2
Chapter Two
Beth looked through her closet, trying to decide what exactly to wear that day. Since Joe had been in town two weeks—and because she’d failed to bump into him all those times she’d tried to—it was time to just go right over and say hello.
It was neighborly after all. Really, as a Southern woman it was her duty.
“Wear something red. Red is a great color on you. It’s a confident color.” Her best friend Lily riffled through her clothes and pulled out a dress she hadn’t worn in ages. “This.”
It was simple enough. Hit her right above the knee. A boat-neck collar, which always suited her face. Sleeveless, which was good because it was August in Georgia and she didn’t want to look any more sweaty than she had to when she stopped by Joe’s garage to deliver her welcome basket of goodies.
And checked him out a little closer.
“I can’t believe I missed it when he came over to William’s place.” Lily shook her head.
“You did miss an eyeful. When he rode up on that motorcycle, I nearly choked on my tongue.” Beth bent, looking for the right shoes. Heels were sexy, but she was on her feet a lot at work so she needed low ones. “I suppose someone could say that was a welcome back.” She frowned a moment.
Lily snorted. “That wasn’t a welcome back. You were at your brother’s house when he came over. Not the same. He’s a friend of the family and back in town. You’d still take him something because that’s what you do. If he’s gay, married or otherwise unobtainable, then you say hey welcome back and go to work. No harm no foul.”
“Thank you for enabling me.” She winked.
“It’s my sacred duty as your best friend to enable you.” Lily smoothed over Beth’s hair. “You have such gorgeous hair. Have Tate do something to it. A bun, some braided thingy, whatever. Then he can see your neck. You have a great neck.”
Beth ran a hand down the front of the dress, looking at herself critically. “He’d probably rather look at my boobs. Boys like those.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that. God, you’re such a floozy.”
They both dissolved into laughter.
“I’ve got to run in a minute. I brought the invitation to the wedding so don’t forget to take it. Nathan is totally on to us both. He gave me that look of his when I was getting ready to come over here earlier.”
“He’s good at that look. Learned it from Tate, who is the master. But none of those boys is the boss of me so he’ll have to suck it up. Still, he’ll be a good daddy some day.” Beth looked herself over in the mirror. She’d come a long way from that girl who had to make do with hand-me-downs and whatever Tate could find for them at garage sales and thrift stores. She’d made something out of herself. She was a business owner. She had a nice apartment. Her fridge and pantry had food, and the last time she hid from a drunken argument was years before, the last time she’d gone to her parents’ place.
Beth Murphy had grown up and left all that crap firmly in her past.
“You look so cute in that dress.”
“Nice call.”
Lily winked. “Always eager to help you snag a man. Since you’re so homely and all.”
“It’s a cross I have to bear. Can’t complain. I could be as ugly as you.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Ha. Okay, gotta go. I’m meeting with the principal in a while to talk about what’s going on at home for Chris this school year.”
Lily was raising her teenage brother, Chris, who’d had a pretty difficult time after his parents had split and their mother had descended into substance abuse. But Lily had made a huge difference in the boy’s life and that surly kid who was likely to drop out of school was now back on track.
“Okay. Talk to you later?”
“I’ll call you this afternoon or maybe I’ll come by so I can hear about what happens with Joe.”
Lily hugged her and was gone. Beth took one last look, dabbed her lipstick and grabbed the giant basket of treats her older sister Tate had baked, tucked the invitation inside and headed off as well.
Tate looked up as Beth stopped by the shop.
“I just wanted to drop off my junk and have you do my hair before I take the basket over. You have time?”
Her oldest sister smiled and motioned for Beth to sit. “You know how much I love it when you let me do your hair.”
This was true. Tate had brushed her hair so much when they were growing up that Beth often considered it like a hug or a snuggle with her sister.
She met Tate’s gaze in the mirror. “Up you think?”
Tate brushed it out and thought. “Hm. How about braided away from your face here, but loose in the back? You have gorgeous hair so you should use it.”
“Whatever you say. You’re the artist.”
“If only you were this easygoing about everything.”
“If I was I’d be boring.”
Tate made a little hmpf sound that always made Beth want to laugh, but she fell under the spell of having someone brush, pin and curl to get her all prettified.
Tate worked quickly and efficiently, braiding, twisting and securing. “So you know, William is going to break something internal when he finds out you’ve set your cap for Joe. Joe’s reputation is less than stellar.”
“Thank God no one judges what you were like at eighteen when it’s over ten years later and your life has changed.” She arched a brow at her sister, who just snorted and kept working.
Growing up in a household like theirs had conditioned them in some negative ways. But they were ways Beth was more than aware of. While she appreciated Tate’s concern, Beth wasn’t their mother.
“Look, if he’s like Dad, I’ll walk away. You know that. I like ’em bad, with a soft, gooey filling. I don’t want a lazy drunken lout who’ll knock me around when he gets bored. And he came back to help out his family. Jerks don’t do that. You know his parents don’t have any money or anything he’d be after. William says Joe’s changed a lot since he left Petal. I’m going to see for myself.”
Tate nodded, but said nothing further for a while until she stepped back, giving Beth’s hair a quick spray.
“Damn you’re pretty. Pulling your hair back only highlights that.”
Beth smoothed a hand over her hair with a smile. Another fucked-up thing from their childhood. Tate was clearly not their father’s child, a product of one of their mother’s multiple affairs. And their father had never let Tate forget it. He’d spent decades trying to crush Tate into nothing. He’d used the fact that she was short to her siblings’ tall, curvy to their lean, blonde to their brunette to try to hurt her. Not that their mother did a thing to stop it. But Tate had never let it break her, and she’d never made her siblings feel bad about it either.
Probably helped that Tate had herself a man so gorgeous he could walk into any magazine ad selling cologne in a heartbeat. And that the man practically worshipped her and their babies.
“Hopefully it’ll work.”
“If he can resist you in that red dress looking the way you do and carrying a big basket of cookies and brownies, he’s not worthy. He might even be kind of slow. Which, you know, given the way he lived all those years ago, he might be.”
Beth laughed then. He’d been quite the partier in those days.
“He sure looked like he was living better. Damn. He’s…” Beth fanned her face. “He’s ridiculous, that’s what he is. Tall. At least six and a half feet tall. And muscles too.”
Tate waggled her brows. “Hurry on up then and get over there. I want a complete recap when you’re finished.”
Beth took a deep breath, grabbed the basket and headed out. His auto-repair shop was only a few blocks down, and there was no time like the present.
Joe Harris had just about finished with the carburetor he’d been working on most of the morning when he heard the click of footsteps and came out to see who it was.
The jingle of Buck’s collar alerted Joe he wasn’t the only one attracted by the sound. He grinned down at his dog before glancing back toward the doorway.
He froze at the sight. Beth Murphy looking better than a body had a right to. He’d thought she’d been pretty amazing the first time he’d seen her a few weekends back. She’d worn cut-off shorts and a T-shirt then, but this Beth was gussied up in a pretty red dress, her hair shiny and reaching nearly to her waist.
He wondered what it would feel like against his bare skin and then mentally slapped himself.
“Hi, Joe!” She thrust a giant basket at him. “I just wanted to stop in and welcome you back to Petal. Officially I mean.” She shrugged and smiled prettily.
He took the basket and put it on the counter. “Beth Murphy, look at you, girl.”
She looked down at herself and back to him, a sparkle in her eye that he liked immensely.
“I’d give you a hug but—” She indicated his overalls, covered with grease and dust from crawling around under the truck he’d been working on.
“Sorry. Been a busy morning.”
Buck barked a few times, not a man to take being ignored lightly and she knelt. “Why hello there. Aren’t you handsome? I’m Beth. Who are you?”
Buck barked again, dancing around her, his tongue lolling as he checked her out. She laughed, scratching behind his ears.
“That’s Buck. Don’t get on her dress.”
Buck gave Joe a look that told him the dog had no intention of being on the outs with the woman.
“Did you come to work with him to keep him out of trouble?”
Buck barked again a few times, and laughing, Beth gave him one last scratch and stood. “Sounds like that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
“He likes to keep me company. I found him at a garage so he’s at home in one.”
“Someone abandoned him?”
Joe liked the outrage on her face.
“He was so tiny. I found him in the dumpster out back. Someone had thrown him away like trash. I wasn’t sure if he’d make it.” Hell, Joe had bottle-fed him for a while until he got stronger.
“Honestly! Some people aren’t fit to breathe air.”
Buck barked again and then plopped down, his head on her shoes. He gave a one-eyed glance Joe’s way, as if to tell him not to let her go. Joe would have to explain the meaning of best friend’s little sister to Buck later.
“Well you did the right thing and he looks like he’s got a good home now.” She leaned close and he caught her scent. Jasmine. On another woman it might have been too much, but on her it was rich and sensual.
She held up a cream envelope with his name on it. “This is an invitation to Nathan’s wedding. Lily—you might remember her though she’s a little younger—anyway Lily wanted me to drop this off for you while I was here.”
She had a lilt to her voice. A drawl that also seemed sort of breathless as she delivered her words at top speed. Joe had no idea how she managed both at once, but she did.
“William said he was engaged. Figured Nathan would never settle. He sure did love the ladies.”
She laughed. “He still does, but Lily’s all the lady he can handle. They’re good together.” She paused and that smile crept back over her mouth and his heart skipped a beat.
“You’re worrying me with that smile.”
It brightened, and he became fascinated with how glossy her bottom lip was. Plump and juicy. He wanted to lean in and lick over it.
“You’re awfully big and brawny to be askeerd of a girl like me.”
He laughed. It’d been a long time since he’d teased back and forth with a woman and it had felt this natural. “You forget I grew up around you Murphys. A girl like you is exactly who I’m scared of.” That and her big brothers.
She took his hand and squeezed. “So, Joe Harris, you should take me to lunch so we can catch up.”
“Should I now? What if I brought my lunch?”
“But you didn’t. The Sands is delightfully air conditioned and they have lunch specials. And pie. I may be able to sweeten that deal with some gossip. I’ll even let you pretend you don’t care about that sort of thing.”
How could he turn down pie and air conditioning? She was his friend’s sister after all. No need to be unfriendly after she’d come over to welcome him back so nicely. And Buck was going back home for the afternoon anyway because it was too damned hot in the shop.
“All right then. William sort of caught me up on all the Murphy stuff, but he’s a man of few words. I imagine you have more to say than he does, and you’ll give me all the information about who is up to what.”
She smiled again. “Good. I’m at the salon right up there.” She pointed. “Tate, Anne and I own it. Come by and collect me when you’re ready.” She turned and headed to the garage door before pausing and looking back over her shoulder. “Don’t make me wait too long, I get grumpy when I’m hungry.”
With a wave she was gone, but he sure as hell watched that delightful sway as she moved across the street and then to her salon.
“So I think Thunderbirds are go.” Beth gave double thumbs-up as she moved to her desk. Anne and Tate did most of the hair work while Beth did the books. She did the occasional shampoo if she was needed, ran errands, handled supply orders and pretty much everything else.
The sisters were all so close, so used to having to work together, that it was smooth and efficient when others may have had a struggle.
“Do tell.” Tate stood behind her client as she spoke.
“Delivered the goods. A man’d have to be blind to overlook a basket full of your baked goods.”
“And your boobs.” Anne grinned up from where she’d been mixing some color.
“Well, yes. I did wonder if it was too much a gamble to go with a dress that didn’t show any cleavage.”
“He has an imagination. They’re right there under the material, after all. Men are pretty good at remembering where your boobs are.”
Beth grinned at Tate. “Yeah. Good point. Anyway, I pretty much cornered him into going to lunch with me today.”
“Nicely played. He’s coming here to pick you up?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We can get a look.” Anne rubbed her hands together, making Beth laugh.
“Don’t scare him away.”
“He grew up surrounded by Murphys. There’s no hiding from that. Anyway, he’s got his own scary reputation to overcome. He’d best be a good guy or you know how many Murphy older brothers are going to come down hard on him.” Tate raised one brow as she kept working.
“It’s lunch. We’re not getting married, for crissake.” She waggled her brows.
She was still grinning when the bell over the door jingled and she looked up to find him there. He’d gotten rid of the coveralls and stood in jeans and a T-shirt with those sunglasses on.
“This place is crawling with Murphys.” He looked around, smiling.
“We’re notoriously hard to get rid of.” Beth grabbed her bag and headed to the door. “You remember Tate and Anne? Girls, of course we remember Joe.” She looked up at him. “We’ve been gossiping about you for two hours now.”
He blushed. “I’m not sure how to take that.”
“Good.” She looked over her shoulder and told her sisters she was off to lunch and would return in an hour or so.
He opened her door, a very good sign.
“Tate looks pretty much exactly the way she did back in the day. Anne used to have brown hair like yours, didn’t she?”
Currently Anne was rocking some auburn hair. “She did. Her specialty is color. You never know what color she’ll come in with on any given day. I was thinking about that shade of red too.”
He slowed down, frowning as he looked her over. “Don’t. I mean, it looks nice on her. But your hair is…” He shook his head.
“Well go on then. Is what? Ugly? Gross? Fabulous?”
He barked a laugh. “I keep forgetting how you all are. It’s pretty. I like all the gold in it. In the sun I mean. Brunette is underappreciated. But it works.”
“Nice answer.”
He opened the door for her at the Sands and they went in. Petal was a small town. Small enough that everyone looked up to see who was coming in. She waved to a few people.
Roni, the owner, waved back. “I’ll be with you two in a bit. Grab some menus. That booth over there is empty.”
She obeyed, pausing to peruse the pie selection, and she grinned when she saw the cake.
“Cake day. Score.”
He slid in across from her. “What?”
“They have cake today. Coconut frosting. My favorite. Do you like cake?”
He paused. “I feel like this is a test.”
“Well?”
“Pushy.”
She laughed as she watched him. The light coming in the windows seemed to glint off his hair. “You have great hair.”
“Um, thanks.” He slid his fingers through it. “Yes. Yes I like cake. Don’t know about the coconut part, though.”
“Well, you’re halfway there. The pie is awesome too. Have the peach. I have it under very good authority that it’s really good.”
“By good authority do you mean you had some?”
“Don’t tell anyone, but I have a baked-goods problem. Really don’t tell Tate, as she’s like the queen of baked goods and I had some here instead of at her house. She’s territorial.”
“What’ll you give me if I keep my mouth shut?”
She raised a brow and leaned in. At first he dug it and then got nervous. This was flirting, but they had chemistry. Like whoa.
She frowned. “Stop that.”
“You’re an incredibly random woman. Stop what?”
“Stop thinking of me as William’s little sister. You weren’t there for a bit. And then you remembered. How on Earth am I ever going to get you to kiss me if you keep that up?”
His laugh was a little uncomfortable, but he was saved when Roni came over to take their order.
Once they were alone again, he sighed and caught her gaze. “You are William’s little sister.”
“So what?”
“So it’s a fact. You and I both know it. Let’s talk about something else.”
She let it go for the time being. She’d be back. She knew he was interested. Good thing she was patient. She’d been bored with the men in Petal for years. He was the best thing to come along in ages. She wanted him and that was that.
“So, tell me why you’re back in Petal and I won’t pester you about kisses. For a little while anyway.”
“You promised to catch me up on all the doings around town. So you first.”
She sniffed, but sipped her iced tea and shrugged. “Well, my sister Tate married Matt Chase and they have two kids. There’s another one on the way too. You know William is married, of course. Tim is married as well. Lots of kids all over the place. Each is cuter than the last. It’s a trial, I tell you, being an aunt to all that adorable.”
“I take it you love kids.”
“Well, other people’s kids most especially. I can fill them up with sugar and pretend we’re watching all the Disney movies for them. They provide excellent cover for my addiction to Doritos and Mary Poppins. Oh and cake. But if you tell anyone that I’ll only deny it.”
“Gotta admit I was surprised to hear about Tate marrying Matt Chase.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “And why is that?”
“Wow, I saw some scary shit in Iraq, but that face? Ranks up there. Why you mad?”
“Why you surprised? You don’t think Tate’s good enough?”
He laughed. “Yeah, because I’m so high falutin’ and stuff. I’m from the same part of town you are. I meant she was in my class at school. Tate is younger and she never hung around in that crowd. It’s not a matter of good enough. It’s a matter of who you know. That’s just reality.” Though he liked how protective she was of Tate, he was sorry to see how defensive she was. He understood it. Once he’d been away from Petal and had come back, he’d seen the stark differences between sides of town here that he hadn’t really had to contend with out in the rest of the world.
“I apologize. It’s a hot button. Tate went through hell at first. The stuff people said to her. She’s pretty much a mother to me. What happened to her when she should have been all about falling in love with her man, it makes me so mad.”
He liked a person who could own it when they did wrong.
“It’s okay. It’s good you spoke up for her.”
“The Chases have been so amazing. They’ve just sort of enfolded all of us Murphys into their family. Polly Chase treats William’s and Tim’s kids like grandchildren, like she does Tate and Matt’s kids. Makes a difference when their biological grandmother is a drunken loser.”
He took her hand to squeeze it briefly. “You have a fine family, just not that part.”
“Okay so why are you back?”
“Family stuff. I’ve been gone for years, it was time for me to come back. My parents are getting older.” No need to destroy a perfectly lovely lunch with any talk about his dad.
They ate until he remembered exactly why he’d missed this place. Fresh, great food. Neighbors all around who stopped from time to time to welcome him back to town. Beth helpfully told everyone that he’d taken over the Conway Auto Repair and needed the business. He wasn’t proud, that was how you got yourself new customers. And he couldn’t deny how much he liked watching her in action.
“You have a lot of energy.” They walked back toward her salon and his shop.
“You’ll turn my head with all your compliments, Joe Harris.”
He laughed. “It’s a compliment. I promise. You know everyone and everyone seems to like you. You have a way with people.”
“Ha. Not all people. Some people I want to hit with a shovel.”
“In my experience, Beth Murphy, some people need to be hit with a shovel. Do you need me to take care of any shovel smacking on your behalf?”
They paused near the pretty, flower-lined walk leading to the door of the salon. “You’d hit someone in the face with a shovel for me? Wow, you totally dig me.”
True. But he shouldn’t.
“It’s a service I offer to all little sisters of friends.”
Before he realized it, she’d tiptoed up and given him a quick kiss on his lips. She stepped back, a smirk on those pretty lips. “I should warn you up front, I aim to demolish that line of defense.”
“Now why would you go and do that?”
“Notice you’re not arguing.” She turned and walked away, waving over her shoulder. “See you later. Thanks for lunch. Oh and cake. But remember, mum’s the word on that or Tate will do me bodily harm.”
He stared at her, a stupid grin on his face, until she’d gone inside.