Chapter 6
INEZ
6
“Are you sure?” I ask, the payphone to my ear as I tap a nervous heel in the alley behind the bar.
“I’m sure,” the listless voice on the other end of the call says.
“Not even a studio?”
“I’ve checked three times. Nothing’s available, ma’am. Not even a studio.”
I listen and let out a defeated sigh. “Okay well, let me know if anything changes.”
“Fine. But please don’t call back tonight. It’s late.”
And the phone goes dead in my ear.
That was the last property on my list of potential rentals. Shit—what am I gonna do?
I slip the phone back into its cradle, force on my ‘happy face’ and head back inside. Break’s over.
Throughout my shift tonight, during my breaks and whenever I could find a minute of downtime between the rushes and the drama, I’ve been sneaking off to call whatever rentals and property owners I could find around town.
No one has an apartment or small house to rent. I’m not even being picky. There’s just nothing available in the area. No one-bedrooms. No two-bedrooms. No studios. No attics. No basements. Heck, I even responded to an ad about a tree house lodge earlier, just to be told that it's already been snatched up.
Figures.
Starlight Falls is a quaint, middle-of-nowhere Iowa town. But there’s always some hippie festival or spiritual event going on around town. And that means that rental accommodations can be hard to find at various times of the year. Like tonight, apparently.
Luck has not been on my side lately, and I’m starting to freak out. I promised Nolan that I only needed a place to stay for one night. Uno. And that one night came and went faster than I planned.
I might have had more luck finding accommodations if I’d spent the entire day apartment hunting. But when Nolan said I could have my old job back, I was thrilled to start immediately. Now, I’m realizing that was probably a mistake. Because my shift—and the night—is drawing to an end and I’ve got nowhere to lay my head.Again.
But I put on a pretty smile and I serve drinks and I deflect nosy questions without breaking a sweat, all while hiding the fact that I’m having a meltdown on the inside.
At the end of my shift, I’m still acting like everything is a-okay. Rather than dwell over my situation, I pour my attention into the closing list, because stressing about it won’t do me any good.
“Don’t stress over things you can’t control, Inez. Figure out what you can control and fix it,” I whisper to myself.
That’s what Shirley-Marie would always tell me when yet another one of my foster homes wouldn’t work out. It was quite a few years later before I truly figured out what my old caseworker was trying to tell me.
I may understand it now. But I won’t lie—it’s frustrating to still be trying to figure my shit out more than ten years later.
Before long, all the chores around the bar are completed and everyone’s said their goodbyes for the night. I grab my suitcase from where I’d stashed it in the employee room earlier and I’m now outside the bar, freezing my ass off and waiting for a taxi to go I-dont-know-where.
It may be spring, but the nights are still chilly in Starlight Falls. I should have a sweatshirt somewhere close by but I’m definitely not about to dig through my luggage here on the sidewalk. I feel self-conscious enough as it is, dragging my entire life around in this suitcase with me.
As I wait, my mind travels to Vance and the way he was crying in that television interview earlier. A part of me doubts that he really is that torn up over me—everything is a career move with that guy. But the larger part of me feels horrified at the idea that I may have caused all that pain to another human being, especially someone who claims to care about me.
That’s why I connect to the bar’s wifi network, open my email app and type out a quick message to Vance, inviting him to reach out to me if he feels like he needs closure about our situation. Then I put my phone away and try to shake the guilt and embarrassment from my mind.
A few minutes later, Nolan’s locking up and heading out, too. His steps falter when he spots me standing at the shadowy, deserted curb.
He frowns, his footsteps echoing as he saunters in my direction. “Hey. I thought you already left. What are you doing out here?”
I grip the handle of my suitcase and smile. “Oh, just waiting on my ride.” I try to play it off. But the cab I called should have already been here by now. I’m starting to wonder if one of the drunks out here stole my taxi before I got done with my shift.
Nolan eyeballs my bare arms and then my suitcase. “Where’s your jacket? It’s cold tonight.”
“It is,” I agree, rubbing away the goosebumps prickling my skin. “But it was so warm this afternoon, I didn’t think to grab a jacket before I came outside, Dad.”
Nolan shoots me a dark look. “Maybe next time you’ll remember, or you’ll get spanked.”
His words leave me speechless, standing there dumbfounded as he disappears around the side of the building, headed toward the parking lot. Wait. Is Nolan Brighton…flirting with me?
There’s a tension between us. A new kind of tension.
Has Nolan always looked at me the way he’s been looking at me tonight?I think I would have noticed a sexual tension this intense. As much as I like it, it’s too much.
I’m imagining this, right? I’ve got to be imagining it. Because this man has always been the picture of professional.
I’m still on the sidewalk, rolling the question over in my head when his rusty old car cruises out of the alley and pulls up to the curb in front of me.
“Come on, let’s go,” he calls through the front window.
“I’m alright. I’ll wait for my cab. Thanks, though.”
He cuts the engine and jumps out from behind the wheel. “I’m not leaving a young woman outside on the street at this time of night.” He oh-so-casually grabs my luggage and tosses it into the trunk. “We both know your cab’s not coming, Stargirl. Come on. I’ll drop you off.” He jimmies and wiggles his passenger door until it pops open, then he stands there, watching me impatiently.
I look around once more. Up and down the street. Nothing but darkness. “Fine,” I grumble, reluctantly climbing into his car.
Then he’s back in the driver’s seat, shrugging out of his fleece and wordlessly shoving it in my direction.
I’d fight him over it—I would—but right now, I don’t have the fucking energy to argue with this man. So I snatch it out of his bear paw, pull it around my body and buckle up, pouting the whole damn time. And hello, clean woodland freshness.
Goddammit.
Looking very satisfied with himself, Nolan cranks over the engine, turns on the heat, and flips all the vents in my direction. “So, where to?”
Shoot. I hesitate, trying to make a game time decision. “The Full Moon Motel, please.” I look down and fiddle with my seatbelt.
“The motel?” Nolan’s voice drips with disdain. “That place is a dump. Have you heard about the size of the spiders they have over there? Fuck that.”
I scoff. “I’m not afraid of some bugs. Trust me, I’ve stayed in worse places,” I argue, thinking about some of the early foster homes I lived in. I shudder at the memories. “Bugs, I can handle. Mice, I’ll survive.” I exhale. “I’ll be fine. I just need a ride.”
Nolan completely ignores me.He puts his old car into gear and hits the road, driving in the opposite direction of the crappy motel.
His car rumbles so loud tonight, he wouldn’t be able to hear my protests anyway. So instead, I just glare at him as he drives me toward his house again. For a second night in a row.
I feel my body starting to tense up. It was hard enough accepting his help last night. I don’t want to do it again. I’m not the kind of girl who relies on bartenders-in-shining-armor.
“No. Please. You don’t have to do this, Nolan.”
He doesn’t even answer. Ugh. So stubborn.
“I don’t want to intrude on your life…And Stella, she’ll be confused…And…I…I don’t…”
I continue to throw out excuses. And he continues to drive.
I feel like I’m losing control, losing the tiny bit of power I have over the trajectory of my life.
“Nolan Theodore Brighton. Stop. You’re not listening to me!”
When I blast those words across the console at him, he immediately pulls over on the side of the quiet mountain road. He puts the car in ‘park’ while letting the engine run.
He angles his torso to face me and those stormy blue eyes spit fire at me across the dark cabin. “I’m trying to help you. What are you so fucking afraid of?”
Growing to depend on you. Growing to need you. That’s what I want to say. But I hold my tongue.
There’s nothing more important than knowing how to make it in this world on your own.That’s the way I grew up. That’s the way I survived. Depending on some guy now feels like a risk.
My eyes begin to prickle and I feel so damn stupid when tears start falling down my cheeks. I expect Nolan to get annoyed and tell me to stop crying. Like he did last night.
Instead, he reaches across and cups my cheek in his rough palm. “Tell me why you’re crying…” he requests with a gentleness I’ve only ever heard him use with his daughter.
I feel like a child myself in this moment. My gaze falls downward because I can’t look at him right now. “I’ve been making it on my own for so long…”
His voice is tummy-twisting and low when he speaks again. “I’ve been making it on my own for a long time, too. But I learned that sometimes, it’s okay to set my ego aside and ask for help. Well, at least that’s what everyone tells me.” He gently nudges my chin, forcing me to watch him.“Will you let me help you?”
I swallow but the knot in my throat doesn’t budge. So I just bob my head. I find myself leaning into his touch, craving even more of his closeness.
“Now, is it okay if I drive you to my house? It’s been a long fucking day and I just want to take a shower and wash this stink off me.” He takes a quick sniff of his T-shirt. His delicious smelling T-shirt that I’d like to huff all night.
I laugh quietly. “Yes, it’s okay.”
A soft smile touches his lips and his eyes crinkle at the corners. “Good girl.” Then he leans closer and plants a kiss on my forehead.
My breath catches in my throat. Wha…huh? Did he just…?
The man is oblivious to the fact that he just ruined my panties. With two simple words and a forehead kiss.
Nolan gives my cheek one final stroke before starting the car and gripping the steering wheel again. And then I settle into my seat and let him drive us the rest of the way to his place.
There’s nothing more important than knowing how to make it in this world on your own.It’s true—I have been making it on my own for so long. But for the next little while, I just have to swallow a little pride and ask for a hand here and there to find my way.
When we pull into Nolan’s yard, his ex-mother-in-law is watching us from her trailer again. I’m sure she has all sorts of opinions about her former son-in-law bringing random women home. And this? This looks so bad.
I give the lady a little wave—even as I cringe—walking up to the house. She responds with a mischievous grin.
Nolan’s eyes flick toward the older woman and then back to me, as he unlocks his front door.“You’ll be staying with me until you find adequate accommodations,” he says definitively.
I raise an eyebrow, following him into the house. “Adequate?”
He sets down my suitcases and kicks off his shoes on the front mat. “As in, not a fucking hotel with spiders and creeps.”
I let out a frustrated laugh. “Well that just about eliminates every freaking option in the county.”
“Well, so be it, roomie,” he responds with a smirk.
Ugh. This man.
I’m so annoyed.
He’s so annoying.
But hey, at least my bossy boss is super hot. And super protective. And super sweet.
And it sure doesn’t hurt that his itchy, scratchy spare couch smells just like him.
Only emotionally available men, Inez. Only emotionally available men.
I turn for the office door. Nolan turns for his bedroom. But right before he disappears inside, he pauses.
I glance back and find him peering at me over his shoulder. “And Inez, you can always call my phone. You can always show up at my door. There will always be space in my home for you. Do you understand me?”
I feel myself getting choked up again. “Yeah…”
“Good night.” He closes the bedroom door behind him.
I feel an ache beneath my ribcage as I close the office door and collapse against it. “Good night.”