Anywhere With You Read online

  Cici pushed herself up from her slumped position. “Well look at us, we should probably just go ahead and start calling ourselves Dorothy, Rose and Blanche.”

  The other two nodded and I spared them another eye roll I knew they wouldn’t appreciate.

  The wind chime clanked again, and this time it was Kellen. I couldn’t have hidden my smile even if I’d wanted to.

  Best part of my day.

  I filled a to-go cup with black coffee and snapped a lid on before I rounded the counter to meet him. The grin he wore was killer; I swear a smile like that could stop a girl’s heart if she weren’t prepared for it. Before he took the cup I offered, he swept an escaped strand of hair behind my ear and bent to briefly touch his lips to mine. Warmth spread through my body as his lips lingered and then brushed over my cheek.

  “I’ve been waiting to do that again since last night,” he murmured and then pulled back to accept the coffee.

  “Me too,” I whispered, ignoring the audience I knew we had.

  “I have fifteen minutes before my first appointment shows up, you have time for a little break?” He glanced around the shop, taking note of the lack of customers.

  “I think I can probably manage that.”

  “Slow day?” He dropped into one of the cozy leather chairs in the corner. I took the one opposite it.

  “Only the last hour. This morning was busy. You have many appointments today?”

  “Two. One’s a huge chest piece I’m starting and the other is a sleeve I’m finishing. I’ll be working ‘til at least closing, if not a little later. You want to come over again tonight when I’m done?”

  I nodded eagerly. “I can bring you dinner since you’ll be working late.” Then I felt my cheeks warm with a blush. Maybe that was a little too eager. It was odd to me that I could feel embarrassed, but I did. It was reminiscent of how it felt when you were fumbling your way through the beginning of a relationship, wanting to impress the other person, but not come on too strong or seem too desperate. Butterflies all the time. Anticipation and so much unknown. Discovering each other and losing yourself in another person, yet finding yourself at the same time. A contradiction that doesn’t make sense to anyone who hasn’t been there.

  Neither one of us knew where the road we were on was taking us, yet it was one we’d walked before. There was no one who knew me as deeply as the man looking back at me. Despite the ways the years had altered us, nothing could change that. It was like finding that old, comfy sweatshirt you used to wear every day but thought you’d lost, in the bottom of a box years later, and taking it out and pulling it on to find that it still fit the same even though you weren’t the same.

  “Or you could just come over to the shop and hang out when you close up here. Then we can grab dinner on the way back to my place,” he suggested, and I loved that he didn’t want to wait until he got off work to spend time together.

  “That sounds nice too.”

  “Ugh, I can’t take it anymore,” Cici announced. “You two are worse than a Nicholas Sparks movie. You’re killing me. I’m just going to sit here and eat this cookie and try not to throw up. Don’t mind me.”

  “Ignore Blanche,” I told Kellen. “She’s in a mood.”

  “Blanche?” He cocked one brow.

  “Yeah, and that’s Dorothy and Rose over there.”

  “That right?” he chuckled in amusement.

  “Yup, so you better up the ante lover-boy. We’re all living vicariously through you two. We need more than a few pecks on the lips, and all this mushy crap,” Cici informed him. “Give us something a little steamier to work with here.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Trinity grimaced. “I am not living vicariously through the two of them. That’s just wrong. But I’ll take a cookie.”

  “Cookie me too,” Liz held out her hand.

  Ignoring that they were eating all the cookies we were supposed to be selling, I took advantage of the few remaining minutes I had left before Kellen needed to be back across the street. “How’s the remodel coming? Did you go out there this morning?”

  A few weeks ago, Kellen made the decision to remodel the house where he grew up on Pope Martin Road. He didn’t have a lot of good memories in that house, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to sell the place off.

  It was the place where both his parents abandoned him. Then his older brother turned it into a party and drug house before he went to jail. The house then passed to Kellen, but both he and Trin had walked away from it and all the sadness and anger it held. Lately though, Kellen and I had been reflecting on the handful of good memories there. The things that made that place special were worth holding onto.

  “It’s coming along. I can’t wait to show it to you.” He filled me in on the latest work being done and asked my opinion on colors and flooring versus carpet, and extending the back of the house and building a deck, and a million other details that sounded truly amazing. He wasn’t just fixing up an old house; he was turning it into a home.

  Maybe our home one day if I dared to dream that far ahead.

  “I’ll see you tonight.” He kissed my forehead before leaving the shop and walking back across the street.

  Two

  Shae

  Present

  Things at the shop picked up as lunch time rolled around. The demand for iced coffees and smoothies was high due to the hot temperatures outside. We managed to sell a few books with the coffee, two of which were mine. Not that I advertised that. They were written under a pen name. Only a few people were privy to the truth of my secret identity and publishing deal. My second book was set to release this summer in just a few short weeks.

  I’d probably never be J.K. or Nicholas Sparks and have my books turned into movies, but I’d found a bit of success with my first novel, the one that told my and Kellen’s story. Hopefully the new book would do as well.

  During the lulls, I signed a few more copies of my novel in the back and shelved them to replace the ones we’d sold while I waited for six o’clock to roll around. Another long day was about to come to an end.

  “Before you go, I have the contract for our booth at the Fourth of July festival. I just need your signature on it. It’s in my purse around here somewhere.” Cici and the other two were poring over a catalogue that wholesaled gifty products. We were playing with the idea of stocking coffee and beach related items. Mugs, frames, tote bags and the like; just a few cute things to add because retail items were where the money was.

  I searched and eventually retrieved her purse from where it was tucked on a shelf beneath the counter instead of in the back where the rest of us stowed our things. As good as Cici was at handling the business side of things, you’d think she would be more organized and orderly. It wasn’t the case. Hurricane Cici was more like it. I dug the papers out of her bag and with them came a formally addressed envelope, the seal broken, a fancy invitation half sticking out. I couldn’t help my curiosity and peeked at it. It was a wedding invitation.

  “Oh, who’s getting married?” I asked her.

  She glanced up from the catalogue, mild annoyance on her face. “My sister.”

  Ignoring the fact that this was the first I’d heard of a sister–Ci didn’t talk much at all about her family or her life before moving to South Carolina–I scanned the invitation in my hand. The date was set for the last weekend in July. That was one month away, and it was in California. That she’d grown up there was about the only detail from her past she’d revealed.

  “Are you going?” It felt like a silly question, because why wouldn’t she go to her sister’s wedding? But the way she was practically glaring at the embossed scrap of paper in my hand, had me asking anyway. That and the fact that she hadn’t mentioned she’d need the time away.

  “Wasn’t planning on it, no. I’m not big on weddings.” She shrugged it off and went back to the pages in front of her.

  I didn’t even know where to start with that. “You don’t like weddings?” Who does
n’t like weddings?

  “Mostly I think they’re a bunch of bullshit.” At that, even Trin and Lizzie looked up from the catalogue.

  “How can you think weddings are bullshit?” I practically sputtered.

  She looked at me as if the better question was how could I not.

  “Check the current divorce rate and then ask me that again. And of the marriages that don’t end in divorce,” she straightened indignantly, “how many of those spouses cheat? How many stay simply because it’s easier than leaving, or because they’re too moral to leave? Or because it’s financially safer to stay, or because of kids, or because they’ve just become too complacent, or they’re afraid to leave and admit they made a mistake? Hell, how many people only get married in the first place because it’s what’s expected? Get married, pop out kids, live that American dream,” she snorted, shaking her head as if at the ridiculousness of it all, and then her features hardened and her voice dropped to a bitter whisper. “Marriage is a joke.”

  I could tell arguing that point would get me nowhere. She believed her own words and that made me sad for her. “That’s a really depressing outlook to have.”

  She simply shrugged again and dropped her gaze back to the page she’d been eyeing before.

  “Even if you don’t like weddings, it is your sister.”

  “Doesn’t change anything,” she muttered without glancing up.

  “Seriously?” I knew all about family dysfunction, but still, it was her sister’s wedding. “You’re really not going to go?”

  She stood and strode toward me. “My sister and I aren’t exactly close.” She snatched the invitation from my hand. “I haven’t spoken to her or any of my family in years.”

  “But, it’s her wedding,” Lizzie jumped in. “Even if you don’t think so, that’s a pretty big day for her. I can’t believe you’d want to miss it.”

  “Look, my family is made up of a bunch of assholes and I don’t really relish a weekend stuck at Grandma and Grandpa’s vineyard with the lot of them.”

  “They’re that bad?” I grimaced.

  “They’re worse. They were happy to see me go, and I was happy to be gone. Believe me, no one actually wants me there.”

  “But they sent an invite, so maybe it’s an olive branch.” People could change. Until recently my own relationship with my mother, the woman formerly referred to as The Ice Queen, was what you might call strained. Now though, we were both trying.

  “More likely it was intended to rub my face in how well my sister has done for herself.”

  “So then, attend the wedding and show them how well you’ve done for yourself.”

  Ci let out a weary sigh, “Look, I get that you mean well, but I promise you, my parents aren’t going to see me and think I’ve done well for myself.”

  “But you have.”

  “Not per Neil and Regina Rhoades’ standards. My family comes from money, not as much as yours, but they still had very high expectations for their children. It’s safe to say I missed the mark by just a bit.”

  “So, screw their expectations, but they’re still your family, and the only one you get. And if you don’t want to go alone, I’ll go with you.”

  Her brow lifted. “You do realize the wedding is in California.”

  “Yes.” An idea started forming in my head. “We could drive.”

  “What?”

  “It’s perfect. I have the book signing in St. Louis on the fifteenth. That gives us a week to get from Missouri to,” I glanced at the invite now sitting on the counter, “Lompoc. Where is Lompoc?”

  “Santa Barbara County.”

  “Then let’s do it. I’ve always wanted to take a cross-country road-trip.”

  “That’s crazy, like walking into the lion’s den stupid. With the exception of my Aunt Liza and my brother Mitchell, they’re all pretty shallow and despicable human beings.”

  “Well those two exceptions sound to me like two reasons to be at that wedding.” I could tell she was wavering, which meant part of her wasn’t as against going as she wanted to appear. Family was still family and as much as we could pretend not to care, it wasn’t that easy to just turn it off.

  “Your weekend trip to St. Louis is one thing, but we can’t both just take two weeks off,” she argued.

  “Why not?”

  “Yeah, why not?” Lizzie chimed in. “I think the two of us are capable of handling things if we bring on more help like you suggested.”

  “I–” She was running out of excuses. “But you were going to take that trip to St. Louis with Kellen. That weekend was for you two.”

  “He’ll understand and he can still fly in for the weekend if he wants to.”

  “Or you could ask him to go on the trip,” Trinity suggested. “It’s probably safer than two women driving across the country alone, and I’m sure he can give himself the time off.”

  “Because nothing would be more fun that being a third wheel on that love bus,” Ci snorted.

  “We just need to get you a fourth wheel,” I smirked, the idea already changing shape in my head.

  “Let me just pull up my Tinder account and see who’s available for a romantic getaway,” she said mockingly.

  I gave her a pointed look. “Or you could just ask Luke.”

  “What? Luke? No.”

  “Why not? He’s the perfect choice and can take the time off.” Considering he was loaded and worked for himself. “You even said he rarely goes into the club anymore. So, what else is he doing with his time?”

  “I’m not going to ask him. Besides, his brother invited him to go to Cancun. He’s not going to pass that up.”

  “Ci, I think Luke would do just about anything you asked.”

  Her face pulled into a tight frown. “Get that kinky shit out of your head. I told you, we’re not like that.”

  “Even if you’re not like that, he’d do it for you. And tell me he wouldn’t make perfect arm candy at the wedding; successful, from a wealthy, affluent family, hot as hell. You could do a lot worse. And who else would you rather face your family with?” And maybe on this trip they could sort themselves out.

  “I won’t deny it would be fun to play boyfriend with him at the wedding and shock the hell out of my parents when I tell them he’s an Anderson, but I doubt he’d agree to the charade. You should forget you ever saw the invitation.”

  “Ci, maybe I’m wrong,” she gave me a no shit look that I ignored, “it just seems to me if you truly didn’t want to go, if your family really was nothing to you, you would have thrown the invitation away. Instead you’re carrying it around in your purse. I get that family is … complicated, but when have you ever backed down from anything?” I arched my brow at her in question. I’d never seen her as anything but sure of herself until today.

  Her forehead furrowed and her mouth pulled into a tight light, then she let out a little huff. “Why does this matter so much to you?”

  “Maybe I’m just seeing life in a new light. I’m all about those second chances these days.” I reached inside another pocket of her purse and grabbed her phone. I tossed it to her. “I dare you.”

  Her frown transformed into a fierce glare. “You’re evil Shaeleigh Bradford.” She started tapping at the screen and next thing she was putting the phone to her ear. I knew as soon as he answered because her eyes flared with panic for a brief second. Then she leaned back against the counter, fixing her face into a bored expression. She was trying to pretend she didn’t care, but I knew better.

  “Hey, how do you feel about road trips?” I wished I could hear his side of the conversation, but I just hung onto Cici’s words, trying to glean his reactions.

  “Wanna pretend to be my lover so I can shove it in my family’s faces at my sister’s wedding in a few weeks?” Well, it couldn’t be said that Cici was one to beat around the bush. “Oh, and it’s in California, hence the road trip. That’s Shae’s brilliant idea by the way…” Her eyes lifted to the ceiling in annoyance at whatever he
was saying.

  “Obviously, I don’t sound thrilled about this. There’s a reason I don’t speak to my family … Why am I going then? I don’t know, ask Shae. She seems to think deep down I want to go … What’s in it for you?” she asked almost shrilly. “A trip to California, jerk.” Then she sighed, “Fine, you’d have my eternal gratitude … Not enough? You’re a dick and if you don’t agree I’m going to give your mom your house key so she can drop by for visits whenever she fancies.”

  Well this conversation was going well.

  “I’m not joking … Ask nicely?” She glowered, but this time I knew it was meant for Luke and not me.

  Trin and Lizzie snickered quietly to themselves as I bit back my own chuckle. Cici turned that glower on us.

  “Fine,” she huffed into the phone. “Luke, will you please pretend to be my boy toy at my sister’s wedding? … NO? You just said if I asked nicely,” she growled into the phone. She listened to whatever his response was, her expression getting scarier and more intense by the second until I knew she was wishing she could reach through that phone and squeeze him by the balls; not a gentle, lover’s squeeze either.

  “I’m not saying that,” she snorted angrily. A few seconds later she let out a very frustrated sigh, “Luke, will you please do me the honor of accompanying me to my sister’s wedding as my pretend, amazing, sexy, debonair boyfriend?” I got the feeling ‘pretend’ was her adjective, not his.

  “Good,” she clipped and then hung up on him. I could imagine Luke laughing at his end. Her eyes snapped to me once more. “This is your fault. I still think this is a bad idea and now I owe that arrogant prick a favor.”

  I grinned. “You’ll thank me later, I’m sure.”

  “Don’t hold your breath,” she grumbled and glanced down at the invitation now resting on the counter. “I guess I’ll mail the RSVP tomorrow.” As annoyed as she was pretending to be, I could tell a part of her was excited. I’d learned enough about Cici to know that if there was something she truly didn’t want to do, no one and nothing could make her.