Love Me Gently (Deer Creek #1)

Thirty-Four

Cole

It was a strange feeling, to feel like I knew someone so well, and then realize there was so much more to learn about that same person. Beyond Trina’s fears and obvious insecurities, I’d learned she changed in other ways, better ways over the years, too. After the surprise of a lifetime when we walked in, something I wasn’t as quick to forgive Ashley about even if it worked out okay, Trina settled in at the bar.

She wasn’t a drinker. Not that that alone was a surprise, I’d noticed it the other nights there’d been alcohol around. She had a glass, maybe two, but they took her so long to drink, that there was no way she was even close to tipsy. Definitely not drunk. Her years of modeling had changed the way she carried herself. There was a grace in which she carried herself, like she was floating above the ground when she walked, and even when she sat, the way she tilted her head or moved her fingers was done with a smooth, yet precise manner. Every move of her body was more of a smooth glide that was mesmerizing to watch. It made everything she did, even sipping from a glass of wine or shifting on her stool, elegant and refined.

A far cry from the girl who used to trip over her snow skis on her way down the bunny slope.

Her laughter was soft as she caught up with Heather and her smile was more timid. I wasn’t sure if that was from age and growth and the world she lived in, or the fact someone had silenced and terrified her all those years. But even quieter and less frequent, it was no less beautiful.

I had taken the seat next to her, and Robbie was on my other side, while Heather got caught up with Trina, breaking only when she needed to take care of another customer at the bar or mix drinks for the servers.

“Feels like no time has passed and a lifetime all at the same time,”

Robbie said next to me, swirling his water glass in his hands.

We were both sticking to water. Robbie because he and Ashley had met us here and he had to drive, me in case something happened.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? And yet, not.”

Heather was as vibrant as she’d always been. Engaged once, she’d ended it when the guy she was with kept pushing back the wedding and then started bringing up moving to Raleigh to be closer to his family. She took that to mean he didn’t want to live the quiet life in Deer Creek, and since Heather never intended to leave, her man did. She stood on the other side of the bar from Trina, over her surprise and acting like she’d seen Trina every single day of her life for the last twelve years.

Being back together with all the people I’d grown up with that hadn’t left our town for bigger cities or different states was oddly comforting, despite all the changes and growing we’d done along the way.

Heather stepped away to pour drinks for a few men at the end of the bar, and Ashley turned to face the rest of us. “So, I have another confession.”

“I’m still not over the first one,”

I told her.

“Well, then you’ll have to get over two of them.”

“What is it?”

Trina asked.

Ashley worried her bottom lip. “You know I teach with your sister. I mean, not with her because she does AP Calculus, not English, but the school is small.”

“Spit it out, Ash.”

“I kinda forgot to mention that the high school teachers usually come here, the women at least, for a quick drink on Fridays.”

It wasn’t that I hadn’t known that. There were lots of nights when I didn’t have the girls that I went and hung out at Robbie’s while she came here. But…I closed my eyes and shook my head. “You’re kidding me.”

“Kari is coming?”

Trina squeaked. She glanced at me, face already paling, and then back to Ashley. “Why would you do this to me?”

For the first time, Trina looked truly panicked. Not fearful, not worried, but panicked like her worst nightmare was coming true.

I couldn’t blame her, fully. She and her sister had never really gotten along, but that was because they were different. Too far separated in ages to be friends or enemies, Kari was always soft spoken and an ardent rule follower. She never understood Trina, much like the rest of us, really, but it wasn’t that Kari didn’t understand her sister, it sometimes felt like she thought Trina’s excitement over life and more laid-back personality was wrong somehow.

“Yeah.”

Ashley cringed. “And it’s not that she’s coming here, it’s that she just walked in.”

“What?”

Trina’s head whipped toward the front door. How I missed it, when I’d been trying to clock everyone who entered was beyond me, but there she was.

Kari Knapp was near the front door, wearing a knee-length puffy coat and the saddest, most worried expression I’d ever seen on her.

She glanced at a table to the right, and then back to us. One step turned to two, then another, and Trina was sliding off her stool. She stayed close, one hand on the stool’s back like she needed the support as her sister made a much slower, almost painful walk to her little sister.

“Mom and Dad said you went to see them,”

she said, and while her voice had always been soft, it was difficult to hear over the sounds of the bar and conversations around us. “They said you didn’t want to see me.”

“I wasn’t sure I was ready to see anyone yet.”

Trina attempted a smile, but it wobbled before it fell completely.

“I wasn’t always nice to you,”

Kari said and glanced around. All of us were watching, and if she read it right that we’d jump in at the first hostile word spoken, she was right. “But Mom told me some things, about what you told them, and I’m really sorry. About, well… everything. You don’t deserve that.”

“Thank you,”

Trina said, her voice now shaking.

The woman had to have cried enough tears over the last few weeks to create a new lake.

“I’m glad you’re here,”

Kari said. “And that you’re safe. When you’re ready, I’d like for you to meet your nieces. Missy looks just like you, and she’d love you.”

“I’d love that.”

Trina lifted her arm and then went to her sister. Kari hesitated for a second, but then returned the move and soon, the sisters were hugging.

It was short, and awkward, and then Kari was pulling back, wiping a tear beneath her eye. “We’ll talk soon?”

“Yes. Definitely.”

“Good.”

She glanced at all of us again. “See you all soon.”

She squeezed Ashley’s shoulder as she walked by, and Trina slumped back onto her barstool. Even her slump was graceful.

“That was short and not as painful as I expected it to be.”

“We’ve all grown and changed, sweetie,”

Heather said. “Kari, right along with the rest of us heathens.”

Trina chuckled, and then glanced at Ashley. “Any more surprises for us?”

“Not from me,”

she quipped, and then leaned in and rested her hand on Trina’s forearm. “I should have told you, but I guess…Kari and I have talked over the years. She’s grown a lot, and she’s kinder now. I knew that’d be hard, but you were worried about meeting me, and you didn’t need to be. I just wanted to show you how much you’re loved, how much you’ve always been loved.”

It was a hell of a way to orchestrate it, but I couldn’t blame Ashley for wanting to give that goodness to Trina when all I wanted to do was the same.

“I need a minute,”

she whispered, and slid off the stool. “I’ll be back, but I need a minute alone.”

“Trina—”

I warned. We talked about this.

“Rocco’s watching,”

she said, “Jim’s out back. I get what you’re saying, but I just need a minute to get my head on straight. Okay?”

The last thing I wanted to do was let her out of my sight, but I relented. We were safe in Max’s, and she had eyes on her everywhere. “Okay. Take the time you need.”

She curled her hand around my shoulder and squeezed it tight. A strange look crossed her face as she scanned mine and then her tongue appeared before she ran her lips together.

I knew that look. I’d seen it on her a thousand times, and damn…it wasn’t only shocking, but turned my blood to a simmering heat.

She was staring at me like she wanted to kiss me. Or climb onto my lap and hold on to me. All things I’d allow. If I wasn’t trying to be so cautious with her, I’d stand and give her exactly what that look suggested. Instead, I curled my hand over hers, brought it to my lips, and kissed the back of her hand.

And then I watched every step she took to the back of Max’s, until she disappeared down the hall and swung my gaze toward Rocco who was doing the exact same thing.

Confirmation she’d be safe, for however long she needed, I finally turned back to the bar.

From the other side, Heather stated, “You’re still in love with her.”

I shrugged and grabbed my water. “It’s Trina.”