“I’ll meet you here at six. The initial rush is at five.”
“How about we make you dinner instead? Our kitchen is small, but Charlie’s a great cook. Then we don’t have to wait in line.”
“You can use my kitchen. Be at my door no later than six.” She pointed down the line. “Pay down there.”
He grinned at her and she used all her control to keep from blushing, turning her attention to the next person in line.
“See you tonight,” he called as he moved to join Charlie, who waited nearby. Charlie waved at her and she waved back before turning her attention to work again.
“Make him work for it,” Lucy said as she reached past Summer to grab a scone.
“If they don’t meet your expectations, you know where I am.” This from Jolin, who was her next customer and someone she’d dallied with briefly a few months before. It hadn’t been enough to get her back to his bed a second time, but he was nice enough so she laughed and waved it away.
She grabbed some extra hours in the afternoon as well, a little extra cash in savings was a good thing and it also kept her busy. She wasn’t surprised to find Dulce at the showers; her sister loved a long soak in the hot springs after she closed the shop for the day.
Summer washed her hair, pinned it up and went to join Dulce, sighing when she got into the water, silky with minerals.
And then she told her sister all about it.
Dulce sighed at the end as they got out and rinsed off.
“What should I do?” They walked back to Summer’s caravan, which was just two down from Dulce’s, and settled on the front deck, letting the warmth of the sun dry their hair.
“What do you want to do?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Or do you just want someone to tell you whatever you need to hear to convince yourself to listen to them? Because you don’t need permission for that.”
“He left me. Why should I allow him back in my life?”
“I guess that’s the question then, right? Because the way I see you and the way I know you, it’s going to boil down to some basics. Do you really believe he left you? As in goodbye, Summer, it’s been great. Or did he, like a normal man his age who’d grown up the way we all did, need to see the wider world?”
“He left me either way.”
“True. Makes a difference why, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it’s the leaving.” Dulce shrugged.
Like Summer had known her sister would, the questions she’d posed had helped her focus on what was really important and maybe see things clearer.
“So what else? You said it boiled down to basics.”
“Probably should figure out whether it matters why or not. But then maybe what you want from them? From what I remember of you and Hatch, you two had something deeper than a fun, fast fuck. Cocks can be had as easy as breathing. You’re young and beautiful. Smart. You have a job and a place to live. Not like you’re poor for opportunities to get it with a person of the male persuasion. But what you and Hatch had, that’s…” Dulce’s voice caught and she went quiet.
Summer took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. What she and Hatch had was what her sister had with her partners. With the men she’d built a life with. A life her sister had lost in the blink of an eye.
She got the point her sister was making in any case. She’d had this connection with Charlie. Summer wasn’t the instant connection type. But they’d had a zing. She’d gone to that dance thinking that, depending on who Charlie’s partner was, it would have been really good sex and companionship for the harvest at least.
Sometimes you met someone and it would be all systems go and you met the partner and things went all to hell. But this was not that situation.
After a bit, Dulce got up, kissed her sister’s cheek. “Pride means a lot, but you need to ask yourself if it means more than anything else. And pride isn’t the same as self-respect. One you can swallow sometimes, the other you should never let go of. I’m going home. I’ll see you soon and I expect a full report so don’t forget it.”
Summer stood and went inside to change. She didn’t know what would happen. She tended to agree with her sister that pride wasn’t worth everything. But she knew it was certainly worth more than feeling like nothing.
Charlie led as they went up her walk and to her front door. That sense of rightness he never ignored had clicked into place more and more steadily as the day had passed and when she opened up at his knock everything went sideways a moment and then came into such sharp focus he sucked in a breath.
She was so pretty. Standing there, her hair a pale red tousle, blue eyes widening just a bit as she took him and Hatch in. She wore a deep blue dress that kissed high up on her thighs, her arms bare.
“Come in.” She stepped aside and as Charlie passed, he paused, taking her into his arms for a hug and kiss he’d intended to be brief and was anything but. He sank into that kiss like a long, slow Sunday nap.
Her taste was smoky and heady as she opened to him, her tongue brushing against his. The weight of her there against his body was perfect. She fit as if she was made to be there.
He broke away and smiled. “You know how to welcome a guest.”
She laughed.
Hatch stepped closer and she gave him a look that told Charlie Hatch wasn’t going to get the same welcome he got. Then again, she was letting them both into her home so it wasn’t all bad.
“You kissed me yesterday.” Hatch stepped even closer. Summer moved back but the wall impeded her retreat and the smile on Hatch’s face said he knew it.
“I was caught off guard.”
“You should let me catch you off guard again, then.”
She sniffed and even that sounded pretty. Charlie laughed. Hatch had made his bed in this situation but Charlie knew him well enough to understand he’d find a way to work it through.
“If you get any closer, Hatch Mowbry, you’re liable to get something bit.”
He touched his forehead to Summer’s. “Promise?”
She leaned in and nipped Hatch’s bottom lip. Hard enough that Hatch yelped. But Hatch wrapped his arms around her and went in for a kiss. One she allowed. Briefly before she poked Hatch’s side and stepped around him neatly.
“Kitchen’s through here.”
Charlie looked at Hatch, who grinned like a fool.
“Might want to ice that lip.”
Hatch laughed and swatted Charlie’s ass on the way past. “No way, that’s a medal as far as I’m concerned. Woman like Summer doesn’t bite you if she doesn’t care about you.”
“I heard that, Hatch,” Summer called from the kitchen.
“I know you did, darlin. That’s why I said it so loud.”
Charlie liked her place. It wasn’t exceptionally large, but it was big enough the three of them could move around one another without collision. Close enough that he got away with brushing against her to breathe her in.
“Do you like fish? At our lunch break, I caught a few, thought they’d be good for dinner.”
Summer looked at the nice fat fish Charlie had brought with him, already cleaned and hummed happily. “And already cleaned. Least one of you has good manners.”
“Charlie is the finest of the two of us. I can’t lie. But damn it, Summer, I had to go.”
She leaned against the counter near where Charlie had begun heating a pan to cook the fish. “The pot there just about to boil is for some pasta we had left over at the café from earlier. Spring onions came in fresh if you’d like to use them.” She pointed to a colander of freshly washed produce.
“Do you have a garden?”
“I have a plot at the community pea patch and the containers around the house here. But the onions were payment for some piece work.” She ignored Hatch’s comment and Charlie let her. Hatch had to fix it.
“Piece work?” He grabbed the onions and sliced them quickly. He’d toss them with the tomatoes he’d brought.
“There’s a pretty active barter network
here in Paradise. This caravan came with permanent residency here. I get my meals and groceries to bring home at the end of the day as well as a small stipend from my job at the café. Anything else I trade for. I do sewing piecework, alterations, that sort of thing for barter if I take a liking to something.” She shrugged. “I’ve got all I need and most of what I want.”
“Back on the farm,” Hatch spoke as he moved closer, “we had all we needed and we didn’t know what we wanted.”
“I knew what I wanted. Speak for yourself.”
Hatch braced his hands on either side of her body, holding the edge of the counter.
“I am speaking for myself. We didn’t know what else there was in the world. How could we have known what we wanted?”
“Then don’t say we. Did you find what you wanted then? By going?”
“It’s more complicated than that. I came to Portland to follow you. But it took nearly seven months to get there as I worked my way across the country. I saw the world. Realized how much there was that I hadn’t even imagined. But when I got to Portland, you were there and you were what I needed. But I’d seen what was out there. The tip of it. It ignited something in me. Some sense of wanderlust, of a need to explore.” He touched his forehead to hers and Charlie realized it was something the two of them had together. Realized too that Summer had allowed it all the times Hatch’d done it, which was a good thing. He hoped. Charlie moved around the kitchen, giving them some space, but staying near. This was the beginning of them as a unit. If they could get over what had torn Hatch and Summer apart, they could build and this was the start. Fragile, yes, but important.
Hatch ached to clear the pain from her gaze. Ached because he’d put it there. He’d been the one to walk away and leave her behind. He dug deep to find the words to explain himself. There were no excuses. He knew he’d done damage. He wanted her to know the why and, through that, forgive.
He had her back. So near and yet a million miles apart with his actions between them like a great wall. He had to breach it. Had to have this woman’s love once more.
Had to deserve it first.
“I’m sorry. Sorry I hurt you. I know I owe you an explanation and I’m sorry it’s taken me four years to give it to you. I had to go, Summer. At first I thought being in a city would be enough after the farm. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t the amount of people or the diversity of options in the area. Living in a city felt like a prison sentence. I got there and I tried because I wanted to be with you. But it was slowly killing me to be there. I needed to leave. Craved the freedom the road could offer. When I asked you to come and you said no, I tried to stay a while. To wait, but I couldn’t. In the end, I hurt you and I owe it to you to apologize and to explain. I can’t erase how I made you feel, but I hope maybe we can understand each other and you can forgive how I did it.”
“One of my fathers was dying. I couldn’t leave my mother and other father right when they needed me most. When I needed them for that matter. And then Dulce.”
A cold chill passed through him. “What about her?”
“They were on a train going to Canada for a vacation. There was a head-on collision with another train.”
Hatch remembered this accident. It had been all over the news. So many people had died.
“Their car…there was a fuel leak after the crash. A spark started a fire and the fire was too hot and too fast for rescue workers to get in. Macon, Broad and the kids didn’t make it.”
Dulce was her big sister. The two of them had been very close. She’d lost her sister, her brothers-in-law, their kids, and her father in such a short period of time and he hadn’t been there. Nausea and guilt swamped him. She would have needed him and he wasn’t there.
“I’m so sorry.” It boggled his mind to imagine a world without Dulce in it. Always smiling and laughing. Vibrant and gracious. “I loved Dulce too.”
“She’s alive. Here in Paradise, which is why I’m here. She was out of their car. She’d gone to get food for Harper; you hadn’t been around for his birth. He was eighteen-months-old. Broad was with him while Macon was changing Julian’s diaper. Baby J was just two-months-old. Dulce went ahead to get breakfast. She was in the pass between two cars when the collision came. Was thrown from the train. She broke her back and both arms. But she lived.”
Hatch pulled her to him, hugging her tight and she allowed it, resting her head on his chest. He looked at Charlie over the top of her head. They’d make it better.
“She came here? Instead of Portland? Your mother must be insane with worry.”
“Dulce is different now. Something broke and I don’t know if it’ll ever be fixed. She came here because she couldn’t go back to her house. My mom and I packed her things and put them in storage. I came here once I knew she wasn’t going to come back to Portland. She needed a connection to her family or she would drift off totally. And the longer I was in Paradise, the more I liked it here. Liked my caravan and the lake. I started a new life. I can be a different Summer here. I can take care of myself. And I do.”
Pushing back from his hold, she left his arms and he felt it to his toes.
“I couldn’t be this man here asking for another chance if I hadn’t left. I’m a better man because of what I learned out there. And from realizing how much I walked away from. But I am so sorry for hurting you and even more sorry I wasn’t there when you had so much pain to deal with.”
“I didn’t need you to be there. Other people were.” Her body language attempted causal with a shrug, but her voice trembled just a little. She moved to pour them all wine. “Your leaving taught me things too, Hatch. One of them I discovered by moving here is that I don’t need anyone to fix me or take care of me. I can do it on my own. I have a place to live. A job. Food on my table. I don’t need anyone to provide anything for me. That Summer, the one who needed such things, she’s gone.”
Charlie dropped the pasta into the boiling water as she put the wine and the glasses at her small table.
He threw a lifeline to Hatch, who’d been watching her as she worked. He knew Hatch was gutted at finding out what had happened in his absence. “Nearly ready. Hatch, can you lay out the cheese and apples?”
The three of them worked to get the table set and the food out. She smiled at Charlie. “You’re handy.”
“Hatch and I trade back and forth with the cooking. Out there it’s a lot of catch as catch can. We’re both decent hunters and fishermen so we manage pretty well.”
They sat and Charlie served her, filing her plate.
“Thank you. There’s pie for later if you’re up for it. We made them fresh this morning.”
“Looks like I’m not the only one who’s handy.”
“We learned at a pretty early age back on the farm how to bake and cook and all that stuff. Self sufficiency was how it went. It got me a job here my second day in Paradise too.” She took another bite of the fish. “This is really good.”
Charlie warmed at her compliment. “Paradise Village is the most beautiful settlement I’ve been in in years. So much life here. I’m surprised it’s not bigger.”
“People prefer the cities. We don’t have shopping centers or mass transit. We’re up here in our own little bubble of perfection but it wouldn’t work for everyone. Which is nice because it keeps things the way they are. Have you two ever considered settling?”
Hatch put a piece of buttered bread on her plate. “Not until now.”
Five
“I don’t need pretty words.” She frowned and Charlie raised a brow.
She had fire. Charlie dug it. “You seem so easygoing but you have a temper on you. I like it. You’ll need it to keep us both in line.”
“I’m not angry but you need to stop talking this way.”
Hatch sighed. “Why are you so upset then? Get it out so we can move forward.”
She leveled her gaze at Hatch, the frown replaced by narrowed eyes. “Are you for real? Who do you think you are?”
“You’
re pissed off because I left you in Portland. I understand it and I’m sorry I hurt you. Sorrier still I wasn’t around when you needed me most. I don’t regret leaving, but I do regret that. But years have passed. We’re both better people. We have a connection we started before we could walk. I know you better than anyone else in the world.”
Charlie hissed, annoyed that Hatch was pushing too hard. He could see it on Summer’s face. It occurred to him he’d be that middle spot between Hatch and Summer, the break between their fire and ice. It shouldn’t have made his cock hard but it did. Make-up sex was already one of his favorite things, add Summer to the mix and it would be even better.
“Please continue to explain to me how I feel. Most certainly I have had no ability whatsoever to emote after you left until yesterday when I saw you again.”
Charlie held a hand up to shush Hatch before he could make it worse. “Be quiet before she maims you.” He turned to Summer. “Please explain what you meant.”
“You want to fuck me. So okay, I like fucking so that’ll work out fine. But all this assumption that I’ll only let you if you pretend you want to be in a relationship with me is insulting. I’m an adult. I don’t need romantic promises to have sex. If this is how you and Hatch work to get a woman into bed you don’t need it with me. I’m not after gimmicks.”
“Let’s go step by step here because there are a lot of emotions between us all. First, yes, yes I do want to have sex with you.” Charlie leaned in close and breathed her in, humming his delight. “A lot of sex with you. And with Hatch and you. And with Hatch. Essentially I want to fuck and be fucked and watch fucking. It’s part of who I am. I guess you should know that too. We don’t need gimmicks to get a woman. Plus, it’s demeaning to everyone anyway. We’re adults, all of us.”
“It’s sort of insulting you’d think that,” Hatch interjected.
Charlie wanted to punch Hatch when Summer’s posture went rigid again. “Hatch, I told you to be quiet. You need to stop poking at her.”