Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Emma
D umb, dumb, D.U.M.B.
I let out a sigh as I wiped down the counters, the morning rush having finally passed. Usually, I loved it when I had a few moments to myself, but not today. My head was spinning a million miles an hour, and I just kept expecting to see Sheriff Hewitt walk through the door and announce to the entire place that I hooked up with him…
And I wasn’t even drunk.
“Ugh,” I muttered as I swept a row of crumbs onto the floor. I hadn’t even admitted to Lily what had happened—and we’d been best friends for years. She was definitely suspicious though. She could tell I was off…
And avoiding her.
Avoidance was the easiest way to not tell her what happened. I couldn’t lie to her. I was never a good liar, not even back in my rebellious teenage years—which was short-lived in comparison to most .
Maybe I’m just making up for it now.
The thought made me laugh, considering I was thirty-two. Now, instead of sowing my oats, I was just being dumb. I had moved to this town to start over, not just make my life harder by screwing up my reputation. I was already in my thirties and single—as my mother liked to remind me—I didn’t want to add promiscuous to that list.
The sound of the bell ringing at the entrance brought me back to my senses, and I looked to see two men in dark suits entering my café. They looked very out of place in the small town. I hadn’t been here that long, but even I knew an outsider when I saw one these days.
“Feel free to sit anywhere,” I greeted the two men. One of them looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Back in Austin, it was nothing to see men running around in suits, so maybe seeing them was just playing with my senses.
“Thanks,” the tallest one, a man with slicked back dark hair, said to me. His eyes were the color of the chocolate glaze I made. “I heard this is the place to eat around here.” He gave me a smile, which I returned out of courtesy. I was usually a very friendly person, but these two men didn’t bring that out of me.
“Whoever told you that is a very kind person.” I grabbed a couple of menus as they headed to the very back booth—the same one that Mason and Jackson had sat in when I first met the sheriff. I watched as they sat down, snapping myself out of my trance.
Get your shit together, Emma.
I plastered a placid smile on my face and scurried over, noting that I only had a few people in the entire place. Isabelle, a local writer, was working at one of the tables and Nathan, a college aged kid who I had no idea what he was doing, was sitting on the other side of the place next to the front windows.
“Can I get you two some coffee?” I asked the same question I always did as I sat the laminated menus down.
“Uh, yeah,” the shorter—and much older—one said to me, his pale blue eyes meeting mine. “I think coffee would be good, don’t you, Graham?”
“Sure.” Graham never looked up from his menu. “Coffee is great—as long as it’s not old.”
I raised my brow, tempted to smart off, but I didn’t. “It’s always fresh here.” Whoever Graham was, there was no doubt that he was from the city. “I’ll be right back with those while you two look over the menu.”
My white converse squeaked across the floors as I headed back behind the counter to the coffee pot. Lucky for Graham, I had just started a fresh pot of coffee, mostly for me. I filled a couple of mugs, sat them on the tray, and grabbed creamer and sugar. These guys were either the type that drank it black or added a lot of extras. I wasn’t going to be the one guessing today.
If I was wrong, they might leave a bad review.
“Here you go,” I said, setting everything down on the table for them. “Do you happen to know what you’d like?”
“Uh… I think I’ll just stick to the coffee, thanks,” Graham chuckled, handing me back the menu. “I’m not really into this style of food.”
Good to know. I’ll change the whole place up for you.
“I think I’ll just have one of these scones,” the other, much nicer, man pointed to the cinnamon oat with maple glaze. “It sounds good.”
“It’s definitely a favorite,” I said with a smile, taking his menu from him. I didn’t have to force a smile with people who actually had some manners, but then again, my head was still feeling off from last night.
I dropped the menus back into the holder and got busy readying the man’s scone for him. However, as I worked, their conversation filled my ears.
“I think we can really change this place, Jerry,” Graham said, finally giving me a name to the nicer man’s face. “Everyone is moving out of the city, and I don’t see anything wrong with giving them a good place to move to.”
“I don’t know…” Jerry’s voice trailed off. “You already said there’s no land for sale out here—and I don’t see this town being interested in what we have to offer.”
“Well, maybe the people who live here now aren’t interested, but if we build the right stores and housing, the right ones will come. This place could have chain stores before we know it. There’s some bad debt on some land, too. You know that’s some of the best deals.”
Jerry let out a chuckle, but didn’t say anything as I arrived with his scone, setting it down in front of him. “Thanks, hon.”
“No problem,” I said, before turning to Graham. “Anything I can get for you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so—just some privacy, thanks.” Graham didn’t even look up at me as he waved me off.
Asshole.
Shaking my head, I headed back to sit behind the counter. It wouldn’t be long and my afternoon help would be coming in for the lunch rush, but for now… I had a good hour to wait. I sat quietly, picking up a book and pretending to read as Jerry and Graham’s voices were suddenly much quieter than they were before. I was fairly certain they had no idea I was eavesdropping, but …
Well, who knows.
My phone vibrating in my pocket caught my attention, and I pulled it out, setting my book down on the counter beside me.
Lily.
I bit my lip as I hesitated to answer. I could just say that I was busy when she called and so I missed it… Or I could just answer. Ugh.
“Girl, where the heck have you been?” Lily’s voice thundered in my ear before I could even say hello. “You never go MIA on me. I thought you were dead.”
I forced a laugh. “I was not dead, and you know that. I told you when I was leaving. I had to work this morning.”
“And I had to take Dara to school, but I still stayed longer,” she teased, her voice light. “But seriously, what the heck is up with you? You didn’t even text me and give me a rundown of what you thought of the whole thing. I was just thinking about stopping by before I ran a few errands.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to stop by…” My eyes drifted back toward the table of the two businessmen, wondering if Lily would know what they were talking about—well, what land they were talking about. I hadn’t seen any foreclosures in the paper.
“Okay, well that’s good because I’m pulling up right now.” She hung up before I could even say anything more.
Ugh.
I braced as the door of the café swung open, and in walked my best friend, clad in a bright pink T-shirt and faded blue jeans. “Hey, Lily,” I greeted her, waving my hand up so she’d know where to find me.
“What’re you hiding back here?” She peeked her eyes up and over the register at me. “You can’t serve people like this. ”
“Uh… If you haven’t noticed,” I raised an eyebrow. “There isn’t anyone to serve right now. I think it’s fine. I’m just taking a break.”
“Right, okay,” she laughed, slipping around behind the counter. “It looks like those developers are still in town.”
“Oh yeah,” I grumbled. “And one of them is a real catch.”
“Graham? The dark-headed one?” Lily glanced back toward them. “I know he’s probably the one you’re talking about. He’s been all over Drew. It’s just freaking annoying.”
“About land?”
“I don’t know. Apparently, there’s some big lot of land—Drew won’t give me details—that’s in bad shape when it comes to making the payments. Graham has been bugging the shit out of Drew to push the owner to sell…But you know how Drew is. He’s not going to pressure anyone.”
“And you don’t know who it is?”
“No idea.” She shrugged, only halfway smiling. “I think whoever it is doesn’t want anyone to know that they’re in bad shape—and they’re probably just trying to get out of the predicament. That’s my guess. And you know how it is… small towns are full of people who want to talk.”
“Tell me about it,” I muttered, letting out a sigh.
“Whoa…” Lily immediately narrowed her eyes at me. “What’re you talking about? Because I know for certain that no one here has anything other than amazing things to say about you…”
“Right.” I diverted my eyes from her.
“Well,” Lily huffed. “Actually, there is one thing that I would like to talk to you about. I heard it from Dara.”
That caught my attention. “Like your daughter ?”
“Yep, that’s the one,” she laughed, a sly smile creeping across her face. “And the funny thing is, I believe what she said she saw.”
My stomach plummeted, growing nauseous all at the same time. “And what was that?” I choked out, suddenly feeling as though there wasn’t enough oxygen in the room.
Please don’t let her have seen Mason and I…
“She saw you and Mason head off into the horse barn—and he shut the door behind you two.” Her tone made me cringe, wishing I could disappear into the wall behind me. “And before you start to explain, no one but Jess and Dara saw, so your secret is safe.”
I blew out a sharp breath. “Okay, so… Um… It’s uh…”
“Oh my god, ” she cut me off. “It’s worse than I thought. Did you… Did you kiss him?”
My eyes went wide—my best friend had no idea. “Yeah,” I sputtered out, blinking a few times. “He offered to show me the place, and I took him up on it. We had a few beers and then… Well, you know. Things got a little heated.”
She drummed her finger on her thigh. “And so… Are you going to give me any details? Or am I just supposed to come up with the two of you romping around in the hay loft?”
I tried to keep my cool. “It’s not really that exciting.”
“Hmm.” Lily’s face lost all amusement, and my heart nearly stopped. She had known me way too long—and she saw right through the act that I was putting on. “You fucked him, didn’t you?”
Ugh.
I met her gaze, my cheeks growing hot. “I might have.”