Small Town Pretender by Brighton Walsh

Nat couldn’t believe Asher had been doing this by himself for days before she’d arrived. She was exhausted, still reeling from jet lag. He’d only been gone for two hours, and she already felt like she’d been trampled by a herd of elephants, then tossed in a dumpster, only to be emptied into a garbage truck, and then discarded in a pile of rubble.

So yeah, she and this whole in-charge-of-two-humans thing were getting along great.

“Nat, why don’t you come in here and help us?” her momma called from the kitchen where she, June, and Gran were currently baking a batch of peanut butter cookies.

Since Nat’s visits to Havenbrook were few and far between, her momma and gran always tried to soak up as much time with her as they could, never knowing when she’d land again. Despite telling them she was here for a little while until Asher got things squared away, they’d still shown up right after Asher left.

And considering she wasn’t all that confident in her abilities to handle two kids by herself, she’d welcomed them in with open arms.

Nat may not have known much, but she did know it wasn’t wise to leave an eight-month-old baby who was dead set on getting into everything he wasn’t supposed alone. So, she stood and swept up a drooling, smiling Owen, bringing him close and munching on his neck to his deep belly laughs. “Should we see what everyone’s doin’?”

She rounded the corner into the kitchen, her eyes darting around the space as she took in her momma and June in their matching aprons, Gran sitting at the counter where the duo was working.

The kitchen was spotless, despite sounding like a battle had taken place in there. She didn’t know why she was surprised, though. She’d seen it enough times in her childhood home when her nieces had been helping her momma out. Somehow, this miraculous woman managed to keep things clean even when faced with a human hurricane. Meanwhile, Nat’s kitchen somehow became messy even if all she did was boil water.

“I’ve got my hands full with this one,” Nat said, tickling Owen’s round belly. “But I will happily be the taste tester. In fact, why don’t you just shovel a spoonful right in my mouth, Junie B?” Nat opened her mouth and leaned toward June.

Instead of responding, the little girl fell into a puddle of giggles on the counter. “We have to cook them first, silly!”

Probably wasn’t the best time to tell this impressionable child that, in an act of utter rebellion, Nat had eaten her way through an entire tube of cookie dough during a single episode of Supernatural, and she’d only felt a little sick by the time the credits were rolling. But she was pretty sure that had more to do with the questionable moo goo gai pan she’d had before she’d started her gluttonous adventure than it had to do with the cookie dough.

“Well, what’re you waitin’ for, then? I want some cookies, and your uncle definitely—”

The side door opened, and Asher stepped into the house, his eyes bouncing around the space before locking with hers for a millisecond and then sliding away. But that millisecond was all she needed.

She’d been friends with him a long time, had witnessed him growing from an almost-shy newcomer to a lanky, gangly adolescent to a mysterious teen heartbreaker all the girls in their school were going crazy over to a self-assured man who probably had to beat off groupies with a stick. It also meant that in those tens of thousands of looks they’d shared, she could read the tiniest inflection, even when he probably didn’t intend it to be there.

All that to say something was off. The only thing she couldn’t quite figure out was if this off was good or bad.

“Are those cookies?” he asked, eyeing the pan full of cookie dough balls in front of her momma and June, all while totally avoiding Nat’s questioning gaze.

“See, I told you he’d want them.” Nat bounced Owen on her hip, the little boy’s face immediately breaking into a wide grin as he held his arms out to Asher.

“Hi there, sweetheart,” her momma said, shooting Asher a smile. “We’re just about to pop ’em in the oven. Shouldn’t be more than a little bit before they’re ready.”

“Can’t wait. Did Gran and Nat already eat half the batter?”

“How dare you,” Nat said at the same time Gran responded, “What I do in my spare time is none of your concern, young man.”

With a grin, Asher tossed his keys on the counter and strolled straight toward Nat, his eyes connecting with hers again for a moment. Oh yes, there was most definitely something he wasn’t telling her.

“Hi, buddy.” He gathered Owen and tossed him in the air once before holding him against his chest, propped up on one solid, muscled forearm. “What’d I miss?”

“Miss Caroline and Gran took me to get ice cream!”

Asher shot Nat a look out of the corner of his eye, one that said, Fucking fantastic, I thought I left you in charge. Now we’ve gotta deal with Sugar Satan again tonight.

Nat stared back with one eyebrow raised, her expression hopefully saying something along the lines of, Are you new here? Next time you want someone to tell my momma or gran no, it’s gonna have to be you. She must’ve gotten the message across, because his shoulders sagged slightly, and he turned his gaze back to his niece.

“Is that so?” he said.

“Mhmm.” Her momma nodded. “Owen was napping, and Nat was in the shower.”

“You don’t mind, do you, sugar?” Gran asked.

Nat looked at him with a raised brow, daring him to speak up now. See how well he did telling her momma and gran that he really wished they wouldn’t have.

“No, ’course not.”

“Can we put them in yet, Miss Caroline?” June asked.

“Well, I think that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day. Do you know how to set the timer?”

June nodded enthusiastically before jumping down from her perch on a chair. She dragged it across the kitchen floor and climbed back up as she waited for Nat’s momma to slip the tray of cookies into the oven. Once that was done, June leaned over and pressed the timer button. “How much time?”

“Oh, I think about eleven minutes will do just fine. Now then, we better clean up.”

Nat nearly laughed at that because there wasn’t anything to clean up, but still, her momma ushered June over to the sink to wash her hands.

“Everything go okay at your appointment, sugar?” Gran asked, her eyes studying Asher much like Nat’s had.

“Everything’s fine, Gran,” he said, but his voice was all wrong. And, when he slid another glance toward Nat, her hunch was confirmed. She had no doubt there was more to this than he was saying. “Nothing to worry about.”

* * *

Later that night,after both kids were finally asleep, she dragged Asher to the living room to get the real story on what had happened at the meeting today with Cole.

At Nat’s sharp shove, Asher collapsed onto the couch, and Nat curled up on the cushion next to his, tucking her legs beneath her as she faced him. “Okay, spill.”

“What makes you think there’s a story?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You can’t keep anything from me.”

“That’s not true. I keep plenty from you.”

“Is that so?” She raised a brow. “Need I remind you about when you told me Nash was the one who ruined my favorite pair of jeans in high school?”

“That didn’t count. You tricked me into tellin’ you that. Like I’d rat on him voluntarily.”

Nat shrugged, unrepentant. “Still weren’t able to keep it from me. How about ratting on yourself about eatin’ my birthday cupcake in fourth grade? Or tellin’ me about your first failed sexual encounter? Probably would’ve been better off keepin’ that one to yourself. Or how about—”

Asher groaned, cutting her off. “Fine, I get it.” He heaved out a deep sigh, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. “Seems Aubrey kept some things from me.”

Nat’s eyebrows flew up her forehead. “Like, that the kids are her secret love children from the mail carrier?”

“The mail carrier is Edna, so that logic doesn’t exactly hold up.”

“And your sister having a love child, period, does? She was a saint and totally in love with Nathan.”

Asher grunted an approximation of agreement.

“So, what was the secret she kept from you?”

“I guess it wasn’t so much a secret, as me just completely forgettin’ about any mention of it.”

“If you don’t get to the point soon, I’m gonna scream, and if I scream, we’re gonna have two crabby, cryin’ children on our hands. So, you better—”

“She named me their guardian.”

Nat shut her mouth, her teeth snapping audibly as she stared at Asher, who stared right back. There was no use trying to hide her shock—she couldn’t stop her eyes from nearly bugging out. And even if she could, it didn’t matter because he’d be able to read her anyway. Besides, the last thing he needed was her walking on glass around him. That had never been their way, and he wouldn’t want to be handled with kid gloves, despite the fact that his world had been rocked not once but twice in less than a week.

“I would’ve thought your sister knew at least one person more responsible than you.”

Asher breathed out a laugh, though she knew there wasn’t much humor in it. “Yeah, me too. But you know it’s just us. Which means it was either me or the in-laws.”

Nat scrunched up her nose, having heard enough stories from Aubrey to know the Haywards were the exact kind of people Nat despised. The exact kind her Daddy had attempted to mold her into—elitist snobs who got ahead using their power. “Then you were definitely the better choice.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“C’mon, Ash, you’re great with them, and they love you.”

“They love me ’cause I give them ice cream for lunch. Clearly I don’t know what I’m doin’. At all.”

“You’ll figure it out.” Nat said the words, though there wasn’t much conviction behind them.

Truthfully, she had no idea how he was going to do this. Not just the how—as in, howhe’d find a way to raise two kids with absolutely zero experience. But how—as in, how was he going to leave his life in Nashville behind? How was he going to leave behind the promise of a mega career and, instead, make a life back in the hometown both of them had run from? The music scene in Havenbrook wasn’t exactly booming, which meant he couldn’t pursue his dreams here. The label interested in signing him would want him producing music in a studio and going on tour—the former, something Havenbrook certainly didn’t have, and the latter made nearly impossible with the kids.

Accepting the role of guardian to June and Owen like his sister wanted meant all his aspirations would come to a dead end.

“I’m gonna have to,” he said. “The other option is the Haywards, and if that happens, they’ll whisk June and Owen off to Connecticut, and I don’t know if I’d ever see them. I don’t think it’d even faze Nathan’s parents to cut me completely out of the kids’ lives.”

Nat could hear the pain in his voice, just at the thought of not being able to see his niece and nephew when he wanted. Yes, he’d resided in Nashville the entirety of both June’s and Owen’s lives, but he traveled back to Havenbrook as often as his schedule allowed, and Aubrey, Nathan, and the kids had made a couple trips to Tennessee to visit him as well. No longer being able to see them on a whim would absolutely kill him.

“Well, you don’t need to worry about that, right?” Nat said. “Because Aubrey wanted you, and that’s all that matters.”

“I hope so.”

“What are you gonna do about everything else…the meeting with the label? Have you heard from your manager?”

“Yeah, Carla’s called. Sent some flowers. The meeting’s on hold for now, and she told me to take my time.” He blew out a laugh. “Somehow, I don’t think she meant eighteen years to raise kids, though.”

The thought of being tied down like that made Nat’s skin itch. She adored those kids, but hanging out with them once in a while and being in charge of raising them were two different things.

“So, what happens now?”

“There’ll still be a hearing, but…” Asher blew out a long breath and shook his head, returning his gaze to hers. “How long are you plannin’ to stay?”

Without him saying a word, she felt his unasked plea as loudly as if he’d shouted it in her ear. He still wanted her here, by his side. She could stay for a while. Most of her upcoming shoots could be rescheduled—except for the one at the end of the month in Ireland. That was an opportunity not so easily rearranged.

Before she could respond, Asher’s phone lit up on the coffee table, vibrating across the wood as Cole Donovan’s name flashed on the screen.

“Shit, a call from him this late can’t be good,” Asher mumbled before answering the phone. “Hey, Cole. What’s up?”

He listened for a few moments before his eyes lifted to meet hers. She had half a mind to reach over, snatch the phone from him, and put it on speaker, just so she could hear the full conversation. But instead, she behaved herself, all the while straining to listen to Cole’s side.

“They don’t waste any time, do they?” Asher asked.

Nat leaned even closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder in an effort to decipher what Cole was saying. Unfortunately, all she could make out was the hum of his voice, not any of the actual words he was speaking.

“Can they win?” Asher asked, his tone making Nat’s head snap up.

His brow was furrowed, his eyes shadowed with concern. She gestured to his phone, miming that he should put it on speaker. Fortunately, they’d been perfecting their telepathic language for years, so Asher knew immediately what she was saying without saying it. He held out the phone between them and pressed the speaker button, catching Cole mid-sentence.

“—judge is ultra conservative, but your sister was specific in her wishes. She and her husband named you in their wills, and we also have the video. Hopefully that’ll be enough to tip this in your favor.”

Asher and Cole continued their conversation, the phone held aloft between her and Asher, and with each word, the knots in her stomach tightened. She couldn’t imagine how he felt, hearing that someone was not only trying to go against his sister’s final wishes, but that, if they were successful, the bastards would be able to rip June and Owen away from him. The last of his blood family.