The Promise of Paradise

Chapter Two


“I wonder what he looks like,” Jen said as they pulled sheets and pillowcases from a cardboard box.

“He’s probably seventy-five years old, newly widowed, and blind in one eye.” Ash stood on the bed and stretched to hang a curtain over the back window.

Jen collapsed onto paisley-patterned pillows. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Find the worst in everything. He could be young and single, you know. Why not?”

Ash sat too. “Because if he’s really young and single, why would he be living here?”

Jen turned to Ash, lips still but eyes sending the message.

“Yeah, I know.” Ash shrugged. “But I’m a special case. A nut case. I’m sure most people in this town aren’t from screwed up families like I am.”

“You never know.” Jen bounced off the bed and changed the subject. “Hey, let’s check out the porch roof. That’s the best part about this place. I saw it online, in the pictures. Come on.”

Ash followed Jen into the kitchen and leaned against the refrigerator. “It’s probably unsafe.”

Her friend tugged at the oversized window beside the sink. “It’s not unsafe. If it was, they couldn’t rent the house.” The window pulled free, and in another minute she had climbed through onto the second-floor rooftop that stretched across the front of the house.

“Be careful.” Ash edged closer and peeked outside.

“Oh, please. Stop being such a worrier. It’s safe.” Jen walked the perimeter of the roof and peered over to the street below. “This railing is brand new. Look.” She turned at Ash’s silence. “Get your ass out here right now and look at this view.”

Ash propped her elbows on the sill and shook her head. “I’m afraid of heights.”

“Not anymore you’re not. Not with this roof.” Jen slid to a seat and crossed her legs. “You could have one heck of a party out here.”

Ash stayed where she was. She wasn’t really afraid of heights. She was more afraid of not knowing what lay out there, of the too-wide sky that stung her eyes with its brightness and threatened to swallow her up. Right this moment, she didn’t feel like taking new steps anywhere, not even ten feet outside her kitchen window.

Jen began to drum her heels against the roof. Sighing, Ash pulled herself up and over the window sill. One deep breath. Then another. Okay. Not so bad after all. With careful steps, she walked from one end of the roof to the other. Beyond the back lawn of her rental house, the center of Paradise, New Hampshire, rose to greet her, a picturesque town with an old-fashioned Main Street and two stone churches squatting on the town green. To her left, Lycian Street meandered below. In the distance she could make out the tops of red brick buildings over at the town’s junior college. She took a deep breath and peeked over to the sidewalk.

“Wow.” From here she could see all the way to the street’s end in both directions. Maybe this hadn’t been the wrong decision after all. Standing close enough to reach the leaves that swayed above her, Ash felt peaceful for the first time in months. She closed her eyes and drew it all in, the quiet street, the sleepy town. Somehow, it felt right. It felt like a good place to spend a summer. It felt like a good place to escape the mudslinging, a good place to figure out how to tell her parents she wanted a different life than the one they’d sketched out for her from birth.

Most of all, it seemed like a good place to forget her heartache, to try and flee the ghosts of Colin and Callie that reappeared every time she turned a corner.

Ash slid to a seat beside her friend. “Okay, maybe you’re right. Might not be a bad place for a party.” If I’m ever in the partying mood again.

“Told you.” Jen glanced at her watch. “What else do you need me to do? I’m going down to visit the family this weekend. Gotta help my little brother mend a broken heart.”

“Lucas? What happened? ”

“Dumped his fiancée. He found her in bed with someone else.” Jen’s face went dark.

“Aw, poor guy. That stinks.” She'd always had a soft spot for Jen's little brother – not that little was the right word, since the guy towered over both of them. “When?”

“Last month.” Jen pulled her hair onto the top of her head before letting it fall again. “It's okay. He's better off without her.”

Ash rested one cheek in her hand. Looked as though it had been a rough spring for break-ups. Maybe Lucas needed to find a Paradise of his own to escape to for a little while.

“Anyway, I think the last train back to the city leaves in an hour or so,” Jen went on. “So you need anything? Want to make a run to the grocery store before I go?”

“Nah. I’ll find one tomorrow.”

“You sure? I can just hang out for a while if you want.”

The thought tempted her. Despite her need to be alone and sort through the snarl of feelings around her heart, despite the funny, run-down house that was already starting to seem like home, part of her wanted Jen to stay. Ash opened her mouth to answer, but a roar from below drowned out her words.

“What the hell is that?” Jen turned to peer through the slats in the railing. A second later, she pulled herself to her feet and leaned over as far as she could. A grin spread itself across her face. “Whoa. Take a look at this.”

“What?”

But Jen didn’t answer and instead just stared.

Curious, Ash joined Jen at the railing and looked down. Near the curb, engine still running and rock music bellowing from the speakers, idled a red pickup truck. White and yellow flames danced along both sides. Bending over the tailgate was a broad, bare, definitely male back. Yow. No wonder Jen looked like she was about to start drooling. Even one floor up, Ash could trace the outline of nearly every muscle in his arms and back. A bright red and yellow king cobra tattoo curled around his left triceps. Wavy brown hair fell across the sides of his face. His jeans, faded in all the right places, sat low on his hips. Ash squinted harder and ran a hand over her hair.

Oh God. They still make men who look like that?

“Turn around, please,” Jen commanded under her breath. As if he’d heard her, he straightened, biceps flexing as he hauled two large boxes from the back of the truck and turned into the sidewalk. Her sidewalk. He looked up, and Ash’s heart dove into her stomach. A neatly trimmed goatee underscored a crooked nose. He flashed a smile and winked.

“Hey,” he called. “You live here?”

Jen nodded and jabbed a thumb in Ash’s direction. “She does.”

“I’m Eddie West. Movin’ in today.” It was hard to hear him over the noise of the truck’s humming engine and the music. Ash watched his mouth move instead.

“Need any help?” Jen asked.

Eddie shook his head. “Nah. I’ve just got a couple of boxes to bring in. The rest is coming tomorrow. But thanks.” He continued up the sidewalk.

Jen cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled down. “Come up later if you want.”

Ash elbowed her. “What are you doing?”

Eddie backpedaled and nodded, grinning wider. As he disappeared from their view, the heavy front door creaked open and, after a few seconds, thudded shut behind him.

Jen straightened. “See? I told you he’d be good-looking.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s beyond good-looking, Ash.” She fell back against the railing, hands to heart in a dramatic pantomime. “He’s perfect.”

But she wasn’t sure a good-looking housemate was what she needed this summer. Hadn’t she sworn off men just a few weeks ago? “I’m sure he’s not perfect, Jen. You don’t even know if he’s available. Maybe he has a girlfriend. Maybe he’s married.”

“He’s not. He wasn’t wearing a ring.”

“How do you know?”

“I looked.”

“From ten feet up you looked?”

Jen winked, grinning. A few minutes later, the pickup’s music squawked off. Less than two minutes after that, footsteps thundered up the stairs, and a fist pounded on Ash’s front door. Already? He's coming up to visit already? Her heart crept from a steady gallop to a sprint. She didn’t need to meet anyone new, not now. She needed to get her head straightened out. She needed to heal. She needed to –

“Are you getting that?” Jen stood perfectly still and stared at her.

“Fine.” She crawled back through the open window, crossed the living room, and stood before the door. Please don’t be perfect. Please have one lazy eye or a limp or something caught in your teeth or…

Ash opened the door, and Eddie stood on the other side, smiling.

A breeze kicked through the living room, one of those warm summer gusts that sweep in from nowhere. It lifted the hair off her neck and blew a puff of dust across the doorstep. For an instant, the room seemed to widen, to swell with warmth, and sun flooded the space.

Wow. Maybe Jen is right. Maybe he is perfect.

Eddie wasn’t tall, but the faded green t-shirt he’d put on outlined every muscle she could see. Sweat lined the creases in his forehead, and brilliant blue eyes met hers. Their color startled her, so bright they made the summer sky seem shady and dull. The more she examined them and tried in vain to match them to a Crayola color that had never existed, the more she felt a strange tumbling in her stomach.

God, what’s wrong with me? He’s just a guy. Pull it together, Ash. Taking a deep breath, she shifted her gaze to the doorjamb above him. “Hi, Eddie. Come on in.”

He didn’t move for a moment, just stood and studied her. Cocking his head, he wiped his forehead against the sleeve of his shirt, then stepped across the threshold and into Ash’s life. Maybe it was the sun, maybe the odd wind that had picked up at just that moment, but suddenly she had the strangest urge to reach over and touch him, to run one finger along his brow and down his cheek. She studied a wrinkle in the fold of his shirt and wanted to smooth it. Something hovered in the space between them, and a strange sense of closeness pierced her throat and stopped her words.

“Are you – ?”

“When did – ?”

They spoke at the same time, but the words fell away, and though neither finished a thought, they both began to laugh.

Eddie reached for Ash’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

She placed her palm in his, for a moment only, but she liked the way it felt. Warm. Safe. “I’m-uh-Ashley. Ash.” Again she altered her first name, and didn’t offer her last, in case he’d been watching the news lately. And who hadn’t?

* * *

Ash studied her new housemate as Jen joined them in the living room. Eddie leaned in the doorway, cracking his knuckles, and continued to smile at her. He was saying something, about the weather or maybe the house, but she couldn’t concentrate over the thumping of her heart. She watched him, though. She watched as Eddie’s goatee moved when he spoke, a rich, wide spread of stubble that covered his chin. She wondered for a moment what it would be like to feel it against her own cheek, and a tickle ran up the back of her neck.

Ash pushed the thought away. Forget it. The pain of Colin still stung, and even a friendly neighbor with rugged, take-your-breath-away good looks couldn’t chase that memory from her mind.

She tore her gaze away to turn and look behind her, seeing for the first time the furniture that filled her new living room. A loveseat sat under the wide window overlooking the street, with a worn corduroy couch opposite it. A tall bookcase stood in one corner near the kitchen, and two oak end tables completed the set. Hmm. She might have to invest in a few pieces of furniture after all. Ripped boxes and limp garbage bags covered the floor. She blushed, embarrassed.

“I just moved in. Sorry about the mess.”

Eddie shrugged. “What mess?”

Her smile returned. “Want a seat?”

He nodded and made his way to the couch, stepping over a box and around a stack of books. Jen plopped down beside him. Hands laced behind her head, she stretched out her short legs and grinned at Eddie. Jen had always been good at that, sliding up to men without a second thought. Ash wished sometimes she could be more like her friend, instead of sitting in the shadows and thinking too much. She’d never had to work to get Colin, anyway. He’d showed up on her doorstep three days after she arrived at Harvard.

“So you’re Senator Kirk’s daughter,” he’d said, and that was that. The following day they went out for coffee. The next weekend she took him home to meet her parents. They hadn’t been apart since.

Ash’s eyes burned, and she reached up to rub away the tears she knew would appear in another minute. She found a spot on the loveseat and forced her attention to Jen and Eddie, in an effort to steer her mind back to the conversation instead of the thoughts running around inside her head.

“Nice place, huh? I mean the house, the street, and all.” Eddie waved to the ceiling above them as he leaned back, settling himself into the cushions.

Ash followed the movement and noticed strong, calloused hands, with scars on the knuckles, and one pinky finger bent in an odd way. Warmth filled her belly. She always noticed men’s hands. Maybe that’s why she found baseball players and cellists so sexy. She liked hands that looked powerful and rugged. Hands that could take on the world and throw it into its place when needed. Strong hands that turned soft when they wound their way along her body late at night. Eddie’s hands looked like that.

The warmth reached her cheeks again, and she willed it away, afraid it would betray her.

“So how’d you end up moving in here?” Jen asked him.

“Mmm…long story.”

She propped one elbow on the back of the couch. “We’ve got time.”

Eddie’s face changed a little, and he switched the subject, smooth as cream. “What about you, Jen?”

“What about me?”

“You and Ashley. What’s your story? You guys from around here?”

Ash cringed a little when he said the name. Ashley. Her alias. The one she’d just made up to take the place of her true identity for the next few months. Already she felt guilty about lying to the guy who would be sharing her house. Damn. Why couldn’t things ever work out the way she planned?

“Not really,” she began, with a quick glance at Jen. How did she answer his question without revealing too much? “I mean, we just graduated and…”

“I grew up in Connecticut,” Jen finished for her. “Ash is from outside Boston. I'm starting my residency next month, but the smart one here decided to take a summer to herself. You know, enjoy some peace and quiet. I just came along today for the ride.” She leaned in closer. “That, and to interview any housemates she might have. To make sure they pass inspection.”

Eddie looked at Ash. “And do I pass?”

Her cheeks got even hotter, and she wondered if that was answer enough.

Jen smiled. “Oh, I’d say you do.”

He shook his head. “Good. I guess.”

“Do you work in town?” Ash asked.

“Yep. Frank’s Imports. It’s a repair shop out by the highway. Some high-end stuff, Mercedes and Beamers, but mostly family cars. Hondas, Toyotas…lotta minivans.” He grinned, and Ash nearly lost herself again.

“I think we passed it on the way in. Didn’t we?” Jen asked.

A repair shop? Something tugged at the corners of Ash’s mouth. Wouldn’t her father die if he knew who his youngest daughter was living with? Not exactly the Stepford Club, she thought, and then was sorry, as if she’d somehow betrayed Eddie though she’d only just met him.

“I think I saw it,” she said. “Big place. Red sign.” Lawyer’s eyes noticed everything, Ash’s father used to tell her. Even the details. Especially the details.

Eddie nodded. “That’s the place.”

Her gaze returned to his face as he and Jen continued to talk, and Ash noticed with surprise that it was scarred in places. Besides a crooked nose, three thin scars ran almost parallel down the left side of his jaw. A thicker scar underlined his right eye, and peeking from beneath the left side of his goatee, a tiny spider web of lines faded into his upper lip.

God, what happened to him? Pain immeasurable echoed on that skin, and she was surprised she hadn’t noticed the scars sooner. Ash shifted in the loveseat. Somehow, though, they didn’t mar Eddie’s appearance. Rather, they added character to eyes that danced and a voice that caressed like deep cello tones, mellow and laughing through the low notes on the scale.

After a few minutes, he stood. “I have a lot more to unpack,” he said. “Sorry. Just wanted to say hi.”

“Well, nice meeting you,” Jen said. “You’ll have to come back up later on.”

His smile widened at the invitation, and a dimple winked below his deepest scar. “Sounds good.” Eddie backed across the threshold. The door swung shut behind him, and the room seemed emptier than ever.

“Wow.” Jen dropped onto the loveseat beside Ash and feigned lightheadedness. “If you don’t find a way to sleep with that guy by the end of the summer, I give up.”

“Good God, Jen. I’m not here to sleep with anyone.” Ash tried to sound convincing. “This is my summer to heal, to get away from my parents. To forget about Colin. And figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.”

Jen opened one eye. “Speaking of which, when are you going to tell them?”

Ash studied her short, bare fingernails. “Which part? That I’m living in a no-name town instead of taking the job at Deacon and Mathers? Or that I’m thinking of changing my last name because my father can’t keep his zipper closed? Or that precious Colin Parker isn’t going to be their son-in-law after all?” She chewed at a hangnail. “I was kind of hoping to make it until July, at least.”

“You talk to your parents every week.”

“I know.” The hangnail began to bleed.

Jen jumped up. “Let’s get this room set up, anyway. Then I’ll take off.”

Ash waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. Go on home and let Lucas pour his heart out.”

Jen laughed. “I am a good big sis, aren't I?”

“The best. You’re sure you don’t want a lift to the train station?”

“Nah. It’s right down the block. I’ll walk.” Jen piled the empty boxes in one corner. “And Ash?”

“What?”

“I meant what I said. I know the last few weeks have been hard. You've got a gorgeous guy living downstairs from you. So have some fun this summer.” She paused. “You can’t hide away forever.”

“It’s only been five weeks. That’s not forever.”

“You know what I mean.” She backed through the door before Ash could respond. “Bye. Call me later.”

“Bye. And Jen?”

“Yeah?”

“If you run into my parents or one of my sisters in the city...”

“I know, tell them I don’t know anything.”

“At least for right now.”

“No problem.” Jen grinned and slipped away.

Ash closed her eyes and listened to her friend's footsteps disappear. Sleep with her downstairs neighbor? No way. Her head fell back onto the cushions, and she let them cradle her tired muscles. Despite her fatigue, thoughts of all kinds wound their way into her head. Colin. Callie. Her father. Eddie. Yummy, she thought before she could help herself. And I don’t usually fall for guys so fast.

She rested one arm against her forehead. Who was she kidding? She never fell, period. She took careful steps. She analyzed all the possibilities. She played her cards one at a time, over long, slow days of contemplation. She never jumped into anything.

But maybe Jen was right this time. Ash had changed her name and slipped on a new skin. She’d moved to a new town where not a soul knew her. Why shouldn’t she change a few other things? She pulled at her bottom lip with one finger. Maybe she should forget about the summer of chastity she’d promised herself. Maybe she should she lose herself in a different world for the next few months. She stared at the door, imagining Eddie a few steps away, unpacking boxes with muscles that flexed and strained and…

Oh God. What on earth would she tell him, if she did invite him up? She couldn’t confess who she really was. Ashton Kirk? As in Senator Kirk’s daughter? He’d look at her like she had two heads.

Rock music started up again, shaking the floor of her apartment a little before the volume lowered to a gentle throb. Smiling, she wondered about her new housemate. Something told Ash she wasn’t the only one with a story. Why had Eddie moved into the house? Like her, was he only killing time for the summer? Or had he moved to tiny, protected Lycian Street to escape something or someone?

And what, for God’s sake, had happened to him to leave such deep scars on an otherwise handsome face?