AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One
Harley
My name isHarley Marley and yes, school was as bad for me as you think it was. The only thing that got me through was my best friend Peyton and our plan for our future.
I met Peyton when we were in first grade and we hit it off right away. We’ve been best friends ever since. We were both a little chubby and we shared a passion for food and a similar sense of humor. She’s always had my back and I’ve always had hers.
We live on a small island, Kiawah Island, off the coast of South Carolina where the population is less than 1,800. The island is only 13.5 square miles and it’s one of those places where everyone knows everything about everyone else. It’s like most tourist towns with busy seasons and slow. Most people come to Kiawah for the beaches and the nature preserve that takes up most of the southern point and we get a lot of people from Charleston who have summer homes here since it’s only about a half-hour drive.
Peyton and I lived close to each other which was common on our island given that most houses here are on the east side, next to the Atlantic Ocean. We were both only child’s and we grew up at each other’s houses, spending most of our time in the kitchens testing out new recipes. We would talk about how we would design our restaurant and what we were going to make once we had it open.
Our families became close too since they were always picking us up from each other’s houses. Both our parents retired a couple of months ago after we graduated from high school and they bought houses next to each other in the Florida Keys. They’ve been on a cruise around the world for the last month but they still check in every week or so and see how the restaurant is going and if we have everything we need.
Our love of cooking and baking certainly didn’t help us lose any weight and we both still carry a little extra weight around our middles. We’re both a little bigger than most girls that run around in their swimsuits around here.
I don’t mind my curves though and Peyton is always the prettiest person in the room no matter her size. Besides our curves, we couldn’t look more different. I have stick-straight blonde hair and blue eyes but Peyton is a bombshell with fiery red hair that always has the perfect beachy wave to it. Her eyes are green and always shine so bright and full of life. She used to always have boys chasing after her but I’m not sure that she even realizes just how smoking she really is. As her best friend, it’s my job to make sure she knows and I tell her every chance I can get that she’s a total babe.
Our personalities are also polar opposites. Peyton is calm and laid back. She always has both feet planted firmly on the ground. She’s happy and sweet but tends to keep to herself. Me, on the other hand. I’m loud and outgoing and I can be a bit of a drama queen. Out of the two of us, I’m the dreamer and she’s the realist. I think that’s why we work so well together. I help us to dream big and Peyton makes sure that we have a realistic plan to make those dreams come true.
We always knew that we were going to open our own restaurant and bakery together and we spent summers and after school working so that we could save up. There’s only one diner and one café in our town and we’ve worked at both of them over the years. The diner might be a little bit bigger but the Beachside Café is way nicer. The couple who sold it to us had just remolded a couple of years ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Fisherman who owned the Beachside Café retired a couple of months ago and we jumped at buying it from them. We’ve been the new official owners for the last four months and we used the last of our savings, the money we got from relatives for our graduation, and some money that our parents gave to us before they retired and moved to the mainland and started traveling, to buy the café and the store next door. We’ve been working on making the store next to the café into a bakery and hopefully, we’ll have it up and running in another month or two.
The Beachside Café is painted in bright colors and looks like most tourist restaurants in most beach towns. Peyton used to joke that she was going to go blind staring at all of the bright colors but I love it. It’s cheery and welcoming and most importantly, now it’s all ours. There are booths lining the walls and tables scattered across the floor. A counter with stools separates the main room from the chef’s and staff’s area. There’s a large window that allows the customers to see the chef working and for the chef to keep an eye on the crowd if need be. For the most part, Peyton and I just use the window to talk to each other when the other one is working.
We each have set shifts but since we’re both just getting started as restaurant owners, we both still take other shifts working as waitresses. We need to save money so that we can keep making a profit, especially for our first year. We need the money for the bakery right now too and every penny counts.
Peyton has always loved cooking and I have always loved baking. While we can do both, it just makes sense for each of us to do what we’re passionate about. Peyton hates waking up early and I know that’s a big part of why she would rather work at the café than the bakery.
I love getting up with the sun though. There’s something so peaceful and relaxing to me to be up before everyone else. To be in the kitchen creating new pastries and breads or perfecting old ones. To knead the dough and create something out of the simplest of ingredients.
I make stuff for the café now but it will be different once we have the bakery set up. We’re both at the café now, with Peyton cooking and me serving as a waitress. I look over to see Peyton’s wavy red hair tied back as she flips something in a pan. She looks up and smiles at me as I pretend to clean off some of the tables in the café while I wait. Things are getting a little slow around here and I know that I should head home and catch up on my sleep.
Most people probably think that I stay to keep Peyton company and lord knows there’s always something else to do around this place but Peyton and I know why I really stick around at night.
The truth is that I need my fix. He comes into the Beachside Café to eat every night and I stick around so that I get to see him. He’s been the love of my life, my one and only, my obsession since I was fourteen years old.
Sheriff Cooper Thomas.
He only recently became the sheriff. When I first met him, he was just Cooper Thomas, the new kid. He moved here when he was seventeen. His parents had just retired and wanted to live someplace with a slower pace. They moved here over the summer but I didn’t catch a glimpse of him until school started. He had gone to the small high school along with every other kid on the island.
I can still remember the first time that I saw him. We had shared an English class that year and I almost failed the class because I couldn’t pull my eyes off of him. He was tall, probably about 6’5” and that was the first thing I noticed about him. I had hit a growth spurt that summer and shot up to 5’8”. I had been so self-conscious about my height and how I towered over all of the other girls and some of the boys. With Cooper though, I would never feel like a giant. He towered over everyone too and his height had made me feel small and feminine.
He had walked into the classroom, dipping his head to make it through the doorway and his blonde hair fell forward, covering his forehead. His body was slim but strong and looked athletic. I wondered if he swam or played any sports. He had looked up and his clear blue eyes had met mine. My stomach dropped like I had just gone down a hill on a rollercoaster and I felt it then. This connection between the two of us. I could feel the blush spread across my face and down my neck and he had smiled at me, just for a second, before he turned to say something to the teacher.
I tried at every opportunity to talk to him. He had been nice to me but he had been nice to everyone. I used to fantasize about him asking me out. He would realize that he loved me too and we would be high school sweethearts. He would wait for me to graduate and then we would get married and start a family. It would be perfect; I just knew it.
I was devastated when he graduated after that year and moved away. He headed to Charleston where I learned he enrolled in the police academy. I tried to follow him on social media but he never got into it. That or all of his accounts were set to private because I could never find any trace of him.
I had only seen him once in all of those years that he was away. He had come back to visit his parents for Christmas the first year that he left. I had run into him at the little general store where everyone gets groceries. I had been so happy to see him but he couldn’t seem to get away from me fast enough. I didn’t see him for the rest of that trip and soon he was back on the mainland and out of my reach once again.
He came back to our small island about three months ago. I thought at first that it was just to visit his parents again but then he had surprised me by announcing that he was running for sheriff. I remember being calm when they had announced that he had won. That meant that he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
I had gone to the small ceremony they had when he was sworn in and that was the first time that I had seen him since he came home for that Christmas. He looked the same as when we were kids. He had filled out a little more and seemed tanner. His hair was a little shorter than when he was a kid but all in all, he was the same Cooper that I saw every night in my dreams.
I had thought that now that he was back, we would have our chance. I was eighteen now and legal and we could finally be together. Imagine my disappointment when he still didn’t ask me out. I tried to convince myself that he just needed a week or two to settle in and then he would be knocking down Peyton and my door to sweep me off my feet. It’s been months now though and while we talk every day when he comes into the café to eat, it never goes past that.
I know that we belong together. I can feel it in every bone in my body. I just need to figure out a way to prove to him that there’s no one else for him but me.
