Tame the Beast : Small Beach Town, Single Mom Romance

“You know what? I think we should reschedule it,” Mom says to her friends. “How can I leave him alone in here? Look at this!” She points to the full bar, boldly staring down every girl who walked in here as soon as the doors opened this morning. Which was fifteen minutes ago, and the line was there from about eight AM.

“It’s like Americas next top model in here only the cheap knock-off version,” Nina Colson very helpfully adds. She comes from the original line of Loverly Cave residents and that means she is as hippie as they come apart from believing in free will.

Nope. To my mom and her crazy friends, free will is apparently nonexistent when it comes to dating.

“They are all looking at him like he is their next meal!” Mom yells out a little too loud.

“And what are you going to do? Step in front of him and guard his penis?” Mrs. Fanny Lovesil—the elderly karate specialist who owns the local gym Tough Love, and in all honesty scares the crap out of me—asks Mom as her eyes dart down to my manhood.

“Do you think that will work?” she asks in all seriousness, and I just stare at her in horror.

“You are not bodyguarding my dick, mom.”

“Well, someone has to!” She flings her arms back to the full room.

“Oh, they will,” I flash her a grin at which her face screws up into a foul grimace.

“Well, you did raise a stud, Willa.” Fanny winks at me, and my mom groans some more as I send her my signature grin. She might be scary, but she does have a good taste.

“I knew I liked you, Fanny.”

“I think my impending death is a lot closer than y’all think,” Mom mutters with a sour expression. “Matty! How hard is it to just choose one and love her forever? Dad and I did it. We fell in love from the first moment we met and look at the life we built.”

Yeah, until he did die. Really died. Not the pretend way mom is and that family she’s talking about was never the same again.

“Mom, I love what you and Dad had. But it doesn’t mean it’s out there for everyone.”

“Nonsense!” she throws out. “You just need our help to find it.”

My head snaps up to the four now very excited faces. “Oh no! Oh, no no no.” I shake my head, pointing to them. “There will be no helping me! I don’t need it. Don’t want it. I like it this way.”

My mom comes up to me and with a lethal calmness pats my cheek. “Don’t worry, Matty. Mom’s got this. Fantastic Four, I’m calling an emergency meeting right now. We can do it while we cook for Joy’s friend.” And with that, the four of them hurry out the door.

That’s it. I’m never coming back home to take over the family bar. But it doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy my last day in my hometown, so I turn around and wink at that brunette again.

4

Zoe

“When life throws lemons, catch them and make a cocktail.” – Unknown

Talking myself out of moving here was a whole lot easier before I discovered that the local bar called Love and Peace—or LPs for short—is up and running at ten AM and that is quickly swaying my opinion to the “big, fat yes” side.

I am not even sure why I came here in the first place since I can’t drink, all I knew was that I needed to get away from those happy in love couples.

I’ve spent the whole day yesterday with the lot, learning all about Hope and Alec’s story as he made a bet with her to prove that romance is not dead. And he did, so now, she’s wearing his unconventional ring on her finger. Then learning in great detail how far gone my boss is for the Viking guy with the kind smile and shark slides and their plant babies. Seriously, how did she do it? How did she move on from that bastard Justin so fast? But even as I was asking myself those questions, I already knew the answer. The way Jacob watches Joy, the way he seems to know her needs before she has a chance to say them out loud, speak volumes. They speak, undeniable love. The kind that can heal the worst of cracks. And it warms my heart that my baby has an uncle like that.

That was the real shocker for me.

Yeah, Jacob and Justin are brothers. Half-brothers, but still…my mind is still catching up to this news. And apparently, they are so estranged, Jacob doesn’t even consider him as one, and after a few minutes of colorful curses he said the only good thing the bastard has done was donate his DNA to his future niece or nephew.

Do you think Joy would be okay if we became sister wives? Because I want my own Jacob.

Even Grace and Luke’s story made me envious. To carry their love over years, to hurt and break only to be put back together by fate. Or local crazies—aka their mothers.

It was all too much. And when they invited me to join them at the beach this morning, I already knew I wouldn’t last long.

I am very happy for these three sisters. I truly am. But I can’t be around them right now.