CHAPTER 7
Stepping out onto the back porch, Austin inhaled deeply. He needed to get out in the fresh air and clear his head.
Karen had just given him the B&B’s books, and it was clear that accounting wasn’t her or Sly’s strong suit. Unfortunately, it wasn’t his either. That, along with the repairs and updating that needed to be done as quickly as possible, was making him feel like the walls were closing in on him.
Part of the reason he’d always spent his summers in Whisper Lake was because it was the B&B’s busiest time of the year and he helped his grandparents out. The other part was that it gave his mom, who did her best but got overwhelmed easily, a much-needed break. This was the beginning of the season, and the last thing Austin wanted was for guests to have a bad experience and not return because of things he could, and should, have fixed, years ago.
Sly and Karen had done a great job over the past six years, but he was kicking himself for not getting here sooner. Now he was here, and the reality that his grandparents’ legacy rested on his shoulders was setting in. Wrapping his fingers around the wood railing, Austin let his head fall forward as he blew out a breath.
As much as he wanted to believe the only thing bothering him was B&B-related, he knew that wasn’t the case. A certain blue-eyed, brunette beauty that was going to be sleeping across the hall from him for the next week was taking up quite a bit of real estate in his brain at the moment, as well.
First, he’d envisioned her in the kitchen. That in and of itself had been out of character and unsettling, to say the least. Then, like he’d conjured her up, she and the kids were there when he’d walked in from getting his stuff. Checking in. It had taken him a few moments to realize what he was seeing was real and not just a mirage. Like a thirsty man in the desert seeing an oasis. That’s what he felt he’d found when he saw her—she was his oasis.
He wasn’t sure if it was luck or fate that had them in this situation. Not that he believed in either. He also wasn’t sure if it was good or bad.
From what Trevor had told him at the gas station, she was a single mom. Austin had grown up with a single mom, and like Cuba Gooding Jr. so eloquently put it in Jerry Maguire—when you’re dealing with a single mom, you don’t “shoplift the pootie.” He knew he needed to stay away from her, and from Trevor and Charlotte. But that was going to be about as easy as fitting a square peg in a round hole.
Sara.Her name kept repeating in his head.
When she’d looked back over her shoulder as she’d followed Karen down the hall and she’d stared directly into his eyes, it had almost knocked him on his ass. His chest had constricted as his heart had pounded ruthlessly against his ribs. The intensity crackling between them was undeniable, and also something he was going to desperately try to ignore for the rest of her stay.
He was still working on putting the pieces of his life together. He’d had it all planned out—his career, his wife, his family. Until everything had changed. In the blink of an eye with one bullet, he’d lost his career. Then, just a few months later, he’d returned home ready to start the next phase of his life and lost his fiancée. If Trevor’s story was any indication, Sara’s life was going through a transitional period as well. Combining the two could only be a recipe for disaster.
Ignoring her, and what she made him feel, was his only option. The problem was, with their living situation, that was going to be a lot easier said than done.
A drink. That might help.
When he’d spent summers here, he’d gone to Lanterns but only the restaurant portion, never the bar area, it might be time he visited there. It wasn’t that he’d never had a drink in Whisper Lake. He’d spent his share of nights down at the lake drinking, hanging out with friends, sitting around bonfires.
Those were good times. He smiled at the memories as he made his way across the street and past The Drawbridge Diner. He decided not to take the shortcut that was a locals’ secret and go the long way through downtown and check out all the preparations for the festival that kicked off the next day like a tourist. This town definitely knew how to throw a festival. From what he remembered, it wasn’t just the Start of Summer Festival. They also had one for 4th of July, end of summer, Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and Valentine’s Day. Since he’d only spent his summers here, he’d never been to any but the ones in the summer.
“Stone? Is that you?”
Austin looked up and immediately recognized the man in front of him. “Kade?”
“Hey, man.” Kade McKnight pulled him in to a one-arm man hug. “Good to see ya. I heard you might be coming back.”
“Yeah, I’m back.” Austin did the traditional two pats on the back and stepped back. “How you been? How’s Patrick? And Ethan?”
During his summers in Whisper Lake, all of Austin’s free time had been spent with Kade McKnight, Patrick Walsh, and Ethan Steele. He’d hung out with all three guys, but he’d been closest to Patrick because of their shared love of all things dirt bike related. They’d gone out on the tracks as much as possible. Austin hadn’t seen him in over twelve years. Since he’d lost his grandparents, he hadn’t really had anyone to fill him in on all things Whisper Lake. The only one of the guys he’d kept up with—and only from the news—was Kade, who’d become a world champion MMA fighter.
Kade put his hands in his jeans pockets and his head dropped. “He actually passed away a couple of years ago.”
“Oh shit.” Austin couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “What happened?”
“Brain aneurism.”
“Damn. What about the twins?”
The last time Austin had seen Patrick he was pushing a double stroller around the lake that held his twin boys.
A grin tugged at Kade’s mouth. “The boys are good. They just finished their freshman year.”
A sick feeling that was all-too familiar sank in his gut. He knew loss. He’d lost his father when he was three. His mother when he was seventeen. His grandparents when he was in his early twenties, and numerous fellow soldiers over the years. But to hear about Patrick leaving his boys so suddenly was heart-wrenchingly tragic.
“And what about Ali?” Patrick and his little sister had a really close relationship. From what Austin remembered, their mom was a hot mess and Patrick had taken on a lot of the responsibility of raising Ali. He always made sure he knew where she was, who she was with, what she was doing. He was a lot more like her dad than a brother.
“Actually,” Kade’s smile grew wider and he lifted his hand revealing a platinum band around his ring finger. “She’s my wife.”