Carmody Present

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 979-8-3509-4771-7
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 1, 230 Seiten

Reihe: The Present

It's been a month, and Annabelle is trying to pick herself up after a breakup. Cole and Zoey are figuring out how to adapt to life that will no longer be just the two of them. Austin is growing into his own and learning from his past mistakes. Willow is relearning who she is after her life crumbled down around her, and Liam is back in England with his family picking up the pieces he left behind when he left home years ago.

Jennifer Carmody is the author of The New Days series. When she's not writing she can be found in her reading room with a hot coffee, a book and her dog, Wendy. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends and disappearing into stories. She lives in South Central Wisconsin.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Carmody, Jennifer

Leseproben

Cole

Life had changed a lot in the last month. One would think it was because Zoey was pregnant and they were getting used to the idea of a little Shea entering their world, but they would be wrong. That seemed rather normal. Instead, it was the group changing.

Zoey wouldn’t enter Shea’s bar now. So, ok, maybe the pregnancy had changed a few things. She wouldn’t even go into the bar to get to Austin’s apartment. She used the extremely old, weathered wooden stairs at the back of the bar that led straight into his kitchen.

Annabelle had stopped coming to the bar on Friday nights as well. She claimed it was to rejoin the original family dinner night and to get in some good old-fashioned quality time with the parents. They all knew it was a lie. She’d avoided Austin like the plague because she was mad at him, and she was being a child. Cole would know, he was an elementary school teacher. She had even gone so far as to pretend Austin wasn’t in the room during family dinners.

Honestly, he was just glad she was leaving the house. For a while there she stayed on her couch wrapped like a burrito in her blanket watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. Then, when she found out Liam left the country, her sadness turned into anger and burrito-blanket Christmas movie season was over.

Willow had been mostly MIA since moving in with Dusk. It made sense, as Cole and Zoey never wanted to leave their apartment when they first moved in together. When she did come out, it was usually with Dusk, obviously, and their upstairs neighbor, Buzz. It was an odd trio. Willow always seemed on edge and uncomfortable. Dusk was his normal friendly self, but Buzz paid a little too much attention to Willow for Cole’s liking.

Austin...well Austin was the same. He was still trying to get Annabelle to forgive him, while trying to remain in contact with Missy. Missy wasn’t returning his calls. Cole didn’t blame her; he wouldn’t return Austin’s calls either. He hadn’t gotten the obvious “I don’t want to talk to you” vibes she’d been sending out. Then, there was Becky the beer girl, who was new and very interesting. She was also sending out obvious vibes that Austin wasn’t receiving. Cole didn’t know if he should have Austin’s eyes or brain tested. Or both.

Friday nights at Shea’s had become extremely weird, boring, and lonely. He got some good people watching in but that was only fun when you had someone to share it with. He hung out with Dusk for a few weeks but then Dusk had packed his bags and headed south to sell his hats in a better climate. Austin was still working Friday nights but with the loss of Zoey and Annabelle’s dance hour, the crowd had picked up and they had less time to hangout. Cole never thought he would actually miss those stupid boy bands.

***

He was just about to call it a night and head up to Austin’s loft when Becky walked in. She’d been around a lot recently. He’d like to say that it was a nice distraction for Austin from the whole Annabelle and Missy situation, but Austin was oblivious. It was obvious to everyone that Becky was into Austin, except Austin. Even Annabelle knew and she was barely around.

He sat back down onto his bar stool and waved Becky over. She smiled and grabbed the empty seat next to him. “Alone again tonight?” She leaned across the bar to get Austin’s attention. When he saw her, she held up her hand, and stuck up two fingers. Austin nodded and brought over two beers.

She slid one over to him.

“Not anymore,” he answered. Taking a sip of his drink.

“You still haven’t been able to convince her it’s ok to be in the bar?”

“You’ll need to be more specific. To which ‘her’ you are referring?”

She rolled her eyes. “Zoey. I was talking about Zoey.”

“That would be a no.” He mimicked Zoey perfectly. “It’s not right for a pregnant woman to be in a bar. That’s bad parenting.”

He didn’t really see the problem. It wasn’t like she’d be drinking. But Zoey had been adamant about not stepping a foot in the bar since the day she found out she was pregnant. Checking in on Austin when he hurt his hand had been the only exception.

“I’m pretty sure I already know the answer but what about the other ‘her’. Any luck?” The other her being Annabelle.

“That would also be a no.” He chugged his beer. “She’s still pretty angry. I’m hoping the time away will dampen her anger and she’ll come back. She’s stubborn, so it could be a while.”

She nodded. “I mean, her boyfriend did break up with her and flee the country because Austin couldn’t keep his big mouth out of her business. I don’t blame her for being angry.”

He wasn’t able to hide the shock on his face.

She laughed. “What? Did you think I didn’t know?”

“First of all, I don’t know if I would describe Liam going home as ‘fleeing the country.’ Second, I didn’t think you knew. I guess Austin is starting to learn from his mistakes.” He leaned back and looked out the window.

She laughed. “What are you doing?”

“Just checking to see if Hell froze over.”

She slapped his shoulder. She’d been hanging out with Zoey too much. “Ok, that hurt.”

“Toughen up, Shea. I didn’t hit you that hard.”

She slightly turned her head away from him in an attempt to get a look at Austin without fully looking in his direction. This time Austin noticed her. He grabbed two more beers and headed toward them.

Her body language shifted. She sat up straighter and leaned forward onto the bar. Her face softened and a small smile appeared on her lips. How Austin didn’t see that was beyond him. The only thing Austin did notice was that Becky had managed to convince Bob, the bar’s regular beer delivery man, to switch routes with her. Austin slid him his beer and handed Becky hers.

“Thanks, Scratch.” She looked down at her beer and tucked her hair behind her ears. It still surprised Cole how much Becky changed in Austin’s presence. Normally very confident, it seemed like she made herself a tad bit smaller when Austin was around.

Austin snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “No problem, Beer Girl. Lady. Woman.” He finally stopped talking and put them all out of their misery.

They’d be a good couple if Austin could figure his shit out. In the short amount of time that they’ve known each other, Becky had managed to get Austin to own up to his behavior. If it wasn’t for her, they probably wouldn’t have known Austin punched Liam before he left. Cole was sure Austin would have figured out some ridiculous lie to explain the splint on his hand.

After Austin showed up, Cole was forgotten. He went back to people watching. He noticed Buzz in the corner with someone who looked a lot like Willow. But for an obvious reason, Dusk, it couldn’t be her. He was about to get a closer look when Austin’s second attempt of the night to nickname Becky went horribly wrong for her and perfectly right for everyone else. From this day forward, Becky would now be formally known as Ducky. How this came about he didn’t know and he didn’t care. All he cared about now was Becky, Ducky, asking him a question as quickly as possible.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Shea?”

Damn! Not the question he was hoping for. “No reason,” he took a drink of his beer. “Ducky.”

She swiveled on her stool so fast it startled him. “No, that is not my nickname!” She turned and pointed at Austin. “You’re not going to call me that, are you?”

Now was the time. The moment he was waiting for. “Yep, yep, yep.”

Austin laughed and slapped the bar. “Oh, it’s totally happening.”

Cole wiped a tear from his eye. “I can’t wait to tell Zoey that one.”

“You guys are the absolute worst. Why do I hang out with you?”

Austin grabbed them two more beers. “Because you love us.”

Her face turned pink.

Seriously, how did Austin not see this stuff?

He stopped Austin before he opened the beer. He was done for the night; it was time to head upstairs and join Zoey on the sofa bed. For some reason, sitting in a bar pregnant was bad parenting but sleeping above a bar on a sofa bed was acceptable parenting.

***

He climbed into bed as gently as he could and wrapped himself around Zoey. He had just fallen asleep when she shook him awake. “I love you so much and I’m so sorry, but you need to take a shower. I can smell the beer on your breath and it’s making me nauseous.”

He shook his head and wordlessly climbed off the sofa bed and into the shower. She was sitting up, waiting for him when he returned. “Is there a reason we’re sleeping here when neither of us are drunk?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I’m not ready to give up all of our Friday night experiences yet.”

The second he opened his mouth to speak he knew he was going to be in trouble, but his mouth kept moving anyway. “If you’re going to make us sleep on this incredibly lumpy pull-out mattress, I would appreciate it if you stopped using those janky ass steps and instead used the stairs in the bar from now on.”

The softness from Zoey’s face disappeared and was replaced with an ice-cold stare. It amazed him how fast his wife’s emotions could change. It made him worried about the future because this had nothing to do with pregnancy...