Page 1 of Where There's Smoke…
Prologue.
Phoenix“Phee”Preston-May 10th, 2024
It’s been a little over a year since I’ve stepped foot into Tucker—a small yet progressive town in southeastern Louisiana. I moved away right after my grandfather’s funeral and haven’t been back since. He and I were very close, and I considered him my best friend. We bonded over our love for fishing and being in nature. He always had a joke to tell and wisdom to give. To my sister and me, he was our rock. He raised us mostly by himself after our parents and grandma were suddenly taken away from us by a drunk driver when we were six.
That night suddenly replayed in my mind, and I couldn’t help but sigh. Even after all these years, the memory was still so vivid it made my heart race. I could still remember when we told them goodbye and went back home with our granddad, who had agreed to take us home early after a full day of community Thanksgiving activities. I remember me and my sister whining because we wanted to wait for them, but we were both slowly growing tired of being out all day. So, we said our goodbyes, without realizing it would be our last time.
It took years of therapy for me and my sister to fully process our emotions about suddenly losing our parents and grandmother. However, our Granddad was there with us every step of the way. He was the best person in the world in our eyes. Even though he didn’t know the first thing about raising two girls, he did his best and he did a damn good job if you ask me. Neither of us ever got into any serious trouble, and we both graduated with honors.
He was also understanding and accepting of us, no matter what. When I came out to him back when I was eleven, he hugged me and told me that he loved me unconditionally, regardless of who I liked or how I identified – and for that, I will always be grateful. He moved us to Tucker right before my sister and I started middle school because he heard of its progressiveness from his son-in-law, our Uncle Sol.
Everyone here loved and respected him, and it wasn’t just because he was the town’s fire chief. He was genuinely a kind and caring person and never hesitated to help anyone in need. Hell, I ended up following in his footsteps because I loved how much he loved being a firefighter. I remember all the rides he’d take me and my sister on in his truck. I remembered all the times he’d rescued people from fires. I wanted to be just like him and worked hard to achieve that. I’m so thankful that I was lucky enough to get to work beside him for a few years before he retired. Those were undoubtedly some of the best years of my life.
Honestly, I loved this town so much and hated that I’d been gone for as long as I had been, but I couldn’t bring myself to come back knowing that my grandpa was gone. I only decided a week ago to move back when my uncle, the current fire department chief, called with a job offer. I wasn’t going to take it at first, but my sister begged me to come back home. I refused at first, but then I lost my job, and figured that was a sign.
So, here I was.
Back in the small town where I’d spent most of my childhood.
I groaned as I pulled up to the cafe where I was supposed to meet my twin sister, Raven. I’d spent most of the day unpacking and then procrastinating. I didn’t officially start working until Monday, so I had all weekend to get reacquainted with the town I ran away from a year ago. I sighed as I looked around the nearly empty parking lot. It was well after the lunch rush, so I figured most people had gone back to work. I exited the car and locked it before entering the café; a smile stretched across my face as a familiar face welcomed me.
“Well, well, well! Look who finally came back to see me,” the owner, Maddox, says as he comes around the counter to pull me into a hug.
I met Maddox a couple of months before I moved away. He’d just opened his cafe, and I’d stop by every morning to get breakfast for me and my grandpa. We quickly became friends. He was a cool dude and always welcoming to everyone around him. I liked to think of him as a good friend, and we even kept in touch while I was gone. So, it was nice to see him in person again.
“It’s good to see you back,” he smiles as we break apart. A slightly serious look flashes across his face, and he pats my shoulder. “How are you holding up? I know coming back here isn’t easy.”
“I’m good,” I assure him with a sigh. “Yeah, it’s hard, but I can’t stay away forever, right?”
“You can’t, and now that you’re back, I know that you’ll never want to leave,” he smirks, and I look at him with a raised eyebrow. “Once you’ve had a taste of the new strawberry shortcake we have, leaving town will never cross your mind again.”
“Are you tryna bribe me with sweets?” I laugh, and he nods, motioning for me to follow him over to the counter.
I greet one of the workers, Noah, as Maddox walks around to pull out the most mouth-watering strawberry shortcake I’ve ever seen. It looked fresh and almost cartoonlike, the whipped topping perfectly piped onto the yellow sponge cake and decorated with fresh strawberries. Strawberry shortcake was a weakness of mine, and he knew it.
“I know that look,” he teases as he cuts me a slice and plates it. I pull out my wallet to pay, but he stops me. “Think of this as your ‘welcome back’ gift.”
He hands me the plate along with a fork, and I dig in, letting the sweet cake and strawberries dance along my taste buds. I was in heaven as I savored every piece of the sweet treat. I’ve had this dessert a million times before, but there was something different about this particular slice. As cliche as it sounds, it tasted almost magical. I knew that Maddox got his desserts from a local bakery, and they were always good as hell, but this one was something special. I finish the cake and lick the fork clean before looking at him again. He just stands there with a smug, satisfied grin.
“Maddox, you’re no good,” I grumble, placing the plate and fork on the counter. “You know that shit is my weakness. It’s different, though. Did the bakery you usually buy from change the recipe?”
“See, that’s what I wondered too,” he said, seemingly excited that I noticed. “I mean, the original version was always good, but there’s something extra the owner’s granddaughter adds in.”
“The little kid is cooking now?” I question because the only granddaughter I’d ever seen when I visited the last time I was here was a little girl about ten or eleven. I mean, I hadn’t visited much since it opened about a month before I moved away, but I did have my fill of strawberry shortcake before I left town. “Damn, she’s talented.”
“No,” he chuckles, shaking his head. “Kennedy is her great-granddaughter. She has a granddaughter around our age named Angel. Angel Savoie. I heard she’s a trained pastry chef.”
“Oh,” I say as the bell dings, signaling someone has entered. My phone chimes, and I pull it out of my pocket to see a message from my sister telling me that she’ll be about 15 minutes late because she had to pick her kids up. I shrug to myself and am about to reply when a scent catches my attention.
My eyes are pulled away from my phone as the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen stops beside me. She smelled like sweet vanilla, and my head started to spin as my eyes locked on her. I knew I probably looked like a dumbass just standing there staring, but I just couldn’t look away. Damn.
Standing almost half a foot shorter than me, she was plump and curvy, blessed with thick thighs, a perfectly round ass, and nice-sized breasts. She was wearing a cropped shirt that brought attention to her chubby tummy and the belly ring that was snug on her belly button. She paid me no mind as she conversed with Maddox about something. Meanwhile, my eyes traveled up to her face, and again, damn…this was one gorgeous woman.
Round face, chubby cheeks, and a smile that gave the sun a run for its money. I was entranced. Her mocha complexion was blemish free and seemed to glow in the light of the cafe. She suddenly turned to me, and I was immediately lost in the prettiest hazel eyes I’d ever seen. And if her eyes weren’t hypnotizing enough, the round-framed glasses just accentuated her features. Damn, she was adorable.
“Um…hi?” she finally says, snapping me out of my trance. I lick my lips and nod, words suddenly evading me. “Right, okay. You were staring like you got a fuckin’ problem or something...”
“You’re beautiful,” I say without thinking. Surprise dances across her face before her expression changes to an embarrassed one. “I’m sorry for being so forward.”
