Clallam Bay (A Fresh Start #2) (18 page)

“God, no. Are you kidding?” Amber shoved the last of her clothes in her bag. “That’s the last thing you should do.”

“Then what?”

Amber toed on her shoes. “We get the hell out of here is what. Now grab a couple of these bags and let’s go before you change your mind.”

“But our flight’s not for another five hours.”

Amber gave me a look, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder. “Like you said. We’ll go to breakfast.”

Leaving the hotel was like an elaborate escape scene in a
Mission Impossible
movie. I constantly glanced behind me and peeked around corners, which only ended up annoying Amber.

Even though she’d threatened to end me if I didn’t stop, I still covertly surveyed our surroundings while she checked us out. It wasn’t until we were in a cab and safely on our way that I could breathe easy again.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Amber asked, and I shook my head.

“Not really.”

“You’re doing the right thing, you know.”

Was I?

“I mean, what else were you going to do? Stay and talk it out?” Amber visually shivered. “What would be the point? Unless you were planning on being with him. Tell me you’re not planning on being with him.”

I kept my gaze on the passing buildings outside.

“Hailey …”

“I’m not. Okay? Jeez.”

We remained silent until we got to the restaurant and placed our orders. Resting my elbows on the table, I traced the rim of my coffee cup.

“He told me he loved me.”

Amber didn’t even try to hide the surprise on her face. “Really? And what did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Her eyebrows shot right back up into her hairline.

“He said it while I was asleep. Well, while I was pretending to be asleep.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, do you feel the same way? Do you love him?” she asked, and I shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

But I thought maybe I did.

The waitress returned with our orders, and I poked at my eggs while Amber stirred her oatmeal, neither of us seemingly very hungry anymore.

We still made it to the airport with a couple hours to spare. While Amber browsed through the magazines, I fantasized about eating all the candy bars. Before we knew it, we were back home in sunny Chicago.

I thought about Coll every minute. Where he was. What he was doing. How he felt when he woke up to find I had gone. Was he relieved? Upset? Heartbroken?

I knew I was.

I missed him.

“I think I made a mistake.”

“If you say it’s because you didn’t go back to Clallam again I’m gonna jump,” Amber said as she walked by the open window to take a seat next to me on my new couch.

“Of course not.” I gave her a look. I hadn’t been
that
bad over the last month. “I meant the fabric. See? The microfiber almost looks dirty when I brush it this way. Am I right?” I ran my hand across the cushion between us and hoped Amber didn’t see through my weak save. Of course not going back to Clallam was what I was going to say. Was she kidding?

It was stupid of me to leave Coll in the middle of the night like that.

I loved him. And people made sacrifices for the ones they loved. Him, his job. Me, my waistline.

If he was willing to do it, why wasn’t I?

Amber dropped her chin and glared at me. She saw right through me. Always had. But this time she let it go, wiping the fabric back the way it had been before.

“The microfiber wasn’t a mistake.”

But not going back to Clallam was?

If she picked up on my silent question, she gave no indication, instead getting up to leave me alone in my suppressed sorrows while she went out and met up with Mark.

I spent the rest of the evening like I always did, rereading lines of a familiar book because I was too distracted to pay attention.

My workouts consisted of thoughts of the forest. How Coll smelled like it. I found myself missing the scent of pine more and more each day.

My evening walks were filled with fantasies unfulfilled where I would see Coll from across the street. We’d stop and stare at each other until he smiled and I smiled and then took off running for him. Or he took off running for me. Sometimes one of us would get hit by a bus. Usually him. Every day it was something different. I usually ended up laughing at myself because Coll in Chicago …

That was about as fantastical as one could get.

With the new school year came new students and different challenges I was now prepared to face. This was a new me.

Scoffing at myself, I rolled my eyes, grabbing one of my trusty red pens to finish grading papers.

Time got away from me the way it usually did those days. My alarm sounded, letting me know it was time to start packing up so I could make it to dinner with Amber.

She said she had a surprise. I’d been racking my brain all day wondering what it could be. The only thing I could come up with was she got engaged.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t an engagement announcement. Amber had promised me I’d be pleased.

Given how humid it was, I was very pleased Amber had reserved a table inside. One next to the window so I’d have something to stare at if the evening turned out to be a bust via exciting engagement announcement.

I drooled over the breadsticks and sipped at my wine while I waited.

The moon reflected off the water, setting a nostalgic scene, and even though Amber was running late, it gave me a hopeful feeling. One I hadn’t felt in a while and that I’d never in my life forget when a group of people walked by, one of them stopping right in my line of sight. I looked up from the water into a pair of eyes I thought I’d never see again.

My heart stopped when he took off in the direction of the entrance. I couldn’t take my eyes off him when he walked through the door and approached my table. It shook as he sat. His strong, earthy scent surrounded me, and I couldn’t believe this was happening. Coll was here. With me. In Chicago.

He looked good. Tired, but good. And so out of place sitting there across from me in a T-shirt and jeans.

“Fancy meeting you here,” I said, trying to keep it light and airy even though I couldn’t breathe.

“Fancy’s right. You look like you fit right in.” He gestured to my dress, looking me over. His gaze rested on my chest before traveling back up to my eyes. I barely kept from squirming in my seat.

“Hardly.” I kept from snorting by taking a drink of my wine.

Reaching up, he scratched the underside of his beard. It had filled out since the last time I’d seen him. I still liked it.

“Amber warned me it was a nice place. Guess I should’ve listened.” He shrugged. “Next time, maybe.”

There was going to be a next time?

Wait … Did he say Amber? Amber knew about this? She knew he was coming tonight and she didn’t warn me?

Oh my God. I hated her.

“So Amber is to blame for this?”

“Sure is. If it wasn’t for Amber, I doubt I would have found you.”

Oh my God. I loved her.

“But hey. Don’t be mad at Amber, all right? I practically forced her to do it.”

Sure he did.

“If you want, I can go.” He made a move to get up, but I stopped him by grabbing his hand.

“No! Don’t go.”

All the time we’d known each other there had been too much leaving. It had to stop at some point. This was that point.

He sat back down, and I reluctantly let go of his hand, leaning back in my chair. We needed to talk, that was for sure. But where did we start? There was so much to say.

“So what is it you’re really doing here?”

“Having dinner. What else?”

I shot him a look but my heart swelled. He was the same old Coll. Nothing had changed. But also everything had.

“You know what I mean. What are you doing in Chicago? Why are you here?”

“I got a job.”

“What?”

He shrugged. “I’ve been cleaning boats over at the Yacht Yard for a couple days now. It’s not much, but it’s a start. The owner’s letting me rent out a storage unit.”

“To sleep in?”

“Yep.” Nodding, he didn’t look a bit ashamed. “Says he’s gonna send me to mechanic school.”

“And you’re gonna go?”

“I’m gonna try. It’s about time I did. Don’t you think?” he asked, and I got the feeling he was talking about more than just school. Maybe it was time for me to start trying, too.

“If that’s what you want, then yeah. Is that what you want?”

“You know what I want.”

The air left my lungs.

He looked at me with certainty. “I don’t want to go out on the boats anymore. I don’t want to be gone for days at a time. I want to be with you. I want us to be together.”

“Together,” I repeated. “You mean here in Chicago?”

He nodded, and I took a shaky breath.

“I want that, too.”

I really, really did.

“I love you, Hailey. Even when I was saying all those stupid things. I didn’t mean them. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head, making the first of the teardrops snap loose and fall.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left the way I did. I never should have done that because I love you, too.”

“No, I—” He paused. “You do?”

Reaching across the table, I took his hand.

“I do.”

Snow fell heavily on the branches above, making them droop down and scrape across the hood of the car as we drove by.

Everything looked the same. From the barren trees, to the open field, to the little brick house with the green tin roof.

“Is that Grandma Cris’ house?” Kaylee asked, pushing her hair out of her tired eyes. I looked over at Coll, letting him answer.

“Yeah, sweetie. That’s your grandma’s house.” Coll smirked and I ruffled the back of his hair, smiling at his profile. Kaylee still hadn't called him Dad yet. However, her calling his mom Grandma was a pretty good start.

The last time we’d been to Clallam was just after the adoption went through, for Coll’s stepdad’s funeral. It was a lovely service. Even lovelier since word was Tara had skipped town just after he’d passed. She wasn’t at the funeral. Neither was Russell. Nobody had heard from him since he left town, too.

Kaylee squealed from the backseat, and I jumped, turning to see her point in the direction of the house where a little puppy was sitting on the stoop. I gave Coll a look that said it had better not be the exciting Christmas present his mother had told us about.

As soon as we parked Kaylee shot out the door and ran over to pick up the chocolate Lab.

“Easy now. Maybe just pet it,” I uselessly advised as she turned to flash me its belly.

The front door swung open to reveal Grandma Cris in her signature shawl and a long braid hanging over her shoulder.

“I see you found your Christmas present!” She must have noticed the look on both our faces. “Oh, calm down you two. He’s staying here.”

Kaylee pouted.

“It’s a ploy to get you to visit more often. Now come on. Come inside before you catch your death of cold out here.”

We really should have visited more often. Something for which I felt guilty. But what she didn’t know, and what we were planning on announcing, was we were moving back. Coll finally accepted the Harbor Master job after he’d long mastered mechanics. And Kaylee missed her friends. Besides, the calm of Clallam made more and more sense now that we had a homesick kid on our hands.

With help from her grandma, Kaylee lugged the puppy inside. I grabbed Coll’s hand and gave it a squeeze before following behind them into a living room full of family.

Even though Clallam still wasn’t quite home, it was where I found it. It was where we all found it.

***

Bear Creek Road

A Fresh Start

Book One

Sometimes losing yourself leads right to the place you were looking for …

Secluded and quiet was exactly what Laney Walker was looking for when she decided to pack up and move across the country. It was what she wanted, what she thought she needed—until she met Joe Boone.

Contracted to replace the plumbing along the property, Joe was first to arrive and last to leave. And to Laney's surprising disappointment, he never had much to say.

But the more Joe came around, the more Laney learned about him and soon found the man was as flawed as the house he was fixing.

A fact that only seemed to draw her closer to him.

I dedicate this book to all my readers, my friends. Thanks to Jess and Rach. This wouldn’t be what it is today without your help. Special thanks to Rachel Lawrence who polished this up and prettied the finishing touches. But most of all, I want to thank my readers and the fandom for the love and encouragement they always gave and continue to give. I love you guys with all my heart, always. Thank you.