The Thorntons Book 6: Till There Was You
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Iris Morland
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20
Chapter 1
Jubilee Thornton swore when her coffeepot—the one thing she could rely on in a world full of chaos—spluttered, popped, and then seemed to breathe its last. Two tablespoons of coffee splashed into the pot below, and she was almost tempted to drink it anyway.
When had her life gotten this pathetic?
At the age of twenty-five, she’d never dated, never gone to college, never even left her hometown. She lived in a tiny apartment in Fair Haven, Washington, and worked at her sister-in-law Megan’s bakery, The Rise and Shine. And to top it all off, today her coffeepot just had to die, because apparently getting her caffeine fix was too much to ask.
“Come on. Don’t do this to me today,” she muttered to the appliance in question as she began to fiddle with the controls. Despite trying everything she could think of to get it to start again, she had to accept that her coffeepot had finally kicked the bucket.
She could wait for coffee, she told herself. She worked at a bakery that served all kinds of coffee, although it was so busy in the morning that she didn’t have time to drink any that she made for herself.
Taking a deep breath, Jubilee poured herself a bowl of cereal, only to choke when she tasted very sour milk. And because this morning could not go right, that had been the last of her cereal, as she’d yet to get more groceries for that week. I guess I’ll have to eat at work, too.
She dumped the cereal and sour milk, her stomach roiling, her head hurting, and her feet aching, although her sore feet came from wearing stilettos the night before at what should have been the best party of her life—until it had crashed and burned like a train wreck on steroids.
Why am I always stuck on the sidelines of my own life?
It was a realization that hit her squarely in the chest. When everyone else around her was experiencing what life had to offer, here she was, doing a grand total of nothing.
Then again, what did it mean to really live? If she did it like people did in the movies, she’d go skydiving or mountain climbing. Maybe she should go on a safari and hunt for lions.
She grimaced. Shooting large game sounded depressing, not liberating.
Jubilee had two hours until she had to go into work at The Rise and Shine. This job had been Jubilee’s first ever: two years ago, she’d finally moved out of her parents’ house after being coddled and placed in a protective bubble for the entirety of her life.
Having leukemia—twice—as a child tended to create overly concerned parents. Jubilee understood this. But that didn’t mean she liked it.
Now she lived on her own and earned her own money to pay her bills, but it seemed so pointless in that moment. What had Jubilee really done with her life? Nothing. She hadn’t gone to college because of her mother’s fears that Jubilee would relapse. She hadn’t moved away from her hometown. She hadn’t even traveled out of the state of Washington. What would it be like to go someplace far away? Like Florida or Iceland or even Mongolia?
At least a certain stupid man won’t be in any of those places, Jubilee groused.
She needed to make a change. What better way than to make a list of all the things she wanted to accomplish?
Picking up a pen, she nibbled on the end of it as she thought about what, exactly, she wanted to do with her life.
Finally, she wrote at the top: JUBILEE’S LIST OF THINGS SHE WILL DO WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR.
Well, she would work on the title later.
Skydiving didn’t appeal to her. Nor did mountain climbing. She wanted to experience things most women her age had already done—things she’d always wanted to do but couldn’t because of being sick.
When Jubilee completed her list fifteen minutes later, she laughed. Her heart lightened for the first time since last night.
Last night, when she’d kissed her long-time crush Heath DiMarco, he’d kissed her back—before pushing her away and telling her it could never, ever happen again.
“Screw Heath,” she muttered as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. She stuffed the list into her back pocket before heading out.
Heath had been her oldest brother Harrison’s best friend since Heath had arrived in Fair Haven seven years ago. Compared to Harrison—and Jubilee’s three other brothers—Heath was unassuming. With his auburn hair and average height, with glasses perched on his nose, he seemed like the type of man who enjoyed a cup of tea and a nice chess game in the evenings. Add to that the fact that he was a fifth-grade teacher, and he should’ve seemed staid.
Safe. Normal.
Except no staid man kissed like Heath had last night.
Jubilee shivered as she walked to The Rise and Shine. She told herself it was because it was a chilly morning. Autumn leaves crunched under her boots, the wind whistling through the branches that became barer with each passing day.
The bell on the front door of the bakery rang as Jubilee entered. It was already busy, and Megan Thornton (formerly Flannigan) came around the counter in a rush. With her red hair in a messy bun and flour streaking her cheek, she looked more harried than usual.
“Thank God! Can you take over the register for a bit? I need to get finished with this batch of cinnamon rolls,” Megan said.
“Of course. I’ll be fine.”
Megan didn’t wait to hear a reply before she hurried into the kitchen. When Jubilee had first started working in the bakery, it had taken a bit to learn how everything worked. How to make a latte, how to use the cash register. Jubilee was grateful that Megan hadn’t kicked her out within the first month of her working there.
By the time Jubilee got a break, it was after her usual lunch break. Megan really needs to hire someone else, she thought tiredly. Her stomach growled, and she snagged two sandwiches from the glass case (one of the perks of working in a bakery) before heading into the kitchen. They had a bell at the counter that people could ring for service.
“You should eat something,” Jubilee said as she handed Megan one of the sandwiches.
“Oh, thank you. I’m almost done with these cinnamon rolls.” Megan let out a breath. “I think I might need to hire a third person.”
Jubilee took a bite of her sandwich and just raised her eyebrows.
That made Megan laugh. “Fine, fine. You were right. I’ll put up a job posting tonight.” She unwrapped her own sandwich and moaned as she bit into it. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
Just last night, Megan and her husband, Caleb—Jubilee’s second oldest brother—had announced that they were expecting. Megan didn’t look pregnant yet, but sometimes Jubilee caught her touching her abdomen, lost in thought.
Her oldest brother, Harrison, and his wife, Sara, were also pregnant. Jubilee sometimes found it strange to see her ne’er-do-well brothers settled down with wives and, in the next months, babies. If her own heart twisted with jealousy, she ignored it.
Jubilee felt the list in her back pocket, burning a hole in her jeans. As one of her best friends, Megan would be the ideal person to ask if Jubilee should add anything—or anyone—to her list. After she’d written down what she wanted to accomplish, she’d started a list of men she could date. Given how small Fair Haven was, it wasn’t an extensive list.
“Hey, Megan,” Jubilee said, “can I ask your advice?”
“What? Of course you can. What’s up?” Megan finished up her sandwich and leaned back in her chair, her eyes gleaming.
“Well, I’ve decided that I’m tired of living in a bubble.” Jubilee pulled out the list and handed it to Megan. “So, erm, I made a list of things I want to do.”
Megan’s eyebrows rose. Unfolding the piece of paper, she scanned the list, saying nothing for a long moment. When Megan didn’t say anything at all, Jubilee barely stopped herself from fidgeting in her chair like a little kid.
Megan hopped up and disappeared, the list still in her hand. Was she going to shred it? Burn it over the gas stove?
But then she returned with a pen and clipboard in hand. “This is a good start,” she said, “but let’s add a few more things and names.”
When Megan grinned, Jubilee couldn’t help but smile back.
* * *
Heath DiMarco stood at the front door of The Rise and Shine and wondered for the millionth time how he’d gotten saddled with the task of picking up cupcakes for the teachers’ meeting that evening. The kids had already gone home for the day, although most of the teachers would stay until the meetings started a few hours later. Heath had planned to go home for a bit, but now he had to pick up cupcakes—and avoid making a bigger ass of himself.
When his principal, Mr. Anderson, had asked him to pick up the damn cupcakes, he hadn’t been able to come up with a good excuse not to.
I’m sorry, I kissed one of the bakery workers and then told her it could never happen again?
I’m sorry, I’ve been banned from that bakery for all intents and purposes?
He hoped Jubilee wasn’t working today. He also hoped she was working today because he wanted to see her. He wanted to make sure she was all right after last night.
Then again, how would he know if she was all right? She wouldn’t tell him, even if he asked her. And he’d fucked up—badly.
This is never going to happen, he’d told her just last night, his heart twisting with guilt at Jubilee’s expression. The hurt, the humiliation. He shouldn’t have let her kiss him. It had been a stupid mistake with long-term consequences.
“Are you going inside?” a woman asked behind him.
He jumped a little, startled, before pushing the door open and holding it for the woman to enter. She gave him an odd look before entering the bakery.
The scents of bread and coffee filled Heath’s nostrils, and he almost allowed himself to be comforted by the homey smell.
No one was at the counter. The woman rang the bell, and then rang it again when no one appeared within three seconds’ time.
“I’m sorry, I’ll be right there!” Jubilee’s voice called from the kitchen.
Heath gritted his teeth. He considered paying the woman in front of him to pick up the cupcakes and then bring them to him outside—like a drug deal, except with cupcakes.
He didn’t get to put his illicit-cupcake plan into action before Jubilee came into the bakery, her cheeks flushed. When she spotted Heath, though, she stopped short—but not before colliding with the corner of the counter.
Heath winced.
“Ow! Dammit!” Jubilee rubbed her hip. “Sorry, how can I help you?”
“I need a loaf of sourdough,” the woman replied.
Heath could just imagine the disdain on the woman’s face. How far did the stick up her ass go?
Right then, his and Jubilee’s gazes met. He rolled his eyes at the woman. Jubilee bit her lip, ostensibly to keep from laughing.
After Jubilee had finished with the woman, Heath stepped up to the counter and found himself unable to find the right words. Did he apologize? But then again, he doubted Jubilee wanted to bring up last night. Maybe he should just act like it had never happened. It had been a lovely dream—kissing Jubilee Thornton, with her soft lips and the sound of her sweet moans filling his ears.
“Are you here for your latte?” Jubilee asked. She fidgeted, looking especially young to Heath.
That always-present guilt inside him nipped at him. There were multiple reasons why he and Jubilee could never happen. One of them was that she was too young for him. The other? She was his best friend’s younger sister.
A best friend didn’t poach on younger sisters.
He cleared his throat. “Cupcakes. I’m picking them up. They’re probably under Anderson.”
“Oh! Yes. Let me go get those. They’re in the back.”
Heath couldn’t help but enjoy Jubilee’s ass in those tight jeans she always wore. He rubbed his temples.
When he’d moved to Fair Haven seven years ago, Jubilee had just been a kid. Heath had thought of her as a younger sister as he’d become friends with her older brother, Harrison. As the years had passed, Jubilee had grown into a beautiful young woman. And to Heath’s dismay, she hadn’t left Fair Haven. She’d stayed to torment him.
He laughed under his breath. Jubilee was the last person who would knowingly torment someone. It was his own problem if he now thought of her not as a younger sister, but as a desirable woman. A woman who’d kissed him last night and had blown his damn mind.
“Heath, how are you? Did you recover from last night?” Megan asked as she and Jubilee both came up to the counter. “When did you finally leave?”
“Um, around midnight, I think.” He’d left right after the kiss had happened. He hadn’t wanted to tempt fate, especially being around Jubilee in that flapper costume.
“Here you go. They’re all paid for.” Jubilee pushed the box of cupcakes toward him, making certain their fingers didn’t brush.
“Thanks.” He hesitated, although he didn’t know why. What could he say? He was sorry? He wanted another kiss? He was an idiot?
Both to his annoyance and gratitude, another customer entered the bakery. He took that as an opening to head out.
He couldn’t stop from looking at Jubilee one last time: her dark hair, recently cut into a short bob, framed her heart-shaped face, her eyes a striking green. She was smaller than her siblings, no taller than five-five or so. In the last few years, she’d grown curvier, and at the moment, her cotton t-shirt gave a hint of cleavage every time she bent down.
He needed to get the hell out of here before he did something really, really stupid.
Distracted, he didn’t realize Megan was coming around the counter to clean a table when he collided with her. Megan let out a surprised “oh!” while Heath just barely hung on to the cupcakes. Megan stumbled, falling to the floor but catching herself just in time.
“Are you okay?” he and Jubilee both asked at the same time.
He helped Megan up after he’d set the cupcakes down on a nearby table. Megan laughed.
“I’m fine. Are the cupcakes okay? That’s the most important thing.” She wiped dust from her jeans. “Those took Jubilee all morning.”
“Jesus, I’m so sorry. I guess I’ve been far away today,” Heath admitted. He made a point to avoid looking at Jubilee right then.
“No harm, no foul. Just don’t tell Caleb. He’s already way too overprotective.” Megan stuck out her tongue, crossing her eyes. He and Jubilee laughed, but then abruptly stopped.
“I’ll see you later,” he muttered.
She just nodded and went to help the rush of customers that always came in during the afternoons.
As Heath grabbed the cupcakes, he noticed a folded-up piece of paper on the floor. He picked it up. Had Megan dropped this? Or Jubilee? He was about to ask them when he read the word virginity in looped script. And then a name: Jubilee. His eyebrows rose to his hairline. Was she writing a romance novel? Now he was doubly intrigued. She didn’t seem the type, but appearances were deceiving.
But it was none of his business. Turning, he was about to find Megan to give it to her for Jubilee, but she’d disappeared. Jubilee was busy with customers, and he wasn’t about to give her some weird note right then.
He told himself he’d keep it and give it to one of the women later. He had a feeling it wasn’t the type of note Jubilee would want lying on the floor for any unsuspecting customer picking it up.
He stuffed the note into his pocket. The note remained there throughout the meetings that evening, and he’d almost forgotten about it by the time he arrived home four hours later.
When he pulled out the note and stared at it, almost wishing he could read its contents without opening it, he considered. What if it wasn’t Jubilee’s? What if it was about her, and if he gave it to her, she’d get hurt in the process?
That was enough of an argument to convince him to open the note and read it.
JUBILEE’S LIST OF THINGS SHE WILL DO WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR
• Make out with a guy
• Go to a concert
• Smoke a cigarette
• Go skinny-dipping
• Lose my virginity (see list of eligible men)
Heath sat down on his couch, staring at the list until his vision blurred. He hadn’t looked at the list of eligible men. He didn’t want to.
Because he would be damned if Jubilee did any of these things—most especially lose her virginity—with any man but him.
Except he’d told her they could never happen. Groaning and swearing, he dropped his head into his hands and cursed himself for being a giant fool.
