427 First Ave. (A Cherry Falls Romance Book 17) Read online

  “I just don’t get it,” Honey says as she’s restacking vegetables that fell out of the bin.

  I reach out to help her. “Get what?”

  She looks at me curiously, like she’s trying to get into my head. “I don’t get what happened with you last night. I mean, c’mon, you’re a flirt, Ginger.” She puts her hands up. “No offense.”

  I laugh. “None taken.”

  She shakes her head as if she’s trying to make sense of it all. “I just don’t get it. You literally just met Ozzie. You don’t even know him.” She lowers her voice to a whisper even though our customers are way on the other end. “He was in prison, Ginger.”

  I lift my shoulders in a shrug and inhale deeply at the same time. “I can’t explain it. As soon as I saw him, I knew...”

  She stops working and stares at me straight into the face. “Knew what?”

  How do you tell your sister that the first time you laid eyes on the person you knew he was going to be the one you’re going to marry? My spine trembles just thinking about it. But I know I can’t say it out loud. Plus, it’s not like she’d believe me anyway. Honey and the rest of my family think I’m just a big flirt. They don’t know that I do it to cover up my immense insecurity. I’ve always been the bigger sister. Rounder, louder, talk too much. Honey’s the dependable and smart one. It’s like I took what everyone thought of me and just made it bigger. But darn, just thinking of Ozzie makes me want to be myself. “I knew that I wanted to get to know him better.”

  I grab the empty bins and start walking toward where the register is. Honey is trailing behind me, and I know I probably shouldn’t—I know I should wait for Ozzie to tell me—but I can’t resist asking. “Has David mentioned what Ozzie was in prison for?”

  Honey blushes guiltily. “I asked him last night, actually. He said it wasn’t his story to tell. I actually got a little mad at him and told him this was my sister I was talking about and that I was worried. He told me I didn’t have anything to worry about.” She juts her chin out at me. “I wanted to push him more, but then I thought about it. David and Ozzie are good friends and have been for a long time. I don’t think David would be friends with someone that was a bad person. Did you ask Ozzie about it?”

  I shake my head side to side. “No, well, he’s the one that brought it up. I had no idea until he told me, and I think the only reason he did was to try and run me off. Like that was going to scare me away... but when it didn’t, he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  Honey reaches out to me and grips my wrist. “Just be careful, sis.”

  I smile at her. She is definitely the more levelheaded of the two of us, and she seems to worry about everything. “Don’t worry about me. What you need to be worrying about is your man.”

  She blushes all the way from her chest to the top of her forehead. “What do you mean? Why should I worry about David?”

  “Uh, he’s been acting weird lately. I bet he’s going to pop the question.”

  She draws back with shock on her face. “No way.”

  I nod my head. “Yes way. It’s coming, I can tell. But the question is, what are you going to say?”

  She clasps her hands in front of her. “Yes. God, sis, you know I’d say yes.”

  I pull her in for a hug, and it seems for the rest of the morning, Honey is daydreaming. I’m so happy she met David. He’s been really good for her.

  Since she’s been lost in thought, I’ve been able to think about what my next move is, and I decide the best course of action is to go see him again. See if the spark I felt last night is still there. See how he reacts to seeing me again. After another customer checks out, I ask Honey, “You care if I skip out for a few hours?”

  I already know what her answer is going to be. I’ve covered a lot for her since she’s been seeing David and haven’t complained once about it.

  “Sure. I got this. Take as long as you need.” I wait for her to ask me where I’m going, but the way she’s smirking at me, I assume she already knows.

  I finish a few things and wave bye to her as she’s helping another customer. I park in front of the tattoo parlor and stare out my front window at the shop. I thought on the way here I would have my plan firmly in place on what I was going to say, but now that I’m here, I’m completely drawing a blank.

  Deciding not to put it off any further, I stride to the front door of the shop and open it like a woman on a mission. There’s a man standing at the front that I’ve never seen before. “Hey, is Ozzie busy?”

  He looks down at the books and back up at me. “Do you have an appointment?”

  No, I’m his stalker, I think. I almost slap my forehead with my hand. Maybe I should have made an appointment. “Uh, no. I was his appointment last night.” I hold up my hand pointing to my finger.

  He nods his head. “Oh, okay, uh let me get him.”

  I wait for him to go back to his booth to get him, but instead he picks up his phone and calls someone. “Hey, you got a woman here to see you.”

  He nods his head. “Okay.” He hangs up the phone and says, “He’ll be right down. You can wait in his booth.”

  I stride across the room into the back, ignoring the curious look I’m getting from the man.

  I sit down in the same chair I was in last night, and it isn’t long before Ozzie walks in and instantly stops, obviously surprised to see me. Heck, he’s probably expecting someone else. He probably has women lined up out the door for him most days. But I’m here now. “Hey, Ozzie.”

  His gaze travels down my body and back again. It’s the same heated look he gave me last night, and my insides turn to putty.

  “Hey, Ginger. How’s your hand?” he asks, obviously thinking I’m here because of it.

  I wave my hand. “Oh, it’s fine. Really. That’s not why I’m here.”

  He crosses his arms over his chest. “Okay, why are you here?”

  I should probably take offense to his abruptness, but I can’t seem to. He’s still watching me, trying to act guarded and cut off, but there’s no way he can look at me the way he is and not be interested.

  “I came to see you. I wanted to see if you wanted to go out with me tonight.”

  I rush the words out, but before he can respond, the man from the front pokes his head in. “Hey Ozzie, you have another woman here to see you.”

  I sort of fold into myself. I definitely should have called before I came. Am I making a complete fool out of myself for this man? He may just be a player. “Uh, I can go.”

  I start to walk toward the door, but Ozzie holds his hand up. “No, you’re fine. Duke, quit your shit. You might as well send Ma back, let’s make this a party,” he says dryly.

  Ma. Oh crap, am I about to meet his mom? I look down at my cut-off shorts and my T-shirt that says “eat your vegetables” on it and about fall through the floor. Talk about first impressions.

  A woman comes in and slaps a brown paper bag against the man Ozzie called Duke. “Here you go, Duke. And eat it all, even the vegetables.”

  The woman walks farther into the room, and she doesn’t notice me, instead going straight for Ozzie. “Hey, Oz. I brought you a peanut butter and jelly with the edges cut off. And I put some veggies with dip in there. You and Duke both need to start eating more veggies.”

  “Ma!” he says, but she doesn’t stop. “What? It’s the truth. You can’t live on pizza—” It’s then she notices me. Her mouth drops open, she looks at me, then back at Ozzie. “I’m sorry—I didn’t know you were with someone.”

  Ozzie says, “Ma, this is Ginger. I gave her a tattoo last night. Ginger, this is my mom. She owns the—”

  “Pawn shop. I know. Hi, Mrs. Cunningham. You sold me a generator last year when ours went out and the hardware store was sold out of them.”

  Pearl snaps her fingers. “That’s right. You and your sister own the produce stand over in Ranchlands. You brought me a bunch of veggies after that.”

  I nod my head. “Yeah, it’s the lea
st I could do. That generator saved our family’s ranch that winter.”

  Pearl is smiling looking between me and her son. “So, uh, you here to see my Ozzie then?”

  I laugh, and her smile gets even bigger. “Yeah, well, actually I just asked him out, but he hasn’t given me an answer. I think he’s beginning to wonder if I’m stalking him.”

  I say it jokingly, but it’s half the truth. I’m beginning to feel like a nuisance.

  “Well, son, what do you say to the pretty girl? I would think you can’t turn down an offer like that. I mean, you’re not getting any younger.”

  Ozzie rolls his eyes before looking at me. “We talked about this last night.”

  And he’s right. We did talk about this last night. He’s on the straight and narrow, getting his life together. But I’m not here to mess it up. I’m here to find a way to make him whole. His eyes tell me that’s exactly what he needs.

  “And I told you, I don’t care about your past.”

  Duke sticks his head in. “Your twelve o’clock is here. You want him to wait?”

  Duke looks at me and Ozzie’s mom, and it’s obvious he’s enjoying all the attention that Ozzie is getting right now.

  “No. Tell him I’ll be right there,” he tells Duke and then opens his hands up to his mom and me. “Well, ladies, I have to get to work.”

  I’m embarrassed at this point. I mean, how obvious can I be throwing myself at him? He’s obviously not interested. “Sure, no problem. Sorry for just stopping by.”

  I see the look his mom gives him, and he at least has the decency to look embarrassed. Pearl stops me. “Ginger, how do you feel about having lunch with an old woman?”

  But Ozzie is already shaking his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “No one asked you what you thought,” she says and then laughs as she turns to me. “What do you say?”

  I look at Ozzie, and the hurt and pain in his eyes is heavier than ever. Whatever has happened in his life weighs him down. But if he doesn’t want me to eat lunch with his mom, I won’t. “Do you care if I have lunch with your mom? If it really bothers you, I won’t.”

  He’s about to say no. I can feel it. But almost instantly his face softens, and he says huskily, “No, that’s fine.”

  I shake my head side to side. “I feel like I’m pushing my way into your life, and that’s not what I want.”

  He doesn’t agree or disagree with my statement. Instead, he puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “It’s fine. I want you to have lunch with my mom.”

  His mom makes a noise, an “Awwwww” before she quickly grabs my hand and pulls me from the door. We don’t even say goodbye; she just keeps walking, and I chance a look over my shoulder. He’s standing in the doorway, watching me with a strange expression on his face. Pearl stops as we get to the door and is about to say something, but Ozzie interrupts her. His eyes are on me and his gaze never wavers, but he’s talking to his mom. “I know, Ma. I’ll eat my veggies.”

  I smile big at him, and he smiles in return. And that shared smile makes me fall for him a little more.

  An hour later, we’ve finished our sandwich and salads, and Pearl and I are still sitting at the table at Bela’s Bakery. We have laughed and had a good time. She’s told me stories about her pawn shop and liquor store. Outlandish stories that would make a good reality TV series. We’ve talked about my family and the farm. It seems we’ve talked about everything except Ozzie.

  She reaches over and taps the table in front of me. “Don’t give up on him.”

  I don’t even need to ask who she’s talking about. “Oh, well uh, we just met last night.” I try to play it off, but a part of me really wants to know more about Ozzie.

  Pearl cocks her head to the side. “Do you like my son?”

  “I like what I know of him. But he’s not interested—” I don’t even get to finish the sentence.

  “Hogwash. He’s interested. I could tell by the way he couldn’t take his eyes off of you.”

  A part of me stirs, thinking that I was right, he does feel something for me, but I refuse to get my hopes up. “Yeah, well, he told me he’s not interested. I mean, more or less, that’s what he said.”

  She nods knowingly. “You mean he gave you a spiel about him being on the right path and nothing’s going to get in his way, blah, blah, blah.”

  I laugh and snort at the same time because obviously she knows her son well. That’s almost exactly what he said. “Uh, yeah.”

  “Well, it’s a bunch of shi—crap.” She catches herself. She takes a deep breath, and her face becomes solemn. “Did he tell you he was in prison?”

  I nod. “He did. I think he thought I wouldn’t want to get to know him after that—almost like he was trying to scare me off with it.”

  She just shakes her head side to side. In less than an instant, with her face unguarded she looks as if she’s aged at least ten years. “Did he tell you what he was in for?”

  I shake my head side to side but don’t say a word. It’s like a deep, dark secret that everyone knows but me and I keep silent, hoping she’s going to tell me. I feel bad, again like I’m talking about Ozzie behind his back, but I need to know. Not because I’m questioning if I’m still going to be interested in him or not. No, I’m wondering if it’s something that he’s going to be able to move past and trust that I still want him, even knowing it all.

  “I raised my boys by myself. Ozzie is the oldest, and since I worked all the time, he had to take care of his brother a lot. It was more like he was his father than brother. Anyway, my youngest son, Kyle, got mixed into the wrong crowd. Doing things he shouldn’t. One night Ozzie went out to look for him. He came upon him in the middle of a drug deal, the cops showed up, and Ozzie claimed the drugs were his. There was so much Kyle was into, things we never even knew. And well, Ozzie went to prison for three years.”

  I put my hand over my mouth. “Oh my God.”

  She nods her head, her gaze almost vacant as if she’s living through it all again. “While Ozzie was in prison, Kyle got into drugs bad. He became someone I didn’t even know. The week before Ozzie got out, Kyle was high and tried to rob a bank. He’s over in Syn City at the penitentiary now. Ozzie blames himself for all of it, and he shouldn’t. I put all that responsibility on him, and I shouldn’t have.”

  I reach over and cover her hand with mine. It sounds to me like she and Ozzie are dealing with a lot of guilt. “It’s not either of your fault. And I don’t know Kyle or anything about him, but I doubt he’d want either of you blaming yourselves.”

  She turns her hand and clasps mine. “You’re right. I know that. And I’ll tell you like I’ve told Ozzie. It doesn’t sound good, but when you have kids of your own one day you’ll understand. I’m glad that Kyle is in prison. The drugs were going to kill him. At least in there, he’s alive.”

  My mind starts to whirl thinking of Ozzie. Every scenario is in my head, and it’s only now that I have a better understanding of him. He has so much guilt he’s dealing with, and maybe he feels like he doesn’t deserve happiness. My heart hurts in my chest as I try to put myself in his place. I couldn’t imagine if my sister became addicted to drugs and was put in prison.

  “So you see, Ozzie may try to push you away. Even though he likes you.” She holds her hands up when I try to interrupt her. “And don’t say he doesn’t like you. He does. All I’m asking is to give him a chance. And if you like him, like I think you do, don’t give up on him.”

  What can I say? I thought before I even met his mom that I wanted him. Now I have even more of an insight of the type of man he is, and I want him even more. “I promise,” I tell her. I may not be convinced that he does want me, but I do know if he does, there won’t be anything stopping me from giving us a chance.

  We laugh and joke some more, and Pearl seems even more carefree now. We make a promise to each other to do it again soon, and the no-nonsense, tell it like it is pawnbroker hugs me as we walk away from ea
ch other.

  6

  Ozzie

  The minute Ginger walks out of the shop with my mom, I fight the urge to join them. I know I’m going to be the main topic of conversation. I should be freaked out, but I’m not. I’m actually all right with it. Maybe Mom will give her an insight into our lives. Mom will try to sugarcoat it and make it seem like I’m a decent man, but no doubt Ginger is smarter than that. I’m a felon that went to prison on a drug charge. My brother is a drug addict that is in prison for armed robbery. Definitely knowing the truth, she’ll walk away, and I won’t have this temptation to deal with because the more I see her, the more I want to give up on all my thoughts of staying away from her.

  My cell phone rings, and I look at the caller ID. It’s already three in the afternoon, and no doubt my mom is calling me about her lunch with Ginger. “Hey, Mom.”

  “You busy?” she asks.

  “No, just finished up an appointment and my next one isn’t for another half hour.”