“She’s plenty capable of keeping up with a four-year-old, Jesse. She did raise four of us little monsters, you know.”
“True. If she could handle Jinx...”
She chuckles and lifts her chin toward Jett, who’s finally found a page in the coloring book to work on. “Speaking of mothers, how is this one’s?”
Gorgeous. Emotional. Fucking gorgeous. “Good.”
“Is she coming on Saturday?”
“Why would she?”
“I don’t know. I thought maybe y’all were doing swapsies or something. You went there, now maybe it’s her turn to come here...” There’s a playful, almost goading, lilt to her voice. “I mean, you were in Green Bay yesterday.”
“For parts, Amelia. Not to socialize. Jesus.”
She lifts a shoulder. “You never know.”
“Except I do. And so do you, so knock it off.” If I thought Ma prodding me about Hayden was bad, Amelia is ten times worse.
“Again, you never know.” She wrinkles up her nose as Tulah comes from the back with a bakery box.
“A dozen jumbo muffins,” the older woman announces. “With a container of cream cheese frosting on the side.”
“Muffins? Aren’t you on your way to yoga?”
“Yeah, and what’s your point? We’ll need nourishment afterward.” She sticks her tongue out and slides out of the booth, pausing to pinch Jett’s cheek. “I’ll see you at Grammy’s in a couple of hours, okay?”
He flashes a dimpled grin and she glances back over her shoulder. “You should invite her. You might be surprised.”
“Not happening, Lee.”
“Never say never, big brother.”
Uh huh. I’ve played that game too many times to count over the past five years. And all I did was crash and burn.
Chapter 11
SIX YEARS EARLIER…
JESSE
“Aw, yeah.” Cash in hand, Sam moans at the front counter of the Cole Stop, his focus snagged on something outside.
“Sam, I ain’t got all day,” the cashier grumbles, holding out her hand for his money.
“You see what I see?” he asks me, ignoring her.
“Dude, come on.” I shove at his shoulder, but crane my head around his to see what he’s looking at, nonetheless.
A Jeep full of girls. A familiar driver at the wheel. Aw, yeah, indeed.
“Here. Pay for my shit, too.” I slide my beer onto the counter next to his, throw down a twenty, and head for the door.
“Brandy is mine!” Sam hollers after me and I just grin. There’s only one girl I’m interested in and her name isn’t Brandy.
“Hey, handsome! Long time, no see!” one of the girls in the back seat—Megan, I think—calls as I jog over.
“Hey, ladies. You just roll into town?”
“Uh huh. You and your friends should come over and hang out with us.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I say blindly, my sights set on the blonde hair blowing in the breeze between the Jeep and the gas pump. I round the front of the vehicle to find her stabbing at buttons on the display.
“Piece of crap,” she mutters, complete with a cute little stomp and a groan I feel all the way down to my dick.
“Need a hand?” I offer, and she startles, nearly dropping her credit card.
“Jesse.” Her dark eyes go wide and my name is part gasp, part sigh on her raspberry lips. I’m pretty sure that’s not sunburn I see tinging her cheeks, either.
“Hey.” I grin and approach slowly, taking her in for the first time in a year. Since we wished on that shooting star together.
Her hair is a little shorter now, but the rest of her is exactly how I remembered—and believe me, I’ve remembered a lot.
Same ‘melt me’ brown eyes, same sweet perfume, same petite body rocking those cut-off jean shorts and snug white tank top. Fuuuck.
“Been a minute, huh?” I smirk when I finally reach her and a glimmer of a smile teases that pretty little mouth of hers.
“It has. You look good,” she adds, the color in her cheeks darkening a bit.
I glance down at my sleeveless T-shirt, basketball shorts, and flip-flops. “Like a frat boy, huh?”
She laughs and tosses her hair over her shoulder. “You said it, not me.”
“Mmm hmm. Give me that thing...” I shoo her away from the pump and snatch the card from her hand. It works the first time.
“What the hell?” she scoffs. Then, in a softer tone, “Thank you.”
“No problem. How much do you want?”
“I can do it.” She reaches for the nozzle, but I intercept it with a raised brow.
“Just let me be chivalrous and shit.”
She bites her cheeks, presumably to keep from laughing, and props her hands on her hips. “In that case, fill it up.”
“Consider it done,” I sass back, and Megan snorts.
“You know, she has a boyfriend, right? But I’m available. This girl right here.” Out of the corner of my eye, she points at herself, bending her finger like a flashing neon sign. The other girls laugh, but Hayden’s amusement falters.
“He still around?” I cock my head to the side, a smile masking my disappointment.
She nods as the other girls collectively whoop when a Sam Hunt song starts playing from the speakers in the overhead canopy. Even Hayden’s eyes light up a bit and, as much as I hate the guy, he might be onto something.
“Take Your Time?” If her time is all I can have, it’s what I’ll take.
“You girls have plans for the night?” I ask, not taking my eyes off of the only one of them I care to see again.
“Nothing that can’t be changed,” Brandy responds. “Why? You and your friends want some company?”
“Absolutely. Sam’s place on the lake, say, ten o’clock?”
“We’ll be there!” Megan hoots, and Hayden bites her lip.
“You coming too, city girl?”
She eyes me for a moment, something brewing in that dark gaze, before she gives into a smile. “Looking forward to it.”
HAYDEN
“To the last free summer of our lives,” Brandy says, raising her hard cider over the patio table on the back deck of the cabin. The rest of us raise our own bottles, clink the glass together, and drink.
“God, I can’t believe how fast college went by. Seems like we were just moving into Fletcher Hall yesterday.” Megan sighs. “And why is this the first time we’ve ever come up here like this? Just us girls?”
Katie points her bottle at me. “Because this one never has time for us anymore. She’s too busy drawing H+L in hearts all over that rainbow kitten notebook of hers. The one with all of her super secret life plans.”
Working on my second drink, I giggle. “For one, my plans aren’t secret. And two, the notebook has ponies and unicorns, jeez.”
Brandy and Katie laugh while Megan smirks.
“Or maybe it’s H+J,” she teases. “What’s going on with you and Mr. Small-town Muscles, girlfriend? I saw the way you were looking at him today.”