Pick Me (3 page)

Her gaze drifted to her right, to the lattice divider that separated her deck from Calder’s, and her thoughts wandered. If there was a woman in his life—not that it made a bit of difference to her, of course—but if there
was
, it wouldn’t take much to find out. Women left pieces of themselves around, something small to mark their territory. A pair of flip flops. Sunglasses. Even a scrunchie. Just a peek would be all she’d need to solve the mystery.

Thea took her time making her way to the trellis divider, not sure why she felt the need to; Calder was no doubt asleep after his twenty-four hour shift, and no one would witness her survey—and even if they did, so what? Still she was slow to approach the lattice. She squinted, moving in closer, when the doorbell sounded through the opened slider and she jumped back in her surprise.

“Crap.”

She looked down to find a trail of wine snaking down her shirt.

* * *

“Surprise!”

Thea swung open the door to find her younger sisters, Willa and Connie, on the stoop. Connie carried a bag of groceries; Willa wore an unapologetic smile.

“You actually let me have a whole three hours to myself,” Thea said, stepping back to let them in. “I’m impressed.”

“
I
wanted to wait until morning to visit,” Connie said, her chestnut ponytail swinging indignantly as she crossed to the kitchen, “but Willa said I was being a party-pooper.”

“The word I used was old fart, actually,” Willa said, giving Thea a hug as she rushed past, but not fast enough that Thea couldn’t still detect streaks of dried blue paint threaded through her sister’s blond hair. Repairs on the bungalow must have been going well.

“Oh, Thee, it’s fabulous!” Connie said, looking around as she carried the bag to the counter.

“Tell me about it,” Thea said. “If I knew it was this nice, I would have held the door open for those damn bugs. Just kidding.”

Connie pulled out a bottle of Chardonnay. “We brought wine but it’s not chilled.”

“Don’t worry, there’s some open in the fridge.” Thea drew down a pair of wineglasses while her sisters unpacked the chips and guacamole. She poured them each a glass and refilled her own. “You should check out the view from the deck. I’ve never seen the bay look so beautiful.”

“I told you you’d love it,” Willa said, taking up her wine and initiating a toast. The sisters clinked glasses.

“Met your neighbors yet?” Connie asked.

Thea took a sip and smiled behind her glass, determined to play it cool. “As a matter of fact, I did…” She looked at Connie. “Do you remember Calder Frye?”

Connie set down her wine, her eyes huge behind her glasses. “Calder Frye is your neighbor?”

Willa looked bewilderedly between her sisters. “Who’s Calder Frye?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Connie cried. “Is he still gorgeous?”

Thea reached for a chip and snorted. “What do you think?”

“When did he move back here? I thought he left for good.”

“He-lloo?” Willa frowned and asked again, “Who the hell is Calder Frye?”

“You don’t remember Calder?” Connie asked.

“She wouldn’t,” said Thea. “He was gone by the time Will got to high school.” “Calder was the biggest hottie at Magnolia Bay High,” Connie said. “All the girls had crazy crushes on him.”

“Ahh.” Willa plunged a chip into the guacamole and grinned. “Now when you say big—are you referring to a certain part of his anatomy, or just his reputation?”

Connie shot her a disapproving look. “You’re wicked, you know that?”

“Blame Knox,” said Willa. “He’s thoroughly corrupted me.”

Thea smirked. “I’m not sure he had far to go.”

It was true. Ever since Willa and Knox Loveless had finally admitted their love at their baby sister, Peach’s wedding the summer before, Willa had been like someone in a perpetual trance. Thea couldn’t remember ever seeing her sister so distracted—or so happy. It was about time.

“Calder Frye was the sexy bad boy from the other side of town. His family owns one of the Pick-Your-Own farms in Pineville.” Connie stared into her wine and sighed. “God, it was just like a movie.”

“Except he wasn’t
really
a bad boy,” Thea said, taking the other free stool. “That was what made him so hot. He was mysterious and a total rebel but no one ever knew anything about him. Just that he did his own thing.”

“And he rode a motorcycle,” Connie added.

“He still does,” said Thea. “Only now he’s an ER doctor.”

“Are you serious? Did he recognize you?”

Thea grinned. “Believe it or not, he did.”

“Of course he would. You spent prom night together, for God’s sake.”

“Whoa—” Willa raised her palm like a cop halting traffic. “I thought you went to prom with Patrick Hogan?”

“I did.” Thea exchanged a conspiratorial look with Connie. “I just didn’t leave with him.”

Willa’s eyes rounded. “Excuse me?”

Thea waved her hand. “It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“It was a huge deal,” said Connie. “I can’t believe you never told Will this story.”

Willa lifted the dip bowl and held it behind her. “Tell me now, or the guacamole gets it.”

“Fine,” said Thea. “I caught Patrick making out with another girl so I took off—and Calder found me walking the streets and picked me up on his motorcycle and took me out for burgers instead.”

“No way!” Willa lunged forward. “Patrick must have freaked!”

“I never told him,” Thea said.

Willa blinked at her. “You never told him?”

“I never told anyone besides Con.”

“Why not?”

“It was my little secret. Mine and Calder’s.” Thea shrugged. “I know it’s dumb, but I liked that for one night, I got to be this different girl, this bad girl.”

“I don’t think it’s dumb,” said Willa, reaching for a chip. “I think it’s hot. And I think it’s even hotter because you didn’t tell anyone. Do you think Calder did?”

Thea shook her head and smiled. “That’s what made me like him even more. He could have easily spread it around school, lied and said we fooled around, thrown it in Patrick’s face, especially since Patrick used to bad-mouth the Frye family to anyone who would listen, but Calder never said a word.”

“So then what happened?” Willa asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You know,
after
. When you guys saw each other again.”

“We didn’t. I guess we both knew it was this weird, lightning-in-a-bottle kind of thing. I mean, it was high school, Will. Calder rode a motorcycle and I was dating the star runningback, for God’s sake. We were from totally different worlds. It never would have worked out.”

“You don’t know that.”

How many times had Thea told herself the same thing after that night? A hundred? Two hundred? And still she’d let Patrick Hogan worm his way back into her good graces.

“I bet Calder was a great kisser,” Willa said.

“I wouldn’t know,” Thea said. “We never kissed.”

“Oh please! This hot guy steals you away on his motorcycle and you don’t even kiss him?”

Connie chuckled into her wine. “I think the defendant pleads insanity.”

Thea grinned. “Okay, yes, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t top my Life list of regrets.”

“Well…” Willa nodded to the window. “Looks to me like you’ve got a chance to fix that.”

“No thank you. I’m done with men, remember? And anyway, I doubt he’s single.”

“Was he wearing a ring?” Connie asked.

“No, but that doesn’t mean anything. He’s a doctor. He wouldn’t wear a ring in the ER.”

Connie remained optimistic. “That’s not necessarily true.”

Thea put up a hand. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not dating my neighbor.”

“Who said anything about dating him?” Willa’s eyes flashed. “I was thinking more like a few nights of loud, sweaty, up-against-the-wall, knock-pictures-off-their-hooks sex.”

“We’re not talking about this anymore.”

“Fine.” Willa picked up Thea’s cell and waved it at her. “Then let’s talk about why you still have your ex-boyfriend’s picture as your screen saver.”

Thea lunged across the counter to reclaim her iPhone. “I’ve been meaning to change that.”

Willa nodded slowly. “Riiight.”

“Does Dennis even know you relocated?” Connie asked.

“Of course not.” Thea scooped up her wine and drained it.

“Are you going to tell him?”

“Why would I tell him? We’re done.” The word stuck a little in her throat but Thea managed to get it out.

“Like
done
done?” asked Connie, “Or just…done for now?”

“My vote’s for
done
done,” said Willa. “Dennis is a creep and a bore, Thee. I never liked him for you.”

Thea moved to the fridge to retrieve the wine. “Can we talk about something else, please?” she asked as she replenished her glass. “I’m not exactly healed yet, okay?”

Willa winked at Connie. “I’ll bet Doctor Bad Boy next door could prescribe some serious love medicine to help with your
healing
.”

“Quit it, you two. I didn’t come out here to meet someone.”

“Don’t blame us for trying, Thee,” said Connie. “We’re just so mad for you. Here we all are, happy as clams, and all we want is for you to have—”

“Don’t say it,” Thea warned, pointing her wine at the two of them. “Just because I’m single, don’t make me out to be a leper in this family.”

Connie and Willa exchanged a remorseful look, but Thea’s heart still sank.

God, it was true. Willa had Knox, Connie had Jay Preston, and newlywed Peach had Brady. Of the four girls, she was the only one unattached. That had to be a first.

Willa leaned over and gave her a hug. “You’re better off without him, Thee.”

Thea wanted to believe it. It wasn’t as if there wasn’t evidence to support her sister’s claim, but then again, there was other evidence to consider too:

Exhibit A: This stomachache she couldn’t lose.

Exhibit B: Obsessively checking her phone to see if Dennis had texted or emailed.

Exhibit C: Reliving every moment of their breakup in the hopes that somewhere in Dennis’ speech there had been a gem of hope for reconciliation that she had missed.

Jury—do you have a verdict?

We, the jury, find the defendant, not over Dennis Connolly.

Thea looked at her sisters and mustered a weak smile for their benefit.

She knew they meant well but this was one villain not even the superpowers of sisterhood could overcome.

Chapter Two

Calder
Frye woke in darkness at the chime of his cell and reached across his bed for the nightstand lamp. Snapping it on, he squinted against the harsh light and scooped up his phone, seeing the time: 2:10 am.

Good hearing was a reflex, had been as long as he’d been in medicine and on-call. Just one ring could pierce the curtain of his sleep. One ring and he was alert, wide-eyed and ready to go.

But even as he answered, confusion clouded his thoughts: He wasn’t on call tonight. “This is Dr. Frye.”

“Dr. Frye, this is Ellen, the attending nurse at Mt. Pleasant.”

He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Ellen, look, I’m glad to come in but I’m not the on-call physician until Thursday.”

“This isn’t for that, Doctor,” the nurse interrupted gently. “It’s your father. Greg Wyman just brought him in and I thought you should know—”

Calder threw off the sheet. “I’m on my way.”

* * *

The reception area of Mt. Pleasant’s Urgent Care was quiet when Calder pushed through the double doors twenty minutes later. Before he’d even reached the check-in desk, Greg Wyman crossed the floor to meet him, the man’s round, ruddy face flushed, his blue eyes pooling with apology. The two friends had been classmates since sixth grade, their families once neighbors across the railroad tracks in Pineville. Since being laid off from the police force the year before, Greg had been working the overnight shift as a security guard for the Lucky Mart.

“I came out to the parking lot to do my check, and there was your dad, passed out in his truck.”

“Thanks for bringing him in, Greg,” Calder said, patting his shoulder.

“I tried Pete first but he didn’t pick up.”

Calder could only hope that his older brother might have slept through the call. Pete would blow a gasket when he found out they’d brought their father to the Urgent Care. It was the second time in two weeks their father’s drinking had landed him in the clinic. Maybe this time Calder could get their father cleared and out before Pete got wind of the news.

But in the next instant, the doors swung open and Pete Frye blew in, his wife, Marie, rushing behind him.

Calder sighed.
So much for that wish
.