“Well, fancy running into you here.”
April glanced up from her phone, surprised to see James in a coffee shop of all places. She and Van were on their fifth date in two weeks, in non-stop contact ever since their night in the guest house, and she couldn’t have been happier—until she spotted James. Since she and Van had agreed that they would give this dating thing a shot, she’d only seen his father on a few occasions, and always fleetingly, but he’d never looked as irritated as he did now.
Shifting on her oversized armchair, she sat up and pointed to the bathroom. “Are you looking for Van? He just went to the—”
“I never need to look for my son,” the man growled softly, leaning down with his hand on the back of her chair. “I know precisely where he is at all times.”
She blinked up at him, both knowing the meaning behind his words, but she refused to acknowledge anything. Instead, she licked her lips and sighed, reaching for her half-finished latté on the small round table between her and Van’s armchair. The coffee shop, located in the heart of Cascade Falls’s downtown core, was usually pretty popular with the high school and college crowd. As it were, most of the tables were full for the evening, and the noise level would have been bothersome if she hadn’t been enjoying Van’s company so much.
Unfortunately, Van wasn’t there now. They’d spent hours together that afternoon, enjoying his night off from the bar by taking a jaunt on his motorcycle along the country roads like she’d wanted to, and then ending up at the coffee shop for a little evening snack. Their dinner reservations at the resort were for later that night, accompanied by drinks and… whatever followed in some dark corner where prying eyes couldn’t see them fucking. A tingle of excitement shot through her just thinking about it, but it was hastily stamped out by the look in James’s eyes as he watched her.
He wanted an answer. He probably wanted to see fear. Van wanted to be with her, and she’d set aside her reservations—for now—so that she could be with him and be happy. And damn it, she’d been happy. Genuinely happy for the first time in years. Pushing him away for as long as she did hadn’t done either of them any good.
“You and he have been doing a lot of things together lately, haven’t you?” James hissed, and she wondered if he might have grabbed her had they been alone. She gave a little half-nod then looked back to the bathrooms again. “Yes, Renee tells me all about your little dates. She barely approves, April, and you know where I stand.”
“You have no right to interfere with my life,” she told him, sounding much stronger than she felt. “You have no right to tamper with your son’s happiness. He deserves—”
“I know what he deserves,” James spat, and a few heads swiveled around to check out the commotion from a nearby table. April swallowed hard, determined not to cower. “It isn’t you, I’m afraid. I warned you, didn’t I? I warned you to stay away from him.”
Fuck you. The words were on the tip of her tongue, and while she didn’t say them aloud, he probably saw the sentiment in her eyes.
“I am a man who follows through,” James remarked, straightening up and smoothing his hand down the front of his shirt. His leather jacket looked a little too polished, like he was a fraud trying to fit in with his boys. “Know that when you see the consequences of following through on some stupid school girl crush, it will be entirely on your shoulders.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, her eyes narrowed. He departed with a curt nod, stalking out of the coffee house and slamming the door behind him. A few people around her studied her curiously, but she looked back to her phone like it had been nothing but a normal conversation. Mere seconds later, Van wandered into her peripherals.
“Was that my dad?” he asked, as he settled into his chair, peeking out the coffee shop’s windows. April nibbled her lower lip and debated telling him everything, but then thought better of it. James spouted a lot of hot air anyway.
“Yeah, he was getting a coffee,” she lied with a smile, reaching for her drink. “Just stopped by to say hello…”
And issue some empty threats.
Hopefully.
***
“April… April, wake up!”
She jolted upright in bed, her mom shaking her, and then groggily checked the time. Nearly four in the morning. Groaning, she ran a hand through her hair and tried to shove her mom off, but the woman just wasn’t letting go.
“Are you drunk?” she muttered, blinking heavily in the darkness. “Go back to bed—”
“My boutique is on fire!”
That managed to get her attention. Immediately all thoughts of sleep vanished, as April leapt out of bed and threw on whatever clothes she found first. Apparently her mom had received a call from the local fire department ten minutes prior to let her know that her high-end clothing boutique, the one she’d spent her life cultivating and nurturing, had gone up in flames. Luckily the other buildings around it were spared from the heat, but when April and her mom arrived at the scene, she was told her two other stores in neighboring towns had also been set ablaze.
“It’s not likely a coincidence,” the fire chief told them. April stared at the ashes of her mom’s life numbly, barely registering Johnny when he stopped by to ask if she was okay. “We suspect arson at this point.”
It didn’t take long for Van and James to arrive on the scene, summoned by her mom’s blubbering phone call, but April didn’t clue in to anything until she saw James’s face. Then, it was all crystal clear; James was a man of his word, and this was her fault for doubting him.
“April,” Van said as he hurried toward her, enveloping her in his arms and holding her close. He smelled wonderful for having just woken up, and she figured he’d just gotten off work at the bar or something a few hours prior. However, she couldn’t stand there in his arms, not when her relationship with him was the reason the tragedy had taken place.
It wasn’t his fault. Van wanted to love her, to treat her right; she’d seen that. But it was almost painfully clear now that they had no future together, not with James around. So, she broke free from Van’s hold, knowing precisely what she needed to do. There was no way she could fully fix what had happened. She couldn’t purchase replicas of the vintage clothes that were destroyed, gobbled up by the flames. She couldn’t replace the tasteful black-and-white photos of her mom and dad that were in her mom’s office. She couldn’t do anything now to bring back all that the woman had lost in a matter of minutes.
But April could damn well make sure that nothing like this ever happened to her again. She shot Van an apologetic look before turning away. Their relationship needed to stop for the sake of her mom’s safety—that much was painfully apparent now—but she wasn’t going to break both of their hearts right there on the street in front of firemen and onlookers alike. No, she’d do it in classic April fashion: she’d just run away.
Another day. Not now. Right now, her mom needed her. April hurried across the pavement to where the woman stood next to James, tears streaming down her face, a hand over her mouth. The glare April shot to the man who was supposed to be her future stepfather could have killed him on the spot, and it intensified when she saw amusement flicker across his face.
Still, she said nothing. Did nothing. Nothing but pull her trembling mother into her arms, listening to her cry as the heat of the fire, though mostly vanquished, warmed her back. Over her mom’s shoulder, she met James’s eye one last time, and in that moment, she admitted defeat.
He’d won the war. She couldn’t fight any other battles. If James wanted her to leave Van, to squash her ever-growing feelings, she had no choice but to give him what he wanted.