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I turned and let my gaze wander around the crowd and the festival going on around me. Jenn's booth was getting a lot of attention and I'd had to hide a few times, to avoid seeing or talking to people I remembered from back in the day. Jenn had no problem selling her sweet confections to them though, and they talked about school board meetings and field trips as if they'd always been the best of friends since the beginning of time.
I know her business depended on being friendly with anybody and everybody, but it made me sicker than the overly sweet cupcake I'd devoured in three seconds flat.
There was a BBQ food truck parked across the way from us, and the unbelievable aromas drifting from it made my mouth water. I hadn't had breakfast that day – I really hadn't felt like eating and wasn't sure I could actually keep anything down if I'd tried. I was sick with fear and dread at the idea of making an appearance publicly for the first time since I'd moved back. I worried what people would say or think. There was a line of people lined up and waiting at the truck, backed up almost all the way to Jenn's booth. I noticed that the people walking away had big smiles on their faces as well as racks of ribs and massive pulled pork sandwiches oozing with delicious, red sauce in their hands. It made my stomach growl so loud, I was surprised nobody commented on it.
“Good to see Driftwood is still in business,” I said.
My mouth watered as I remembered the famous cocoa infused barbeque sauce that you couldn't get anywhere else. Everything was made in house, and had been passed down from generation to generation of the Dierks family.
“Last I'd heard, Paul was the last of his family,” I said. “Who too
k over the business? He sell to somebody before he passed?”
Paul Dierks, the locally famous BBQ man, had died about two years ago, leaving his business without an owner. After hearing of his passing, I'd assumed I was never going to taste the sweet barbeque chicken I loved so much as a child ever again. He'd never married or had kids – after him, there was no one to pass down the family recipe to.
“Oh, didn't you hear? The McCormick brothers took it over after old man Dierks passed,” she said casually. “Yeah, Cason used to work there as a cook, and apparently Paul took him under his wing. Treated him like the son he never had.”
“The McCormick brothers are still around?” I asked.
That was an interesting piece of news and I strained my neck, trying to catch a glimpse of who might be working the grill. All I could see were flashes of a white apron. The crowd milling about, as well as the small windows of the food truck were obscuring my view of the person inside.
“Uh yeah,” Jenn said. “Where would they go? Black Oak is their home.”
“I dunno,” I said. “Figured they'd get football scholarships somewhere and get out of Black Oak. At least Quinn.”
“Yeah, he did,” Jenn said with a shrug. “Notre Dame. But he blew out his knee and ended up coming back home.”
“Oh,” I said, suddenly feeling sad for the guy – he deserved better than that. “Quinn was actually nice to me.”
“Hell, all of them are still good guys,” Jenn said, removing Marty from her breast and straightening her shirt. “I went on a date with Ben before Martin and I got back together. We had a good time, but it didn't end up going anywhere. Obviously.”
I looked over at Jenn and tried to imagine her with Bennett McCormick – the oldest of the brothers. He'd been a senior when we were freshman, and the last time I saw him, he'd been dating one of the cheerleaders. Typical jock move. Back then, he'd never given us the time of day. “You went on a date with Bennett McCormick?” I asked. “And you never told me about it?”
Jenn shrugged. “Like I said, it didn't go anywhere. He was nice, but I was already interested in Martin by then.”
Back in high school, there was no way Jenn or I would have chosen Martin Drake over any of the McCormick brothers. No girl of sound mind would have. The McCormick brothers were the most gorgeous men in school. They were practically royalty in Black Oak and had their pick of the girls. And for the most part, they'd been cocky assholes. But like I'd learned, a lot had obviously changed since those days. And Jenn was happy, so that was all that mattered.
A mischievous little grin spread across my best friend's face. “Why don't you go over there, Hailey?” she said. “I'm sure they'll just die when they see you!”
My cheeks burned and flushed with color as I looked down at my hands. “They wouldn't even know who I am,” I said. “They never did back then.”
“You'd be surprised, sis,” Jenn said. “Seriously, go say hello.”
“Maybe later,” I said, no longer straining to see if the brothers were in the truck.
I didn't want to look too desperate. Besides, I may have been single, but I was far from ready to start dating again. Just the idea of entering into a relationship so soon after getting back to town made my stomach roil and a wave of nausea rise up within me.
Not that I stood a chance with any of the brothers in reality, anyway. Even if I looked a lot different than I had back then, my transformation was nowhere near as dramatic as Jenn's. She was like an entirely new person.
And me? Well, I was apparently still very much me.
CHAPTER TWO - CASON
Preparing for the Bonfire
“Think I could get some help here?” I asked.
I pushed the door to my brother's bedroom open. Bennett – the oldest of the three of us – was already up and at the restaurant. But Quinn, the middle brother, was sleeping in.
