The Sweetest Companion, page 1
The Sweetest Companion
A sweet, small town romance
3 Sisters Cafe
Book 8
Laura Ann
Angel Music Publishing, LLC
Contents
Untitled
Acknowledgments
Newsletter
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
“The Sweetest Companion”
Three Sisters Cafe #8
To my Heavenly Father.
This was a tough one, during a very tough time in my life.
I never would have made it without the tender mercies
And blessings from Thy hand.
Acknowledgments
No author works alone. Thank you, Tami.
You make it Christmas every time
I get a new cover. And thank you to my Beta Team.
Truly, your help with my stories is immeasurable.
Newsletter
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Prologue
(From back of The Sweetest Visit)
Brielle’s foot bounced to the music as she stood in the shadows of the ballroom. She smiled when Micah spun a laughing Eden under his arm, then gave her a sharp pull back into his chest.
They were a great couple.
It was funny how both of them were new to town, but had still ended up together. New meat in the single’s market of Seagull Cove was a rarity, so to have two at once was almost unprecedented.
Good thing they were both so nice or Brielle was gonna find herself jealous.
Eh, who was she kidding? She was jealous.
Sometimes living in a small town was awesome. It meant knowing your neighbors, having all the help you needed when you needed it and not getting stuck in the rise-and-grind lifestyle so many people in big cities seemed to cling to.
But it also meant being the source of gossip at every table full of pinochle players and very few people your age to try and create a relationship with. Dr. Bridgewater had been the first new male in their vicinity in a very long time, and Brielle hadn’t even met him before Eden took him off the market.
She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. She couldn’t really be mad. Micah was a nice guy. Almost too nice. That was just perfect for someone like Eden, who craved stability and strong foundations, but Brielle wanted adventure.
She wanted someone to run forest trails with her and someone who didn’t mind sleeping in a hammock in the wilderness. Sure, she wanted to have a place to call home, and eventually a few pint-sized mini-me’s would be fun, but she didn’t like feeling…stuck.
And it had been her constant companion for years now.
The idea of moving floated through her mind again, but Brielle pushed it away. She would never be able to breathe in some concrete jungle. She needed dirt, pine-scented air and space to roam.
Her morning runs were the stuff that dreams were made of, even if Sparky was starting to have a hard time with them. The mist from the ocean, the rising sun over the water, the cool breeze on her face…
Brielle’s brown eyebrows pulled together, and she jumped when someone nudged her arm.
“It’s a wedding,” Maeve teased. “You're supposed to be happy for them.”
Brielle smiled. “I am.”
“Then why were you trying to melt the entire dancing party with your evil glare?” Meave watched her friend while taking a sip of punch.
Brielle laughed, tossing back her bright red waves. “No evil glare intended, I was just thinking.”
“About?”
Brielle’s smile fell. “Sparky.”
Maeve’s face turned sympathetic. “How’s he doing?”
Brielle took in a long breath through her nose and put her eyes back on the crowd before shrugging. “Fine, I suppose. He can’t run every day anymore.”
“Did you ever find out what was wrong?”
Brielle rolled her eyes. “He has an appointment to see the grand Doctor Thatcher next week.”
Maeve snickered. “Bri…you’ve got to stop this rivalry. Ryan’s the only veterinarian within driving distance unless you want to go up to Portland.”
“I should go up to Portland,” Brielle muttered. “I can’t believe my high school nemesis became a vet.” She made a face at Maeve. “I’ll bet he did it just to spite me because he knew I wanted to work with dogs.”
“You only became a dog groomer because you can’t make money by running up and down mountain trails,” Maeve said wryly. “Ryan barely knew we existed in high school.”
“Not true!” Brielle sang out.
“Okay…Ryan barely knew I existed,” Maeve corrected. “And I’m still not sure why you two were always at such loggerheads. He was the grade ahead of us, and you only crossed paths in cross country season. Why was it such a big deal?”
“Because the guy has an ego big enough to feed a third world country.” Brielle sniffed. “Someone needed to take him down a notch. He once said that girls were slower because they spent too much energy talking during the day.”
Maeve snorted. “And you just had to prove him wrong.”
Brielle shrugged, feigning nonchalance about a victory that she worked her tail off for. Putting Ryan Thatcher in his place—which was behind her on the cross country track—had been the highlight of her high school years.
The fact that he was the closest veterinarian to Seagull Cove and she had an old dog really was a coincidence, but still…it irked her that she had to go to him for help. If she didn’t love Sparky so much, Brielle would tell the jerk where to stuff it.
A flurry of activity caught the women’s attention, and they turned to see Estelle running into the ballroom, her hair flying and her cheeks flushed.
“Maeve! Aspen!”
Brielle’s jaw dropped. She’d never seen Estelle like this. The woman was so composed it almost seemed as if she wasn’t real sometimes. Curiosity had Brielle following Maeve to meet up with her sister.
“What in the world?” Aspen asked, bursting through the crowd. “Stelle, what’s going on?”
Estelle’s cheeks were shiny with tears, and her eyes were puffy and red. Her chest was heaving, and she could barely breathe in order to answer.
“Hey,” Gavin said, coming up and putting a hand on Estelle’s back. “Just breathe for a second, okay? You’re hyperventilating, Stelle. Calm down for a second.”
Estelle shook her head, and her gasping continued. “He’s…home…he’s coming home.”
A murmur shot through the gathering crowd.
“Who?” Maeve asked. “Who’s coming home?”
Estelle put a fist to her mouth, but a shoulder wracking sob burst out anyway. “Antony,” she said hoarsely.
The noise of the crowd grew, but Brielle waited. She was close enough with the Harrison women to know that it had been months since they’d heard from their brother, and there had to be more to this or Estelle wouldn’t have intruded on the reception like this. Their family was already under a lot of strain with Mr. Harrison being so sick, so news of Antony coming home should have been happy. This looked far from rejoicing.
“He’s on his way home right now…” Estelle hiccuped. “And he’s been hurt.”
Chapter One
The small pieces of kibble bounced and pinged against the metal bowl as Brielle poured Sparky’s evening ration into the spot. “Here ya go, boy,” she said, scooting the bowl a little closer to her furry companion.
Sparky licked her hand before stuffing his black wet nose into the bowl and crunching his dinner with extreme satisfaction.
Brielle smiled and straightened before heading to her kitchen. She opened her fridge and sighed, standing in the cool air, trying not to shiver as she studied the lack of food.
“Why is it so much easier to fix a dog’s dinner than a human’s?” she grumbled. Grabbing eggs, some cheese and a couple of vegetables, she set about making her standard omelet. If Brielle’s mother knew she made it four or five nights a week, Celeste Underwood would be appalled.
“What?” Brielle defended to the not-real argument going on in her head. “It’s high in protein and has vegetables, plus a little dairy. Nothing wrong with that.”
Maybe not, her mother would say, but don’t you want to expand your palette? Learn to make something a little more…exciting? Like your sister. Aurora knows how to eat in a classy way.
Brielle shrugged and pushed the image of her disappointed mother aside. Brielle had done it so many times in the past that it was old hat now. She used to feel guilty over these fake discussions, but now they seemed almost normal.
Brielle snorted. “Normal.” She poured her eggs in the hot pan. “Nothing about you is normal.”
Do you have any openings tomorrow? I’ve got an emergency. - Erin
Brielle snorted again, this one from humor instead of frustration. She tucked the phone into her pocket and went back to the stove before her dinner burned. She could answer the question in a moment.
Once seated at the bar with her piping hot eggs, she pulled her phone out again.
I can slip you in at 2:30. Dare I ask what happened?
The three dots on the bottom of her screen pulsed while Brielle blew on a bite of food, waiting for the response.
Charlie.
There was no hiding the smile that accompanied that statement.
We’ll get Smoky taken care of. No worries.
Thank you! You’re a lifesaver!
Brielle shook her head, still smiling and set the phone aside. There wasn’t a good response to that. Being able to cut pet hair so that they didn’t look like they were homeless was far from being a lifesaver, but poor Smoky had been the victim of eight-year-old Charlie’s antics more than once. It was a wonder the labrador hadn’t run away from home yet.
Brielle’s eyes involuntarily slid toward her own pet. Sparky had finished eating and was now snoozing right next to his bowl. The white around his snout and paws let anyone paying attention know that the dog was getting older.
He’d been a gift during her middle school years, from Brielle’s father, a peace offering for the fact that Brielle tended to struggle making friends.
“Who doesn’t have trouble making friends in middle school?” Brielle grumbled while stabbing at her eggs. Mother and Aurora. Another very practiced push of those thoughts brought Brielle back to her beloved companion.
Brielle had loved the dog at first sight. Her parents, or more accurately her father, had been kind enough to keep taking care of Sparky while Brielle had tested out college, but after only one year, she’d felt like she couldn’t breathe and had come home.
It had taken a bit to get her dog grooming business off the ground, but once she’d been financially stable, Brielle had fled her parents’ home, leaving her mother and her sister’s smothering legacy behind while making her own way in the world.
Washing stinky pets wasn’t glamorous, but at least animals let Brielle know where she stood. They didn’t mince words or put a face on for the public. If they were grumpy, she knew. If they were scared, she knew. And if they adored her, she knew that too.
For the most part, Brielle had very little trouble with her patrons. She wasn’t one to brag often, but she had a bit of a knack for getting animals to like her.
“Now if only that went for people,” she whispered hoarsely. With a loud sigh, Brielle forced herself to finish the eggs. She not only needed the energy for her morning workout tomorrow, but she also hated waste.
After setting the dishes in the sink, she headed to her bedroom. Her little house wasn’t much, but it was hers and the jetted tub in her master was calling her name. Hopefully, it would help relax the pain in her quad before her trail run tomorrow.
Now was no time for her to be stuck with an injury when there was a race coming up. Her team would be counting on her, and Brielle wouldn’t even think of leaving them stranded.
She barely heard her phone ring over the sound of the running water, but Brielle managed to snag her phone right before it went to voicemail. “Hello?” she asked breathlessly. Her eyes squeezed shut, and her nose scrunched when she realized who she’d answered.
“Brielle,” her mother, Celeste, cooed. “How are you tonight?”
“Fine. Thanks, Mom.” Brielle eyed the bathroom. “I, uh, was just about to take a hot bath.”
“Oooh, I knew there was a reason you bought that little place.”
Brielle sighed and hung her head. “Yep. It’s a nice thing to have around.”
“I don’t want to take up much of your time,” Celeste began, letting Brielle know that her mother would absolutely be taking up a bunch of her time. “But I wanted to ask if you knew Sandy’s son? Trevor?”
Brielle clenched her jaw. “No. Can’t say that I do.”
“You remember? He was a couple grades ahead of you at college?”
“I was only there one year, Mom,” Brielle reminded her. “I didn’t really get to know the upperclassmen.”
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Anyway, he’s going to be home for the next week, and I thought it might be a good chance for you to wear that dress I bought you last Christmas.”
Brielle didn’t respond. Instead, she walked to the bathroom and shut off the tub. Her fingers twitched toward the drain, but she forced herself not to give up on the bath completely. Her leg really would appreciate it. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she finally hedged.
“Why not? He’s single and handsome.”
“Did he play football in high school?”
Celeste huffed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Brielle rolled her eyes, even knowing it was a juvenile response. Her mother meant well—at least Brielle was pretty sure she meant well—but the woman just couldn’t seem to give into the idea of letting Brielle be, well, Brielle.
Such is the problem with being born to a cheerleader and highschool quarterback pairing, Brielle thought darkly. Her mother was the epitome of elegant feminism. Slim with long flowing blonde hair that always looked styled, Celeste Underwood would never appear anything but perfect in public, and she expected her daughters to be the same.
Not that she’d ever been outright rude to Brielle, but at times it seemed like Celeste simply didn’t know what to do with Brielle. While Aurora had taken her mother’s elegance to a whole new level and competed in pageants around the country, Brielle was more like their father. Athletic, with a naturally muscular tone and a driving ambition to be at the head of the pack.
It gave her something to focus on in high school when her sister captured the attention of every male in existence and Brielle caught the attention of no one.
Well…not no one, she thought sarcastically. But does ten minutes of attention really count? Especially if he ended up being Aurora’s boyfriend for the rest of the year?
“Brielle?” Celeste’s inquiry brought Brielle out of her dark and troubled thoughts, forcing her back to the present.
“I’m really not into blind dates, Mom,” Brielle said quickly. “Thanks though. I’ll be in touch soon. My bath is getting cold.” Hanging up, Brielle threw the phone onto her bed before shutting the bathroom door.
She’d spent years having a pity party about her particular station in life, and Brielle was sick of it. She’d wasted too much time wishing to be like her mom and sister. No more. Absolutely no more.
The past was the past.
The future was the future.
Now was now.
And right now she was going to soak her muscles and relax before bed. Then tomorrow she would conquer another trail run and make herself the most useful person on her ragnar team. It wasn’t a perfect life, but it was hers and she was going to enjoy it.
Doctor Ryan Thatcher sighed as he locked up the clinic and walked to his car, his keys sliding into his pocket with a soft jangle. He winced at a foul smell. The kitten this morning had been cute…until fear had taken over her bodily functions.
“I really need to start bringing an extra set of clothes to work,” he grumbled, sliding into the driver’s seat. Hopefully, the smell wouldn’t stick around in the vehicle permanently.
He’d only been a full-time vet for a couple years, but already he was a bit weary. It wasn’t the animals, though there were days that were more difficult than others—such as kittens with bladder control issues—but sometimes life was just hard.
