One Moment (The Little Hollow Series Book 1) Read online

  “I get it, but the resort is a pretty good idea anyway, remind me to look it up sometime.” He winked. “But sure thing, just set me up with all the paperwork and schedules,” he said about to turn but stopped and looked back. “And give my number to a few hotties.” He laughed and winked before sauntering out of my office.

  “Thanks, Mac, I’ll put them on your desk,” I said, not sure if he even heard me, but he’d find them sure enough.

  I knew the business would be in capable hands with him. He was a big joker and a bit of a womanizer, but underneath all of that, he was a damn hard worker and an even better friend.

  Sorting through some last emails, I picked up all the jobs we had booked in over the next week that I’d yet to put into the system on the computer and dropped them onto Mac’s desk on the way out. Mac did the accounting; underneath all the caveman behaviour he was actually really smart. It made sense for him to have an office so we’d made the room next to mine into on for him. I locked up my own and headed out, my stomach tightening. In just over twelve hours, I’d be driving half way across the country to confront old demons, again. There was just one thing I needed to pick up before I did.

  Whispering a final goodbye to Tommy over the calming water, I shivered as a light breeze prickled my skin. I took one last look as a tear rolled down my cheek then turned and made my way back to the salon.

  Today was the only day I’d ever let my emotions run freely, I’d learnt early on that they were best locked away. I heard footsteps jogging towards me just as I was about to reach the salon. I huffed out a breath hoping it wasn’t someone to tell me how awful this day must be for me.

  “Sam, wait up!” I’d recognize that voice anywhere. I pasted a smile on my face and turned to him.

  “Oh, hey, Lewis. How’s it going?” Lewis was an old school friend of mine. He’d been on my case the past few weeks, asking me out at every opportunity and if I really admitted it to myself, he was starting to wear me down.

  I didn’t know how many more excuses I could come up with. I had no idea why, after all these years, he chose now to start asking me out. I’d always been here and we hadn’t had much interaction over the years so it didn’t make much sense.

  “Yeah, awesome thanks. Listen, I know you said you were busy tonight so I was wondering if you would want to try out that new BBQ place over in Sharlington tomorrow lunchtime instead?” He must’ve seen the resolve on my face because he added, “Just as friends, I promise,” to seal the deal.

  I looked up into his deep gray eyes, he really was a handsome man, I just didn’t think he was my type of handsome. Did I have a type? I’d never even dated so how would I know?

  “I’m going for lunch with Keeley tomorrow but I can do after work?” I smiled at the triumph in his face.

  “Sure, Sam, pick you up around seven?” There was no way I’d let him drive, it would be so much more like a date then.

  “That’s okay, I have to go over to Sharlington tomorrow anyway so I’ll just meet you there?” I nodded, trying to be enthusiastic.

  “Erm, sure. Great, enjoy your night.” With that he turned around and walked off. He never treated me any differently just because of my past and it was nice to have a normal conversation with someone without them giving me sympathetic looks. Maybe tomorrow wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  I turned back towards the salon door, jumping out of my skin. “Keeley Rae Michaels! Are you trying to kill me off for full ownership of the salon!” She had a wicked grin on her face and mimicked Lewis’s deep voice.

  “Enjoy your night!” she said, pulling a face, presumably trying to mimic Lewis.

  Rolling my eyes, I drawled, “Mature, Kee, real mature,” as I pushed past her and headed through the door, dreading the clean-up. Turning the lights on, I was instantly warmed at the sight of a sparkly clean floor and the smell of disinfectant.

  “You keep this up people might start to think you actually care,” I teased with a wink.

  Throwing her jet black hair over her shoulder, she pretended to ignore me and sauntered back up the stairs to our apartment.

  I locked up with a feeling of melancholy, today was nearly over. I shook my head to rid it of the feeling and turned off the lights before following her up into our cosy space. It was eclectic to say the least, mismatched furniture from second hand shops and bright colors everywhere, it suited both our personalities to a T.

  It wasn’t big by any means but it was all we needed, and with Kee not being a morning person, it was necessary that we lived above our salon.

  I met Keeley Michaels three years ago to the date. She stumbled into my life, or should I say, I stumbled into hers. We’ve been inseparable ever since.

  “Kee, do you remember the first night we met?” She looked up at me while removing her biker boots.

  “How could I forget?” She laughed, then saw my serious look. “What’s this about, Sam?” Pouring us both a fresh glass of iced tea, I told her what was on my mind.

  “I don’t know why you stayed with me that night, I was a stranger and you just swooped in and saved the day.” I heard a snort come from her direction and I looked over to see her shaking her head.

  “Sam, we’ve been through this. You were blind drunk and there was no way I was letting you wander the streets so emotionally unstable, oh don’t give me that look, you were a mess! I just did what any other decent human being would have done.” She shrugged and I cringed thinking back to that night. The last thing I remember, before it all went black, was my head under the beer tap of a bar a few towns over, that I was eventually thrown out of, and Keeley standing over me.

  I just thank God every day that it was Keeley who found me and not someone with bad intentions. The little I knew of Keeley’s past life went a lot like mine; growing up with an alcoholic mom, she had to grow up quickly.

  “Yeah, I guess so. It just still plays on my mind what a mess I could’ve gotten into.” Keeley has always had a hard exterior vibe about her. The hordes of tattoos spanning her arms were a reminder that she had a past I hadn’t yet been able to get her to open up about.

  Apart from me, she hadn’t connected with anyone else in town really, bar her regular clients, and boy did they take a while to obtain. Small town living wasn’t the easiest, everyone knows everything about anybody so a new face, especially one with piercings, brought a lot of gossip between the older community.

  But she’s good at hair, really good, so they soon got over their prejudices because underneath all that bravado and the biker boots look, she really was a sweet girl. I appreciated her more than she knew, she gathered today was a hard day for me but knew I didn’t want or need to talk at the same time, she was just Keeley.

  “How does grilled cheese sound?” She threw over her shoulder as she clipped her hair up on top of her head. I sighed, thinking of Tommy before grabbing the bread out of the pantry.

  Don’t be sick, don’t be sick, don’t be sick! No, I’m okay “Chug! Chug! Chug!” The rowdy crowd were chanting all at the same time, they were so loud, I could hardly hear my own incoherent thoughts.

  Why was I still here with these college douchebags? I looked around at my surroundings, urgh, please make the room stop spinning. Closing my eyes, I tried to find my equilibrium “Ah come on, sweetheart, just one more!” I had no idea who even said that. I was starting to scare myself, but it was dulling the pain I felt inside so I opened up my eyes and took another long gulp of the beer that had been put in front of me.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I was stumbling towards the bar and trying to manoeuvre my way over it towards the beer taps. Finally getting there, I stuck my head under and let the beer flow.

  What are you doing, Sammy!

  I knew what I was doing wasn’t me, in fact, I detested what I was doing but I couldn’t stop myself.

  The barman, realizing what was happening, shoved me out of the way. “What the f-,” and there went my stomach lining. Wow. That was nasty.

  The next
thing I knew, I felt weightless as the bouncers carried me outside.

  “Get the fuck off of me, you have no right to handle me this way!” Or that’s what I tried to say at least, I sounded more like a drunken Chewbacca. Woah! The world really was spinning now. Fresh air hit my face and I felt the pavement beneath my feet as they placed me against the wall.

  “Can we get you a cab?” I didn’t even answer him as I picked a direction and started walking in it. I was vaguely aware that I didn’t really know where I was but I decided I didn’t really care. I’d walked, more like stumbled, about forty paces before I came to a standstill.

  It was becoming harder to keep my legs moving, I was tired and my eyes were becoming ridiculously heavy. That wall looked like a good place to rest for a minute. Slinking down, the side of it and grazing my arm, I closed my eyes.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I opened one bleary eye to a dark figure standing over me.

  “Leave me alone, can’t you see I’m trying to sleep?” I hiccupped and felt a hand enclose over my arm.

  “No you don’t, let’s go.” Go? Go where? I’m comfortable right here. “You could help a little you know, you’re deceptively heavy.” Huffing while pulling me off the ground, I flopped into their arms.

  “Jeez! How much did you have to drink? Eww, is that puke? Yup, you’re covered in puke, great.” They continued to mumble to themselves as I fought to keep myself awake. Where were we headed? And why was that car spinning around?

  “Stop. No, seriously, I’m gonna…” There went the rest of the contents of my stomach, along with my dignity. It was nice knowing you.

  “Gross!” We started moving further away from the bar until I couldn’t walk anymore. “How much did you drink tonight? You’re really not looking so hot.” Why wouldn’t the ground just stay still. Please God, make it stop and I promise I’ll never drink like this again! That was my last coherent thought before I blacked out.

  Opening one of my eyes to the brightest room in the existence of mankind didn’t help the searing pain shooting through my head. Ergh! Holy hell, I’m dying. Taking a quick peek around the room I was in, I realized it looked like some sort of motel.

  Shit! Where was I? And who is that! A big pile of jet black hair was on the pillow next to me. This is not happening; I’ve never done this before in my life.

  Looking under the covers, I realized I was in a short and tank top pajama combo and if that didn’t freak me out enough, my hair was in a damp braid.

  What in the world happened last night? Trying not to wake my companion up, I slithered out of the bed and made a beeline for the bathroom. Locking myself inside and putting my back against the door, I tried to formulate a plan in my hungover state.

  My stomach started churning, just making it to the toilet in time, I heaved my guts up which wasn’t very much of anything so I was left dry heaving.

  A knock on the door had me on high alert and I tried to be as quiet as possible.

  “Here, I’ve got some water and pills to help with the headache.” I was frozen to the spot. “Well are you going to let me in or just make me stand here all day after saving your ass last night?”

  I unrolled some toilet paper to wipe my mouth on before shuffling my way across the tiles, I unlocked the door and slid back to watch the handle. It bent and in walked a girl around my age, she had a ring through her nose and lip, complete with tattoos spanning her arms.

  I should’ve been wary of her, I had no idea where I was, I didn’t know this girl and I had no idea where all my things were. But something in her piercing blue eyes told me that I could trust her.

  Taking the water and pills off of her, I threw them in my mouth and took a big gulp. “Woah, take little sips. You don’t want to upset your stomach again. Jeez, you’d think this was your first time playing ball.”

  Seeing my face, she must’ve worked out it was because she shut her lips tightly. “Thank you, you know, for this,” I said, pointing at the pajamas and water. “Erm, I don’t want to seem rude but did you dress me?” She looked around the bathroom and over her shoulder back into the room.

  “I don’t see anyone else here.” She smirked. “Don’t worry, I didn’t look. I’ve gotten accustomed to dealing with drunks.”

  I felt a flare light up inside me. “I’m not a drunk!” I barely raised my voice but I clutched my head because it sounded like I had screamed.

  “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, well, you were really drunk. And also covered in your own puke so there was no way I was letting you get into my bed in the state you were in. I think you were drenched in beer too and possibly something else.” I could die. I was so embarrassed as a flashback of me with my mouth under the beer tap replayed. I hung my head in shame and groaned.

  “Where are we?” Gripping the toilet bowl, I attempted to pull myself up to a standing position.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve not taken you hostage and drove you across the country or anything, we’re still in Clifton. Although, I’m sorry to say, we have to leave in a half hour. I didn’t pay for late checkout.” She walked back into the main room and I followed her. “Your things are over in that shopping bag over there,” she said, pointing to a little table.

  “Where’s my purse?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “You probably left it in that bar, you didn’t have one with you when I found you.” I started to panic. Everything was in there. “I never got your name last night.” I really needed to get back home, it was starting to feel awkward being in a motel room with a complete stranger regardless of how nice a person she was.

  “It’s Sam. How far away are we from the bar last night?” I turned towards her.

  “I’m Keeley, just in case you were wondering,” she said with a raised brow.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m sorry, I’m feeling really strange right now. I’ve never been hungover before in my life, I don’t know you and even though you’re pretty much my hero right now, all I really want to do is find my purse and get back to my car.” Rooting through a duffle, she pulled out a pair of jeans and a tank top.

  “I get it, I really do. Here, these should fit you. I’ve got a spare pair of boots that should fit too. Well, don’t just stand there staring, take them.”

  I took them out of her hands and went to put them on. This was beyond weird, why was this stranger helping me out? Doing up my fly, I splashed some water on my face and looked in the mirror.

  If death was a physical being, this is what it would look like. Sighing, I decided the quicker I got out of here, the quicker I could be at home under my comforter, hating myself.

  “We’re about a five-minute drive to the bar. You could jump in with me if you’d like, I’m headed that way anyway?” she said when I came back out. I shook my head; I’d already took up too much of her time.

  “No, thank you...Keeley did you say?” She nodded her head with a quizzical expression on her face. “I couldn’t possibly ask you to do any more than you have already done. If you give me a mailing address, I can have these dry cleaned and sent straight out to you. Once I find my purse, I will reimburse you for the motel room too.”

  She stared wide eyed at me, then started to laugh. “What? Do I have something on my face?” Damn, I thought I checked before I walked out here.

  “You don’t have to pay for anything or send anything back. I was staying here anyway, just passing through. And I’m sure there’s plenty more second hand shops I can raid to find some skinny jeans and a tank. Don’t sweat it.” She flipped her hand and started to close the duffel. “If you’re ready, I need to go hand the keys in.”

  Hesitating, I thought about it. Coming to the conclusion I didn’t really have a choice, I picked up my things, which smelt awful, and followed her out the door.

  On the way to the bar, we rode in silence which I was grateful for, I didn’t think my brain could deal with anymore small talk. Arriving outside, I turned towards Keeley. “I honestly can’t thank you enough for
what you did. If there’s anything you ever need, I live in a town forty-five minutes south of here called Little Hollow. Ask anywhere for Samantha Reynolds, they’ll know where to find me.”

  She looked like she was about to say something but thought better of it. “I’d better be going then.” I gave a little wave and climbed out her car. She rolled down the window.

  “Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I was glad for the distraction. Take care, Sam.” She winked and took off.

  Turning around to face the bar, I took a deep breath before walking in. The owners were not happy with me but readily handed over my purse after I had apologized profusely for my behaviour and I was on the road headed home in no time. My head was pounding and as I eventually pulled into the parking lot of my apartment building, a familiar car was sat there.

  Getting out and making my way over, she wound down the window.

  “I know this is weird, but I’ve been driving for days and I actually realized I’m not headed anywhere. What better place to stop in than a little nowhere town, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just...look, I have nowhere else to go.” She looked down at her steering wheel.

  “Why don’t you come on in, I’ll make coffee,” and she never left.

  Getting on the road, I’d planned to drive straight through the day with a few stops to stretch my legs. I’d made the mistake of ringing my mom last night and she gave me the same speech she did every single year.

  I knew what I was doing wasn’t healthy, she was just worried about me but I couldn’t let it go like she said I should. A vision of red hair and bright green eyes had me in a daze, the very thought of seeing her delicate face again with those sad eyes made my heart clench.

  She never knew I was there when I watched her from a distance. I felt like I was bordering on stalker territory but I didn’t care. She was always right there in front of me and I was too chicken to go to her, to tell her how sorry I was.