Last Call: A Place to Call Home, #3

Prologue

Leah stopped working in the fields for a few minutes so she could get a drink of water and some respite from the summer sun. From the shade of a tree, she secretly enjoyed her fascination with the Allred twins. The two boys not only worked as a team, they looked it too, carrying the heavy packages of roofing shingles from the back of the truck up the ladder to the roof of the house. Sun glinted off their rich, dark hair, making fiery highlights spark among the strands. They had shed their shirts while they worked, and sweat glistened on their sleekly-muscled bodies. They looked the same. Almost. But Leah knew the difference. Noah sported a dimple in his right cheek, Caleb in his left. Mirror images.

They never noticed her during the school year, just as they didn't see her now. With her hair scraped back into a long braid and attired in the drab dresses and cheap sneakers she wore to school, no one paid her any attention unless it was to laugh at her. Summer wasn't much better. Because she spent so much time working her father's fields, dresses gave way to overalls and oversize T-shirts. No way would anyone as good-looking and popular as Noah and Caleb Allred ever notice her.

Whack! Pain shafted along the side of her head. One of the twins stopped in the act of picking up another package of shingles to stare. Caleb. His gaze narrowed on her father, but it might as well have been her. Her embarrassment was almost as great as the stinging of her scalp.

You stop that starin' girl, you hear me? The devil is temptin' you to sin. You need to git back out there and hoe them beans.

Leah cast her gaze down to where she cradled a small potted plant in her hands and only hoped he wouldn't see that her mother's once limp African violet looked bright and healthy now. She had carried the plant for several days, nurturing and talking to it. With as much stealth as possible, she pushed the little violet farther around the tree trunk with her bare foot. Her father lacked both time and patience for flowers. He was all about practical plants. Crops that earned money. Leah loved flowers. She read everything she found at school about them.

I'm sorry, Papa. She hoped it sounded sincere.

Her father glared at her. The devil's spawn. That's what you are. You better do some extra praying at church tonight.

I will, sir.

She was afraid for a moment her father would drag her back inside their hot, stuffy house, make her help mama with cooking or sewing. However, after another glare, he moved off to the tractor parked in the shade of the barn to continue his tinkering. Leah risked a glance. Caleb Allred still stared at her.

She recognized pity. It was the last thing she wanted from Caleb. She saw it a lot. High school had just made it worse. The one bright spot in her year had been watching the Allred twins. All the Allreds were popular. Boys were already after their little sister Becca. With her own group of besties, Becca barely acknowledged Leah. No one did.

Someday, I won't wear long skirts and ugly blouses. I won't have my hair yanked back so it pinches my scalp. I'll wear what I want to—even makeup if I want—and boys like Caleb will notice me. And they won't feel sorry for me.

Chapter 1

Early October and the heat remained unbearable. The leaves hung limply from the trees shading the back part of the nursery parking lot as if they were too tired to even begin changing color for fall. Leah wiped the sweat trickling down her forehead and into her eyes. As she returned to repotting the shrubs her boss, Mack Landrum, wanted to put on sale over the weekend, she wondered when fall might put in an appearance. As soon as she finished with this, she was supposed to go help with the flowers for the Allred-Mercer wedding Saturday.

Hey, Leah! Mack called. I need you in here like yesterday.

On my way. She blew a puff of air and stood. For a moment, the world spun around her. Leah caught hold of the pole next to her. She needed something to eat. She'd rushed out of the house with Jonah this morning desperately trying to escape her father's anger. Jonah's preschool would feed him breakfast, but payday was still two days away, and she had no money to purchase anything for herself. Every dollar she didn't put toward her goals was a step backward.

Leahhhh!!!

She dropped the potting tools she'd been using and hurried into the relative dark and coolness of the florist's side of Mountain Plants. Leah paused to take a deep breath and allow her eyes to adjust before walking into the room where Mack fumbled to create arrangements.

It wasn't his strong suit. He did much better with the nursery portion of the business, but he was taking some funky antibiotic and wasn't supposed to be in the sun.

I'm here, she said.

Mack tossed down the floral tape. You are so much better at this. Someone's coming to pick up the arrangements in two hours. I need you to take over, or it will never get done on time.

Leah bit her bottom lip as she regarded the carnage in front of her. Where's the list of what they've ordered?

On the wall next to the cooler. All the flowers are here. If you'll handle this, I'll put on a hat and a long sleeve shirt and take care of loading the plants in the truck. Deal?

Mack's expression begged.

No problem.

He looked so relieved, Leah nearly forgave him. But not quite. She stared around the shop with a grimace. If she had some way of coming up with the money to buy this place, she would run it so much better. The flowers remained her first love, but she had the know-how to handle the nursery too. One thing she understood was plants.

The coolness and humidity of the shop was a relief after being outside. With the deftness of familiarity, Leah began sorting her tools, arranging everything she would need so her concentration focused solely on getting the arrangements right.

Over the past four years, she had assisted with several high profile weddings in Mountain Meadow, and this one was bound to be as fancy. Rebecca Allred and Eli Mercer were tying the knot. A different Allred wedding had landed her in her current situation, but Leah wasn't going to dwell on that now. Thinking about it either made her angry or worried, depending on her mood.

She needed to focus.

In a few minutes, the stillness and the fragrances of the flowers seeped into her bones, unleashing her creativity. With her concentration restored, she bent and coaxed blooms and accents into the same shapes as the samples she'd created for Becca a couple months ago. As she worked on the arrangements for Becca's wedding, Leah tried hard not to think of Becca's older brother, Caleb.

He was back in town. The last person she wanted to see. She'd glimpsed him every now and then as she hurried past Mercer's where he often stopped in for lunch. The one time he'd glanced her way, Leah had been both relieved and disappointed that he seemed to have no idea who she was. Of course, she did her best to stay out of his way. Any conversation between the two of them would end badly, and she had Jonah to consider.

In fact, Jonah was her only consideration. Her son had problems with asthma, and living with her parents wasn't helping. Her father smoked like a chimney and had no regard for the problems it might cause for others in the house. But Leah hoped to change that soon. She'd been saving her money, squirreling away every spare cent so she and Jonah might find somewhere else to live.

With the first arrangement complete, Leah set it to the side and began the second. These flowers would grace the altar, a mixture of late summer blooms native to the area. They were also doing the flowers for the reception, but most of those were already complete. The small table-top arrangements had taken almost no time for her to finish, although to have the peace and quiet to do them, she had brought Jonah in with her after hours, so she could work without interruption. In other words, without Mack under her feet asking her questions that, as the owner of the business, he should have known.

Leah glanced at the clock as she put the finishing touches on the final arrangement. The bell that hung from the front door tinkled. Just in time. She hoped she would have a few minutes to talk to Becca. Now that the other woman was moving into the house she and Eli had purchased, Leah hoped she might be able to lease the apartment over Becca's newly rebuilt restaurant. If the rent wasn't too steep.

The concrete floor out front did nothing to muffle the sound of the steps headed her way. Leah looked up with a smile, a greeting for Becca on the tip of her tongue that died. Instead of Becca, she found herself looking into the moss green stare of Caleb Allred.

You... Leah caught herself and tacked on, must be here to pick up Becca's flowers.

Caleb stepped forward with an open smile and stretched out his hand. I'm Caleb Allred. Have we met before?

He had his head tilted quizzically as if trying to figure out where he might have met her. She wanted to slap him. Instead, Leah took his hand and shook it as briefly as possible.

I'm Leah Scott. I grew up here. She shrugged. You and Noah were ahead of me in school, so you probably don't remember me.

Obviously, he didn't. He also apparently didn't remember the night they'd spent together four years ago, or he didn't want to.

Noah and I did some work for your dad one summer. Roofing, I think.

She nodded. Whatever her feelings about Caleb, she needed to be pleasant. He was a customer. Yes. I'm sorry to hear about Noah. Is—is he doing all right?

It was Caleb's turn to shrug, and his gaze shifted as he replied. He's making progress.

Leah bit her lower lip. He wasn't telling the whole truth, but then his lack of response, when she'd tried to contact him four years ago, made it more than plain he didn't want to talk to her. As the silence lengthened, Leah stepped around the table. The best thing for both of them would be for him to leave the shop as fast as possible.

I have the table-top arrangements in boxes. Becca said Richardson Homestead had a refrigerator large enough to store everything until the day of?

That's right. The big arrangements will go in the walk-in cooler at the church.

As Leah lifted the first box from the cooler, Caleb reached around her, his muscular arm brushing hers. The heady scent of his cologne tickled her nostrils. For an instant, she closed her eyes and savored the smell. That was before she forced herself to recall all the vital reasons why Caleb Allred was bad news for her.

Let me get that.

It's all right, she said, hating the breathless sound in her voice. It's not that heavy, but take this first box. I'll follow you with another one. It will go faster that way.

Caleb arched a brow. Where's Mack? Can't he tote a few boxes?

Leah shrugged again. She wasn't about to say anything negative about her boss. He's repotting some shrubs out back. I like doing the floral work, and he lets me handle it, so I do. In fact, Mack let her handle almost everything that required work.

Relief filled her when Caleb accepted her explanation. Mack never thought about whether anything she moved or carried was too heavy for her. Leah's height led people to assume it was no problem. It was strangely flattering that Caleb had stopped to consider whether it was too much for her. How screwed up was that? Plenty of women would be insulted, but Leah had grown up in a household where special treatment was nonexistent, so being the object of it for a change felt gratifying. Still, he was the last person she wanted to make her feel warm and fuzzy.

Caleb gave her a friendly smile while he waited for her to remove another box from the cooler. Follow me.

Over the next several minutes, they loaded the back of his SUV with the flowers. They braced the altar arrangements so they wouldn't fall over during the trip to the Baptist church. Caleb closed the back doors and turned to her. Becca wanted me to make sure you would still be able to come to the church before the ceremony to arrange everything the way you want it. He glanced at her loose man's shirt and faded jeans. Leah knew her clothes were shabby, but they were clean. It was another area where she conserved money. Do you have transportation out to the Richardson's to set everything for the reception?

Yes. Her answer came out snippy. He'd have to live with that. She wasn't about to tell him the only way she could drive out there was by using Mack's delivery van. Her parents would never let her use their car for something so frivolous, and Leah had sold hers the last time Jonah needed to be hospitalized.

None of her current situation would have been necessary except for the man in front of her.

Caleb waved. All right then. I guess I might see you at the reception.

Maybe.

Leah watched the SUV pull out of the parking lot. For a nanosecond, she let her imagination have free rein. But it wasn't really imagination, was it? When she pictured what Caleb Allred looked like without his clothes, how his muscular body moved with grace and power as he made love to a woman. No, not imagination at all but memory. She had a son to prove it.

The only problem was his father didn't want to know.

Chapter 2

Caleb toted the last of the boxes inside the basement cooler at Richardson Homestead. His phone vibrated against his hip. On his way up the stairs, he checked the text.

Noah. Need help. U got time?

When had he ever not made time for his twin? He and Noah had been joined at the hip since before birth. Maybe if they'd stayed that way, Noah wouldn't be in the shape he was now. The last few months had been a nightmare for the entire family. Becca's business getting torched while Becca was inside with her nephew and her fiancé’s young son. All three survived thanks to Becca's quick thinking, hustling everyone inside the bakery's fireproof walk-in freezer.

The relief they were alive had quickly been tempered by the news that Noah had been involved in a horrible accident in Central America where he worked with an aid organization. Caleb joined his parents in Florida before they all flew down together. They arrived at the hospital to find Noah so much worse than what they'd been told.

By the time they got there, the doctors had made the decision to amputate his right hand. It was a horrific injury for anyone, but for a man who made his living as a professional photographer, it was a life and career altering change.

Caleb didn't think it had to be. Most of the problem was with Noah's mental attitude, and heaven forbid anyone come right out and say that. Caleb’s life had morphed into tiptoeing inside The Emperor's New Clothes. Except in this case, everyone feared saying anything to Noah about moving forward. His twin could be going through fittings for a prosthesis, but so far he refused help from almost everyone.

Everyone except Caleb. From his brother, at least, Noah was willing to ask for help for some of his more basic needs. However, any discussion of what had actually happened on that mountainside, or what Noah's plans for the future might be were strictly off limits. Caleb would do anything to help his brother, but the stress was beginning to wear on everyone.

Two weeks after Becca's wedding, Caleb would be opening his new sports bar, Last Call. He was busy as hell at the moment and doing his best to give Noah the time and shoulder to lean on that he seemed to need.

Caleb blew out a breath as he turned off the two-lane highway and bounced up the long, gravel drive to his parents' farm. They had been lucky enough to be able to repurchase the farm they'd sold eight years earlier so they could move themselves and Noah back to familiar surroundings. The move might have been largely for Noah, but Caleb was glad they were back, glad the whole family had returned to Castle County and Mountain Meadow.

He cut the engine outside the barn. Noah insisted on living on his own, so Caleb helped his parents fix up the loft apartment on the barn's second level. As he got out of the SUV, Noah greeted him, a glass of bourbon in his remaining hand, which he waved with an over-expansive gesture of the mostly drunk.

So glad you could lend a hand, bro. Having a bit of trouble with the bow tie, you know, and wanted to see if you would get all my clothes ready and laid out for me. Just like Mom used to do when we were barely old enough to walk.

Caleb shut the door on his vehicle and took a deep breath. This should prove interesting. Noah must be stressing out about being in the wedding, but even he couldn't say no to their only sister. Even worse, the groom was their best friend from high school. Eli Mercer had been nearly as inseparable as Caleb and Noah.

On my way up, bro. Starting in a little early on happy hour, aren't you?

It's five o'clock somewhere. You should understand that since you're opening your own bar.

Last Call won't be my first rodeo.

Right. Forgot about Pipe Dream.

Caleb didn't hold the door for his twin. He'd been down that road. Unless Noah asked for the help, trying to offer any unsolicited usually sparked an argument.

So, is it just the tie, or do you need my help getting dressed Saturday?

Noah knocked back the rest of his whiskey and gestured toward the tux hanging in a bag on the back of the bedroom door.

Much as I hate to admit it, he said, and this time without the attitude he'd adopted while standing on the landing outside his door, I need help.

For just a