3. Brody
Thin morning light filtered through the blinds as I shifted my body for the hundredth time. Ro had it right. The couch was lumpy, alright. But, I was low on agreeable options. Staying at the local inn, Tuft Swallow’s answer to the Bates Motel hadn’t appealed. It wasn’t the money. I had more than enough. But the owners were old friends of my dad. I didn’t want them to recognize me. They’d be all up in my face, asking questions, wanting to know why I was back.
I asked myself the same damn thing when I rolled into town.
I let out a puff of air. Who was I kidding? I knew exactly why I’d come back to Tuft Swallow. When it looked like my world could come crashing down along with my hockey career, I craved comfort, pure and simple, with no conditions. I needed a friendly smile. A smile I’d never forgotten. From the only person who still sparked a glow in my heart. The girl I’d avoided for far too long.
Ro.
She’d grown into a woman in my absence. Standing next to her in the kitchen last night reminded me of all the reasons I’d hated leaving her.
I sighed. Being near Ro couldn’t change reality, though. The result would be the same. My fate was at the mercy of my damn stupid bones and one stubborn doctor.
I flipped onto my back, trying to get comfortable. My lower leg ached like a beast. I could almost picture the loose chips of bone going ten rounds under my skin, grumbling to each other about how they’d been so rudely dislodged from their homes. Right now, I’d give anything to show them the way back.
I threw my arms over my head, and they hit the pillow with a soft thump. When I’d signed my life over to hockey, I knew what it could mean. I understood the damage that playing could wreak on my body. As a defenseman, I prided myself on being notoriously tough. Fast and flash. I wasn’t called the “Denver Dominator” for nothing.
But for one split second, I’d let my guard down. Turned my back at the wrong moment. Lowered my stick just enough for a tank of a guy to check me from behind. In that one crazy move, he’d sent me barreling into the boards, feet first. I’d never forget the sickening crack.
The moment the pain ripped through me, I prayed for a clean break. But no. A freak of a break, the doc had called it. A one-in-a-million smash that left my bone looking like a shower of confetti. He’d done his best to pin me back together. And I’d done my part. Stayed at the rehab center. Spent hours in P.T.
Initially, the staff had to turn visitors away. The press, enthusiastic puck bunnies, even my teammates. They couldn’t cope with the numbers. But over time, the well-wishers dwindled, along with my optimism.
I moved again. The starched sheets scratched against my skin, and a low groan escaped my mouth. I couldn’t stand the dull throb any longer, so I moved my stiff body and sat.
A creak from the ceiling hit my ears, and I looked up, my breath in my throat. After a beat, I let it go. What was I expecting to see? A Ro-shaped imprint on the ceiling? A map of her room, complete with a neon X marking the spot where she might be standing? I went to sleep last night wondering the same thing, imagining how much distance lay between us.
I shifted off the couch and walked to the window, lifting one slat of the blind. A couple of kids rode their bikes in circles in the street, the ring of their laughter making it through the window”s glass. A frowning woman hurried past on the sidewalk, clutching a stack of books, and a shaggy white goat chewed on a wooden chair in the garden next door.
Hang on, a goat? I squinted into the sunlight. It looked like a goat, but someone had dressed it in a green sweater, complete with large wooden buttons and a shiny bell around its neck. No passers-by lifted a brow. Like a goat dressed in knitwear was an everyday sight. The corners of my mouth lifted. Tuft Swallow hadn’t lost its “crazy.”
I moved about the den, trying to loosen my dumb leg. Stretching usually helped, but one night on Maggie Swan’s couch had been like a stint on a medieval torture rack.
The team physio called me the model patient. I’d hit the gym, put in the hours, prayed to whatever gods would listen, and even played in some non-contact practices. But the speed and movement left me in agony. I”d run out of options with my contract coming up for renewal in a couple of weeks.
Now, any decision was down to fate, and…and… muffins? Chocolate muffins. I breathed in the buttery aroma, and my belly rumbled. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up to the smell of baking.
After a quick shower, I dried off, threw on jeans and a shirt, and headed to the kitchen. The scene of last night’s T-shirt massacre. It’d been a dramatic way to run into Rowena Swan again. Still, the memory of her standing in front of me, pink-stained, holding a plastic spatula over her head, made me chuckle.
“Good morning,” Maggie said with a smile. She picked up a cloth and bent down to remove the source of the incredible smell from the oven. “You hungry? I remember you boys always waking up ravenous. Sometimes, my cooking was the only thing that got you out of bed. How are your folks, honey?”
I sat at the old wooden table opposite the stove and ran a hand through my hair. “They’re doing just fine.”
Maggie placed a steaming tin of muffins on the counter and stood with one hand on her hip. “Are they happy down in The Keys? The move was very sudden.”
I huffed a laugh. “They had their reasons.” The moment opportunity struck, my parents couldn’t get out of town fast enough. Tuft Swallow was a great place to grow up, but my folks weren’t born and bred here like Maggie.
Dad always considered himself an outsider. After a bitter battle with the cornhole team captain about pre-game rituals, Dad had banned our family from taking part in any town activities. He couldn’t understand why his suggestions for yoga at dawn and rap battles before every match didn’t catch on. His decision meant no more three-legged chocolate pudding-eating festivals, no more National Kissing Day - an enormous loss for me - and not even Walk-on-Stilts Day.
Mom and Dad lived in Florida now. When I was a kid, we were dirt poor, but they supported my career dreams. They scrimped and saved to get me through junior hockey and into college. As soon as I signed up for my first pro team, I helped them buy the house of their dreams and sent them off to enjoy it.
The coffee pot gurgled on the counter, and I stood to grab a cup, filling it to the top. The sweet, earthy blend filled my nostrils. But as I tipped it back, a soft voice from the hallway got my attention.
“You have clothes on today, then? I didn’t recognize you in daylight, not creeping around and all.”
Ro.
I smiled. She was one to talk. Last night, her shirt clung to her chest like something from a teenage fantasy. Still, traces of the cheeky little kid I’d grown up with lingered in her words and smirk.
But she wasn’t a kid anymore. Like a breath of fresh summer air, she’d drifted into the room, long legs and floral shampoo. And now she was all I could focus on.
She dropped her bag on the kitchen table and wandered over to kiss her Gran and smell the muffins. It would take a monk not to notice how her shorts slightly lifted as she bent over. I dragged my eyes away.
Maggie let out a chuckle. “Now, Rowena. You promised you’d be nice to Brody.”
Ro stood back up, side-eying me. “He knows I’m only teasing. What are you up to today, Gran?”
Maggie rattled on about pottery wheels and checking on cornhole rule books. She could have been speaking in tongues for all I understood. Instead of listening, I leaned back against the counter and watched Ro.
Unlike last night, she wore a little makeup. She’d pulled her long, dark hair into a ponytail on the top of her head and wore the tightest T-shirt imaginable. The words Plume ‘n Zoom were printed across the front. Coop had told me she’d gotten a job at the town’s gas station.
Ro yawned, reaching her arms over her head. The shirt clung to her breasts even more, and I chewed my bottom lip. Mercy.
My arrival shocked her last night, but the blush on her cheeks when I teased her felt like old times. No. Not completely like old times. Old times meant piggybacks around the yard. Trick or treating in old, white sheets and fishing in the lake. A lifetime of memories. Nope.
Ro wasn’t Coop’s kid sister anymore, not with those endless legs and cinched-in waist.
She picked up an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter and took a bite, surveying me through narrowed eyes. “I’m sure Brody can help you.”
“Wait, what?” Damn, why hadn’t I listened to their conversation instead of letting my thoughts run south?
“Dismantle a dance floor. It’s set up in the town square.”
I laughed. “Dare I ask why?”
Ro widened her eyes as if I’d just announced I’d be singing at the next Super Bowl. “For the lindy-hoppers.”
As if that made any sense.
“Now Ro, Brody’s been a bit out of the loop with town life.” Maggie lifted a hand to rest on my shoulder. “Last week was national lindy-hop day, so we had ourselves a contest. A little dance-a-thon. I oversaw the decorations.”
“Lindy-hop?” Were these women mad?
“Of course,” said Maggie. “The Wainscotts lasted fourteen hours straight. I’m surprised they didn’t wear their feet down to the stumps.”
I chuckled, taking a last sip of my coffee. “Nice visual. But sure, of course. Whatever you need. I have a few calls to make, but after that, I’m at your service.”
“Aren’t you accommodating?” Ro murmured, taking one of the hot muffins from the tin, bouncing it from one hand to the other. She blew on it a little, her lips forming a small “O.” Finally, she wrapped it in some kitchen towel and popped it into her bag.
“I need caffeine.” With a swing of her ponytail, she reached up to the cupboard to get a cup. At the stretch, her T-shirt rose just a little, and my eyes found the creamy skin on her waist like a guided missile.
I swallowed. I was acting like a dog in heat, my gaze clinging to Ro like Saran Wrap.
This wasn’t the first time I felt this way. We’d shared one last idyllic summer together before I left to start my hockey scholarship. Back then, we bantered and joked, just like always, but as the summer heated up, so did we.
I held my breath, remembering our furtive glances across the room as we watched movies with Coop. The blush on her cheeks that appeared far more often than before. The difference in how she carried herself like she’d left her tomboy era way, way behind. And then there was that last night. The one where we’d almost boiled over. The one I messed up badly.
I’d never forget. Prom nights were the best. Exciting. But I’d found Ro alone on the deck. As the heat of summer and the chirp of crickets buzzed around us, I’d lost all control of my good sense. She’d looked so good, so damn beautiful, so different from my best friend’s tag-along little sister. All dark hair spilling over her shoulders. And those glossy pink lips. Pure temptation.
I told her to be careful, hating the thought of someone else dancing close to her, breathing in her perfume. And then she kissed me. A sweet, innocent kiss. One that I never earned. One I didn’t deserve. Selfishly, I’d kissed her back.
The corners of my lips peaked at the memory.
“You okay, Brody?” Maggie asked, putting the muffins on a plate. “Want to try one?”
She held out a dark brown pastry. But as I went to take it, someone else snatched it away.
“Sorry, but I’m hungry, and I’m in a hurry.” With a raise of her brows, Ro took an enormous bite of the cake, chocolate crumbs coating her lips. She closed her eyes and let out a tiny moan of appreciation. “Mm. These are delicious.”
I shook my head slowly. No. It was Ro who was all kinds of delicious. But I couldn’t think like this. I had to keep my feelings to myself. Cooper could never know how much I’d thought about his little sister over the years. He’d freak. Besides, I wasn’t good enough for her. I wasn’t the man she needed.
“What are you doing today?” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
“Work,” she said, popping the last bit of muffin into her mouth. “But first, I’ve gotta meet Eve.”
“The two of you still hang out all the time?” They’d been inseparable as kids.
“We sure do. Get together every Wednesday for breakfast.” She nodded, her words forming around the mouthful of chocolate.
“Easy Swallow?”
She huffed a laugh, a glint in her eyes. “I don’t know if I should answer that, but yes, that’s where we meet. Eve works there. Does the early shift.”
A fizzy feeling sprung low in my gut. Was she flirting with me, or did I just have my mind too far in my pants for my own good this morning? I tightened my eyes. She was smiling at me. It didn’t matter, though. I wasn’t about to upset my best friend by hitting on his sister for a second time. The fact I’d hidden our kiss from him didn’t sit well with me to this day.
It wasn’t just Coop. Ro had two older and much bigger brothers who lived out of town. The three of them looked out for their sister. They were a little too caveman when it came to Ro for my liking, but they loved her and trusted me. If I got on the wrong side of her brothers, a busted leg would be the least of my worries.
“Do they still have the best fries on Earth?” I asked. Ro’s smile faded. She gave me a blank look, and I swallowed. Damn, I was desperate to keep this conversation going. Murky comments about swallowing and lame questions about fries. I was acting like a nervous teenager who’d never spoken to a girl before.
“I wouldn’t know anymore. I mean, you’ve been out in the big wide world, Brody. I don’t know if the charms of Tuft Swallow can live up to your big city expectations.”
At the quirk in her brow and the sassy cock of her shoulder, I tamped down the burn low in my stomach. No. Ro wasn’t flirting with me. She was just standing in her kitchen, eating a muffin and swinging her ponytail as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Just like any other Wednesday. But the way her nose wrinkled when she smiled, and the scatter of freckles on her cheeks had me wishing I was wrong.
“Do you mind if I walk you?”
At my question, her eyes widened. “Where’s Coop?”
He was still in bed, but she didn’t need to know that. Didn’t need an excuse to turn my suggestion down. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to leave her. Not yet. “I think he had an early start.”
Her brow furrowed a little, and she paused, her hand hovering over her bag. And then she nodded.
“I’ll be riding my bike, but sure.”
Fuck, if the biggest grin didn’t spread on my lips. Nothing like playing it cool. “Great – I’ll grab my stuff. I’m going to check out the gym. Can’t let myself go.” As I spoke, I stood and lifted my T-shirt a little, tapping the solid stomach I’d spent countless hours building. It was an amateur move, but I wanted her attention.
Ro just looked at me, glanced down at my abs, and then rolled her eyes. “I’d say you’re okay for a while, Brody.”