All I Want Is You (A Chester Farms Novella) (2 page)

She continued cleaning, unaware of the fist pumping happening in his head. "Yeah, a little. Maybe some patience and learning to wait for what I want. My Freshman year I got a job at a specialty clothing store and the elderly couple who owned it taught me a lot more than any school book and a classroom would. They retired and closed, but after that, I worked in a restaurant. Now that was a job. Hard, but I loved it. Whitney's been a big help too. She's learning the books on the farm, so she's given me some tips to make a few things easier."

"Whitney would give you the shirt off her back." Usually. Not today since she’d stood him up.

"What about you? College?"

"No." He stroked over his face with a chuckle. The day he got out of high school was the day he'd told himself he was done sitting for most of his life. Sitting at school. Sitting at his mom's house. Too much damn sitting. It was time for
living
. He was ready for the big truck and the boat behind it. His own four-wheeler for the deer woods and for damn sure his own house with a big screen TV so he could watch all the football he wanted. A pretty girl with him completed the dream. Couldn’t have none of that without a job. "I got hired by Harmon Lyons at eighteen and they teach on the job for advancement."

Her eyes widened. "Oh nice. I’m jealous. So you’ve been there two years? Three?"

"Two and half years." Two and a half long, long years. He took the job with the promise of advancement and good paychecks. The kind of paychecks to live good on and have those dreams. So far he had the house with a small TV and a pickup—though not the lift kit, roll bar or accessories. They were coming. He glanced to Tasha and turned away nearly as fast. One day.

He breathed deep. It was going on three years now of waiting on those big checks. Sometimes it seemed like they’d never happen, then again, it was like the good life he’d been dreaming of was right there. Tasha stared after him and he picked up his sweeping. He wasn't going to get into his problems with a woman he didn't know. Hell, he didn't get into it with people he did know. "What did you get a degree in?"

"I didn't." She bit her lower lip. "I had a full paid ride to college.” She lifted a shoulder. “Scholarships. I still worked every chance I got when I wasn’t stuck in class. Sometimes I had two jobs and was able to put all my paychecks back. I dropped out and opened this place."

“Two jobs and school? You’re serious about not sitting still.”

A little chuckle left her. “I get too restless and it worked out. I never thought I could own a business this fast, but halfway through my freshmen year of college, I did some figuring on paper to see what I needed. I knew what I wanted and went for it.”

“That older couple you worked for must have really been an inspiration.”

Her brows lifted, almost like she was surprised, but he didn’t know why. “They were. I could tell them everything about what I wanted to do. They helped me see it was possible when most of my life I was taught it wasn’t.”

“That’s awesome.”

She winced. "I hope so. I'm out of options if it doesn't work out."

"There's always something." That's what his momma always said about everything. He found the house here in Bella Warren. Low rent, big enough for him. Close enough to his family, but far enough away and down the road from his best friends. It was a couple months to skimp by on little money until he was able to practice enough to pass a welding test. Then a big job came through at work and there wasn't any extra time for teaching. A year later and he was still skimping. There’s always something. This hurdle was just another something that would soon be over with.

"No, you don't understand, it has to work." She cleaned another window and stopped. "Can I tell you a secret?"

She could tell him all her secrets. "Sure."

She put the rag and bottle down and faced him. She took a breath and brought her hands up to her mouth. "My parents don't know I'm here. They think I'm in my third year of school at Magnolia, and it’s going to flip their lids when they find out."

Not what he thought. He told his parents some things, didn't others. So long as he wasn't in jail, wasn't doing drugs or whatever, he had his freedom and their support. "When are you going to tell them?"

A dreamy expression crossed her face as she walked around the shop and glanced around. "I don't know."

"I'm sure your parents will understand." They were parents. That's what they did.

"I doubt it." She looked to the floor and shook her head. "The plan said I was supposed to get a real job doing something sensible, but God, just the idea of sitting at a desk for the rest of my life?” She shook her head. “No way. I had enough of that in Kindergarten to last me a lifetime. So here I am scooping ice cream.”

Ah. The parents must be the source of telling her she couldn’t. What kind of dickheaded parents would do that? “They’re parents. They might get mad for a little bit, then be fine.”

“Ha!” She shook her head. “My brother didn’t follow the plan either. That was four or five years ago. They still haven’t forgiven him.”

“Damn.” He cleared his throat. Shit. Don’t cuss in front of women. His momma made that clear, too. “I mean, that sucks.”

“We used to do stuff together as a family until he left and they didn’t let him back. When I was in high school, it didn’t bother me too much. I had friends and I was busy and the family thing was one less thing to do. It really didn’t hit me until a year ago when my grandma died. I was at the funeral trying to remember the last time we were all together, and I had to really think about it. It wasn’t all because Tom was gone, but it was like, one more piece of the puzzle was missing from the whole picture, you know?” She rubbed her hands down her hips and grabbed her rag and spray bottle. "So anyway. That's my dirty secret. Do you want something to eat? It's on me. Least I can do for your help."

He shook his head. Not because he didn't want to stay, but he wasn't here to bum food. "That's okay."

"Come on." She gestured with a tip of her head. "Let me fix you up with a sundae."

He looked up from the floor, planning to tell her no. It was right there on the tip of his tongue, but she just had these eyes that made it seem like his feet weren't on the floor. "Okay. I just need to do something with the pile I swept."

"Dust pan is over here." She hurried to the front, turned the locks on the door and shut off the front lights, plunging them into a low glow because of the bulbs in the refrigerators over the ice cream. Just enough light gleamed across the room, it was like moonlight over a pond. With just the two of them. And she stood close enough to touch.

The counter was always between them, forcing a distance. Another step and she could be tucked in under his chin. He swallowed as she handed him the dustpan. Thoughts and ideas ran all over his mind and he should really leave before saying something stupid. He was surely due for something dumb to come out. "I can get this and go. You're probably tired and I'm not sure where Whitney ended up."

That smile he tripped into continued on. "Not until you've had your sundae. I insist. And it'll give Whitney a little more time."

The urge to get out of there and grab some fresh air was strong, but yeah okay, if she insisted. He bent and swept up the pile. She directed him behind the counter and he tapped the dust off in the trash can. Behind the counter wasn't all that different than in front of it. Doors to access the ice cream, and shelves. Sprinkles, flavorings, and several other bottles were neatly in a line on one shelf. Another shelf held rags and another was trays of scoops.

He followed her to the big, open doorway leading to the back and she stopped. She tucked that hair back behind her ear again and slowly turned around. "I forgot you were going to see my other dirty secret."

"More than dropping out of college?"

"More...embarrassing." She turned and put her hands up facing him. "Wait here."

Chapter Two

Eeeeeee!
Tasha turned away from him and stepped through what used to be a storage room and was currently serving as her bedroom, living room, closet and everything else but the bathroom. Normally it wouldn't be so bad, but this morning she'd had a laundry day. Which meant she'd returned from washing, dumped her clothes across the bed, and left them all unfolded and tossed across everything. She grabbed her basket and raked clothes back in it and jerked the bed covers up straight. She slid the basket on the floor on the other side of the bed where it wouldn't be seen. Bras hung from a line stretching from corner to corner across the room and she yanked them off one by one and stuffed those under the bed.

"Tasha, I really don't mind going if this is a bad time," he called from behind the doorway.

"No!" she yelled over her shoulder and collected up cups and bowls and set them inside the big freezer along the wall that held her stock. "Just a few things I forgot about."

She kicked a pair of flip-flops against the wall, stopped by the mirror and yeah. Her shoulders sank. Hair was tight behind her head and it had been looking that way all day. No point doing anything there now. She adjusted her boobs in her bra, tugged her shirt straight and turned the corner with a clearing of her throat.

He stood right where she'd left him. Hands were shoved in his pockets and his left eyebrow had a cowlick she wanted to smooth with her thumb. She gestured through the door. "Come in."

His brow lowered over his dark eyes as he stepped through and into her, well, her house. As soon as he cleared the opening and entered her room, that brow released and lifted. "You live here, too?"

She rubbed her hands over her hips. "I'm just your regular old college dropout skimping by."

"Right."

"Have a seat. I'll grab your sundae. Unless you'd rather have a cone?"

"Sundae is fine."

She slipped out of the room before she saw a grimace or wince or something to show he couldn't believe what she was doing. Everything about moving across Arkansas to Bella Warren and doing this had sounded amazing to her friends.

Until she actually did it and they found out how she was living. Somewhere her fun idea and bravery for doing what she wanted turned into crazy. And not that laughing, excited kind of crazy. The sideways glances and backing away kind. They'd backed themselves right on out the door and never returned.

She grabbed a bowl from the shelf, added two scoops of cookie dough since she already knew that was his favorite, and topped it with chocolate syrup, cream, and a cherry. Almost like he usually got to go. He'd always quietly walk up to the counter, make his order and leave her lusting after the shape of his backside on his way out the door. This time he wasn't going anywhere.

The bowl was cold between her too warm hands as she stood in the doorway trying to catch her breath. She could do this. And she would not look stupid or crazy or any of the other things her so-called friends from school had claimed.

She walked in and put the bowl on the table and lowered in the only other chair. The one next to him. "There you go."

His eyes widened as he took in the bowl. There may have been a couple unnecessary squirts of cream. He lifted the spoon. "This looks great."

"Thanks."

She didn't have a TV and there was nothing to stare at. She at least had the radio in the background to break up the quiet. If only she could get her leg to stop bouncing. "So. You and Whitney have been friends a long time?"

He nodded. "We used to date."

"Oh."
Oh.
That was…. Okay, were they still a thing, because as often as she smiled at Patrick, she so far hadn't gotten the man to hang around in the store for longer than thirty seconds. If he was dating Whitney, that could explain why. But Whitney hadn't said anything, either.

"We went to school together since we were kids. When I got a little older, I'd go out to her parents' house for a job and I got to know one of her older brothers a bit. We became good friends. I did with all the Chesters. Whitney and I made better friends more than anything and when I moved here, we just, I don't know, stayed close over the last couple years."

"You're not from here?"

He shook his head. "Next town over. Real estate is cheaper, so I'm renting here."

"I hear that."

He gestured at the room with his spoon. "You seem to have made the best of your space here."

She rubbed over the top of her thighs. This was it. Make or break time to see where she ranked on his personal crazy-measuring stick. She resisted crossing all her fingers and toes. "Yeah. Trying."

He nodded. "Smart."

"Really?" Heat bloomed through her face and she was likely as red as the cherry on his spoon.

"The space obviously sucks, but in the long run, smart."

"That's what I thought." Not that she'd had a whole lot of choice in the matter. Her pocket book pretty much said this was her option. Take it or sleep outside. It didn't take long to figure out what she needed and what she didn't. "Living in the small space was harder in the beginning. I've gotten used to it. I guess spending a couple years in a tiny college dorm helped prepare me for this."