2. Leo
LEO
I’d planned a lot in my life. What career I wanted. What I was going to do to achieve it. Where I wanted to live. What I wanted my life to look like.
So, it was fucking humbling to turn thirty-three years old and realize majority of my life didn’t look like how I’d expected.
I thought I’d be living in a big city and working as head chef of a fine dining restaurant. I thought I’d be married—or at least engaged. I thought I’d be closer with my brother.
Instead, I’d gotten passed up for a promotion at a fine dining restaurant in Portland, which led me to move to a small town about an hour from where I grew up to start a new job. I was very single. And I wasn’t any closer with Colin. If anything, we were closer to strangers than brothers.
All that aside, I looked forward to starting my new job in a few days.
I’d be head chef and introducing a food menu at Lake Ridge, the local bar in town.
I wasn’t sure how the bar’s manager, Wes Richards, found me, but his vision for the menu and bar resonated with me.
It was also clear how much he cared about his hometown.
Wes wanted to work with local farmers to source ingredients, minimize food waste, and use other sustainable practices.
He didn’t want to bring in a chef and introduce a food menu just for the sake of increasing revenue.
Of course it was a goal, but he wanted the changes to benefit local farmers and show other businesses in town that it was possible to implement sustainable practices and still make a profit.
Honestly, Wes’s pitch came at the perfect time. I applied for the job and got an interview. The job offer came shortly after that.
Golden Falls wasn’t my forever, but it would help me get to where I wanted to be.
I’d get the food menu set up and ensure Lake Ridge had a plan moving forward. I’d help my mom while in town. Then I’d be on to the next city. Maybe back to Portland or Chicago. Maybe some place new.
I didn’t want to settle. While the Lake Ridge job was a head chef role, my career had been in fine dining.
For now, though, my focus was on my job and helping my mom, who was getting ready to sell her house.
The same house where my brother and I had grown up.
Mom had stayed in Maple Bluffs after the divorce.
As much as she loved the house, over the last couple of years, she’d mentioned wanting to sell it and downsize.
It’d been challenging to keep up with the repairs and the extra space now that my brother and I had long moved away.
Between taking care of my grandparents, work, and life, my mom’s hands had been full.
Now that I was closer, I could help take some things off her plate—even if she claimed she didn’t need my help or for me to worry about her.
My mom had spent her whole life taking care of my brother and me. I wanted to ensure she had help and was in a good spot for when she retired in a few years. I didn’t want her to have to worry about anything.
My brother visited her here and there but wasn’t taking initiative to help, even though he was a few hours away in Madison.
She says everything’s fine. She’d tell us if she needed something, he often said. Life was easier that way, I imagined.
I’d gotten into town a few days ago and had focused on unpacking and getting settled. Wes had been helpful throughout the whole process, securing an apartment for me, answering questions, and helping coordinate the move.
I was finally meeting him in person tonight, along with his friends Cooper and Gabe.
I’d likely meet more of the residents tonight, too. Having grown up in a small town, I was more than familiar with how quickly news traveled, especially when someone new moved in. I wouldn’t have been surprised if residents already knew my full life story.
As I waited for Wes, I looked at the storefronts on Main Street. The apartment building had housing on the second floor and commercial spaces on the first. Right away, I’d spotted Purrfect Blend Cat Café and Root and Vine Yoga. There was a storefront under construction, too.
“Leo?” a voice behind me asked.
When I turned, I spotted a man about my height and age with a neatly trimmed beard. In addition to his black shirt and jeans, he wore a ball cap with Lake Ridge on the front.
“Hey, I’m Wes,” he greeted, stretching his hand out. “Glad you made it in okay.”
“Hey, nice to finally meet you in person,” I said while shaking his hand. “Great to be here. Thanks for all your help in coordinating my move and for inviting me out tonight.”
The corner of Wes’s mouth tipped up. “No need to thank me. I’m happy to help with whatever you need. Honestly, I should be thanking you. I’m still in shock you accepted the job.” He chuckled. “But…we’re incredibly lucky to have you. I can’t wait to see what you do for the bar and for this town.”
An amused laugh escaped me. “You know, I’ve never had a boss say that to me—about being shocked I accepted the job. I’m glad to be here and excited to jump in.”
“Good. Love to hear it.” Wes tipped his head for us to start walking.
“The bar is just right down this way, just a few blocks from your apartment. Oh—” He stopped, tipping his chin toward the building.
“My little sister Lily, who you got your key from, owns the café behind you, and then Eliza owns the yoga studio.”
Wes continued to talk as we started walking again, but I could only focus on my heart pounding in my ears, her name playing on loop. I remembered Eliza was from Golden Falls, but I didn’t realize she’d moved back.
My brother and I didn’t talk about Eliza after they broke up, so when he mentioned a few months ago that he’d seen her in Madison last summer, I figured they both stayed after college.
I knew better than to ask questions about her. Because if I asked questions, then I’d get to thinking, wondering what she’d been up to.
I cleared my throat. “Eliza opened a yoga studio?” I asked. I remembered her mentioning it during the handful of times I saw her over the year she’d dated my brother.
“She did.” Wes nodded. “When she’s not teaching, she’s bartending at Lake Ridge part-time.”
“She works at Lake Ridge?” I asked, my heart rate kicking up a notch. I couldn’t tell if it was from panic, curiosity, or both.
“She does.” Wes looked at me, puzzled. “She didn’t tell you? I assumed you two talked. She gave me your number and shared some of your experience.”
I froze mid-step as my brain tried to catch up to Wes’s words. Eliza had recommended me for the job?
I cleared my throat, forcing a casual shrug that I hoped hid the flicker of surprise that crossed my face. “Oh, no, she didn’t,” I said as we started walking again. “We haven’t talked much”—or at all—“since I left for Portland.”
If Wes picked up on any awkwardness or tension, he didn’t show it. “Well, plenty of time for you both to catch up. I assumed things between you two are okay given that she still talks with your brother?”
The toe of my boot caught on a crack in the sidewalk, but I managed to continue walking, even as my mind whirled at the fact that Eliza and Colin had kept in touch. Nope. It didn’t matter that they still talked.
Except then my mind flashed to my last moment with Eliza.
How close she’d been. How her lips parted. How my hands gripped her hips to pull her closer.
That didn’t matter either.
Eliza was my brother’s ex and was off-limits.
“Things between us are fine. Great, even.” I hoped my smile was convincing. The great might’ve been pushing it, but I didn’t want to give Wes any reason to be concerned.
He grunted in response, but I couldn’t figure out if that was a good or bad sign.
I changed the subject and got Wes talking about the bar instead. He told me how his dad Mark opened Lake Ridge after buying and renovating an industrial building. One of the first people Mark had hired was his future wife Laura. Together, they turned Lake Ridge into a favorite spot in town.
Wes bought Lake Ridge a few years ago, allowing his parents to step back and enjoy retirement. He’d developed Lake Ridge into its next phase by adding fire pits, a custom-built wooden bar, dance floor, and expanded liquor selection. The next addition would be the food menu.
“And this is it during the off-season?” I asked as Wes pushed the door open, revealing a packed space buzzing with energy.
People were playing pool or darts, swaying on the dance floor, and hanging out by the bar.
The bar.
My chest squeezed as I did a double take, because this moment felt so damn similar to four years ago.
Eliza was busy making drinks, her hips swaying to the music as she mouthed the lyrics.
Her hair was about the same length as I remembered, and she still had her nose ring.
She had on a cropped band T-shirt and pair of distressed jeans with a black belt.
More tattoos—new ones that I didn’t recognize—were scattered across her arms and fingers.
She still had that intoxicating smile and laugh. A laugh that nearly knocked the wind out of me when I heard it again.
Nearly everyone here saw us walk in—nothing like a new person in a small town to get people curious—except Eliza. She leaned over the bar in conversation with some guy. A local, probably.
I’d taken a few steps toward the bar without even realizing it before Wes said, “Looks like Cooper and Gabe got us a spot already.” He tipped his chin toward a booth in the back.
My eyes flicked toward the booth but immediately returned to Eliza behind the bar. I’d been in her presence for a few seconds and was already under her spell. Like a moth to a fucking flame.
I took a deliberate step back and cleared my throat. I turned to Wes with what I hoped was a relaxed smile, and we walked toward the back of the bar.
As we got closer, we heard, “C’mon, Cooper. This isn’t fair.” The guy on the right, who I assumed was Gabe, groaned as he flipped his cards over. He leaned back in the booth, running a hand through his wavy brown hair.