CHAPTER 4
Tally
“So I hear you finally met Walker?” Rosie says as she slides a shot glass over to me.
“How’d you—” I glance at my sister sitting next to me and scowl. “Oh, for fucks sake, can the two of you stop sharing secrets? She’s supposed to be my best friend.”
Penny laughs. “Rosie’s my friend, too.”
Rosie pushes a shot toward her. “Yeah, and you’re the one who’s been gone for years. The two of us had to commiserate over missing you so much. Right, Pen?”
Penny doesn’t answer and instead grabs the shot and downs it quickly.
There’s a band set up in the corner of the brewery, and a decent crowd has gathered to listen to them play.
My mother was supposed to meet us for dinner, but she texted that some meeting had run late.
I know she’s avoiding me because she’s going to have to explain how she gave not only our house but also my room to a stranger.
Without dinner plans, Penny and I decided to come down to the brewery.
“I don’t know why you all wanted me to say hello to Walker for you. He doesn’t seem very friendly.”
The man barely talks. After our little showdown in the kitchen, he grumbled that he had work to do, and I haven’t seen him since.
Rosie’s lips slide into a wide smile. “The town loves to tease him because he doesn’t talk. So everyone’s always saying hi to him, being friendly, trying to strike up some meaningless conversation. It drives him nuts.”
I swirl the liquid around in my shot glass. “You talk like the town is in cahoots.”
Penny and Rosie share a look and then Rosie lets out a raspy laugh. “Oh, honey, you’ve been gone too long. Of course we’re in cahoots. We had an entire town meeting about it.”
I groan in aggravation. “And he’s still here? I don’t get it. Something isn’t adding up. Do you know anything about him?”
Rosie shakes her head. “Only that he and your dad used to come in here often for lunch. Your father really liked him.”
“So Penny says,” I grumble. “But I’m telling you, there’s something suspicious about him. You know he told us his sister could do my job?”
Rosie raises her eyebrows in surprise.
“Exactly. Said I could go to my next job because his sister knew how to plan weddings and was happy to come and stay.”
“But you’re not leaving, right?” Penny almost sounds panicked.
“No,” I say quickly. “Walker told me that whoever was working the weddings would have to answer to him because he’s running the farm.”
Rosie settles her forearms on the edge of the bar and smirks. “So let me guess. Because he offered to bring his sister to do the job you don’t even want—and insinuated that she’d do it better than you—you’re now committed to stay?”
I stare at the Fireball she’s poured for me and then meet her gaze. She arches her brows again, and I brace myself for what she’s about to say. “Remember the rule: If you don’t tell the truth while drinking, you’ll be cursed with bad sex for ten years.”
I practically choke on my laughter. Rosie came up with this stupid rule when we were drinking peach schnapps in high school and I refused to admit that I had a crush on the guy who had asked her to prom.
We both threw up for hours the next day, but she didn’t go to prom with Kyle and we’ve never told a lie while drinking since.
I lift my glass and grin. “Yup.”
Rosie grabs the bottle of Fireball and pours herself a shot before filling Penny’s empty glass. Then she lifts hers in the air in my direction. “Girl, you’re just as crazy asthe day you left Hope Harbor.”
As the Fireball hits my throat, I relish the burn. I haven’t felt this wild in a long time.
When Penny disappears to the bathroom, Rosie eyes me. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re back. Your family needs you. But a word of advice.”
I nod, knowing that if anyone is going to give it to me straight, it’ll be my best friend.
“Walker’s not going anywhere. You’re going to have to figure out a way to get along with him.”
I shake my head at her words. I’m going to find out the story behind Jesse Walker’s scowl. And I’m not leaving Hope Harbor until I prove to everyone that he is up to no good.
—
HOPE HARBOR TOWN CHAT
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Did you know Tally Darling’s back in town?
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Oh yes! Ran into her downtown today. Or more like she almost ran into me. Good thing cars stop.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Of course they do. What else would they do?
“What the heck is this?” I ask my sister as I hold up my phone and point the screen in her direction. We’re sitting in her car outside our house after sunset, and I’m trying to work up the courage to go inside. Messages continue to pop up by the second, all from numbers I don’t recognize.
My sister smiles. “Oh, it’s the town group chat.”
“The what?”
She giggles. “The group chat. You know, so everyone can get up-to-the-minute updates.”
Confused, I stare down at the screen that’s filling with more messages. “How did I end up in it?”
Penny shrugs. “If I had to guess? Rosie. She loves the group chat.”
I frown. Everything feels so different from when I lived here last.
“You sure you don’t want me to walk you up to the house?” Penny’s eyes cast longingly in the direction of what used to be our family home.
“I’ll be fine. Hopefully the man of the house is already sleeping.”
Penny giggles. “Come by the store tomorrow,” she says before turning to me with a more serious look. “I’m glad you’re home, Tal.”
My chest aches as I throw my arms around her before grabbing my stuff from the back seat.
When I get out of the car, I stare up at the white Victorian with the farmer’s porch my father never got around to fixing.
My mother always wanted a few rocking chairs and cushions so she could sit and drink her tea and look out at her meadows.
But the porch is bare. Like so much of this house, Dad only finished half of it before he got pulled into something else.
My father was the type of man who was always offering to help—he was at every town meeting, and if he wasn’t at home, he was probably helping out a neighbor.
A familiar pang of sadness grows as I climb the steps and lean against the banister, which just barely holds my weight because one of the stakes is missing.
Laughing, I look up at the sky, knowing my dad is saying he’ll get to that soon enough.
Silence greets me when I enter the house, and I sigh in relief, knowing I can sneak up to my sister’s room without having to talk to Walker.
But as the floorboards creak under my weight, a throat clears and I find the man in question sitting in my daddy’s chair with a slew of papers laid out on the table in front of him.
The last time I visited, my dad was in that same position, reviewing taxes. I cough out a laugh at how ridiculous it is that he was worried about business expenses and write-offs that he didn’t even live to deal with.
“Are you okay?” Walker pushes back in his chair, studying me. I’m sure I’m quite the sight, with the delirious smile on my face from laughing so I don’t start sobbing.
I give a quick nod and shift toward the stairs. “I’m going to stay in Penny’s room if that’s all right.”
Walker shrugs. “It’s your house.”
I rush out of the room without a response. Because it sure doesn’t feel like it.