Chapter 9

The main street was busy with people and cars as Phoebe drove down it. Not New York busy, but still pretty congested for Lyntacky. A banner had been strung across the street since yesterday when she'd driven home from school. Southern Area Square Dancing Championships Coming To Lyntacky.

As long as I don't have to dance, I'm all for it, Phoebe thought as she drove under it.

She found herself waving to people. She knew some, not others, but it was always this way in Lyntacky. People always greeted one another.

Reaching the end of the street, she saw the river and mountains and Larry Limpet's old bakery that was now looking nothing like it once had.

Phoebe pulled into a parking lot beside Caleb's black Jeep. Getting out, she grabbed the box from the back seat and then took it in.

A large window had an Opening Soon sign. The front was painted a dark teal with white trim. The door was open, so Phoebe walked through it and stopped .

The place looked amazing in here too—unrecognizable from the rat-infested bakery she remembered. It was welcoming with walls a buttery cream color and a feature one in old bricks behind the counter that curved into shiny white tiles to her left. Tables were dotted about the place, with chairs positioned at each. It looked modern yet comfortable, which Phoebe was sure was the intention. She'd been in plenty of cafes in New York, and this looked as good as any she'd seen.

"Hi, Ms. Stanway!"

Looking around for that voice, she saw Ally perched on top of a ladder in the room's rear. She held a cookie in one hand and a book in the other. The girl's balance must be exceptional. Phoebe would have fallen off by now.

"Hi, Ally. This place looks great. Your uncle must have worked hard on the renovations."

"The family has been helping him, especially Dad. Uncle Ryder said I can work here sometimes."

"Well, that will be fun. Why are you sitting up there?"

"I like heights, plus after the bikers, I thought I'd keep an eye out."

"Bikers?"

"The Bandits. They came today and tried to scare Dad, Uncle Sawyer, and Uncle Ryder, but Tripp, Bart, June, and Mrs. Reynolds scared them off."

There was a lot to unpack in that sentence. Instead, she said, "How come you get to call Tripp, Bart, and June by their first names but not Mrs. Reynolds?"

Ally's mouth kicked up on one side. "She never said I could, but the others did."

"Sounds fair," Phoebe added. "I'm looking for my brother, Caleb. Do you know him? Is he here?"

"He's in the kitchen with Uncle Ryder. He said he needed coffee after all the excitement with the Bandits. Dad is upstairs."

"Thanks." She didn't want to feel that little flutter in her belly knowing Brody was close. They'd seen each other; she could move on.

She wasn't reliant on him anymore for her happiness and hadn't been for years. Distance had allowed her to see what she'd become. How his happiness had been more important than her own. She'd built her world around him, but no more. No man would ever be that important to her again.

Phoebe stopped beside the little girl and looked up at her. "How are you doing, Ally?"

"I'm good, but Bobby's not." She had Brody's eyes, but not much else. Small, with a pale face, she wore a tutu in lime green and black ankle boots adorned with diamanté. Her shirt was red-and-blue plaid. Phoebe looked forward to Ally Duke arriving in class each day just to see what she wore.

"I told you to come to me if you had any more worries, Ally."

"I know, but Jack left us alone again until yesterday after school, and you'd already left when he said he was going to make me and Bobby pay for the blue dye."

Since the incident with the dye, Phoebe had been watching both Jack and Ally. The girl wasn't exactly popular, but neither was she unpopular. Ally spent time with the "it" kids and those that weren't, and she seemed to fit in with both. In fact, Phoebe saw a lot of Brody in his daughter. Ally Duke was comfortable in her skin… well, as comfortable as you could be at her age. Phoebe put that down to her family.

"I'm not telling Principal Tanner because he doesn't believe me when I say Jack is mean to Bobby. "

Phoebe now knew that was true. As yet, she wasn't sure what to do about it.

"I'll tell you what." She looked up at the girl. "I'll monitor Jack, but you have to promise to come to me like I asked if he bothers you. Okay?"

Ally nodded, but she didn't look convinced, which spoke volumes about the fact that she'd tried to get help before and failed.

"I may not be your teacher for long, but while I am, you can trust me, okay?"

The girl nodded again.

"And here's the best sister in the world saving my neck." Caleb walked out of a room with Ryder Duke.

"Hey there, Phoebe. Where you been hiding since you got back? I haven't seen you around." Ryder Duke came closer and hugged her. His big arms enfolded her gently.

She'd always thought of him as the most civilized Duke brother. He smiled often, and his rough edges seemed softer. Of course, she hadn't spent time with him for years, so that may have changed.

"I've been around. Just getting the hang of small-town life again," Phoebe said when he released her.

"Yeah, I can imagine this pace is crazy after New York. We're everything that's modern and fast here in Lyntacky. It's what we pride ourselves on." He said the words with a straight face that had her laughing.

"So true, Ryder," Phoebe said. "And you've done an amazing job in here."

"You think so?" They looked around the space together.

"Absolutely, and I will come here to write and drink good coffee."

"Which it will be because it's mine," Caleb added .

"I'll have your table reserved," Ryder said. "So, go you, being a famous author now."

"Not so much the famous part."

"She's humble. Believe me, she's good and has lots of fans," Caleb said.

"I hear some bikers have been creating mayhem, but it took the older generation to run them out of Lyntacky," Phoebe said.

"All true," Ryder said. "Sawyer's knees were shaking so much, he had to go home and lie down, but June Matilda corrected their grammar a few times, and the Bandits were so terrified, they left."

"It was a moment I will never forget," Caleb said.

"I heard you teach the brat. How's that going for you? Ally giving you any trouble?"

"Uncle Ryder," Ally said in that whiny voice kids perfected at a young age.

"She's trouble, but I have her under control. Right, Ally?" They all looked at the girl still seated on top of the ladder.

"Is she really grumpy in class?" Caleb asked Ally. "Really bossy, too, I should imagine?"

This time it was Ally who laughed. "She's a nice teacher."

"Really? Wow, that does surprise me," Caleb said. "Because she's a terrible sister."

"Ha-ha." Phoebe punched her brother in the shoulder.

"Nice one, Ms. Stanway," Ally said. "Aunt Zoe does that to her brothers."

"I'm sure they deserve it. Brothers are really annoying, Ally."

"Hey," the two men who were brothers said.

"Come upstairs, Phoebe, and see what Ryder is doing there," Caleb added. "He needs my expert opinion on something."

"I don't believe I said you were an expert," Ryder drawled.

"Aren't you opening soon? I thought most things would be done," Phoebe said.

"I am, and they are, but I have a few last-minute tweaks I need to work through."

"And because I am the epitome of class and style, you need my help," Caleb added.

Tall, with broad shoulders, Caleb carried little weight on his frame. Stanways had thin genes, her father always said. His blond hair was short on the sides with a longer fringe, and his blue eyes were usually mocking someone. He loved fashion, and both Caleb and Jonathan had taught her to love it too. Although maybe her love affair didn't run quite as deep as theirs.

"Let me take that," Ryder said, coming closer. "Seeing as your useless brother is just standing there eating cookies." Ryder took the box from her.

"They are good cookies, though, Uncle Ry," Ally said from her perch.

"Which doesn't mean you're getting another one, or your daddy will be annoyed with me. Now behave while I take the Stanways upstairs. Mind the shop."

"Okay. I'll let you know if the square dancing music starts," Ally said.

"Please, God, don't let it," Caleb muttered.

"That's very un-Lyntackian of you," Ryder said.

"‘Un-Lyntackian' is not a word, Ryder," Caleb said.

"But it works because of the crazy. Am I right?"

"You are," Phoebe agreed.

"I could do with a female opinion, too, Phoebe, but not my sister's. She's trying to force hers down my throat," Ryder said.

"Isn't she an interior designer?" Caleb asked, waving her ahead of him up the stairs.

"That doesn't mean I have to listen to her."

"I'm fairly sure it does, seeing as I know she's pretty good at it," Phoebe said.

"Do not tell her that," Ryder said. "Her ego is already huge."

"Nice about her and JD," Caleb said. "That man has style, which some of you could do with," he added, looking up and down Ryder's paint-stained shirt and ripped jeans.

"I have style when I need it," Ryder protested.

"Right," both Stanways said together.

The scream was loud and more of a shriek from above them. Phoebe ran, arriving first at the top. She entered the large open-plan area and looked for who had made the sound.

"Get it off me!"

She located Brody leaping off a ladder. He landed with a thud and started shaking his hands and stomping his feet.

"Argh!"

She saw the spider then, attached to the front of his shirt.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," she heard Ryder say.

Lunging at him, Phoebe grabbed the arachnid; she then ran to the open doors and flung it over the railing. When she came back in, Ryder was standing before Brody glaring at him and Caleb was snort laughing.

"You could squash that thing with two fingers, bro. You need to get this phobia under control. Ally had to remove one from your bedroom two weeks ago," Ryder said.

Phoebe looked at Brody, who was looking at her. Jeans sat low on his hips, and the gray T-shirt was smeared with dirt. He did not look good enough to jump, she told herself.

"I hate those fuckin' things," Brody growled, now looking at his brother. "I can't help it. They make me irrational."

"That was really something to witness," Caleb said.

Phoebe noticed her brother's eyes were cooler as he looked at Brody. Clearly he was still holding a grudge for the way he'd treated her when she left Lyntacky. After all, he was the one to pick up the pieces when he helped her settle in New York.

"Thanks for that," Brody said to Phoebe. "I hope touching it didn't infect you with some deadly disease. Do you need to wash your hands and maybe put some kind of disinfectant on them?" His voice was gravelly, and he was clearly uncomfortable they'd all witnessed him shrieking in terror over a tiny insect. She'd known about his phobia, of course, and rescued him plenty of times from spiders when they'd been in a relationship.

"Phoebe's always been brave," Caleb said, and she knew he was alluding to more than just a spider attack.

"She has," Brody said slowly. "Braver than me."

"I remember you always hated spiders," Phoebe said, attempting to lighten the mood. If looks could kill, Brody would be dead from Caleb's glare.

"I thought you said you'd forgiven me," Brody said to her brother. "Your words were that you believed I was no longer the spoiled man-child I used to be."

"Caleb, we've moved on, so let it go," Phoebe said, mortified.

"Yeah, well, I'm not making it easy on you, just so you know," her brother said. "Now about you needing my expertise, Ryder. "

"I'd expect it no other way," Brody said, looking at Phoebe. "I deserve what you throw at me." The words were spoken quietly and directly to her.

She turned away from Brody's steady gaze. She wasn't reopening that wound.