Small Town Secret: Mayfield Springs Book 1 (3 page)

As if she was reading my mind, Cassie said, "My treat Amy, I'll pay ok?"

I guess if she was paying I could enjoy a drink or two. Sipping my Mimosa, I thought back to what Cassie had said about Chris.

"Hang on Cassie," I said without thinking through what I was asking. "Did you say Chris was single? How can that be? He's never photographed without a beautiful blonde by his side."

Cassie hit me playfully on the arm.

"You do still have a thing for him. I knew it," she said laughing. "If you didn't, you wouldn't notice who he's with, or even care what he's doing."
 
She hesitated for a second before looking me in the eye. "Yes, he's single. He hasn't found anyone since you."

I knew she was baiting me, to see how I would react, so I changed the subject.

"I'm only in love with one person Cassie, and that's my princess Bella who is right this moment waiting at home for me," I said, glancing at my watch to signal that I was worried about the time and would have to go shortly. "In fact, I should probably get home to her soon."

"Oh for God's sake, relax a little. Bella won't even notice."

Thinking of Bella made me wonder what I was going to tell Chris when he came to the wedding. And Cassie for that matter. Cassie had always known about Bella, but she thought Bella's father was someone I'd met in my first weeks of Art School. Sooner or later I was going to have to tell both of them.

My thoughts were broken by the jangling of Cartier bracelets and a very well-manicured hand waving in my face.

"Hello?" Cassie looked insulted. "I've been talking for ages, and you've just been all weird and staring into space."

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I've just got a lot on my mind. "

"I can see that. You wanna talk about it?"

"No, I'm ok," I said, my shoulders sagging, weighed down by my guilty secret.
 

Cassie didn't seem to notice. "So, as I was saying. Daniel. Oh, my god, he's so hot. You'll just love him. It's not long before he'll be here for his final night of freedom."

"He's having his buck's night in Mayfield Springs?" I frowned at the thought.
 

"Yeah! Haha!" Cassie burst out laughing and slapped the table. "I talked him into it. I thought it'd be funny. He's such a city slicker, can you imagine?" She seemed amused at the prospect of Daniel out for a night on the town.
 

I watched as the girls at the table beside us vacated their table. One of them had left behind a glossy magazine, one that I could never afford to buy. As it was directly in my line of vision, I couldn't help but see who was on the front cover. Chris stared back at me - the headline reading, '
Hottest Man on Earth? Definitely'
.
 

It would seem there was no end to being reminded of him and a knot formed in my stomach as I thought of the wedding. There was no way I was going to be able to ignore him.
 

CHAPTER 5

AMY

Back in the diner, I piled up dirty dishes all night long and took orders from rude and ungrateful customers. It had been a long twelve-hour shift, and I couldn't wait to get home. I poked at the food stains on my apron and reflected on how my life couldn't be any further from Cassie's.

Half an hour to go. The kitchen was stinking hot, and I could feel the sweat running down my brow. I rubbed it with the back of my hand. I could tell that Lorraine wanted to get home too. I saw her begin to take the money out of the till and count it. She looked worse than I did. Maybe, just maybe, she'd close up early.

It was then, as we were getting ready to close up and the last of the customers were beginning to leave that I heard the sound of loud voices in the parking lot. I looked up as a crowd of well-dressed guys pushed their way in through the door. They weren't from around here, and there was something about them I instantly didn't like. They strode arrogantly into the diner and slid into a booth as though the world owed them everything.

There went my hopes of an early lock-up. Lorraine sighed and shut the cash register quickly. I was pretty sure she thought they were trouble as well.

"Bitch! What I gotta do to get some service around here?" called out one of the guys. He looked at me as if he was undressing me with his eyes and I didn't like it one little bit. Lorraine nodded her head to let me know I had to serve them but said under her breath, "Don't worry, I'll be watching. I've got your back."

"What can I get you?" I asked the group, holding my notebook tightly in front of me.
 

The same creepy guy turned to look at his buddies, the hair product in his hipster haircut gleaming in the light. "How about a round of beers, eh? And why don't you smile for me? You're a real sweetheart you know?" he said, reaching out and stroking my arm. I recoiled instinctively. This guy might be well-dressed and good looking, but he was also utterly vile.

I glanced at Lorraine, desperately hoping she would come to my aid.

"I'm afraid we don't serve alcohol here, fellas," she lied, striding across the diner to help me.

"You gotta be kidding - you've got a bar right there," said the same guy, who seemed to be the leader of the group.

"Yeah, we do, but at this time of night, we don't serve alcohol unless you've ordered a meal and I'm sorry fellas, but the kitchen's closed. Why don't you head back into town and get yourself a drink at one of the bars there? '
Tony's Cantina
' is open until midnight - try there," she said firmly, making it quite clear there was going to be no changing her mind.

"Ah fuck," the same guy scrunched up his face and waved a hand dismissively. "This town is boring as hell. We've been in all your bars. There's nothing there for us."

Lorraine sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Guys, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," she said as she looked the ringleader square in the face. "We're closing in a few minutes anyway."

"Aww...that's a real shame," he said as he leaned out of the booth towards me and put his arm around my hips. "I thought this little cutie and I were gonna have a good time."

"Well, you thought wrong," Lorraine replied. "Take your hands off her."

I moved away to take myself out of his grasp and gave him the filthiest look I could muster. It made no difference to him.

"How about you give us a twirl?" he winked at me.

I felt nauseous at the sight of him. I looked up at the clock and pointed with my pen. "We're closing at 10," I said.

"Yeah, actually you can leave now if you want, Amy," said Lorraine patting me on the back. "You've had a long day. I can look after these guys."

"Thanks," I replied, taking off my apron as I walked across the diner towards the staffroom.

"That's it, guys. Game over. Off you go."

I heard them grumble and move towards the front door, and just before I reached the staffroom, someone grabbed my arm from behind me. I knew before I even turned around that it would be the offensive leader of the group.

"Hey," he said as he pulled at my arm. I flinched and tried to pull away, but he had a real tight grip on me.

"Let me go," I ordered through gritted teeth.

I wished so badly that Lorraine would hurry up and save me, but she was hustling the other drunk guys out through the door. I could hear them making fun of her weight and imitating her accent.
Those bastards
, I thought.
Who the hell are these guys?
I looked down at the hand that was gripped around my wrist and tried to pull away once again. This time he let me go.

"No need to get all mad. I was just trying to have some fun," he said, attempting to justify his actions.

"Fun for who?" I asked as I rubbed my sore arm and pushed open the staffroom door. But as I turned to take a step inside, he slipped his hand up my skirt and squeezed me, learning in close behind me. "You've got a real nice ass," he whispered in my ear, his hot breath on the back of my neck. " I wish I could show it a good time."

I turned around and pushed him away.

"Get away from me you asshole!" I yelled at him, tears pricking my eyes.

His friends, who had all been on their way out the door, turned to look and laughed when they saw me in such a state of distress.

"These small-town girls. Been playing hard to get since we got here," one of them said as he came back into the diner.

"Get out!" I yelled.

"Fellas, if you're not outta here in the next ten seconds, I'm calling the cops," Lorraine said defiantly, her hands out flat on the counter and a scowl on her face.

The tension in the diner was electric, and I knew the situation was on the cusp of getting very ugly. A couple of the guys started making their way back into the diner, and I saw Lorraine move towards the panic button hidden under the counter. But then a familiar voice cut through the crowd.
 

"What's going on here? Guys, move away from the door. I do hope you've not been giving Lorraine a hard time."

OMG Chris.

Chris Taylor.

I'd never been so glad to hear a familiar voice and for a moment I completely forgot that I'd been wanting to avoid him.

"Amy?" Chris questioned, stopping in the middle of the diner.

"Daniel?" he asked. I looked at the guy who had been hassling me.
Daniel?
My mind was whirling in confusion.
Daniel? No, it couldn't be. Surely it wasn't Cassie's Daniel?

"Lorraine, have these guys been giving you grief?" Chris asked.

"Well, I was about to call the cops on them," she replied, "if that's what you mean by grief."

"Ok, you lot, get out of here. Head home to Mom and Dad's if you can't find another bar." He turned back to Lorraine. "I'm really sorry if they weren't behaving themselves. It's my sister's
fiancé's
bucks night, and I think they just got a bit out of control."

I stood at the door of the staffroom listening to the conversation as if it was happening on another planet. I was shaken from the incident with Daniel; I was stunned by the arrival of Chris; and I couldn't believe that the creepy bloke who'd been trying to hook up with me was going to marry my best friend.

I pushed backward into the swinging door and disappeared into the staffroom. It was bad enough that Chris had seen me like this, but I didn't want to have to talk to him now. In the safety of the staffroom, I could feel my cheeks burning red. Finally, after all these years, he was just out there a few feet away from me. Part of me wanted to run over and hug him for saving me from that creep. Part of me wanted to grab him and tell him that we couldn't let Cassie marry Daniel, and part of me just wanted to get out of the diner and forget that tonight had ever happened.

"Pssst, Amy."

I
 
turned around and saw Chris standing in the doorway. He was so much taller than I remembered, so much more handsome in real life. There were so many things I wanted to say, but I was frozen on the spot. My heart raced, my palms became sweaty. For a moment I thought if I held my breath he wouldn't notice me and he'd go away, but he did no such thing.

"Amy... I can see you. Won't you come out a second?"

I took a deep breath and looked down at my hands. They were shaking.

"Or is it ok for me to come in? I mean, it says '
Staff Only
'?"

I nodded, and he came into the staffroom. There was a deep shame burning within me as I thought of how I must look. A worn-out, tired version of the girl he used to know.

"I can't believe you're here," Chris said, as he looked into my eyes and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I could feel the heat from his touch burning through my uniform into my skin and a wave of attraction spread through me. No one could touch me and make me feel that way.

"My God, I mean...Cassie told me you were working as a waitress, but I hadn't realised you were working with Lorraine. I should have swung by here earlier." He paused. "It's so good to see you. It's been too long."

I was still dumbstruck, and my chest was thudding faster than I'd ever known.

"I hope Daniel didn't give you too much trouble," he said. "I've sent him back to my parent's place. You've just met Cassie's
fiancé
by the way - or had you met him before?"

"No..." I said shakily. "We hadn't met before he came in here." I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should say anything to Chris about Daniel's behaviour. I decided I had to. "He was a bit of a jerk. He was trying to come on to me. I can't believe he's Cassie's
fiancé
- is he always like that?" Once I started speaking the words just tumbled from my mouth.

Chris didn't reply but just stared at the floor.

"You don't like him either, do you?" I asked.

"I didn't say that," he replied defensively.

"You didn't need to."

There was an awkward silence, and I knew we needed to change the subject quickly.

"I didn't know you were back already," I blurted. "Cassie never mentioned it."

"I just flew in a couple of hours ago. I wasn't meant to be here for a couple of days, but I managed to get an earlier flight," he replied.

"It feels weird, seeing you back in Mayfield Springs," I said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, it feels weird to be back... but you know, I do miss the place."

"Really?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, sometimes. Like when it's too hot in California, I crave the open spaces and the view of the trees that stretch out the back of my parents' home. Or when I'm at a party, and I hate pretty much everyone there," he chuckled. "And of course, I miss my old friends too."

He looked at me intently, and I felt butterflies begin to flutter in my stomach.

The diner was quiet. Lorraine had switched the TV off in the bar, and I was suddenly aware that she must be eavesdropping from behind the door. She hadn't gone home - her handbag was still in her pigeonhole.

"Euh, I should go," I said, feeling suddenly awkward and self-conscious.

"You need a ride home?" Chris asked as Lorraine pushed open the staffroom door.

"Huh, no thanks - I've got a car. See you tomorrow, Lorraine," I spluttered as I pushed past her towards the exit.