coffee into it.

  How many scoops?

  Did I eyeball it?

  Two scoops for twelve cups? That didn’t seem like enough, so I added two more and pressed start.

  Steam rose out of the back, and I had to admit, it smelled good. I watched in awe as it started to fill, but it seemed a little light. I wasn’t worried about it. It smelled good, so I had to have done it right.

  “Baby? Are you dressed? The guys texted me and said they were going to be here in about ten minutes.”

  Uh, no, I was not dressed. Not even close.

  Chapter Eleven

  Logan

  I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the coffee didn’t look right. She looked so cute and proud holding that damn coffee cup in her hands as she handed it to me, a big smile on her beautiful face, her eyes lighting up like the damn sky from a lightning storm, and I knew by the way she looked at me, she had no idea how to make coffee.

  And I wanted to say it made it taste better, I really did, but no matter the amount of love and effort that went into it, it still tasted fucking awful. I was going to drink it anyway, and my men were going to drink it, and they weren’t going to say one fucking word about it or so help me, I’d fire them for making my girl feel bad about something she tried to do.

  It was just coffee, but I was proud of her for trying and figuring it out.

  “Hey, Mr. Green!” Jacob shouted as he shut his driver’s side door. Mark. Matt, Doug, and Sam were right behind him, looking worse for wear. All of them looked hungover.

  “Where’s the Joe? I need the biggest fucking cup there is,” Mark grumbled and rubbed his eyes with his fingers.

  “Late night?” I teased. “Can’t slack today. The house needs to be done by Easter.”

  “Not a late night for a good reason,” he said, slapping my shoulder. “And that shouldn’t be a problem. We can get it done. There isn’t much left to do.”

  “Everyone grab a cup of coffee and don’t take a sip of it until you’re out here with me. We have a visitor today. And before you fuck-wits say anything to her, I want to talk to you first,” I warned, staring down each and every one of them.

  Jacob gulp.

  Doug grinned, nodding slowly like he knew what I was hinting at.

  Matt was curious, typical. I could tell he wanted to ask questions. He was the only one out of the group that was nosey.

  Sam marched by me, uncaring, and went to get his coffee.

  I leaned against the truck, crossed my arms, and waited for them to come outside. It would be a beautiful day. It was still early, around nine in the morning, but it wasn’t too hot, and the sun hadn’t come out from behind the clouds yet, which was a blessing because a lot of the work we had would be outside today.

  Each of them came back with a steaming cup of coffee, and they already seemed awake.

  Yeah, they definitely would be after they tried it.

  “Okay, before we get started today, I wanted to give everyone a heads up. I have a guest, her name is Abigail, and she’s mine, so don’t go hitting on her or I’ll fire you without a second thought.”

  They hooted and cheered for me, and Mark with a ‘happy for me grin,’ tilted his mug to drink his coffee, but I stopped him. “Don’t,” I said, and he brought the mug back down. “She had an accident a year ago and only remembers the last year, everything else is gone, so she didn’t remember how to make coffee. It’s horrible. You’ll hate it, but she tried, which is the most important thing, so you fucks are going to drink every last drop of it without a complaint, and when you meet her, you’ll tell her how good the coffee is. I won’t have you assholes ruining her new confidence that she is building.” Every one of them stared in their mugs like something was about to jump out and bite them.

  None of them said a word.

  “Do you understand?” I barked.

  “Yes, Mr. Green!” Jacob said and took a big gulp of it and then spit it out. “It’s hot,” he said.

  “Better be the only reason you spit it out,” I grumbled, watching his face pale. “I’m serious guys. Her memory is serious; she’s fragile right now. She needs support, so I told her she was going to be our intern for the day. She doesn’t even know what nails are, so be patient with her. Everything is new.”

  “That sucks. What happened to her?” Sam asked, and his question took me by surprise since he never really cared to ask anything about my life before.

  “She doesn’t know.”

  “Fuck, that really blows, Logan.” Mark took a sip of his coffee and winced. “Jesus Christ, that is terrible.” He saw the pissed off look on my face and swallowed another gulp. “I feel the love in it. I really do.”

  The guys all chuckled and drank their coffee, wincing with every swallow. I’d have to tell her eventually, but I didn’t have the heart too right now. Abigail’s big doe eyes staring at me with pride came to my mind when she handed me my cup, and there was no way I was going to disappoint her.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I reached into my jeans and took it out. This time it was Maria calling me. Fuck. I couldn’t keep ignoring her, but I didn’t want to talk to her either. With a reluctant sigh, I swiped the green button to the side and answered. I walked to the end of the driveway, kicked the dirt, and sat down.

  “Hello?” I answered, unable to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

  “About time. Where have you been? You’ve been M.I.A for a few days. I miss you being around.”

  All I got from that was that she missed me.

  I didn’t miss her. Not one bit.

  “I’ll be there for Easter, and I’ll be bringing my girlfriend,” I told her, not wanting to hold back the truth of what Abigail was to me. Hell, if I knew it wouldn’t make Abigail run away, I’d whisk her off somewhere and marry her.

  She was perfect for me, absolutely perfect.

  Maria didn’t say anything. Her breathing was static on the other end on the line, and I just sat there too, knowing that what I just said really did put a nail in the coffin with whatever this thing between us was. It wasn’t going to happen and was never going to happen.

  “You have a girlfriend?” she asked me, and I heard the tears in her voice, but a part of me was angry. She had no right to be sad. She had been dating Cortez for a while now, and I never said a word to her. All I ever wanted was for Maria to be happy, and I knew if she were with me, she wouldn’t be.

  It was just one of those things I felt, like Abigail, and if I wanted to be honest with myself, I wouldn’t be happy with Maria either. Abigail needed someone to care for her, and that someone was me. Maria didn’t, she could take care of herself while flipping off the entire male species, and Cortez loved that about her.

  I didn’t.

  “I do,” I said. “She’s it for me, Maria. I can move forward now. I realized I was just a safety net for you, and I deserve more than that. I’m not mad about it because I let you use me. Cortez deserves better, and I wanted to give Abigail my full attention.”

  “Abigail? That’s her name?”

  “You don’t get to talk bad about her when you don’t even know her.” Okay, I was getting pissed off now. “You have no right, Maria. I wish you the best, I really do, but you could be a good friend and wish me the best too.”

  “I can’t do that, Logan. You know…you know how I feel about you. I know things are confusing right now because of Gabriel. I love him, but—”

&
nbsp; She better not fucking say it.

  “— I love you too. It’s possible to love two people at once.”

  I felt her before I even saw her. I turned to the right and saw her sitting on the bench underneath the window. All that separated us was glass. She stared at me, smiled. Guilt ate at me for talking to another woman even if I wasn’t saying anything that would be considered cheating. I only ever wanted to talk to Abigail. She waved at me, her long tendrils of brown hair plopped on top of her head in that purple scrunchie again. Even from here, I could tell they were wet. She must have showered.

  Damn it. I missed it.

  “Hello? Logan? Logan?”

  I sighed, never taking my eyes off Abigail. “You don’t love me. You never have. Now that I’ve moved on from you, you don’t like it, and you feel trapped with Cortez. That’s your problem to figure out, Maria. It isn’t mine. We have never been together, so this should be easy.”

  “Easy? I never said anything to you because Lucy said I wasn’t allowed to date you, but I wanted you, Logan. Don’t do this. We could be good together.”

  No, we wouldn’t. She was scared of giving herself over completely to Cortez. Maria never got close to people. Lucy and I were the only ones that truly got to know her. Life moved on. I had to do what was best for me.

  “Sorry, Maria, but I’m happy, and I want you to be happy for me. It isn’t fair to Cortez that you’re doing this. You either need to be with him or without him. Kind of loving him when he really loves you, it’s cruel.” Maria was a good person, but she had no idea how to handle feelings of the heart. She got confused and scared. She wanted to hold onto to me with both hands but kept me at arms-length, which was exactly what she did to Cortez too. She couldn’t live like that; it would only hurt her in the end.

  “I’m not going to give up on you,” she said. “I’ll break up with Gabriel.” I heard the desperate plea in her tone, begging me not to move on, but it was too late.

  I moved on the moment I saw Abigail in my bedroom.

  “I’m not breaking up with Abigail. I love her. Stay with Cortez; he’ll be good for you.” I hung up the phone before she could say anything else. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt Maria, but the truth had to be said.

  My cell vibrated in my hand, and when I looked down, it was Maria again.

  This isn’t over between us. It can’t be.

  I held the message down and deleted it. Another thing about Maria, she didn’t take rejection well, even when more than half the time she did the rejecting. It took me a long time to understand that I never loved her. I was in love with the idea of her, and the moment I met Abigail, it all became clear.

  Crystal fucking clear.

  I stood up and brushed my ass off, knowing it was pointless since I was about to get dirty from working. She still sat in the window, and I waved my hand at her, telling her to come here right when Godrick’s Land Rover pulled into the driveway.

  Abigail paused, wondering if she could still come out, but I wasn’t about to hide her like some dirty secret.

  “Who’s that?” Godrick asked, slamming the driver’s side door.

  All the guys stopped what they were doing and stood straight, dusting their hands off on their pants, and walking over to greet him.

  “You know the crew,” I said.

  “You know damn well; I’m not talking about their ugly mugs.”

  “Hey,” Mark pouted. “I take offense.”

  “You should. You’re ugly,” Sam snickered at his own joke.

  The inner garage door opened and out came the most beautiful girl in the world. Abigail closed the door, and everyone turned to look at her. She paused, wide-eyed, and afraid.

  “I meant, her.” Godrick grinned at me. “Lucy doesn’t know about her. She’s going to kill you.”

  “She’ll know soon enough. Come on, Abigail,” I urged her to come to me, and she took a small step in her new converse shoes. She didn’t have on a stitch of makeup. The black yoga pants stuck to her legs like a second skin, hugging all the right places, and it made my mouth water. I wanted to peel those suckers right off her and kiss every inch of her. I bet she would mewl and wiggle under me if kissed the soft spot of her hips, right beside her pussy.

  With timid steps, she came forward, pulling on the pink-long sleeve hoody she wore. The guys parted to give her room, and I grinned, holding out my hand for her to take. She had to feel everyone’s eyes on her because her cheeks blushed, and she looked down, slipping her hand in mine. I tugged her to my side and kissed the top of her head. She smelled good, like coconuts, and I wanted to take her to the beach to see her reaction of the ocean. I wanted to experience her toes touching the sand for the first time. She’d understand then why coconut reminded me of the sea.

  “Abigail, this is Godrick Stoneridge, my boss,” I introduced him first, and he held out his hand.

  “Also his brother-in-law,” he said, waiting for her to shake his hand. Shit, he didn’t know about her memory.

  She stared at his hand and glanced up at me. I brought my lips to her ear, “When someone introduces themselves, you usually shake hands.”

  Her lips formed an O, and Godrick gave me a questioning look, lifting a perfectly groomed brow at me. She slid her hand into his finally. “Nice to meet you,” Abigail spoke slowly, the slowest I ever heard her. She must be really nervous with everyone around. I rubbed soothing circles on her back with my hand, hoping it calmed her.

  “This is Mark—”

  “Hiya doin,’” he said.

  “—Sam, Doug, Matt, and Jacob.”

  “—Hey.”

  “—Nice to meet you, little lady.”

  “—Can’t believe a pretty thing like you is with him.” I’d have to give Matt extra work for saying that.

  “Hi, Abigail,” Jacob averted his eyes, not looking at her like the others did.

  Smart man.

  “Hi,” she said in a barely audible whisper and buried her head in my chest.

  I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and held her there. “Godrick, I was hoping Abigail here could be my intern. She’d report to me as her boss. It would be a great way for her to learn and get on her feet.”

  The man might be my brother-in-law, but he was always a great businessman. He glanced at her again, a million questions in his eyes before he nodded. “Minimum wage and I want to talk to you later about it,” he said.

  He wanted to know everything.

  And everything he would get.

  “Why don’t you go inside and make another pot of coffee for the guys, baby?”

  All of them shook their heads no behind her, but she beamed at me, that large smile melting my damn heart. She had a tiny indent on her chin that I just now noticed, and I wanted to lean down and lick it, taste it, kiss it.

  “And I like it a little stronger. Do you mind adding a few more scoops for me?”

  She nodded eagerly and stepped on her tiptoes to give me a kiss.

  Whew, hurt feelings were dodged this time.

  I’d call it a win.

  Chapter Twelve

  Abigail

  The snow was cold against my skin, and the sky was dark, with millions of stars. The air smelled clean, and even with my boots on, my toes were cold. My feet dragged against the ground as I swung on the porch swing. I loved being outside when it was cold. My cheeks tingled, and my lips would be chapped if it wasn’t for my Chapstick.

  “Bell! Come inside. Dinner is ready,” my dad shouted from the kitchen window.

  I inhaled, smelling the homemade pasta sauce and the garlic.

  I loved the smell of garlic.

  I got up from the swing, my boots crunching against the snow, when a twig snapped in the woods, vibrating the silence. I surveyed the backyard, trying my best to see into the trees, but I didn’t see a thing. I only heard the frogs croaking in the trees.

  But then it happened again, another twig snapped.

  I gasped, jerking to my right, peering int
o the thick of the brush, but nothing happened. Nothing was there.

  It must be an animal.

  Ignoring the twist in my gut, I opened the screen door to the house, hit my boot against the small step to get the extra snow off, and made my way inside.

  “It smells so good!” I groaned, inhaling the garlic bread. My father loved to cook, and it showed in every dish he made. “Is it ready?”

  “Almost, just adding my secret ingredient,” he said, bending over and turning his cheek to me. I laughed, placing a quick peck on his scruffy face, and then he kissed the steam coming off the sauce. He had done that since I was little, saying my kiss was the secret ingredient to the sauce, making it taste like love was actually put in it. I knew better now that I was an adult, but it was still nice seeing that after so many years, he did the same thing.

  “Now, it’s ready.” My dad smiled, and his blue eyes shined with happiness. We were the cookie-cutter family. We had a nice home, the picket fence, two cars, and my parents were in a perfect marriage, happily in love.

  My dad popped the cork of the wine and poured two glasses. One for him and one for my mom.

  The doorbell rang, and my dad looked at the time glowing on the stove. He had an odd expression on his face. It made sense. We weren’t expecting anyone and it was late.

  “Honey, can you get that?” my mom yelled from upstairs.

  “Stay here in the kitchen, okay? And stir the sauce so—”

  “—it doesn’t get too thin. I know, dad,” I chuckled and strolled over to the stove, grabbing the spoon in my hand.

  He kissed the back of my head as he headed out of the kitchen and toward the front door. I kept stirring like he wanted, and I heard a slight grunt coming from the door. “Dad, everything okay?”

  No response came.

  “Bell, who is it?” my mom asked me as she came down the stairs.

  “I don’t know. Dad is talking to them now.” I shouted back. I snuck a spoon from the drawer and dipped it in the sauce and tasted it. Mmm, so good.

  A high-pitched, blood-curdling scream echoed off the walls. The spoon fell from my hand and dropped to the floor, sending sauce everywhere. “Mom? Dad?” I asked, taking a step forward as my dad stumbled into the hallway, slumping against the wall, clutching his stomach.