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“It was good actually, the new team is a bunch of teenage girls, so wish me luck with that - But they all have talent. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.”
Slumping onto my sofa as I turned on the electric fireplace and pulled a blanket over my legs, I got comfortable as I waited for her reply.
“I saw that Jones’s boy is back in town.”
Of course, she had already heard, mom knew everything, she was part of the local church, the PTA, the neighborhood watch and the supermarket clerk most likely spilled the beans when she spotted him driving through town, this morning. Most likely how Crystal knew as well.
She knew of our history, and had always hated him, or at least that’s what she told my seventeen-year-old self when he broke my heart.
“Yeah, I saw him, twice actually.”
“You did!?” She shouted and I had to pull the phone away from my ear a little.
“Where?”
“Mom, inside voice.”
“Sorry. But, please explain.”
“He was at the rink this morning, offering to train the kids’ ice-hockey team then again earlier at Crystal’s café. I didn’t stay long for a chat.”
“Well, you stay one hundred feet away from that man you hear me. I won’t have him trying to worm his way back into your life after what he did.”
“Mom, that was years ago, it’s long forgotten, and anyway, it will be hard to stay away from him when he’s at my place of work four times a week.”
She sighed and I heard her gulp back some of her drink, most likely drinking wine as well. We may have been mother and daughter, but we were also the best of friends. I told my mother everything and she had been my rock during Luke’s passing.
“Well, anyways, your father wants to know are you coming to dinner this weekend?”
“Sure, Sunday, ok?”
“Sunday is perfect! We look forward to it, now get some shut eye, I bet you’re tired from today. I have an early morning planned, the girls and I are meeting to go for a morning walk.”
After saying goodnight and our I love you’s, I called Daisy to follow me upstairs and I climbed into bed, knowing full well she would sleep on the bottom curled up against the back of my legs. Luke’s side was still untouched and undisturbed, it may have looked funny to anyone on the outside, but I hated sleeping on his side as it never felt right.
“Goodnight, Daisy.”
CHAPTER 2
Samuel
Tossing my rucksack onto the B&B bed, I flopped on the edge of it rubbing my face in my hands. I didn’t want to be here, this was the last place I wanted to be sent, but my manager, Chris and his team of bitches didn’t give a rats ass about my feelings. So off they boarded me onto a plane and well, here I am in the tiniest bedroom with a leaky tap in the bathroom. Great.
Seeing Kim was a surprise to say the least, but not that much of a shock. She hadn’t changed, and I doubt she ever truly would. And of course, after she graduated from university she ended up back here, everybody did. Well, not me, I avoided this place like the plague.
I had yet to tell mom and dad I was back in town, but I knew one way or another they already knew. The church goers in this town were the biggest gossips I had ever come across, worse than the journalists I tussled with. Honestly, I didn’t want them to know and I didn’t fancy bumping into them either. They were the main reason I hated coming back here.
Glancing at the alarm clock, it was just past six and I didn’t think it would be much fun to just sit here and wallow in self-pity, I had a better chance of doing that at a bar. And since this place was in the middle of town, I had the pickings of many places to hide out in.
Putting on my black leather wool lined jacket and wooly hat, I headed down main street, keeping my head low and my jacket collar up high, so no one would try to stop me to say hello or notice I was really here. I wanted to keep a low profile as best as I could. Rachel at the rink knew that she had to sign an NDA before I arrived, but there is no way a whole town would do that.
Especially, a town that hated me. A town that was happy to be rid of me, even if I was a star athlete and brought a lot of tourism to its door. The mayor, the police chief, and everyone else of authority hated me. But then, who could blame them? I was the worst kind of kid in a small town like this and when everyone found out what I did to good old Noah Morgan’s daughter, well that just made matters worse.
I did so many awful things, treated people as if they were easily replaced. I treated Kimberly like a puppet on a string and would enjoy watching her dance and do everything I asked, and for what? Five minutes of my attention? I was such a jerk. When deep down, I was pretty sure I loved her, in that teenager ‘bully the girl’ you like kind of way. Breaking her heart was the worst thing I could ever have done and I have had to live with that ever since.
Spotting a lit-up café near the entrance of the town park, I could see a few bodies in the window and although I wanted something stronger to drink, a regular coffee and maybe some food might help get me out of this mood.
Pushing open the door, it was to my delight I saw Kim sitting there along with a beautiful dog laying at her feet. She however didn’t seem that pleased to see me and sure enough after exchanging a few short words, she left without even glancing back.
