Since I’d been back in Port Rufton, we’d never really talked about what had happened. I’d been too embarrassed.

  “I never thought you did,” I said, and he looked relieved.

  Not once had it ever crossed my mind that Rory might have known what his former best friend was doing behind my back. I had known it would have killed him to keep quiet and not tell me. I was grateful he’d never been put in that position.

  “So, yeah … you deserve happiness. And honestly, I hate seeing two people who so obviously like each other not give in to their feelings. Especially in this town,” he continued, explaining why he was pushing me and Tony together.

  “What are you saying?”

  “That there aren’t enough single people to go around, so it feels like a waste.”

  “Well now, I wouldn’t want to be wasteful,” I said with a smile, and he nodded, like he had known I’d be agreeable.

  “Once this works, by the way, you owe me.”

  He gave me a wink before heading out the back door, leaving me alone to finish loading up the fridge while not thinking about Tony Garcia and this plan.

  THIS IS A BAD IDEA

  AVA

  My best friend, Elise, was currently cracking up in my kitchen while I prepped today’s menu and lunch specials before we opened.

  “He said what? Oh, this is brilliant. I can’t wait to watch it all unfold before my very eyes,” she said as she rubbed her growing belly.

  Elise and I had been friends since grade school. She had married the only guy she’d ever slept with and was pregnant with their first child. The two of them currently worked at one of the only inns in town. Everyone in Port Rufton seemed to inherit their family business if they stuck around long enough.

  “You should have seen Tony’s face when he saw Rory kiss my cheek. I thought he was going to burn the restaurant to the ground.”

  “Told you he likes you.” She sounded so cocky about it all.

  “Yeah, but you’re supportive to a fault. I can’t trust anything you say.”

  I gave her a look that dared her to disagree, and she grinned.

  “You’re not wrong. But I’ve been telling you since he first got here. That man wants a piece of you. And you should definitely give it to him.”

  Elise had been saying exactly those words since the moment Tony had arrived and stayed at her inn. The restaurant had been closed at the time since a big storm was heading in. I still cooked my meals there though and prepped a slew of deliveries for those who I knew wouldn’t be able to get out of their homes once it hit.

  I’d stopped by the inn to bring Elise some of my mom’s desserts and a couple dozen cornbread muffins for any wayward guests or locals who wandered in. Apparently, Tony watched our interaction from the living room fireplace the entire time. I hadn’t even seen him standing there. Elise claimed he was mesmerized. I told her she was insane. But then I had seen him for the first time a couple of weeks later, and it was me who had been damn near mesmerized.

  “Do you think it’s a bad idea?” I suddenly grew nervous as I replayed Rory’s simple plan in my head.

  “No. I think it’s perfect. It’s going to drive Tony mad.” She clapped her hands together, and I wondered just how crazy pregnancy hormones made people.

  “I’m not sure you’re the best judge of things in your current state.” I pointed toward her belly. “Get Greg on the phone. Let me ask him.”

  “Gladly.” She reached for her cell and pressed a single button before setting it down on top of the counter. It started ringing out loud as we waited for him to pick up.

  “How’s my gorgeous wife and baby mama?” Greg answered, and we both grinned.

  “Honey, I’m here with Ava,” Elise said out loud. “And you’re on speakerphone.”

  “Ohh. What’d I do? I didn’t do it. I take it back. Don’t double-team me!” he joked, and I shook my head.

  Poor Greg had been dealing with our shenanigans for years.

  “You’re not in trouble,” Elise said. “Unless you did something. What’d you do?”

  “Nothing, I swear.” His voice turned instantly serious. “Ava, help me out.”

  “Nah, this is too much fun,” I said.

  “Honey, we called because Rory has a plan to help Ava,” Elise started to explain before Greg cut her off.

  “A plan with what? Getting revenge on Liam? Cutting off his dick? Making sure he gets an incurable STD? I’m in.” He sounded so happy, joyful even at the idea of hurting Liam. “And I’d like to say, it’s about damn time.”

  Elise shot me a look as she rolled her eyes. “You’re the one who told me to call him.”

  I’d had no idea how invested people had become in the demise of my marriage. Or how much they hated Liam for what he’d done. Of course, Elise despised the guy—she was my best friend. But the way the men in town had reacted to the news when I first moved back was actually refreshing even though I was too traumatized at the time to truly appreciate it.

  The men here in Port Rufton didn’t think what Liam had done was cool. They called it inexcusable, and not even the age-old typical guy behavior line could get him off the hook. None of them defended him or his actions. Not even his parents. They had been ashamed and far more apologetic to me than Liam had been. As a matter of fact, I didn’t think he’d ever said he was sorry, which was fine because I knew he wasn’t.

  “Hello? Are we doing this or what?” Greg asked, and the noise coming out of the speaker in the phone gave the impression that he was packing things in a hurry.

  “It’s not about dipshit Liam,” Elise informed, and I heard Greg let out a disappointed groan, the background noise instantly stopping. “It’s about hotshot Tony.”

  “Ah! Yes!” Greg’s tone turned from sad to excited once more. “What about the hot new fisherman?”

  Tony would always be considered the new guy. That was, until someone else moved here and took on the role.

  “Rory has a plan to make him jealous, and Ava doesn’t think it will work.”

  “That’s not true,” I argued. “I just wanted to know if it was a bad idea or not. From a guy’s point of view.”

  “Well, what is it?” Greg asked, and we filled him in. It took literally five seconds to tell him the entirety of said plan. “Honestly, it’s what I would suggest. I think Tony needs some kind of push. Even if it sends him over the edge.”

  I threw my head back with his words and blew out a breath toward the ceiling. “Over the edge?” I repeated, suddenly questioning everything.

  “We don’t want to throw the guy over any kind of edge, honey. We just want him to throw Ava into the sack.” She tossed me a look. “Right?”

  I started shaking my head. “I knew this wasn’t good.”

  “Ava.” Greg called my name like he knew I’d started pacing around the kitchen, and I stopped moving long enough for him to start talking again. “Sometimes, guys like Tony need to be tossed into the deep end without a floatation device, so they can learn how to swim.”

  “Are you seriously metaphoring me right now?” I asked, referring to the fact that men loved to use metaphors when explaining things to women. It was annoying.

  “I’m just saying that if the guy thinks you’ll wait around forever, he won’t get off the pot. He’ll watch from the sidelines, never tagging in because he doesn’t have to.”

  “Oh my gosh,” I groaned because … more metaphors even though they were all mixed together and a jumbled mess.

  “He needs a shove. And if he still doesn’t do anything about it when he thinks he might lose his shot with you, then he doesn’t deserve to have one.”

  “Damn, honey. That was hot,” Elise said as she fanned her face with her hand.

  “So,” I interrupted their lovefest, “you’re saying it’s a good idea then?” I circled us back to the beginning and the point of the phone call in the first place.

  Greg laughed. “It’s a necessary evil, yes.”

  “Fine,” I begrudgingly agreed and hoped like hell it worked.

  LOSING MY DAMN MIND

  TONY

  The fact that I had arrived at Ava’s back door just in time to see Rory plant a kiss on her cheek made me feel like the world was conspiring against me. It was a not-so-gentle reminder that feeling content could be ripped from my grasp at any moment. And even though I’d thought that I’d already accepted that fact, it’d still stung. Like a swift kick to the balls.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised to see them together. Rory had been warning me for weeks now that he was going to ask Ava out. And those threats had only grown more insistent in the recent days. He had literally spelled it out for me this morning in fact.

  And now, I was standing here, stewing in anger, jealousy, and whatever other emotions were raging inside me. All because he had done what I’d sworn I never would.

  “We good, man?” Rory was suddenly in front of me, his smug face just waiting for me to respond.

  “Why wouldn’t we be?” I snapped back.

  He laughed, his stupid mouth grinning up in my direction. “Just asking since you practically punted whatever you brought for Ava onto the ground outside her door.”

  Shit.

  He wasn’t wrong about that. I had dropped her food at the sight of them together.

  I glared at Rory, not giving two shits about his feelings or emotions about my actions from earlier, but if I’d upset Ava somehow, I’d hate myself even more for it—if that was even possible.

  “Is she mad?”

  “No,” he responded, and even though I’d asked him the question, it still pissed me off that he knew the answer.

  “So, you finally asked her? And she actually said yes?” Saying the words out loud was like swallowing glass—they stabbed and sliced and shredded my throat to pieces.

  “Not yet, but soon. Gotta work my way up to it. Ease Ava in, you know?”

  I didn’t know. I didn’t know at all, but I didn’t like it. Any of it. And I was tempted to admit as much to him, but there was no point.

  “A woman like her can’t stay single forever,” he pushed, forcing me to confront things I had been trying my best to ignore. “Don’t you agree? Someone is going to snag her up, and I’d kick myself if I didn’t at least try to make that person me.”

  I mumbled something unintelligible and gave him a half-assed shrug, wishing he’d disappear and get the hell out of my sight. His words repeated in my head on a loop over and over again. The ones about her not staying single forever. The truth of them was like a two-by-four to the side of the head. Ava was a great catch, and the whole damn town knew it.

  I’d always sensed it.

  And while Ava dating someone from here was something I’d thought about at least a hundred times over the past nine months, a part of me never considered it an actual threat. The idea of her with some local guy wasn’t rooted in reality. If she wanted one of them, wouldn’t she already have them? She always kept her distance from most of the guys and treated us all with the same level of kindness and compassion. At least, that was how I’d always read her.

  I looked up to see Rory still standing in front of me for some reason. “What are you waiting for then?” The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them, and I knew that I was either going to be right with my Ava assessment or this was going to blow up in my face big time.

  Rory looked a little surprised, his surfer-looking blond hair hanging over his eyes before he scooped it all back and tucked it inside a baseball cap with his fishing logo on it. “You’re right.”

  “I know,” I agreed even though I had no idea what the hell I was agreeing with.

  He started nodding his head like he was having a full-on conversation that only he could hear. The guy was probably trying to psych himself up to go through with it.

  “I’m going to do it.”

  “Good for you.”

  “Today!” he practically shouted.

  Barley stood up, his tail wagging, and I pushed on his backside to make him sit back down. Barley was only allowed to get riled up for me. Not the enemy here.

  “Today?” I almost choked on the word.

  “Yeah. You’re right. I just need to do it and stop waiting. I’m going to ask her later. At her restaurant.”

  Rory continued to talk out loud, his plan spilling out all over the table between us, his tone rising with his excitement, and I pretended to act like this didn’t affect me at all.

  “Sounds good.” I started moving some of my fish from the ice trays to a cooler.

  If Rory would get out of my space, I could pack up my things and head home to pout in private.

  “Wait a second.” Rory blew out a breath through his nose, his eyes narrowing. “Why are you encouraging me to do this?”

  “Because I don’t think there’s a chance in hell she’ll tell you yes.” I grinned like the asshole I was.

  “Seriously?”

  “What? Am I wrong?”

  “I sure as hell hope so,” he said as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts before yanking them out again.

  “I guess we’ll find out later,” I offered.

  His eyes practically bugged out of his head. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, buddy. I wouldn’t miss this for anything.” I laughed before he shut me right up.

  He took a small step closer to me and lowered his voice. “You know, you’re going to be sorry. You’re going to be sitting there, wishing it were you, knowing that it probably could have been but that you were too chickenshit to ask and find out. So, instead of it being your body keeping Ava’s warm in her bed, it’s going to be mine. And you’re going to hate every second of it because you’ll always know that it might have been different if you’d only tried. You’ll have to live with that fact every single day.”

  His words struck more than a single nerve in me. It hit them all.

  “You have no idea what I have to live with every single day, Rory. No fucking idea,” I spat before I turned my back on him and packed up the rest of my shit in a fury.

  “You’re right. I don’t. But I’m pretty sure you deserve to be happy. Even if you don’t think you do.”

  I tried my best to ignore him and not respond, so when I looked back over my shoulder, I was grateful to find Rory across the way at his station, no longer paying me any attention.

  He had no idea what he was talking about, and he couldn’t have been more wrong. Happiness was the last thing I deserved. I’d had it once. And then I’d lost it. No, I’d destroyed it.

  I was currently sitting in my house, staring at the wall, my hand absentmindedly rubbing Barley’s head as I tried my best not to come unglued. I’d been sitting here for hours. There was so little holding me together right now that I figured I could unravel at any moment. I hadn’t felt this out of control in a long time. My past always lingered close behind, but I’d gotten good at keeping it at bay and attempting to live a normal life. Even if I was alone for the rest of it.

  Meeting Ava had thrown me all out of whack. She was such a bright and beautiful light that it emanated from her very being, and it had pulled at me the first time I ever laid eyes on her at the inn. But I had been in such a dark place that I couldn’t risk the chance of snuffing it out, certain that I had nothing to offer her other than the pitch-black hole I was living in.

  Not much had changed in nine months. I was still a rain cloud, and she was still the sun.

  Thinking about her made me smile without warning. I thought about Rory’s plan and realized that Ava was far too sweet to ever tell him no, especially if he asked her out in front of other people. She’d never embarrass him like that. Even if she didn’t want to go, she’d agree in order for him to save face.

  But what if she didn’t?

  There had to be sides to Ava I hadn’t figured out yet. Pieces of her that I had no idea existed. She’d been hurt in the past. Cheated on, I’d overheard in passing once. That kind of thing had to change a person. Yet here Ava was, still hopeful, kind, and warm.

  I had it bad for the woman. Couldn’t even see a single negative quality about her. And worst of all, Rory knew it. He had damn well called me out on it. Practically dared me to challenge him for her affection.

  I sat up straight.

  “He told me to challenge him,” I said out loud, still stroking Barley’s head when he moved to look at me, his ears perking up. “What do you think, boy? Why would Rory want me to fight him for the same girl?”

  Barley whined in response, his tail thumping against the couch.

  “You’re right. He has some kind of angle. You’re so smart,” I complimented my dog, who I’d grown to believe could communicate with me with looks and head tilts.

  Rory had said that I deserved to be happy. It was an odd thing for a man to say to another man … especially when you didn’t really know each other.

  Why would he have said that? I wondered.

  Reaching for my cell phone, I pulled up my mami’s contact information and debated on texting her. I knew that she would call me in response instead of writing back, and I wasn’t sure that I was up for a heavy conversation right now. She always asked too many questions.

  If I told her about Ava, she’d probably get on the next flight from Puerto Rico, just to play matchmaker. Maybe that was what I was secretly searching for—permission to try. I could hear her in my head now, telling me to run to Ava’s restaurant and tell her that Rory was all wrong for her. That any man in this town who wasn’t me was all wrong for her. Then, Mami would encourage me to take Ava in my arms and kiss the sense right out of her. Mami loved her telenovelas, got all of her romance advice from them. I’d grown up watching them with her, too, so I understood her obsession completely.

  She always ended our calls by reminding me that what had happened wasn’t my fault. I wished I could believe her. I wanted to—I really did—but some part of me refused to let myself off the hook that easily. I’d hurt far too many people.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10