Autumn Bliss (21 page)

Lately, she’d been thinking she shouldn’t have left. She’d stopped being mad at him before she even crossed the state line, but what could she do now? She’d made a commitment, and she
had
left. She had a job to do, a new life to live.

The job was great—she hadn’t been lying when she told Shane that. But it was basically the same job she’d been doing at Whispering Pines. Whether she was here or there, it made her just as happy. The rest…not so much. She missed Wisconsin, her cabin, her brother and friends, almost as much as she missed Levi.

Mallory turned away from the refrigerator and stared at the box with no return address. For some reason, it made her stomach turn flip flops. She wasn’t sure she wanted to open it.

Five minutes later, she’d changed into a pair of lounge pants, a tank and sweater, and warm socks. She pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail, washed her face, and returned to the kitchen to stare at the box as she sipped her ice tea.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, this is ridiculous.”

She plunked down the bottle of tea, grabbed the package, and used her nail to start the edge of the tape. Gripping the start with her fingers, she ripped the box open. Nestled in a bed of tissue paper was a clear fish bowl. Inside the bowl sat a bunch of slips of paper. Some colored, some white.

What the heck?

She dumped the papers out on the counter and started looking at them. The first white one had a date written on it. From a week ago.

The next one she grabbed was blue. It read:
Smoked everyone at monopoly
.

She frowned, even as she recalled paying monopoly with Shane and Reid a couple months ago. Shane had won.

A green one read:
Got drunk and sang karaoke
.

Okay, that she’d done with Josie and Tessa the day after the daycare closed.

Another white one—another date.

Red:
Met the woman I love.

Her breath caught in her lungs.
Levi?
The flip flop of her stomach became a somersault. Instead of staring at it, she forced herself to set it aside and move on.

Yellow:
Laughed watching Mark get bucked off into the manure pile.

Once they were sure he was unharmed, she and Janelle had nearly doubled over. He’d brushed himself off, claiming to be thankful for the soft landing.

Purple:
Enjoyed the best meatloaf I’ve ever tasted, and even better company.

Levi. It had to be Levi. And the next orange one:
Swings a mean ax.

White: just a date again.

She frowned and grabbed another white one. A date. Picking out the rest of the white slips to put them in order, she realized there was one for every single day since the day she’d left Pulaski.

Her gaze shifted back to the colored ones. Her heart started a steady increase as she read more.

Who knew painting could be so fun?
Levi. She put her hand over her heart as tears stung her eyes.

Best roommate ever.
Could be Nikki or Shane. She laughed. Nope, definitely Nikki.

Great early morning heart-to-hearts.
Josie, at the Bakery Box.

Amazing listener.
Technically that could be Shane, Josie, or Levi, but the handwriting said Levi.

Watched a movie with my favorite sister.

“I’m your only sister,” she murmured, though they’d joked with that line for years.

Better the second time.

That one made her entire body blush—and at the same time she wished for a third.

Taught me to live again.

Kisses like a dream.

In the end, she realized there were some from everyone she loved back home, but more from Levi. She lifted her hand to wipe the tears streaking down her face and gathered all the notes except one to put them back into the jar.

Met the woman I love.

Her elbow bumped the shipping box off the counter. When she picked it up, an envelope fell out from alongside the tissue paper. Her hands shook as she opened the flap and slid out the plain card.

You left your jar here, so we figured you could use a new one. Didn’t want you to get too lonely.

Everyone had signed it. Emotion welled her tears once more, but there was more under all the names. In his handwriting.

P.S. Call me when you figure it out. 715-555-0132

He’d gotten a phone. Wow.

P.S.S. Please don’t take too long.

She laughed, wiped the moisture from her cheeks, and leaned back against the cushions, her eyes closed.

Figure it out. She shouldn’t have a clue what that meant, and yet she had a feeling she’d been doing exactly that for the past couple weeks.

The conversation with her dad had refused to leave her alone. Levi’s bowl brought it right back to the forefront, and also added another dimension.

Dad had said he’d offered to move, go somewhere else, but Mom always said no. He’d tried time and again to make her happy, to love her enough. But Mallory was coming to understand, her dad wasn’t the one who hadn’t been enough.

She suspected Mom had been afraid. If they’d moved, and she’d discovered she wasn’t any happier somewhere else, where would that have left her? So she’d said no. Because it was easier to blame the man she was supposed to love for trapping her in the small town of Pulaski than to admit she was afraid to try in case she failed.

The truth of that sank in. Her mother hadn’t been left with nothing, she’d
felt
like nothing.

All this time, Mallory had let her mother’s bitterness convince her she couldn’t be happy in Pulaski, but the truth was, it was where she was the
happiest
. Had been all along, even through the crap. And if she went back, it wouldn’t be for anyone other than herself.

She
was
not
nothing.

She was someone who could do good things—and she was loved.

Opening her eyes, she stared at the ceiling as the sensation of a huge weight lifting from her chest allowed her to take the purest breath she’d ever breathed.

The feeling was surreal. Empowering. Amazing.

She laughed, felt like an idiot, then didn’t care. Jumping to her feet, she raced to grab her bag from by the door and dug out her cell phone. Back in the living room, she dialed the number on the card with shaking hands, then feared she’d hyperventilate as she waited for him to answer. The weight was gone, but she was suddenly nervous as all hell.

“Hey,” he answered. “You got it.”

His low voice held a smile, and she managed to draw a deep breath. “I got it,” she confirmed.

“You still mad at me?”

“No.”

“Good.” Relief echoed clear in his low voice.

“How have you been?” she asked.

“I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I—”

“It’s been pretty white around here.”

At first, she thought he meant snow, because she’d been keeping tabs on the weather back in Wisconsin. But then she remembered all the white slips sitting on her kitchen counter. “Um…I’m not entirely sure I understood all the dates on the white paper.”

“Those were from me. You took all the color when you left.”

She waited for him to laugh, but he didn’t. Unable to hold back a smile, she teased, “That’s kinda corny. Sweet, but corny.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.” And yet she loved it.

“As long as you’re smiling.”

“I am. So, where’d you get my address?” She figured Janelle had passed it along.

“Your brother. He pulled me over for speeding this morning.”

“Oh, really? Did he give you a ticket?”

“Nope.”

“Did you deserve one?”

“I
was
doing almost ten over.”

“He should’ve given you a ticket. Where were you going in such a hurry?”

“Think about it.”

“The post office?”

“Try again.”

Something tickled the edge of her brain, but before she could grasp it, there was a knock at the door. She glanced over with a frown.
Oh, please, not Mrs. Lewis again
. She liked the woman, but she’d rather spend the next hour or three talking to Levi.

“What was that?” he asked.

She sighed. “Someone’s at the door. It’s probably my neighbor.”

“Your neighbor isn’t some hot guy, is he?”

“No,” she said with a grin. “Mrs. Lewis is in her sixties.”

“Good—then you should open the door.”

“I’d rather ignore it.”

“Mallory,” he admonished.

“Yeah, I know. Give me a minute. I’ll get rid of her and be right—”

“Mallory.”

“What? I’ll be polite about it. Plus, she’s a romantic—she’ll understand.”

She set down the phone and hurried to the door. She turned the deadbolt before remembering if Mrs. Lewis didn’t see her check the peephole, she’d get the five minute lecture about being safe in the city.

Leaning to the side, she took a quick glance, then shifted halfway back before the tall figure on the other side registered. Her hand flew to her mouth as she threw open the door.

Levi smiled big enough to flash his dimple. “Hey.”

She burst into tears and launched herself into his arms with enough force to send him stumbling back a step.

“Whoa.
Not
the reaction I was expecting.”

“They’re happy tears, I promise.”

“Okay, that helps.”

“This is why there was no return address on the box.”

“Noticed that, did you?”

“I did, and hand deliveries are better than UPS any day.”

She hung on tight as he lifted her feet off the ground and carried her into the apartment. Like back at the cabin, he kicked the door shut with his foot, then started for the living room. When he set her back down, she clung tighter.

“Thank you,” she whispered into his neck.

“For what?”

“The bowl. For coming here.” She took a deep breath and pulled back to look him in the eyes. The sheen of moisture in his choked her up even more. “For making me leave so I could realize I am more than my mother ever gave me credit for. I can be me anywhere, it doesn’t matter where I live—especially since I’m the one responsible for my happiness.”

His lips curved upward. “You figured it out.”

“I did. All those years she looked at us—her family—as nothing. But we’re each
someone
, and we always were, even though she couldn’t see it. She was afraid to live, and blamed everyone else because she couldn’t overcome that fear.” Closing her eyes, she shook her head with sadness. “God, she could’ve had everything if she would’ve just found the courage to open her eyes.”

Which is what she did right then. “Thank you for opening
my
eyes.”

His hands slid up her back, warm and sure as they moved to cup her face. “You did the same for me. I
was
hiding at the lodge, and didn’t realize what a lonely life it was until you showed up with that smile that reached in and grabbed a hold of me and wouldn’t let go. You taught me how to smile again—how to live again.”

“I was determined to see your smile,” she admitted. “Piper was pretty impressed with it, too.”

He smiled. “That was a good moment. A jar-worthy moment, and I owe it all to you.”

She nodded, then closed her eyes as his head dipped, and his lips met hers. Soft and gentle, it was a kiss of two kindred souls joining as one. A moment she’d hold in her heart with his smile forever.

Resting her forehead against his, nose to nose, she whispered, “I love you, Levi.”

“I love you, Mallory. I couldn’t ask you to stay, but I’m here now to ask you to come home.”

Home.

She grinned through more happy tears. “It’s about damn time.”

He took the teasing in stride—as in he scooped her up and took five strides to the bedroom, where he proved three times was even better than two.

~ The End ~

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AUTUMN BLISS
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COMING Fall 2014

Autumn Kiss

For eight years, Josie Sullivan has managed to keep memories of Nash Riley buried in the past. Now he’s back in town, and worse, he’s here to stay—in the apartment above her bakery. How in the hell can she keep the distance she’s desperate to maintain when she runs into him every time she turns around and discovers her heart never let go?

Nash made the mistake of leaving Josie behind all those years ago. Now she won’t give him the time of day—and he can’t really blame her. Buying the building that houses her business seemed like a good plan at the time. But watching her becomes pure torture when he fears he’ll never breach the defensive walls his departure forced her to erect all those years ago.