I glanced a quick look at him, taking in the slim build of his shoulders in the leather jacket and felt my newly discovered interest in guys start to flare. If nothing else, I was going to have a hell of a story to tell my friends. I was tutoring Jacob Matthews.
I smiled as I remember that first day together. I'd tutored him the rest of the month. He was so smart. Once he got the core concepts, he flew through the material. He was actually really good at it, which surprised me given his attitude.
What surprised me even more was that we'd become friends. He laughed at my nerdy jokes. We talked a lot during those lessons, and not just about biology. He'd told me how he hated the control his parent's had in his life. They had forced him to take extra classes, so he'd failed them on purpose. His parents had just paid off the teachers.
I'd told him how I wanted out of this town. I was getting ready for college and leaving Riversville behind. I wanted to go to nursing school and see the world. He told me he had similar plans, but wasn't sure on the college side. I remembered blushing when I told him that he was definitely smart enough for it.
He'd kissed me at graduation. It was behind the bleachers after the ceremony once our parents had grown tired of pictures. He'd pulled me back there and kissed me without saying a word. One small kiss on the lips that set my entire body aflame. I'd never been kissed before that.
“Bye, Hannah.” That was all he said after that. He left the next day and I hadn't seen him since. I'd thought he'd forgotten about me entirely. I followed him from a distance, checking in on him through social media and the gossip around town when I came home for the holidays.
Apparently, he'd gone to college and gotten a degree. He'd found himself once outside of his parents' reach. And then he went to medical school. He'd completed his residency in Denver before returning to Iowa to take over the town practice.
He'd been back in town much longer than me. Despite the fact that it was a small town and everybody knew everything about everyone, no one knew much about Dr. Matthews' personal life. He'd managed to keep things quiet so far.
What I did know, were the things I'd heard through my mother and the Ladies' Bridge Club grapevine. He'd supposedly met a woman in medical school and had fallen in love. The story I heard, though, was that in the same week he'd planned on proposing to her, he also found out that she had been cheating on him. A broken heart was what had led him to move back to our hometown.
Which led to the two of us working together…
Chapter 4
Regardless of the stories and the gossip, I still couldn't be certain whether or not he was officially single at this point in time. My mother seemed to think that he was going to marry Katie Jones. She was certainly beautiful and wonderful enough for him. She ran the bakery in town, and was the Ladies' Bridge Club's favorite single lady. I hadn't actually seen them together, but that didn't mean they weren't an item. Even though I'd come a long way from my ugly duckling stage in high school, he was still out of my league.
Whatever, though, I thought. It's not like it matters. Nothing could ever work out between us either way. A doctor dating his nurse? No way. It wouldn't end well.
Besides, he'd never tried to contact me after graduation. My friend invites had gone ignored. He wasn't interested in me. He was the rock star of the town now, and everyone expected him to marry Katie. I wasn't even on his radar.
I finished doing my hair and makeup, then went to my closet and pulled down some of my favorite outfits. The weather was supposed to be gorgeous today, so I decided to wear my favorite white summer dress. It had images of red and yellow flowers embroidered on it and it also happened to fit better than any of my other dresses.
After slipping it on, I faced the floor-to-ceiling mirror that hung on the back of my bedroom door. As expected, I was satisfied by the way it looked. It clung nicely to my hips and made my cleavage look good. It wasn't too revealing, but enough to make me feel sexy.
I wanted to look my best in case Dr. Matthews decided to take me up on my invitation to the BBQ. It was a fifteen year crush, but I couldn't put it behind me.
Chapter 5
After taking the five minute drive across town, I pulled through the gate and down the paved driveway that led to my parent's house. Their land was immaculate. My father maintained every square inch of the acre around his house with amazing diligence. The grass on either side of the driveway was trimmed better than a soldier's haircut and the fence the surrounded the home was spotlessly white. My dad took pride in a well-maintained home. He always said that “Your home is the best representation of yourself.”
If that saying were true, then I wondered if I actually was a small and rickety old woman whose hinges creaked when the wind blew, just like my house did.
I was surprised to see how many cars were parked around the house. I knew there were going to be a fair amount of people, since these gatherings grew every single year. However, I didn't expect this many. There must have been thirty cars on either side of the driveway, which had become overflow parking because the spots around the house were already taken up. There were even two tractors parked along with them. For a couple of people in town, their tractor was their favorite source of transportation.
This is nuts, I thought, parking at the end of the line of cars. This has to be some kind of attendance record, I think.
When I got out of my car, the sweet smell of home cooking entered my nostrils. I could recognize everything that my parents had on the grill using only my nose. There were burgers, ribs, pork and of course, corn. In Iowa, corn was a staple. It was rare to eat a home cooked meal and not have some form of it on your plate.
Also in the air, was the sound of a banjo and drums. My parents had mentioned having one of the local bands come and play at the party, and they had apparently kept their word on it. But even louder than band, was the familiar roar of kids laughing and playing.
The sunshine poured over my fair skin as I made my way down the driveway toward the house. I was glad I'd put on sunscreen and had more in my purse. I went straight to the backyard. All I had to do was to follow my nose to figure out where the food was being served. When I turned the corner, my jaw practically hit the grass.
I could see families from all over town. There had to be well over twenty different families, all of them with a gaggle of children. It was a good thing my parents had a large yard because we never would have fit otherwise.
Dad was standing in front of the grill, carefully turning burgers over the flames. He was surrounded by five of his buddies, who were all chatting and laughing while they drank beer. My mom was at the opposite side of the yard. She was running around with a group of kids who appeared to have pulled her into an intense game of tag. The rest of the grass was covered with other neighbors and their families. I had never seen this many people in my parent's yard.
I'd hardly taken three steps toward the party before I felt something wrap around my leg. I squealed in surprise when I looked down to see Leigh Ann's bright blue eyes gazing back up at me.
“Aunt Hannah, you made it!” she said with the kind of energy and excitement that I wasn't sure if I was capable of mustering up even on my best of days.
“Hey, beautiful girl.” I picked her up and spun her around in a circle, letting her feet fly out away from me. “I missed you.”