Autumn Falls (Seasons of Love)

Chapter Four

Owen

“Thanks for coming out with me tonight,” I say to Matthew, tugging at my tie. I had two business meetings via video conference after I left the parade and then I had to make sure I looked nice to have dinner with this jackass who apparently doesn’t even wear a tie.

“I invited you, remember? Something’s off about you, Owen. You’re not the confident badass you always are. What gives?”

“Nothing really.”

“Bullshit,” he whispers, knowing we have a watching crowd. Even though the restaurant isn’t packed, there are enough listening ears for a midnight gossip session at the local pub.

“Fine, I met someone.”

“You met someone? Like someone you wanted to sleep with?”

“Yes,” I grumble. Matthew is one of the two people in my life who know I’ve never had sex before. It’s something I’ve kept close to the vest.

“I can’t believe it. Whoever she is, I hope she’s worth the wait because you’re the best man I’ve ever known and I owe you so much,” he says. Matthew and I’ve known each other since basics for over ten years now. He was a young kid who had nearly scrubbed out, and he couldn’t disappoint his family, so I worked with him on it. We made it together and stayed friends all these years.

“In my gut, I know she’s the one, but I hardly know anything about her.”

“Your gut has never led you astray, Owen. Let it lead you and you’ll be a happy fuck finally.” He winks.

“I sure as hell hope so. I’m making this place my home now.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” There’s a buzzing sound coming from his pocket. “Shit, I’ve got to take this.” As the mayor of the town, I’m sure it’s some major problem that he needs to handle immediately. I wave him off, knowing that I’ve had to interrupt many dinners for business over the years.

I’m at dinner with Matthew when I’d rather be with Autumn. When she called and told me her plans had changed, I didn’t believe she ever had plans to begin with. I can read deception, but I get she’s scared of being burned again and frankly I’m not looking forward to being a replacement for a douchebag. I had just gotten my drink when in walked his sister Caroline, the pain in the ass I’d met earlier and then had been introduced to again by my buddy.

“Oh my goodness I can’t believe you’re here,” she says, smiling and leaning in an overly seductive dress. I have a feeling that things aren’t going to go well. This is a small town of people who love to talk.

I look around the room, searching for Matt. “I’m waiting for your brother; he just stepped away for a minute. Are you waiting for your boyfriend?” I ask with very little civility.

“Of course, but I’ll sit here with you guys for a minute until he gets here.”

“I wasn’t inviting you to sit down,” I tell her flat out because I don’t want her anywhere near me.

“Don’t be so rude. My brother wouldn’t appreciate it, and it looks bad if you shun the mayor’s sister.” She smiles coyly at me, tipping her head to the side, doing her best to flirt in front of all these people who have now got a show.

“You mean how you shunned Autumn today?”

“Oh, come on; you can’t be serious, right? She’s not worthy of your time. You can do so much better.” My fists clench on the table as my temper grows to a new heated level.

“I highly doubt that.” She reaches out and touches my forearm and before I can pull back, I see my beautiful woman enter the restaurant and eyes land directly on the scene before her.

Fuck if things couldn’t get any worse. The woman she hates the most, the same woman who stole her man is with me. She must think I’m seeing her. I pull away from Caroline and stand up quickly, hoping to stop Autumn from leaving. Thankfully, Matthew is behind them and keeps them from exiting.

“So this is the friend you had dinner with?” She gives me the dirtiest look I’ve ever seen. It shifts to pain in her eyes, and I want to just take her away and tell her that she has nothing to worry about ever. “No, beautiful. He’s right behind you.”

“Hello, Autumn. I’m sorry, but my bratty sister is up to no good again. If you’ll excuse me.” He walks around all of us and over to the table to a smiling Caroline, who waves at us. I could choke that bitch.

“Beautiful, you’re going to listen to me and you’re going to listen to me good. We’re not going to have this misunderstanding. After you canceled on me, Matthew called and wanted to have dinner. I agreed because there were things we had to discuss, including his dumbass sister. Shortly after we sat down for dinner, he had a call that came in for him. When he left that shrew showed up; not two minutes after she did, you walked in. I already told her to leave, and she told me not to make a scene in front of everybody. Now if you’d like, I’d make a scene and carry your pretty ass out of here.”

“That won’t be necessary,” her father says. “Why don’t we all just sit down for dinner together?”

“I’d like that a lot as long as that little witch is not there,” Elle says, cocking her brow with her arms crossed. Autumn’s sister is hilariously bold.

“Of course, I don’t even like that girl. She’s manipulative and rude.”

I took Autumn’s hand and led her to the large table next to us, and we all took a seat. Luckily, the restaurant isn’t as busy right now. “By the way, I’m Owen Monroe.”

“Wait, you are Owen Monroe? As in the Monroe Corporation?” Mr. Sager asks.

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“You bought Sager Orchard. My family orchard,” Mr. Sager says. The dawning of where I had heard the name finally struck me.

“I had no idea. I’d been so worked up over getting things together I hadn’t looked into the details yet.”

“You’ve had the orchard for four months.” It had gone on the market once he had gotten out of the hospital and had the mental capacity to handle the sale. After all the legal wrangling, my family company acquired it, and it was given to me.

“I haven’t had it that long; the family company has. My father made the transactions before handing them over for me to run. He knew that Matthew and I were friends, so when the property became available in the area, Matthew mentioned it, and it was an investment for me.”

“Investment?” Autumn asks. I’m about to elaborate when Matthew returns to the table.

“Yes, Matthew, are you going to join us?”

“No, I’m taking my sister home. Will you excuse me? Sorry about this evening.” He looks directly at me and says, “And as for what we discussed, you’re making the right decision.”

“I thought so.” They all stare at us and then attempt to look busy. Our waitress approaches and we order drinks.

“So you’re the one building the massive property at the other end of the orchard,” Elle says.

“Yes, it should be done next month. I want it ready soon even though I’m not sure when I’ll be moving in. They told me I can stay in one of the smaller bedrooms right now, but it’s not finished.”

“We were supposed to be meeting to discuss the ideas you had and my methods,” Mr. Sager says.

“Yes, I wanted to pick your brain if you were feeling up to it, Mr. Sager. Although I don’t have experience in apple farming, I spent a great deal of time on my grandfather’s farm as a child and then my father raised me to run his company before I went off to the service.”

“Wow, you’ve done a lot in your years. How old are you?”

“Twenty-eight, almost twenty-nine.”

“Dang, you’re old,” Elle says. Autumn kicks her, but misses and hits my calf. I let out a little grunt, and she turned completely bright red.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. You were defending my honor. Your sister’s only pointing it out because I’m interested in you. I didn’t realize how young you were when I saw you this morning.” I give her an apologetic frown because I wish there wasn’t such a large age gap.

“So now you think I’m too young.”

“No, we’ll figure things out. I’ve already learned more about you in the past twelve hours than I’ve learned about people in months. Besides, once I make up my mind about something, I don’t change it.” I smile at her, unwilling to waver.

“You have no shame in flirting with my sister.”

“I’m not flirting, Ms. Noelle. I’m stating the obvious.”

I lean over the table, stare at Autumn, and say, “When I part those lips and taste the apple from this afternoon, you’ll know I’m flirting.”

Autumn gasps and then runs her tongue over her lips.

“Enough. I’d like to get my food before I’m forced to marry off my youngest at the table.”

“No force required, sir. It will happen one day soon.” I rap my knuckles on the table because it’s one thing I’m certain of. The pretty blush that stains Autumn’s face does me in and I want to leap across the table and kiss her.

My phone rang, interrupting our evening. I grumbled because now isn’t the time for business calls. My father probably has some sort of dilemma he needs me to handle. “I’ll be right back.” I stood up from the table and walked toward the hallway.

I answered it and it was my Uncle Nick. “What’s going on, Owen?”

“I’m on my way down there to help with the orchard. Pops wanted to ensure that you had things under control before the family came down for Christmas.”

“Are you serious?” I love my uncle. He was always there for me and maybe it’s because we were closer in age than my other family members. He’s only thirty-five and prefers to work on my grandfather’s ranch, but we always keep in touch.

“Yes.”

“Great. When?”

“In about a week. I’m working on the ranch, so I’m not ready to leave and they want me here for Thanksgiving, so I’ll be down the day after.”

“Okay. See you then.” I ended the call and then walked over to the table where our drinks were placed, and the server was waiting to take my order.

I give it to her and then Autumn asks, “Everything okay?”

“Great. My uncle is coming to help with the apple orchard and to help me with the house. Apparently, my family wants to gather for Christmas.”

“Really? Do you have a big family?”

“Yes, I have nine aunts and uncles and then there is my dad. I have about forty cousins; I’m the youngest of my parents’ four kids.”

Mouths fall open around the table. “What?”

“Wow.”

“There is just us two,” Noelle says.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a large family like that.”

“Yeah, they weren’t playing. Now my parents are anxious for some grandbabies as if we don’t have plenty of family running around like crazy.”

“You don’t want babies?” the nurse lady said.

“Um…yes, I do, but I need a wife first, so it’s not like I had a plan to start a family without one.” I smiled at Autumn and watched her expression, hoping she understood where my mind and heart were headed with this relationship.

“Well, just so you know, if you keep pursuing my daughter, I won’t stop nagging either. I’m not getting any younger.”

“Oh, Dad.”

“Don’t worry, sir. I’m planning on dating for marriage, Mr. Sager.” I make sure she knows exactly what I mean.

The food comes and we start talking about the orchard. The family shares their tales and I’m feeling welcome by them and it’s perfect. They laugh and then it gets a little dark as the heartache of the mother’s departure comes into play. As we’re about to call it a night, my father calls and my night just got shitty.

“Can we get the check?” I ask. “I’m sorry to do this, but I’m going to be out of town for two days. My father needs me on a merger deal. The talks require a majority shareholder to be present and I’m one of the four owners. My other brothers are overseas and therefore it’s on me to be at the meeting.”

“It’s a shame that you have to leave, but I look forward to seeing you soon.”

“I do too, Autumn.”

We parted ways, and I wanted to keep our date as promised, but I was swamped with work, so I pushed it back two days, flying out of the small airport and into Chicago. It’s hectic and I hate it because I’m leaving my woman.

Even though I doubt Carter’s a threat because he burned that damn bridge, he might try to win her back when he sees there’s competition for her. Men like him are as common as they come. Wanting the toy they tossed aside because someone else wanted to play with it. Well, Autumn is a treasure and I’m never letting her go. I’ll go to war for her and I’ve never lost a fight.

****

She’s going to be my wife and the mother of my children that’s for sure and I won’t let anyone stop me. As soon as I woke up, I headed into town and met with the lawyer for the property. There were a lot of things to go over, and I still had to manage the orchard. Thankfully because the harvesting was coming to an end, I had just a brief moment to learn some things. As winter approached, I’d have a little more time before I’d have to get everything in order.

I entered the diner to pick up lunch and came face to face with Carter.

“Hey, Owen. What’s up? I didn’t expect to see you so fancy, man. Is this the everyday getup?”

“I had a meeting with my lawyers. Anyway, there seems to be a great deal we don’t know about each other,” I snarled, stepping closer to him, each move growing more and more menacing.

He flinches and takes a step back. “Oh shit. Who told you?”

“Autumn did.”

“Well, what the hell did you expect me to say when you’re carrying a gun and we’re three stories above a crowd. It’s not like I’m going to point out my former fucked up relationship with the best girl in town to a guy who looks like he’s found his wife.”

“You still have feelings for her, don’t you?”

He bites his lip and then ducks his head. “Of course I do. It was a drunken mistake to hook up with Caroline.”

“One drunken mistake?”

“Okay, after that, I figured it wouldn’t make a difference if I did it once or a hundred times; my relationship with Autumn was over. I just didn’t know how to tell her.”

“Damn, you need to grow some balls.”

“You’re telling me.”

“That night was the one I’ll regret for the rest of my life even though I’ll treat my kid well.” I wanted to tell him what I knew, and she sure as fuck hadn’t given up coffee for a baby because she’d just finished a cup while we were in the shop, but I couldn’t say shit because frankly, I didn’t trust a man who had a lot to lose and access to weapons.

What I needed to do was talk to Matthew. Caroline was creating trouble for no reason. Unless Matthew had extra women at the house who had their periods, Caroline was lying. I have too many sisters and cousins to know what I saw in the trash can in the bathroom when she was over. She wasn’t pregnant, and she was playing Carter.

“Well, I’m sorry that you fucked up, but I’m warning you to back off of Autumn because nothing will give you a second chance on that front. She’s mine and I won’t let anyone come between us. Understood?”

“Yeah, totally.” He raises his hands and takes a step back. I grab my order and head out of the diner to my truck, only to run straight into the woman of my life.

“Autumn, what are you doing here?” We spoke briefly yesterday, and she did mention working in town, but that it was temporary since she was in school for a business degree before having to drop out due to her dad’s heart attack.

“I work here.” That makes sense why fucking Carter was still lingering around. The bastard wanted to talk to her.

“Yeah, a little detail you forgot to mention.”

“I told you I had a job in town while I was figuring things out. I just didn’t elaborate, and we were interrupted.” I had a meeting to get back into, and my father was summoning me, so I had to end the call earlier than I wanted.

“We’re always interrupted,” I complained. It could easily be rectified, but I doubt she wants that right now.

“Well, I’ve got to get to work. So are we still on for later?”

“Yes, we are. Do you want me to pick you up?”

“That would be perfect. I get out at six.”

“Sounds great, beautiful.” I pull her into my arms and kiss her lips. “God, you’re gorgeous.”

“Thank you, you’re not so bad yourself. Every time I see you, you’re in a different style. I’m not sure who I’m going to get. Tomorrow a lumberjack?”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll pick up an axe.”

“Don’t be cutting down those apple trees, mister,” she says, playfully slapping my chest.

“I wouldn’t dare dream of it. How will we invest in our future?”

“Our future?” she asks.

“Yes, you heard me right, Autumn.” I brush my nose against her and then drop my lips to hers again. “You’re going to be my wife one day.” I catch Carter’s reflection in the large bay window, and I pull her in closer, holding my woman. “Say you’re mine, Autumn.”

“I’m yours, Owen.” My eyes lift up to see the scowl on Carter’s face. He can pretend all he wants, but he still intends to win Autumn back and I’m not letting that happen.