Page 7 of Wildly Yours (Owl Creek #3)

I pull the roast chicken out of my oven and place it on the stove top to cool for a few minutes. The air in my house smells like rosemary, garlic, and victory.

I spent an hour down at the Senior Center during their weekly community dinner serving food and talking to people about our town, and what they are hoping for in the next three years.

More than one person told me they are already planning to vote for me, even if Blake is promising to lower taxes.

I don’t know how he thinks he’s going to do that when we are already spread thin with our fire, school, and administrative services.

The poultry scissors slice through the chicken with ease, and I transfer a few pieces to my plate before adding potatoes and broccoli, and grabbing my glass of red wine.

I walk the food to my small dining table and look around my house.

I have everything I’ve ever wanted—a house, a successful family business and important job as mayor, and my friends Zoe, Renee, and Avery.

Everything I want, except one thing. My throat catches and my hand wobbles as I set down the plate, covering my mouth to suppress the sob that rises suddenly from my chest.

All my success means nothing without the thing I want the most. But every time I try to find him, to find The One, all I end up finding is another man I can’t trust. Just like I can’t trust Cody.

I splash some water on my face in the kitchen, and dab it with a napkin. There’s nothing I can do about it tonight. I’m too tired to jump on the dating apps and start chatting with someone. So I eat my dinner, turn on a romcom, and try to forget the way it felt to be with Cody again.

***

I wake up with my face planted against my arm. A quick survey of my living room reveals that I fell asleep crying over a meet-cute gone wrong. I drag myself to the bathroom to clean up before I collapse into my big, lonely bed.

Falling back asleep is nearly impossible as I replay my meeting with Cody. Was he about to tell me what happened all those years ago? Who he was with that made him break off all ties with me?

I count the number of minutes I have before my alarm goes off. Not enough time. Never enough time to get it all done, and now I have to worry about tourism, and replacing Hadley, and the fact that Cody waltzed back into my life after seven years of awkward silence.

I blink.

Where is that noise coming from?

My alarm is screeching and as I reach to turn it off, I see that I overslept.

I race through my morning on a mixture of adrenaline and inner conflict, and get to the store to open it when Hadley arrives. She’s still avoiding eye contact with me, and it makes our normal routine awkward.

“Do you mind watching the store while I run down to the bookshop? I forgot something while I was there yesterday.”

She gives me a quintessential teenage half-smile.

“Sure.”

“Coffee?”

“Sure.”

Ever since Zoe took over the bookshop, I’ve been there at least once a week getting coffee at the little cafe inside. It’s important for me to support the local businesses in town, and to be honest I need a friend after the day I had yesterday.

The cherry trees that line the sidewalk to her store are in full bloom, filling my view with pale pink blossoms. Bees are buzzing in the warm morning air, the birds are singing their spring mating songs, and I’m reminded of Cody’s bioacoustic research.

I didn't always understand what he was studying, but I always admired that he did it.

Zoe is behind the counter making an espresso when I walk through the door. She’s all smiles and rosy cheeks, and I feel a pang in my gut when I see Cody’s twin, Caleb, planting a kiss on her head and gulping down the shot she just poured.

“Morning, Serena!”

Caleb gives me his dimpled grin. The same grin that I used to live for on Cody’s face.

“Anything interesting going on at Town Hall these days?”

“Nothing to report.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Why?”

“Just thought you had an incident with a mountain troll yesterday.”

“Is that any way to talk about your brother?”

“I see you know what I mean. And by the way, he’d do the same in my shoes, trust me.”

“Thank you for your concern, but the mountain troll didn’t do any damage. Don’t you have some cars to fix?”

“Trying to get rid of me so you two can talk?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“Fine, fine. But listen, he means well. Even if he doesn’t know how to show it.”

“Bye, Caleb.”

He kisses Zoe again, this time like he’s about to go off to war, and my jealous pang turns into a full blown eruption in my chest.

After Caleb struts out the back door I level my eyes on Zoe. “How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Don’t be silly, Zoe. Every woman in Owl Creek wants to know your secret. How did you win Casanova’s heart?”

“Easy. I trusted that the person he was with me, was the person he was at his core.”

She hands me a steaming mug and I count the seconds before she empties the coffee basket to make herself a cup.

“But how did you know it wasn’t all for show to get you in bed like every other woman he’s been with?”

“Because I believed him when he said he wanted to be different.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. So what did happen yesterday with Cody?”

“Not much. He wanted to talk about some park business.”

“What’s the deal with you two? Caleb won’t tell me anything. Brother code and all.”

“We have history.”

Zoe walks me over to one of two tables that sits in the small cafe area of her store.

“That’s obvious. What happened back then?”

“I don’t really know. One day we were…close. And then he went away. I don’t know where he went, or who he went with, or why. And when he returned he called me and told me he couldn’t be around me anymore. No explanation. Just radio silence.”

“What a dick!”

“You’re telling me.”

“So he ended your friendship without telling you why. But is that all there was between you?”

My heart skitters in my chest. No one knows about us.

Not about that night. Not about our whispered promises.

Nothing. Everyone just knows we were friends and then we weren’t.

After all this time, I have started to think I made it up.

That we weren’t something important to each other.

That we didn’t have a shared dream. That he wasn’t the sun in my sky.

I shrug and trace my finger along the indent in the wooden table.

“Alright, well if you need to talk about it—”

“I’ve never been so humiliated in my life. I let down my guard and he fooled me. He led me to believe he was different. But he’s just like everyone else. Not to be trusted.”

“Everyone?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I? Listen, Serena, if there is one thing that I learned so far from my relationship with Caleb, it’s that you have to put yourself out there to get what you want, even though people are going to hurt you.

That’s all there is to it. No matter how much I love Caleb, and he loves me, we’re going to hurt each other.

But we keep showing back up to do the work and regain trust when it’s broken. ”

“Cody hasn’t done anything to try to regain my trust.”

“But is it even possible?”

“What do you mean?”

“You just said that no one can be trusted. Do you believe that you can change your mind about someone? Are you capable of trusting?”

Three fluorescent lights. One half-empty sugar jar.

“Thanks for the coffee, Zoe. I have to get back to the store. Hadley put in her notice yesterday and I need to start looking for her replacement.”

She grabs my hand before I can stand up.

“I’m sorry if I pushed too far, but I’m not sorry we had this conversation. Think about what I said. If you want to talk more you know where to find me. And if you want some relationship book recommendations, I’ve got a whole section in the back we can look at.”

“I appreciate it.”

I swallow the last of my coffee, leave some money on the table, and head for the door.

“Crap! I almost forgot. I need a coffee to go for Hadley.”

“Sure thing. Hey, there’s a kid who’s been here looking for a job. Want me to send him your way? I have his contact info in the back room.”

I feel my shoulders unclench a little.

“That would be great. If I can get someone hired before she’s gone, she can help train them.”

“Why did she say she was quitting?”

This is what it feels like to be a deer in your headlights. Body frozen. Brain spinning.

“She said I don’t trust her.”

“Um…”

I grab the coffee before she can say anything else and race out the door.

My heart is pounding and I don’t know how to make it stop. I don’t know how to lock it down because the safety box in my mind refuses to open. I try counting my steps back to the store but my thoughts are interrupted again and again.

It’s me. I’m the problem. But how do I even begin to tackle this?

Boom.

I smash into a body as solid as a wall. Hadley’s coffee sloshes out of the cup and covers my sleeve.

I look up to see who I ran into, and lock eyes with him.

Dark brown with a ring of gold around the iris.

Another day of hair growth on his jawline.

Pine tree sap on the hands that are gripping my shoulders.

He’s touching me.

Cody is touching me.

My brain and body are not syncing up. My mind wants to yell in frustration, and my lady parts want to climb this tree of a man.

He drops his hands to his sides.

“Are you okay?”

“I am. Well, except needing a clean shirt. Are you okay? This is two days in a row you’re in town.”

“I had an idea.”

We’re still standing close. I can smell the sweet perfume of evergreen trees on his coat. I can see dark circles under his eyes.

“That what kept you up last night?”

“How did you—”

“It’s in your eyes. You always looked like that after… What was your idea?”

“I found a grant, but there’s a community match requirement. Caleb is making money on his YouTube channel. I thought maybe he could help me raise some money to save the forest. You know, leverage his popularity.”

“I think we need to jump through some legal loopholes before we have a Save The Forest Bakesale.”

“We?”

“The City. We need to figure out who has jurisdiction, if we need approvals, where the money would go, things like that. You know, official channels.”

“So you think we could do it?”

“I still have to rummage through the basement today to see what other records I have.”

“Want help?”

There’s a skirmish in my body. Both sides are filled with righteous indignation.

My heart is screaming to push him back to the dark corner where he belongs so I can go back to looking for my perfect guy on the dating apps.

The rest of my body has other plans, every one involving finishing what we started all those years ago.

My body is winning.

“Sure. Meet me at Town Hall. Same time as yesterday.”

I go home and change my shirt. It takes twenty minutes to pick out something respectable that also makes me feel sexy, because I'm thinking about seeing Cody later today, and I forget to get a new coffee for Hadley.

Damn Cody Barone.