Chapter 3
Jesse
The McDowell feed supply store was proof that nothing ever really changed in a small town. It looked almost exactly how she remembered it, other than a fresh coat of paint and some cute little decorative touches she imagined were more Taylor’s idea than Edie’s.
Unlike the store, Taylor had changed, quite a bit. She’d been in high school when Jesse had left for California, and she’d grown up a lot in the past ten years. Was she seeing anyone? Married? Babies? It was jolting to realize how much she hadn’t kept up with the town gossip while she’d been gone.
A prickle of guilt stabbed at her belly. Once she’d left Lost River, she’d done her best to pretend it never existed. Nobody in Hollywood, not even her Daddy, knew much of anything about the people she’d left behind.
Which meant she hadn’t kept up with town gossip, because she hadn’t kept up with, well, anyone. Not even her own family. Her calls to her parents were few and far between, and video chats with her sister even rarer. And with her crazy schedule, she’d missed Courtney’s wedding, and the birth of her niece.
That didn’t make her a bad person, though. She was just… busy.
Right?
A loud jangling noise jerked her out of her self-pity spiral. She turned to the front of the store where a cute blonde with wide blue eyes was hurrying inside, her head whipping from side to side like she was searching for something. “Taylor! Are you here? I need you to hide—oh my god.”
The blonde stopped dead in the middle of the store, her eyes somehow going even wider as her face paled. “You’re… are you…”
Jesse couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t really planned on running into a fan in her hometown, but since she didn’t recognize the woman who was staring at her as though she were a being from another planet, it seemed safe to assume she was a newbie. “Yes, I’m?—”
“Carly Simmons!” The words finally burst out of the blonde and she squealed, jumping up and down in place. “Oh my god, I just love you! I know this is silly, but I started watching your movies because we have the same first name and I just fell in love with you. I’ve seen all your movies. Even the scary ones, but don’t tell my—” Red blossomed in her cheeks as she cut herself off. “My, um, boyfriend—sorry, husband now, wow that still feels surreal to say—doesn’t like me watching the super scary ones, but I would watch a whole movie about paint drying if you were in it.”
There were some aspects of Jesse’s career that had become routine, almost mundane over the years. But meeting a true fan one-on-one, someone who seemed to genuinely enjoy her work and not just her celebrity status, was one of those things that still brought her untold joy. “Thank you. That means a lot to me. Would you like an autograph or a selfie or something?”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t. I shouldn’t have pounced on you like that in the first place, that was really rude of me. I’m sorry.”
“No apologies necessary.” Glancing down, Jesse reached out and plucked the phone from Carly’s hands. “Come here.”
The yearning on the other woman’s face was almost comical. “Only if you’re sure. I really don’t want to impose.”
“You’re not, I promise.” Jesse held her arm out, and Carly ducked under for a sideways hug as Jesse held up the phone and snapped a few pictures. “There you go, doll.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, man, this has been the best week ever. I can’t wait to show Matt!”
Even in a town as small as Lost River, there was more than one ‘Matt’ running around. But before she could ask for a last name, the sound of a clearing throat drew both her and Carly’s attention to the back of the store where Edie was watching them with her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.
Jesse pressed a hand to her stomach, where a few hundred butterflies had suddenly taken flight. God, that look shouldn’t still affect her this way, not after all this time.
But it did, and Jesse wasn’t sure what the hell she was supposed to do about that.
“What are you doing here, Carly-girl? Shouldn’t you be packing for your honeymoon?” Edie asked, her voice a mix of amusement and exasperation Jesse recognized well.
Jealousy coiled in Jesse’s chest as Carly’s cheeks turned pink. It didn’t seem to matter that Carly was recently married, or that Jesse herself was making her own plans to walk down the aisle in the next year or so. Hearing Edie use thattone with someone else, especially with someone who shared the name Jesse had been claiming as her own for nearly a decade, had her vision turning green.
“I was trying, but then Matt started getting onto me about lifting too much. And he tried to make me take a nap! At ten o’clock in the morning, Edie!” With a dramatic toss of her hands in the air, Carly turned in a circle. “The man has lost his mind! How am I supposed to survive a whole week of this?”
“He’s just worried about you and that little bun in your oven,” Edie said, her expression and voice both softening in a way Jesse didn’t recognize. A way that had the jealousy inside her burning hotter and brighter. “Go home, apologize for sneaking off, and let the man baby you for a bit.”
“Ugh, do you always have to be the reasonable one?” Carly grumbled, her bottom lip poking out in a pout that reminded Jesse of her own expression when she didn’t get her way with her Daddy. It was so obviously a ‘Little’ reaction, Jesse couldn’t help but narrow her eyes at cute, bubbly Carly.
Had Edie found herself another Little to play with after Jesse left?
If she did, it’s her right. And it’s no different than you finding a Daddy.
Logic wasn’t doing anything to bank the jealousy, so Jesse shoved it down deep and plastered on a smile. “Edie? Reasonable? That’s a new one.”
Three heads swung her way, and suddenly she was very aware her joke hadn’t landed at all the way she’d hoped. The iciness in Edie’s expression was a given, but she hadn’t expected sweet, always-a-kind-word-for-everyone Taylor Dawson to tilt her chin and glare at her as if she’d just insulted her mama’s cooking.
Even Carly, who’d been so excited to meet her a moment ago, shifted closer to Edie, her expression turning mutinous. “Edie is amazing,” Carly said, her tone clearly daring Jesse to say otherwise.
“She is.” Throwing an arm around Edie’s shoulder, Taylor lifted her chin even higher. “She’s the best.”
Closing ranks. Jesse had seen it happen enough times with certain Hollywood cliques to know what it looked like. You’re not welcome here.
Well. Far be it from her to stay where she wasn’t wanted. Swallowing hard, she forced her smile to stay in place as she locked eyes with Edie. “You’re right. She is. I’ll just… be on my way, then. See you later, Edie.”
The cool March air cooled the embarrassment heating her cheeks as she stepped outside. And if her eyes stung with tears, it was just because the wind happened to pick up a bit as she made her way down Main Street.
That’s all it was. Just the wind.
Edie
“Shit, Edie, I’m so, so sorry.”
Carly’s apology jerked Edie’s attention away from the front door of the shop to where the pretty little blonde was staring at her with tears shimmering on her lashes.
“What are you sorry for, Carly-girl?”
Sniffling dramatically, Carly brushed at her eyes. “I saw her, and it was like my mind went completely blank. All I saw was my favorite actress and I totally forgot you two had history. If I’d remembered, I never would have asked her for a picture. Here.” Carly swiped open her phone. “I’ll delete them now.”
“Don’t you dare delete those pictures, Little girl,” Edie snapped as Carly’s finger hovered over the button to do exactly that. “Or when your Daddy finally tracks you down, I’ll get his permission to spank you myself.”
Jerking her head up, Carly stared at Edie, her mouth hanging slightly open in shock. “You wouldn’t!”
“I absolutely would. Put the phone away, Carly-girl.”
Uncertainty filled Carly’s eyes as she nibbled at her bottom lip. “Only if you promise me it won’t hurt you for me to have them.”
Love, the purest form of it, swelled in Edie’s chest and she forced herself to work up a smile. “I promise.”
“All right.” Still looking uncertain, Carly shoved her phone in her pocket. “What do you think she’s doing here?”
Edie knew, obviously, but she wasn’t quite ready to have that conversation. Not when she was still processing Jesse’s news herself. “No idea.”
“Well, if it has anything to do with you, she’s just going to have to be disappointed.” Eyes blazing, Taylor folded her arms, looking for all the world like she was ready to go to battle at a moment’s notice. “She’s not getting within five feet of you if we can help it.”
“Unless you’re planning to camp out at my house—which you are not—that’s going to be a bit difficult.”
Taylor and Carly shared a look. “And why would we need to camp out at your house?” Carly asked, her brow raising in a near perfect imitation of the look her Daddy gave her on a regular basis.
Edie rolled her eyes, the annoyance she’d felt earlier making a reappearance at the base of her spine. “Apparently I’m a bed and breakfast now.”
“She’s staying with you?” Taylor’s voice rose to an indignant squeak by the end of her question. “That’s… she’s… what the hell is going on?”
“Yeah! What the hell, Edie?” Carly echoed.
Both girls were looking more and more agitated by the second, and Edie knew if she didn’t shut them down quickly it was only a matter of time before they called in reinforcements. Pinning Carly with a stern glare, she jabbed a finger in her direction. “You need to be concentrating on your honeymoon, Little girl. Once you get back, we’ll have a girls’ night with all the girls, and I’ll tell you everything.” Well, everything she could without ripping open too many old wounds. “I promise.”
Eyes slightly narrowed, Carly studied her as if she could ferret out whether Edie was lying just by looking at her. “All right. If you promise.”
“I promise, Carly-girl.” The bells above the door jangled again, and Edie had to bite back a smile as Matt Crawford stepped into the shop, looking thoroughly pissed. “And I think you have more pressing matters to worry about right now than who’s staying in my house.”
Some of the color left Carly’s cheeks as she whipped around. “Um, hi, Daddy. What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question, Little girl.” One eyebrow raising, Matt stopped in front of them and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here instead of home in bed where you’re supposed to be, Carly Marie?”
“I don’t need a nap, Daddy! It’s not even lunch time!”
Matt’s gaze shifted over to where Edie and Taylor stood, quietly watching the show. “Mind if I borrow your office, Edie? Since this isn’t the first time I’ve found my babygirl in your store when she was meant to be elsewhere, I think a good hard spanking right here might help her remember not to run off on her Daddy.”
“Sure.” Grinning, Edie stepped aside and waved toward her office. “There’s a nice thick wooden ruler in the top drawer on the right, if you need it.”
A wicked smile lit Matt’s face. “Perfect. Thanks, Edie.”
Carly gasped, her eyes going wide with shocked betrayal. “You traitor!”
Edie shrugged as Matt dragged his errant babygirl toward the back of the store. “I did try to warn you he wasn’t going to be happy if he found you here.”
Whatever reply Carly might have made was cut off by the closing of the office door. A moment later, the unmistakable sound of a Daddy’s palm connecting with his Little girl’s bare bottom came through the door, followed by Carly’s pitiful wails and Edie shook her head. “I swear that girl is never gonna learn.”
“She likes it,” Taylor said with a grin. “I don’t think she’s happy if she’s not getting her butt roasted at least once a week.”
“Which is part of why Matty is so perfect for her.”
“He is.” Sighing dreamily, Taylor leaned back against the counter where the cash register sat. “They looked so in love at the wedding. I hope Ian and I will be that happy if we ever get married.”
“You will.” The same grief that had been chasing her all morning gripped Edie by the throat as memories of her own wedding day filled her mind. “You, Noelle, Carly, Ginny; you’ve all got happily-ever-after written all over you.”
Worry replaced the happiness in Taylor’s expression. “Are you okay? With Jesse being here and everything, I mean?”
It was tempting to lie and brush it off like it didn’t matter. But she’d have been pissed if any of her girls lied to her about something so important. Edie McDowell may have been a lot of things, but she certainly wasn’t a hypocrite.
“No,” she said with a jerk of her shoulder. “But I will be. Jesse will get tired of whatever game she’s playing soon enough. When she does, she’ll go back to Hollywood, and we can all get on with our lives again.”
The hesitant nod Taylor gave her clearly said she didn’t believe a word Edie had just said. Which was fair, because Edie wasn’t sure she believed any of it, either.