CHAPTER TWELVE #2
“If you guys knew all along, why didn’t you just say?” April asked after she had finally caught her breath.
Izzy shrugged as Emma said, “It was sort of funny, seeing you deny you had any feelings for Luke. It’s just been so damn obvious to anyone who’s spent even two minutes in yours and Luke’s company. You guys have needed to release some tension for a while now; really you just need to f—”
“OK, OK.” April couldn’t take any more of Emma’s and Izzy’s all-knowing revelations. “Whatever you guys say. Now can we please, please, paint these shelves? At this rate they aren’t going to be ready in time for my opening!”
“Yes, yes, sorry,” said Izzy, face still red from laughing so hard. “But consider this a big, fat ‘we told you so’.”
Izzy and Emma were still chuckling to themselves as they each picked up a paintbrush and dutifully headed over to the shelving unit, while April cracked open the paint can.
“And, for the record”—April couldn’t stop herself from having the last word as she dipped her brush—“Luke and I might have hooked up, but that hasn’t changed anything between us. I still find him irritating as hell and perhaps the cockiest person I’ve ever met. I do not like him.”
April tried to sound as firm as she could, and neither of her friends countered, but the words felt untrue even as they left her mouth.
The vision of him under the streetlight after the dinner they’d shared with her mom flashed before her eyes, and again she felt that strange sensation that was more than lust growing in her chest. Despite how frustrating she’d found their text conversation later that night, there was still something about him that she just couldn’t shake.
She shoved it down, focusing on her brushstrokes along the wood.
She was just confused post-Tyler. But even as she willed herself to believe it, she could tell she wasn’t letting herself acknowledge the whole truth.
After half an hour working alongside one another, the shelves were looking decidedly pinker and April was feeling decidedly more positive.
Things had been going so well lately, even with the hiccup of everyone now knowing about her and Luke.
Everything was running on time, she’d managed to keep costs down in the renovation, and she finally felt like she had some new purpose.
Even Tyler had stopped calling her two days ago, although he was still sending texts begging her to come home—but she could handle those.
Yet, April couldn’t quite shake the small sense of foreboding lingering in the back of her mind.
She was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
She tried to remain positive. Her mom was on a wellness kick and kept telling April that she needed to manifest her goals and not put out negative energy by giving voice to her doubts. And she’d been trying her best to adjust her thinking like her mom recommended.
So she focused on painting, letting the repetitive motion soothe her. Everything was going to go to plan. She could do this.
Naturally, that was when the room began to tremble.
“What the hell?” Izzy looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the disturbance.
It was rare to get earthquakes in Magnolia Springs, and when a loud beeping began from outside, April knew for sure that something else was going on.
They ran outside and her eyes flew wide as she took in the construction crew and large pieces of machinery that seemed to have spawned out of nowhere. “Are you kidding me?”
Massive shoe? Dropped.
April’s eyes were taking in the scene, her mind barely processing what she was seeing, when she spotted him.
There, amid the chaos, in his suit and hard hat, calling out directions, was Luke Pointer preparing to knock down the vacant building next door.
April quickly pushed down the repeat image of him in that hard hat and nothing else, swallowing hard and cursing herself for the flutter she felt in her stomach at the thought.
“Pointer!” Her voice was loud, commanding, full of fury as she ran forward, dodging a construction worker as he held out his arm to try and stop her.
Screw that—they couldn’t tear up half of Main Street, not when she was preparing to open her shop next week.
There was no way that Luke hadn’t known about this a week ago, and neglecting to mention it was exactly the sort of shady play she’d come to expect from him. “What the hell are you doing, Pointer?”
Luke turned to face her, eyes tight with something that looked like an apology as he took in the anger on her face. “We’re renovating upper Main Street.”
“No.” She shook her head and when he continued to watch her with pity she repeated herself. “No. This is not OK! You’re knocking down half of these perfectly good buildings for what? Condos? Offices?” She wrinkled her nose. There had to be a way to stop this.
She looked at the building they were gathered around, an old bookstore that had been closed for as long as April could remember. Sure, these buildings needed new life breathed into them, but knocking them down and building crappy square boxes for cheap wasn’t the answer.
Rage and hurt pulsed through her as she tried to think of something, anything that could stop this. And then it hit her.
Without hesitating, April jogged through the sea of hard hats and into the doorway of the building next to her store, where she promptly sat down.
A chorus of groans rang out as the crew realized what she was doing, but she folded her arms and lifted her chin. She wasn’t going anywhere.
Luke approached, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “I know this isn’t ideal, but you don’t have to be a brat about it.”
She spluttered. “A brat? You’re here, about to turn the location of my brand-new shop into a building site.” Any of her lingering feelings of affection vanished as she took in his face, defiance swelling in her chest.
His expression softened. “I know, and I’m sorry. But there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s above my head, Jones. Contracts were signed and filed way before you started work on the bar. So please, stop annoying my workers and let them get on with their jobs.”
She squared her shoulders. “Not going to happen.”
Luke looked behind him to where Emma and Izzy were watching them, as if looking for backup.
She was sure she could see the same all-knowing gleam in their eyes that they’d had earlier when they’d found out about April and Luke hooking up.
That all felt like a distant memory now, though, the anger coursing through her reaffirming that all she felt for him was distaste.
When nobody moved, he sighed. “So damn stubborn,” he muttered under his breath.
“Well, if I’m so annoying to be around, why are you here talking to me? Trying to push my buttons the way you always do?” Her hands shook and she tightened them into fists to disguise it.
The gleam in his eye was dangerous as he leaned in, his breath warm against her ear, making her shiver as he murmured, “Maybe I just like watching your cheeks get all pretty and pink, like that. Surely you didn’t think that just because things got a little …
heated between us”—he put an emphasis on the word ‘heated’ that made April’s stomach flip as memories surfaced of his mouth all over her—“that I would back down? This is my job, Jones. Your cute little protest isn’t going to stop me.
” The curl of his mouth was infuriating as he pulled away, his eyes studying her face with an all-too-familiar smugness.
Ignoring his attempts to throw her off, she glared. “This isn’t right and I’m not going to let it happen just because some ass-hat with deep pockets thinks he can buy every small town he comes across.”
Some of the crew were nodding, others looked bored, but they were at an impasse. Or, at least, they were until Izzy stepped forward.
“Look, why don’t we just pause for a second and speak to the council about this?” Izzy looked between them and April considered the words.
“It’s already been approved,” Luke said, exasperation clear in his voice.
“The mayor, then,” Izzy tried. “Let’s try and resolve this in whatever way doesn’t end up with my best friend crushed by your machines, or arrested.”
“Fine.” Luke made a motion and the workers backed off. “Lead the way.”
Izzy let out a breath of relief. “I need to make a call.”