Another Mazzy Monday (18 page)

Twelve

Mazzy

One Week Later

When Izzy and Max walk in they look happy. Of course Max always looks happy. He’s one of those bright and shiny people who always seem to have a smile on their face. But to see Izzy happy is something truly spectacular. I don’t think I ever saw her smile once the entire time we were in high school.

I can’t help but feel a twinge of jealously. I know it’s not fair to compare my relationships with other people’s, but I’m still having a hard time with the fact that Austin left.

“Look what I’ve got.” Max holds up a giant laminated poster for his ghost tours. “I thought we could hang it up somewhere.”

He looks so excited I can’t say no, but I do need to get the okay from my sister. “Suzie,” I yell into the back room.

She pokes her head out from the kitchen and when she sees Izzy and Max she hurries out to greet them. Her eyes go wide when she sees the huge poster.

“That’s large,” she chokes out.

“I told him it was too big,” Izzy rolls her eyes at Max. They’re an interesting couple, not two people you’d ever expect to be together, but somehow they make it work.

“There’s no such thing as too big.” Max’s smile grows even wider. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another human being with a smile as big as Max’s, and I’ve meet a lot of people in politics. Of course, just thinking about politics again makes me think about Austin.

Oh, who am I kidding? Everything makes me think about Austin.

“Isn’t it great?” Max observes. “Where can we hang it?”

Suzie gives me a sideways glance and I shrug.

“How about over there?” She points to a spot behind the register. It’s kind of out of the way, not in the dining area, but the guests will still see it when they check in and check out.

“I like it,” Max agrees as he hands Suzie the poster.

“Why don’t you hang it up?” Suzie suggests. “You’re much taller than any of us.”

“Okay, have you got something for me to fasten it with?”

“I’ll have to look in the back room. Izzy, would you give me a hand. You’ve always had super sleuthing skills when it comes to finding things like that. And we still haven’t gotten everything situated back there.”

Izzy nods and follows Suzie into the back room.

Max and I stare at each other for a few seconds until Max says, “Maybe we should see how it will look.”

“Sure, why not.”

He takes the giant poster behind the counter and tries to hold it up, but it proves a little unwieldy, even for him and he’s not a small guy by any means. “Do you mind giving me a hand?”

I take the other end of the poster and we hold it up. It doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would. It’s actually kind of a cool concept, more artsy and not too much of an advertisement.

Just as we’re about to pull the thing down the front door flies open and a booming voice says, “What’s going on in here?”

Max and I turn at the same time, still holding both ends of the gigantic poster, and see Austin with his hands crossed over his chest looking quite unhappy.

“Austin, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in China.”

“A better question is what is that guy doing here? I’ve only been gone a week and you already have someone else?”

“What?” It takes me a few moments to realize he thinks something is going on between me and Max. That really pisses me off.

I make sure Max has a hold of the poster before I let go of it and then I march right up to Austin and stick a finger in his chest. “First of all, you’re the one who left me.”

“I didn’t leave you,” he fires back. “I would never leave you. I just left New Jersey.”

I shake my head. “Okay, you left New Jersey. But I can’t believe you would honestly think that I would hook up with someone else that quickly. And that you think I would hook up with him.”

“I’m right here,” Max says. “What’s wrong with hooking up with me?”

“Ugh,” I exclaim, looking back at Max. “You’re not my type.”

He gives me his huge grin. “I’m everybody’s type.”

“No, you’re not. You’re obviously Izzy’s type, but I really don’t even understand that.”

“Who is Izzy?” Austin asks.

“His girlfriend,” I state as I place my hands on my hips.

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Izzy says as she joins the fray.

“How exactly would you characterize your relationship?” I ask.

“Complicated,” Izzy says matter-of-factly.

“The point is,” I say to Austin. “These two people are together.” I point to Izzy and Max.

Austin lets out a small sigh and looks defeated. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I jumped to conclusions.” Then he takes another look at both Izzy and Max. “They’re really together?”

“Yes, we’re really together,” Max complains. “Why is it so hard to believe that I would be with any one of these women?”

Austin tries to bite back a grin. “Because you look like you just stepped off of a beach and there’s not a beach around here for miles.”

I look at Austin. “I think we need to talk.”

He swallows hard then nods. So I grab his hand and pull him into the small dining area. It’s not exactly private, but it provides a bit more privacy.

“Why are you here, Austin?”

He takes both of my hands in his and the fire between us quickly ignites again.

“I made a big mistake. I should have never left.”

I can’t even count the number of times I imagined hearing him say those words. Besides opening our restaurant, it’s one of the only things I’ve wanted. But I don’t want to let him off the hook that easily. I want to make him work for me.

I cross my arms over my chest and stare at him.

“I guess I didn’t appreciate what I had with you until you weren’t there. I went to see the Great Wall. It’s something I’ve been dreaming about seeing for years. And the whole time I was there all I could think about was sharing the experience with you. All the things I wanted to say to you. All the photos I wanted to snap of you along the way. I guess what I’m saying is that you’re the light of my life. Everything was just dull without you there to share it with me.”

“So what do you plan on doing about it?”

He shuffles uncomfortably for a moment and bites his bottom lip as if he’s preparing to say something. “I want to make sure I never have to be without you again.”

I narrow my eyes. As much as I want to be with Austin I don’t want to get hurt again. “You know this restaurant is very important to me.”

He nods. “I know. Did I tell you most of my work history includes various jobs in the food service industry?”

“Are you saying you want to work here? At the restaurant?”

“Well, there aren’t a lot of places to work in Old Town, so if you’re offering me a job I’ll take it. I have a house now, so I’m going to be planting some roots here.”

I eye him suspiciously. “You have a house here in Old Town.”

“Not exactly in Old Town. I talked my parents into selling me the lake house. They don’t use it that much anyway and I know how much you love it.”

“Your parents are selling the lake house to you?” I can’t help the surprise in my voice.

He nods. “They like the idea of me finally settling down and having a little stability in my life.”

I narrow my gaze at him. “Are you asking me to live with you?”

He shakes his head. “Not exactly.”

“What do you mean not exactly?”

“I want you to marry me.”

“Is that a question or a statement?”

He pulls my hands up to his mouth and kisses every one of my knuckles. “I know this is going to sound strange, but after everything that happened with Drew and the fake engagement, I don’t want to ask you to marry me and I don’t want to ever get engaged. I just want us to get married. Does that make sense?”

“I guess so.” I can’t help the note of disappointment in my voice.

“What’s wrong?” Austin asks quickly. He’s immediately perceptive to every change in my emotions.

I gulp. “I realize I ruined things by being fake engaged to your brother and I understand why you don’t want to get engaged. But it’s kind of like a dream of every girl to get engaged. Get a ring. Plan a big wedding. I’ve always had an idea of what kind of cake I wanted to make.”

He laughs. “Don’t most girls dream about their wedding dresses? Leave it to you to dream about the cake.”

When I look into his eyes we’re both serious for a moment. “If having a big wedding is important to you then we can do that. I just don’t want to be engaged.”

I can understand why he’s so adamant about it. “Okay,” I agree.

“I have something for you.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a velvet ring box. When he opens it I catch sight of a fantastic looking diamond ring.

“What is it?”

He looks at little taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“You just said you didn’t want to get engaged. That looks like an engagement ring.”

He shakes his head. “It’s not. This is a promise ring.” As he removes the ring from the box and places it on my finger he says. “With this ring I promise never to leave you. I promise to treasure you and appreciate you. And I promise I’ll always love you.”

I swipe at the tears rolling down my cheek. “I’ll always love you too.”

As Austin pulls me into a hug I melt into his arms. Even though he’s only been gone a week it felt like a lifetime being apart. But it also feels like we fit right back together again perfectly. Then he kisses me. And I get all goose bumpy. I’d love to do more, but I realize that we also have an audience even if they’re pretending not to be watching our every move.

I grab Austin’s hand and pull him back over to where my sister, Izzy and Max are standing. They’ve gotten the poster hung and it looks like it belongs there already.

“What are you doing?” I ask Suzie who is playing with her phone.

“Looking at the calendar.”

I furrow my brow. “For what reason?”

She grins at me. “So we can have a Not Engaged Party for you.”

I can’t help but laugh. Leave it to my sister to find a way to celebrate my non-engagement.

I still can’t believe how much has happened since I ran into Drew Graham at the convention. It all started on what I thought would be just another Mazzy Monday.

Looking at the restaurant that’s about to open and Austin standing next to me holding my hand I wonder if I’ll ever have just another Mazzy Monday again.

About the Author

USA TODAY
Bestselling Author Karen Mueller Bryson writes under four pen names. This is her first novel co-written by two of them.

Savannah Young’s stories take place in fictional Old Town, which is very much like the rural Northwest New Jersey town in which she grew up. She is the author of the four book Wilde brother’s Old Town Country Romance series.

Sierra Avalon’s stories have a little sass and lots of spice. She is the author of Always Rayne, which is the first book in the Always, Sometimes, Never series.

When Karen isn’t at her computer writing new stories she enjoys spending time with her husband and their bloodhounds at their home outside Phoenix, Arizona.

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Blog: http://karenmuellerbryson.tumblr.com

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