Charmer (Havenbrook #1)

Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

WILLOW

I positioned myself in the corner of the open space as Nola, Drew, and Finn all conferred about deadlines and schedules and shipments and everything that still needed to happen before the soft opening around the Fourth of July. I stood off to the side because, for one thing, it wasn’t my venture. For another, I didn’t know a single thing about what they were talking about.

But mostly it was because I wasn’t wearing panties under my dress, and that somehow made me feel naked, even though I was perfectly covered. Never mind the fact that my body still tingled from Finn’s ministrations, and even though I’d already come, I still ached with need for him. I’d never felt like this before, had never had this unquenchable thirst with any of my past lovers. But, then again, nothing was ever quite like it’d been with Finn.

And that had always been the problem.

“Honestly, I can handle everything just fine, thank you very much.” The voice of a snooty princess dialed up to eleven echoed through the space as the back door swung open. Apparently, Rory had arrived.

She stepped into the room, followed closely by Nash, who seemed to ignore her completely and take most of the oversized samples from her arms.

“Didn’t you listen to a word I said?”

“Sure did.”

She huffed. “Oh, really? Then why did you?—”

“Y’all about ready to get this started?” Nash called to the trio of owners by the newly completed bar top.

“That was rude , Nash King.” Rory swept past him, shoulder checking him in the chest as she went. “And I won’t forget it.”

“Don’t imagine you will.” He swept out his hand in a gesture that said the floor was all hers. “If you’re ready, princess.”

From my place off to the side, I could just make out my sister’s narrowed eyes and stifled a laugh. Rory didn’t take well to people talking back to her, and I loved Nash all the more that he couldn’t seem to care less.

“There a problem, y’all?” Nola asked.

Rory plastered on a smile. “No, no problem at all.” She strode to where Finn, Drew, and Nola all stood, seeming to ignore Nash completely as he hung back, his arms folded over his chest. “All right, now I know y’all are on a tight timeline, so I only focused on products that aren’t special order to speed up delivery times.” She grabbed a few pieces from the stack Nash had dropped off and arranged them on the bar top. “It’s a shame because doing so cut our choices down quite a bit, but I think—” She broke off when her eyes finally landed on me. “Will, what?—”

Four heads swiveled in my direction, Nash being the only other one who didn’t already know I was there. I pushed off from the wall and strolled over to the bar, surveying the products on display. Dammit, Rory was good at design, if her thoughtful choices were any indication. Couldn’t she be bad at anything ?

“Well, hey, Rory. Fancy meetin’ you here.”

“What—” She cleared her throat, ran a hand down the wrinkle-free silk of her camisole, and darted her eyes to our audience before snapping them back to me. “Could I speak with you for a moment, please?”

Without waiting for my answer, she grabbed me by the elbow and tugged me into a corner out of earshot from the others as they all looked on with amused expressions. Finn shot me a wink and a smile before turning around and responding to something Drew had said.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” she said, hand smoothing over her perfect chignon.

I raised a brow. “No? So it’s not you helping out the owners of Havenbrook’s very first bar, somethin’ Daddy would absolutely despise?”

“What? No, never. I’m here…” She trailed off then leaned closer, her voice dropping low. “Well, I’m here keepin’ an eye on things for him, actually. He asked me to?—”

“Cut the shit, Rory. Finn already told me.”

She froze and blinked, either from my choice of language or what she’d revealed. Finally, she huffed and crossed her arms. “All right then, you caught me. But that doesn’t answer the question of what, exactly, you’re doing here.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t. But you’ve always been the smart one, so I’m sure you can figure it out.”

She glanced over my shoulder toward Finn, a single, perfectly shaped brow lifting in question. “Have to say I’m surprised you’re okay with me knowing about that. You don’t exactly share things freely with me.”

I would have to be oblivious not to hear the hurt in my sister’s voice, but we’d played this game too many times before to fall for it. I snorted and rolled my eyes. “And I wonder why that is, Miss Perfect. Sisterly bonds never meant much to you so long as whatever dirt you had on us got you in Daddy’s good graces. I can’t count the number of times you tattled on the three of us. And it looks like that’s comin’ back to bite you in the ass.”

Her back went ramrod straight. “Wait just a second, now. You don’t have to go tellin’ Daddy.”

“I suppose I don’t. But in that same breath, neither do you. Mutually assured destruction is so sisterly , don’t you think?”

“You can’t ask me to lie to Daddy.”

“No? Great, then I’m sure he’ll be very happy to learn his eldest and most perfect daughter’s been helping his nemesis and the rest of the people he thinks will ruin his fine town. Can’t wait to tell him all about it!” I spun around, my sights on the door, though I hoped with everything I had Rory would stop me.

Tattling on my sisters wasn’t my style, but if I had to use it for leverage to get Rory to agree not to do the same, then so be it.

I wasn’t quite ready for my daddy to find out what I’d been getting up to with Finn again. Not when we were so close to the Fourth of July parade and my big yearly event. Not when he’d finally given me praise. Not when he was close to finally recognizing my worth around town, seeing that I brought something of value to our namesake. In my daddy’s eyes, being tangled up with Finn would only damage that, despite the fact that I’d been doing my job just fine.

Rory didn’t let me get three steps before she wrapped her fingers around my arm and tugged me back. “ Fine . But if I’m gonna be lyin’ to Daddy, then I better get somethin’ else outta this.”

It was probably too much to ask that my sister just do it out of the goodness of her heart. She’d participate in every fundraiser under the sun, be the first to pass around a get-well card or send a casserole over to a new momma, but she didn’t have quite the same generosity toward her sisters. Baby steps, and all that.

“Bonding with your sister isn’t enough?”

She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Just…we can help each other, all right? Cover for each other, maybe, if we need to.”

I tried and failed to keep my mouth from dropping open. “You, Aurora Jane, first daughter of Mayor Richard Haven of Havenbrook, want to strike up…a lying bargain?”

“Well, you don’t have to make it sound so scandalous. I just thought?—”

“Deal.” I grabbed her hand and shook it before she could offer any stipulations. “Fair warning: I’m telling Mac.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Why not? You’re going to tell Sean. I don’t have a husband, so Mac it is.”

Rory’s body language went cold as she snapped her mouth shut and averted her eyes.

Odd. “Hey, is everything?—”

“Fine, you can tell Mac. But absolutely not Nat. I have to draw the line somewhere. Girl’s got a mouth bigger than an eighteen-wheeler, and she doesn’t care who knows her business—or ours .”

“Agreed.”

With a clipped nod, Rory stalked back toward the group waiting by the bar, immediately diving into a spiel about stone samples for the front of the bar surround and matching it with an accent wall to give it a nice pop.

Well, that was easier than I’d thought it’d be. Half of me expected her to recant on our agreement and run off midsentence, straight to our parents’ house, and spill everything that’d make my life a living hell. But I was going on a bit of blind faith here. This was a chance for Rory and me to grow closer, and I got the distinct feeling my sister needed it even more than I did.

As Rory spoke, I sidled up next to Finn, no longer able to deny the relief I felt whenever another person found out about the two of us. It made me giddy…and a little foolish. Reaching out, I hooked my finger around his pinkie. He slid me a look, his lips tipping up at the corners at what could be considered the subtlest touch by anyone’s definition. But to me, my pinkie hooked in his felt like a proclamation from a mountaintop.

I wasn’t quite ready for that. Wasn’t sure I’d ever be. Not when he was still leaving and heading back to California. But maybe it was okay in this small circle of people—people he trusted. And if I couldn’t trust my sister to have my back, I had more problems than the fury my daddy would rain down on me if he ever found out I was tangled up with one of the Thomas boys again.

Rory glanced over then, cutting off midsentence as her eyes dipped to where my finger was hooked in Finn’s. For the briefest moment, I swore I saw longing cross my sister’s face. A second later, the perfect Rory mask was back in place, and all was right in the world.

I sat on my parents’ back porch swing, my sisters flanking me. We’d gotten a bit of a reprieve from the heat wave. A nice breeze—warm as it was—made the evening June air almost tolerable, especially with the chorus of cicadas singing and frogs croaking, the sounds of my childhood making me feel at home.

Our weekly family dinners were as carved in stone as our lunches, and the four of us—three, now that Nat had left—had always sat outside after supper and cleanup. It’d been the one time it felt like we were close, even if we weren’t.

After a few moments, Mac finally broke the silence. “Can’t quite figure it out, Rory.”

Rory stiffened but kept on her calm-as-a-cucumber mask. “What’s that?”

Mac leaned forward so she could see Rory around me. “Why you’re helpin’ the Thomas boys. And don’t worry—I’m not gonna rat you out.” Mac rolled her eyes as though the idea were ridiculous. Which it was, especially from her—she was the most loyal person I had ever known.

Rory was quiet for a minute, just the creaking of the porch swing filling the silence. “I’m… I’ve been thinkin’ about maybe using my degree.”

I snapped my head to stare at her in shock. Yes, Rory had gone off to college to get a degree, but I had always assumed it had just been for show. That my sister had no real desire to do anything but be the perfect wife and mother—something she was exceptionally good at. “You have? Since when?”

She shrugged, keeping her gaze straight ahead. “Couple years.”

“ Years ?” Mac asked, astonishment ringing in her voice.

“Since Ella started school and I didn’t need to be around as much. But I—” Rory snapped her mouth shut and shook her head.

I glanced back at Mac and gave her a what the hell look because you could about knock me over with a feather. I’d never in a million years dreamed Rory would actually be longing for something. Just went to show not everything was always as it seemed. Mac just shrugged and shook her head in response.

I turned back to my older sister. “Well, I think it’s…”

“Dumb,” Rory said. “It’s dumb.”

I reached out and placed my hand on her arm. “No, Rory. I don’t think it’s dumb at all. I think it’s great.”

She twisted her head in my direction, her mouth dropped open. “You do?”

“I do. From what I’ve seen at Finn’s, you’re good at it— really good at it. And it’s about time you did something just for yourself.”

I’d always thought Rory had felt completely fulfilled being a wife and mother, but maybe that hadn’t been it at all. Maybe my sister longed for things she didn’t think she could have…just like everyone else.

Mac leaned forward to peek around me. “Have you talked to Sean about it?”

Rory straightened, her lips pressing into a tight line. “No. Which is why I’d appreciate it if this could stay between the three of us.”

Mac and I exchanged another look—we’d definitely be talking about this once we got home. But for now, Mac answered for us both. “As long as you’ve got Will’s back, we’ve got yours.”

That look of longing I swore I’d seen on Rory’s face at the bar swept over her features once again. “You two always were the closest, weren’t you? I know you think I’m impossible most of the time, but it was tough growin’ up as the oldest. Tryin’ so hard to please Daddy when he wanted somethin’ I could never be. No matter how many tests I aced or how many trophies I brought home, he’d never get his boy.” She kept her gaze on her leg as it pushed off the porch, gently rocking them back and forth. “Sometimes I wonder if I went from one overbearing, insensitive know-it-all to another.”

Without trying to give away how shocked I was, I slid Mac a look out of the corner of my eye. She shrugged, clearly at a loss, same as me. I’d always assumed my sister and brother-in-law’s marriage was perfect, just like everything else in Rory’s life. But maybe I had been so busy wanting to see that perfection so I could hold a grudge that I hadn’t really paid attention to what was there.

“Is everything okay between you and Sean?”

Just as fast as the conversation started, it ended. “What? Of course. Everything’s just fine. You know who you should be worryin’ about is Trish Parkins. Poor girl’s workin’ three jobs just to keep a roof over their heads while her deadbeat husband drinks all day. Honestly?—”

I tuned out as Rory expertly shifted the focus from herself to others who seemingly had more problems weighing them down. And now that I really thought about it, she did that an awful lot. Maybe she wasn’t the annoying gossip I assumed she was. Maybe she was just as confused and lost as the rest of us but was desperate not to show it to anyone.

Honestly, I was…relieved. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I finally felt a connection with my older sister. Rory didn’t have it all together? Welcome to the club. I might as well be president.