Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
MILES - PRESENT DAY
What tip would you give to someone who lives, or is planning to live, in a small touristy town?
This is an easy one.
Don’t fool around with the vacationers.
Don’t even hit on them, flirt, buy drinks, or ask for their phone number.
Do. Not. Engage.
That would be my answer.
Unfortunately, I never asked this question, so I never got an answer. Last summer … well, let’s just say my plans for this summer do not include getting involved with someone who doesn’t plan to settle down in my small town of Lovers, Wyoming. Especially not someone who thinks that returning for the summer means we pick up right where we left off.
I’m a small-town lifer, and I can say that with confidence.
“Is the beer stale?”
I glance up to find my older brother, Hudson, glaring at me.
He owns the bar where I’m currently having lunch. In the last year, it’s become a bar slash romance bookstore with Sadie, his very new fiancée. I still can’t believe those two are together, let alone engaged. Last summer was one for the books, and Hudson very well might be the only Asher brother who didn’t do something to fuck it up. Hence, even though he’s glaring at me, I know he’s happier than he’s ever been in his entire life.
And yes, I am having a beer in the middle of the day on my lunch break because I own my business, a thriving one, and I can do whatever the fuck I want.
“No.” I proceed to take a sip, trying not to let the stress of my day or the grumpiness of my current life situation shine through my tone.
My brother crosses his arms and nods toward me. “Then why is your forehead all wrinkled and the rest of your face pissed off?”
I avoid his gaze. Along with my brother's newfound happiness comes his rekindled love for his brothers and little sister. That’s me, my twin brother Luca, and Ruby. Ruby doesn’t live here anymore, though, so lucky for me and Luca, Hudson has made it a point this last year to be in our business. And clearly, no matter how hard I try, I can’t hide anything from him anymore.
Considering he pushed us away for years, I have a love-hate relationship with this topic. I missed the hell out of him, but I love my space, and he’s been crowding it with his stupid, smiling face every single day for the last year.
“That’s just the way I look,” I tell him and pop a fry into my mouth.
It’s not a lie. Hudson has always been known to be the serious one of the family. Luca is the goofy one. Ruby is the sweetheart. And me…well, I’m the moody one. You could ask anyone in our town to confirm this, and they would agree.
It’s not a crime that I like what I like and am honest about it. Being blunt or truthful shouldn’t make me a dick, but somehow it does.
He shakes his head slowly. “Sure. Or it’s because tourist season is here, and it’s about to get busy, which means certain people will be back.”
I refuse to look at him.
One year. One fucking year was all it took for him to remember how to read me like a book.
“That’s not it,” I say, and he barks out a laugh.
He leans to the bar top, resting on his forearms. “Sure as shit it is.”
I groan.
“Maybe you’ll get lucky, and she won’t return this summer.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh.
“Considering she texts me weekly to check in and let me know she’s still planning to come, I don’t agree with you.”
I pull my phone from my pocket to show him the unread message I received this morning.
He glances at my phone and then stands tall, grabs a ticket off the printer, and starts to make a drink in front of me. “Tell her you don’t want to see her.”
“I have. Either my text messages aren’t going through, or she can’t read. And before you suggest it, I’m not calling her.”
Even though people think I’m a dick, I don’t try to be. And this situation is complicated. I’d be stuck on the phone with her for far longer than I want. Hudson knows it.
“You’re not calling who?” Luca pulls up the chair next to me. He reaches for my plate and slides it toward himself. I already ate the burger, so all that’s left are fries, and now they are clearly his fries.
It’s okay, though. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.
“Cherry,” Hudson answers before I can reroute this conversation .
I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
Yep, that’s her name. The tourist from last summer. Cherry Lucial Pepperton, to be exact.
Shit. Her full name alone should have told me to run and never look back.
I’m chalking it up to a weak moment.
I was watching my brother fall in love, and perhaps a tiny piece of me wanted that, too.
Unlucky for me, though, I went searching in the wrong place.
“Oooh, not Cherry,” Luca says and makes an absurd noise next to me. I punch his shoulder.
“Fuck. Ouch,” he says with a laugh. “You two made fun of me for three years over one of my hookups. This is just payback.”
“This is different,” I snap.
“How so?”
“Cherry is coming back this summer, and Miles here,”—Hudson grins—“is super looking forward to it.”
“No, I'm not looking forward to it. I’m dreading it. She can’t take a hint, and I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
Add to that the fact that the apartment I built for my dad behind my mechanic shop is still empty because he isn’t ready to move out of his house yet, I’m three months behind on the books for my shop, and I need a shop hand to help me get caught up. The list of shit I need to accomplish is growing fast. The last thing I need is Cherry showing up at the shop every single day and asking me to hang out.
Not to mention, if a tourist, namely Cherry, gets wind of the apartment being for rent before I can find a tenant, I’m screwed. I’d take it off the market, but my plan is to pressure my dad to move in now by leasing it to someone else. I know it sounds terrible, but his house is too big for him, and whether we want to admit it or not, he’s getting older. He doesn’t need a tri-level home with his bedroom upstairs and the laundry in the basement.
I’m just being practical.
As for the rest, well, I need help, but it's no secret asking for help is not something that comes easily to the Asher family, which is exactly why I’m behind.
I blow out a breath and get up.
“I should get back to work. I need to keep my mind busy.”
I take a twenty from my wallet and place it on the bar top before telling my brothers goodbye and walking out the door onto Main Street.
Lovers isn’t a big town. The only reason it’s so successful and busy is because of Lovers Lake and Lovers Lodge next to it. The lodge is known as one of the most elite locations for weddings. More celebrities have been married there than the non-famous type. Once, out of curiosity, I looked into the pricing, and truth be told, despite its glamour and reputation, it’s not as expensive as I would have imagined.
I glance to my right, where the lodge sits, just past the end of Main Street. It’s close enough to be a part of our town but far enough away to give the locals and tourists space to breathe. That said, those damn tourists love to flock into town all damn day long and year-round.
I’m not ungrateful for them. I own the only mechanic shop in Lovers, so anyone who travels here and needs something comes to me. Plus, I’m pretty damn good at restoring classic cars, and when some of the wealthier visitors notice, they provide me business all year round. One especially has brought me more business than I ever imagined. I’m pretty sure he could take it away just as fast as it came.
I don’t have social media or anything to show my work, so I think many of my customers also love the discretion I can offer them .
Speaking of work, I now have two cars in my shop that need my attention. If all goes right, one will be finished today.
I head in the opposite direction of the lodge toward my shop, but I only make it one door over from the bar. B’s Bakery has the best treats, and I like the reward at the end of the day, so I dip inside.
My brothers tease me that the sweets and baked goods will catch up with me one day, but I don’t care. My mom used to bring me a sweet treat anytime I finished a goal. Whether it was for school or fixing up cars, she always noticed and would appear with something to celebrate my hard work. Even though she passed away when I was fifteen, and I’m almost thirty-one now, I’m pretty sure she’d love that I kept our tradition and continue to do this for myself.
“Surprise, surprise,” Brooke says the moment I step into her sugary wonderland. Brooke, also known as Sadie’s best friend, bought the bakery from Sadie at the end of last summer. It’s a long story, a pretty great one if you ask me, but Brooke is the perfect person to own this shop.
“I’m a creature of habit,” I say just as I notice Sadie sitting in the corner. “Afternoon there, sister-in-law.”
She beams a smile. “Technically, not yet.”
“Technically, that doesn’t matter to me.”
She rolls her eyes and goes back to her laptop.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get past the fact that I never noticed how flirty your entire family can be.”
“Um, did you just accuse me of flirting with my brother's fiancée?” I cross my arms.
Sadie smirks. “Can you call me that one more time?”
“What? You are the fiancée to my brother, Hudson Asher, right?”
“Oh my god, can you two stop?” Brooke groans. “She doesn’t need to be reminded. He’s already been here three times to practically make out with her while she works.”
“Why aren’t you doing this work at the bookstore?”
“Because of what Brooke said. At least here it’s only little pop-ins. If I were next door, then it would be back-room visits, and those are?—”
“I got it. No need to finish that sentence.” I chuckle and then point to the caramel brownie bites in the display. “I’ll take three of those.”
“Three,” Brooke shrieks. “You always get two of something. Always. Just two.”
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Sadie chimes in, rising from her seat to stand beside me.
“Nothing is wrong.” I grab my wallet to pay for the food.
Brooke slowly puts my treats in a bag and hands it to me.
“Is it because your dad doesn’t want to move into the apartment you built him?” Sadie asks.
I glance at her, but I don’t say anything.
“Or because it’s tourist season?”
I’m not surprised that Hudson shares every little detail with her, but it still makes me curious to know where he would draw the line.
“Is there anything my brother doesn’t share with you?” I ask.
She nods. “Nope. Believe it or not, we do find time to talk … occasionally.”
Brooke snorts, and I groan. “I’m fine.”
Sadie’s gaze narrows as if she doesn’t believe me. “Just take it off the market if you don’t want Cherry to see it.”
I sigh. It really is the only way to guarantee she doesn’t see it. And truth be told, there isn’t a single local looking to move, so either I rent it to a tourist, or it sits empty until my dad is ready.
I nod. “Yeah, I’ll call Linc this afternoon.”
Linc is both Sadie’s brother and Hudson’s best friend .
As I said, Lovers is a small town, and Linc and Mr. Collins, Sadie’s dad, own the only real-estate company here.
I tell the girls goodbye on my way out the door.
Not only is my shop at the opposite end of Main Street from the lodge, it’s one block over. It gives me just enough privacy but still lets me walk everywhere I need to in town.
I reach the shop but walk past it, then past the apartment built on the back and across the small yard to my new house.
I’ve done a lot of building in the last couple of years. It helps that Luca owns his own contractor company here in town.
I put my brownies in the fridge and then return to the shop to get to work. I really should step into the office to do some invoicing, but my hands itch to work on the baby-blue 1968 Chevy Chevelle SS in front of me.
As I pause to admire the car, my phone starts to go off repeatedly.
I loathe group texts.
I grab my phone to see a fuzzy picture from Luca. He’s clearly hiding to take this picture, and despite the grainy look, it’s clear as day to me.
Cherry is back in Lovers.
Officially.
Fuck.
I hate being stressed, and adding her presence to a life I already feel is out of control gets under my skin.
I just need to stick to the shop and keep my head down. If I stay busy, I won’t have time for anything or anyone.
Sure, I might miss out on some of the town's festivals and other fun events, and it’ll suck not to see my brothers if I lock myself in my house or the shop and get caught up on life, but it’ll be worth it.
Yeah.
I’ll just keep to myself.
It’s not like my summer can get much worse than this, right?