Olivia
“Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you three?” Beau crows as he glances between August, Josiah, and me. He shoves his hands into his pockets and stares. All three of us look at him. He turns to Josiah and says, “Dude, did you get stupid enough to make a pass at Olivia? Holy shit, man. I know she’s hot, but that’s—”
“That’s enough,” August says, and that’s the end of it. Beau could probably hazard a guess at what happened—surely if anyone knows about Cole Webb beating his son, it’s Beau. Still, he’s being his usual irritating self by attempting to provoke us all. Either way, when August Cotton tells you to can it, you can it. Unless, of course, you happen to be me. I’m not so good with the shutting up and agreeing to do everything he tells me to do.
After that kiss last night, I don’t know whether to provoke him further or be a good girl so I get rewarded with another. I decide to be like Beau because I can’t resist. “All right, y'all, if August is done playing headmistress, we can all get to work.” I wink at the boys. It hurts my face, but it’s worth it to hear them chuckle. I dare a look at August. He doesn’t smile, but his eyes do it for him, lighting up and crinkling in the corners.
“I thought we were done working,” Beau says, rolling his eyes.
“You wanna get paid? You work. If you don’t need the cash, sugar, you know where the door is. Don’t let it hit you in the ass on your way out.”
Beau’s shoulders slump and Josiah grabs a red T-shirt from the counter with the Paws for Cause logo on it that I had sent over from Fairhope, and tosses it to his friend. Beau pulls off his shirt and put the new one on. Josiah is already wearing his. I yank the cap off Beau’s head and ruffle his fluffy blond hair. “You two are so adorable I could just eat you up with a spoon. Now go get the obstacle course set up in the yard. The doors are supposed to open at nine a.m. sharp.”
“Headmistress, huh?” August says as the boys file out the door. Bettina follows, clutching Betty close to her chest. The two of them are thick as thieves since I brought the piglet home.
I grin up at him. “You like that?”
“Oh sure.” He takes a step toward me and I take one back until I’m pressed against my gleaming new counter. “What man doesn’t like being referred to as a crotchety old woman?”
“Well, you are kinda bossy.” I fight the urge to roam my gaze over his big body. I fail, and wind up taking the long way round, ogling every inch of well-defined muscle straining against his clothes. “Nothing womanly about you though.”
“Not one thing,” he mutters, leaning closer. The front door opens, the little bell above it ringing like a warning, and if the counter wasn’t at my back, I’d have skittered away like a frightened deer. “We ain’t open yet.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” says a familiar voice. “I’m looking for Olivia.”
“Ellie?” I place my hand on August’s arm and peek around his shoulder. “Oh my God, what are you doing here?”
August straightens but doesn’t turn to face our audience, and I squeeze out from between him and the counter and run at my best friend with my arms flung wide while we both squeal like schoolgirls.
“It’s your grand opening, isn’t it? We wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” She lowers her voice to a whisper, “But now that I see what we’re interrupting, I think we probably should have stayed at home.”
“I’m so glad you came,” I say, ignoring her jibes. The only thing I’ve told Ellie about August Cotton is that he’s a Marine, about as accommodating as a park bench in a tornado, and as stubborn as a damn mule. I squeeze my best friend so hard she might be at risk of exploding. When I let go, I tuck my hair behind my ear, and she gasps. “What in hell and damnation happened to your face?”
“Oh, er . . .” I wince. “A drug dealer beat me up.”
Ellie’s eyes go wide. “What?”
I wave it away as if it’s no big deal. “It’s a long story.”
I’m saved from having to explain it by the adorable ten-year-old bursting through my door followed by his emotional support dog, Nutters.
“Aunt Olivia!” Ellie’s son, Spencer, launches himself at me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“Hey, Spence.” I stare at Ellie in shock. My best friend just smiles and shrugs. In all the time I’ve known this boy, he’s hugged me only once. Spencer is autistic and has sensory processing disorder. One of the symptoms of that is that he doesn’t like to be touched. “How’s my favorite boy?”
“Good,” he says. Nutters sits by his side, staring up at me. He’s wearing his vest, which means he’s on duty and shouldn’t be petted. He’s fully grown now, and a little overweight for his breed and height. Spence is likely feeding him from off his plate at supper time.
“Where’s Jake?” I ask.
“Out at the car, probably struggling with Maybelle’s carrier,” Ellie says. “Are you going to introduce us, Liv?”
“Lord, where are my manners? Ellie, Spencer, this is August Cotton.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ellie says. She doesn’t offer her hand to shake because her own Marine is as opposed to being touched as Spencer is. “I’ve heard so many great things about you.”
He laughs. “They can’t have been from Olivia then.”
“Oh, she goes on and on about you,” she says, shooting me a pointed look. I glare at her with a wide-eyed gaze that screams, “Shut the hell up before I cut you.” She ignores it. “I’m thinking she’s failed to mention a few things though, mainly about the two of you being so close.”
“Ellie, maybe you should go check on your husband.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s fine,” she says. “I want to hear more about the two of you.”
Of course, right at that exact moment, Jude du Pont walks in carrying a bunch of flowers in one hand and a package of Birthday Cake Oreos in the other. Ellie glances between the doc, August, and me. “Well, it seems my best friend is just full of surprises these days.”
“Hi. Is this a bad time?” Jude says in his smooth southern drawl, and a grin splits Ellie’s face practically in two. Jude stares at my face with a furrowed brow. I put a pound of cover-up on, my hair’s hiding most of the damage and he’s standing a few feet away, but I guess he’s noticed that something’s a little off.
“Not at all,” she says. “The more the merrier.”
He shuffles his loot and extends his hand to Ellie. “Jude du Pont, town veterinarian.”
“Ellie Tucker, supposed best friend.”
Jude laughs—somewhat nervously—and I give my best friend a tight smile before daring a glance at August, who I know must be angrier than a cut snake right about now. “I just wanted to be the first to wish you good luck on opening day, but it looks like I’m too late.”
“Looks like,” August says sharply.
Jude glares at him before turning his attention back to me. “Here. I got you these.”
“Thank you, that’s really sweet,” I say, taking the gifts from him and turning to set them down on the shelf beside me. My hair falls in my eyes, so I tuck it back behind my ear.
“What the hell happened to your face?” Doc demands. His eyes narrow and he cups my chin and gently angles my head to get a better look.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” I say, quickly covering his hand and drawing it away from me. I should have applied a third layer of concealer. “Spence, honey, why don’t you run along outside with the other kids? Bettina’s nursing my pet piglet if you want to take a look?”
“You got a piglet?” Ellie asks, as her son and Nutters run outside.
“That’s not nothing, Olivia,” Jude says sternly.
August laughs and folds his arms across his huge chest. “What? You think I did that to her?”
“I don’t know, Cotton,” he says through clenched teeth. “Did you?”
August steels his jaw, and I can hear his teeth grinding from here. “You know me better than that.”
“I did once; I don’t know who the hell you are now or what you’re capable of,” Jude says. August takes a step toward him but Jude doesn’t back down. I can’t decide if that’s brave, or really stupid.
“August didn’t do this,” I say impatiently, wedging myself between the two men.
“Then how come you’re both sporting war wounds?”
“Josiah’s dad hit me.”
“What?” Jude looks at me incredulously. “What do you mean?”
“I dropped him off last night and his daddy threw some nasty words around. Josiah should have just ignored it, but he stood up for me, and I couldn’t walk away when a kid was getting his face rearranged so, voilà.” I make a lazy hand gesture toward my face. The doc looks dubious, glancing between August and myself. “Josiah was there, Doc. He got pretty badly beat up too.”
“Okay, I’m lost,” Ellie says. “Who’s Josiah?”
I grimace, knowing I am going to be in all kinds of trouble where my best friend is concerned. “That’s another long story.”
“And how did you get beat up?” Doc says to August.
“I paid Josiah’s daddy a little visit.”
“He still breathin’?” Jude asks, mimicking my words from last night.
“I reckon he’s having some trouble with that this morning, but he ain’t dead, if that’s what you mean.”
“I thought Fairhope was full of drama, but y’all need your own TV show down here,” Ellie says and I sigh, exasperated.
I turn to Doc. “Thank you for the flowers, and for being here, it means a lot.”
He nods. “It’s my pleasure. I gotta get to the clinic, but if you need anything, you just holler at me. I’ll see myself out.”
“You do that,” August remarks, and I shoot him a look that says to knock it off. Standing right here in this room are the only people who’ve been nice to me since I arrived in Magnolia Springs, and I can’t afford to lose a single one of them.
Jude leaves and a beat later, Jake finally pokes his head in the door. His dog, Nuke, flanks his side, and he’s carrying little Maybelle in her car seat. I make a beeline for the baby. She’s going on five months now, and it seems as if she’s grown to astronomical proportions since I left. I scoop her up and hold her close, smelling the top of her head and smiling at her clean baby scent. When I look up, August is watching me closely. I’m not sure why, but I blush three different shades of red, and I have to look away. “Hi, Jake.”
“Hey, Liv. Did you know there’s a group of women out here waiting to come in?”
“There is?” I ask, moving past him to peek through one of the windows. Kathy Abernathy and her posse of snooty bitches are all standing around outside in their church clothes, and I bet they’re just dying to come and find cause enough to petition the mayor to close my shelter. “Shoot.”
Ellie joins me at the window for a looky-loo. “Who’s that?”
“Oh no one, just the devil and her spineless minions.”
“What is going on with that hair? It looks like the cat’s been sucking on it.” Ellie gives the window her back and smiles at me. “Looks like it sucked the joy right out of her face too.”
“Sounds about right,” I say with a sigh. “She’s not exactly my number-one fan. Tried to convince the town that our dogs were unsafe and have us shut down before we could even open our doors.”
“Well, we could always not let her in, but then where’s the fun in that?” Ellie takes the baby from me and hands her off to Jake. She grabs my arm and leads me away from the window. “August, would you be a sweetheart and throw me one of those red T-shirts on that counter?”
He looks quizzically at my best friend. “Sure.”
“Thank you,” she says, catching the shirt in midair. She throws it on over her tank top.
“I think I’ll go check on the kids,” August says.
“I’ll come,” Jake says, but Ellie holds up a hand to stop him.
“Oh no, mister. You and Nuke are staying right there.”
August shrugs and shoots Jake an apologetic look before pushing open the door and disappearing through it as quickly as possible. Ellie pulls a compact from her purse and I glance at her as if she’s lost her damn mind. “What are you doing?”
“Helping out my best friend when she’s in need.” Ellie dabs the powder puff over my face, concentrating on my black eye. I wince, because it hurts like a bitch. “Though you and I are gonna have us a little chat later. I’m still mad at you.”
“I can tell,” I say, afraid I might lose an eye. I move out of her reach.
“Girl, August Cotton is fine. Why didn’t you tell me you two had a thing?”
“It ain’t even like that.”
“Oh, it’s like that. Trust me, with him looking at you the way he does, you definitely have a thing.”
I never realized just how much I missed my best friend until this point. All this time I’ve been dealing with everything on my own, and I forgot how much I needed her, how much I needed them.
I shake my head and stare up at the ceiling. “He’s complicated.”
“He’s a Marine. Were you expecting easy?”
“I don’t know, Elle. I’m starting to think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.”
“Oh, honey, hush. There isn’t a man alive that can’t be fixed with a little understanding, some TLC, and a batch of baked goods. Now pull yourself together, and put some lipstick on, we’ve got to wipe the floor with some basic bitches.”
I may have terrible taste in men, but I sure know how to pick a best friend.
“You best call me, Olivia Anders, or I’m gonna go straight to Kathy Abernathy and find out all those juicy little secrets you been keeping,” Ellie shouts, hanging out the passenger window as Jake backs their minivan down my drive. “She and I are tight now, don’t forget.”
“I promise I’ll call you,” I yell back and wave goodbye. Jake reverses out onto the road and honks the horn. I blow a kiss and watch their taillights disappear through the trees.
I am plum worn out. Opening day had a much better turnout than I’d anticipated. We’d had a barbeque, and a bouncy castle for the kids, and Beau had even surprised me with his face-painting skills. He’d been the mastermind behind that very detailed graffiti on my walls a couple of months back, and it was nice to see him putting his thug-life skills to good use now.
We’d had families drop by, looky-loos, Mayor Winkler had come with a reporter from the town paper and had a photo opp, and we even had two adoptions on our books, so I’d call that a success.
My absolute favorite part of the day, though, had been when Kathy Abernathy was forced to eat her words. Ellie had been an absolute rock star. She was sweet and charming in that doe-eyed, unsuspecting way of hers, laughing and chatting with Satan’s hellhounds when she’d called Nuke over to her. You couldn’t not love Nuke. He has the sweetest temperament of any dog I’ve ever met, and he is a sucker for a pretty lady who gives belly rubs. Kathy had even gone so far as to call him adorable and let him lick her face, then Ellie had dropped the bomb that Nuke had been a stray that I’d rescued from being euthanatized and that my program had also saved her husband’s life. Truth be told, Ellie deserved all the credit there, but I did train Nuke, and I was not about to correct her in front of Kathy. Not today, Satan. Not today.
I head back inside and close the door, leaning against it with a sigh.
“Congratulations,” August says. He leans against the counter, Zora sits by his feet. They both appear calm and relaxed. A new look for them.
“Well, I couldn’t have done it without any of you.” I walk toward him, stopping only when the tips of my boots reach the ends of his. “Of course, I’ll have to come up with a suitable way to say thank you, because I know how much you hate those two little words.”
He shakes his head and grins. “I think I have a few suggestions for you.”
“You do?”
The door to the yard bursts open and Bettina tears in clutching Betty under her arm. The two of them are squealing as Beau chases after them—terrorizing the poor girls. Josiah follows them through the door holding Xena’s lead. He takes off her vest and loves her up accordingly. He’s good with her.
I smile up at August and take a step back, turning to assess the animals in my new shelter. I don’t know how I came to have a piglet, a little girl and two teenage punks following me around as if I was their mamma. I don’t really know how any of it happened other than to say that’s life in small-town Alabama. It happens to you, rather than you controlling it. One day you’re the new girl in town, and the next, you have friends, a support system, a family, and one hell of a hot Marine who you sometimes loathe as much as you love.
Lord help me.