Page 2 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 1

WINTER

Have you ever been dumped by text? Yeah, me neither. But receiving a naked photo of my boyfriend from a random number had the equivalent effect.

I stared down at the image on the screen as my eyes tried to make sense of what I was seeing.

I wasn’t nearly as angry at Brian for giving a guy head in my own damned kitchen as I was at whoever the fuck had left the door of my trailer open in the background of the photo.

My cat was braver than she was smart, and there were coyotes in the woods behind the trailer park.

Brian knew not to leave the door open. The last time she’d escaped, Dillie had stayed hidden deep under the house for three days, no doubt shaking with fear every time she heard the coyotes howl.

And I knew the photo had been taken the same day because Brian was wearing the same ridiculous bandage on his thumb that he’d put on there this morning after accidentally sloshing hot coffee on himself and crying about the burn.

As the noise of the concert crowd swelled around me, I fired off a response to the stranger. “You can have him. But close my fucking door before the cat gets out.”

I squeezed my eyes closed and sent a prayer out for Dillie’s safety. Hopefully she was asleep under my fuzzy blanket in the bedroom and didn’t even realize there were two assholes abusing our kitchen.

When I opened my eyes back up and saw Gentry Kane staring at me, I wanted to cry like a baby.

What would it be like to have a man like that instead of a selfish asshole like Brian?

Gentry Kane, who’d done such an amazing job working the crowd at his concert, I’d felt like I was the only person in the room.

Hell, I’d felt like he’d been singing only to me. Like… like it had just been the two of us in the room and he’d cared about me. It was silly.

I winced in low-key embarrassment. How many other fans at concerts had fantasies about the lead singer? My crush on one of the hottest folk-pop musicians of the decade wasn’t something I shared with other people. Ever.

It had started ten years ago when I was a first-year student at Colorado State.

GUS had still been Gentry’s Unlimited Sweets back then, and they’d played a free concert in the park on a stunning late afternoon in April.

I’d been lying in the grass most of the day filling my biology textbook with highlighter in an effort to keep my grades high enough to retain my scholarships.

When the first strums of a haunting guitar solo had made their way over to me, I’d sat up and looked in the direction of the music.

The man singing had wavy, dark hair peeking out from under a beaten-up red ball cap.

His hands had held the microphone as he crooned out the lyrics to a song I’d never heard before.

As I’d gathered up my things and made my way closer to the performance, I’d felt my chest tighten and my heart trip up.

The man’s voice had been fucking gorgeous, the kind of harrowing sound that snuck fingers deep into your solar plexus and grabbed you right in the gut.

The lead singer had wide shoulders and a narrow waist. The ripped jeans had molded perfectly to his fit body, and when he’d leaned back the slightest bit to take in a deep breath for a long note, the movement had lifted his T-shirt to reveal a tantalizing strip of pale skin with a dark trail of hair leading under his low waistband and webbing belt.

Fuck . The man was sex on stage. Pure, delicious sex. And his voice made me hard .

I’d stayed for every last note and then had raced back to my dorm to try and find every bit of information on the band I possibly could.

After that, I’d listened to Gentry Kane’s sultry voice enough to know every word of every song he sang.

When the band hit it big and shortened their name, I’d felt a proprietary sense of ownership that I’d known them before all that.

Through college and the following years of occupational therapy school, I’d turned to the familiar sounds of my GUS albums for comfort, energy, relaxation, and anything else I needed that no one else could give me.

Their songs were the soundtrack of my early adulthood, and I could count on them to soothe me even now as I was facing the reality of yet another failed attempt at a relationship.

As I’d turned to leave, I’d even imagined Gentry himself calling out to me to stay, to wait for him. As if he couldn’t help but want me.

I let out a humorous laugh and didn’t let myself look back.

I needed to get home and make sure Dillie was okay.

Leave it to selfish prick Brian to make me miss the second half of the GUS concert.

He’d made fun of me for liking the band so much, comparing me to his little sister, who was still in high school and obsessed with Ariana Grande.

I half wondered if he’d arranged all this bullshit just to ruin the night I’d been looking forward to for so long.

With my student loans breathing down my neck and the half year of lost income during the requisite volunteering and clinicals, it had taken me months to save up enough for this night.

After hopping into my jeep and cranking up the heat, I got on the road back toward Aster Valley.

My job placement at the outpatient clinic attached to the regional hospital there had been a godsend.

It had moved me far enough away from my family in Colorado Springs to make me feel like my own person.

I may not have had much—a shitty rental in a trailer park near the hospital, a beat-up old jeep that wasn’t much to look at but cranked every time I needed it, and a little calico bestie who slept curled up above my head every night regardless of who else was in the bed—but it was all mine.

Which was why I was in such a hurry to get back to Aster Valley and kick that asshole out of my place.

We’d only been dating three months. It wasn’t like a giant romance had been shattered on the floor of the Sweet Splits in Denver.

But still. I’d enjoyed having someone to come home to after a long shift at the hospital, and it had been nice not to feel so alone in a town in which I hadn’t had a chance to meet many people yet.

I’d made friends with a couple of people at work, and I’d had some friendly conversations with the couple who owned the local diner, but that was about it.

Gentry’s voice crooned from the jeep’s speakers as I drove through the dark night.

The moon was bright and clear, and the roads weren’t bad.

I’d stopped for a coffee to help keep me awake, but the anger had done a fair job of it on its own.

As I drove, I let the familiar songs calm me the way they always did.

The song “Diamond Kisses” played on repeat for a good twenty minutes as I drove west toward Silverthorne.

I imagined being the woman in the glittering snow with the moonlight shining down and the flakes sparkling like diamonds as Gentry Kane leaned in to steal a kiss.

I sang at the top of my lungs, fighting for dominance over my ancient aftermarket speakers.

We sang together about lost chances and everlasting love turning out to be a pipe dream.

I wondered if the real man behind the voice truly felt that way or if, like in his song about new beginnings, he’d ever found real love.

By all accounts he was single. In fact, there was little to no information about Gentry Kane’s private life other than the fact he lived in a huge house in the Hollywood Hills, surrounded by wealth and ease. I was happy for him. He deserved the money and fame he’d worked so hard to build.

And he deserved someone special to share it with.

Even though I didn’t have wealth or fame, I did, too.

But it wasn’t in the cards for me yet. The situation with Brian was just confirmation that my life was a shitshow and I needed to focus on one thing at a time.

Right now, it was my career and my finances.

Love could wait.

When I pulled the jeep into the gravel pad, I was both annoyed and relieved to see Brian’s car still there. I didn’t want to see him again, but at the same time, I knew we needed to make things final so I didn’t have to deal with it again after tonight.

“Hey,” he said as I came in the door. He was grinning from his spot on the couch, and I could see a movie playing on my laptop on the coffee table. “You’re back early.”

I ignored him and went straight to the bedroom to search for Dillie. Thankfully, she was curled up in a little ball under her favorite fuzzy blanket, just as I’d hoped. I peeled the blanket back just enough to run a hand over her warm fur and murmur how glad I was she was safe and sound.

And then I went back out to the living room.

“Fuck right off and get your shit out of here,” I began. He had the gall to look confused. “Your little friend from earlier sent me a helpful photo of the two of you enjoying the use of my kitchen.”

His face dropped. “That was something separate.”

“Separate from human decency? Separate from your promise of being disease-free and monogamous?”

“No. I had, like, a deal with him. He was going to fix my car for free.”

I blinked at him. “Classy.”

He stood and stretched before shrugging. “Kind of like me agreeing to fuck you for a place to crash, you know?”

My jaw dropped. I didn’t even know where to begin. “Get out.”

He laughed. “I’m just kidding. Don’t be mad. The furnace in my truck was gonna cost a couple grand. And did you see the guy? He’s hot as fuck. In fact, he asked me to see if you’d be up for?—”

“Get. The fuck. Out.” I expected to feel burning hot anger, but I really just felt exhausted. The hours of driving, the adrenaline rush of worrying about Dillie, and the double shifts I’d been working in hopes of keeping ahead of my bills had taken their toll on me.

I was more annoyed by not having a nice warm body to snuggle against than losing Brian’s company. And maybe that was all I needed to know about that.

“Where the hell am I supposed to go? It’s two in the morning.”

“Maybe mister texty-dick will give you a place to crash. Otherwise, you have your truck and your parents only live an hour away. Good luck and godspeed.”

I waited while he gathered up his shit and grumbled his way out of the door, and then I bolted and chained the fucker before sliding an easy chair in front of it.

When I finally slid into bed beside the little warm furnace of Dillie’s curled-up body, I wondered if my lame-ass night would make a good GUS song. Probably not. Nothing in my life was exciting enough for that.

The next day I went into work with the biggest travel mug of coffee I owned.

I felt invigorated. New Year’s was coming up in only a couple of days, and I’d decided to treat it like a new beginning.

New Year, new me. I was going to organize my life, starting with finding a way to make some extra money to help with my sister’s college fees and save up for the jeep repair that would probably rear its ugly head before too much longer.

I was also going to take a break from dating.

It was going to be the best year yet. I was going to take the bull by the horns and manhandle my life into the kind of life I wanted to live long term.

I would work hard, make new friends, continue my efforts to make my rental place feel like home, and enjoy each day as it came.

Maybe I’d even try to find time for a hobby.

One of the nurses had invited me to take a beginner knitting class with her at a local yarn shop in town, and I’d considered it.

My little sister loved to knit, and it’d be nice to have something like that to share with her.

I felt powerful and steady. This was going to be the year of Winter.

The feeling didn’t last. By New Year’s Eve, I was exhausted, annoyed, and lonely. So lonely, in fact, I called my mom which turned out to be a big mistake.

“How was your Christmas?” I asked, pulling the sofa blanket up higher and watching the fake fireplace scene on my laptop’s screensaver.

She sighed. It was a sound so familiar, it almost made my eyes fill.

“Well, you know how it is. Paula put me on nights, and I swear it was only to get back at me for going out with Darren and those guys to shoot pool. But she’s crazy if she thinks he’s ever going to ask her out.

Also, the furnace cut out because that damned furnace guy never did put his annual service visit on special like he’s done in the past. So now I’m going to have to pay for a repair call, and it’s all his fault.

I need to find a new furnace company, but I don’t know when I’m supposed to do that now that I’m sleeping all day and busting my ass all night. ”

As I listened to her bitch about problems of her own making, I remembered why I’d been avoiding her and why I’d wanted to move clear across the state.

“Is Summer there?” I asked, cutting her off. I should have called my sister in the first place.

Mom sighed again. “No. She went back to school early. Said there was some kind of special project she needed to get started on. What I want to know is how she has a project between semesters? Huh? Explain that to me. The girls at work said…”

Her voice drifted off as I pulled the phone away from my ear and shot my sister a text.

Why are you back in Aurora?

I brought the phone back up to my ear. “Well, I just wanted to wish you a happy New Year’s,” I said.

“You have any plans tonight?” I listened for a few more minutes before wrapping up the call.

She never asked me my plans or how I was doing, but then again, I hadn’t expected her to.

Meanwhile, there was a response from my sister.

Summer

Couldn’t spend one more night there. Thought about coming to Aster Valley, but then my roommate said she was coming back here early too. We’re doing a movie marathon with some friends.

You know you’re welcome here anytime.

Summer

I was thinking of coming to stay with you this summer. Think I can find a job there?

Absolutely, I’ll start asking around.

I reached over to unmute my laptop. Even though summer was still five months away, thinking of my sister coming to stay here lifted my spirits enough to enjoy the rest of the night.

The following day, the Human Resources department called me in and asked if I’d like to be added to the mobile OT roster covering in-home visits.

The money was great, and I could take as many cases as I wanted as long as it didn’t interfere with my existing schedule.

It was exactly the kind of extra income I needed to be able to help Summer with her school fees.

Maybe it was going to be the year of Winter after all.