Bigger Than the Sky (Serenity Point) (2 page)

“Y-you bought Pettyman’s?”

He nods with another grin then asks, “So how long you in town for?”

“Not sure. I’ve got two months’ vacation time I’m using so I came to finally check out the station,” I explain, turning back to face it, my smile falling away.

“Aw, Mill, I’m sorry. They were good people,” he replies. “I know Harley feels terrible about everything.”

Harley Sedgwick, the local heating and air technician, had inspected the heater in Papaw and Meemaw’s house for years, telling Papaw on his inspection five years ago (the winter after my wedding debacle) that it really needed to be replaced. Papaw had scoffed at him telling him there was at least a good five more years in it. The next year, Papaw had neglected to call Harley to come back out and take a look, and Harley had been so busy that it hadn’t even occurred to him to check on them. The heater had developed a leak since the previous year it’d been checked, and my beloved grandparents tragically died in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning on a chilly day in early November.

“I know,” I say. “I hope he knows it’s not his fault. Papaw was a stubborn old fool anyway, as Meemaw would’ve said.” I chuckle sadly.

He curls an arm around my shoulders to comfort me.
The Kelly men and their protectiveness,
I think which makes me sigh.

“So think you might be back to stay?” he asks looking down at me, eyebrows raised.

I huff out a laugh because that’s a ludicrous idea. “No. I wanted to see if maybe I could get the place up and running again then sell,” I inform him.

He drops his arm then nods with what looks like disappointment, which I think is ridiculous. He knows I’m never coming back.

“So how are you? How’s Piper?” I ask.

“She’s fine,” he says aloofly. Then he gets a shy look on his face. “I passed the fireman test. I’m a real-live firefighter now.”

My eyes now get big and I squeal, “Really? Oh, my God! I’m so happy for you!” I hug him again telling him his news is wonderful when I hear someone clearing his throat behind him. Still holding on to him, I lean to the side and look around his shoulder, and what I see makes me swallow down a gasp.

Dear God.

Brody’s older brother Kade Kelly.

Still hotter than hell Kade Kelly.

Kade Kelly who’s got a hard body that’s sculpted like a magnificent work of art.

Who has a large Celtic cross tattooed on his back with “Fiona” in the middle of it in honor of their baby sister who’d died at birth.

Kade Kelly who sings and plays guitar in a band.

Who took my virginity when I was sixteen and he was eighteen.

Kade Kelly who I left standing at the altar five years ago.

Chapter 2

Kade stands looking at me with a smirk, a hint of arrogant humor in his gunmetal gray eyes that now burn into mine as if he’s surprised that I have the nerve to show my face around here again. Yikes.

“Oh, hey, Kade, look who it is,” Brody says as he turns to see his brother.

He says it so casually as if there’s not a gob of history between Kade and me, that the strangled laugh I let out right about then can’t be helped.

“Amelia,” Kade says formally with a nod at me then looks at Brody, totally putting me on ignore. “You gonna get that backhoe out to Mrs. Shackleford’s or you expectin’ it to drive itself?”

While he’s talking, all I can do is stare at him. The last time I saw him was the night before I’d left, and I now see that his once clean-shaven face has a closely trimmed beard covering the hollows of his cheeks and his strong, square jaw. His nose is straight except for a barely discernible bump that I know is there because he broke it in a football game. His dark hair isn’t cut in the high and tight style of his Navy days. It’s longer, the way he wore it in high school, curling around his neck a little, his natural waves giving it a messy style which I’d always loved on him, as if he got out of the shower, ran his fingers through it then left it to dry and it turns out perfect. The kind of hair a woman wants to run her fingers through. Again and again. As often as she can. He’s also tan from working outside, which makes his teeth look movie star white and his light gray eyes even lighter. Wow.

I’m not ready for the stirring of emotions that hits me and I almost have to grab Brody’s arm to keep from keeling over. I haven’t seen or talked to Kade in five years, but I know more about this man than anyone I’ve ever known and vice versa, and a sudden sadness blasts through me. I shiver in its wake because I’ve just come to the realization that when I walked away from Kade as my fiancé, I also walked away from my best friend.

Shit.

Brody gives him a shit-eating grin. “Thought if I talked to it real sweet, it might go by itself then I’d have time to sneak over to Mags’ and get some lunch.”

Kade lets out a breath, used to his brother’s smartassed comebacks. “Needs to be there by one when the pipe’s delivered,” he says with a lift of his eyebrow. “Heading to Mags’ now. I’ll pick you up a roast beef sandwich. You can eat when you get back.” He nods dismissively at me and says, “Amelia,” then turns and walks away heading up the sidewalk toward Maggie’s. Well. Their mother did teach them to be polite, I’ll give her that.

“What’s he doing back in town?” I whisper as I gawk after him.

“Blew out his knee year after you woulda been married. Retired from the Navy, came home and bought Pettyman’s. It’s actually all his. He just put the “Family” on it because that’s how he is.”

I nod and watch Kade go, and, damn, I think I love watching him go. The maroon thermal Henley he’s wearing stretches across his broad shoulders, the sleeves pushed up to show his muscular forearms, faded jeans that sit low on his hips covering his long, powerful legs. And then there’s his butt, so tight and firm. I remember checking out that butt when watching football games in high school, how he’d get in his linebacker crouch and I couldn’t keep my eyes off it. And I can’t now either, still watching him for longer than is appropriate. Long enough to hear Brody chuckle which pulls me out of my gazing.

I look over at him and my face flushes because I’ve definitely been caught.

“Don’t think Peyton would like knowing you’re ogling her man,” he says looking at me as if he’s just waiting to see my reaction. And, boy, do I give him one.

“Peyton Capps?” I respond in a shocked squeak and feel the blood rush out of my face.

Brody nods and shrugs.

Holy shit. Kade’s with Peyton Capps?
Peyton Capps!
She was the Caroline Bingley, no, the
Regina George
of Serenity Point High School. She was the mean girl!

She was a year ahead of me and since her dad was the mayor, she thought she was the shit. She was a very pretty girl with blond hair and green eyes, but her actions made her ugly. I’d watched for years as she manipulated boys, broke up couples and convinced Reverend Easley that his sweet daughter Joy had gotten drunk at a party, getting Joy grounded for an entire summer which conveniently left Ethan Matthews, who’d shown interest in Joy, wide open for Peyton to date. She’d even gotten a teacher fired for stealing when two thousand dollars from the Winter Carnival money went missing. Peyton had said she’d seen Mrs. Gibson take it, and the bad thing was Mrs. Gibson had paid cash to have her car repaired at Papaw’s shop the next day, the incriminating total being just under two grand. But no one had said a thing when Peyton showed up at the Winter Carnival dance the next weekend in the dress she’d been mooning over for weeks which was an exact replica of the dress Gwyneth Paltrow wore to the Oscars when she won for
Shakespeare in Love,
a dress that cost, you guessed it, two thousand dollars.

Worse yet, she’d tried convincing Kade I’d been cheating on him, and since I knew she’d always had her eye on him, it hadn’t surprised me in the least.

It was Kade’s senior year, Prom had been two weeks away and as a surprise, I’d been talking to Jackson Reeves about borrowing his dad’s ‘68 Firebird that was in mint condition. Mr. Reeves had all kinds of muscle cars that he collected, but the Firebird was one that Kade always eyed when he saw it in town, so I thought it’d be cool to pick him up for Prom in it if Mr. Reeves would loan it to me. Papaw had worked on it a time or two, so I knew Mr. Reeves would more than likely let me borrow it because he knew I had an appreciation for cars, especially old cars, because I’d helped Papaw some on it. So I’d met with Jackson on the sly behind the gymnasium to ask him about it and learned later that Peyton had seen us because she ran to Kade telling him. A couple days later, Jackson had caught me in the hallway and pulled me into the library to tell me his dad was on a business trip, but he’d ask him when he got home. And a week before prom, Jackson had motioned me over in the parking lot before school to tell me it was good to go. Kade hadn’t said anything to me until two nights before Prom when he’d come to my house and confronted me. For a while I’d acted innocent as if I hadn’t known what he was talking about, but when he’d demanded that I tell him what was going on between Jackson and me, I’d told him he’d just have to trust me. We’d almost broken up right then and there because it finally came out that Peyton had told him that she’d seen Jackson and me making out behind the gym, in the library and in the parking lot and that we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I hadn’t taken that well, and I’d let Kade know I didn’t appreciate him trusting her over me. On Prom night, when I showed up in the Firebird, he’d apologized profusely for not trusting me, kissing me sweetly in front of his whole family, which had shocked me because he’d always been the guarded type and PDA just wasn’t his thing. But the best part of the entire evening had been when I confronted Peyton at the dance and gave her a piece of my mind in front of everyone, and then everybody started yelling at her about the shitty things she’d done to them too. It was awesome.

Peyton was a bitch and I doubted she’d changed. As Dr. Phil always says, “Past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior,” and I truly believe that.

So what the hell was Kade doing with her?

“H-how long have they been together?” I ask, still shocked.

He tilts his head to the side calculating and replies, “Couple months.”

“I thought she married Cruz Stalls?”

“Did,” he says. “Have two kids. Divorced last year. Guess she was having an affair with Dax Baker, our latest mayor, which led to the divorce. And now she’s hooked her claws into Kade.” He frowns.

“Chick’s keeping the mayor thing in the family, huh?” I mumble with a shake of my head making him shrug. “And now she’s with Kade…” I’m definitely baffled here, not able to process the thought of them together. I’m still shaking my head when I say, “Brody, you know she’s evil!”

He snorts. “Yeah, well, I’m not the one dating her.” Suddenly he looks guilty but then continues, “So, hey, it was great seeing you but I’d better get that backhoe delivered before Kade throws a hissy fit. Is it okay if I tell Mom you’re in town? I know she’ll wanna see you, have you over to dinner.”

“Sure,” I answer, still stunned at the crazy tidbit of info he just slammed me with about his brother. He kisses my forehead then walks back across the street to their store turning to give me a wave before he disappears inside.

~~~

After Brody leaves, I get my keys out, unlock the front of the station and go inside seeing that nothing has been touched since the last day my grandparents had been in it, which is oddly comforting. Papaw’s unlit cigar is still sitting in an ashtray by the register and an afghan that Meemaw had been crocheting is draped over a stool at the counter.

After they died, I’d only come back home for their funeral then made one last appearance in town when I’d met with Mr. Price, their attorney, who’d presented me with their will and informed me that the garage was free and clear and all mine. That tinge of guilt flares up inside me again making me sigh in regret.

I pull Meemaw’s afghan off the stool and sit, spreading it over my lap and let the guilt wash over me for not coming home to see them after I left. I’ve tried rationalizing it all by telling myself I’d stayed away because I was trying to find myself, which is so ridiculously cliché it makes me roll my eyes, but it’s really the only explanation I can think of.

Well, that or maybe I’m just like my mother. And that pisses me off because I’ve always thought she was weak.

When I was seven, my father had been killed in a coal mining accident, and I guess Mom just couldn’t handle things, so a month later, she’d dropped me off at her parents’ and that’d been the last we’d heard from her. Meemaw and Papaw had doted on me from the start because Mom was their only child, I their only grandchild, and I’m sure they latched on to me because they didn’t want to lose me too. And then I’d turned around and done the same damned thing to them that she’d done.
So selfish.

When I got older, I’d tried several times to find my mom with the minimal resources I had but failed on all attempts. So when I was a senior in high school, Papaw’d finally sat me down and told me that although he knew my mom loved me, if she wanted to be found, she would. Hearing that had been particularly painful at the time, but I knew he hadn’t been trying to hurt me, he’d just been telling it to me straight.

Unlike her, when I ran away, I immediately let them know where I was. Since I’d graduated from VCU in Richmond and was familiar with the area, it only made sense for me to go there. I ended up getting a job at an accounting firm (with great references from the city of Serenity Point where I’d worked since getting my CPA). They’d come to visit me a couple times that first year before they died, so it wasn’t like I’d totally abandoned them, but I still feel terrible for leaving them.

Tears start falling down my cheeks now as I sit thinking about them, knowing they did all they could to make everything good in my life, which they had, and I miss them so much. I put my head on the counter and let the tears fall as I think of how my life would’ve been so different had they not taken me in.

When I finally lift my head, finished with the pity party I’ve been throwing myself and ready to start sorting some things out around here, I look out the big front window and see Kade back from lunch holding a white bag from Mags’ as he walks into his store across the street, and now the tears really come.