Loveland

Chapter 5

Autumn

Before parting ways with Beth Anne, she handed me a flyer. It was printed on bright yellow paper and in bold print said, SUMMER SOLSTICE!!! I gave her a curious look. "It's tomorrow night  we have it every year in the town center. Celebrating summer being in full swing and all  really it's just a way for the small local business owners to make more money. But it's a lot of fun.yoj should come! I had to admit it did sound fun. And that was something I had been lacking for a long time. I not so reluctantly agreed. 

Later that night after Aiden returned home from playing ball, we talked over our chili bowls. "Do? Did you have a good time? Make any friends?" Aiden held his hands up insisting that I take a pause. "Yes mom I made a few friends and I had a ton of fun." He then looked down into his chili nervously as he asked, "as a matter of fact, some of the neighborhood kids are having a big baseball game tomorrow night. Supposed to be a lot of kids there." I tried to hide my excitement for him before saying, " that sounds like a lot of fun buddy. you have my permission to go, seeing as how I too have plans." I looked out the corner of my eye at him. A huge smile spread across his face. He just nodded and smiled. His face mimicking my thoughts. This was a good idea coming here. 

As I walked down to the sidewalk to the town center I noticed the sun was getting low. The fireworks would start soon. All the lights they had been busy hanging were lit up. There were vendors selling food drinks jewelry. All kinds of stuff. Most of the businesses were closed for the evening but they all had their doors open. Music filled the air and some people were even dancing. I noticed there was a mix of all kinds of people here. Hispanic families. African American. I even noticed a small Jewish synagogue as I came into town. It was a tight community. I should have felt like an outsider but everyone had been very welcoming. 

I stood at a popcorn stand watching a few people playing Cornhole when I heard a voice behind me. "hey girly! I'm so glad you came!" Beth Anne stood next to Ray. They were total opposites on the outside he was tall and slender but he looked strong. A good jawline and curly Auburn hair his face framed with thick-rimmed glasses. But he was handsome in his own way. Beth Anne on the other hand was short and spunky with wild golden curls. She was round in all the places guys liked. Watching them together I saw that they just clicked. 

"Hey, y'all. Yeah, I had my doubts but this is pretty cool so far. Where's the babies?" I asked when I noticed she didn't have Brianna on her hip. "Oh, there with my folks. Me and Ray needed a break. You know how that is." Boy did I ever. Until Aiden was 6 I wasn't allowed to ask for help at least not when Paul was around. I was about to ask her who all was coming again when I heard a shrill voice over the music. "did I hear someone say y'all? Jeez, where's this chick from Kentucky?" A chick with obviously fake blonde hair and way too much makeup approached us and got a little too close for my liking. I looked to Beth Anne for her reaction. 

"Hey, Samantha. How's it going?" Beth asked but I could tell this wasn't a pleasant hello. 

"Going fine Beth Anne. You gonna introduce me to your new little friend?" The skank said giving me a nasty look. "I can introduce myself. I'm Autumn. And I'm from Georgia. Not Kentucky. Thanks for asking" I hated girls like her back home. Rude, snobby, and fake. I wasn't going to waste my time trying to get to know this one. Before she could respond to my snide comment. I heard Ray speak up "oh hey there's Logan. I can't believe he actually came." Ray started to walk away. I couldn't see who he was talking about as mu back was to him. Beth Anne suddenly rolled her eyes at Samantha who was trying to unnoticeably fix her hair and lipgloss. 

"Ugh, she's so obvious about it. He would never even consider it." I was confused. 

"What are you talking about? Who's she interested in? Ray!?" 

Her eyes for huge and she busted out in laughter. " Oh lord, no honey! She wouldn't come near my man or risk losing a limb. I'm talking about Logan. She's wanted him since high school but he's never been interested." 

I'd heard a couple of people mention this Logan before but I hadn't gotten a chance to meet him yet. Or even see him. Suddenly my skin started to feel a buzz. Like a humming almost. I turned around in the direction of where Ray and Logan were standing. 

Then I saw him... 

Standing under the string lights, talking to Ray and another shorter guy. He was smiling. This guy was like nothing id ever seen before. He was massive. He had to be over 6'2 his broad shoulders and large upper arms stretched the cotton in his dark blue T-shirt. He wasn't bodybuilder big. He had the build of someone who cut down trees with their bare hands. He was built like a tree and out of nowhere I told myself mentally "I wanna climb that tree." Then as if he heard my thoughts his eyes met mine. 5 minutes ago I was at ease. Pretty comfortable given my situation. Now that he was present, and staring at me I felt vulnerable and awkward. As he approached us I saw his eyes were dark but not flat. More like the color of bourbon. His hair was dark and wavy and looked thick. He needed to shave but it looked good on him. When he looked at me and started to walk in my direction I started to get nervous. It suddenly donned on me I hadn't dated or been out with another man since I was 18. I never really flirted with Paul before we dated. It just sort of happened. What did it matter? This guy was incredible and probably taken. Or at the very least not interested in me at all. But the way he was looking at me had me questioning myself. 

I noticed the closer he got to me the more my skin started to tingle. This was new. Until this evening no man had ever done that to me. Not even my husband. I never responded to men very much. Not until I saw Logan Marshall. 

Logan

I hated these things. I did my best to avoid them usually. But when Ray told me Beth Anne insisted I knew better than to argue. I'd fake it as best as I could. I didn't even have Mac with me to keep me company. She took off with the neighborhood kids to the quarry leaving me defenseless. 

 I worked my way through the crowd of people. Offering smiles and slight nods when I received them. The people in Loveland weren't bad. Annoying at times but not bad. I just never handled social situations well. I was always big and clunky as a kid that I never really grew out of the shy stage. Not that I would ever say that out loud. I searched for Ray through the mess of people. The sun was starting to set so the fireworks would start soon. The town council really went all out for their holiday festivities. As much as I hated the crowd I had to admit I loved this town. 

 I couldn't find Ray. The jackass begged me to come and now I couldn't find him. I was about to turn and leave when I spotted them. Ray was standing next to Beth Anne by the popcorn station. She was talking to someone I didn't recognize. She had her back to me so I couldn't see her face. What could see, however, looked damn good. 

She was wearing a white strappy shirt with tight jeans. She filled them out perfectly. Her hair was dark and fell in waves down her back. She wasn't tall but she had good legs from what I could tell. The closer I got to her, the more my skin started to warm. I couldn't tell if it was the lights above her or if I was losing my mind. She looked like she was glowing. All tanned and shiny. All I wanted her to do was turn around so I could see her face. By the time I approached her my skin was on fire. She finally turned around and I saw her. 

She took my breath away. 

Beth Anne spoke up first introducing us. 

" Hey, Logan! I'm so glad you came! Bout time you got out of the house." Beth always liked to tease me about my lack of social life. " Logan this is my new friend, Autumn Cooper. She just moved here." 

She had these big round eyes that seemed to burn a hole right through me. They were dark like the color of whiskey. My favorite. Her face was just round enough for me. She smiled at me. She had a great smile. Full soft lips. She held out her hand for me. Wow, beautiful and she was a lady. I took her hand as she spoke to me

"Hey, Logan. It's nice to meet you."  That was it. Her voice was amazing. Soft and smooth. I wondered how she'd sound with my head between her legs? STOP IT! I kicked myself for thinking it. I didn't even know this woman and I was already picturing her naked. Maybe it had been too long since I got laid? 4 months couldn't be that bad? 

"Oh lord. My parents are calling. One of the babies must be fussing. I'll be right back" Beth walked away with her phone and Ray like always followed behind her. Leaving us alone. This couldn't be any more uncomfortable. Just then as luck would have it, Samantha walked up to me and all but stood in between me and Autumn, completely blocking my vision of her. 

"So Logan you enjoying the festival? I'm glad you came out. Been way too long since we've seen each other." She said in a low sensual voice I guess trying to mark her territory around the new girl. I couldn't imagine why as I've never really paid much attention to Samantha. In school, she always had a thing for me, and even nowadays she tried to flirt. But I was never interested. 

I tried to step around her without being a d**k about it, but sometimes there's no avoiding it. 

"Excuse me, Samantha. Autumn and I were having a conversation." We weren't really, and that's probably why she had a surprised look on her face when I moved Sam out of the way. I guess she took the hint because she laughed in the back of her throat before stomping off. 

" Sorry about her. She's uh... Well, she can be a b***h, to be honest. I hope she wasn't rude to you?' I stepped closer to her. She didn't pull away. 

"Oh, she tried to be. But I've got a pretty thick skin... I could really use a drink right about now." I could tell this was just as awkward for her as it was me. I shoved my hands in my pockets trying to not look like an ass. 

"Well if your interested the bar across the street has a booth over there. Wanna walk with me?" I pointed the way. She smiled at me again. It felt like a kick to the gut. God, she looked good. I was shocked she was still talking to me. Most women were intimidated by me. Other than Samantha who was the definition of evil most women seemed nervous around me. But as we walked together I noticed, she wasn't. 

God, what was this woman doing to me?

As we walked I noticed she kept up with my pace easily. As we approached the bar I wondered what kind of drink she'd like. I went ahead and ordered two shots of my favorite whiskey. I looked at the amber-colored liquid in the glass and saw how close it resembled her eyes. I knocked it back and watched her throw hers back effortlessly. Beautiful and she can drink Whiskey? I was in trouble. 

Autumn

He had a nice ass. I watched it as he walked in front of me. He smelled incredible like old leather motor oil and aftershave. It was intoxicating. He ordered two shots of whiskey and didn't waste any time with his. Good thing I was a closet whiskey drinker. I always had to hide it. In fear of Paul calling me a drunk. I wasn't. But there was nothing like the burn of whiskey at the end of a s**t day. He slammed the glass down and braced his foot on the ledge underneath the bar. He turned to me to speak. I instinctively moved closer so I could hear him better. 

"So Autumn. Tell me about yourself. What's your story?" I'd been asked that before by Beth Anne. That went well enough so I figured why not? Before I could answer he rubbed the stubble on his jaw. It was probably rough. I wondered how it would feel on the inside of my thigh? Oh God! Stop Autumn! I'd never even experienced that so why was I thinking about it now? Paul was never interested in that. Said it "wasn't his cup of tea* I felt like my heart was racing. I calmed myself down as best as I could before speaking. 

"Well, I'm from Georgia. Me and my son needed a change of scenery so we sort of threw a dart at a map and ended up here." The dart being Marci Price. 

He ordered two beers and asked me " why the need to change your scenery? Georgia not all it's cracked up to be?" He joked obviously he'd never traveled south. 

"Actually my husband passed last year. Leaving me and Aiden, my son on our own. So we sort of jumped ship and here we are." I saw his eyes grow large and he nearly spit out his beer. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea." I shook my head reassuring him.

"Oh, no-no. It's okay. It was almost a year ago now. I'm okay." He seemed to relax again when I continued. "really the marriage was a mess, to begin with. We were kind of forced into it by his parents. They were wealthy and couldn't allow their only son to tarnish their name with a child born out of wedlock. Paul, that was his name, he was kind of an ass. I hate that it happened but it is what it is." I didn't know why I was telling him all this. But I had this feeling like I could trust him. 

 "So this Paul was an ass huh? Did he cheat or was he just a prick?" He clearly didn't mind speaking ill of the dead. And in Paul's case neither did i. 

"Both actually. He cheated on a regular basis. Basically, he slept with everyone. Except me of course." He did spit out his beer a little that time. I'd been told I was blunt at times. I couldn't help it. I thought maybe I had gone too far but he just laughed and shook his head. "what about you Logan? What's your story?" I asked him. Sipping my beer. How did he know I liked modella? 

He took one last swig. "well I was born and raised here in Loveland. I've never lived anywhere else. I run my own bike shop and I'm a single father..." 

Logan

I waited for her response. She seemed surprised to hear that I was a dad but she said nothing to give away how she felt about it. " My ex took off on is when Macheala was 4 and its been just us two ever since. My folks help out a lot. And so do Beth and Ray. But I try to spend as much time with her as I can. She's 11 so she's starting to get into that phase where she wants to be independent. No matter how much I hate it. What about your boy? He's 10? I wonder if they've met each other yet?" I looked at her to see if maybe I was boring her or coming off like a tool. But one look into her eyes I knew she was listening to every word. She was easy to talk to. It was very warm out so her skin was starting to glisten. It only made her glow even more. Her perfume started to surround me. All I could smell was the honeysuckle. It was amazing. 

We talked and walked around for 2 hours. Casually joking with one another about some of the locals and some of her not so fond memories of home. 

"So how's Loveland treating you? All good I hope? I asked as they we're wrapping up the fireworks. I couldn't even remember what they looked like. I'd been too busy looking at her. 

"Oh, it's been great. The town is beautiful. The locals have been very welcoming" she said nudging my arm. She was flirting with me. It was a relief to know I wasn't in this alone. Because being around her made me goofy and tongue-tied. I couldn't think straight. I didn't want to feel like an i***t when all was said and done. 

"What's most important is that Aiden is doing so well. He's made friends and loves the neighborhood. Which is great because back home he never got that chance. His happiness is most important." She was a good mother. It was obvious he took great care of her son. But I couldn't help but wonder, who was taking care of her? 

"I'm glad you and your son are able to get a fresh start Autumn. You deserve it." 

She yawned and placed a very lady-like hand over her mouth. It was getting late. The kids would be back from the quarry soon. "your tired Autumn. Come on I'll walk you home." I figured she'd say no that I didn't have to. But I wasn't taking no for an answer. Instead, I held out my hand and she took it without blinking. We walked slowly in the direction of her house. 

Once we reached the iron gate she stopped and looked at me. " You know, I spent almost 13 years of my life taking care of everyone. Being ignored by my husband or berated for just being myself. Now that Paul is gone everything has changed. Hell, even Aiden seems better off. I came here to find happiness and dammit I'm gonna do it." She said smiling. I walked her to the front porch. I was prepared to say goodnight but something stopped me. How could her husband have been so careless with her? So cold? Hell, he probably didn't even make love to her right. I wouldn't doubt it. 

"You know Autumn. You gotta find your happiness and take it. Whenever you can. I really hope you find it." As I turned to leave she spoke "well what about you Logan?" I turned to look at her. The way she said my name was enough to make my knees weak. "you deserve happiness too. What is it you want in life?" 

That was it. That's all I needed. I marched back to her and up the steps. And without asking took her face in my hands and smashed my lips onto hers. She was taken aback at first but with a little sigh, she melted into my arms. I tangled my hands into her hair and reached around till I got a handful of her ass. Lifting her up just enough so that her toes sat on top of my feet. I pushed is both into the front door never letting go. She slowly wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled at my hair. I wanted to take her right then and there. But I had to stop myself. I was going to take my time with her. 

Just as I felt her start to wriggle underneath me we heard the sound of kids laughing in the distance. They were coming back from the quarry. Which meant that even though I didn't want to, I had to let go of her. Reluctantly I put her down on her feet and stepped back. We were both breathless. With one last kiss to her soft lips, I pressed my forehead against hers. 

"The kids are coming back. That means I gotta go. Mac is gonna be looking for me. And Aiden probably doesn't need to see his mom in this position." I sat up and brushed the hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. She was absolutely beautiful. I walked down the stairs of her porch and through the gate. I took one final look at her before I left.  

"Have a good night Autumn. Sleep well.".