Lucky Break (2 page)

…

Kade Mitchell stood in front of Lucky’s, still not able to believe it was his. He’d worked his ass off for this place. Not that a lot of people would think a small, rundown bowling alley and bar was a real accomplishment, but for him it was. It meant he was moving forward. He wasn’t wasting any more time looking for what sat right in front of him. Shamrock Falls had always been home and now he was back to claim it, along with one of his very favorite places.

It had taken him a long time before he was ready to come back. He’d spent a couple years tending bar in Seattle, slowly getting his business degree. Hell, even his mom had gone with him. It wasn’t like she had anything tying her here without him. And it worked. He’d hated the idea of leaving her alone, and taking care of her had always been the most important thing to him. Well, her and Sidney, but he’d gotten over those feelings a long time ago. And now, he didn’t have to take care of Mom anymore.

Kade pushed his sunglasses up on his head, still smiling at the stupid, faded
Lucky’s
sign. He didn’t care. It was his sign and that’s what mattered.

“Kade Mitchell? Holy shit!” He turned toward the female voice to his right, just in time for Rowan McKinley to launch herself at him. He caught her and squeezed her in a bone-crushing hug. Dammit, he’d missed her. “It’s so good to have you home again. I had to come down here and see it with my own two eyes.”

“Hey, Freckles. Been a long time.” After one more squeeze, he put her down. Her red curly hair, bright as ever, was tied back in a ponytail, and she wore a pair of tight jeans with a red tank top.

“I haven’t been called that for years!” She smiled up at him.

“That’s because it’s my name for you. You look good.” He took the time to study her. She’d changed in five years, though he assumed he had, too. One big difference was that she showed a lot more skin. But the same freckles she always had were painted over her shoulders and nose.

Back when they were kids, Rowan had hated them until Sidney told her she always wished she had freckles, too. That easily, Rowan fell in love with them and she became Freckles. Sidney always did have that power, a way of making everything seem like more than it was.

“You do, too!” Rowan reached out and grabbed his arm. “Wow. You have some guns on you there, Kade. When did you start working out?”

He laughed and shook his head. “Are you flirting with me?” He knew she wasn’t—he and Rowan had never been
that
way—but he still liked to give her a hard time.

Her nose crinkled. “Absolutely not.”

Kade laughed, reached out, and wrapped an arm around her. He ruffled her hair like he would do with a younger sister. Damn, it felt good to be home.

“Kade!” She pulled away. “I hate it when you do that. You’re just like my brothers!”

Rowan was the only girl in a household of boys. She was tough because of it—she didn’t take crap from anyone and defended herself and her friends with everything she had. He and Sidney had always loved that about her.

“I knew you’d want her,” she said as they started for Lucky’s.

Kade startled for a second, but then he realized she meant the building. He just nodded, unlocked the door, and let them in. How could he not want Lucky’s? It was a staple in the town that meant so much to him. Everyone in Shamrock Falls went there. He’d spent a lot of his childhood here. Hell, he felt like he owed the place something because he’d spent so much time here when he didn’t feel like he could be at the cabin. This was the only way he could think to give back—by making Lucky’s shine again. “Yeah. Thanks for letting me know about her. I want to open her up soon, but there’s some work I need to get done first.”

They pulled up a couple dusty barstools and sat down. “I can help if you want.” Rowan kept smiling at him and he couldn’t figure out why. “You’re different,” she said, answering his unspoken question. They’d kept in touch since he left Shamrock Falls, but they hadn’t seen each other in five years. His doing more than hers. In the beginning, it had hurt too much to see her because she reminded him of Sidney, and later on, responsibilities got in the way.

“Same ole’ me, Freckles.” But he knew that was a lie.

“Dark as ever!” She ruffled his brown hair like he’d done to her. His sunglasses started to fall, but he caught them.

They’d always been like this. First him and Sidney, then in sixth grade when Rowan showed up at his favorite fishing spot, she’d joined the group.

He hadn’t realized just how much he missed Shamrock Falls and his friends—friend. Just like him, Sidney hadn’t been back here in years.

“Where are you staying?” Rowan asked.

Kade scratched his head before leaning his elbow on the counter. “You’re not going to believe it, but at Mae’s. Not the main house; I’m renting out the guest house while mine is getting ready. The renters are moving out soon and I’m buying it from Mom.”

Rowan’s green eyes widened. “Congrats! How’d staying at Mae’s come about? You watching the place while she’s gone?”

He never would have expected to be staying at Mae’s, either. Not that he had a problem with the older woman—in fact, he loved Mae. He’d spent half his childhood at her house, but that’s the exact reason he wouldn’t have expected to stay there. Too many memories that he didn’t want to think about. Too close to the
person he
couldn’t
think about. But now—well, things were different. Enough time had gone by that he didn’t cringe when he thought about her. Sidney was part of his past, but now Shamrock Falls was again part of his present and future.

“I ran into Mae when I came to check on Lucky’s. She mentioned the guest house and you know how she is—won’t take no for an answer, crazy woman.” They both laughed. “She asked me about watching the house, but called me yesterday to let me know I don’t need to. She said a friend would be staying there.” He smiled. “She hasn’t changed a bit. Wild and sarcastic as ever.” Aunt Mae had always been like another mom to him. To all of them, really. When his mom got hurt and couldn’t take care of him, she’d stepped in.

Kade’s jaw clenched at the thought.

Rowan’s eyes darted around for a second before landing squarely on him. She had that nervous look on her face. She never could hide her feelings and he knew exactly what was coming next. Over it or not, he didn’t really want to go there with Rowan.

“What about Sidney? You talk to her lately?”

He had a feeling Rowan knew damn well he hadn’t; they made a point never to bring her up when they called. But he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if Rowan ever talked to her. Kade knew he couldn’t let himself give in to those thoughts anymore, though. Sidney had always had too much control over him for too long and he never liked it. Not after telling her he wanted to go with her, only for Sidney to run away from him. “You know the answer to that, Freckles. Let’s not insult each other by pretending you don’t. We go too far back for that.”

“I don’t talk to her often, either. Didn’t talk to her at all for the first few months she was gone. We do every once in a while now, but nothing like we used to. She’s busy and I get it. It’s just sad, ya know? After everything.”

Yeah, he knew. They’d been too close for her to drop out of their lives the way she did.

Tightness set in throughout his body. Dammit, he hadn’t thought Sidney would still bother him. He thought about her less and less over the years and he hadn’t planned to start harping on her again. Looking at Rowan sitting on the stool, he flashed back to seeing her there with Sidney right before graduation. An unexpected pang of sadness hit him.

“You know what? Let’s not talk about Sidney.” Kade shifted on the stool and glanced at his watch. “I need to get going. I have a few things to take care of. I’ll give you a call tonight and we can catch up.”

Rowan gave him a smile. “Sure thing. It’s good to have one of my best friends back in town.”

Kade just nodded his head. He loved being around Rowan. But suddenly he realized it only made him miss Sidney more, too.

Kade pulled his truck into Mae’s driveway. It was his second night staying in her little guest house, and he was grateful for her hospitality. He had just enough money from his loan to do the work he wanted on Lucky’s and get by until he could move into his own place.

He killed the engine and stepped outside. He’d promised Mae he’d fix some loose boards on her porch, so he wanted to get that knocked out of the way before he headed to dinner with Rowan.

Kade grabbed the supplies from the back of his truck and hauled them up to Mae’s porch. She’d taken Bob Dylan with her, so he was just keeping his eye on the house until her friend came today.

The hot sun beat down on his bare back as he got to work. It felt different here than Seattle, even though both were in Washington. The air was clearer here. The heat still warm, but different. And he loved the small town atmosphere, loved looking around to see Douglas Firs as far as he could see.

It didn’t take him long to get the boards replaced. He was packing things up and ready to head to the shower when he heard wheels crunching on the gravel driveway. Kade wiped his face with the shirt hanging from his jeans pocket. Standing by his white truck, he put his hand over his eyes to shield the sun.

The cab pulled to a stop on the other side of the driveway. Who the hell did Mae know who would have to take a cab here?

The door opened and his gut sank. He’d know that midnight black hair anywhere. That pale, clear skin. His body tightened even more than before, emotions he buried long ago fighting to barrel to the surface.

When she stepped around the car and noticed him for the first time, she froze.

If he thought Rowan had grown up, it was nothing compared to Sidney. Her lips were a deep red, contrasting her creamy peach skin and dark hair. The kind of plump, pouty lips he loved on a woman. She was curvy in a way he didn’t remember.

Bits and pieces of their past played through his mind: their school days, camping trips, laughing with Rowan. Sidney holding him through the hardest time in his life.

Her leaving him.

Anger erupted inside him. Anger at her for being everything and then nothing. For the fact that he was sitting here thinking all these things about her when he’d worked so hard to get past them. When he’d thought they’d all been gone.

Suddenly, he hated her again. He hated her for being even more gorgeous than he remembered. Hated that he felt something deep in his chest, just by looking at her.

“Kade?” She still squinted her eyes when she was confused. Had she not known he would be here, either? Knowing Mae, probably not. “Wow…I didn’t know you were back. I… What…what are you doing here?” The old Kade would have let her out of this easily, but he wasn’t that Kade anymore. Or tried not to be.

“Shouldn’t I be asking what
you’re
doing here? Telling you
I
didn’t know
you
were back?” There was a hard edge to his voice that pissed him off. He didn’t want to be upset where she was concerned. But she always magnified everything he felt: passion, lust, love, and, yeah, anger. Even back then the woman could anger him more than anyone else. She used to make him feel a lot of things no one else did.

“Um…this is my aunt’s house. I think that entitles me to be here, don’t ya think?” She gave him that confident half smile that said she thought she had him. Hell no, would he let her get away with that.

“Considering I live here, I think that entitles me to be here, too.”

Her lips spread into an
O
.

“Well…” She shuffled on her feet. He shouldn’t get so much pleasure out of seeing her suffer. And yet… “I guess we’re roomies! Kind of…” She faked a smile. “I’m not going to be here long, though. Just till…” She let her words trail off. He wanted to ask her till when but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“I only got a month off work. I’ll be leaving then.”

Of course she would. Being a Hollywood woman now, she wouldn’t want to spend much time in Shamrock Falls. Again, more questions he wouldn’t ask:
What are you doing here? How’s the acting going?
Instead, he stayed quiet.

“It’s been a long time. It’s…it’s good to see you, Kade.”

Her words pushed his anger over the edge he shouldn’t be standing on anyway. He didn’t want her to think it was good to see him, didn’t think she deserved it. This wasn’t what he planned when he came back home. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready to take Freckles to dinner tonight.” A flash of confusion sparked in Sidney’s eyes, but he couldn’t do this with her. Not right now. This time it was Kade who would walk away from her.

Unlike when she left home, he at least gave her the benefit of knowing he was going.

Chapter Two

Hi! You’ve reached Mae. Leave a message after the tone and I might get back to you!

For the third time that night, Sidney left a message on her aunt’s voice mail. “I know you’re ignoring me and it’s not okay. How could you not have told me Kade is back? How could he be
living
right next door and you skipped that piece of information? Do you know how it felt to see him and—”

Beep!

Damn it! She was cut off again. Sidney paced around the house she hadn’t had it in her to come back to for five years. Too many memories of the Sidney she wanted to leave behind. She’d gone to LA to be a new Sidney. A better one. And there were periods of time when she loved it.

But now, after everything with Steve and her career, all she’d wanted was to come home and find a way to get her life together. She’d needed a break from the drama and came home to find even more.

The house looked exactly as it always had: the same floral couches, the same pictures on the walls of Sidney growing up. Pictures of Rowan and Kade, too.

And what the hell was going on with those two? They had plans tonight. The last time she talked to Rowan had been a few months ago and she hadn’t mentioned anything about Kade then. Was this a new thing?

Holy shit. Were they
dating
?

A strange pain pierced her chest. She shouldn’t care. She didn’t know if she did, but even the thought felt foreign. As though she were breaking some kind of rule just by considering it. Kade had dated a lot of girls, but never either of them. They’d all just been friends and nothing more. Though…that wasn’t true, was it? She just had a hard time admitting it, even to herself.

The pain in her chest echoed out through the rest of her. No, it hadn’t
always
been like that. There had been graduation. But it never would have worked, because they wanted different things. His life was here, and he would have resented her forever if she took him away from it.

“Stop thinking about this!” she said into Aunt Mae’s empty house. It would have helped things if Kade hadn’t all of a sudden turned smoking hot. His hair was longer than he used to keep it. Still that same deep, chestnut brown, but it now curled slightly by his ears. There was a light dusting of hair on his chest that she didn’t remember.

And the muscles. Those hadn’t hurt, either. He must work outside with his shirt off a lot with all that sun-kissed skin, taut over corded muscles. Oh, and that six-pack.

Sidney shivered.

But then there were those things that were the same. The little scar on his forehead from the time he wrecked while giving her a ride on his bicycle. His dark eyes—so dark you could hardly see his pupils—but what really did it for those eyes were his lashes. Thick, sooty lashes that were impossible to ignore.

Why was she still thinking about Kade Mitchell? She needed to clear her head. Instead of daydreaming about her old best friend who, oh, just so happened to hate her, she needed to figure out what she could do with her life that would finally be worthy of something. How to get things taken care of when she went back to LA. Because she
definitely
wasn’t staying here.

The gears ground in Aunt Mae’s old truck when Sidney tried to put it into gear. She hated stick shifts. Why would anyone choose to drive one when they had the option of just putting something into drive and going? It never made much sense to her. She stalled the stupid thing almost every time she tried to go.

Bumping along the road, she headed toward Lucky’s, where Rowan had asked to meet her. Rowan called first thing that morning going crazy, because she hadn’t known Sidney came back to town. Kade must have told her on their date last night.

Another pinch squeezed her chest, but Sidney ignored it.

As she tried to pull away from the stop sign, she stalled the truck again. Stupid stick shift. Stupid Kade Mitchell.

Why was he so mad at her?
Maybe because you kissed him and then snuck out of town without telling him?
Okay, better question, one that didn’t really involve her: When did he start dating Rowan?

And why did she care?

Well, she didn’t really care. She was just curious about their lives.
And because you may have walked out on Kade, but you still think of him as yours…

In an attempt to get those thoughts out of her head, she turned on the old stereo in the dash. It didn’t even have a CD player in it, let alone a plug for her iPhone. How had Mae
still
not gotten one?

Sidney tried to let the fuzzy country
song relax her while she kept driving. She wasn’t even in the mood to try and find a better station, though she didn’t know why she was so pissy. Okay, besides the fact that her car had gotten stolen, she had blown a job opportunity, gotten dumped, and then her old best friend had looked at her like he wished he’d never see her again. Those were actually some pretty good reasons to be bitchy.

It didn’t take long to get to Lucky’s. Hell, it didn’t take long to get much of anywhere in Shamrock Falls. The road she took for most of the drive was secluded and woodsy, which described a lot of Shamrock Falls. Once you got into town there were a few main streets, old buildings that looked like they belonged in one of those quaint towns you saw on TV or postcards.

She didn’t worry about locking the truck, knowing it wouldn’t disappear on her like her car back home, and then headed into the old white building.

She couldn’t believe it was still here. Lucky’s kids didn’t live around here, and so when Lucky passed away, they left it to rot. Which was sad. Everyone had loved Lucky’s.
Kade had loved it.

Her heels clicked on the concrete as she walked toward the door. When she got inside she saw a group of men working toward the back.

“Sidney!” a shaky old voice said. That voice could only belong to one person.

“Shakes!” Sidney squealed. Shakes
was
Shamrock Falls to her. He was that guy everyone loved. From the story she’d been told, his wife had left him when he was really young and he’d never married again. After that, everyone just sort of took care of him. He used to be out there in the streets playing night games with her group of friends when they were younger, like a big kid himself. If there was something important going on in Shamrock Falls, Shakes was in the middle of it. He loved the town the way Kade did…maybe more.

Shakes wobbled over to Sidney and she gave him a hug. He was probably in his seventies by now, but that’s not where his shaking came from. He’d always been the type to get really excited and when he did, he got…well,
shaky.

“As I live and breathe. Our little star is back in town.”

A small thrill of excitement shot through her. It matched that same feeling she got when she acted.

Shakes smiled at her with a missing tooth and Sidney’s happiness morphed into a frown. Not because of the tooth, but because he looked so happy for her. Like he was proud of what she’d done, when in reality, she was anything but a star.

“Stop it, Shakes! And I’m not in town for good. Just for a month, and then I need to get back to work.” At her waitressing job.

Shakes winked. “That’s what you think, kiddo. No one can stay away from here for long.”

His wife had. Sidney opened her mouth to tell him he was wrong, but too quickly, he turned around and wobbled away again.

He
was
wrong about her. He had to be.

Sidney hung a right, away from the sawdust and a few sexy, sweaty men Shakes now joined. She walked toward the old bar/diner where Rowan told her she would be. She spotted her red-headed friend behind a long counter, messing with one of the lights that hung from the ceiling.

Sidney’s steps faltered a little, and nerves tickled her belly. This was one of her best friends. Even though she hadn’t seen her in five years, nerves had no business here. Sidney couldn’t control the smile that spread across her face. She didn’t know why, but she hadn’t expected it to feel
this
good to see her friend again. “What are you doing up there, Freckles?”

Rowan turned to face her, a smile on her face, too. In typical Rowan fashion, she screamed. “AHHHH! I can’t believe you’re home!”

No, she wasn’t
home
, but Rowan’s wordage didn’t matter. Only seeing her did. Rowan dropped down from the stool she was standing on and ran in front of the counter. They wrapped their arms around each other and both women squeezed with all they had. Rowan’s familiar cinnamon scent floated in the air. All Sidney could think was how good it felt to hug her friend again. And that she wished she could have done the same thing with Kade.

…

Kade leaned back in his chair and looked at the lawyer sitting across from him. A lawyer’s office wouldn’t be his choice of places to be, but he had a few more papers to sign and it helped that Jace used to be one of his good friends. The other man was a couple years older than him, but they’d spent some time hanging out together before Jace graduated and went off to college.

“Feels strange to be back, doesn’t it?” Jace ran a hand through his blond hair.

It didn’t. Not for Kade. He’d loved it here—would have stayed here. Only one person had the power to make him leave. From the second they started to become friends—when they were what, seven?—Sidney’d had a power over him no one else did. He remembered sitting in the corner of the playground alone. Not because he didn’t have friends, but because he didn’t want anyone around him that day. The night before had been particularly bad at home—his dad yelling and calling his mom names.

He’d tried everything to take the heat off her and onto him, but his dad just sent him to his room and kept his verbal attack on his mom going.

It had made Kade feel like shit.
He’d
been the one to break the window, but his dad had blamed her—she should have been watching him. It was always his mom’s fault.

“Hey! Kade. Come help me.” Sidney looked at him, her dark hair hanging around her face and her big eyes taking him in.

“Not right now.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the fence. He planned to stay there for the whole recess. He didn’t feel capable of doing anything right at the moment.

“Aw, c’mon! Just c’mere a sec. Someone wrapped the swing around the bar and I can’t get it down. You’re the tallest.”

A little plum of pride swelled inside him. He
was
taller than most of the other boys. For some reason, it felt different to hear her say it…but then he remembered Mom’s tears—how she apologized for what he did. Kade just shook his head.

Sidney looked at him for a second. They had the same teacher but didn’t talk very much. She cocked her head at him and it almost made him turn away, but then she grabbed his hand and started stomping toward the swing set. He didn’t have any choice but to follow her.

“You’re bossy, you know that?” he told her, but he kept walking. He could have pulled away, but he didn’t.

“It’ll just take a second.” She dragged him over to the swing set and he sighed, then climbed up the side and got the swing down for her. She jumped on, and then when the girl got off the one next to her she said, “Swing with me.”

And he had. Even more, he’d had fun. For those last ten minutes of recess he’d laughed and had contests with her to see who could swing higher.

He fell halfway in love with her that very day.

Christ.
Kade rubbed a hand over his face, wondering where that memory came from and trying to remember what Jace had said to him. “Eh. It’s not so bad being home. So what the hell’s up? How ya been?” He crossed his arms and waited for Jace to reply.

“Pretty good. Just getting used to being home, the new job and all.”

“I’m surprised to see you back.”

Jace took a drink of his coffee. “I’m sure a lot of people would agree with you there. It’s been a couple months and I still get that.”

“Married? Kids?”

Jace rolled his eyes. “I’m too young for all that. Too many women out there to settle down.”

“I hear ya.”

Both guys laughed.

“Are you living in town?” Jace leaned back in his chair.

“I’m going to be out on East Wards, down by the lake. I’m buying my mom’s old house.” He didn’t say
parents
. He would never consider anything they had his father’s. “You?”

“I’m at my old place, too. Helping my grandfather out with a few things.” Jace’s voice had a tight edge to it.

Jace’s parents had both died when he was young, so his grandfather had come to Shamrock Falls to take care of him. From what Kade remembered, the man had traveled a lot. There had been quite a few high school parties at Jace’s house. “I hope everything’s okay.”

Jace nodded.

They talked for a few more minutes before Jace said, “I heard Sidney came back. Damn, she was gorgeous. It’s so weird when she pops up on commercials. She’s even more beautiful than she used to be.”

Heat flared to life inside Kade, and not the good kind, either. He hated that Jace was right and hated even more that it bothered him to hear his friend admire her. She wasn’t his to be protective over. Not anymore and maybe not ever again.

But more than that, he was disappointed. After finally evicting her from his head, one look at her and she’d taken up residency there again. That wasn’t her fault. It was his. “Eh.” He grunted and suddenly wanted out of there more than he had before.