Page 1 of Handling Skylar
Chapter 1
SKY
I strolled through the concessions and stopped and bought some cotton candy, my one true vice at these type of events. The smell of hot buttered popcorn was in the air as a hunk of the spun sugar melted on my tongue.
As Suttontowne Days wound down, the Sutton Family Speech closing the festival, loomed ever closer. The celebration used to be called Founder’s Day after Colonel Beauregard Sutton, the lauded founder. Not revered anymore, I’m afraid. River Pearl Sutton had revealed the terrible nature of her ancestor a couple of years ago. With that disclosure, the festival now focused on the quaint small town nestled about thirty minutes from Lafayette in Hope Parish, Louisiana. Tonight featured the Suttontowne Days Dance and BBQ that would be held at the town hall to officially end the festivities.
The Suttons were at the top of the social ladder here, even with their ancestor’s fall. Not much had changed, except a tarnishing of their good family name. The Suttons owned and operated Vermilion River Pecan Company with a store in the heart of Suttontowne that sold all their nuts and Braxton Outlaw’s special sauces. The tartar sauce was particularly good, and the brand was popular giving the Suttons a boost. They had some beautiful pecan groves not far from their impressive plantation home just at the outskirts of town.
It was hot as hell in August, but, as the day spiraled down, the heat got bearable. In the distance, I could hear the soft sounds of the Outlaws performing. I loved listening to them sing, but wanted to get a good place to hear Chase Sutton’s speech. The Suttons always had something interesting and profound to say. I hadn’t missed it since I settled in this small town three years ago.
That had been a dark, dark time in my life. I had been wandering, drifting for years after the death of my brother from an accidental fall from our main barn’s hayloft, then the fire that burned everything to the ground and took my parents lives. His death did something terrible to my parents. Then I lost everything, them, the ranch. The love of my life leaving town without a word as to why or where he’d gone. The accusations and my short stint in jail. Finding some place to call home was something I needed desperately.
I made my way down the pretty streets, always clean and manicured, to the town square set up with white chairs in row after row, a podium at the head. This was the center of town and the tree-lined streets flowed around it, the sway of Spanish moss hung from the trees like tattered banners.
The speech was going to be smack dab in the town square now that Chase and his ole’ pickup truck had leveled the statue of Colonel Beauregard Sutton at the beginning of the summer. It seemed sad and…empty to me now, and I could envision a gazebo and maybe benches. Turn the area into a cute park. It certainly would add ambiance to the town and spruce up the square.
The courthouse, a brick and terracotta structure that had been restored and expanded in recent years, made a nice backdrop with its stark white columns and copper domed roof, the flags unfurled in the breeze. There was a row of brick town houses to the left, downtown to the right with its charming storefronts. I could see the Blue Coyote Spa from here. I had a prime spot, sandwiched between a coffee shop and the excellent diner.
When I moved my eyes back to the stage, I saw Chase, Samantha near him.
Chase Sutton and Samantha Wharton had fallen in love and stirred up the populace for a few months. This town was due for some more drama, and I wondered where it was going to come from. Probably the Suttons, the family was at odds, especially Chase and Jake.
Speaking of Jake…he was standing near the podium, too, nodding to something his father was saying, and he didn’t look happy. In fact, I hadn’t seen him look happy in all the time I’d known him. Talk about a brooding man. I had to admit it, I wanted to make him smile. I could even close my eyes and envision what it would look like. I sighed. Just as devastating as the man. I had no doubt.
I shouldn’t do that. Because whenever I closed my eyes and thought about him, I ended up kissing him in my mind and that was only going to lead me to a heartbreaking, unrequited love. Again. It was unlikely he was going to leave town like Seth had, but I had to be smart here. I suspected that he would soon propose to Anna Kate Montgomery. My heart twisted hard thinking about how smug she would be with his diamond on her finger.
All the tragedy in my life taught me that nothing lasted forever.
I forced my eyes open before I mentally kissed Jake’s sensuous lips and got an eye full of him because, yeah, I was still staring at him. The want congealed into a hard ache of frustration.
Jake had something I had never seen before and maybe all this staring was just because I couldn’t look away or figure him out. He’d snared my heart and seemed determined to break it and not even be the wiser.
His dark hair, not quite blond, not quite brown, was cut short and spiked off his forehead, deep-set, silvery blue eyes, with thick, dark lashes, his features bluntly handsome, wide nose, high cheekbones, a faint shadow of beard stubble along his jaw, and his neck a thick column flowed into some impressively wide shoulders.
His mouth was a work of art, both lips were full—yeah, I shouldn’t go down that lane.
“You see something you like?” Anna Kate Montgomery sneered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied keeping my voice neutral.
“Liar,” she hissed and glanced at Jake. “He’s a beautiful man, isn’t he?” she said, her proprietary tone boastful.
I didn’t answer, my cheeks growing warm with an angry blush.
“So good in bed,” she purred, her voice getting breathless. “Forceful and a dirty talker.”
Oh,crimeny.My jaw dropped open, then clicked shut. I had to swallow hard as she caught me off-guard with her low whisper, her eyes shining. I faced her and raised my brows. “I thought ladies didn’t kiss and tell…wait, I guess that means you’re no lady.”
“No, I’m not.” Her eyes hardened. “I’m a Belle and that’smuchmore important. But, take a good look. He’s so far out of your social status, he might as well be on the moon.”
“I’m thinking of the moon right now, but it doesn’t include space travel.”
“Now who’s not being a lady.”
“I think we’re even there. I’m just a simple cowgirl. Not as lofty as a Belle, but I’m content with that.”
Anna Kate looked me up and down taking in my outfit, a blue and white ombre-colored gauzy wrap over a white T-shirt with “Wild One” in big capital black block letters, a lightning bolt bisecting the O and a pair of short, cut-off denim shorts complete with fringe to my sassy, ankle-length midnight blue cowgirl boots with white lightning bolts stitched into the dark leather.
