Chapter 2
Elijah
Iwatched for too long as Hazel left with Captain Forest Ranger and his hell hound. His hand rested on the small of her back like it was a familiar spot. And why wouldn’t it be? It’d been over a year since I’d been back in my hometown. She was single when I left, and there was no reason to think she’d stay that way. Over a year of wondering what she was up to. Over a year of her having my number. Over a year of her not using it.
Now I knew why.
It was probably a good thing I’d canceled the previous trips I’d half-heartedly planned to visit. It was probably good that I had stopped myself from contacting her through social media or calling the clinic’s number. Every time I considered it, I’d reason that she knew how to get a hold of me but wasn’t, and I should probably respect that.
She looked good. The sweater dress she wore ended halfway down her legging-covered thighs—and did nothing to hide her generous curves. The silky strands of her hair were pulled back from her face in a loose braid. Her skin was lit in the warm light of the setting sun.
I expected to run into her, but not like this—and certainly not with me fleeing a rabid dog. When I imagined it, I was on my game. I even let myself picture her being happy to see me. I’d tell her how I couldn’t get her out of my head, and then we’d go out to dinner. I’d kiss her good night outside of her front door and see if I could take her to breakfast the next morning.
But all of those plans and hopes were embarrassing now.
I’d been in romantic limbo since spending just one night with Hazel, and I’d been there alone.
A fact that took my embarrassment all the way up to humiliating.
“Eli, do you need help down?”
Bending my neck, I found my mom standing at the bottom of the retaining wall—which was well over her head. “Sure, Mom. How?”
She held her arms out with a goofy grin on her face. “I’ll catch you.”
Some of the tension left my shoulders as I laughed. “I’ve got this.”
I dropped down to join her on the sidewalk.
Expecting me to follow, Mom started walking toward the restaurant’s front door. “Did you know her?”
“Who?” I played dumb, even though it was useless.
She lifted an eyebrow and gave me a look that expressed she was not fooled. “The young lady with Deputy Dipshit.”
“He seemed like a nice enough guy.”
“I don’t care. He let his dog get away from him, and that little shit wanted to tear your face off.”
I took hold of the handle and open the door for Mom to walk through first. The interior of the building was like stepping into a childhood memory. It all appeared the same with the dark green vinyl booths lining the walls, the rectangular tables filling the center of the space, and the bar with stools screwed into the floor just beyond them. Large lamps hung with thin ‘70s-era chains swooping from the ceiling and even the black-and-white checkered floor was the same. Old photos displayed on the walls, showing the town’s past, stoic people standing still next to Model T’s and the library surrounded by trees, instead of the parking lot and Westside general store.
We stood next to a “Please, wait to be seated” sign.
“It feels so strange to be here,” Mom whispered.
I nodded. “You okay?”
When she and I had moved to Nashville just after I graduated from high school, it gave us a chance to start over, something we both had needed. Divorcing my dad—the well-loved veterinarian—had unsettled the community, and he’d used that destabilization to paint my mom in terrible shades. And those terrible shades that were easier to spread because of scandalous rumors about me.
Rumors that were only partially untrue.
“I’m okay,” she said. “You?”
I shrugged. “I’m good.”
“So, did you know her?” Mom asked.
“Know who?” I didn’t know why I was avoiding talking to my mom about Hazel. Maybe because I’d kept this secret for so long. Maybe because I felt like a fool for pining over her for all this time.
“You know—”
“Table or booth?” a teenager asked, his tan skin speckled with pimples.
“Booth, please.” Mom gave him a polite smile.
He grabbed two comically large menus and gestured for us to follow him. We slid into a booth and gave him our drink orders.
When we were alone again, Mom held up a warning finger. “Now, don’t play dumb with me again. Do you know her?”
I forced my smile to be easy, as if it was just a stupid joke. “Yeah, that’s Hazel Matthews. She was a couple of years younger than me in school, and she took over Dad’s clinic.”
“That’s Hazel?”
“Yup.”
“I think I remember her. She was such a mature kid.”
I tried to remain nonchalant.
The teenager returned with our drinks, then left so we could look over the menu.
“She’s pretty,” Mom said, scanning her open menu.
I nodded. “Yeah, she’s really pretty.”
“Did you meet her when you came up last year?”
“Yup.”
“You didn’t mention her.”
“I was preoccupied with Dad being a dick,” I mostly lied.
Yes, my dad had been an asshat, and I’d cut my trip short because of it. His main asshattery consisted of lording control over me by threatening Hazel’s takeover of the veterinary clinic if she and I spent time together. In the end, she stayed in my rickety cabin rental for one night—a night I couldn’t stop thinking about. Craving.
Mom patted my fisted hands on the table between us. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. You don’t deserve that.”
“It wasn’t all bad.” I closed the menu and set it on the edge of the table. “I reconnected with Ransom, and we’re gonna get together while you and I visit. I mean, I’m the one who convinced you to take this trip, so I must not be too traumatized.”
A trip I was hoping to get to know Hazel better, but I’d find something else to do with my time.
“I guess not,” she said.
“How do you feel about running into Dad? The town is so small, and it’s kinda inevitable.”
“Uneasy. There are a couple of people here I’m nervous to run into.”
She held my questioning gaze for a moment, knowing I didn’t actually have to speak for her to understand.
Lifting one shoulder and letting it fall again, she explained, “I wouldn’t have come back if I didn’t feel like it was the right choice. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I retired or getting older, but I just wanna put the nonsense behind me.”
I opened my mouth to reply when a woman with short white hair approached our table, staring down at a pad of paper in her hand. “Are we ready to order?”
“Ginny?” Mom said apprehensively.
The waitress glanced up, her eyebrows pulled together before her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. “Susan? Susan March?”
“I thought that was you! Ginny, how are you?” Mom stood, pulling the slightly smaller woman into a hug.
“Well, I’m just great! How are you?” Ginny didn’t wait for a reply before she continued, “You look gorgeous!”
“You, too!”
She flicked a dismissive hand. “Oh, I don’t know. Every time I look in the mirror, I ask myself, ‘Who is that old lady?’”
Mom leaned on one leg and rested her hands on her hips. “I completely understand that. In my mind, I’m trapped at thirty-five, and that was so long ago!” She flipped a hand in my general direction. “My goodness, my son will be twenty-nine this year.”
“Oh my! You are Elijah March, aren’t you?”
“I am.” I twisted in the booth to speak directly to Ginny.
“Look at how handsome you are.” To Mom she gushed, “He is so handsome.”
Laughing, Mom nodded. “He is.”
“He looks just like his dad!”
“He does.”
“But then you were always such a cute kid. I remember, you had the most mischievous little smile. You probably don’t remember me.”
“I think I do.” Looking at Mom, I asked, “We went to the same church, right?”
Mom laughed harder and gripped Ginny’s elbow. “Yes, he loved you because you swore under your breath at church.”
Throwing her head back, Ginny cackled at the ceiling, drawing the attention of other diners, who went right back to their meals. “Oh shit, that does sound like me.”
“Oh goodness, Ginny, it’s so good to see you.”
“You, too. How long will you be in town? We’d love to have you over for dinner—a bunch of us ladies get together and play Euchre.”
“That’d be lovely. We’re around for a couple of months, actually. We’re planning on spending the whole fall up here. I’m retired, and he works remotely now, so why not?”
“Really? What do you do?”
“I co-own a business in network securities. We protect businesses from ransomware.”
“I did not understand any of that.”
I was used to that response, but her matter-of-fact tone made me chuckle.
I was ready to explain, but Ginny lifted her pad and pen, then shoved them both into her apron pocket again. “You know who you just missed? Do you know Hazel who took over the vet clinic? She was just on the patio with her young man.”
My stomach dropped. Hearing someone else acknowledge that they were together only added to my simmering disappointment.
Mom’s smile pinched, and I knew she was thinking about the dog again. “I haven’t met her, but Elijah did last year.”
“She’s doing a great job. That young lady works so hard.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
Ginny pulled the items out of her apron again. “What can I get you two?”
After taking our order, she promised to be right back with everything.
“She is a hoot.” Mom slid back into her seat.
“She seems fun.” I draped my arm over the back of the booth.
“If she actually invites us over, will you come with me?”
“Of course, Mom.”
“She was always so nice to me, even when… well, when it all got bad.” She left unsaid how the community had ostracized her, blaming her for tearing apart our home. They couldn’t understand how she would leave such a kind, godly man, and they refused to believe the truth of who he was.
“I know,” I said simply.
I shifted the conversation to Mom’s plans for the following day. Our talk was easy enough that I could devote only half of my attention to it, while the other half wondered what it meant that Hazel and I didn’t even say hello. Was there really only one night between us? Had it just been sex for her? Something to get out of her system? Had I fabricated our connection?
Or had she heard something about me that made her change her mind? Had she realized just how bad associating with me could be for her reputation in this little town that thrived on credibility?
That cut into a wound that was always tender. I’d winced at the slightest pressure on it—a pain that had always been there, a whisper that I was bad news.
“You okay?” Mom’s concerned voice cut through my line of thought.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m good. You good?”
“I am. I’m glad to be here with you.”
“Me, too.”