Chapter Three
It’s been almost two months in Balsam Cliffs and I’ve barely left the farm.
Aggie and Tommy have so much beautiful land I haven’t found the need to leave.
Lily is obsessed with the animals and we haven’t repeated a trail through the woods yet.
It’s peaceful and quiet. Best of all, there’s no looking over my shoulder.
Exactly what I need. I ventured to the coffee shop, Emerald Roasters, once. But I was constantly worried that Black Key found me. So I haven’t left since.
But tonight my quiet bubble is going to pop. Aggie and Tommy work closely with the inn next door to them. The Keaton family. And tonight they’re coming for a dinner party. All of them. All thirteen of them. What family has thirteen members?
I’ve only met Hunter so far since he was helping Tommy get the cabins fixed up. He was nice, but we didn’t interact much. I tried to make myself scarce when he was around. Call me silly for being wary of strange men after my door was almost knocked down.
“Baby, are you ready to go?” I call out to my daughter who’s been running around the house looking for all the toys she can to bring to Aggie & Tommy’s house.
“Yes, Mommy.” She runs over to me, a floppy bunny in her arms. “I’m bringin’ Mistaw Fwoppy!”
“I’m sure he’ll love Auntie Aggie’s carrots!” She giggles and runs out of the house.
Taking a deep breath, I lock the cabin door behind me. The first time Tommy saw me do this he laughed and told me we’re in Balsam Cliffs, we don’t need to lock our doors here. But my fear that some rogue drug dealers masquerading as cowboys finding me, is still too high.
Following behind my daughter, I take pride in the fact that she gets to have a carefree childhood, prancing through the apple trees without a worry in the world.
I let the surprising late February sun heat my cheeks, taking advantage of the fact there is no snow on the ground making this walk slippery.
“Mommy, watch dis!” Lily tosses Mister Floppy into the air over a branch of the apple tree, catching him on the way down.
“Great job catching him, baby!” We have officially entered the watch dis phase of toddlerhood.
“Lily May!” Aggie yells from the porch. “You better hurry up and get that booty in here before your mama catches up. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
A little chuckle escapes me. Aggie is constantly buying stuff for her and I’ve told her she’s going to make my daughter spoiled, but she claims she’s got to make up for the first three years she didn’t get to see her everyday. Not that it stopped her from spoiling from afar.
Again, how Jack came from this family is baffling. No more baffling than how I stayed so long.
“Ags, we talked about this!” I shout back.
“Hurry, baby, she’s onto us!”
Lily looks back at me before sprinting into her arms. I’ve lost her to the promise of toys or candy.
Stepping into the house I’m already overwhelmed. There are at least half of the Keaton crew in the kitchen, buzzing around to get things set up.
“Oh, honey, these are the Keaton women!” She begins pointing to the women standing around the kitchen island. “Anna, the matriarch, Emma, Evelyn, Violet, and Willow. Ladies, this is my niece, Aubrey. She’s a little shy so take it easy on her.”
I wave weakly, but my daughter runs up to them. “Hi! I’m Wiwwy. I wuv bunnies.” She thrusts Mister Floppy into Emma’s face.
“Her name is Lily. We’re working on the L sound.” I offer.
“Hi Lily! It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Emma. My little girl, Olivia, is in the other room with her daddy if you want to go play with her.”
Another girl mom? Maybe this won’t be so bad. I could use another mom friend. Someone to share in the hardships with.
“You look nervous. This family can be a lot but I promise they’re the best.” Violet slides up next to me like a quiet little cat.
“I take it you married into the family then?”
“Is it that obvious?” She laughs. “Emma is the only biological Keaton. Unfortunately for her she was born into a family of brothers, but she gets really awesome sister-in-laws in return.”
“She better say that.” Evelyn laughs. Evelyn is everything I’m not.
She’s tall and slender with the perfect Mediterranean skin, long silky black hair, and dark eyes to my blonde, frumpy mom, short frame.
My green eyes seem dull in comparison to hers that somehow seem to glow despite their coffee color.
The door opens and my breath feels like it was stolen from my throat. A gorgeous man with shaggy dirty blonde hair walks through.
“Ah. And here is Cooper!” Aggie walks over to pull him into an embrace. “Cooper does so much to help Tommy, and he’s the one working on the photographs of the farm for our website and social media!”
“Hi, I’m Aubrey. It’s nice to meet you finally, Tommy talks about how wonderful you are nonstop.”
Ugh. What am I doing?
“Hey, Aubrey. How are you settling in?” He doesn’t reach out for a handshake but instead shoves his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants.
“We’re… settling. It’s been a change that’s for sure, but my daughter, Lily, is loving it.” Shut up, Aubrey. This man does not care, he was being polite.
“Okay, ladies, Cooper was the last to arrive. Let’s get this food on the table!” Aggie starts handing out trivets, placemats, dishes, and silverware to anyone who has two hands.
“I’ll get the guys.” Cooper hurriedly leaves the room in search of said men.
We all take our seats around the table and somehow I not-so-subtly end up in the only empty seat next to Cooper. Lucky me. Even if my lady bits think we are pretty fucking lucky.
The dinner is a loud boisterous night. After we spent an hour and a half eating at the table, I needed a break. A very quiet break. Sneaking out the kitchen door, I hide on the bench in the corner of the porch.
When the door opened again, I sat as still and quiet as I could, hoping that whoever it was would leave. But instead I watched a silhouetted figure stand at the edge of the steps, exhaling a slow breath.
“My family can be a lot,” Cooper says to the backyard without even turning to see who was out here.
“Um, yeah, they’re fine, it’s just me.” How the hell did he know I was here?
He laughs. “Don’t feel bad admitting it. I think they’re a lot too. Sometimes small doses of Keatons are better. Adjusting to being home has been more challenging than I thought. Not that I don’t love my family, it’s just…”
He moves to sit next to me on the bench. His muscular thigh brushing against mine.
“I get it. I love Aggie and Tommy. And I appreciate everything they’re doing for us, but sometimes I just want to sit in front of the fire.
Sometimes I miss my quiet life where no one cared what I was doing.
Including Jack.” If I could slap my own forehead right now, I would. Why do I keep admitting shit to him?
“I can see that. It must be hard coming from Montana to Maine. Did you have a big support system there like you do here? Because, just so you know, you’re now officially in the Keaton fold and they will fuss over you every chance they get.”
“Just my best friend, Sophia. I stayed home with Lily so I didn’t have many friends.
I met Sophia by chance at Buckles and Brews, our coffee shop, when we got each other’s order.
Safe to say she didn’t want the hot cocoa or the coffee with five espresso shots.
” I shrug, a small smile playing at the corner of my lips.
“Five? I think the max I’ve ever survived was three on a flight back from Shanghai. Damn, girl.” He laughs, bumping my shoulder with his.
“Lily was going through a mental growth spurt. Sleep was not our friend for a couple of weeks. Sophia caught us on the tail end of it and I was forcing us out of the house so we didn’t take a nap on the couch, hoping to make sleep happen at night time again.”
“Well, that sounds like hell if you ask me.”
“Oh, it was. Thank goodness she sleeps now.”
Our time is interrupted when Anna Keaton pokes her head out the kitchen door. “Dessert is being served. Thought maybe you two might like some. Or not. Whatever you choose.” She smirks with a wink before going back inside.
“How about a brownie and a walk? I can show you the best spot for escaping if you promise to keep it a secret,” he asks me.
“Let me ask—”
“You don’t have to. I’ll tell Ma. She’ll watch her. Be right back.”
Before I can even agree he’s back inside to get us brownies and a babysitter.
I don’t know what’s come over me to make me feel like I should tell him any of that.
He’s easy to talk to, that has to be it.
All through dinner he kept me laughing right along with Lily. Safe to say she is his new biggest fan.
“Okay, I got us four brownies before anyone came to chase me out of the dining room, so we should probably get a move on,” he says, running off the deck.
When he doesn’t stop to wait for me, I get up and run after him. He doesn’t stop until we’re at the edge of the tree line.
“That was close. Violet made the brownies. And they’ve got peanut butter frosting on them. Good thing she knows our crew and made three dozen.”
We fall into step next to each other. “Three dozen? That’s a lot of brownies.”
“No way. Not with my brothers. Those will be gone in five seconds. She’s used to us though. She’s been feeding us since she moved back to Balsam Cliffs a year ago and started working at the inn.”
“Oh, she’s not from here? I thought she owned Sweet Violets in town?”
He talks around a mouth full of sweet confection. “She came for summers to visit Margaret, her grandmother. When a pipe burst last winter during a storm she moved home to help, then she got sucked into Liam’s orbit and she hasn’t found a way out yet.”
Judging by the closeness between the two and the stolen kisses, I don’t think she wants to find a way out.
“What about you? Tommy says you travel a lot?” I feel a need to know more about him.
He stops standing at the edge of the cliffs, overlooking the vast ocean ahead of us. Gesturing with his hands, he invites me to look out at the view and enjoy his spot with him.
“I did. I still travel now, but not as much. I actually just opened my own travel blog, and I leave for my first trip tomorrow. I’m going to Hemlock Cove to feature them in my first article.
But I did work as a photographer for a popular magazine, until I couldn’t do it anymore. I wanted a home base.”
“That sounds amazing. Getting paid to travel the world.” I wish I’d gotten to see more of the world. Currently I’m limited to Montana and Maine and my finances don’t allow for travel.
“In theory. In real life it was pretty lonely. I got to experience all those amazing views and places either by myself or with a coworker I half knew for all of sixty seconds before hopping on a plane together.” He shoves the last piece of his brownie into his mouth.
“I can see how it’d get lonely. But staying put is pretty lonely too.
You have to stay behind and watch everyone else’s lives being lived.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got Lily so I don’t regret anything, but I wish I would have finished college.
” In the distance I can hear a little voice yelling Mommy.
“I guess that’s my cue to get back. Thanks for sharing your spot with me. ”
“Anytime. It was nice to get out of the noise with someone else who appreciates the quiet spaces.” He rests his hand on my lower back as he guides me back through the dark woods.
The heat of his hand seemingly sears through my jacket, even though the idea is completely ridiculous, I swear I feel it.
He feels familiar in a way I can’t put my finger on. Like this is a path we’ve walked together once before.