Chapter Four
Rebecca
I was surprised it took a week for Kim to hear that Austin was back in town. I didn’t mention it, seeing no reason to do so. He was old news.
She dropped by the salon at closing time. I smiled when I saw her. She walked through the door with bags from our favorite deli.
“Hey, sis,” I said. “What brings you here?”
“I kept the library open late tonight so some kids could work on a project. I thought that you might be hungry.” Kim plopped the bag at my station and glanced around. We both looked a lot like Mom in the face, though she had Dad’s bright blue eyes. It was coming up on nine, and I had the keys in my hand to lock up.
“Can I help with anything?” Kim asked, seeming to notice I was here alone.
Stacy was supposed to close with me, but one of her kids was sick, so I told her to head out early. It was North Reed. What could happen?
“Sure,” I said. “Could you sweep the floor while I get the money in the safe for Barry?”
“On it,” Kim replied, showing more than just a willingness to help in her pretty face. She went to grab a large broom. I locked the door and turned out the lights in the waiting area of the salon. I went to the register and grabbed the blue bag that we put the earnings in. George Strait sang about all of his ex’s in Texas, on the radio, and Austin crossed my mind for a moment. Okay, maybe it was for the hundredth time since seeing him.
“So, dear sister of mine,” Kim said. “Why didn’t you tell me that Austin Harris was back in town? I already heard he was in here for you to cut his hair.”
“There was no real reason to,” I replied casually. I counted out the bills in the drawer. Barry liked to come in the morning and do the balancing, so I was just putting everything over fifty dollars into the bag. It was easy work, but the mere mention of Austin made my head start to ache. “He’s here to see his folks.”
“No reason? He was your high school sweetheart!”
I rolled my eyes. “That was over a decade ago, Kim. We were kids at best. We’ve gone in completely different directions since then, and it wasn’t even pleasant to talk to him.” I sifted the coins from the counter to get them where they needed to be, annoyed. “You know how he was in school, right? He was always so focused on leaving North Reed and cocky about it. Now he’s made it and is even worse. I couldn’t wait to get him out of here.” I sealed the coins in a small paper envelope and dropped it into the blue bag with the report from the day.
“That being so eloquently said, did he stir up any old feelings? He was your first real boyfriend, Becs. You were together for two years!” Kim loved a good romance novel, and there were times I thought she bought into them way too much. That was fiction, not reality.
I scoffed at her naïve excitement. “No, Kim. Why would he? He’s an arrogant ass now. Besides, even if he did, you’ve seen the women he’s dated all over the magazines. Austin has moved far away from anything that he had here.”
“Come on, sis. He used to make your eyes sparkle. I haven’t seen that with any guy since.”
I secured the cash in the bag with a sigh. There hadn’t been a lot of men since then, being that I knew everyone here.
“He was the first man that you slept with, and practically the last,” Kim said. “That has to mean something.”
“It means we were in high school. Everyone slept with their first somewhere around then.” I zipped up the little bag. “He’s not the last.”
“I never thought that you were ever swept away by Liam,” Kim accused me as I rolled my head slowly. My neck always ached after a long day at the salon. It seemed to hurt a little more this past week, but I’d never tell my sister that.
“I wasn’t,” I admitted and looked at her as I locked the remaining money in the drawer with the key. I looked at the floor and realized that she did a great job cleaning up. “Looks good. Let me get this into the safe and we’ll eat.” I dropped the register key into the deposit bag and took it to the office, setting it inside the safe before I locked it.
I pulled the door closed and locked the office. I walked around to make sure that everything was set up for the following morning. I had the day off and looked forward to relaxing a bit and cleaning my house. Kim had already pulled out her sub and was eating in the seat at my station, careful to eat over her wrapper. She knew from experience that I didn’t want to clean up a second time.
I took a seat beside her and unwrapped my turkey sandwich, hearing my stomach growl. I sat down at Katie’s station and took a big bite.
“You do realize that Austin is hot as hell, right? Not to mention, he has a lot of money. He could give you a good life, sis.” Kim smiled at me. I chewed and swallowed.
“I'm happy with my life here. We both stayed when Mom and Dad left.” I sipped the soda that sat between us. “Look, I have good memories of Austin. We had a lot of fun in high school, Kim. I liked him a lot, probably more than I wanted to admit at the time, but the past is the past. We’ve both moved on, and it would be foolish to harbor feelings for him. Sure, he’s grown up into a gorgeous man, but he’s a man whore now, like all those guys in your books. I don’t want to be the girl he sleeps with over the holiday break. I don’t want to be another notch on his bedpost.”
“Those guys are fantastic in bed, Becs.” Kim grinned at me.
“Yeah, and some author writes that as they see fit. Do you think that they have explosive sex lives?” I challenged her, watching her giggle. Yep, she did.
Austin tried hard to make my first time good. It was after his junior prom at a local motel. He was sweet and gentle with me, soothing me through the pain of a first encounter with soft words and kisses. I knew that I loved him in that high school way a girl felt, and every time we slept together, it only got better. Sure, we had to find creative ways to have sex, but when we did, it was good. Austin was motivated to excel in every part of his life, and he always made me feel good. I saw that all his focus was on leaving when he ended things with me, and that I was a clear part of his past.
That was that. There was no point in thinking about the what ifs because there were none.
“Want to come over for some wine?” I asked Kim. She grinned and nodded.
We lived a few houses away from each other, and we did this often. We got the rest of our dinner into the bag, and I shut off all the lights. Then I started the diffuser for the night. I didn’t want anyone to walk in here in the morning smelling day-old deli sandwiches.
I locked the door, and we went to our separate cars to go to my house. It was decorated like Mom left it, with a few touches of my own. Kim walked in after she unlocked the door and headed to the small bistro table that I set up in the kitchen overlooking the backyard. It wasn’t as pretty as when Mom lived here since I wasn’t as much of a green thumb as she was, but I still felt a sense of peace when I sat here in the morning or evening.
I went to get the bottle of wine from the fridge and two glasses from the cupboard. Kim grinned as I filled them and set my sandwich in front of me. I returned to eating it, waiting for her remaining questions. Along with being sisters, we were best friends and confided everything to one another. Kim took a few bites before she scrunched her nose at me. “Are you sure that Austin being back for a while doesn’t mean anything to you?”
“I was shocked to see him,” I admitted. “It was his first day back, and he was a walk in, so I was surprised. That’s to be expected after over ten years, Kim. I didn’t want to fall to my knees and ask him to take me back though. I’ve made a life for myself here, and he clearly wants to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. He isn’t happy about being back. Why would he want anything to do with me?”
“You’re an amazing person, and you were back then as well. I know the women who he’s been with are superficially pretty, but I’ll bet that they have no soul.” Kim raised her glass, and I clinked mine to it with a giggle. “They all want him for his cash. You liked him for who he was and is.”
“I don’t know him anymore. I liked him then, though.” I sipped the wine and set it on the table before taking another bite. High school relationships broke up all the time when one or the other went to college. I knew that sometimes there was a second chance at romance, but I believed that mostly happened in books. Not so much in real life.
I was happy with my simple life working for the salon in North Reed. I was happy with the friends I had and the time we spent together when I wasn’t working. It didn’t end up being much more than dinner or maybe a movie, but we talked a lot. Places like New York seemed like they were so busy and nobody really knew one another. Did Austin even have any real friends, or were they just people looking for a handout?
“He is only here for a few weeks, Rebecca. I don’t know if he’ll be back for another visit, based on what you’ve said and how long it’s been since he left.” Kim gave me a long look. “Make sure that you have everything tied up inside when he leaves, because that might be it. I know how you felt about him before, Becs. Don’t let this chance slip away.”
“He’s not looking for a second chance at anything, Kim. Not here. Austin is here physically, but he can’t wait to go home. That was obvious to me. Case closed.”
“I hope that you tell me the same thing when it’s January and he’s back home.” She sipped her wine again and slipped a piece of salami that fell out of her sandwich into her mouth. “Life is too short, Becs.”
“Life here is just fine, sis. I’m happy.” I smiled as I spoke, but who was I trying to convince? Me or her?
I’d go on to work in the salon, talking to my regular customers and working towards becoming a manager. I had my friends and my sister. I had a great life, and when it was time for love to be a part of it, it would be.