A First Love to Die For

Chapter Twenty-Three- Somethings Never Change

(Josie's POV)

Addy had messaged to say she was going to be late leaving her mom's this morning, so we had pushed our visit till a little bit later.

This had given time for Declan, Hailey and I to make a breakfast date. We were going to meet up this morning and then Hailey and I would head to Addy's place when she got home.

Declan was coming off a night shift and so we decided to head over to his place so that he could go right to bed after. We were picking up Timmies rather than making something because Hailey and I didn't want to keep him up too long.

Having worked through the night on more than one occasion, I realized that he was making the effort so he could spend time with me, and I appreciated it a lot.

I picked up Hailey. We had made plans for today, but I hadn't talked to her about confronting Lincoln yesterday. The day had gotten away from me and I hadn't known what to say. Did I thank her for helping us communicate and at least realize what was going on in the other person's head? Or give her the gears for stepping in.

She opened the back door and put in a cooler bag and then made her way to the front and took the decision away from me. Before I could drive anywhere, she pulled me into a hug, "I'm sorry. I know you told me not to say anything and to leave it alone, but I felt like a failure of a best friend, that I hadn't taken him to task before.

I smiled into the hug. "It's okay. At least we both have a better understanding of what happened." Then I changed the subject because the whole thing was taking over my brain, it didn't need to monopolize my time with my friends too.

"What's in the cooler? Starting early?"

She laughed, knowing that at one point we would have definitely been having mimosas to start a day together. I missed that freedom and when we put all this behind us, I hoped that we would have some time without my work and the potential threat lingering in the air. "I made a meal for Addy and Liam for tonight and some muffins for coffee today. Figured with her travelling back it would make life easier for her today."

My heart expanded a little at her thoughtfulness. "Have you thought of anything to do for Franklin and Molly?"

She shook her head, "Remember when your mom passed? You guys were so overrun with food and at that time, eating was the last thing that you were thinking about."

I nodded, it had felt like the whole town had wanted to do something. There were so many things about Fenelon that I loved. The caring community was definitely one of those things.

"Does Bonnie still clean?"

She jumped on it. "Yes! That could work, good thinking." Since she had been a part of my life for so long, she immediately knew why I was asking. What my dad and I really could have used at that time, was a cleaning service because we had so many visitors. We had no energy to maintain our house and I remember Hailey often coming by to help me clean. It was exhausting.

She pulled out her phone. "How about we both get them a clean. That would give them two days and they could use it anytime."

By the time we had made it to Declan's with coffee and breakfast sandwich's it was organized. She got out of the car and tossed over her shoulder, "I'm getting the first hug."

It was silly and reminded me of teenage years when we used to compete over the most ridiculous things. So, obviously I left the food in the car, and raced her to the door. We jammed up in the door for a moment, giggling like maniacs when we burst through. She aggressively pushed me into the couch so that she could jump in Declan's arms. As I laid there, I could hear the two of them gasping for air and couldn't contain my own cackles.

I had missed this.

A throat cleared from above me and I looked up to see Lincoln, peering down at me with a breathtaking smile on his face. Surprised, the laughter died in my throat and I shot a death glare at Declan and Hailey who both shrugged.

Interesting that neither had mentioned that Lincoln lived here too. He gave me a hand, "Somethings never change eh?"

He pulled me up and I caught my breath at how close we were. I felt my heart race as I noticed the flecks of royal blue in his eyes and took in the minty freshness of his breath. The delicious spice of his cologne wrapped around me and I breathed in deep.

Holy guacamole this man smelled divine. Then I shook my head, trying to clear it, and slowly backed away, managing to retreat from the magical spell that was Lincoln Sawyer. It wasn't until I was tugging at his hand that we both noticed that he hadn't let go. It was almost as if he didn't want our contact to end either.

I quickly put more distance between us and he gave me a sad smile. "I'll see you after you talk to Addy."

Then he was gone. Out the door. I hated that I noticed how the room seemed to dim a little bit with him not there anymore.

What was with this hold that he seemed to have over me?

I looked over to Declan and Hailey who shared a look but didn't say anything. Hailey simply gave me a knowing look and moved toward the door, "I'll go get the breakfast that you chose to leave in the car."

She was such a dick sometimes. Not like she left me a choice, as soon as she had issued the challenge, she forced me to compete. Declan walked over and pulled me into a tight hug. He looked tired as I gave him a squeeze. "Long one last night?"

He sighed, "I didn't get a break. I'm going to crash hard, but first I'm going to enjoy breakfast with my two favourite ladies."

Even tired, he was beautiful. I ruffled his hair gently. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

I had always wanted to set up Declan and Lee. I thought they would be a perfect match and with Lee in town, I wondered if the two of them could connect. "Maybe when you wake up, we should have dinner at the brewery?"

I doubted that I would be able to actually make it for a dinner with the hours that I'd been working but putting the idea in his head, that he should grab dinner there tonight seemed like a good idea.

It wasn't until we were done eating that Declan gave me a tired nudge, "Lincoln told me what happened between you two." I froze and took a sip of my coffee while he added, "You should have told us Josie."

I felt overwhelmed with the sympathy shining through his eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. "I thought about it, but it just didn't make sense. Whatever I told you, wasn't going to change how I felt about the situation. Lincoln and I were over, so for you guys it would have just forced you to take sides. I figured I could save you from that."

Hailey reached out and squeezed my arm. "We get that, we really do. We love you and appreciate your selflessness, but we also want to be there for you when shitty things happen."

Then because she knew this wasn't what I wanted to talk about she changed the subject, "Declan, let us know your schedule for the next week so that we can get another date in."

As we sat there chatting, reveling in the time together and making more plans, I felt the guilt punch me in the gut. Although I never wanted to come back to Fenelon for work, there was a part of me that was glad I had finally come home.