My Forever Girl
One
Cutler
“Damn, business is booming.” I took a long pull from my beer and leaned my elbows on the counter of Four Clovers.
The wood was warm from the afternoon sun, and the salty breeze drifting in from the bay carried the smell of grilled shrimp and fried cheese.
From where I sat at the bar at the far end of the property, I had a clear view of the whole container park: the wide grassy courtyard in the center, dark wood picnic tables scattered across it, and the ring of food trailers circling like a bright, colorful horseshoe.
Laughter and the hum of conversation rolled across the space, blending with the low thump of country music coming through the speakers.
“Summer has arrived, boys, along with all the tourists.” Brody leaned over the bar and waggled his brows.
He owned the Down by the Bay Container Park—this whole open-air setup of trailers, turf, and string lights that had somehow become the town’s hottest hangout, especially on warm nights like this when the air buzzed with heat and everyone seemed a little more laid back.
He owned the bar, Four Clovers, where me and my boys met up weekly.
“Well, let me tell you what else has arrived with summer,” Phoenix grumped.
“All the damn teenagers who don’t know how to handle their booze while they party down by the beach.
These assholes don’t have the decency to put out the damn bonfires that they start.
We’ve gotten a call at the firehouse every fucking night this week. ”
Brody laughed as he looked at his brother. “Dude, do you not remember doing that exact same thing when we were dumb-ass teenagers?”
“No. I never fucked around with fire, hence the reason I’m a fucking firefighter now.”
“It’ll calm down in a little bit,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “It’s the beginning of summer break, so they just got out of school. I found a bunch of teens partying behind that property I’m working on for my family.”
“Yeah, I heard you scared the shit out of them,” Brody said with a laugh.
I shrugged. “I had a little fun with one of the cocky little shits who tried to tell me that his father owned that land, which was obviously not true, seeing as my family owns it.”
“Good. Those fuckers need to learn some respect,” Phoenix hissed before rubbing his face. “I swear this town is growing too damn fast. I don’t like it.”
Phoenix and Brody grew up here, and we actually met when I was a kid living back in Magnolia Falls.
My dad loved to bring me out to Blue Sky Lake, as they had the best hikes around, and it wasn’t too far from home.
And then I’d decided to go to college not far from here, and we’d been friends for a long time now.
“Stop complaining. It’s good for business.” Brody held his fist up for me, and I gave him a pound. He was right. ROD Construction was booming, and I had more jobs than I could handle at the moment.
“I agree,” I chuckled. “And at least it’s not boring at the firehouse right now.”
Phoenix rolled his eyes. He was a grumpy fucker, but I loved the dude.
“So, you leave tomorrow for Paris, right?” he asked, knowing I was relieved as hell that Gracie had finally agreed to let me go help her pack up and get her ass back home. She’d come live with me and work here for a few months until she took her new job back in New York.
Gracie Reynolds was my best friend. I’d even go as far as to say that she was my better half, because I didn’t really do serious relationships, so she was my girl.
Always has been.
Gracie and I met when we were young, and we’d grown up together.
We shared secrets and inside jokes that no one else understood and spent many summers together with our families.
She was the person I counted on the most to tell me the truth, even when I didn’t want to hear it.
And she was the only person who could drag me out of my own head when life got messy.
We’d never dated, never crossed that line—but she was hands down my person.
My girl.
“Yep. I leave in the morning. I’m glad she finally decided to call it done there. I hated that fucker, and I’m glad she kicked his ass to the curb.”
I’d hated Gabriel, the guy she’d moved to Paris with, from the first time I’d met him. He oozed arrogance, and I never felt like Gracie was herself around him.
“Gee, we couldn’t tell you hated the guy at all,” Brody said with a laugh. “Have you ever noticed that you don’t like anyone she’s dating?”
“Listen. She deserves the fucking moon. That dude was an arrogant asshole. I don’t know what she was doing with him.” I took the last pull from my beer and set the bottle down. “But I’m glad she finally agreed to come here and stay with me. She doesn’t make it fucking easy to help her.”
I was looking forward to having my girl back in the same country and on the same time zone. And the fact that she’d be staying with me meant we’d have a lot of time together, which I was looking forward to.
I’d missed her.
“She’s always been independent, and she’s got her pride. You’ve got to let her figure things out on her own sometimes.” Phoenix shrugged. “You can be a bit of a bull in a china shop when it comes to Gracie.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“I knew in my gut something was wrong. She hadn’t been herself. And to finally have her admit that she’d been struggling… She’d dumped his ass two months ago and didn’t want to tell anyone.” I shook my head in disbelief. “She has no idea how much we all despised the dickhead.”
I was close with Gracie’s parents, and we’d had several conversations about it. I knew they weren’t happy when she’d given up her entire life, her car, her job, her apartment, all to go live in Paris with Gabriel Laurent.
I actually had a physical reaction when she left for Paris. I had this pit in my stomach that truly didn’t leave until the day she told me she was coming home.
I wasn’t sure if it was my gut instinct about Gabriel not being the right guy for her or just the loss I felt when she’d left. Even when she was living in LA and I was here in Blue Sky Bay, we’d talk multiple times a day.
We always had.
And we’d see each other at least once a week, either for lunch or dinner, or she’d come stay with me for the weekend.
And when she left, I’d felt her absence in a way that I couldn’t begin to explain.
I wasn’t too proud to admit that I’d felt completely lost in the months she’d been gone.
I considered myself a very independent man. I’d intentionally set my life up that way.
But everything was different with Gracie, and being separated from her had proved more difficult than I’d expected.
“I’m not surprised. You know her better than anyone.” Brody held up another beer, but I shook my head no. I had some work to do back at home tonight before I left.
“Hey, Cutler. What’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?” Chloe purred as her arm came over my shoulder and she spoke against my ear.
“Well, this is the only place in town to go, so what option do I have?” I chuckled and tossed Brody a smirk. He rolled his eyes, and I turned in my chair to face her. “How are you doing, Chloe? And how’s that husband of yours?”
She was a flirt, and everyone knew it. Personally, I found it to be disrespectful to her husband, Roy, who I happened to like—even if he always laughed it off.
She came on strong, but she was probably just a little starved for attention.
But I didn’t mess around with married women, and I’d made that very clear with her on multiple occasions.
“You love to bring up my husband, don’t you?” She giggled as she played with the ends of her long blonde hair.
I glanced over my shoulder at the blue-and-white trailer with the large sign that read Blue Sky Pizza, which sat just a few feet away. She and her husband owned it, so she was always here, as was Roy.
“Just reminding you that Roy’s a good guy. But you know that, don’t you?” I said playfully as I tossed her a wink.
“Well, you’re no fun, Cutler Heart,” she pouted.
“Said nobody ever,” Phoenix said under his breath, which made me laugh.
“Fine. I’ll see y’all later.” She turned and walked away.
“She doesn’t give up, I’ll give her that.” Brody shook his head.
“Nah, it’s harmless. She just wants some attention,” I said as my phone vibrated on the bar. I glanced down to see a text message from Gracie.
Gracie: I get to see you tomorrow.
Me: Can’t wait. I’ll get you packed up in no time.
Gracie: I’m so ready to be home.
Me: Me too.
Phoenix leaned over my shoulder, reading the text, because we clearly had no boundaries with one another.
“I can’t believe you convinced her to come here for a few months. You are one persuasive motherfucker, Heart.”
“I’m not surprised at all. You two just have a very close—friendship.” Brody raised an eyebrow as he looked at me.
Most people didn’t understand my relationship with Gracie Reynolds.
And honestly, I didn’t give a fuck who understood it and who didn’t.
“Hey. It works for us. That’s all that matters.”
“I’ve been in serious relationships before, and I didn’t talk to my girlfriend as much as you and Gracie talk,” Brody cackled.
“Maybe that’s why they didn’t last, huh?” I smirked.
He flipped me the bird.
“I remember that first time Gracie ever got drunk with us, and I was giving her a hard time about how codependent you two saps were,” Phoenix said, trying to hide the goofy grin on his face.
“And she went into this elaborate story about how you both got cell phones at the same time, as if that made it more acceptable.”
“Yep. It was the Christmas that we turned thirteen. She lived in Cottonwood Cove, and I was in Magnolia Falls. We started texting and talking every day way back then. So we know when one of us is off. She calls me out for it, and I call her out for it. And she’s been off ever since she moved to Paris. ”
“You two do have that sick sense, I guess.” Phoenix took a pull from his bottle.
“It’s ‘sixth’ sense, you dipshit,” Brody bellowed out in laughter, and Phoenix gave him the finger.
I tapped a few times on the bar top as I stood. “I’m going to head home and get some work done, and then get packed up.”
“Bass and Cannon are heading over in a bit. You don’t want to stick around a little longer?” Brody asked, because all five of us usually met on Wednesdays for a beer, and we’d catch up on our week.
“I’ve got to get shit done before I leave. Tell them I’ll see them when I get back.”
“I think he’s going home to wait by the phone like a little pussy,” Phoenix said with a wicked grin on his face. “How about you bring me back a baguette. I hear they’re fabulous, and a hell of a lot better than the shit my brother has us eating here.”
“Fuck off,” Brady said. “And who asks someone to bring them back a fucking baguette from Paris? How about you bring me back a hot Frenchwoman who wants a no-strings-attached relationship and is open to having sex in the back of the bar on my breaks. Preferably multiple times a day.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said, laughing.
I had other things on my mind.
Starting with bringing my best friend back home.
Are you excited for more of Cutler and Gracie?