Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
TINSLEY
M y vision blurs as I leave Butterbury. I don’t think I’ve remained in one place this long, at least not in recent memory. It’s like I grew roots, blossomed, and now, as I leave, I’m withering on the vine.
Brave sits next to me, on alert, as I reel through what transpired today.
My boyfriend and I officially broke up. Then he transformed back into Southern Agent as he took charge, made arrests, and closed the case. It was an impressive sight of commanding, efficient excellence to be sure, but it turns out I hardly knew the guy I loved.
At least, I think the case is closed. I’m not sure how that all works except what I’ve seen on television and we all know that’s rarely real. But I’m not sure I want the scoop. I’m more of a romantic comedy, relationship drama fan—though A Golden Deception in Texas , a western film, was excellent.
If my life were a movie, it would be called An Epic Deception in Butterbury or A Woman and her Dog: a ‘tail’ of loss . Actually, that sounds like a tear-jerker. I rest my head on Brave’s flank as I think about what to call my feature film.
I’d meant to take a vacation from men, so perhaps it should be called Tinsley’s Failed Man-cation .
Or not. The life I lived in Butterbury wasn’t one for cameras with a soundtrack. At times it was gritty, others sweet, and above all, it was mine. Free from caring what people would think.
Ironic, since it’s headquarters for HLTV’s Designed to Last.
But for once, finally, I could be myself. Above all, I wanted to be myself.
My life isn’t a movie or a dress rehearsal or anything but real. And right now it feels like I’m running from it. Possibly with my tail between my legs.
“What would you do, Brave?” I whisper.
The car my brother hired to bring me to Savannah whizzes past fields on one side and forest on the other. The sun plays peekaboo with the clouds. But I feel dreary like I’m going in the wrong direction even though I initially thought I wanted nothing more than to get out of Butterbury.
I mentally scroll through my recent memories starting with the last time I fled. The result: I landed in jail. On the upside, I met Aiden. On the downside, I fell in love with him and am now headed...nowhere.
Granted, I have a room at a hotel thanks to my brother, but then what?
I can’t go back to Los Angeles, New York, or Nashville. There’s nothing for me there. What about Miami, my original destination? Who was I trying to fool, I hardly knew the people I’d intended to visit. Then again, I hardly knew Aiden either.
For so long, I was a stand-in in my own life. When I finally made one of my own, here I am, leaving.
But there’s nowhere to go...and there’s no one I’d rather be with other than Aiden. Yes, even though he deceived me. We were both playing roles. But I can’t help but think about how, like my father, he was married to his job. Unlike my mother, I did not have an affair, but all the same, the trust was broken.
Beside me, Brave lets out a little whine. Can Aiden and I rebuild trust just like Brave did by accepting the humans in his life were going to take care of him?
How about Mae and me? I was a royal jerk to her, but she forgave me. Taylor too. Could Aiden and I see past our mistakes and try again?
I think of Beatrice and her bees. Her love story buzzes in my mind. Aiden is my Bubba with the soda, sticking up for me to the bad guys. He’s my partner in crime, er, community service. He believed in me every time I did something stupid at the bakery and when I decided to become a beekeeper. In a world of randomness where the miracles are all the things that don’t happen, that’s a pretty wild hobby.
And the chances of falling in love are even slimmer. But I do love him. A lot.
At the hotel, I set my alarm for early the next morning to catch my flight. But I don’t sleep. Instead, I replay these last days in my head. I’m still watching the highlight and lowlight reels when I drag myself out of bed, shower, and get ready.
The same driver as yesterday picks me up, and my greeting sounds more like a grumble than I mean for it to, but my thoughts won’t stop or pause or do anything other than rewind and repeat.
What did I do when it was my turn to stand by Aiden when he got lost? When he didn’t quite navigate his life the way I’d have liked him to? I turned my back on him.
I won an award in my diva dream, but the only one waiting for me is if I do the right thing, even if it’s the hard one. For so long, I was chasing what I thought was a dream when really it left me feeling empty. Alone, even when I was with friends and dating guys. Empty, even when surrounded by luxury items and expensive clothes.
Aiden filled me up with real love even if it didn’t come with any accessories. Well, his Maybach leaves me with a question about what else he might be hiding. Guess those love hearts in my eyes were pretty big not to have asked about that.
I have to fix this. It’s up to me.
The answer to my question is a lot closer than I think. I give the dog a scratch. “Thanks, boy.”
It’s time to be brave.
Maybe I’ll turn around this riches-to-rags love story yet.
“Sir,” I call to the driver. “Can you bring me back to Butterbury?”
When I get to the boutique, Christina decorates a shelf with colorful bunting. Camellia sends a text. Louella Belle brings some boxes in from the back. Mae sits with the baby in her arms, nursing. It’s a picture-perfect scene of friendship. For a minute there, I was part of it. Could still be, I hope.
Brave lets out a little bark, announcing our return.
They all stop what they’re doing and rush over to me except Mae who waves, and says, “You’re back.” Though I can’t tell if it’s a statement of welcome or if she’s asking if I forgot my toothbrush.
“Mae, I don’t want to make this your problem, but your brother is driving me crazy. I’m in love with him.” I slap my hand over my mouth.
The corner of her lip lifts in a grin. “And he’s on his way to profess the same to you.”
“On his way where? I’m here.”
“By now, he’s probably in Savannah.”
I press my palm to my forehead.
“But let’s talk about driving and crazy, seeing as he’s actually driving to Savannah and what went down here in Butterbury was actually crazy,” Camellia says.
“I can’t stop thinking about him.” I go on to describe everything I love about the man. “His business look, the biker dude, and how sometimes he’s rumbling inside like an uncaged beast. Also, have you seen his face?” If I were to see mine in a mirror right now, I’d have hearts and stars in my eyes.
“Yes, he’s my brother, of course, I’ve seen his face,” Mae says with a grimace.
“He’s so good-looking. And have you smelled Aiden? He smells like clean and aftershave and man and his muscles and the way he smooshes and—”
“Alright, I get it,” Mae interrupts, pumping her hand for me to stop gushing about her big brother.
“Yep, sounds like he’s really driving you wild...and he just called from Savannah, frantic, because you’re not there,” Bess says, tucking a box from Sweethearts behind her back.
“She knows,” the others chorus.
“Where’d you come from?” Louella Belle asks.
“Oh, just, uh, doing stuff over at the bakery with Rhondy. You know, things.” Bess clears her throat as if she’s hiding something.
“Seems suspicious,” Christina says.
“Shh,” Mae hisses, then says, “Our brother is a proud alpha male, possibly slightly damaged from the job we didn’t know he had until recently, and averse to being vulnerable.”
The others nod in agreement.
“But after Murder Doll visited him last night, he came to his senses,” Mae says matter of fact.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
Bess’s phone rings and she hollers, “The eagle has landed. I repeat, the eagle is here.” She hangs up. “Yeah, I could never be a secret agent.”
“I take it that was code for me returning to town?” I ask.
Bess nods.
We all burst into laughter. Brave’s ears perk up and he wears a doggy smile. Relief washes over me, introducing a little liquid to my laughter. For once, I don’t care if it messes up my makeup.
Thankfully, the ladybosses and Bess spend the next half hour distracting me until my attention drifts to the familiar, low rumble of a motorcycle approaching on Main Street.
Mid-sentence, I stop what I’m saying and rush outside. Aiden kicks the stand down on his bike and then does a double-take when he sees me standing there.
He gets off and swallows thickly. “Hi, you.”
My belly swoops on cue. Yep, still in love. Hopelessly, wonderfully in love.
This is the part of the movie where I rush into his arms and he spins me in a circle. His embrace is strong, unrelenting. I have a feeling he’ll never let me go again—symbolically speaking. And I don’t want him to. Despite the misunderstanding and misinformation, I want to be with him.
“We can fix this,” I exhale into the warm slope of his neck. I breathe in his spicy aftershave.
Aiden sets me on the ground and says, “I’m sorry for not telling you about my job. It was wrong. Even though you were an aspiring actress. I was playing a role to protect you.”
“I guess we’re not that different.”
“I’ll never keep anything about myself from you again.”
“Likewise, especially if a creep repeatedly texts me.”
“Do you get that often?”
“Not if I delete all the DO NOT CALL contacts in my phone.”
He gives a short nod as if that’s a good idea. “I have news. I’m retiring.”
“Seriously?”
“It’s time. Cats only have so many lives, ya know? And I want to make one with you. A life, uh, not a cat. That’s weird.” He brushes his thumb across his lips as if shy, boyish.
Around a laugh, I say, “Bubba’s isn’t the only thing that had a makeover. Me too. Or a makeunder, depending on how you look at it.”
“I’d say it’s an improvement, but when I first saw you, I knew you’d be the future Mrs. Mayor.”
“Are you still thinking of running for office?”
“Yes, but I have a feeling Cindy Clawford is going to be stiff competition.”
I chuckle. “Are mayors usually bad boy secret agents?”
“This one is, however, that is not motorcycle-appropriate attire.” Aiden looks me up and down, long and slow as if he likes what he sees despite his comment.
I glance down at my skirt. “Mae and Bess said you went to Savannah. How were you planning on getting me and my luggage back here on the bike?”
“Fair point, but I wanted to drive fast. I couldn’t sleep last night. I’ve hardly eaten. Tinsley, I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, but you’re hard to live without.” He plants his hands on my waist, pulling us together.
Before I can address what’s happening in my body—a rush of love that has the ability to reconfigure my cellular composition and what I believed about myself and my worth—Aiden presses his lips to mine in a smoosh.
My belly swoops.
Longing radiates through me, zipping to my chest. I feel wild and free at last. It’s dangerously exciting. And so is the wink that Aiden gives when we part, telling me there’s more where that came from.
“Tinsley, will you go for a ride with me?”
“In this? On that? I thought we decided this isn’t a biker outfit.”
“Let’s live on the wild side.”
“All my stuff is here and Brave.”
“I won’t let him miss you for too long.” Aiden saunters over to the bike and gets on.
I arrange my skirt as ladylike as I can so my mother doesn’t find herself sipping her tea and having a meltdown that she can’t explain then I get on.
Wrapping my arms around Aiden, I realize that whether I’m in a sequined dress, a skirt that would meet Mother’s approval, or a T-shirt and jeans, I belong here with this man in this town.
We zip toward his property but then take an unfamiliar turn. Going uphill, I tighten my grip around him.
A mailbox with a stone-covered post and flowers planted around the base sits at the end of a paved driveway. Aiden turns and takes it slow. The canopy of trees forms a tunnel of dappled light before it opens to a wide clearing with a massive house in the center of a manicured rolling green hill dotted with ornamental trees. Decorative shrubs and flowers surround the craftsman-style home with a stone base, wood siding in a medium brown stain, and thick support beams.
I get off the motorcycle and stare.
“What do you think?”
“What do I think? If you were a house, this would be it. It’s so you. Strong, sturdy, and undecided between the clean-shaven look or letting a little scruff fill in with the wood and stone.” I brush my fingers along his jaw.
Aiden takes my hand and leads me up the stone-lined pathway. To the right is a large window with a pine tree perfectly shaped for Christmas lights. The entryway has a certain grandness to it, but the double, dark wood door also suggests that unwelcome guests ought to turn away.
It’s Aiden Fuller to a T.
He pauses in front of the door and says, “Welcome home.”
“Home?” I ask.
“This is the house I built. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I designed it for us.”
“How do you mean?”
“For one, it has a home theater and seeing how you love movies...There’s also a garden in the back with plenty of room for beehives. The kitchen is massive, perfect for baking. Wait until you see the pool, the climbing wall, the entertainment and game room. I think we could have a lot of fun here.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure. Perhaps it has something to do with Taylor’s warning. He wasn’t too keen on you.”
I wiggle uncomfortably. “The warning wasn’t unfounded.”
“Also, I kept it quiet because of my job and obviously didn’t want it to be broadcast on TV as a Designed to Last project.”
I make finger guns. “Gotcha.”
“But now I realize I didn’t tell you because I wanted us to have this moment.” Aiden drops to one knee and presents a dark blue velvet box. He opens it and says, “Tinsley, I want to officially carry you over that threshold. Will you marry me?”
I gasp and press my hands to my mouth. My belly swoops like it never has. Then I start jumping up and down, drawing him to his feet.
I plaster Aiden’s face with smooshes. With each one, I say, “Yes.”
He lifts me into his arms and then gently kicks the front door open.
Light floods the open floor plan. The dining room is to the immediate right followed by the kitchen. To the left is a huge stone fireplace and the living area. Broad wooden beams span the ceiling, but my attention goes to the view out the windows in the back with the deck overlooking Butterbury. The river snakes to one side, hills bump along the horizon, and the town fills in the rest.
“Okay, Butterbury, you win. I’m staying.”
Aiden wraps his arms around me from behind as we take in the view. He nuzzles my neck, giving me little smooshes that repeatedly make my belly swoop. I imagine us growing old here and hope those swoops never go away.
“Brave is going to love it,” I say.
“Lots of room to run around in the back.”
Below the deck is a pool and lawn that eventually drops toward the hill and trail that Aiden must’ve used to travel between here and Toby. I squint because it looks like several people emerge from the woods.
“Who’s—?”
“Hang on.” Aiden presses his pointer finger to my lips. “I want to kiss you once before the welcome party shows up. I, uh, kinda planned this, hoping you’d say yes and not kick me out of my own house.”
My eyebrows lift, but his lips are on mine. Our kiss fills me with something other than yearning. It’s light, bright sunshine parting the clouds, rainbows shining overhead and inside. It’s the best of our recent past and a promise of the future, filling me entirely.
Aiden gives me all of himself in that kiss, and I do the same.
When we part, the voices of our friends and Aiden’s family filter from below.
Before they come inside, I say, “Wait, there’s no furniture.”
“I was hoping you could fix that.”
“Seriously?”
Aiden nods. “As you said, the outside reminds you of me. I want the inside to be Tinsley.”
“How about Tinsley and Aiden?” I say.
“I like the sound of that.”
Aiden gives me one more smoosh before the door swings open and everyone shouts, “Congratulations!”
Louella Belle, Bo, and Brave enter first. Aiden and I give our dog a lot of pets then trade hugs with Christina and Buck, Mae, Taylor, and the baby who is in a sling on his mama’s chest, Camellia and Nash, Bubba, Tammy, the kids, and Beatrice follow. Rhondy and Paul make a brief appearance as well, bringing pies. Even Aggie from the bookstore pops over with a collection of mystery thriller novels for Aiden now that he’s retired from the bureau.
Treats from Sweethearts, iced tea, and various food items fill the counter. It’s part engagement party and part housewarming party.
Aiden gives tours of what amounts to a six-bedroom, seven-bath mansion. I am in awe. In love. When he and I find ourselves alone on the deck, Aiden slings his arm over my shoulder, pulling me close.
He points toward the west. “We’ll have a nice view of the sunset there.”
“This beats a jail cell.”
“They say marriage is like a ball and chain, but I’ve never felt so free.”
I beam a smile. “I’ve never felt so much like me.”
“Does that make a we ? As in we’re free to be ourselves?” he asks.
“No more acting. No more roles. Just us.”
“Justice,” Aiden says with a laugh. “I look forward to being a happily retired and happily married man.”
“What about becoming the mayor?”
“Are you still up for being Mrs. Mayor?”
“I think I’d look great in a parade,” I say with a shimmy.
Aiden tips his head back and laughs. “What if we adopt Cindy Clawford? Do you think she and Brave will get along?”
I gesture over my shoulder to where they sit at attention by the screen door. “Looks like they’re already friends.”
Aiden cups my jaw. “Tinsley, I’m glad you were brave and said yes to us.”
Our dog barks as if agreeing.
I meet Aiden’s blue eyes, finally seeing the mystery they hold—love. “You made it easy.”
“Wasn’t hard when we were building what’s meant to be,” he adds.
Our lips collide and we kiss for love, freedom, and our future together.