Wolf Valley, Grumps Volume 1

Chapter 1

ONE

Foster

“I’m surprised that you even came in this morning,” my twin brother, Ford, says as he takes a seat across from me.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I ask him, even though we both already know the answer.

“Um, maybe because Lilliana is coming back today.”

I give him a blank look, and he rolls his eyes.

“Don’t give me that. We both know that you’ve had this day circled in your calendar for freaking months.”

“Prove it,” I grumble, and he rolls his eyes.

“Are you finally going to tell her that you’ve been obsessed with her for your entire life?”

“Probably not right away. I was thinking that I’d welcome her back to town and stuff first, maybe help her get settled.”

“Smartass,” he says with a laugh, and I grin.

“It must be hard for you that I got all of the brains and the looks,” I say with a sigh, and he flips me off.

“We’re identical twins, moron.”

“Am I interrupting a brotherly squabble?” Ransom asks as he joins us at our table.

“Almost always,” we say at the same time, and Ransom grins.

We’re at the Nosh Diner, but it’s mid-morning and the place is empty. I’m sure that won’t last long. This place is always packed. It’s one of the only restaurants here in Wolf Valley, after all.

Ford actually owns this diner. The previous owner, old Mr. Riley, sold it to him right after high school. Well, sold it to us. Ford couldn’t have afforded it without my investment, and neither one of us could have afforded it without the money that our mom left us when she passed.

“What are we talking about then?” Ransom asks.

Ransom came to town a year ago and moved in next door to me. We became fast friends and try to grab breakfast or lunch together once a week. I had forgotten that today was when we were meeting for a late breakfast so I’m lucky that I had a lull at work and came over.

“Lilliana is coming home today,” Ford informs him.

“Ah, Foster’s long lost love. I can’t wait to meet her.”

I glare at him, and he grins, grabbing a menu and pretending to look it over.

“You’ll love her,” Ford tells him, and jealousy starts to eat at me.

Lilliana is finally coming back to town and I don’t want to even think about sharing her with anyone else.

It’s been too long since we were last together, three years to be exact.

We’ve stayed in touch, texting or talking on the phone every few days or so, but it’s not the same as seeing her face to face.

“I’m sure,” Ransom says, and I know that they’re both just messing with me.

“Are we eating or what?” I snap, and they share a look.

“She left for college, right?” Ransom asks, and Ford and I both nod.

“Yeah, she went to the Pratt Institute in New York,” I tell him.

“That’s a long way to go for school. Are you sure that she wasn’t trying to get away from you?” Ransom asks, and I know that he’s joking, but my stomach drops at his words, and my mind flashes back to high school, to one of the last times that I saw her in person.

Ford thinks that I’ve never tried to tell Lilliana how I’ve always felt about her, but that’s not true. There was a party towards the end of summer that we all went to. Lilliana and I had snuck outside for some fresh air and wound up sitting on this porch swing staring up at the stars.

I had brought up the idea of a marriage pact if both of us weren’t married by twenty-four, and she had agreed right away. I thought that was a good sign that maybe she liked me too. I mean, normally, marriage pacts are made for later in life, not like six years in the future.

Still, even with her agreeing to the pact, it had taken me almost an hour to work up the courage to turn to her and try to kiss her. I had almost done it, too, but then she had pulled back.

Thinking about her pulling away from me still makes me flinch, and I clear my throat and try to focus on happier things.

She’s coming back to town and I’m finally getting my friend back.

Plus, there’s the marriage pact…

“Are you two going to order or what?” Ford asks, and I blink.

“Of course. I’ll have the burger,” I order, deciding that it’s late enough in the morning for lunch food.

“Same,” Ransom says, and Ford nods and heads back around the counter.

“So, what’s the plan?” Ransom asks me as we wait for our food.

“Plan for what?”

“For winning over your girl.”

“I’m just going to welcome her back to town, help her move in and stuff. Then maybe ask her out to dinner or a movie or something.”

“No, that’s not going to work. You have to do some big gesture, really lay your heart out on the line for her,” he tells me and I stare at him like I’ve never met him before.

“Big gesture. You don’t know words like that. Who the hell are you?”

“Shut up,” he mumbles, and I laugh.

“What do you know about grand gestures? Who are you trying to romance?”

“No one! We’re talking about you,” he reminds me, and I smirk.

I see the way that his eyes look around the diner for a certain brunette.

“Ruby isn’t working today,” I inform him, and his eyes snap back to mine.

“Okay?” He asks, pretending that he wasn’t just looking for her.

“Maybe we should be talking about your love life instead,” I say as Ford brings over our food.

“Why? You got a girl, Ransom?” He asks, taking a seat next to me.

“I’m going to stop coming here if I just get interrogated all of the time,” he threatens.

“Seems too defensive for the answer to be no to that question,” I say to Ford, and he nods.

“Who is she?” He asks.

“Yeah, do we know her?” I add with a grin.

I don’t know how Ford hasn’t noticed that Ransom has eyes for one of his waitresses, but I’m not going to tell him. It doesn’t seem like my place.

Ransom glares at us as he takes a big bite of his burger.

“How’s work going?” Ransom asks me, and part of me wants to keep questioning him about his own love interest, but I relent and let him change the subject.

“It’s going good. It’s been busy,” I tell them.

I took over the mechanic shop from our dad. He just retired a few months ago, and now the shop is all mine.

Ford was the chef in our family, but I’ve always been good with cars or anything with an engine. They make sense to me. There’s always a reason for every problem, unlike with people.

“My bike has been acting up. I was hoping to bring it by later today,” Ransom says, and I nod.

“Of course.”

A group of tourists pours into the diner, and Ford stands.

“I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll see you guys later. Are you going over to Dad’s place today?” He asks me, and I nod.

“Yeah, right after this,” I confirm.

“I’ll make a to-go bag for him. Tell him I said hi and that I’ll be by on Sunday.”

“Will do.”

He waves and heads back behind the counter, and Ransom and I finish off our lunch and get ready to go our separate ways.

“I’ll come by in a bit,” Ransom says as he climbs into his old truck.

It’s weird seeing him in it. Usually, the guy is always on his motorcycle. Even when it’s freezing out, he still prefers to ride his bike.

“Okay, give me a call if I’m not there when you drop it off.”

“I will.”

He waves, and we head off in opposite directions. My dad still lives in our childhood home in the northern part of town, and I head that way. I pull into his driveway a few minutes later, and my eyes still slide over to the house next door.

Lilliana grew up there. Her parents sold the house two years ago and moved further south then.

I had been afraid that maybe Lilliana would move south too after college or stay in New York, but she’s always loved Wolf Valley.

Hell, she stayed in New York, taking classes during the summer too, all so that she could graduate a semester early and come back to this place.

“Hey, Dad!” I call as I walk in through the garage door.

“Hey, Foster. I was wondering when you would be by,” he says with a smile as he pushes himself up from his favorite armchair.

I set the takeout bags that Ford packed for him on the counter, and he smiles when he sees them.

“How’s your brother doing?” He asks as he opens the bag and grabs a fry.

“Good. He said he’ll be by on Sunday.”

“Good, good. What about you?”

“I can come for dinner on Sunday.”

He nods, smiling.

It’s been just our dad and us for the last eight years. Our mom passed away when we were fourteen, and we were all devastated. I know that Dad won’t ever remarry. He always says that Mom was the love of his life and that no one could ever replace her.

I know what he means. Lilliana is the love of my life. I just wish that I was the love of hers.

“Lilliana comes back today. Are you ready?” He asks me, and I sigh.

“Ready for what?”

“To woo her.”

“People don’t say woo anymore, Dad.”

“Sure, they do.”

I don’t bother arguing with him.

“You would think that Lilliana would know since everyone else in town seems to know that I love her,” I grumble, and my dad laughs.

“She doesn’t because you’ve always treated her like your girlfriend, just without the kissing and all of that.”

“So, how do I change that now?”

“You don’t. You just need to tell her how you feel about her. How you’ve always felt about her.”

“Not always,” I argue weakly, and he snorts.

“Son, I saw you that first day that she moved in. You looked like you had been hit by a truck when she got out of the moving truck. Trust me, you’ve always been in love with her.”

I know that he’s right. It’s always only been Lilliana for me. I never dated in high school and never even looked at another girl. Hell, even after she left, I never tried to date or paid any attention to other women. It’s Lilliana or nothing for me.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get her to see that we’re meant to be together.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out, my heart lodging in my throat when I see Lilliana’s name on the screen.

“Go get your girl,” my dad tells me, and I look up.

“Yes, sir,” I say, giving him an excited smile as I head back out to my truck and climb behind the wheel.

She texted me her new address, saying that she stopped for gas but should be there soon, and I head that way. It’s right in town and I’m there in under ten minutes.

I pull up behind her old Ford Explorer with the U-Haul trailer attached to the back, and just like all of those years ago, as she climbs out of the SUV and our eyes lock, I fall in love with her all over again.

Now, I just need to work up the nerve to tell her that.