Second Chance at Us (Small Town Secrets)

1. Darcy

1

DARCY

“ O h my God! Look who it is!”

The shrieking from the other side of the room drew my attention. What was going on over there? I was hosting an open house, which was going great. The home was filled with potential buyers, and I was starting to think we might even have an offer in before the end of the day! But then, all those potential clients started rushing out of the kitchen, heading back to the front door.

“What’s going on?” I asked Liz, my best friend and partner in our real estate firm.

“No idea,” Liz shrugged. “Maybe check it out?”

Liz popped another cookie into her mouth and returned to inputting email addresses into our database. Clearly she wasn’t concerned. We were set up at the kitchen island, available for questions as people milled about the house. The kitchen was open to the living room, but we couldn’t see the front door from where we stood.

“Fine, but if you hear me scream, come get me,” I laughed.

I left my clipboard on the counter and crossed to the entryway. I had decided to wear heels, something I rarely did, and I heard them click across the beautiful hardwood floors of the house. Hardwood floors and bay windows were the details that filled my life these days. With a few more sales Liz and I could buy another office building in the neighboring town. We were looking for ways to expand our reach.

“ Pleeease can I have a picture?”

The commotion from the other room was only getting louder. I tucked my blonde hair behind my ear—a nervous habit. I had no idea what I might find, and I was hesitant to find out.

“Alright, ladies. Let’s take it easy.”

The voice stopped me in my tracks.

Is that ...? But, no, it couldn’t be—the last I knew he was somewhere in Singapore. Surely Liz would have told me if he was back in town?

As I crossed into the entryway, a few women looked back at me. A redhead directly in front of me even stepped aside, looking a bit embarrassed to be caught trying to get the man’s autograph. And there, standing half a head taller than the women around him, his dark, curly hair covering his eyes in a way that looked accidental but was perfectly intentional, was Callum Jones.

I gasped when I saw him, horrified to see that this drew his attention toward me. His eyes caught mine, and there was a spark of recognition. Was that a smile? I felt my face flush hot, and I instantly turned around. I almost tripped as I rushed as fast as I could back to the kitchen.

“Liz!” I hissed, trying not to make a scene in front of the guests who hadn’t ambushed Callum Jones at our open house.

“What?” Liz asked, avoiding eye contact. She was far too relaxed, as if she were feigning innocence.

“What is your brother doing at our open house?”

“Is he here?” Liz asked, but she could barely get the words out before breaking into a smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you!”

“You didn’t think you should let me know your rock-star brother was planning to walk through the front door of our open house today?”

“Actually, I told him to pick the back door. He never listens to me.”

“ Liz! ”

“Alright, I’m sorry. I knew you would be upset. But he wanted to say hello to you.”

“He’s here to see me? ”

Liz didn’t respond right away. Instead, she began rearranging the cookies on the plate in front of her, as if it were a crucial task for the success of the open house.

“I thought you might be excited,” Liz shrugged, avoiding my gaze.

“Excited?” I cried out, a bit too loud. One of the guests exploring the living room looked over at me with concern but quickly looked away. I needed to calm down. I took a deep breath and tried to bring my mind back to the room and the job in front of me.

You’re a professional realtor , I reminded myself. Don’t let some jerk from your past ruin everything in front of you.

This was a mantra I had been repeating a lot lately. After breaking up with my fiancé six months ago, I had committed to work and myself. I didn’t have time for men to complicate things when there was so much to accomplish in front of me. And this commitment to my job and our business was actually working. The past three months had been filled with positive steps forward for Dream Home Realty with unprecedented business growth. No way could I let a surprise visit from Callum Jones destroy everything I had worked so hard for.

“I know you had a falling out in high school,” Liz said, turning to look me in the eyes for the first time since Callum’s appearance. “But that was a long time ago. Maybe it’s time to start fresh.”

“He totally embarrassed me, Liz,” I said, nearly whispering. “I was just some joke he could laugh about with his friends.”

“He’s a different person now,” Liz said. “Maybe you can give him a second chance?”

I saw the hopeful expression on my friend’s face. I knew Liz was torn between her love for her brother and her allegiance to me as her best friend. We were two of the most important people in Liz’s life, and I knew she wanted us to get along. Or, at least, tolerate being in the same room together. I also knew that, on some level, holding on to this grudge for so many years was a bit irrational. But every time I saw Callum’s face pop up in the media, I felt a wash of shame as I thought about our one and only date all those years ago.

“Can you just give it a try for me?” Liz asked.

I sighed, unable to say no to someone I had been best friends with since the fourth grade.

“I promise not to be openly hostile,” I said, smirking at Liz to show that I was joking. Well, sort of. “How long is he here for?”

“All summer,” Liz said, and my eyebrows shot up in surprise as my mouth fell open in shock. All summer? I expected Liz to say a few days, maybe a week. I didn’t think I would have to play nice for months .

My mind flew to all the times I might run into Callum in this small town. I pictured him at my favorite cafe, ordering a coffee as he smiled at the girls behind the counter. I imagined him popping into our real estate office, maybe dropping off Liz’s children after a day at the playground. There would be no way to avoid him. I inwardly groaned. This was going to be a difficult summer …

“Doesn’t he have a tour to get back to?”

“He’s taking a break,” Liz explained. “It’s been a lot for him. Traveling to different cities every night, jumping from country to country. He hasn’t slept in his own bed for almost a year! And you know he hasn’t visited for ages. The kids hardly remember they have an uncle. So I convinced him to take some time off.”

Callum was a singer and guitar player for a huge rock band, the Horizon . They formed the first year Callum was at college and quickly shot to fame, releasing their first album when he was barely twenty. Three albums later, and the group was selling out stadiums and making appearances on late-night talk shows. As the lead singer and primary songwriter, Callum was the face of the band, which meant wherever he went, fans recognized him.

“I think he needs the time away,” Liz said, worry causing a crease between her eyebrows. “He’s been so tired lately. And his manager’s putting so much pressure on him to get his face out there. Sounds like all his manager talks about is ‘momentum’ and ‘riding the wave of fame’. Hopefully, some time at home can let him relax a little bit.”

I thought back to Callum bombarded by fans in the entryway. He was still there, signing autographs and taking pictures. Did he look tired when I saw him? When I saw pictures of him, I always took the messy hair and circles under Callum’s eyes as a calculated rock-star look. But I had to admit there were aspects of Callum’s life I would never want to experience first-hand.

“Hopefully,” I said, agreeing with Liz. “Though he can’t even attend a small-town open house without people wanting his attention. I’m not sure he’ll get too much relief.”

“True,” Liz said, closing her computer and standing up. “But the town’s so small that eventually everyone will have their autograph and we can all move on. I better go save him.”

Liz walked away toward the entryway, heading off to rescue her older brother. Like Callum, Liz had dark, curly hair. She often wore hers pulled back in a ponytail. Where Callum was tall and broad, Liz was petite, barely coming up to her brother’s shoulder. I had always been slightly taller than average, and everyone liked to make fun of the height difference between us as we went through middle school and high school.

As Liz walked away, I made the rounds in the living room, forcing myself back to my work. I checked in with the people opening closet doors and discussing the level of sunlight coming through the windows. But even as I smiled and handed out my business card, I couldn’t ignore the presence of Callum only a room away from me. What was it about him that made me nervous and excited all at once?

I thought back to the moment our eyes met in the entryway. There had been such a warmth on Callum’s face. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he was excited to see me. And then there were Liz’s words floating through my head: He wanted to say hello to you . The man was a billionaire rock star. He had his pick of women wherever he went. But Liz said he wanted to see me ?

I shook my head to clear these thoughts. I had a job to do. The only thing I should be thinking about was selling this house. I crossed back to the fridge to pull out a few more water bottles and carefully placed them on the counter. I tidied up the stack of flyers that gave important details on the house. I even rearranged the curtains that hung over the sink’s window. Anything to keep my hands and my mind occupied.

But just as I turned back to check on the platter of cookies on the kitchen island, I caught sight of Liz walking into the living room. And right behind her, looking tall and handsome as ever, was Callum. I watched his eyes quickly scan the room in front of him before sweeping over to the kitchen. Once again, our eyes locked, and I couldn’t ignore the way the side of his mouth curved up, a smirk of excitement and recognition that took my breath away.

Panic coursed through my veins as I watched Callum and Liz get closer, clearly headed right toward me. What would I say when he was here? What would he say? All at once I felt like a teenage girl, tongue-tied and nervous around my crush. What if I made a fool of myself? Or what if he tried to bring up that horrible date we had all those years ago?

An older woman who had been pointing out the living room’s skylight to her husband suddenly caught sight of Callum as he passed. She grabbed his arm, and this was enough to pull Callum’s attention away from me. He looked over to the woman, and I watched him plaster a fake smile onto his face, ready to greet an adoring fan.

This was my chance. Before I could think about what I was doing, I grabbed my purse and bolted toward the side door of the house that was off of the kitchen. I caught Liz’s eye and mouthed “I’m sorry,” as my hand found the door handle.

And then, I ran away from my own open house.