Page 6 of All This Time (Blossom Peak #1)

Fletcher

Memories and Strippers

“Is this the right place? I’m looking for some people I used to know!” With my arms outstretched, I pull the attention of the entire room toward me as I project my voice over the noise.

I can’t deny that walking into the tasting room at Hart Winery feels like coming home, as cliché as it sounds.

But it’s not just the fact that Blossom Peak is the only place I’ve ever really considered home, no matter how many shitty memories this place holds.

It’s the people in this room, the people that kept me going through all those moments when I truly wanted to give up—one person especially.

“Adams, you look like shit,” Elliot says as he walks up to me and pulls me in for a hug and a slap on the back.

“Right back at you, Thorne. Good thing you’re getting married before your looks disappear completely.”

“Looks like it’ll be too late for you, then,” Elliot fires back as he takes a drink from his glass.

“Yeah, no marriage for me, thanks.”

“The small-town celebrity returns,” Henley declares as he steps up to me, reaching out to shake my hand.

“I had to return to my roots, you know, just so my head doesn’t get too big.”

Henley huffs out a laugh. “Good to know you’re still humble in there.” He points to my chest.

“He doesn’t need to be humble with the yards he’s been putting up the past two seasons,” Elliot adds. “Seriously, dude, you are fucking killing it.”

I slap him on the shoulder, sighing heavily. “Thanks, man. I feel fucking good, better than I have in my entire career. But until I get that championship ring, it’s not enough.”

When you make it to the NFL, there’s always one goal in mind: make it to the Super Bowl and win. And I have several reasons why I won’t quit until I do.

Elliot pulls a vaguely familiar blonde closer to him, locking his fingers with hers. “You remember Tori from high school, right?”

“Yeah,” I answer not too convincingly, holding my hand out to shake hers. “Nice to see you.”

Her eyes slowly dip down my body and when they return to my gaze, she licks her lips. “Nice to see you too.”

Okay…

Rhonan clears his throat behind me, pulling my attention just in time. I spin around and pull him into a hug.

“Glad you could find some time in your celebrity life for us little people back home,” he says dryly.

When he releases me, I adjust my backwards hat. “Ah, come on. It hasn’t been that long…”

Rhonan arches a brow. “The last time you came home was Ellis’s second birthday party, and she’s about to be five in a few months.”

Guilt slams into me. Not because I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I visited Blossom Peak, but because my friends think my life is too busy for them. Meanwhile, they’ve all come to Charlotte to attend games and spend time with me in the offseason whenever they could.

But coming back here means facing all the bullshit that plagues me when I come into town, things not even my best friends know the full extent of.

One person does, though.

My eyes scour the room and find her instantly, like always.

Laney. She’s across the room, sitting with that perfectly blank face that somehow still radiates annoyance, glaring like she hopes I spontaneously combust.

I see some things haven’t changed, including her ability to make my balls shrivel up with one angry look. She didn’t always look at me like that, though. There was a time when looking into her eyes felt like the safest place in the world.

But one fucking night back in college burned our friendship to the ground. I know I fucked up that night, but Laney and I have never discussed the details, and honestly, I wonder if revisiting it might fix things—or just blow up whatever’s still left.

Luckily, my boys remained a constant for me as I gave all my focus to making it to the NFL, but the three of them have also been busy building their own lives and futures.

Rhonan spent six years in the Marines, but he came back to Blossom Peak to be a sheriff after he met Sarah.

They fell fast and started a life together.

Then came Ellis—but due to complications during delivery, Sarah didn’t make it.

Now Rhonan’s living the single dad life and raising one of my favorite humans on the planet.

And he’s damn good at it, but I can still see the pain behind his eyes no matter how hard he tries to hide it.

Henley has always been the daredevil of the group.

He waited for Dilynne to graduate from high school and then took off to travel for a few years, seeking his next thrill.

However, when he broke several bones during a street luge course, Dilynne begged him to stop, so he returned to Blossom Peak and now runs Sky’s The Limit, the town’s ski resort and adventure park.

And then there’s Elliot, the overachiever.

After attending Florida State, he went to Duke for law school to be closer to home and came back to work at his family’s law firm.

The Thornes are generational lawyers and their name is well-known throughout the state of North Carolina, but they also have some skeletons hidden in their closets.

Elliot travels to Charlotte a lot to work on corporate cases, but he chose to live here to be close to his parents, and now he’s getting married, which of course, is why I’m here.

“Fuck, it’s good to see you, man.” Elliot shoves Rhonan and Henley aside to get to me, wrapping me in another hug, this time lifting me from the ground and shaking me up and down a few times before setting me back on my feet.

I fix my shirt as I regain my footing, studying my friend who seems way more cheerful than he typically is. “Jesus, have you been working out?”

Elliot bats his eyelashes at me. “You trying to flatter me already?”

“I mean, as your best man, that’s part of my job, right? Motivational speeches and encouragement?”

“Not sure I’ll need them.” Elliot pulls Tori into his side and kisses the top of her head. “What’s the saying? When you know, you know?”

I nod, though I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that this is really happening.

When Elliot called and told me he reconnected with Tori and had never felt this strongly for a woman before, I was more than happy for him.

The guy’s been a workaholic since he graduated from law school, and even before that, his nose was always stuck in a book.

He never failed to find time to flirt with women, but marriage was never a goal of his.

So, I was shocked when he called to say he was engaged after just six months of dating.

Having never been in a serious relationship before, I know I have no room to judge.

But anyone would agree that timeline was fast.

Tori rolls her eyes as she giggles. “This guy was adamant about a big wedding too. I said we should elope.”

“I mean, I’m always down for a trip to Vegas.”

“But if you go to Vegas, then I can’t go!” A tiny voice behind the group of grown men and Tori breaks through our conversation as Ellis pushes her way toward me.

I crouch down to intercept her as she runs into my arms. “Ellis, my girl!” Inhaling deeply, I take a moment to savor seeing this little ray of sunshine again in person instead of through a cell phone, kissing the top of her head through her brown hair as dark as her father’s. “How are you, princess?”

“I’m not a princess yet, Uncle Fletcher.” She leans back in my arms as I stand to full height again. “But in the wedding, I get to wear a princess dress.”

I reach down and toy with the tulle on the dress she’s wearing right now. “Then what do you call this thing?”

“A dress, duh.” She rolls her eyes.

“Looks like a princess dress to me.”

She wriggles in my arms, so I set her down on the floor. “No, this dress is just for twirling.” Holding her hands above her head, she proceeds to turn in a circle but loses her balance and falls to the floor.

“Careful, Ellis.” Laney pushes her way into our circle, helping her niece stand up again.

Her voice slides across my skin like a memory I can’t shake—sharp, warm, and still too goddamn powerful.

Her long brown hair with soft blonde highlights covers her face as she bends down, but when she stands upright again and our eyes meet, a flurry of emotions slam into me all at once.

Laney.

My Laney. Even more beautiful than the last time I saw her.

Fuck. These three weeks are going to be torture.

“I’m okay, Auntie,” Ellis says, pushing Laney away before attempting to twirl again and nailing it this time.

We all clap in celebration.

“Finally came over to say hello?” I say, directing my attention to my best friend’s little sister.

Laney arches a brow at me. “I was just letting your fan club fawn over you first.”

I huff out a laugh, grateful to see that her sass hasn’t diminished. “Nice to see you too, Laney.”

Rhonan walks back toward the bar in the tasting room, the rest of us guys following. “Thomas, can you get Fletcher a drink?”

“Just water, Tom,” I call out quickly—the last thing I need right now is alcohol.

“Come on, we’re celebrating. And it’s the offseason, right?” Rhonan pouts amusingly.

“I know, but I just don’t feel like drinking tonight, man.”

“Save it for the bachelor party then,” Elliot says.

Rhonan turns to me, the corner of his mouth turned up. “You’re in charge of that, by the way.”

I rub the back of my neck, feeling more out of my element and overwhelmed the longer I stand in this room and reality sinks in. “I figured, but…”

Rhonan hands me my glass of water as Elliot slaps me on the back. “Don’t worry. Tomorrow, Tori and I are gonna sit down with you and Laney and tell you exactly what we need your help with and what we want as far as wedding stuff goes.”

Wincing, I ask, “You sure you don’t just want to go to Vegas? I mean, there are strippers there.”

“What’s a stripper?”

The question comes from about three feet down, where Ellis is tugging on my shirt and looking up at me like I’m some kind of life encyclopedia.

I peer down at her, not sure how to safely answer this question. “Uh, a stripper is a…a dancer,” I answer proudly, pleased with my quick response.

Her eyes light up. “Then I want to be a stripper when I grow up!” she shouts, catching everyone’s attention in the room as she proceeds to twirl around again.

Rhonan glares at me. “Thank you for that.”

I put my hands up as I lower my voice and lean toward him. “What was I supposed to say? I mean, technically I told the truth.”

Rhonan shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I can’t wait until I get phone calls from preschool about this.”

Patting his shoulder, I say, “I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you while I’m here, all right? Maybe with some babysitting…”

“So you can teach her more about strippers?” He shakes his head. “Nah, I think I’m good.”

My eyes dart over to Laney—my partner for the next three weeks apparently—who’s standing across the room, laughing at something Dilynne says while Joanne watches Ellis spin in circles.

As if she can sense my staring, Laney looks up and our eyes lock.

Only for a second—but it lands like a punch. And then she looks away, her expression tightening like I’m a bad taste in her mouth.

This woman’s irritation toward me hasn’t diminished at all in the nearly three years since we’ve seen each other.

The handful of times I came home since the night everything fell apart were Laney-free.

She was always conveniently unavailable, busy or out of town.

And while I have a pretty good idea as to why she might wish I would fall off the face of the planet, part of me wonders if there’s anything I can do to make things right.

Because being near her again has my body reacting to her as if I’m seventeen all over again.

I miss the way things used to be between us—the way I felt like I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t judge me, the way I did tell her things that no one else knew.

I miss our fucking friendship.

I miss the way she used to smile when she saw me instead of these icy glares that she’s downright perfected.

I miss the girl that became the one person I could trust above all others, even more than her own brother and my best fucking friends.

I miss the girl that I grew to want, but knew I could never have.