Page 14 of Lines We Cross
The rest of the day had me tied in knots. Max had left but his presence stayed with me. He’d put me off kilter, awakened some part of me that was better off sleeping my life away, stirred up emotions better left alone. I handled the rest of my clients on auto pilot and hoped they couldn’t tell.
The next day was slightly better, but I still felt off. Mostly due to the fact I knew I’d be seeing him again soon, whether for more physical therapy or around town. I wouldn’t blame him if he found a new therapist, but you couldn’t hide in a town the size of Nickel Bay.
Anger and sadness still dueled for first place in my gut, but now I had embarrassment added to the mix. I didn’t have time for any of those three, so I did what I could to get busy and forget about it all.
Saturday was the perfect day for sleeping in, but not this weekend. Today was the Bigfoot Craze Daze Festival. Yep, our town went all in on the Bigfoot thing. Quite a few Nickel Bay citizens considered themselves expert Sasquatch trackers. While I’d never seen one, nor believed in their existence, as a business owner I wasn’t above playing along and helping sponsor the event to get in front of new clients. My booth would hopefully see a lot of foot traffic, but not of the Bigfoot variety. Just the first of many Bigfoot jokes I was sure to hear today.
I got up before the sun, putting on my work polo and a pair of jeans that made my butt look good if I did say so myself. I ate a hardboiled egg for protein, grabbed a metal flask with ice and water, and got in my beat-up sedan to head to Pacific Sunrise for the rest of my breakfast. Plus I’d be picking up a huge box of donuts and croissants to have at my table. The entire park on the edge of town would be decorated for the event with street vendors, food trucks, bouncy houses, and kids’ activities. The mayor would say a few words, the high school marching band would play a few songs, and then the horn would sound to begin the forest race.
Having happy citizens was a good thing, but hiking through the forest while people try to jump out from behind massive trees and scare you didn’t sound like my idea of fun. Although I’d miss climbing over the walls and cutting across fallen tree trunks. Too many memories of doing just that as kids with my brother and his motley crew of friends. I’d simply stay at my table all day handing out stress balls, talking about little aches and pains I could help with at my clinic, and avoid the activities like the plague.
“Thank you, Ms. Miller,” I said to the lady holding the bakery door for me. She’d moved to town a few years back and worked at Knot a Chain, the local grocery store. I didn’t know her all that well yet. Maybe I could change that at the festival. She nodded before heading outside, her feet covered in slippers of some sort that looked like Bigfoot—well, feet.
This town was getting crazier every year. Karen helped the man in front of me while I looked around the room, seeing several people I knew. I always liked this bakery. The light pink decor with accents of a dusty gray just seemed so right for a place that sold sugar and carbs. Previously, the diner, Two Nickels, was the only place to grab a coffee to go and quite frankly, their greasy omelets were far superior to their generic coffee. Then Pacific Sunrise came in and stole the coffee crowd with their locally sourced beans and fancy espresso machine.
“What can I get ya, hon?” Karen beamed at me from behind the glass counter. She was always so happy, even at the crack of dawn.
“I preordered a box of assorted pastries and then a large coffee with nonfat milk would be great.” Karen spun around to get my box of goodies and I moved down the line to the register.
“Skylar Rae?” a deep voice said from behind me.
I turned around and froze in my tracks. Standing there in a pair of pressed slacks and a button-down shirt so fancy I was afraid to breathe on it was Heath Aston. He’d changed over the years, grown several more inches and a bazillion more pounds of muscle. His jet-black hair was gelled back, making him look more Italian than his nonna who was born there. But his eyes, those dark obsidian pools of deep mahogany, were the same.
“Heath?” A smile crept over my face as I flashed back on all the years of following him and my brother around town. He’d always been so quiet, yet always had a kind word for me. Too bad I hadn’t developed a crush on him instead of Max.
I closed the distance to give him a hug. His arms closed around me and I took a whiff of cologne probably more expensive than my car outside. While I was happy to see him, there was no pulse tripping over itself at our nearness like there was with Max.
He pulled back and smirked, those eyes twinkling. “I thought there might be more to Max strong-arming us all into moving back home.”
I tilted my head, ignoring the way a flush of pleasure ran over my skin. “I highly doubt I’m the reason for it. If anything, I’d be a reason for him to run far and fast.”
Heath just grunted. “Where you headed with a huge box of pastries?” He nodded at the box Karen had brought to the counter.
I pulled my wallet out and paid while answering Heath. “Off to the Bigfoot Festival. You coming too?”
He picked up my box for me, along with his bag of pastries, leaving a fifty-dollar bill on the counter. “Headed there right now to corner the mayor and discuss moving some of my business to Nickel Bay.”
Wow. I guess the crew really is moving back home.
I followed him out of the shop with my coffee. “Pretty sure you just bought a few hundred donuts back there.”
He pushed the door open and gestured for me to walk through first. “I don’t like carrying all that change in my pocket.”
I snorted. “Says the rich guy.” I unlocked the back seat of my car and held the door open for him to deposit the pastries.
“I work hard and make good money. I’m allowed a few eccentricities.” He shut the door and pulled me in for another hug. “I’m going to follow you to the festival. Put my arm around you. See if I can rile up Max.”
There it went again. That full-body flush. Which was stupid since I couldn’t stand Max. What would I care if he got jealous? In fact, maybe flirting with Heath would be just the thing to irritate him.
6
Max
Coach A:I have a meeting with Nolan Santo later today. Wanted you to hear it from me first. Keep me updated on PT progress.
Well, that was on my list of top ten worst ways to wake up. A text from our team manager startled me out of my dream. The one where Rae looked at me with softness in her eyes, begging me to kiss her. Less than a week in my childhood bedroom and I was already having the same ol’ dreams about Rae, except this time around she was all grown up and more beautiful than any one woman had a right to be.
I ran a hand through my hair and resisted the urge to pull it out by the roots. Coach was talking to Santo? He’d been nipping at my heels for two straight years. The guy was younger and faster, and with another year or two of experience on third base, he’d be a better player than me. I flopped back on the bed and debated staying there all day to wallow in my misery, but my knee sent out a signal of distress.
