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“You should get to your father before he hurts himself.” I motion my head toward Mr. Buckley, who has lost his patience waiting for his son and has climbed out of the car. Both of his arms are resting on top of the hood of the car, his shoulders rising and falling quickly as he tries to catch his breath.
“When can I see you again?”
“Never.”
“It’s a small town, sugar. I’m sure we are bound to run into each other once or twice.”
“If you see me, please turn and go the other way.”
“Now, I know your momma taught you better manners, Marissa. Ignoring someone isn’t very neighborly.”
“You know nothing about me, Finn. I haven’t seen you since you graduated high school with my sister.”
“I beg to differ. I know you, Marissa. Maybe not as well as someone who’s been around Magnolia for the last five years, but I see you.
“Proving you wrong is going to be my new favorite hobby. You can argue with me all you want, but I like a challenge.”
“If you are done with your mental sparring match, I’d love for my son to grab my chair. No need to fuss, but I can’t make my way up the ramp and into the house myself.” Mr. Buckley’s voice breaks the spell between the two of us, and I jump backward. Instead of having a few feet between us, my face is only a few inches away from Finn’s, and my hard nipples brush against his chest as my chest rises and falls quickly.
“Duty calls,” Finn groans before planting a kiss on the top of my head.
My heart stutters at his words, and a nervous tension gathers in my stomach. I don’t want to see him ever again, but I don’t really have a choice in the matter. We live in a small town, where everyone takes care of each other. With Mr. Buckley being sick, I’m sure my family will be here plenty, trying to help where they can. The last thing I want to do is be alone with him right now, if ever.
“I have to head to the station and report for my shift. Let your parents know I’ll call the alarm company and report this as a false alarm, but they might want to call them, as well.”
“See you around, sugar.”
I don’t say another word as I turn on my heels and head directly for the car. Tears prick my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall as I climb into my SUV and head toward the station. Finn has affected me in a way no one else has for years. He can push all my buttons to where I can’t help but fire back with a snarky retort. He brings out the worst in me. Some would call that passion. But me, I call it nothing but trouble.
CHAPTEREIGHT
FINN
It’s been three weeks since I came back to Magnolia, and I haven’t run into Marissa Flores once. It’s not for lack of trying. I figured it would be easy to create a situation where I could accidentally run into her in town. There are only so many places she can hide from me, but it seems I underestimated how badly she wanted to avoid me.
I’ve been going back and forth to the doctors with my parents. We even scored an appointment with a specialist in Nashville. Pops’s prognosis is good, but there’s a long road to recovery ahead of him. I knew this before I even came home, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I assumed I’d be on my way back to my life in Texas before the end of the month.
Ma has been telling me it’s fine for me to go, that she and Pops will be fine without me. Which I’m sure they will be, but if I’m being honest with myself, now that I’m back, and after having seen Marissa again, I don’t want to go back to Texas. I didn’t have a life there. I had a job, a nice apartment, and even a few buddies I could grab a few beers and watch the game with, but there was something missing. Apparently, that missing piece was Marissa.
“The usual?” Peyton asks from her spot behind the counter.
Not only is she the owner of this bakery, but she’s my best chance at finding a way into Marissa’s heart. Her red hair is piled on the top of her head, a few tendrils falling to frame her face, and her bright green eyes shine brightly as she hands an older couple a large box with two white bags resting delicately on top.
I nod in response to her question as I slide my card across the counter. Every day, like clockwork, I come to grab a coffee from My Soul to Bake, hoping to run into Marissa. This is her best friend’s bakery, after all.
Set in a remodeled vintage gas station on the central corner of our little town, this place looks like it was taken straight out of a movie. It’s been around since before I was born, but it didn’t turn into the thriving hot spot that it is today until Peyton Atkins took over. She’s turned this place into an award-winning pastry shop.
I should be ashamed of all the things I’ve been doing for a chance to catch a glimpse of Marissa around town. The biggest being hanging out in her best friend’s bakery first thing in the morning every day.
After I got my dad settled in the house, and I apologized profusely to both for triggering the alarm system, my mom filled me in about everything that had changed in Magnolia since I left after graduation. Most of it was inconsequential. Mr. Jenkins passed away a few months ago and willed his beloved bookstore to his niece, but she has yet to step foot in town. There’s a new real estate development company that has been buying up land all around the county, wanting to capitalize on our southern charm. And most importantly, Marissa’s best friend from a neighboring town moved here and took over the old bakery.
Using that tidbit of information, I came up with a plan to see Marissa. I come to the bakery in the late morning and grab a cup of coffee before taking a seat at a table near the window, giving me the perfect view of anyone coming in and out of the stores along Main Street as well as an unobstructed view of the parking lot. It’s pathetic, I know, but I’m slowly going out of my mind while waiting to run into her. I’ve even contemplated triggering the alarm again just to see if she’ll respond.
“Stalking is illegal, you know.” Peyton’s voice brings me back to the present as she flashes me a smile and hands me back my card along with a receipt.
“I have to actually see her in order for it to be stalking, wouldn’t you agree?”
Peyton discovered, quicker than I anticipated, that I was here because I was trying to accidentally bump into someone. She tried for days to get information out of me, but I refused until she managed to put two and two together. It might have also had something to do with her friend avoiding the place like the plague ever since I started waiting for her every morning.
