Three Little Words (9 page)

They’d hammered through him for days now, in perfect time with the heart-scraping rhythm that nagged his days and kept him awake at night ever since Ava left. And it hit him, just now, that he’d twisted one of Maddie’s words—changed
his
to
her
.

He swallowed, emotion pulsing inside him.
Ava.
Why hadn’t he realized sooner?
I’m in love with
her. I’m in love with Ava Kingsley . . . and I
let her walk away.

“So what do you think? This is a great opportunity, Seth. A lucrative opportunity. Don’t you think it’s worth at least exploring?”

Right. Rachel
.
Telling him she wanted to franchise his place and line his pockets and expand his options.

But he knew now, with a certainty that ached through him, the only option that mattered was Ava.

He stood. “Actually, Rachel—”

Before he could finish, Shan burst into the kitchen. “We have a situation, Seth. Those sirens—”

“Go off all the time.”

But her face had gone white. “The radio said a funnel touched down seven miles from town, and it’s heading straight for Maple Valley. Fast. We gotta get people down to the basement. Now.”

Ava,

A) Raegan’s like my little sister, and Bear is my best friend. I can’t think of the two of them that way. Although, for the record, Raegan is the one with the painfully obvious crush.

B) I don’t have any tattoos. Not because I have anything against them, but because I don’t know what I’d want it to be. Words? A picture or symbol? That’s a big decision, right? Which leads me to . . .

C) I’m realizing lately that some decisions take time. And that’s okay. When I decided to open The Red Door, it happened pretty fast. And I felt good—really good—about the fact that I’d made a decision and gone for it. I saw it through, beginning to end. But as much as life is sometimes about knowing what you want and going after it and finishing, maybe other times it’s about slowing down and shutting up and waiting. There’s not always a clear beginning and obvious end. Sometimes we’re in the middle . . . and it’s okay to camp out there for a while.

D) That said, some things do have an obvious end. Maddie never saw the red walls. She left the same day as you, actually. And that’s . . . that.

—Seth

p.s. Of course we are going to keep emailing. However, it can never entirely go back to the way it was. Because now I know how stubborn you are about learning to paint the right way, how addicted to Diet Coke you are, and what a good layup you’ve got. Which altogether clearly changes everything.

Seth,

I am so sorry I’m just getting your email now. You sent it yesterday and it’s just been crazy around here. I’ve been helping Autumn at the inn and my laptop charger has gone missing and I didn’t realize my phone was silenced and . . .

Forget that. I just feel awful that it’s taken me this long to respond . . . about Maddie and the end of that relationship. I’m really sorry. I want to say something wise and comforting and witty, but Blake’s waiting to take me to the rec center . . .

Ugh, I hate my failure to be a good friend in this moment.

I’ll write again. Soon.—A

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Blake.”

A coastal breeze tinged with the foamy scent of Lake Michigan whipped Ava’s ponytail around behind her and brushed over the mammoth pile of dug-up ground—dirt and grass and rock—looming in front of her. The wind peeled away the top layer, fanning dust and pebbles in a downward swirl toward the huge pit.

“I came all the way back to Michigan so I could come look at a mountain of dirt and a hole in the ground?”

“That hole in the ground is eventually going to be an Olympic-size swimming pool.” Blake Hunziker—her sister’s boyfriend, brother of Ryan—offered an innocent shrug and a sheepish, dimpled grin on the heels of his words. The man’s resemblance to Ryan—dark hair and eyes, tall and muscular—used to freak her out.

But whereas Ryan had always had a serious streak, Blake tended toward carefree and adventurous, all in one rakish package. Honestly, she couldn’t blame Autumn for falling for the guy. Even if his presence had, at one time, sent shivers of annoyance through Ava.

Speaking of which . . .

“You said the city is hiring a new rec center director. I don’t know, maybe this was overreaching as far as assumptions go, but I assumed that meant there was, in fact, a rec center to be directed.”

“Ave—”

She shoved wayward bangs out of her eyes and mimicked his voice. “It’s the perfect job for you, Ava. It’ll combine your love of athletics with your knack for business, you said. Come home to Whisper Shore, you said. Be near family, you said.”

“Take a breath, I said.” He folded his arms, gave her one of those Hunziker grins that used to be enough to melt her into goo. When it came from Ryan, that is.

Amazing how thinking of Ryan these days churned up happy memories instead of only the bad. It’d been a long time coming, but things had changed for her in this past year.

And in the past few weeks. Emotions and uncertainty had propelled her to Maple Valley and then away again. But slowly God had started tugging on her in a new way.

Or maybe His tug wasn’t new. Maybe it was her willingness to follow along. To finally let go of so desperately needing life to look a certain way—first Ryan, then years of holding on to grief, then the football dream, then Seth. She’d learned to let go and to be okay with what came next.

Maybe even okay with not knowing what came next.

Although she was less okay with Blake’s goofy grin. “Look, just because you’ve won over my sister—”

His grin widened. “Oh, I more than won her over. The woman came home from Paris for me. Which, if I remember correctly, you had a little something to do with. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Shut up, Blaze.”

He clucked his tongue. “Pulling out the old nickname. Nice.”

She turned back to the equipment-strewn lot where she’d thought the rec center would be. A bowing evening sun lent a bright orange backdrop to the landscape. “This keeps happening to me. People invite me to town and I get there only to find a construction site.”

“I thought you said your friend’s restaurant had already opened?”

“I mean the apartment above it. It was an empty shell when I got there. Not quite the living space I’d expected when Seth said, ‘Hey, I’ve got an apartment for you.’”

“Seth’s the guy, huh? He must be a good guy if he got you to Iowa.”

“I repeat, shut up, Blaze.”
But,
yes, he’s the guy.
And she had no idea what to do with the news his day-old email had let her in on just an hour ago. Maddie had gone back to Chicago. From the sound of it, without a proposal and without a ring.

She hadn’t read the email incorrectly, right? Seth had been pretty clear it was
over
over.

In her mix of shock and hurry to meet Blake, she’d left her phone sitting on the bed back at the house, so she couldn’t even reread the email.

Blake stretched his arms, then turned and started back toward his Wrangler. “I’m just saying, Iowa?”

She quickened to catch up with him. “Maple Valley is a cool little town, Blake. Not all that different from Whisper Shore, actually. It’s quaint and eccentric. More antique shops than it knows what to do with, yeah, but it’s a neat mix of old-worldly and trendy. And there’s this heritage railroad that gives rides to local tourists. I hear in the fall it’s gorgeous.”

Blake stopped, hands in his back pockets. “You like it there.”

“It’s friendly and welcoming and kind of, I don’t know, comfortable.”

“We still talking about the town or the guy?”

Both.
Her fists found her waist. “You know, I think we should make something clear, Hunziker. My sister likes you. So I’ve done my best to get over
not
liking you. But talking to you about my love life? We’re soooo not there yet.”

“But you
would
put this Seth guy and your so-called love life in the same category topic-wise?”

She glared at him. “How many times today am I going to have to tell you to shut up?”

He grinned again, looked away and reached one hand around to rub his neck. Behind him, sunlight silhouetted the borders of town and shined a spotlight on the lane that reached past where they stood now. The road led to her family’s inn—the one Blake had saved with his own money when her sister had had to make the hard decision to put it up for sale.

She loved this place, even with crazy Blake Hunziker in it.

But if she was honest with herself, deep down, in some ways Maple Valley now felt even more like home to her than Whisper Shore. She hadn’t lived in Michigan since college. And Whisper Shore—though she loved it, though she loved the idea of being near family—it didn’t seem to beckon her.

Or was she just overthinking things again?

“You guys ever coming back?” Her sister stuck her head out of the passenger side window of Blake’s jeep. “A pile of dirt can’t be that interesting, can it?”

She followed Blake back to the car and slid into the back seat. “You could’ve told me the rec center didn’t exist yet, Autumn.”

“I don’t know why, I just assumed you knew. It opens in January.”

“But the city plans to put the director on staff by November,” Blake added as he got in the jeep. “So there’s time for the director to hire employees and all that.”

“Which would give you a couple months for moving.”

Just the thought of moving was tiring, but she had to make some kind of decision soon. She’d been living out of a suitcase for nearly a month now.

They rode in silence as Blake steered the car toward the inn. In the distance, Lake Michigan curled in rolls of blue and aquamarine. She’d loved growing up by the lake the way Seth talked about loving growing up near farmland—stretches of green and gold that spread in waves of a different kind.

“Are you nervous for the interview?” Autumn asked.

“Not really.”

“Excited?”

Not really.
“A little.”

Autumn met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Uh-oh, I know what this is.”

“What what is?”

“I’ve realized something about you, sis. You have a pattern of going after things you can’t have. I’m not sure whether it’s ’cause that’s safer . . . or if it’s more exciting.”

“Not sure what you mean.” Ava shifted her seat belt so it didn’t pull so tight.

“Back when you were in college and you started dating Ryan, you knew how mad it’d make Mom and Ryan’s parents.”

True. They’d had quite the Capulet-Montague thing going on back in the day. Actually up until just recently. Autumn and Blake had helped change that.

“Then you decided you wanted to coach college football. Not a career that’s all that in reach for females. Not often, anyway. And Seth. You wanted him whether you’ll admit it or not, all while knowing he already had someone else. He’s unavailable.” Autumn nodded as if agreeing with herself. “You want what you can’t have. This job . . . you
can
have it. It’s just sitting there waiting for you. And that either scares you or it bores you, I’m not sure which.”

She should be annoyed at her sister for the therapist-like assessment. Tell her she didn’t know what she was talking about. Defend her choices and dreams.

But truth was, she could only refute one thing.

“He’s not,” she said.

Autumn craned her neck, looking around her headrest. “Huh?”

“He’s not unavailable. Seth.”

Autumn’s eyes widened.

“You really think I always want what I can’t have?”

“Ignore me. Ignore everything I said. Or don’t. But think about it later. Right now we’re talking about Seth. And how he’s not unavailable. Which means he’s available. Right? You’re going to go back, aren’t you.”

She didn’t know. It’s not like Seth had asked her to come back. He hadn’t even really explained what happened.

Man, for two people who trade words by the gazillions
, we sure manage to confuse each other.

She’d decided to let go of Seth. She’d left Maple Valley and let go. But now . . .

“Guess that’s one
of the keys in life. Knowing when to hold on
, when to let go.”
Case.

“You know I may just take this decision out of your hands and make it for you. I’m looking up flights to Des Moines right now.” Autumn fiddled with her phone. “Or maybe you should just drive.”

“Sis—”

“I’m going to see how long of a drive it’d be. Whisper Shore, Michigan to Maple Valley, Iowa,” she muttered as she tapped her phone. But then paused, gasped.

“What’s wrong?”

“When I typed in Maple Valley, all these search results popped up. Headlines. Only hours old.”

She heard the alarm in Autumn’s voice. “What is it?”

Autumn handed her phone back, and Ava scanned the headline.
Dozens injured, buildings decimated in
Maple Valley tornado.