Chapter Eight

Chocolate. Leanne needed chocolate, and a lot of it. And there was only one place in town she’d consider going for it. Starlight Chocolate Confections. She left her car at home, opting for an old bicycle she found in her parents’ garage. Its gears ground together and she wobbled, trying to get used to being on a bike again. It was a lot harder than she’d remembered, and it wasn’t until she hopped off for a closer inspection that she realized that both tires were flat. That made a difference. She’d need to patch them up before she could ride into town. As she worked on the bike, her sister, Jules, came into the garage, looking for something. She stopped mid-stride.

“Oh. Hi.” Jules looked around, like she wasn’t sure why she had come into the garage in the first place. She had avoided Leanne for the past few days, and Leanne had returned the favor, but they couldn’t keep it up forever.

“Hi,” Leanne said, then kept her head down, focusing on the bicycle tube that she’d submerged in water. Little air bubbles escaped from where the hole was. No, wait, there were two holes. She placed a finger on each, hoping she didn’t lose the location of one while she patched up the other.

She must have looked pretty hopeless as she removed the tube from the water, because Jules said, “Let me help you with that.”

“It’s okay, I got it,” Leanne said, even as water splashed all over her and the garage floor.

Jules gave a little laugh. “No, you don’t.” She knelt down next to Leanne and helped dry the area around one hole, while Leanne kept her finger on the other. “You’re out of practice.”

“Riding a bike in LA is…not recommended,” Leanne said, chancing a side glance at her sister.

Jules gave her characteristic smirk, her eyes crinkling at the edges. “I bet.”

Her sister was so much the same, it almost seemed like time hadn’t passed at all, other than her hair having grown longer. It reached the middle of her back now. Jules was only a couple of years older than Leanne, and they had been best friends growing up. But her sister had seen Leanne’s departure as a betrayal, both to their parents and to her. And they hadn’t spoken since.

They worked for a few more minutes in silence. Once they had attached the patches on both tubes, Leanne laid them down, giving them another moment for the adhesive to dry.

“Look—” Leanne said at the same time as her sister said, “I’m sor—”

They both stopped and shared a nervous laugh.

“Me first,” Jules said. Her gaze dropped. “I’m sorry I said the things that I did before you left. And that I didn’t try to get in touch.”

Leanne released a relieved sigh. She knew it couldn’t be easy for Jules to apologize, because she had had some very valid points. When Leanne left, their parents had to hire someone to replace her. Running a bed and breakfast was too much work for just them and Jules. Originally, the plan had been that Leanne would take over managing the place in preparation for when their parents retired in a couple of years. That plan had gone out the window when Frederick had miraculously chosen her screenplay. She didn’t know what the new plan was. Probably have Jules take over, though Jules had never been thrilled by the prospect of living at Starlight Bed and Breakfast for the rest of her life.

“I’m sorry too,” Leanne said. When her sister’s eyebrows raised, Leanne held her hands up. “Not sorry I went to LA. But sorry for how I left things. You and mom and dad are the most important people in the world to me. I hope you know that.”

Jules grabbed one of the bicycle tires and began maneuvering the tube back inside. She paused and brushed a lock of hair out of her face, her gaze meeting Leanne’s. “I know.” She finished the tire then grabbed the pump. “Let’s see what kind of a patch-up job we did.”

Leanne finished with her tire and pumped them both with air. “Looks like it’s holding,” she said after a moment.

“Only one way to find out,” Jules said. She grinned, a mischievous glint in her eye. “If I see you walking back from town, we’ll know it’s time for new tubes.”

Leanne laughed. “Good thing nothing out here is more than a twenty-minute walk.”

Jules picked up the tire patch kit and put the pump back on the shelf. “Say hi to Isaac for me.” She turned a finger on her sister, like Leanne was about to get a scolding. “I still get to be maid of honor at your wedding. You promised.”

Sure, Leanne had promised. Before she had left for LA. Did Jules have the same crazy notion that Leanne had had—that now that she was back things could return to normal? Leanne thought she’d like to manage her parents’ bed and breakfast, if the offer was still open. But all of her other plans—well, they were dead and buried.

“I’m not going into town to see Isaac,” she said, not meeting Jules’s gaze as she put the tires back on the bike.

A pause.

“Why not?” Jules finally asked. “Now that you’re back, everyone is itching for this wedding to finally happen. Jessie said she’ll make your cake, Erwin’s restaurant will provide the food, and Adeline said she can do a chocolate fountain. I’m sure Bree would be happy to be your photographer. Isaac’s parents can stay at the bed and breakfast when they come into town for the wedding, of course—”

“There isn’t going to be a wedding.” The words burst from Leanne’s lips. Jules faltered several times as she tried to come up with a response, but in the end, she just stood there.

Leanne released a long sigh and shook her head. “I visited him the first night I got back, or didn’t mom tell you?”

Jules took a tentative step forward. “She did, but I assumed it went well and that you two were back together.”

Oh, yeah. Leanne hadn’t filled anyone in on the details of how it had gone. And she hadn’t told anyone about the failed dinner attempt at Caleb and Bree’s apartment either. No need to subject herself to that kind of torture. “We’re not. And won’t be.”

At that news, Jules looked even more surprised than she already had, if that were possible. “What are you talking about? You’re Starlight Ridge’s sweethearts. Of course you’re going to get back together. And get married. And have little surfing babies. You’ll live at the bed and breakfast, of course, since you’ll be managing the place full-time within the next year or so…”

Leanne squeezed her eyes shut and held up a hand for her sister to stop. It was too painful to hear a reality that would never be. She had messed it up when she left for LA. No, she had messed it up when she’d decided to stay in LA. “As nice as it is that you have my life all worked out for me, Isaac isn’t interested.”

Jules snorted and waved a hand in the air, like her sister was crazy. “Of course he is.”

Fine, if it helped Jules sleep better at night, thinking that everything was perfect between her and Isaac, Leanne would let her sister keep on dreaming. She reached for a helmet that sat on a shelf above her, but she paused just before touching it. The helmet was encased with dust an inch thick, which didn’t speak to the last time someone had ridden a bike around here, but to how often people actually wore helmets in Starlight Ridge. She had to remind herself that she was back home, in a town where everything went so slow, there hadn’t been a traffic accident in four years.

Leaving the helmet where it was, Leanne placed her purse in a basket hanging on the front, then swung a leg over the bike and pushed off. She gave Jules a little wave over her shoulder. The ride was a lot smoother now that the tires had been filled, and once she started down the hill that led into town, she didn’t even have to pedal. The sea breeze swept through her hair and she closed her eyes, relishing the feeling of finally being home. It hadn’t been the homecoming she’d expected—or wanted—but right here, at this moment, she knew this was where she was meant to be. Starlight Ridge might be small, but everyone who lived there had a purpose. Without each—

Her thoughts flew by the wayside as she felt her bike slam into something, the handlebars burying into her stomach. Leanne’s eyes popped open, revealing that she was now flying over the handlebars, and would soon be face-planting into the pavement. Leanne released the handles, bringing her arms up she braced herself for impact. The ground came at her as if in slow motion, mocking her with the inevitable, until she finally crashed into it. The drama wasn’t over yet, not until she’d rolled a few times before coming to a stop in some vegetation that grew alongside the road.

Ow.

Leanne laid on her back, staring up at the sky. Pain coursed through her body and she had no desire to make it worse, so she just stayed like that, stretched out on the ground. If anyone had been passing by at that moment, they’d probably have thought she was dead.

After several minutes though, she struggled to sit up, not really wanting to live the rest of her life out there on the side of the road. Little bits of dirt and gravel had embedded itself in her arms, and proved to be quite resilient when she attempted to clean it out. “You think you found a new home, don’t you?” She grimaced as she moved to stand up, pretty sure that her arms weren’t the only things that were torn up. If she could just move her bike from where it lay in the middle of the road, she could get to the medical clinic that sat on the next street over.

When Leanne turned to grab it, however, she realized the bike was in worse shape than she was. A large rock had been the source of its demise—something Leanne would have known if she’d kept her eyes open while riding—and it had bent the bike frame to the point where she wouldn’t be riding it any time soon. She doubted she’d even be able to push it home.

It took some major teeth clenching and positive affirmations to get through the pain—You can do this Leanne. You’ve done hard things before. Like eating pickles. Remember when you ate the Tuna fish sandwich that Fredrick offered you, even though it had pickles in it?—but she managed to drag the bike to the side of the road.

Her breaths came out as gasps and she reached into her pocket for her phone. Jules could come pick her up, though the good deed would be accompanied by well-deserved mocking. Except her pocket was flat—no phone. Oh yeah, it had been in her purse. Her head whipped toward the smashed—and empty—bike basket, then toward the road as she searched for any sign that her purse might have flown out in the chaos of the crash. It wasn’t there. Maybe it was along the side of the road in the bushes.

A couple of minutes later, though, she was still empty handed.

Great. Leanne cradled her arms as she took a minute to reassess if she’d make it to the medical clinic. Better that than having to go uphill to get home.

All she had to do was walk one street over.

One step. One and a half steps. Two steps. Two and a half steps.

Yeah, this was going to take awhile.

It was on Leanne’s third step that she heard a car approaching. She hadn’t even had time to turn around when she heard the sounds of gravel, like something had stopped too quickly. A door opened, and then Isaac appeared next to Leanne.

“What happened to you?” he asked, his brows furrowed as his gaze settled on the bike. “Did someone hit you?”

Leanne didn’t know what she was more startled by, that Isaac was talking to her, or that he actually sounded concerned. “N-no,” she managed to say. “It was my own stupidity at fault here.” She hated how her voice shook.

“I’m taking you to the clinic and then I’ll come back for your bike.” Isaac glanced around, like he was looking for something. “Where’s your helmet?”

Um…How could she put this so it didn’t make her seem more dumb than she already felt? “I…well, you see…our helmet hadn’t been used for so long, it had all this dust…and no one in town uses them anyway…”

“You didn’t wear one.”

Leanne hesitated. “No, I didn’t wear one.”

Isaac was quiet for a moment, though his expression had softened. “You’ve always liked learning things the hard way, haven’t you?”

“As you know, I’m a glutton for punishment.” That had been her motto as far back as she could remember, and Isaac had finished her statement with her, followed by a small laugh.

“Ain’t that the truth.”

It was nice to hear his laugh again, even if it had been brief. But it had also hurt, because that laugh belonged to someone who was no longer hers—someone she’d given up.

Isaac seemed to notice her arms for the first time, and the gravel that was embedded in them. His fingers reached out to touch them, stopping just before contact, and his lips formed an O. “That looks like it hurts.”

Leanne didn’t respond, but instead watched, amazed, as Isaac ran over to the car and opened the passenger door for her. She could almost pretend it was like old times. Almost. “You got a car?”

Isaac froze, his hand still on the open door. Was that embarrassment that just flitted across his face? “It’s Caleb’s,” he finally said.

That was weird.

Why was Isaac borrowing a car? He didn’t expound further, and Leanne was in no position to pull more information from him. She straightened her shoulders the best she could and was tempted to tell him that she’d walk to the clinic.

It would have been more convincing if she hadn’t let out a whimper of pain after the first step.

Isaac hurried to her side. “Where does it hurt?”

The pain radiated through every limb and it was difficult to pinpoint the origin. “My arms and shoulders. And my legs, I think. A little bit of my back as well.”

His lips quirked up at the corners. “So…everywhere?”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Isaac moved to place an arm around her waist, but paused. “May I?”

Leanne wasn’t sure what he was asking permission to do, but it seemed he wanted to help, so she gave a slight nod. His arm wound around her. “Tell me if this hurts,” he said. And then he lifted her off the ground, cradling her. Her breaths stalled. “Is this okay?” he asked, his tone gentle. His lips were so close, his breath tickled her cheek.

“I—” Her brain was mush. It couldn’t focus on anything but the way his arms held her tight. Not many people knew what kind of muscles that man had, but she hadn’t forgotten. And she could feel them now, through his shirt.

What was the question?

“Does this make it hurt worse?” he prompted.

Oh, yeah. “No, it’s okay,” she squeaked out.

Isaac walked over to the car and gently placed her on the seat. It had been like she didn’t weigh anything at all—no different than carrying a child. Had he grown even stronger while she’d been away? Judging by the feel of his muscles, it was likely. She tucked her feet and he shut the door, then hurried to the driver’s side.

“First stop, the medical clinic,” she said.

Isaac gave her a side-glance, an eyebrow raised. “What’s the second stop?”

“Starlight Chocolate Confections, of course. That was the reason I was riding my bike to town in the first place.” Leanne gave him a look that said he should have known. But then a brilliant idea hit her. “Wait, should that be the first stop? So the truffles can get me through whatever it is the good doc has to do?”

Isaac seemed to be stifling a smile as he once again faced forward and turned the key. “Maybe the good doc should come first. Considering you can barely walk at the moment.”

It should have been the obvious choice, of course, but Leanne hadn’t eaten Adeline’s truffles in two years, and she hadn’t been able to find any in LA that could even compare. “I know you’re right, but a heart wants what a heart wants.”

“You’ll have plenty of time for truffles,” Isaac said driving down the street and then turning a corner. “And I bet that Adeline will even give you a free box as a welcome home gift.”

Ooh, Leanne hadn’t even considered that.

Isaac pulled in front of a small building that had a large white sign in front of it that simply said, ‘Clinic,’ accompanied by a red cross. “Give me a call when you’re done and I can take you to Adeline’s place.”

“You aren’t coming in?” she asked. The old Isaac wouldn’t have left her side until he knew everything was okay.

What looked like shame crossed his face and he turned from her, looking out his window toward the clinic. “I think it would be best if I didn’t.”

“Yeah, of course, I understand.” Except, she didn’t understand. Not at all. Isaac was obviously concerned about her, but he was still being careful to keep her at arm’s length, not allowing her to get too close.

Leanne watched as he drove away, his gaze straight ahead, not even a glance in his side view mirror.

And that hurt worse than any road rash ever could.