CHAPTER FOUR #2
Remembering his condescending tone sent a spark of frustration streaking through her chest. She’d always hated how she felt like she was never able to properly defend herself against Tyler, especially when she knew she could if he had let her get more than a sentence out.
She hadn’t been captain of Debate for nothing.
“You OK?” Izzy sat down beside her and April jolted, accepting the tub her friend passed her. “You seemed like you were a million miles away.”
“Just grateful for you guys,” she murmured as the movie began to play. “I can’t believe you brought over an actual DVD. I didn’t think they existed anymore.”
Her mom gasped. “I won’t have that blasphemy in my house.” It was true that Kathy Jones loved “retro” tech. April was pretty sure she’d even seen a VHS player upstairs in her dad’s old workroom, though what they’d played on it was anyone’s guess. Old home movies, maybe.
The three of them squished up onto the sofa while Emma stayed down on the floor, making snarky comments every five seconds about the romcom logic in the early-aughts movie.
Izzy sighed. “Ugh, Heath Ledger. I would.”
Emma wrinkled her nose. “That’s so disrespectful, Iz. He’s, like, dead.”
The snicker she tried to hold back burst free, and they all dissolved into giggles.
“I missed you guys,” April said a moment later, the fading laughter leaving her feeling tired but content, like a good stretch after a long night’s sleep.
“You need to catch me up on everything that’s happened since I saw you last.”
“Honestly? Not much.” Izzy grimaced. “Work has been non-stop for me; the council’s obsessed with renovating the town at the moment. There’s more to be done than prettying up the streets, in my opinion, but trying to tell them that falls on deaf ears.”
Em reached up and patted Izzy’s leg, as if to cut off an incoming tirade she’d heard too many times before. “Yes, yes, woe is you—tell her about the promotion.”
April clapped her hands together excitedly. “You got promoted? Oh my gosh—congrats, Iz!”
Izzy blushed, her white skin taking on a hue that could only be described as rosy.
“Thank you. It’s why I’ve been so busy—they were testing me before offering the job, I think.
But you’re now looking at the new assistant to the mayor of Magnolia Springs.
” Izzy blushed a little more as she said it, but April could feel the pride underpinning her words.
April leaned in and hugged her friend, a quick squeeze so as not to dislodge the tubs of ice cream in their laps. “And you?” April pinned Emma with a look. “What’s new in your life?”
Emma shrugged. “Same old. Although, I am flying to Milan this summer for a campaign.”
Milan. April hadn’t been any farther than Vermont. “That’s amazing. Maybe we’ll fly out and join you.”
Em squealed. “Yes! Definitely. That would be so fun.” She beamed and April couldn’t help but smile back.
It was part of what got Em so many modeling gigs, she was sure—nobody could resist that infectious grin.
Well, that and Emma was gorgeous with her umber skin, explosion of freckles, and bouncy coiled curls a few shades darker than her complexion.
“Girls’ trip,” she crowed. “It’s been too long.
What was the one we did last? Atlantic City? ”
“Atlantic City, Milan.” Izzy held up her hands as if weighing the two destinations. “Well, as long as I’m with you guys, I know I’ll have a good time.”
“Who’s going where?”
April looked up and toward the doorway where her brother stood. “Hey. Didn’t hear you come in.”
Noah grinned as he walked in and peered at the different ice-cream flavors, sizing them up.
His smile dropped when their mom looked pointedly at his work boots and he toed them off before kissing her on the cheek.
“I’m not surprised. Is there a reason you’ve got this thing blaring out?
Need max volume to daydream about Heath? ”
Izzy blushed and Emma shot him a wink. “Damn right. Don’t be jealous, Noah. There’s still room in our lives for you.”
April rolled her eyes. For as long as she could remember, Emma had been an incorrigible flirt—a trait that wasn’t held back by Noah being April’s brother. After years as a teenager hearing the girls in her grade mooning over her brother, April was mostly immune to it.
“Working on a Sunday?” Changing the subject still seemed like a good idea, before the two of them started bickering.
“Just a couple odd jobs, nothing major.” Noah barely glanced her way, his eyes transfixed by the screen as Heath Ledger performed “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”. “So what’s going on here? Have I stumbled into some sacred girly ritual?”
“Yep.” Emma wiggled her fingers at him. “You arrived just in time for the sacrifice.”
The two sniped back and forth and April relaxed, letting the familiarity of it all wash over her as Izzy looked on with a fond smile. For all the flirting and arguing that Emma and Noah did, April was pretty sure that neither truly had any interest in the other.
“Did you stop by for anything in particular?” April interrupted, drawing the gaze of her brother away from Emma.
Noah raised a dark brow. “Wow. Back for two days and already ruling the roost? Can’t a guy just stop in to check on his two favorite girls?” When April remained stoic, he sighed. “I was hoping to talk to you about something, but it can wait.”
That sounded ominous. “Are you sure? I can—”
“I’m sure. So, do I need to clear every visit I plan to make with you beforehand, Bug? Or is this interrogation a one-off?”
April flipped him off, throwing her mom an apologetic look only to find her smiling.
“I think you’ll find that I handle the interrogations around here, and you couldn’t handle me, bud-dy,” Emma drawled and April tuned out Noah’s response as her phone vibrated in her sweatpants.
She retrieved it from her pocket and grimaced at Tyler’s name on the screen.
Ty:
It’s been two days, April. When are you coming home?
Her gut reaction was never, but things were still fresh; maybe she’d feel differently later on.
Ty:
Come on, baby. Don’t you think I’ve suffered enough? What happened with Shayla was a stupid mistake. It meant nothing to me.
Why did men always say that? Was it supposed to make her feel better that he’d thrown away what they had for something that, by his own admission, didn’t even matter?
Maybe if it had been epic love, soulmates, the kind of thing nobody could resist, then she might have been less pissed. Probably not, but maybe.
Instead, his affair meant nothing and really it just revealed what little Tyler must have thought about their relationship for him to rank it below ‘nothing’.
The message showed as read, but she was past caring about him knowing she was reading his messages. The phone vibrated again and her hands clenched around the phone.
Ty:
I know where you are, I can see you on friend maps. Please just come home so we can talk this out
A hand closed around the screen and April jolted, looking up as her mom pushed the device down into April’s lap and then shook her head. “You don’t need to give him any more of your time, honey.”
Her throat tightened. “I know.” The phone vibrated again and her mom let go as April reached for it. Her breath rushed out as she read the message, her reply coming quickly, but she hesitated before hitting send.
Ty:
Or I can come to you?
April:
I don’t want to see you right now. Stop messaging me.
Her mom and Izzy read the message over her shoulder and both nodded.
The message showed as read within seconds and three dots appeared as Tyler started to type, then stopped, and then resumed again, before they disappeared altogether.
Shoulders sagging, April locked the phone and reached for her ice cream, shoving a large spoonful of raspberry swirl in her mouth.
It would probably give her brain-freeze, but at that moment brain-freeze sounded appealing.
Anything to make the world slow down again, to become something more recognizable than the surreal mess she’d been dealing with since Friday.
“So,” Izzy said brightly, clearly trying to distract April from thinking about Tyler. “What’s the plan? Are you staying in town for the foreseeable future? Or are you heading back to New York?”
“Well, she has a job,” Emma pointed out and April gently cleared her throat.
“Actually, I’m going to email in my resignation tomorrow.
” Looks of surprise met her declaration, except from her mom.
Nothing passed Kathy Jones by. “And I don’t really care about the city.
I was only really there for Tyler.” April shrugged.
“I’ll keep Mom company, and see where things take me.
” She arched a brow at her mom, silently asking if this was OK, and was relieved when she smiled.
Plus, there was the matter of the bar to figure out—there was no way she would be letting Luke Pointer get his hands on it.
She was so over sharing her things with that man; she’d done it enough all throughout high school.
Except Debate—she’d thrashed him soundly for that captaincy.
It was quiet after she finished speaking, her best friends looking at each other in the way that friends sometimes did—no words necessary for them to communicate their thoughts.
“Well, as long as you don’t fall into a rut. I know you do best when you have a routine,” Emma mumbled around a mouthful of ice cream. “We should get coffee together in the mornings, like we used to.”
“That’s a good idea,” Kathy murmured. “It’ll get you out of the house, and you can bring me back treats.
Coffee Affair has started doing these really excellent cookies …
” Her mom paused and blinked like she was coming out of a daydream.
“Plus, I have a few things I’ve been meaning to do that it would be good to have a hand with—like your dad’s workroom desperately needs organizing. ”
The thought of going through her dad’s things felt more daunting than revamping the bar, somehow terrible and comforting all at once.
The idea of being surrounded by the papers he’d collected and the half-finished projects he’d picked up was so nostalgic it was almost hard to breathe, but it also felt like an invasion of privacy.
They were his things. How was she supposed to know what had value and what didn’t?
Kathy squeezed her hand. “We can take it as slow as you need,” she said quietly and April blinked the dampness from her eyes.
Noah shifted on his feet, drawing their attention. “OK, well, I was going to talk to you about this later, but seeing as it’s come up … I wanted to check in on whether you’d given any more thought to what you might want to do with the bar?”
“Actually, yeah, I had thought about it a bit more. I don’t have any firm ideas yet, but I was thinking …
” She took a deep breath, telling herself she just had to take things step by step.
“I was thinking it might be helpful to go back and see what the space is like, what we might be able to do with it.” She glanced at her mom and was relieved to see her warm smile of reassurance.
“Oh yeah, if you’re sure you’re ready for that? I wasn’t sure if you’d want to take more time to work up to it and I didn’t want to rush you.”
“Yeah, I reckon the longer I put off visiting, the more daunting it’s going to feel. Maybe we could swing by tomorrow after I get coffee with these two?” April gestured toward Emma and Izzy, who both reached over and squeezed her arms in encouragement.
“That works for me, Bug.” Noah’s eyes were crinkled with a look she knew he reserved just for her, that beam of brotherly pride that told her she was doing the right thing, even if it felt terrifying. It made her feel braver somehow.
She could do it, she told herself.
Step by step.