Return To You: A Small Town, Second Chance Romance

5. Ethan

five

Iget that she’s over me. That she’s married to someone else now. But we had something, didn’t we? Forget how things ended. Let’s set that aside for a minute.

As far as I can remember, Grace was in my life. She’s my sister Haley’s age, and they were best friends. She was constantly at the farm, playing or helping with chores. Our mothers were and still are best friends.

We were close.

Not like siblings, though.

Different.

It was always different with Grace.

I felt the need to protect her. With four years on her, I took my role seriously. First, I felt the need to protect her from my brother Justin’s wild ideas. Like jumping from the roof into the above-ground pool. He wanted the girls to go first—“you’re lighter, you’ll get less water out of the pool.” Haley told him to get lost, but Grace was already halfway up the ladder. “Okay, I’ll go,” she said in her little voice, her wholesome innocence striking me. I jumped on the ladder and brought her, giggling, down.

“You’re a sissy, Grace,” Justin said.

“And you’re an idiot!” I replied as he jumped, hit the bottom, broke his leg.

I was blamed for that, by the way. For letting him get hurt. Didn’t really care, at the time. I thought he needed to learn his own lessons.

Grace never annoyed me the way Haley sometimes did—especially when I was with my friends. Haley was the consummate little sister, making fun of me, pulling my stinky socks out of the hamper whenever girls came to the farm.

Grace? She was gentle and helpful. She grew up to be funny, real funny, but never at the expense of others. She’d make fun of herself, or of a situation. She’d come up with games and ideas for a fun evening.

And then she became a woman, and I was lost to her.

She was the epitome of what I thought a woman should be. Sexy and kind, soft and tough, smart and active. She was going to take the world by storm. She wanted to leave Emerald Creek as soon as possible, travel the world, see places. And so did I.

We fell in love—at least I thought we did. It wasn’t without complications, and I was ready to tackle those.

But then, just like that, we were over. Before we really even began.

Her decision.

I respected it.

I just never stopped loving her.

I’d had a taste of Grace, and no one else would do.

So yeah, the way she treated me just now? I don’t get it. How could she be so cold? How could she act like I was just another rando getting a massage?

I guess I’ve been a fool all along. Maybe she never loved me the way she said she did.

Maybe I should stop thinking about the past.

My steps take me to Justin’s food tent. The line is long, but he and the pretty brunette work in sync and it moves fast.

Coming out of nowhere, Haley slides in front of me in line. “It’s on me.” She pulls her wallet out and orders two sandwiches with fancy names, some mac’n cheese balls, a cup of gazpacho, and two sodas.

“Aren’t you working at the pub today?” I ask.

“I’m on a break. It’s still early.” She walks ahead of me, seeming to know where she’s going. “Let’s go test the bleachers. I heard some out-of-towner helped.” She glances at me with a devious smile. “Not sure how I feel about that. Does he even know what he’s doing?”

Carrying the food in one hand, I grab her in a playful headlock with my free arm as we walk away, eventually letting her wiggle her way out. She punches my bicep. I pull her hair. She screams and kicks, laughing all the while.

Some things haven’t changed.

We settle on the bleachers—I guide us toward the planks I repaired without telling Haley, and she doesn’t make a comment, which means she doesn’t even notice. Good.

From here, we have a vantage point of the massage tent, and my gaze keeps drifting there. I take the wrap Haley is handing me. “So. Fill me in on the gossip. What’s new in town?”

“Justin is secretly in love with Chloe, while pretending he’s only working with her to please the town’s events committee.”

“Figured that.”

“Mom and Dad have an Angus cow that’s driving everyone insane. She’s called Daisy.”

“Good to know. What’s insane about it?”

“Her. Daisy keeps escaping and eats everyone’s flowers.”

“Why don’t they just make burgers out of it—her?”

“Shut up! We love her.”

“Gotcha. We love Daisy. What else?”

“There’s a new couple in town, started their construction company. Thalia and Lucas. And Autumn is setting herself up as a decorator.”

“I met Lucas. There’s enough work here?”

“You wouldn’t believe it. So many second homeowners now. They all want their little slice of heaven, and well, we have the space. You can hardly tell they’re here, except during festivals, and judging by how you need a reservation now to get a table pretty much everywhere. And did you see all the new fancy shops in town? Second-home owners shop there.”

True. I’d noticed them but didn’t stop to wonder how they made a living. Seems like my baby sister has a solid head on her shoulders.

“I heard you talk with Dad about a new project you want to start?”

“The fermentory. I like the farm,” she says a little defensively, “but I want to put my mark on it.”

“That’s great.” I hope she hears the admiration in my tone. Even though I’ve kept in touch with my family, they’re the ones who have been visiting me. While abroad, our conversations focused more on the place I was living than on their life in Vermont.

“How’s the leg?” someone shouts from a distance.

“Better, thanks!”

“You go see Grace?” the guy shouts.

Feeling Haley straighten next to me, I give him a thumbs up. “Yup.”

“In’t she som’thin?”

I nod. “Sure is.”

He gives me a wave and leaves me with my sister’s gaze piercing hot through my skull while I focus hard on the last of my wrap.

Haley doesn’t say anything for a while, and I start to believe I made her reaction all up, but then she drops innocently, “So, how was Grace?”

I take a long pull on my soda. “Great massage.”

“Cool! But how was Grace?”

I shrug. “Graceful?”

“Ouch.”

“Whaddayamean, ouch? Nothin’ wrong with being graceful. You should try it sometime.”

Haley punches my bicep. Again. “Idiot.”

“Yep, definitely should try it.”

“You wanna go to Mayer’s Hole tonight?” she asks, seemingly out of the blue. But I know better. Haley always has an agenda.

“I don’t think so. But thanks.”

She rolls her eyes. “The girls want to go skinny dipping. Obviously, if you’re coming, that kills the skinny part, but hey… So? You’ll come?”

I pretend to walk into her trap. “What girls?”

“Whoever. Alex, me, Kiara…” She trails off, obviously leaving a name out. Grace. Waiting for me to ask, maybe. “I’ll post it on Echoes. We can have a whole group going. How’s that?”

There’s no chance in hell I’m going to Mayer’s Hole, or the river, or the lake. Too many memories there. But I can’t tell her that. “I’ll pass and just stay home with Mom and Dad.”

“You always were a party pooper. I almost forgot.”

“I sure am. Worse than ever.”

“Seriously, Ethan. What’d you think of Grace? Honestly.”

I stay poker-faced, my gaze fixed on the bleachers across from us. “She’s… an awesome masseuse. Very professional.” The way she addressed my embarrassing moment alone said so.

She tears thin strips off the wax paper around her wrap. “You mean you guys didn’t catch up on… anything?”

“Um. Like what? It’s been years since I’ve seen her.”

She bumps her knee against mine. “Exactly. Lots to catch up on.”

I grunt. “We weren’t that close.” An image jumps at me, punishing my lie: Grace’s naked body under mine, her legs pulling me inside her, her nails raking my back.

Haley doesn’t bother swallowing before saying, “Huh. I always thought she had something for you.”

Shit, so Grace never even told Haley? Or is Haley fishing for information? I don’t have time for this high school chick shit. “All your friends had something for me,” I say to play into her hand while deflecting her focus.

“Ooooh, I don’t know about that.”

I laugh, partially glad we’re off the topic of Grace. But still wanting to know more about her. “Hard to catch up on a whole lifetime in fifteen minutes.”

“Well, she’s coming to the farm tomorrow. You’ll have all the time in the world to catch up.”

Shit. So there’s no escaping it. I want to see her, and at the same I really don’t want to fucking see her. “When did they move back?” I need at least some context.

“They?”

“Grace and her… husband.” The word grates my mouth.

She does a double take. “Oh—no. She’s divorced. That didn’t last long. Maybe a few months?”

My blood runs cold. She was married only a few months, and no one thought to tell me? What the fuck? I want to punch something.

Haley continues. “She um… she went through some tough shit for a while…”

I whip my face to her. “What happened?”

Haley squints, then shrugs. “Long time ago. ’ts all good now.” She dips a mac’n cheese ball in the gazpacho and slurps it.

“What kind of tough shit? You sure she’s okay?”

“You saw her. She rocks. She’s doing great.”

I’m teetering between a stupid relief that she’s divorced and the knowledge that she went through hard times. Not knowing more kills me. “Was the marriage that bad?” My fists reflexively ball at the number of scenarios going through my head right now.

Haley squints her eyes at me. “You know, you’re awful nosy for someone who supposedly wasn’t that close to her.”