Blinding Rain, Season 2, Episode 7 (Rising Storm) (3 page)

She looked back up at Ginny and for a moment, as their eyes held, Ginny thought she saw...understanding. If not that then at least acceptance. “I hope for your sake...” Celeste’s voice wavered again, and she cleared it once more. “I hope things turn out the way we both want.”

Celeste reached around Ginny for the door handle. Heart still pounding, Ginny moved aside so Jacob’s mother could leave. Sara Jane headed for the door but paused when she reached Ginny.

“For what it’s worth,” Sara Jane said softly, “Jacob would have liked what you just did. He would have liked it a lot.” She smiled sadly, then pulled the door open and hurried after her mother.

As soon as the two were gone, Ginny’s adrenaline waned. She exhaled and leaned against the wall, but her big body swayed and she nearly knocked a card display over in the process. Kristin hustled around the counter to right the display before it hit the ground.

“Well,” Kristin said on a slightly hysterical laugh, sliding cards that had tipped back in their slots. “That was pretty impressive. You put Celeste Salt in her place. Too bad it didn’t happen at the Bluebonnet Cafe. It’d already be all over town if that were the case, which by the way, I think it should be. Good job standing up for yourself, little mama.”

Ginny’s hands shook as she sagged against the wall. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

“It’s about time you did.” Kristin placed her hands on her hips and pinned Ginny with a look. “I understand Celeste is grieving over her son, but that doesn’t make it okay for her to treat you like crap. People in this town give that woman way more leeway than they should.”

As Ginny studied her newest friend, she didn’t miss the bite in Kristin’s words. And even though she appreciated having someone on her side again, she couldn’t help but get the feeling there was something simmering beneath the surface between Kristin and Celeste—at least on Kristin’s side.

The bell above the door jangled before Ginny could ask about it, and Kristin looked away, fixing a smile on her face. “Can I help you?”

A slim, tall, twenty-something woman with dark hair pulled back into a neat tail, olive skin golden from the sun, and wide green eyes smiled as she stepped into the shop wearing jeans and a long-sleeved tee. “Hi, actually, yes you can. I saw the Help Wanted sign in the window. Are you still hiring?”

Relief washed over Kristin’s face, and she crossed to shake the woman’s hand. “Yes, we are, Ms...?”

“Phelps.” The woman returned the handshake. “I’m Delia.”

“Delia Phelps...” Kristin’s eyes narrowed. “That name is very familiar.”

“That’s because I grew up here. My last name used to be Bruce. I recently got divorced and need to change it back but...” She waved her hand. “Well, it’s a huge process and I just haven’t had time.”

“Delia Bruce Phelps,” Kristin muttered. Her eyes flew wide. “Oh, I know why that name sounds so familiar.”

So did Ginny. Unease rolled through Ginny’s gut as she pushed away from the wall and took a better look at the cute, athletic woman with perky breasts and a flat stomach who’d just breezed back into Storm. Delia Bruce had dated Logan Murphy back in high school, and Ginny suddenly remembered how ga-ga Logan had been for the star volleyball athlete before he’d graduated and gone off to the military.

“Yeah.” Delia’s blush deepened. “I’m the girl who ran off with her teacher and got married. That was a major mistake, let me tell you. Thank God some things can be explained away by the stupidity of youth, right?” She smiled. “Anyway, I’m looking for a job, and I’d love to fill out an application if you have one.”

“Sure.” Kristin headed for the counter and motioned for Delia to follow. “We’re only looking for someone part time to help out at the counter. If that interests you, you can fill this out and leave it for Hedda Garten, the owner.”

“That sounds perfect. Thank you.” Delia took the pen Kristin handed her and looked down at the application on the counter. “It’s really great to be home, let me tell you. This town never changes. I can’t wait to catch up with all my old friends. I heard Marcus Alvarez and Logan Murphy are back in town too.”

“That they are,” Kristin said. “Looks like you picked the perfect time to come back to Storm.”

Ginny didn’t agree. Eying the woman’s slim back from where she stood near the door, Ginny couldn’t help but think this was the absolute worst time the perky, perfect Delia Bruce could roll back into Storm. Because Ginny had a feeling as soon as Logan took one look at his gorgeous ex-flame, any lingering thoughts he had about Ginny—assuming he even had any anymore—were going to fly right out of his head.

And then any hope Ginny had for a reconciliation with the man she’d grown to love would be nothing but a fantasy.

Chapter Two

By eight o’clock, Murphy’s was hopping.

Logan worked the bar with his dad, making drinks and refilling pints while his mom manned the kitchen. Every time she rang the bell and said “Order up,” he grabbed plates of steaming food from the high counter and delivered them to waiting customers. Tending bar at the family pub wasn’t a bad job—it sure as hell beat baking in full camo gear in one hundred and twenty degree heat in the desert—and he hoped to one day run the place when his folks finally retired, but lately any joy he’d found falling back into the familiar swing of Murphy life was gone. And he knew it was all thanks to one person he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about.

“You’re an idiot,” he muttered to himself as he wiped his hands on his apron and reached for a pint glass under the counter then pulled on the tap to fill another order. So he was never going to work the bar with Ginny and their kids like his parents did with him and his brothers. He could let go of that little fantasy. He had to, right? God knew, holding on to it was only making him miserable.

The bell over the door jangled, and Logan glanced over noisy patrons laughing and drinking to see Marcus pull Brittany into the bar after him. Marcus waved Logan’s way, and Logan lifted his chin in acknowledgment as he continued to pull the tap and fill another pint, but inside his stomach twisted with a familiar feeling of discomfort.

That twisting intensified as Marcus and Brittany headed toward the bar. Logan was happy for his friend, happy Marcus and Brittany were doing well especially considering all the shit pulling at them from both sides of their families, but seeing them together only reminded Logan of everything he didn’t have. And even though he knew it made him an ass, lately Logan wanted to tell Marcus to find another bar for his dates with Brittany, just so he didn’t have to watch the two of them being so in love.

“Hey.” Marcus stopped at the end of the bar and wrapped an arm around Brittany’s waist as she moved up at his side. “You workin’ all night?”

Duh, what does it look like?
Logan checked that response and filled a highball with ice. “We’re short staffed tonight.”

Someone slipped money in the jukebox, and Keith Urban’s voice filled the bar, crooning about the heat of summer. Brittany turned to look over her shoulder.

“Does that mean you don’t get a break?” Marcus asked.

Logan tipped the vodka bottle upside down and eyeballed a shot into the glass. “Not until Patrick or Dillon get off work and get here to help.”

“Bummer.” Marcus watched him drop the vodka bottle back on the counter with a clink and reach for a pitcher of fruit juice. “We were hoping we could tempt you into having dinner with us.”

Be the third wheel on their date? No way in hell.

Logan reached for a maraschino cherry and slid it into the glass. “Sorry. Not tonight.”

Marcus frowned.

At Marcus’s side, Brittany whispered, “I don’t see her yet.”

A tingle rushed down Logan’s spine as he set the drink on a tray and went to work filling another glass with ice. He hoped like hell they weren’t talking about Ginny. Seeing her tonight when he was already feeling depressed was the last thing he needed. “You lookin’ for someone?”

“No.” Brittany faced him and grinned. “No one special.”

Logan could tell by the way she wouldn’t meet his eyes that she was full of crap. But before he could call her on it she looked at Marcus and said, “How about that booth in the back?”

“That works. I’ll be over in a minute.”

“Okay.” She pressed a quick kiss to Marcus’s cheek—one that turned Logan’s stomach—then smiled Logan’s way and said, “Try not to work too hard.”

Unease rolled through Logan’s gut as he fixed another drink and watched her cross the bar. He looked back at Marcus, caught the nervousness in his friend’s eyes, and knew the two were up to something.

After setting the second drink on the tray, he grabbed a pint glass and moved to the taps. “Whatever you two are planning, knock it off.”

“Who, us?” Marcus flashed a quick smile. “We’re not planning anything.”

Logan huffed. “I might be screwed in the head from my time overseas, but I’m not dumb. I’m not in the mood for seeing Ginny.”

“Brittany isn’t either.” Marcus’s expression sobered. “She wasn’t looking for Ginny.”

“Then who was she looking for?” Logan topped off the beer and set it on the tray.

“Don’t know.” That mischievous look filled Marcus’s dark eyes again. He tapped a hand on the bar. “Come over and join us when you get a break. And try to keep an open mind. That’s the only thing I ask.”

Logan’s gaze followed his friend as he wove through the bar and joined Brittany at the booth in the back. He didn’t sit across from her as he normally did when they came in. He sat next to her, both facing the door as if waiting and watching for someone.

Logan’s discomfort kicked up even more, but he barely had time to wonder what the two were up to. His mother called, “Order up” again just as he was about to deliver a tray full of drinks. He didn’t have time for romance and silliness. He had a job to do, even if that job was a helluva lot less enjoyable than it had ever been.

An hour later, Logan was still having trouble getting his mind off Ginny. Marcus and Brittany hadn’t left. They sat in the same booth, their burgers now finished, nursing their drinks as they flirted and didn’t even try to keep their hands off each other. The sight was more than Logan could handle, and when his brother Patrick showed up and offered to relieve him at the bar so he could take a break, he untied his apron, desperate for fifteen minutes out back to clear his head and check his attitude. He was just about to turn for the kitchen when the bell above the door jingled again and a familiar face walked into the pub.

His feet stilled and his eyes widened as Delia Bruce, his high school girlfriend and the first woman he’d ever said
I love you
to, stopped and glanced over the booths and tables.

She was prettier than he remembered, with high cheekbones and creamy skin. Taller, too, though she’d always been tall and insanely athletic. Tonight her lean body was covered in ripped jeans that hugged her long legs and a loose sparkly black tank that showed off her toned shoulders and pert breasts. Her thick mahogany hair was longer than he remembered, hanging sleek and straight to the middle of her back, but when her eyes shifted his way he saw they were the same. Still green and gorgeous and as mesmerizing as they’d been when he was sixteen.

A warm smile spread across her face when she spotted him. And before he knew it she was heading straight for him.

“Logan Murphy.” Her silky voice caressed his name exactly as it had when they were teenagers. “I heard you were back in town.”

“Hey, Delia.” When she pushed to her toes and wrapped her arms around him without pretense, he returned her hug and realized his heart was racing because being surrounded by her again felt both awkward and familiar at the same time. “This is a surprise.”

She dropped to her heels and let go of him, and he couldn’t quite tell if he was disappointed or relieved by that fact. “I just got home. First night back in Storm. Gosh.” She glanced around the bar. “This place hasn’t changed, huh? Remember the time we stole a bottle of vodka when your dad wasn’t looking and drank it up at the lake?”

Logan glanced over his shoulder and caught his dad’s gaze where he stood filling pint glasses. “Yeah, probably shouldn’t mention that too loudly. My dad still gives me shit about the morning he found me passed out in the front yard.”

Delia laughed. “God, those were crazy times. My mom still claims that was the night I turned to the devil. Stayed out ’til four in the morning and came home a wild woman.”

The corner of Logan’s mouth inched up, and he realized it was the first time he’d smiled in weeks. The first time he’d had anything to smile about since Ginny.

His smile quickly died, but when Delia placed a hand on his arm, the heat of her touch distracted him from his looming depression and brought his attention back to her. “Hey, can you get a drink with me or are you working?” She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m meeting Brit and Marcus.” Spotting them, she waved.

So this was what those two had been up to. Logan’s gaze darted to their table and the sheepish grins on their faces as they watched him with Delia. “Actually,” he heard himself say, “I was just about to take a break.”

Delia looked back at him and grinned. “Great.” Turning toward Marcus and Brittany’s booth, she wrapped both of her arms around his and practically pushed him across the bar. “I can’t wait to hear all about what you’ve been doing since you broke my heart and ran off to join the military.”

Logan huffed. “Word was you weren’t that broken hearted. You skipped town with Mr. Phelps not long after.”

Delia rolled her eyes and smiled in that cute, lighthearted way of hers that had always made him crazy. “What can I say? I was lost without you and had to get out of town. Mr. Phelps looked like an easy ride.”

Logan nearly choked. “Okay, that’s an image I don’t need in my head.”

Delia giggled. “Trust me, it wasn’t all that good a ride. Did you know older guys can have erectile problems?” She shuddered. “Seriously should have considered that part of the whole ride thing beforehand. Would’a saved me a hell of a lot of time and money. Brit!” she squealed as they neared the booth. “Look at you! I think the last time I saw you I was babysitting Jeffry!”