Imagine That: A Small Town Big Love Novel Read online

  “What’s not to like?” asked Clem. “You’re gorgeous, and you’re rich, I hear.” He grabbed her like he would tickle her.

  “He doesn’t care so much about material things. At the end of my drinking, those blurry days at the casinos, I had one or two guys who found out I was an heiress, and they were my best friends.” The memory was unpleasant.

  “I was there and had to pry one guy out of your wallet. I thought I would go to jail for assault and battery because I was going to kick his ass. Glad you’re not there anymore. You can’t change the past, so don’t waste your time trying. Pardon the vernacular. It’s like pissing up a rope. Been there done that. I almost hung myself with it trying to make things be the way they can’t. You can’t undo what happened before you moved here. Just do the best you can now. If this cop is a good friend and that’s all it is, well that ain’t bad, either. We all need friends.”

  Her brother looked so tired. She hugged him again. He felt bony and thin. He was a bear of a man, to begin with, but he’d lost weight since his breakup.

  “Go get sleep and then promise me you’ll eat something.” She tried to sound motherly and not naggy.

  “Will do.”

  She watched him go upstairs. She would help him get back on track the way her family and Kevin helped her. But for now, she needed to work out. She headed to the gym in John’s house.

  Togi texted her. She accepted Maya’s invitation to the meeting. That made Maya feel like she was heading in the right direction and she felt just a bit stronger. It also gave her a reason to text Kevin.

  “Going to the Idaho Springs meeting tonight.”

  She dressed to work out. Most of the rooms in the house were high-ceilinged because of the pitch of the roof but she suspected John had them raised because the Blackwoods were tall people. John was the tallest at 6’4”. Cousin Patrick was not as tall as John. Maya herself scraped 5’10.” Clem was the next tallest male. Her cousin Caleb and her sister Jennifer were the shorties at 6’2” and 5’8” respectively. When they had a say in things, there was ample clearance.

  John’s gym was complete. It had a treadmill, a weight bench, a fully stocked weight rack, and a kick bag. It had a dance floor too so it was perfect for Maya’s favorite exercise vice, the jump rope. She had a collection of ropes. She saw these guys on an internet video channel and she was hooked. It was the great part of addiction, which she only discovered after her beloved husband died, that if the obsession was to drink or gamble, she could focus it on exercise. In this case, jumping rope. She loved it. She cranked up the music on her iPhone and went for it.

  It only took her fifteen minutes to knock out a set, then she rested and started again. As she finished her second set, she got a text from Kevin. She didn’t read it, because if she did, she would ditch her workout. She was so hooked on jump rope and the high it gave her that she was torn between diving into a conversation and delaying that gratification for another time. She gave a quick response.

  “Working out right now. We should do that together sometime,” she wrote boldly.

  Just like that, her life felt rich. It was such a different situation for a woman whose life, heart and soul had been shattered. And then it hit her. That’s what it was. That was what put her in the seat at the saloon that morning. She had been disconnected from it or denied it. But now she knew.

  It was coming up on Brad’s birthday. His life was over far too soon. A sharp pain sliced through her right in the middle of the euphoria of jumping rope and the coziness of a crush and lay open a wall of sobs.

  Seeing Clem and remembering why she had started drinking had just worked that sore to the surface. She pressed her face in her hands and cried, consciously sad for her husband in a way that numbing herself with drinking and gambling prevented. She wasn’t sure how long she had been there. It felt like she was taking out the trash, she cried so hard.

  Her tears unearthed months and months of stored grief that remained in her being and she had not processed. Just when she thought it was all gone, there was more. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder. No doubt Clem, who had come into the gym to ask her something and found her like this.

  She rose blindly, allowing herself to be taken into his embrace. She felt the stiff texture of his uniform and realized she was hugging Kevin. The sequence was like a dream, she was so overwrought.

  “What happened?” he whispered.

  “How come you’re here?” She pressed her head to his solid chest.

  The release of pent-up grief left her exhausted. She was positively wiped out. He was so comfortable, she could fall asleep on him.

  “I texted you that I was here and coming in.” His voice had a soothing quality to it. “What’s going on?”

  “I figured it out, what got me squirrelly this morning. Brad,” she whimpered.

  He squeezed her tighter.

  “There, there. That’s normal.”

  Something about the way he said it, the way he felt, allowed her to let go more. Her body relaxed. Kevin’s arms provided her with a safety net. She wiped her face quick-like and lifted it to him to kiss. His face fell before he stepped away.

  “You’re working out.” He changed the subject.

  Kevin had something he was dealing with or hiding. Every time they got close, he shifted gears. In her emotional state, it annoyed her.

  “Kevin, how come you don’t have a girlfriend?” She pulled no punches. Her question was direct and succinct.

  The atmosphere in the room changed and he was quiet. Then he tried to laugh it off.

  “Where did that come from?”

  “I’m serious,” she said. “Be straight with me. How come? You’re wonderful. You’re a good-looking guy. There should be a line of women offering to cook you dinner.”

  “I can cook for myself.”

  They stood in the middle of the gym surrounded by equipment, having this conversation. He took a deep breath. She had touched on something personal, a side of himself he didn’t disclose too often, if ever.

  “I had a thing for someone for a long time.” He shrugged as if it wasn’t important. “When I got over it, I realized it was a way for me not to be involved. In college and in the pros, I chased a bit, but that wasn’t for me. I’m looking for the right one.”

  “I said girlfriend, but who do you have in your life? You take care of other people. Who do you have to care for you?”

  He gave a sharp laugh.

  “I have friends. You’re my friend, silly. I consider Damon one of my best friends. I have family. My mom lives here. I have two sisters. They live in Denver. But I love the people of this tiny town. I grew up here. Blackwood is so small you see the same people day in and day out, you follow their lives and become a part of them.”

  “Our selling the town kind of changed that,” she reflected out loud.

  “Kind of.” His tone was laced with uncharacteristic sarcasm. “One of my sisters, Kara, didn’t understand why I didn’t go the glitzy route when I played football. After she learned about the money they paid me, she wanted me to live in a house like this, with a trophy wife. This town is enough for me. In fact, it’s the standard. I’ll take a grumpy older waitress who probably should retire like Togi over the polished twenty-something they will replace her with.”

  “I missed all that.” A huff of air left her chest in a whoosh. “This town bears my family name and I wasn’t here for any of it. I would have loved to have been a part of something like that.”

  “You have a little while until the construction crews start rolling in and refurbishing everything to enjoy it.”

  “What did you stop by for?”

  Kevin froze as if he had to scramble to make up an excuse.

  “I’m anxious about you going into town. Idaho Springs is a slippery slope for you.” He used the AA lingo Maya heard around the rooms. “It’s full of gambling and drinking and dangerous characters.”

  “Togi will be my bodyguard. She’s like a pit bull. If danger
approaches, I’ll let her loose.”

  Chapter Five

  Kevin

  Kevin left Maya even though he didn’t want to. Holding her in his arms nearly crushed him. She felt amazing—her body was soft and voluptuous and warm, and the soft scent of her shampoo brushed his nose. He wanted to tell her how much he liked her—if like was even the right word because the moment he thought about it, it became so much more—but she was just getting on her feet.

  He had one more drive-through of the town to do before wrapping things up for his shift. The mention of his mother prompted him to swing by and check in on her. He usually connected with her every two or three days. It wasn’t like she was an old woman; she’d just scraped sixty.

  She lived off of his late father’s pension but worked at the nearest hospital because she wanted to. He felt the need to check in because she was by herself otherwise. When she met him at the door, something about her hair reminded him of Maya’s and he rolled his eyes, because she also had something else in common with her. She was a recovering alcoholic. Franny took her meetings outside of town at the hospital where she worked and was truly anonymous.

  “Ooh boy,” he muttered as he compared the woman he had a thing for with his mother.

  “Something wrong, dear?” she asked as she craned to kiss his cheek.

  “No, I’m good.”

  “Want some dinner? I’ll have it ready in a while.”

  Franny Hoisington was a petite, dark-haired woman. He got his light brown hair, huge frame, and height from his father. He was the spitting image of his dad.

  “Yeah.” He’d never been able to turn her down. “I will.”

  Compared to the sprawling Blackwood A frame that he’d camped out in for a few months after John moved to Idaho Springs, Kevin’s house and his mother’s house were far homier. When he stayed at John’s house where Maya was now, it felt like he was at a ski lodge.

  Every time he stepped foot in his mom’s house—the house he’d grown up in—it felt like security and comfort. It hadn’t always been like that. There had been a time when his dad was always out of the house and his mother was drinking.

  He would come home from school and find her on the floor asleep. The house would smell of peppermint because his mother drank Schnapps. Even as a grown man, Kevin couldn’t stand the taste of peppermint—not in gum, or chocolate, or even mouthwash.

  Franny got sober when he was in the eighth grade. She was present for him during high school, college and while he played football in the pros. Something about the experience of having an alcoholic mom made him hesitant to connect on anything but a platonic basis. That turned him into a heck of a caretaker.

  Having his mom be in recovery gave him a great resource to help the community when he needed to. It gave him insight with Maya, but now he felt like he’d painted himself into a corner. There were rules, and he wanted to break all of them.

  He’d known from the moment he met her and knew of her situation that he would develop feelings. She was drop-dead gorgeous, a sweet and wonderfully honest woman who had lived through a tragedy. Maya Blackwood was made for him.

  “I have to ask you to remember when you said there was a strong suggestion for newcomers—you know people who are newly sober? That they shouldn’t get in relationships for the first year?”

  “You mean like Maya Blackwood?” she asked without looking up from her saucepan.

  “Yes, I mean her.”

  The mention of Maya by name made him warm and ache at the same time. He and his mother talked at length about her. He got a lot of advice because his mother was sober and worked with alcoholics. She gave Kevin insight about what Maya was going through as a person trying to recover from a tough stretch of drinking.

  He’d known when he saw Maya for the first time she needed TLC, and that with help, she would become a remarkable woman. And she had. He found himself impatient for them to become something more.

  “I think I might be in love with her,” he confessed.

  “You thought you were in love with Lucy Shoemaker,” she said candidly. “That wasn’t so long ago.”

  His mother, though great and approachable, was flawed, and she did the mother thing from time to time, especially with women. She had this way of throwing shade on the topic when it looked like he’d found someone. He didn’t understand why.

  “Mom,” he argued. “That was over a year ago. Besides, she and John Blackwood are perfect for each other.”

  He was frustrated and felt like she was mocking him.

  “Should I be getting advice from someone else? You don’t have an ulterior motive here of steering me clear of women, do you?”

  “No. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It would be too selfish of me to interfere with you finding someone wonderful. I want to see you happy in the way you want to be. Isn’t that Blackwood girl kind of flighty? Is she taking her recovery seriously? You might be in for some borrowed trouble.”

  “I think she’s serious.” Deep inside he knew that to be the truth but this was Maya’s journey and it would be a path full of hills and valleys. “I know she goes to meetings and she has a sponsor. And yes admittedly, she is a bit of a character, but I’m not into drama, and I wouldn’t be attracted to her if I thought she would be a roller coaster ride.”

  “No one does life perfectly, present company excepted.” She turned to him and winked. “Risk is okay, Kevin. She’ll let you know if she’s ready for something new. The thing about the first year is that while someone is vulnerable, they could turn to alcohol to cope. The truth is, as an alcoholic she could drink any time or not, but that is true for me too. We always have to be vigilant. It’s all just one day at a time. That doesn’t mean we can’t live our lives.”

  “That’s a yes?” His heart leaped for joy at his mother’s support. “She doesn’t have quite a year, but she’s doing great.”

  “That’s a be happy.” She tapped the side of his head with her palm. “Quit being so damn careful. You’re just like your father, thank God.”

  He wasn’t sure what had just happened. She had given him mixed messages, but the last one was to give him her blessing to pursue Maya.

  He followed her to the table. He felt like he had just eaten, but he’d only had half a meal since he’d shared his lunch with Maya.

  Franny was an excellent cook. She favored whole foods, and organic ingredients so it wasn’t like it was going to be bad for him. He felt a certain obligation to eat her food, but it was about time he had another woman besides his mother to take his meals with.

  “Mom, can we have Maya over for dinner sometime?”

  “Yes, I’d like that. I think it’s high time. I would love to have a full dinner table. You say when.”

  “We can make it soon,” he replied excitedly. “Whenever you’re up to it.”

  “I eat every day, and now I am eager for you guys to come over.”

  “I’ll let her know.”

  With that, He gave himself permission to consider going out with Maya. His head filled with thoughts of her. He wolfed down his food and washed his dishes.

  “Hate to eat and run.” He kissed her cheek. “Love you.”

  He jumped in the squad car and meandered the short distance to his place. He figured the eight o’clock meeting was about two hours away. He would meet her when she got out at nine. He could hardly wait to tell her how he felt. As long as there was no hard and fast rule about getting involved with her before she had a solid year under her belt, he wasn’t going to wait any longer.

  Chapter Six

  Maya

  The sun had set on a long day. Springtime in Colorado was chilly but Maya sensed the difference between a winter chill and a spring one. It felt like spring when she left the house to drive to Blackwood, and that made her happy.

  She spruced up to go to the meeting with Togi. It wasn’t exactly like going to church, but she did put on fresh clothes and did her hair and makeup. She wanted to make a good impression f
or the newer people who might be at the meeting.

  Her Porsche purred as it pulled in front of Togi’s house. Somehow it seemed louder on the narrow, rustic streets. The glaring white European sports car was completely out of place in the working-class neighborhood.

  It cost more than the houses set on the road and she felt obvious. Like so many of the homes that made up the residential portion of the tiny town, Togi’s house was old but well-kept. It was hardly bigger than a boxcar but it was crisply painted and accessorized to undeniable cuteness. She felt a pang of envy for the quiet quaintness of Togi’s world.

  She got out of the Porsche like she was Togi’s date, but the waitress was already out the door. Maya sat back down and waited. Togi got in the car. Her short red hair lifted in all directions by the slight breeze outside.

  Togi wasn’t big on making eye contact, though her green eyes were pretty. Maya took a deep breath, knowing this could be an interesting experiment.

  “Good evening.” Though Maya was nervous, the thrill of excitement coiled in her belly.

  “Hi.” Togi stretched her seatbelt over her ample chest and secured herself. “This is nice being able to drive over. It will give us a chance to get to know each other.”

  The sports car moved, growling like a big cat. The headlights bounced a shine off of the glass fronts of the humble shops that lined Main Street. Main Street was the only way to 70, and 70 was the only way to Idaho Springs.

  “My goodness. We’re so low to the ground,” remarked Togi. “I feel like I could roll down the window and touch it.”

  “Used to trucks, right?” asked Maya with a smile.

  There was dead silence. Maya checked her. Togi was staring.

  “Did I say something wrong?” She turned to go to the main road that would take them to Idaho Springs.

  “Well, yes.” Her tight voice pinched off the words. “I’m used to trucks. I felt like that was a snub.”

  “For the record”—Maya tried to hold back her smile—“this is my late husband’s car. I have only ever owned trucks. I was merely saying in a roundabout way I had the same experience.”