The Second Time Around (2 page)

F
or the rest of the afternoon, Brenna was a nervous wreck. She spent half the day thinking about Jabarie, and the other half on pins and needles expecting him to walk through the door at any moment. The younger Jabarie would have, she thought as she shut off the coffeepot. Stubborn and used to getting what he wanted, he was never one to accept no for an answer. Five years ago, he would have kissed her senseless until she'd agreed to have dinner. But as she moved to make sure everything was locked up tight for the night, she realized a lot of time had passed. She was no longer naive and twenty-one. She was a different woman and apparently Jabarie was a different man.

With a sigh, Brenna turned out the last light in the store then armed the alarm on the way out. It had been a long and tiring day. Nevertheless, Aunt Nellie would be quite pleased. The store had had a good day.

While moving out to her aunt's Toyota Corolla, she inhaled the salted air and allowed the feeling of home to wrap around her. Despite her reason for leaving in the first place, it felt good to be back, even if it was only temporary.

Brenna climbed behind the driver's seat and started the car. If it hadn't been for a box of used books she needed to bring into the store this morning, she would have walked into town like she had done for as long as she could remember.

Driving slowly down Main Street, she noted how little the ocean-view town had changed in the last five years. She was pleased to discover it had preserved its small-town charm. Annie's Antiques was still to her left and the Sheraton Gift Shop to her right. One thing she noticed was that Gabe's Candy Store was gone. Her lips curled upward as she remembered dashing there every Friday only seconds after receiving her weekly allowance. The store with the bright red awning out front was now a video store. From the crowd of young kids standing out front, Video Adventure was the happening place to be.

As she turned onto Palmer Road, she allowed her mind to travel back to the good times. Chasing ice cream trucks, flying kites, and of course hours of swimming. Feelings of warmth flooded through her chest. Yep, it was good to be back even if it was just for a short time. In three weeks she would return to her new life and once again leave the past behind.

Brenna pulled in front of her aunt's small, ranch-style home and turned off the car. As she climbed out, she exchanged waves with Ms. Lucy next door, who was sitting out on her porch swing.

“It's nice to have you back,” the seventy-year-old widow said in a low raspy voice.

As Brenna moved up the sidewalk, she gave the woman who made the best peach cobbler in town a friendly smile. “It's nice to be back, Ms. Lucy.” Then with a nod, she hurried through the front door before the old lady could strike up a conversation. Once she did, there was no escaping.

Brenna tossed her purse onto the couch then glanced around the small uncluttered room. Everything was handmade, from the Afghans draped across the aging furniture, to the crochet tablecloth and homemade drapes. The thing she loved the most about the house she had grown up in, was the abundance of windows overlooking the smooth, sandy Atlantic shore where as a child she had spent hours playing.

Removing her tennis shoes, Brenna padded across the hardwood floor and entered the first room on the right where her Aunt Nellie was sitting up in a full-size bed with her ankle propped up on a pillow.

“There you are,” she replied, chestnut eyes dancing with excitement. “I was wondering when you'd get in.”

Brenna flopped down onto the rocking chair beside her bed. “Busy afternoon. Where in the world did all these people come from?”

Her aunt chuckled lightly. “It's gotten really popular around here since you left. I think tourists have discovered that by traveling just a little farther south from Rehoboth Beach they can find a small town more charming than any other resort on the east coast.”

Brenna nodded in agreement. In the last several years several families had converted their homes into a bed and breakfast. No sky rises. Nothing commercialized. Sheraton Beach offered their visitors beautiful blue waters, friendly local merchants, and old fashioned hospitality. It was some of the things she missed most about this place.

“How did you get along today?”

Aunt Nellie gave her a dismissive wave. “Don't worry. I was fine. Lucy came over and made me lunch and then rolled my hair while we watched the soaps.” At fifty-five, her thick shoulder-length hair still didn't have a strand of gray.

Brenna crossed her ankles and smiled. It had always eased her mind to know that the small close-knit community always knew how to pull together when a resident was in need. It was one of the advantages of living in a small town. The disadvantage was that everyone knew everyone else and gossip spread fast. She could bet word had already spread of her return to Sheraton Beach.

“You see anybody in particular today?”

“Anyone like who?” Brenna asked, suddenly becoming suspicious.

Aunt Nellie shrugged. “Oh, I don't know…like maybe Jabarie perhaps?”

Just as she'd suspected, someone had already blabbed about him coming into the bookstore.

“Who told you that?”

Her aunt turned to her with an amused look on her face. “Gavin Holmes said Jabarie stopped in the middle of Main Street and almost caused a traffic jam when he spotted you standing in the window.”

“What?” she cried at the ridiculous story. Mr. Holmes was practically ninety and blind in one eye. “Aunt Nellie, you don't actually believe that do you?”

“When it comes to you and Jabarie, yes I do.”

At one time she would have thought the same but not anymore. She shook her head. “It was nothing like that, believe me.”

“What did the two of you talk about?” she asked, eyes wide with curiosity.

“Nothing really,” Brenna said trying to sound bored. “He asked how long I was going to be here. I told him then went to help a customer.”

Aunt Nellie's brow arched. “You sure he didn't ask you to dinner?”

“How did…” she paused and gave her aunt a long suspicious look. She was fishing and she wasn't about to bite her hook. “No, he didn't, and even if he had, I would have told him no. He had his chance five years ago and blew it.”

Aunt Nellie looked disappointed by her response. “I really wish the two of you would take the time to talk.”

“What's there to talk about? He betrayed me. End of story. There is really no point in reliving that time again. Besides, I'm leaving as soon as you're back on your feet.” With that she rose. “You need anything?”

Her aunt gave her a long hard look then finally shook her head. “No. I'm going to sit here and watch
Deal or No Deal
. Why don't you sit back down and join me?”

“Maybe later,” Brenna replied with a weary sigh. “I'm going to go shower and fix myself something to eat.”

“Mabel brought by some fried chicken.”

At the mention of Ms. Butler's famous southern fried chicken, her stomach growled. “Sounds scrumptious.” With a finger wave, she moved toward the door.

“Brenna?”

She stopped and turned. “Yes, Aunt Nellie?”

“I'm glad you're here,” she said with a wink.

Brenna couldn't resist a smile. “So am I.”

Showered and dressed in an oversized orange T-shirt, Brenna leaned back against the long wooden bench and propped her feet onto the porch railing. Staring out at the Atlantic Ocean, she couldn't imagine a view that was quite as breathtaking. A distance away, high on a hill overlooking the ocean, lights glittered from the Beaumont Hotel. Guests could utilize the hotel's lavish accommodations or stroll down onto a private beach. It was a luxurious structure with marble flooring, cathedral ceilings, sixteenth century furnishings and columns throughout the main lobby. She should know. By the age of twelve, Brenna had known every single corner of the hotel. Seeing it again after all these years brought back memories, some more painful than others. Dropping her forehead to the palm of her hand, she tried to brush the past aside but it was too late. The memories had already pushed to the surface.

Her mother Shaunda Gathers had once been the hotel's housekeeping supervisor. She was a beautiful woman who'd always believed there was something better out there waiting for her. She despised having to clean rooms up after rich folks. She wanted to be one of the guests arriving with Louis Vuitton luggage, dressed in Donna Karan suits and staying in the presidential suite. Brenna remembered her mother often saying how life was unfair.

And then Shaunda met a rich, married politician who swept her off her feet and promised her the life she had always dreamed of as his mistress. She took it, leaving her daughter behind along with a scandal that local folks talked about for years.

Brenna tried to push away the nauseating feeling she got every time she remembered the day her mother abandoned her. Thank goodness her mother's older sister welcomed her into her home, and smothered her with more love than she could ever imagine. During that time, Aunt Nellie was all she had in the world besides her dear friend Jabarie Beaumont.

The two of them had been friends since he had caught her running through the main lobby of the hotel. Heir to the Beaumont fortune, Jabarie was required to spend all his summers at the hotel learning everything there was to learn. When he started cleaning the guest rooms, Brenna was certain that wasn't what his father Roger Beaumont had meant by learning the business from the ground up, but Jabarie didn't seem to mind and neither did she. While her mother daydreamed, flirted, and tried on clothing that belonged to the hotel's wealthy guests, the two of them would change the linen and vacuum the rooms.

Brenna pulled a leg to her chest and couldn't help smiling. They used to have so much fun together. Then on her thirteenth birthday, Jabarie gave her a plastic ring from a Cracker Jack box, and promised that some day they would marry and run the hotel together. Although, both innocent at the time, he was her first love. However, after her mother ran off with the politician everything changed. His parents looked down on her more than ever before and Brenna was no longer allowed at the hotel. What was even worse, Jabarie was forbidden to ever see her again. She remembered crying for three days. It was bad enough her mother had abandoned her. Although as she had grown older, she realized that Shaunda Gathers had never really been much of a mother. She was too busy chasing after a dream. It was Aunt Nellie who had nurtured and cared for her since birth. No, what had hurt the most during that painful time was losing her best friend. Yes, as much as she hated to admit it, she had loved Jabarie Beaumont from as far back as she could remember.

Hours later, the shock of finding him standing outside the bookstore was still buzzing through her mind. Shifting on the bench, Brenna pushed the memory aside and focused on the boats in the distance. Moored to a pier, they bobbed. To the far left of the hotel was a long boardwalk lined with tourist shops and plenty of food, all starting to close up for the night. Her eyes shifted to the Beaumont Hotel again and with it more thoughts of Jabarie surfaced. Leaning back, she took a deep breath, trying again to wipe him from her thoughts. Seeing him today shouldn't have been so difficult. After all, five years had passed. Five long painful years, which as far as she was concerned, was long enough to have gotten him out of her heart.

She could still see him standing outside the bookstore window staring at her. Her breath had caught in her throat, startling her so, she had dropped a handful of books. He was the only man who had ever made her feel that way. Vulnerable, weak, and so madly in love. Brenna groaned inwardly. Oh, what a fool she had been. Young and so naive to have thought she could have had it all.

Nothing about their relationship had ever been easy, first her mother, then his uppity parents, and then the wedding that never happened. Brenna closed her eyes and tipped her face into the cool breeze while her hair blew about her face. This was exactly what she needed to calm her thoughts and cool the desire blazing within, only it wasn't working. She couldn't stop thinking about Jabarie, and what if things had been different.

She shook her head then convinced herself that things would have never worked between them. They were from two different worlds. Although to Jabarie that never seemed to matter, or at least that was what she had thought. It still pained her to think about the hurt, the betrayal. The night before her wedding was supposed to have been the happiest time of her life. And in a matter of seconds her heart had been torn from her chest.

Brenna took a deep breath of the crisp salted air and reminded herself that was all in the past. She now had a wonderful new life in Dallas and was the owner of her own Cornerstone Bookstore. If nothing else, she had Jabarie to thank for seeing her dream come true. The check he had pawned her off with had provided her the means to start over.

One thing she could say for sure, was that she had gotten over some of her anger. Even when she saw him today, being angry was the last thing on her mind. Let bygones be bygones she'd always said. She had forgiven him years ago; her problem was forgetting. There was still a small piece of her hurting from his betrayal even after all these years. Because of him she had never had another successful relationship. Because of him, she was afraid to trust another man. Only she couldn't keep going on like this. Not if she hoped to someday have a family of her own.