Sidetracked Read online

  Sidetracked

  R. L. Kenderson

  Copyright © 2021 by R. L. Kenderson

  All rights reserved.

  This book was inspired by the True North Series written by Sarina Bowen. It is an original work that is published by Heart Eyes Press LLC.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  To Jean Shirley Inman Brick

  Thank you for being an awesome grandma. I miss you every day.

  Contents

  1. Charli

  2. Gabe

  3. Charli

  4. Gabe

  5. Charli

  6. Charli

  7. Gabe

  8. Charli

  9. Charli

  10. Charli

  11. Gabe

  12. Gabe

  13. Charli

  14. Charli

  15. Gabe

  16. Charli

  17. Gabe

  18. Charli

  19. Gabe

  20. Charli

  21. Gabe

  22. Charli

  23. Charli

  24. Charli

  25. Gabe

  26. Charli

  27. Charli

  28. Gabe

  29. Gabe

  30. Gabe

  31. Charli

  32. Charli

  33. Gabe

  34. Charli

  35. Charli

  36. Gabe

  37. Charli

  38. Gabe

  39. Charli

  You Will Also Enjoy…

  Acknowledgments

  1

  Charli

  I was sick of driving.

  I had driven for seven hours, give or take, for the second day in a row—only stopping for bathroom breaks, food, and a little sightseeing—and I was spent. My back hurt, my butt hurt, and my left arm was sunburned from sitting by the window for two days. I needed a cool drink and a soft bed.

  I was somewhere in Vermont when I saw a sign that listed food and lodging at the next exit. It looked like I might have to drive a bit to get into the town of Colebury, but I didn’t care. The sign was all the convincing I needed to pull off the interstate and head toward food.

  Once there, I stopped at the first place that called my name.

  Some people thought it was strange that I always liked to feel a connection to something, but I liked to think it made my life a whole lot easier. I didn’t have to make as many decisions if I let the universe do it for me.

  I ended up at a cool-looking coffee shop called The Busy Bean Café. I loved coffee—hot or cold—and could drink it until bedtime without it affecting my sleep. Some said I had a gift. I figured I was just lucky.

  The outside looked like a lodge with big windows to let in the sun. When I walked into the café, the ambience immediately gave me the warm fuzzies. It was eclectic and my kind of place with mismatched tables and chairs, brick walls, and a wood floor. The beams on the ceiling, covered in chalkboard paint, had drawings and quotes on them.

  I was in love.

  I stepped in line behind two teenage girls and looked around while I waited, wanting to take in every little detail.

  The first thing that caught my eye was a Help Wanted sign. The second was a quote written across one of the building’s beams.

  Sometimes, not knowing where you’re going will lead you to where you need to be.

  “Huh?” one of the teenagers in front of me asked.

  I smiled at her. “Oh, sorry. I guess I was reading out loud.”

  She gave me an adults are weird look and turned back to her friend.

  I looked back at the quote.

  After the last few days, I felt this particular string of words in my soul.

  I had left Richmond, Virginia, two days ago with everything I could shove in my car, hopped on the interstate, and driven. Three days ago, I had been let go from my assistant job because my position had been eliminated when my boss left the company. They weren’t filling his spot, so there was no one for me to assist any longer.

  This was after I’d come home from work a few weeks earlier to have my boyfriend tell me that he wasn’t in love with me anymore and no longer wanted to be together.

  Since neither of us had found a new place to live and I was now without a job, I’d set out the next morning to find a new place to call home.

  And until this moment, I hadn’t found anyplace close to what I was looking for.

  There was no author listed with the quote, but I felt like it was meant just for me, and I needed to know who had said it.

  I reached for my phone as I heard, “Miss? Miss.”

  I realized the person behind the counter was speaking to me and that the two girls who had been in front of me were now sitting over in the corner.

  I gave the woman an awkward smile and stepped forward. “Sorry about that.”

  She smiled reassuringly at me. “What can I get you?” the blonde woman asked me.

  “I need a large iced vanilla latte and a scone.”

  “What flavor?”

  “You pick,” I said. I wasn’t feeling a particular one.

  “Okay, that’s one large iced vanilla latte and a lemon scone.” The woman grabbed a plastic cup. “Anything else?”

  Chewing on my lip, I again looked at the Help Wanted sign, the quote, and then back at the woman helping me. “Yes, I’d like an application and the name of someone who can help me find a place to live.”

  I had found where I wanted to stay.

  2

  Gabe

  I carried out a box of lightbulbs and set them on the counter. “Here you go, Dad.”

  “What are those?”

  My brother, Max, stepped up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder. “Dad, they’re the lightbulbs you asked for.”

  The blank look on my father’s face for the first few seconds told me he didn’t remember asking for the lightbulbs.

  He tried to cover up his forgetfulness with a laugh. “Right, right. I’ll just take these and go fill the shelf.”

  I locked eyes with my brother. The memory lapses were becoming more frequent, and we both knew it.

  My father grabbed the box and headed to the correct section. I would like to think that it was a good sign, but my father had been running this store on his own for almost forty years. Before that, he had been a kid, working for his dad. He could find pretty much anything in the store if he were blind and walking through a snowstorm.

  My brother stepped toward me. “It’s a good thing we got him to move in with Lauren and me when we did. Last night, he left the burner on.”

  I spun my head around. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  He waved away my concern. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

  “That ship has sailed.”

  Max sighed. “I know. I just hope he can stay with us a little longer before we have to put him in a nursing home.”

  “Me too. I’m sorr—”

  “If you apologize one more time for not taking Dad into your home, I’m going to kick your ass. I don’t care if you’re the bigger brother.”

  I grinned. “I’m only the bigger brother by one year and a couple of inches.” There wasn’t much of a difference between the two of us. We were both tall and muscular with dark hair. Besides being a few inches shorter and not having a beard, my brother had blue eyes while mine were green. “You’d give me a fair fight, but I don’t think you’d kick my ass.”

  He punched me in the arm, and I had to keep the smile from falling off my face. His blow hurt like a son of a bitch.

  “What was that for?” I
asked.

  “For trying to apologize again. You live all alone, and you shared the duplex with him for the last five years. With Lauren and the kids, there are more people around to make sure Dad doesn’t get hurt by something, like leaving the burner on.”

  “I know.”

  Max’s wife, Lauren, worked part-time from home, and his two kids were eleven and nine. Certainly old enough to help keep an eye on their grandfather.

  Of course, if our mom hadn’t left Dad while we were kids, she would have been the one taking care of her husband. After all, she was the lady who had promised to love him in sickness and in health. Instead, she had loved him until she got bored of her life and went to look for something better.

  I just hated feeling like I wasn’t pulling my weight.

  “You can always get married and ask your new wife to babysit her new father-in-law all day.”

  I scowled at my brother. “Ha. You and I both know I’m never getting married.”

  “Not for the normal reasons, like companionship and sex, but I could totally see you marrying someone for free dad-sitting.”

  “Even I’m not that big of an asshole.” I didn’t think anyway.

  The jingle over the door sounded.

  “We’re closed,” I barked without even looking to see who had entered.

  “Apologies, but I’m actually here to talk to you about renting out the other half of the duplex.”

  I straightened from where I had been leaning against the checkout counter. It was Peggy, the realtor we’d hired to find a renter for us.

  “Sorry. Come in.”

  “Hello,” she said.

  “Hello,” my brother said with a smile.

  “So, you have someone interested?” I asked.

  It was hard to find renters in a small town unless they were recently turned eighteen-year-olds who wanted to move out of mom and dad’s home. And I had made it clear that I didn’t want anyone under twenty-five to rent the place. If I didn’t have time to babysit my father, I definitely didn’t have the energy to babysit some young punk who wanted to party all the time.

  “I do.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “How old?”

  Peggy smiled uncertainly.

  This wasn’t looking good if she was nervous.

  “She’s twenty-seven.”

  “Oh.” If the potential renter was twenty-seven, I didn’t understand her uneasiness. “That’s good.”

  Peggy brightened. “It is?”

  “Is twenty-seven older than twenty-five?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, it’s good.”

  “Gabe, be nice,” Max said under his breath.

  I’d thought I was being nice.

  “What else do you know about the woman?”

  Peggy held up a piece of paper she was holding in her hand. “She’s single and new to town, so no boyfriends or girlfriends and no friends to invite over for parties.”

  I nodded my head.

  “No pets.”

  I nodded my head again.

  “And she doesn’t have much, so she’ll pay to rent the place furnished.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  Peggy beamed, as if I’d handed her a medal. “When can I bring her by?”

  “Tomorrow afternoon. Two sharp.”

  “I’ll make it work,” Peggy said. “Thank you.”

  I walked her to the door and locked up behind her before another customer ignored the sign on the door with the hours listed and walked in.

  My brother was slowly shaking his head at me when I walked back.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You really put in all that criteria? No wonder we haven’t had a single person look at the place. You’re too damn picky.”

  “I’d like to think I’m reasonable.” I was the one who was going to have to share a wall with this neighbor.

  Max snorted. “Listen, I don’t care who this woman is; you are going to take her up on that rent. We need to start saving for when Dad goes into the nursing home.”

  “I know.”

  “We can’t afford to turn people down.”

  “I know.”

  “If this doesn’t work out, you might have to lower your standards.”

  Yeah, right. “We’ll see.”

  3

  Charli

  I got up early the next morning and checked out of the motel where I’d stayed the night. The realtor, Peggy Olson, had called last night and said there was a perfect place for me. And the best part was, I could move into it straightaway.

  I couldn’t wait to have a cute little place of my own after sharing an apartment with Felix for so long.

  The other highlight of my day was that I was going to start my new job. Apparently, The Busy Bean owners had been joking about me starting the next day, and I thought I’d shocked them when I said yes. But it was Monday. There was no time like the first day of the week.

  I didn’t have anything else to do until two o’clock. I might as well start learning how things worked at my new job. The ladies had agreed, and I was scheduled to come in before they even opened.

  When I got to The Busy Bean, I parked and checked myself out in the mirror before going in. I only had a few minutes, and I didn’t want to be late, but I also wanted to look presentable.

  I had pulled half of my light-brown hair up and back, so it would be out of my face. I straightened my pink paisley blouse that made my green eyes stand out and reapplied my lip balm. I rarely wore lipstick since my lips were a natural red.

  The only makeup I was wearing was blush and mascara, having decided on my regular easygoing look.

  Inside the building, the two owners greeted me. Audrey was the beautiful blonde woman who had helped me yesterday and handed me my application. Zara was her partner, and she was the one who had hooked me up with the realtor. Zara had dark hair and was also stunning.

  Even though they were both nice, they were a little intimidating to be around because they were both so attractive. I suddenly wished I had worn more makeup.

  “Let me show you where you can keep your stuff,” Audrey said, looking at my purse.

  She directed me where I could store my things while I was at work and then began giving me a tour.

  Behind the counter, Zara asked, “Have you ever been a barista before?”

  “I worked at Starbucks many years ago.” It had only been for a month, so I hadn’t listed it on the application. “I’m sure things have changed since then.”

  “Maybe,” Zara said. “Let’s go over how things work.”

  The two women went over everything I would need to know for working there, but my head was spinning by the time the store was about to open. I had tried to write down all the main points, but I knew someone was going to have to tell me some of the stuff again.

  I must have looked worried because Audrey squeezed my upper arm. “Don’t worry; you’ll do fine. We don’t expect everyone to be proficient the first day.”

  I sighed with relief. “Thank you.”

  We had about five minutes until we opened when Zara got a phone call.

  “It’s my husband. I’d better take this,” she said and stepped outside through the employees-only entrance.

  “Her husband is an NHL hockey player,” Audrey said.

  “Really? Wow. My last boyfriend was a loser.”

  Audrey laughed and covered her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “It’s okay. You can laugh. He wasn’t that bad. He just wasn’t anything close to a hockey player.”

  The only sport Felix knew how to play was ping-pong. And he wasn’t even good at it.

  “Are you married?” I had seen the ring, but I had learned it was best not to assume anything.

  Audrey beamed. “I am. My husband is a farmer and an award-winning hard cider maker.”

  It was nothing as notable as playing on a professional sports team, but I could see the pride for her husband all over her face.

  “S
o, it looks like I need to step up my man game if I’m going to work with you two.”

  “You just tell Zara and me who you’re interested in, and we’ll tell you if he’s worth pursuing.” She winked at me.

  I chuckled. “My own personal vetting team. I love it.”

  “Audrey, can you come back here?” the baker, Roddy, asked.

  With Audrey in the kitchen and Zara on the phone, it suddenly hit me that I was all alone up front as the clock hit seven.

  The Busy Bean was now open.

  I took several deep breaths and started chanting, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

  I didn’t really know what I was expecting. Maybe a horde of people running into the building, but I realized that was silly. And when no one walked in after the first few minutes, I relaxed.

  Waiting to keep my hands busy, I started straightening everything on the counters. It wasn’t like it needed it, but at least I felt useful.

  Except when I turned around, my elbow knocked over a bunch of cups.

  “Oh no,” I said and scrambled to pick them up.

  A couple had buried themselves under the cabinets, and I had to almost lie on the floor to reach them.

  “Excuse me,” a gruff voice said.

  I bolted upright, hitting my head on the counter.

  I heard the man sigh.

  Crap. I was already messing up on my first day.

  I rubbed the top of my head as I stood and faced the customer. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t hear you come in.”