18. Jones
18
JONES
Capri is here.
In Timber Heights. At The Dove. The town that’s so small, it is rare to run into someone who isn’t a local.
Which must mean… Capri lives here.
I knew her laugh the second it echoed from across the room. Her raspy voice, a sound I hear in my dreams, hauntingly reminded me of her memorable impression.
I could never miss it. Never unhear the melodic sound.
I had to force myself to break our connection. The moment our eyes met, I felt her leave all over again.
The fucking turmoil I experienced waking up to her gone. No goodbye, no note…nothing. She just left.
I knew Capri didn’t owe me anything, but I wanted it. I wanted her sadness over leaving me.
But here we are. In the same place at the same time, after being convinced the world was too big for that to ever happen.
We didn’t exchange personal details for that very reason.
Which led to my surprise of seeing her here.
“You good, man?” Danny, one of my closest buddies in the States, asks me.
“I’m good.”
No, I’m not good. Not when I see a random man with his arm across the back of Capri’s chair.
Fuck. Has she already met someone?
This is exactly what I knew I needed to avoid. It’s why I do hookups only, especially week-long ones.
It’s my own fucking fault.
I met Danny at The Dove tonight to run through wholesale numbers. Danny is a medical supplier for a local healthcare company, the one I purchased beds through for my mother’s memory care facility.
I’m currently working with Paloma’s human resource department to finalize details on providing them with more basic needs: bedding, foaming for walls, support handles, and brain stem activities.
Maybe this is me overcompensating for my absence, but I’ve done my research enough to know it’s necessary, and Paloma hasn’t received donations or funding of any sort for as long as I can remember.
Well, as long as my mother’s been living there.
I turn to Danny, pushing away my thoughts of Capri for a moment. “I’m gonna go pay for this.” I hold up the receipt. “Meet you outside.”
Danny nods and leaves me to it.
I pivot to head toward the front of the restaurant before the sight of strawberry blonde hair rushing behind me catches my eye.
I don’t know why I do it, but I follow my golden girl toward the restroom with no plan in mind.
I catch her before she opens the door. “Capri.”
She freezes, slowly turning to face me.
Good fucking god. How is it possible for her to be even more stunning than a month ago? She’s breathtaking.
Hair wild and sexy with sky-high heels, and an outfit so killer I could drop to my knees right now and feel no shame.
Those big doe eyes watch me with an intensity I’ve missed.
“Jones.” There’s my favorite raspy voice.
“You’re here,” I say. In this case, less is more, or else I’ll be jumbling my words like a helpless idiot.
“I am. But then again, you saw that,” Capri says, nodding to the table she’s sitting at. My eyes drift to the crowded table, and I breathe a sigh of relief to find them lost in conversation.
But I can’t help but notice her catching my avoidance of her.
“Why didn’t you say goodbye?” I don’t want to sound hurt or accusatory; she doesn’t owe me an explanation, but I am curious.
Her head drops, and my eyes are drawn to the motion at her chest. She fidgets with an all too familiar necklace.
The bell. She kept it.
Fuck. That feels too good .
“I wanted to,” Capri says sincerely. “God, I wanted to, Jones. But it would have been too hard. I couldn’t…”
Suddenly, all the resentment I held flies out the window. Capri can’t seem to do any wrong as far as I’m concerned.
I nod in understanding because I get it. I’m not sure I would have been strong enough had the roles been swapped. “I wish you would have. Said goodbye, I mean.” I can’t help it, and I reach to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, a gesture that feels like muscle memory.
I watch, transfixed, as goosebumps flood her arms at my touch. “I’m sorry, Jones. I didn’t think I would feel so?—”
“It’s okay,” I say, cutting her off. I don’t want her to feel upset about her decision. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I was disappointed, that’s all.”
She smiles sweetly, and all the feelings I thought I buried come rushing back. “You live here?” she asks timidly. That’s a question we worked hard to avoid in Italy, and here she is asking it without thinking.
All I can think is I should have done it sooner.
“Only three months out of the year,” I tell her, and her brows peak in question. “I care for my mother.”
I see sympathy fill her. “Is she sick?”
I don’t know why, but it feels like a struggle to admit it. Maybe because I don’t want her to feel sad for me. “Something like that.”
Capri nods, and I can tell the moment between us has ended. “I’m sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine how hard that must be.” Her eyes search for anything other than me. “It was good to see you, Jones. Unexpected.”
Before she can turn away, my hand reaches out, spinning her to face me. “Can I see you again?” Please say yes.
The soft tilt of her head tells me she’s questioning if it’s a good idea or not. “I don’t know, Jones.” Her bright eyes drop just a touch. “I’m really trying to focus on myself right now. You know…healthy mind, healthy life.”
I don’t want to bring up the guy I just witnessed with his arm around her. Not my business, but at this point, I’ll take her however I can get her.
“That’s perfect. So am I. We can focus on ourselves together.” I grin, sending her a wicked wink, and she giggles.
God, I love that sound.
Her response wounds me. “I won’t fuck you, Jones. I mean it.”
Okay, so I have to keep my hands to myself? Shouldn’t be that difficult, right?
“That’s okay, sweetheart. Been there, done that,” I joke, and she swats at my arm. “Best lay I ever had.”
“And last one from me,” she adds, and I won’t lie, I’m slightly disappointed. “It’s important to me that I learn how to be single and stand on my own.”
Good girl. “As you should.”
“But I could use a friend?” My ears perks up. Her question is the green light I need.
I don’t know what my intentions are with Capri. I never expected to have a chance to spend time with her again, but I’ll take it.
“I’d like that.” I smile. “I’m only here for three months before I head back. Taking care of my mother, then getting back to work.”
“You just got here?”
“Last week, yeah.”
She nods in understanding. “Phone?” Her dainty hand awaits my phone. I can’t keep my eyes off her sprinkling of freckles along the bridge of her nose, looking more prominent as we near the end of the summer.
“There,” she says after inputting her number.
I check her contact and laugh at the name she put for herself.
“I’ll be in touch, Capri from Capri.”
She grins without another word and enters the door behind her.
Today took an unexpected turn.
It seems good things can happen in Timber Heights, South Carolina.
The smallest town with the prettiest resident.
Yep…still not over her.