Page 20 of The Summer for Us (Golden Falls #1)

WESLEY

“Okay if we keep this door propped open while bringing the furniture in?” My eyes darted between my sister and Juliette, who were both staring at me like deer in headlights. I had no clue what they had been talking about, but I clearly interrupted something.

Not getting an immediate response, I reached down for the door stopper on the floor to keep the door propped and returned to my truck.

“A good morning would be nice instead of just barging in!” Lily called after me.

Yeah, it would’ve, but the only thing consuming my mind right now was the smell of vanilla and daisies.

Juliette’s perfume was everywhere, including my truck.

Between that and the sky-blue dress she was wearing, I had to fight to keep my eyes on the damn road so I wouldn’t get us into an accident.

Juliette was summer in human form—bright, beautiful, tempting.

I didn’t know how, but it was easy for her to strike up a conversation with everyone in town.

Fuck .

I was distracted. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt the type of rush I did when Juliette texted me. It was…nice.

But we weren’t friends, and I was putting my foot down about that. Neighbors, yes. And we could be friendly . But not friends.

I wanted to show her I was serious about putting the past behind us and starting fresh, so it was easy to offer to help with the furniture. Plus, it was on my way into town and a way to help out my sister.

Even though I was closer in age with Jade, Lily and I were similar in that we both had an entrepreneurial mindset.

But she was a hell of a lot more impressive than me.

She was creating something unique on her own, whereas I was building on what our father had done.

Both required work, but Lily’s dedication and determination were unmatched.

“How can I help?”

I looked over my shoulder to see Juliette. She stepped in front of me, leaning on her toes and peering into the truck bed. What was it about this woman that constantly captivated my attention? Nothing else existed when she was around. I’d never felt this way before.

“I can grab the table first and then we can bring in the loveseat together?” Juliette’s words took me out of my thoughts.

She turned around, now facing me. She was trapped between me and the back of the truck.

Her lips parted ever so slightly as she looked up, her tongue darting along her bottom lip.

Did I have any semblance of an effect on her like she did on me? I doubted it, but I couldn’t help to wonder anyway.

“Yeah, sounds good to me.” I cleared my throat and stepped to the side. I created some distance between us, but she was still everywhere.

“How do I…” she trailed off, hand tugging on the tailgate’s handle.

“Here,” I said, stepping closer and setting my hand over hers, “you pull up like this.” I guided our hands to release the latch. She watched as the tailgate dropped down smoothly and quickly moved her hand away. She chewed on her bottom lip, distracted.

“What’re you thinking about?” I was curious and hadn’t had a chance to ask her back in my truck.

“Oh, nothing,” she said with a wave of her hand.

I raised my brows, which got a soft laugh out of her.

“I was thinking about how it’s nice to be on the same page as you. For once.”

“Yeah, it’s not too bad.”

“You just gotta put up with me for a few months. Summer always flies by, and I’ll be back in Chicago soon enough.”

I parted my lips to speak but decided against it, not sure how to respond. That’s what I wanted, right?

I helped Juliette unhook the cables that were keeping the side table in place. She then got it out of the truck with ease.

“I’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder while I started to get the loveseat ready for us to bring in next.

It wasn’t that I doubted Juliette—well, maybe I did at first—but she was surprising me.

I expected her to stand back, which would’ve been fine, but she was ready to help without me even asking. She was putting in the effort, not just with Lily’s café, but with getting to know Golden Falls and its residents. I saw it at Hal’s and at my parents’ house.

I wanted my initial impression of Juliette to be right—that she was here for the summer and would forget about this town as soon as she left. That she’d turn her back on everything from the summer and move on with ease.

I was starting to second-guess my first impression of her.

And that scared the shit out of me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose with a groan as I leaned back in my desk chair.

I thought after finishing payroll I’d be able to play a game of pool with Cooper and then head home for the night.

But I still had to unbox the new inventory that came in today, and I wanted to check in with Louise to see if she needed anything.

I normally didn’t let the various tasks that came with owning a business pile up, but June had been a blur. I loved Lake Ridge, and I wouldn’t change this job for the world, but we were growing faster than I could handle, and I needed a couple more people on my team who I could trust.

Luckily, I’d hired two college students who were in town for the summer to help out around the bar, mainly placing my inventory orders, handling deliveries, and freeing up some of my time so I could focus on moving the expansion forward.

They wouldn’t start until early next month, but it’d be a weight off my shoulders.

Eliza was going to be bartending soon, which would be a huge help.

Then I’d need to figure out a plan for the fall. One thing at a time.

A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts.

“Come in,” I called out.

“Figured you were still in here,” Cooper said as he opened the door, keeping it propped open as he leaned casually against the door frame. “You doing okay?”

I let out a sigh. “Yeah, I’m fine. Another busy day. I’ll have some more help soon, which will be huge, especially having Eliza.”

“I’m glad it worked out.” Cooper nodded. “And are we still on for the Fourth? You bring the beer, and I’ll bring food to grill up?”

“Of course, we’re still on,” I responded with a grin, my mood lightening at the thought of spending a day out on the water with my best friend.

It was one of my favorite ways to pass the time, and Cooper and I had taken that boat out countless times during our friendship.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll have the cooler and everything, too. ”

“Is anyone else coming?” Cooper asked, and for a split second, I wondered if he’d already found out Juliette was going to be there, but then he added, “Like is Jade going to be in town?”

My brow furrowed, and I shook my head. “I don’t think she has plans to visit any time soon with her work schedule. You should give her a call sometime. You two talked on the phone all the damn time while we were in college.”

Cooper’s jaw clenched, and his whole body looked tense. He ran his hand along the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, that was then. This is now.”

I raised a brow. Okay, then. I wasn’t sure where that came from, but it was true they spoke way less often these days—if ever.

Things seemed fine with them when Jade was in college, but did something happen before she went off to California?

I parted my lips to ask, but decided not to pry.

If he wanted to talk about it, I was here.

“Anyways, I’m going to head out. Early day tomorrow, and I need my beauty rest,” he said, his grin returning, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes.

I shook my head with a chuckle. “You and your damn beauty rest,” I muttered. “Yeah, rain check on the game of pool, then? I still have some shit to do before wrapping up.”

My phone screen lit up with an incoming text.

“Who’re you texting? You hate texting,” he said, craning his neck to see whose name flashed on the screen.

“No one. I was just?—”

In a couple of quick, long strides, Cooper crossed the distance from my door to the desk, swiping the phone before I had a chance to grab it. What were we? Five years old?

“Oh, interesting,” he drawled, a smirk on his lips as he passed the phone back to me. “Didn’t realize you were a damn liar.”

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes.

“So, you and Jules are on texting terms, which is great timing, actually. I wanted to give her the list of trails we’d talked about at dinner. You wouldn’t mind giving me her number, would you?”

I sat up straight in my chair, looking between my phone and Cooper. I couldn’t tell if he was messing with me or not—or if it even mattered.

“Don’t mind at all,” I clipped, my cheek twitching as I picked up my phone. Yes, I fucking minded. Juliette was already everywhere—I didn’t need her texting and falling for Cooper.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Why do you think I’d care?”

He shrugged, his smirk turning into a full-on grin as he tipped his chin toward my hand. “Maybe because of the death grip you have on your phone.”

I swore under my breath as I tapped on Juliette’s contact info, seeing the two photos she’d sent moments earlier. One of the café and the other of the cat room with the new furniture and existing furniture rearranged. It looked great. The changes Juliette made fit the space and Lily’s vision.

I copied her number and pasted it into my texts with Cooper, my thumb hesitating over the send button before tapping it.

Cooper fished his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans, seeing if the text came through. “Thanks, man. Get home at a reasonable hour.” He gave me a nod before walking away.

The rest of the night, even as I made the short drive back to my place, the only thing on my mind was if Cooper had texted her and what the fuck they were talking about.