Sweet Hill Homecoming (Sweet Hill 1)

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“I have a hard time believing Mia Blake has a hard time with anything.”

“She’s been Kyle’s guardian since their mom passed last year. She had to leave behind her job and life in the city.”

“Trust me when I say, Mia doesn’t have to do anything. She does what she wants.”

“Not when it started screwing with her brother’s life. I heard that she moved Kyle there to live with her and it wasn’t working out so well for him. So she quit her job and moved back here since it was the place he knew and wanted to be. But Annie says she keeps asking for more shifts. Guess money is tight.”

Tate let out a long breath and it had nothing to do with the last three miles he and Luke just put in. Slowing way down, he clutched his hips, shirt sweaty and sticking to his chest and faced Luke. If money was tight for her that could have been the reason she got so upset about the ticket.

“You really think she’s not the same cheerleader flashing a smile to get a favor girl?” Tate shook his head. “I saw her the other night. Hell, you saw her. She walks around with a sense of entitlement.”

But if Tate were honest, the moment he had been inside of her, she’d taken over his entire being. She’d owned him.

Luke grinned. “Some could say that about you.”

Tate scoffed. “We’re very different people.”

“Yeah, and people change.” Luke said. “Look, all I’m saying is a woman like Mia Blake is challenging, but she’s trying.”

Tate glanced at the gray sky. He was the first one to know how much people could change. Hell, his reflection was a daily reminder. Maybe Luke was right and Mia was trying. Giving up her job and moving here for her brother was a pretty selfless thing to do. Maybe they just got off on the wrong foot.

He checked his watch. “My shift starts in an hour. Gotta get going,” he said to Luke.

“Good talk, buddy,” he called after him.

Tate jogged toward the station. As if his mind wasn’t already full of Mia Blake, now his chest kind of was too.

~

Mia rushed through the double doors of Sweet Hill High, a place she hadn’t stepped foot in since she graduated eleven years ago, and nearly sprinted to the office. Shoving her purse strap up her shoulder, while her apron strings loosened and hit the back of her knees with every frantic stride, she finally made her way to the office.

She’d had a crappy weekend. By crappy she meant odd. Certain parts were amazing. Like Tate taking her against the wall like he’d never wanted anything more than he wanted her in the moment. But that left all kinds of unresolved, and frankly, unfamiliar feelings churning through Mia’s mind.

That was back burnered at the moment because it was only Tuesday afternoon and her heart was ready to beat out of her chest for a whole other reason.

“Where is Kyle? Is he okay?” she stuttered out, the fear of god successfully placed in her from a phone call she took from work only ten minutes ago.

Wanda, the same crotchety receptionist that had been there since she was in school, looked at her with bored yes, not bothering to acknowledge her further.

“I’m fine, Mia,” Kyle said and she leaned over the office counter to see Kyle sitting in a chair outside the principal’s office.

“No need for hysterics, Miss Blake,” Wanda said.

Mia wanted to scowl. The way she said, “Miss Blake,” took her past nostalgia all the way to bad memories. She’d sat in that same chair many times. Mostly for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And sure, some of the times she deserved some punishment. Like when she TP’d the vice principal’s house. But that was after he chewed her mother out and made less than nice innuendos.

“You called me and said there was a serious issue with Kyle. How do you expect me to react?”

Wanda just shrugged a little and went back to typing. Principal Williams came out of the office and looked at Kyle, then at Mia and frowned.

“Well hello again, Miss Blake,” he said. Great, so he remembered her. At least it wasn’t the vice principal that greeted her.

“What’s going on here?”

“Well, it appears that Kyle doesn’t feel art class is a sufficient enough place for expressing himself,” Principal Williams said walking around with Kyle to meet Mia in front of the office.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.