5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Rina
Last night was a mistake.
I knew it the second I came down from my orgasm and watched Arlo walk out the door.
Did it help relieve everything I was hoping it would? Sure, but it also made me remember, and that’s the last thing I want to do.
Remembering means thinking about the good times and not about every minute after he broke my heart. It means thinking about how good we were together instead of thinking about how easily he threw us away when I needed him the most. And I can’t afford to remember. My heart can’t handle remembering.
So, I did what any woman avoiding the man who gave her two spectacular orgasms would do: buried myself in work.
For me, that means working on this fucking custom order that’s testing every ounce of my skill and capability.
I’m sweaty, annoyed, and stressed—a dangerous combination for my current state. When my phone pings as I’m mapping out a daybed, I take it as a sign to take a break.
Ledger:
Anyone heard from Lennox yet today?
Me:
No, and I doubt we will.
Willow:
He promised me he would communicate through the group chat, so I think if we check in, he’ll respond. He just needs some time, though.
Ledger:
I’m going to add Ainsley and Oakley to this chat so we can all be on the same page, and keep our usual family chat to just us four.
Me:
If Lennox finds out, he’ll be even more annoyed that we’re creating a group chat to talk about him behind his back.
Oakley:
He may, but I don’t think that’s a huge concern for him at the moment. I was going to text him and see if he wanted to shoot the shit with a beer or something later.
Willow:
I think we should just do a quick check-in.
Arguing with my siblings and their significant others over how to handle Lennox is starting to piss me off more than this damn furniture. Lenny may have annoyed the shit out of me yesterday, but I also know giving him some time to cope with what happened to him is probably our best option. I will say, Oakley might be our biggest asset in helping him since he knows the most about what actually happened to him. I’m not holding my breath that anything we do will magically make him better, though.
Me:
I’m with Willow. Turning things into a big deal is going to piss him off. He knows we plan to check in, and at least for now, let’s keep to that. If he’s still in the recluse stage in a week, we can send Oakley in.
Ledger:
I hate this.
Ainsley:
We all do, but taking over and bombarding him will probably make things worse right now. I’m with Rina and Willow.
Oakley:
Looks like the women have it. I’ll do a drive-by when Grind Time closes and make sure things look okay at his house.
Ledger:
Thanks, Oakley.
I open up our family chat because I’m over talking behind Lennox’s back at the moment.
Me:
Just checking in, Len. If you need anything, let us know. Love you.
Short and to the point. Lennox is simple. He doesn’t need this long, thought-out message. Keeping things simple so he doesn’t feel guilty is the best option.
Lennox:
Doing okay. Just changed my bandages, and things are looking good.
Leaning against my workbench, all the emotions of the last week hits me square in my chest. I slept with Arlo. Lennox just went through hell, and our family is walking on eggshells because we don’t know how to help him. Everything feels out of control, and I hate feeling this way. I like control; I like knowing how to handle situations. And suddenly, I have zero control over anything. My phone pings again.
Ledger:
You have enough food?
Lennox:
Yes, Dad.
Laughter bursts from my chest. It’s nice to see some resemblance of normalcy. He has a long way to go, but this is a great step.
Willow:
Oakley said he can drop off a panini later if you want one. Just text him .
Lennox:
Will do. Thanks, guys. I think I’m just going to binge-watch some shows and crash early tonight.
I set my phone down, hopeful that Lennox isn’t feeling smothered. Looking around my workshop, I mentally catalog every piece I still have to complete, and the stress starts to build again. My organization of my commissions has been severely lacking, and I need to get a hold of it sooner rather than later.
A clamoring sound draws my attention outside, and my brows furrow. No one ever comes here unless they’re invited. I’ve made it perfectly clear what happens if someone shows up unannounced. I don’t like showing my barn to anyone, and the lovely people of Bluebell Falls stopped questioning why when I lost my shit on Old Man Walter when he showed up unannounced and wanted to watch me work because he was bored.
There are times that I still feel inadequate with my work. I know I’m good at what I do, logically, but having an audience makes me nervous and, in turn, makes me mess up.
I let out a sigh, annoyed that I’m probably going to need to live up to my bitchy reputation. I’m not in the mood to deal with more shit right now, but I don’t have a choice.
Walking out of the door, I look around and don’t see anything.
“I know you’re out here. Might as well just come talk to me,” I say in exasperation.
Silence greets me, and I start getting pissed. Stomping my way around the exterior of my building, I look in all directions for who could be fucking around on my property. Walking to the back, I see a wood pile—that was neatly stacked earlier—strewn across the ground.
What the fuck?
“You could at least own up to your mistake, ass,” I mutter out to the void. Whoever did this is long gone because I would have seen them.
Under normal circumstances, I would make a call to the sheriff’s office, just to have a report on file. However, that’s not going to happen now. Not after what we did last night. I need to distance myself from Arlo and act like nothing ever happened, not call him to tell him I suspect someone was messing around on my property.
Tilting my head up to the sky, I blow out a breath, preparing myself to clean up the mess and taking more time away from working on the damn daybed.
Time to get to work.
Two hours.
That’s how long it took to fix the damn wood pile. It was a mess, and I’m not sure how someone messed everything up that badly and so fast, but the whole thing had to be re-organized.
Now, I’m driving to Grind Time because I need a pick-me-up since I’ll be working well into the night to catch up .
The bell dings above my head as I walk in, and Oakley looks up with a smile on his face. Behind him, Willow is concentrating hard on a cup of coffee I assume she’s trying to make.
A genuine smile takes over my face as I watch these two together. They had a rough road, but it looks like things are going to be just fine for them.
“Hey, Rina, what’ll it be today?” Oakley asks. I might be the only person in Bluebell Falls that doesn’t have a regular coffee order for him to memorize, and I think he sees it as a challenge some days to guess what I’m in the mood for.
“I need all the caffeine today, my man. Largest iced americano you can give me, please.”
“Everything okay?” Willow asks as she finishes whatever coffee she was making. She sips it and makes a face, telling me she doesn’t love what she created.
“It’s fine. Just someone or an animal trashing shit at my place. A whole pile of wood knocked over.”
“You think someone did that?” Oakley’s protective instinct kicks in.
I don’t want to tell him I think it was a person because he’ll go all U.S. Marshal on me, and I don’t have time to have a shadow checking to make sure no one’s messing with me.
“It was probably an animal, honestly. I didn’t see anything that would suggest otherwise.” I shrug as he moves over to start making my drink.
He arches an eyebrow at me, and I do the same, challenging him to disagree with me. I am definitely not in the mood to deal with any more wannabe cops in this town.
He backs down as he hands me my coffee, and I instantly feel bad comparing him to Arlo in any way. Oakley’s not a wannabe cop; he’s my sister’s boyfriend, who saved my brother. He doesn’t deserve my annoyance, especially when it’s directed at Arlo, not him.
“Sorry, I’ve just been on edge a lot lately. Obviously,” I add because if anyone is dealing with shit outside of Lennox, it’s these two.
“All good. We’re all trying to figure out how to get back to normal,” Willow says.
“How are you both doing?” I ask.
“Not bad. Healing is fine. We’re just happy to open back up and have a regular workday. Yesterday was … a shitshow,” Oakley says with a chuckle.
“Did the nosy trio bombard you immediately?”
“Oh yeah, asking Will a bunch of invasive questions, so I kicked everyone out and we closed up. I think everyone got the message, though,” Oakley says as he looks around at the calm coffee shop.
“You fit right into this family already.” I laugh.
“You sure do.” Willow leans into his side.
He presses a kiss to her temple, and I feel the sudden urge to flee. I’m happy for Will, more than happy, but I’m struggling not to compare my life to hers at the moment.
“Well, thanks for the pick-me-up. I’ll see you both for family dinner?” I ask.
“We’ll be there,” Willow says.
I head back out to my truck and prepare myself for a long-ass night.