“Good.” She spun around and started off toward the garden. Slipping the camera lanyard over her neck so the camera settled against her chest, she said, “Now that we’re on the same page, I suppose you can keep me company.”
“Mighty gracious of you.” In seconds his long legs caught up. He nudged her in the side, and she glanced over at his cocky smile. “I can behave.”
No way in hell was she falling under the spell of those sexy brown eyes and that smile. Too late, that annoying voice in her head laughed. And despite her resolve not to throw herself at him, or jump into his arms and wrap her legs around him like she’d done the other night, the teasing glint in his eyes made her smile.
“That’s very adult of you.” She tore her gaze from his.
He nodded, and the smile on his lips deepened. “And even though you’ve been avoiding me, I’ll be very adult and not give you a hard time about it.”
“Right. Thank you for that. I would hate for you to mention it or anything.”
“And I definitely won’t mention it. Promise. Because I’m not offended at all that you’ve been avoiding me. It’s clear you can’t help your burning desire to make out with me all the time.”
Rolling her eyes, she laughed. “I thought you promised to behave.”
“This is me behaving.” He took her hand, linking his fingers with hers. She startled, but didn’t take her hand back, and let their arms swing between them in unison.
“Okay then. Mr. Behaved.” She fought to keep the smile from her lips, and wondered at the flash of satisfaction over how easy it was to be with him like this.
“So what do you think so far? Being back in River Bend, I mean. Same? Different?” They were in the garden now, walking toward the small greenhouse under construction.
“It’s different somehow.”
“You sound surprised.” He slowed his steps to match hers when she lingered near a raised garden bed filled with tomato plants. Their vines had been woven through a trellis to stand and grow tall.
“I am, actually. Seems this little place has grown since I’ve been gone—a lot.” She unlinked their hands and lifted the camera to her eye. “I guess I never paid much attention when I lived here. It’s nice. I finally see why you River Benders love it.”
“You had other things on your mind when you lived here.”
The knowing in his tone snared her gaze, and she cocked her head. There was no judgment in his soft brown eyes, only sympathy and concern. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Have you gone to see her?”
He didn’t have to say who. She shook her head. “No. Apparently she’s in rehab again.”
“That’s too bad. I’m sorry.”
She shrugged off the heavy ache in her chest. “It is what it is.”
“I haven’t seen her much. She’s never in the bars around town anymore.”
There were only two bars in town, The Songbird and The Watering Hole. One establishment was a bar and grill, where families went for hamburger night or the mountain oyster feed that Betty mentioned. Her mom had always preferred The Songbird, which had live music and a dance atmosphere; a place she could get sloshed drunk and end up on the bar.
“She probably got kicked out and moved on to Cedar Ridge or some other little town nearby.” She hated the worry that flooded her over the idea of Ellie driving around drunk on the gravel roads. Back when she lived in River Bend, there’d been a few horrific accidents on the county’s back roads. She shivered, remembering the accident Trey and his older cousin had been involved in when Jaden was a senior in high school. Not everyone was lucky enough to walk away from a car accident, especially when alcohol was involved.
“Do you think you’ll go and see her before you leave?”
She bristled. “I don’t know.”
“You should. She’s probably at the rehab center in Sterling. I can take you if you’d like.”
His offer took the edge off the irritation over him pushing the subject. She sighed and turned.
“I don’t really like talking about her, you know? And she pretty much burned the bridge between us the last time we spoke. I’m not ready to...” Jaden searched for the right words. To what? Speak to her? To forgive her for all the years Ellie stole from them in her quest to numb herself at the expense of Jaden’s safety? She shook her head, her eyes riveted on an eagle soaring above the treetops of the ravine. “I’m just not ready to see her.”
“How long has it been?” He didn’t wait for her answer. Instead, he stepped closer and drew her into his arms.
His embrace was warm and firm; like a safety net she sank into without thought. “Three years.”
“That’s a long time not to see your mom.” He kissed the top of her head, rubbed his hands along her back, and despite the subject, she smiled against his chest. She pictured him soothing Micky like this.
She pulled away just enough to look up into his eyes. “Thank you. For caring, I mean. Even if you are obnoxious, you’re not that bad of a guy, Cole Brooks.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile. “That sounds like a compliment. Does that mean you’re not mad at me for crashing your girl time?”
She tilted her head; her gaze roamed the gorgeous plane of his face. “What do you mean?”
“I suppose since I’m being a good guy and all, I should confess that when Mia told me she was meeting you here, I begged her to let me take her place.”
“And this is you behaving?” Her entire body felt weightless. Being here with him like this gave her a sense of peace she hadn’t realized she lacked... or needed.
He gave her a sheepish smile. “I suppose.”
“Well, you get points for being sweetly mischievous.” Her body ached to stay right where it was, and so did her heart. And that worried her. She eased away. “Now quit distracting me. I have pictures to take before Samantha wows us with what Mia keeps telling me is the best prime rib I’ll ever have in my life.”
He held up his hands and stepped back. “I promise, nothing but good guy for the rest of the evening.”
So why wasn’t she relieved by his promise?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Oh God, you didn’t ask me here to, like, garden or something, did you?”
Jaden looked up. Tatem stood at the edge of the patio in Mia’s backyard, her hands shoved into the back pockets of her shorts, a suspicious squint to her eyes.
“No gardening today.” Jaden shook her head with a smile.
“Good. I don’t need community service hours that bad.”
“I hear gardening is therapeutic.” Jaden stood and slung her messenger bag over her shoulder. She pointed to the camera bag on the patio table. “You take that. You’re in charge of pictures today.”
Tatem’s eyes brightened. “Really?”
“Really.” She waited for Tatem to ease the camera strap over her head and across her chest to hang at her hip, then walked around the side of the house. “You know how to operate a camera like that?”
“I’m on the yearbook committee, but our camera sucks.” She fell into step beside Jaden. “Thought maybe you didn’t need my help since you didn’t call.”
Jaden glanced over at her, and bit back a frown. The girl was used to not getting phone calls, used to broken promises. She knew that feeling all too well, and the fact she’d been filed away into the same category made her heart ache.
“Sorry about that; I haven’t touched my blog since my first day here, and I haven’t made a dent on the list Mia gave me. Since she’s already told everyone there’d be something on my website, I better get something up or the town will ban me for life.”
Tatem shrugged. “I wasn’t worried about it or anything.”
“Are you enjoying your summer vacation?” Jaden rounded the SUV to the driver’s side.
“Not really.” She tugged the passenger door open. “This is a lot nicer than that piece of crap you had.”
“Tell me about it.” Jaden climbed into the vehicle and reached between the front seats to set her messenger bag on the back seat. “Everything works in this thing.”
“You ever get tired of traveling?”
“Never.” Jaden slipped on her sunglasses. “Seatbelt.”
Tatem crinkled up her nose, but reached for the belt. “We don’t have to wear seatbelts here.”
“If you’d seen the accidents I have, you’d wear your seatbelt all the time.” She pulled away from the curb. “So why aren’t you enjoying your summer?”
“Because this town sucks.”
Jaden turned at the end of the block, and let a smile tug at her lips. “I used to think that too, but this place isn’t so bad.”
“Oh yeah? So why haven’t I ever seen you before?” Her stare challenged Jaden. “If you like this place so much, why don’t you live here?”
“I left to get away from my mom.”
They drove in silence for two blocks.
“So, your mom sucked, huh?”
“She wouldn’t have won any parent awards, that’s for sure.”
“So why’d you come back, then?”
Jaden glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “She’s in rehab again, so I don’t have to worry about running into her anywhere.”
“People kinda suck, you know?” Tatem turned to stare out the window.
“Yeah, sometimes they do.” She turned onto Main Street and pulled into traffic. Of course, traffic in River Bend was nothing like traffic in a city, but for this small town, it was rush hour. A car full of teenagers skidded around a pickup backing into the street from the curb in front of the pharmacy. “But I didn’t let her ruin things for me. After I graduated, I left and made my own life. You can too, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said with a note of finality.
She hoped for Tatem’s sake that her mom stayed gone. There’d been so many nights she’d lain in bed, wishing her mom would take off and leave so she could live with Mia’s family. But she’d wake up the next morning and her mom would be there in the living room, passed out on the couch surrounded with pill bottles and empty beer cans.
They spent the day walking around town, Tatem taking pictures and Jaden taking down notes. Every single business opened their door to her, eagerly offering her royalty treatment. After leaving one establishment for another, guilt set in. She couldn’t possibly feature every place she visited on her blog, not unless she dedicated a month’s worth of posts to the town.
The community center was packed with contestants, the tables laden with sweet rolls filled with so many different fillings she couldn’t remember them all. Women of all ages had come from all over the county to enter the contest, and the energy in the room took Jaden by surprise. Of all the years she’d lived in River Bend, she’d never made it to one kolache competition. Apparently, two preliminary events with more than fifty contestants had been held prior to the kolache finale, where they were.
Jaden found Hillary at the third table in, her cheeks flushed pink and her short blonde hair pulled up in a stubby ponytail and covered with a hairnet. She had a quilted apron tied around her waist, and a hard look of concentration as she worked the dough by hand. Each contestant had a full kitchen to work with. Every roll presented had to be made in the kitchen, in front of judges, and Hillary had been at the community center baking since early that morning.
She glanced up from rolling dough, her eyes slightly crazed. “Please tell me you brought me a diet soda.”
Jaden shook her head and handed her the fountain pop she’d picked up at the gas station on the way over. “No. I brought you a regular soda. Aspartame will kill you.”
Hillary took the Styrofoam cup and sucked in a long drink through the straw. Her eyes rolled back. “This is heaven. Thank you. I needed a caffeine pick-me-up.”
“Where’s Angie and the rest of her gang?” Jaden searched the crowded room. Fans were set up to help circulate the cool air-conditioning, but with so many people, the building was still warm.
“They’re around here, scoping out the competition. Betty and Elaine have convinced Grams that her kolache nemesis is plotting some kind of sabotage.” She wiped at her wiggling nose. “Scratch my nose, will you?”
Jaden tore off a paper towel square and reached over the countertop to rub Hillary’s nose. “Did I get it?”
“Yeah, thanks.” She blew out a heavy breath.
“Is Mia here yet?”
“Somewhere. Dealing with some festival board catastrophe. I don’t know, budget issues.” She waved flour-dusted hands near her flushed face. “It’s ridiculously hot in here.”
“You’re looking pretty hot in that apron, there, Hills.”
Jaden turned to Trey who sauntered up to the counter. It annoyed the hell out of her that her eyes roamed behind him, searching for Cole. He wasn’t there, though. She ignored the flash of disappointment.
“What are you doing here?” Hillary rolled the dough flat with her gaze locked on Trey. “Derby’s on the other side of town.”
He clutched his chest with a pout. “I am deeply offended. Your kolaches are as important to me as junker cars bashing each other around a track, Hills.”
Hillary rolled her eyes. “What are you really doing here, Thompson?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “This woman gives me butterflies with her sweet talk.”