Mr. Blackbourne's Mistake

Chapter 10 - New Neighbors

Sang

Sang was surprised the rushing in her ears didn't drown out North's swearing beside her. They were right here. All of them, standing in front of her. Well, not really in front of her, but close enough. She felt like she couldn't breath as she squeezed North's hand tightly, needing an anchor. This suddenly felt like some bizarre dream, though she forced herself to focus as Mr. Blackbourne stepped up to the microphone. She wanted to know more about what was going on here, and hoped his words would help.

Mr. Blackbourne gestured at himself and the others before saying, "Most of us are from Charleston, South Carolina, and so are well acquainted with the value and importance of preserving a town's cultural heritage." He nodded toward Victor. "And one of our own, Mr. Morgan, had the privilege of growing up in a home protected by a historical society, making this issue near and dear to all of our hearts."

He kept talking, but Sang was distracted by the overly loud whispers of the trio of women sitting in front of her.

"Look at how hot those guys are!" the one in the middle, who'd said she wanted more clothing stores, gushed. "All of them. They're better looking than anyone in town other than the mayor!" Sang disagreed with her on that point, but wished she didn't. Not that she wanted to find the mayor attractive, she just wished that everyone else standing on that stage didn't still look so incredible to her. Shouldn't there be a rule that if someone hurt you enough, they no longer looked attractive to you?

The woman on the left let out a giggle. "And the mayor said they want to become part of our town. I'll support rebuilding those dusty old buildings if it means we get to keep all of those luscious men. Maybe we can volunteer to help out." She turned to her friends, giving Sang a view of her face as she licked her lips suggestively. "And give them a good reason to stay."

Sang's stomach dipped at their words, a sick feelings spreading through her. Which was stupid. It was none of her business what any of the guys did, and it hadn't been for some time.

The woman on the right spoke up in a dry tone, "Don't get too excited here. There's no guarantee they're single. No way all of those hot, young guys don't have someone. Maybe even all of them have girlfriends or wives they're bringing with them." Sang nearly couldn't breathe at that, hating how much the thought hurt as she wondered if it was true. But they'd thrown her away because they hadn't wanted her. It was entirely possible that some or all of them did have new girlfriends or more by now.

The middle woman let out an annoyed sound. "Don't rain on my fantasy."

The woman on the left sighed with disappointment. "Or maybe some of them are gay. They could even be couples with each other."

Fisting her free hand in her lap, Sang resolutely tried to ignore anything else they said. Which brought her attention back to Mr. Blackbourne and his words, since he was the easiest thing to focus on other than the three women. "My team and I are greatly invested in becoming part of Willard's community. We've worked together for a long time and are like family to one another, so have been searching for a place to call home that we would all enjoy."

Sang tried to ignore the squeals coming from in front of her and the whispers that this might confirm they were all gay for each other. Mr. Blackbourne capturing her gaze from so far away made everything disappear as he stared right at her, his silver gaze intense as he said, "For anyone who is concerned that we are outsiders who don't really care about Willard's history or who won't stay long past helping, I want to assure you that we have no intention of going anywhere."

Suddenly, Sang couldn't breathe. His gaze, his words . . . it felt like he was talking to her, telling her that they weren't going anywhere. But that didn't make any sense. That couldn't be true. She was delusional, seeing and hearing what she might once have wanted to see and hear, because she didn't anymore, and they would never say anything like that to her anyway. It was all just a misunderstanding on her part. It was just . . . Mr. Blackbourne never did anything without purpose. But it couldn't be the first thing that had come into her mind, so she had no idea what his purpose was. And maybe she didn't want to know.

But why were they staying? If they were staying, no matter how much she didn't want them around, she felt a little relief that maybe they just wanted to work with North rather than steal him away, but couldn't they have worked with him from the next town over? Or at least talked with him about this rather than deciding everything on their own? She knew they were tenacious with their goals, but it was rude to force themselves on North like this. And worse for Sang to have to see them. But since she meant nothing to them, that thought probably hadn't even occurred to them. She was so far from their hearts that it wasn't even awkward for them to move into the town of the young woman they'd thrown away a year ago.

Tears pricked her eyes as feelings of worthlessness washed over her. She was going to have nightmares for weeks, wasn't she? About being nothing to anyone.

Then she looked up at North, and her fingernails dug into her palms at him looking almost thoughtful. Serious, but thoughtful. That wasn't the look she wanted to see on him right now. Quietly, she asked, "Does that make you happy? That they want to stay?"

He looked down at her and sighed before looking up at the platform again. "I don't know how I feel about this, but I do feel like them settling down roots is different from them just dropping by. That would just feel obnoxious, after what happened. But this?" He didn't finish that thought, instead looking down at her again to promise, "I won't do anything that you don't want me to, Sang. Not at any point."

Her heart tightened. If his family wanted him back and were willing to work around his life, she couldn't possibly ask him to stay away from them. Especially if they weren't trying to take North away from her. That wouldn't be fair to North.

They mayor took over the microphone again, giving a little more details about the timeline for the restoration project before ending things. After, North leaned over Sang to speak to Naomi. "Naomi? Would you mind talking Sang home?" He glanced at Sang before adding, "I want to talk to them. To find out more."

Naomi gave a little laugh. "Are you going to volunteer to help them on top of running your own garage? I'm pretty sure they didn't have any colonial cars for you to help restore." She undoubtedly thought North meant he was going to ask them more about their restoration project, though at seeing North's serious look, Naomi's smile dropped away into a concerned look as she glanced between North and Sang.

Sang put her hands over North's before carefully saying, "Those men up there . . . North grew up with them. They were like brothers to him."

Naomi's eyes widened in surprise before flashing with understanding. "I thought they all kept looking this way! Now it makes sense." Rolling her eyes, she gestured with her head to the row in front of them, which was already empty. "It's a good thing they didn't realize how much they were looking over here, or they would have read the wrong thing." Then she paused, her eyebrows wrinkling together. "Wait, you said they were like North's brothers?"

Sang nodded. "They had . . . a falling out about a year ago."

Naomi looked between the two of them again before quietly asking, "Was it over the two of you getting married?"

"Yes and no," Sang answered at the same time that North said, "No."

They shared a look, though Sang wasn't quite sure what either of them were saying. Maybe just that maybe they should be on the same page before saying anything about this to anyone in town. Thankfully, before either of them came up with anything more to say, Naomi said, "Never mind. Clearly it's complicated. I'll stay out of it."

North gave her a distracted smile before promising, "You weren't being nosy. But thank you."

She nodded before pasting on a bright smile. "Back to your original question, I would be happy to drive Sang home."

He gave her an appreciative nod. "Thank you." Then he dropped a kiss on Sang's lips. "I'll see you soon, Baby." She watched him get up and head toward the platform as she remained in her seat.

She almost jumped when Naomi spoke up to ask, "Do we need to get some ice cream on the way home? Or pick up treats from my bakery?"

Sang summoned a smile—she really did appreciate Naomi's kindness. "Thank you, but no." Her tone turned dry as she added, "At least, not yet."

Naomi smiled back as she stood, holding out a hand to help Sang up. "Text me if that changes, any time, day or night. I'll be your personal brownie delivery service."