Saffron and Holland Corbin were twins and although there was no blood relation they were still family. We were all family. A lot of kids that had been raised together in this small town.
The door swung open before Eli could touch it. “Let the party begin! I’ve arrived!” Saffron announced herself as she walked in the room hoisting two cheap bottles of wine. She was nineteen and had bought them. No telling how she did that. Larissa wouldn’t buy them for her.
“God help us all,” Jude mumbled.
I just smiled. This was it. What I’d been missing all this time.
Nate Finlay
I MADE UP an excuse to stay away from the shop and not complete Octavia’s “to do” list. My excuse would run the rest of the week. To compensate for my betrayal, I unpacked her things at the new house Octavia had purchased. It was beachfront property and massive. More house than she needed, even with me visiting, because she had no friends in the area. No reason to entertain. Octavia required luxury and apparently, this was it. She wouldn’t be your typical small business owner that struggled to make ends meet.
By Friday night I was ready to have a drink and relax. I had to face the shop again. While Bliss York wasn’t there. I’d work Saturday and Sunday to get it done. But tonight, I was going out. There was a club in town that played live music, a place where locals went. I wasn’t in the mood for the touristy shit, which was most of this town.
Octavia hadn’t called to check on things. She knew I would handle anything that came up and that should make me happy. Instead, it greatly annoyed me. Didn’t women normally text or call their fiancés? Wasn’t that fucking normal procedure? When did I become so needy?
I grabbed the keys to my truck and headed out the door. I should fucking be thrilled she wasn’t clingy. Matter of fact it was one of the things that initially attracted me to her. Suddenly that was an issue?
No it wasn’t. I needed a whiskey.
The lights outside the club flashed LIVE BAY repeatedly. This was it, the rumored spot, the place I’d heard all about. I could hear the music pumping through the speakers with my truck doors shut and windows rolled up. Hell, I already liked it.
Parking was easy since the usual summer crowd was yet to arrive in masses. We needed something like this in Rosemary Beach, or we’d needed something like this. Seeing as I wasn’t settling down there I don’t guess it mattered now.
I remembered seeing this place as a kid. Bliss said it was popular. Some friends of her father owned LIVE BAY. The guy had once played here or something. I couldn’t remember the details. They had whisky and that was my only concern.
While heading towards the entrance I tried not to think about Bliss, which meant I was thinking about her. That summer. Keeping my distance had helped, I think. Truth was, after a week of avoiding her, I wanted to just tell her the truth. Be done with the whole damn thing. That seemed like the best idea.
The only problem with that was that I was afraid I’d like what I was getting to know. What was now in front of me daily. That the woman she’d become would be twice as appealing as the girl she’d been back then. I didn’t have room in my drama free life for the chaos that would create. And I wanted to keep it that way.
The band started with a cover of a Jax Stone song and I almost turned and walked out. I didn’t much care for him. Even less for the music he wrote. Then again it was only one song and I needed a fucking drink.
“Hello Nate,” the sweet familiarity of that voice rang in my ear, because I’d hid from the voice all week. I almost cursed when I turned to reply.
She was here. Of course, she was. She knew the owner. She’d told me all about it, but that was years ago. I knew she might be here. Deep down I’d thought about it. I couldn’t pretend like I hadn’t.
“Hey,” I said with a smile, that I knew didn’t reach my eyes. It was more forced than anything else, but I had to make some effort.
“I didn’t know you were still in town,” she said. “I had a question for Octavia and didn’t want to bother her. Could you stop by tomorrow? It’s a shipment that appears to be doubled.”
She was all business. No flirting. No looking at me with those sorrowful eyes wanting me to remember. She was over it. Moved on from the shock.
“Yeah, I can. What time?”
“B! Get your ass over here! Tell this sonofabitch I can drink ten tequilas and still walk a straight line!” The male voice yelled out from a table nearby. I glanced over and saw three guys. One was Eli and a couple of women I’d never seen before. They were all laughing at the man who was demanding Bliss’s confirmation of his ten-shot tequila stroll. She wouldn’t help him out. She shook her head and denied his boasting.
“I’m not doing it. You’ll have to prove it!”
The guy threw his hands into the air. “What the fuck, B! Damn baby, I thought you had my back!”
She rolled her eyes and looked at me. “I better get over there before Micah convinces Jimmy to do what he’s saying he can do. Because I happen to know the last time Jimmy tried it he slept it off in jail. See you tomorrow. Whenever. I’ll be at the shop all day.”
She didn’t wait on me to respond before heading back to the table. The guys who weren’t Eli looked older than her. The one threatening to drink ten shots couldn’t be younger than thirty. Bliss apparently ran with a mature rough crowd, which I didn’t expect from her.
One of the girls at her table had her eyes locked on me. I could feel it, but I didn’t look her way. I’d caught enough of a glimpse to know she was tall, built well, and barely dressed. This told me she liked the attention. I had no time for that.
“Bring your friend with you!” the female called out, her words slurring and finishing with pauses. She was slobbering drunk and brave.
I didn’t hear Bliss’s response, but I watched her say something to the girl. It made her frown and turn back to the group at the table and I was left alone.
The older guy put his arm around Bliss’s shoulders. She laughed loudly, closing her eyes. I hadn’t seen that in years. I then realized I missed that laugh. It hadn’t changed. It was the same.
Before they all saw me watching and inspecting I headed for the bar to get a drink, keeping my back turned safely away, pretending she wasn’t there. I was curious to see her out with friends and wanted to know about her life. Lying to myself was pointless. She lived here. Here was familiar. Bliss had her own set of friends. I wasn’t part of that and it stung. My God, I’m losing my mind.
“You know Bliss?” The bartender was an attractive female and had her large boobs barely covered by her top. She was definitely something to look at. I figured it made for good tips. I would guess she was about my age.
“She works for my fiancé,” I said, although that wasn’t how I saw her.
She nodded. “Good girl. One of the best. Your fiancé is lucky,” she responded.
“Good to know. I’m sure Octavia sensed that before she hired her for the shop.”
“Dakota! Ten shots of tequila!” The guy with Bliss yelled to her. “This thing is going down!”
The bartender sighed then spoke. “No, Jimmy it’s not. The last time you tried that shit Preston had to bail you out. Before your dad got wind and killed you.”
“Shiii-iit!” was his response. “I was younger. Now I’m grown. Why can’t y’all just forget that?”
The bartender looked at me. “He was twenty-five when it happened. Jimmy is a hell raiser, same as his brother. What can I get you?”
“Maker’s Mark,” I replied, and though I didn’t want to, I let myself glance back at the table. I didn’t see the guy called Jimmy. I saw Bliss staring right at me. She jerked her gaze away when I caught her, but the smile that touched my lips, was as genuine as the whiskey I sipped.
Bliss York was curious.
Fucking hell.
Bliss York
“YOU SHOULD PROBABLY stop looking at your boss’s fiancé as if you want to eat him.” Saffron spoke then leaned into me, giggling and pinching my arm.
The guys shouldn’t let her drink. For starters, she was underage. Following that she was a terrible drunk. Annoying to say the least. Her twin Holland wasn’t with her tonight. Probably home studying or reading. They were identical in looks and height, but complete opposites in the way they lived.
“I’m not looking at him,” I lied.
She cackled loudly and snorted. Did I mention she was an annoying drunk? Her dad owned the place. He was in my parents’ circle of friends. Her dad was famous in a small town. Krit Corbin once played on that stage. But when he married Blythe he saved his money and bought the place outright. From then on he stayed off the road. The road wasn’t for married people. At least that was what dad had said.
If he walked in the door and saw Saffron drunk, there would be hell to pay. She stayed in trouble. So, the guys all watched her and kept her from doing anything additionally stupid. More so than she’d already done. I knew she wouldn’t make it five short steps in Nate’s direction before Eli blocked her. Micah would then carry her out on his shoulder like he was toting a sack of feed.
“I’m sorry Bliss, you’re ogling his ass. Is that a more accurate description?”
I had been looking at him. Acting like I wasn’t, was pointless. Besides, Saffron was obliviously drunk and wouldn’t remember this. I didn’t think she’d remember this. Saffron, PLEASE don’t remember this.
“Eli, let’s dance,” I said. I wasn’t having this conversation with ‘Saffron the drunk’ anymore. Though she wouldn’t give it a break. “Yeah! Eli go dance with her! Then she’ll stop staring at Mr. Sexy As Hell guy over there at the bar!” I winced as she yelled her words just as the music died down.
“Someone needs to cut her off.” I didn’t mumble. She didn’t care.
“Already have,” Micah assured me. “Dakota has been serving her straight club soda for the past hour and a half. Larissa isn’t working tonight but Dakota knows the rules when it comes to Saffron.”
Saffron frowned. “That’s not fair. I know you’re discussing me.”
“Life’s a bitch sweetheart,” Micah replied, which made Jimmy burst into laughter. Someone needed to serve him club soda. I didn’t care if he’d turn thirty on his birthday. It was past time Jimmy found a woman and settled into a pattern. Calmed down, stop living in bars. His older brother Brent had straightened up after marrying Chloe. Jimmy had no interest in that. Didn’t seem to be heading in that direction.
Eli was looking back at the bar toward Nate as he walked over to me. His forehead was drawn with concern. He still hadn’t met the adult Nate. He hadn’t seen him since that summer. It had been long enough for Nate to forget so I figured Eli had to.
I hoped Eli had forgotten. I knew the others hadn’t seen Nate but from a distance that summer. Micah was the only one other than Eli and Larissa that got a good look at the sixteen-year-old boy he had been. He was a man now and although I recognized him I felt fairly sure they wouldn’t.
“Who is that?” Eli asked.
He would remember. I knew him well enough to know Eli hadn’t forgotten.
“The fiancé of my boss.”
“Why does he look familiar?”
And there it was. Eli’s excellent memory.
“Because it’s Nate Finlay,” I admitted. I then waited for Eli’s response.
He paused and studied me a moment. When his eyes widened, they were big. “The guy from that summer,” he whispered, before looking back at Nate. “He’s Octavia’s fiancé?”
“Yes.” Now he was going to ask me why I didn’t tell him this at the store. I counted to ten in my head and I knew what was coming next.
“Why didn’t you tell me who he was?”
I shrugged. “He didn’t remember. I didn’t want him to hear me. You know I need that job.”
Again he looked back at Nate. “He remembers.”
I started to argue the point when Eli slipped his hand through mine. “Let’s go dance,” he said.
I wanted to ask him how he knew Nate remembered. To go beyond what he’d already said but I needed to let it go. Besides, I was doing my best to pretend that Nate wasn’t Nate. Not the Nate that I knew, just some other guy who happened to be known by that name, and was marrying the woman I worked for. That was all I knew how to do.
We danced two songs before Micah cut in and then I danced a few times with him. Eli came back and interrupted us. We needed to get Saffron home.
“Can’t take her home like that. Blythe will fucking shit.” Micah spoke and he was right. Her mother would not be happy. But then again, Saffron, who was a lunatic, rarely did something to please them.
“She can stay with me,” I told him.
Eli scoffed. “Not sure that’s a good idea. I don’t want Krit Corbin on my ass. If he finds out she’s drunk and being hidden . . .”
“Jimmy should take her. She’s his cousin,” Micah interrupted.
Seriously? When was Jimmy ever responsible for anyone but himself? “That’s a terrible idea,” I responded. “Might as well throw her in a ditch.”
Eli nodded in agreement. “Can we call Holland for help?” Poor Holland had to bail her twin out of trouble on an average of once a week. I hated to do this to her, but there wasn’t any other choice.
“Yeah, I’ll call her,” I said.
Both guys seemed happy about that. I left them to head back to the table where my phone was tucked away in my purse. I tried really hard not to look at Nate as I swerved across the floor. I finally compromised and let my gaze slide past where he was sitting, but he was gone. Although I felt disappointed, which was silly, I knew it was for the best. I didn’t need any more temptation.
I could’ve invited Nate to our table so he wouldn’t have been alone. But then everyone would talk and he could remember and my embarrassment would know no bounds. That he had forgotten me, forgotten our summer, was a thing I preferred to keep to myself.
“Your boy left!” Saffron yelled, before I was even close to the table.
I ignored her. What else could I do?
“He sauntered out of here looking like sex on a motherfuckin’ stick,” she added.
“Why is she calling him your boy? You didn’t tell her about that summer did you?”
I snapped back at Eli quickly. “Of course not. She wanted to go hit on him and so she asked me who he was. I said he was my boss’s fiancé and that the man was very taken.”
Eli nodded but didn’t look thrilled. I’d moved out of my parent’s house. I didn’t need Eli hovering, and worrying like they do. Surely, he knew that.
“Eli, stop it with the concerned frown. That was a long time ago. I’ve all but forgotten it. Besides for once in my life I want to be treated like I’m grown up and independent. Can you please let me?”
“Yeah, I know, B.C.” he said.
B.C. meant before cancer. It was the way we labeled my sickness. B.C., D.C. and A.C. Before, during and after.
“Exactly,” I responded. We both knew everything B.C. was from a different life and era. One where we didn’t know fear or pain, or if we did it was temporary. My cancer had ignited our perfect worlds and shown us that life was fragile.
Nate Finlay
I WAS HERE like I promised. I just hadn’t got out of my truck yet. I was giving myself a pep talk. Which was ridiculous considering our history. She was nothing but a childhood fling. One that I was pretending I didn’t remember, which explained me sitting in my vehicle.
“This is a higher level of coward,” I said to myself out loud.
Shaking my head with disgust I got out and headed for the door. The backdoor. Not the front. Bliss had a question about a shipment. I would answer then be on my way. The list that I had of “to do’s” at the place was a half mile long or better, but I couldn’t stay in there with Bliss. Alone, where I could see her and smell her.
Octavia wasn’t going to be happy if she got back and her shit wasn’t finished. I should stay today and get things done. Stop being a dick and hiding. She hadn’t said anything about that summer. Maybe she’d forgotten me too? Lies. I’m lying to myself. Like me, Bliss remembered. I’d seen it on her face the moment we locked eyes. It was as if we were still there. Younger, happier and knowing. Knowing we’d never forget this.
Opening the backdoor I walked inside and stopped short when I saw Bliss’s ass. Stuck up into the air being asslike. It was a nice one. No, scratch that. It was a stellar one and I thoroughly enjoyed the view. The shorts she was wearing rode up high and perfectly cupped her stellar ass. Damn.
She then began to shake that ass, as she remained bent at the waist. She must have heard me come in. Was that why she’d asked me to meet her here? To shake her ass at me? That wasn’t a horrible plan. Currently it was working for her.
“Shake it off, shake it off!” she sang rather loudly, and on key I might add. She then straightened and shook it some more. This time her hips joined in and she did this thing with her hands. It was cute. Blended well with her hips. Bliss York was dancing and I was almost positive she had no idea there was an audience.
She began singing another line, interpreting moves as she unpacked the box. The polite thing to do would be to let her know I was here “not” enjoying myself. Which would be another fucking lie. My guess was she had in ear buds, and couldn’t hear a thing but the music. I wasn’t polite. I let the door close behind me with a thud. That didn’t make her jump so I leaned against the wall crossing my arms to watch. Eventually she’d spin around and here I would be. Bliss would become embarrassed. A nice guy would feel bad about that. As for myself I owed her one. She’d crushed my young heart seven years ago. I might as well make her blush and cringe. Besides, she was giving me a very fond memory, one I would never forget.
The “shake it off” song must’ve ended. Suddenly she belted out “baby, this is what you came for!” I recognized that song. I was impressed with her Rihanna rendition.