A Reason to Forget (The Camdyn Series Book 3) Read online

  A Reason to Forget

  by

  Christina Coryell

  Text copyright © 2015 by Christina Coryell

  Cover image copyright © 2015 by Daren Coryell

  Books by Christina Coryell:

  The Camdyn Series

  A Reason to Run

  A Reason to Be Alone

  A Reason to Forget

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorChristinaCoryell

  Twitter: @c_tinacoryell

  www.christinacoryell.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. To contact the publisher, submit a request at www.christinacoryell.com.

  A Reason to Forget

  We managed to be alone after our wedding for only an hour and fifteen minutes before someone started pounding on the door. At first I told Cole to ignore it, and he seemed intent to do so, but when the pounding wouldn’t stop, he reluctantly stood and headed toward the stairs. Feeling certain this was a trick that was only designed to interrupt our blissful wedding night, I asked him one more time to pretend he didn’t hear it. He paused and turned back toward me with a smile, but then he simply sighed as he walked back toward the doorway. Feeling helpless, I pulled Grandma Ivy’s whistle from my wedding dress on the floor and brought it up to my lips, blowing with all my might. When Grandma Ivy told me it might startle him, she wasn’t kidding. He jumped at least a foot before he twisted around with wide eyes.

  “What in the world was that?” he wondered, and I giggled just a bit.

  “Grandma Ivy’s wedding gift,” I stated, holding it aloft in my fingers. He held his heart as he chuckled for a few seconds, and then he disappeared. Normally my curious nature would have gotten the best of me, but there was no need to wonder what was going on downstairs, because it only took about thirty seconds for him to yell my name.

  “Camdyn, can you come down here a minute, please?” I heard. I picked up Cole’s wedding shirt from the floor, and I might have missed a button when putting it on, but I really didn’t care. This was ridiculous.

  Plodding down the stairs in a fairly grumpy fashion, I was ready to tell off whoever was at the door for doing what no person should do - ever. As I peeked my head around the corner, I could see Cole standing at the doorstep, but try as I might, I couldn’t see what was beyond. When Cole noticed me watching him, he made a noise to clear his throat.

  “Ahem, my wife doesn’t have any pants on, is that going to be a problem?” he asked with a laugh to whoever was beyond that doorway. I stepped up and hid behind the door, and he gave me a sly grin and a wink.

  “Please, give me a break,” I heard Tony lament from the other side of the door. “Isn’t it enough that I’ve spent the last hour trying to entertain people at a wedding reception that was missing the bride and groom?”

  “What, is he here to complain?” I grumbled, folding my arms across my chest and squinting my eyes.

  “You are seriously cute, and no, he isn’t here to complain,” Cole offered, holding a piece of paper out to me. “There was a slight oversight.” I took the paper from him, but couldn’t see it in the darkness. Letting it hang near my thigh in an uninterested fashion, I sighed and put my free hand on my hip.

  “Would you two just sign the marriage license so I can get out of here?” Tony begged. “I don’t want to see anyone without their pants on, and believe me when I say that this is the last place I want to be right now. I’ve already had enough of you two hijacking the wedding – I felt completely useless up there. Then I have to come over here because you disappear without signing the license. I don’t even want to know what that high pitched squealing noise was when I was waiting down here.” Cole exchanged a look with me and started laughing.

  “Camdyn was just trying out my great grandma’s wedding gift,” Cole explained nonchalantly.

  “Please,” Tony added with exasperation, “just stop talking. Get a pen and sign that paper so I can get out of here.”

  “Babe, do you have a pen?” Cole asked me then. I just shrugged my shoulders.

  “Nah, I just got here,” I told him with a smile.

  “I don’t suppose you have a pen?” he directed to Tony, who let his breath out in a frustrated rush.

  “For the love of God, please find a pen!” Tony exclaimed. “I have never been so uncomfortable in my life.”

  “Not even when you tried to jump in that pool from two stories up?” I teased from behind the door.

  “That was an entirely different type of uncomfortable,” he protested. Cole stepped away from the door and into the kitchen, where he began rustling through drawers and banging cabinets shut.

  “I can’t seem to find a pen, Tony,” he stated playfully. “Maybe I should look in my truck.”

  “I should have never agreed to officiate your wedding,” Tony whined. “I should have known better.”

  “Well, you have to lay the blame for that on Camdyn,” Cole offered with a grin. “If you remember correctly, I was the one who remained sane during this whole debacle.”

  “Ah, yes, the sane one, throwing your wife over your shoulder and going all Dukes of Hazzard out of Rosalie’s driveway, throwing gravel everywhere,” Tony complained. “Haven’t you found a pen yet?”

  “I think I found one,” Cole said uninterestedly, motioning me over. I stole a quick glance at Tony as I passed the doorway, but he had his back fully turned. Cole signed his name and then pointed at the place for my signature, after which of course I hesitated for a split second, pretending that I was thinking it over. Ultimately, I decided to give that paper my autograph. He picked it up and walked back to the door, holding it over Tony’s shoulder.

  “Signed, sealed, delivered,” Cole stated for Tony’s benefit. “Now, may we be left in peace?”

  “Trust me when I say that I don’t want to see either one of you for a very long time,” Tony stated as he stepped off the porch. When Cole shut the door behind him, I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “I’m a little surprised at you!” I told him. “You’re always so organized, and yet you had no idea whether you had a pen.”

  “Yeah, I’m afraid I was just having a little fun with him,” Cole replied, pulling open the closest drawer, which was stocked with pens and note pads and other household supplies. I chuckled as I slid my arms around his waist.

  “I can’t believe you,” I rebuked him mockingly. “You ought to be ashamed of your Hazzard ways.”

  “Something tells me you don’t know who the Dukes of Hazzard are,” Cole smirked, shaking his head as though I had lived a wretched, sheltered life.

  “You can tell me all about it later,” I sighed, stretching my arms and faking a yawn. “Right now, I’m just too tired to listen.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” he retorted. “Come on, I’ll race you up the stairs.”

  “Uh-uh,” I whispered. “Too tired.” He reached around my waist and hauled me up over his shoulder, and for the second time that evening, I found myself staring at his backside while he carried me off. Folding one arm across my chest, I put my hand on my chin, resigned to my fate. Life with Cole was certainly not going to be boring, and it felt like we were off to an amazing start.

  Seriously, what could go wrong?
/>
  Chapter One

  Sunlight filtered across the bed and warmed my face, and as I roused from a peaceful slumber, I pushed my fingers across the sheets to my left in search of that now familiar arm to wrap myself in. Coming up empty, I raked my fingers across the brushed cotton with my eyes still closed, expecting to eventually make contact with his warmth. When I once again found nothing, I pushed myself up onto my elbows and blinked my eyes against the sunbeams cascading through the window.

  It was day nine of being Mrs. Cole Parker, which meant that this was one of the nine best days of my life, hands-down. It also meant that this was the day Cole would be returning to work, and as I reluctantly remembered that tidbit of information, I tossed myself back against my pillow in disgust.

  “Do I want to know?” I heard from somewhere to my left.

  That your wife is a selfish, spoiled brat? No, you don’t want to know.

  “Hey,” I stated sweetly, smiling up at my husband. He chuckled and shook his head as he sat down on the end of the bed with his shoes. “Do you really have to go?” When he turned those brown eyes toward me, I tried with all my might to pout and manage to look cute at the same time. Something about the way he furrowed his brow told me I was not successful.

  “You know I really have to go,” he muttered. “Stop trying to make me want to stay. I’ll have to leave anyway, and you’re just going to make me miserable.”

  “Well, I guess it wouldn’t be fair for both of us to be miserable,” I complained, swinging my legs to the side of the bed and tiptoeing on bare feet across the hardwood and into the bathroom. Once there, I grabbed my toothbrush and shut the door behind me.

  I was in the habit of hearing Cole sing before we got married – he did it randomly and quite often – but now that we had been together twenty-four hours a day, I realized his habit was much more intensive than I had originally known. It had advanced from singing songs I recognized to making up his very own lyrics that he belted at random. While I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and taking care of business, I heard one of his melodies through the door.

  “Lord, help me,” he sang, “I’ve married a crazy woman.”

  “Not crazy!” I yelled around my toothbrush.

  “She’s so in love with me that she won’t leave my side,” he continued.

  Okay, that’s sort of spot on.

  “I hear no arguing, that means she admits it,” he went on, at which point I smiled to myself behind that bathroom door.

  “Yes, I’m in love with you,” I offered, “when you leave, I might die.” When I opened the door, it was to one of his unbelievable smiles and some slight laughter. Standing there in the doorway with my wild blonde curls, wearing that black Poison t-shirt that I had taken from Cole weeks before, I’m quite certain I looked ridiculous. He didn’t make me feel ridiculous, though; when he looked at me, I felt like someone who was worthy of his undivided attention.

  “Well, now you’ve done it,” he said sadly, reaching out for my hand. “I’m thinking about leaving, and I’m already miserable. Why do you have to be so cute, finishing my stupid corny song like that? You even made it rhyme. Sometimes I can’t even make them rhyme.”

  “I am awfully adorable,” I insisted, tilting my head to the side. “Besides, you don’t really want to leave me here alone. I might burn our house down.” He wrapped his arms around me, looking up into my face from where he sat on the bed. Unable to resist, I tousled his hair a bit as I gazed into those deep brown eyes.

  “I don’t want to leave you here alone,” he agreed, “but it has nothing to do with burning the house down.” I twisted a piece of his hair around my finger, and he chuckled at me.

  “I won’t be cruel to you,” I stated, letting my hands fall to my side. “I know you have work to do.”

  “So do you,” he added. “Your next story idea is lurking somewhere in that beautiful mind of yours, and when you finally have time to yourself to think, I know it’s going to come bursting forth.”

  “Don’t worry about me, Mr. Parker. I’ll just sit here in my beautiful rock and roll workout library and stare out at my gigantic backyard until an idea formulates in my mind.”

  “In other words, you’re going to play with my guitars all morning,” he laughed.

  “You think you already have me figured out,” I argued, crossing my arms as he rose from the bed. “Okay, you might have caught me, but I will do my best to think of something. Cross my heart.” I made a little sideways motion back and forth across my chest to accentuate my point, and then he leaned down and kissed me quickly.

  “I’ve stalled enough,” he said. “I won’t be home for lunch – we’re going to be in town. You can come meet us at the café, though, if you want.”

  “Yes, I want,” I told him with a wink. “Maybe I’ll invite Lily.” I was beginning to miss my librarian friend, since I hadn’t been in to do any research in a while.

  “Sounds good,” he chuckled. “I’m late – gotta go.” He walked to the bedroom door, and I stayed about two steps behind him the entire way. Down the stairs I followed him, and across the kitchen and to the front door. When he grabbed his keys and pulled the door open, I remained there in the doorway watching him. He took two steps down toward his truck, and then he suddenly turned and walked back up to the house.

  “Forget something?” I asked. He nodded and swept me into his arms, kissing me soundly as I put my arms around his neck and savored the moment. When he pulled back and released me, he looked deeply into my eyes.

  “I love you,” he whispered, “so much.”

  “I love you back,” I answered, kissing him again. He slowly turned and walked to his truck, stopping at the last minute to face me and give me one of those amazing smiles. As he drove away, I raised my hand to wave and then wrapped my arms around myself, smiling secretly at the beautiful life I was living.

  -§-

  As promised, I tried desperately that morning to come up with something to write about. I thumbed through a couple of my United States history books, and then read a couple chapters of a Jane Austen novel. Then, admittedly, I fooled around with Cole’s guitars for a few minutes. They were too tempting to leave hanging there on the wall. Eventually I did have to take a shower and prepare to rejoin normal society, since I was having lunch at the café.

  We had managed to spend the entire week uninterrupted, the two of us. The only exception was the day before, Sunday, when we had gone to Liz and Ted’s for lunch. (It was rather remarkable to me how easily I had fallen into calling Cole’s parents Mom and Dad, as though they had been destined to have those names all along. There wasn’t a hair on my head that didn’t realize how fortunate I was to be a part of the Parker family.)

  As for the rest of our week, I can only add that it was blissful. Well, as long as you leave out the four straight hours that Cole forced me to watch Dukes of Hazzard. Seriously, if I heard “yee-haw” one more time, I might have screamed. Besides, why do they always have to slide into their car through the windows? That is weird, and they would have had bruises all up and down their sides, wouldn’t they?

  In any event, now that I knew enough about them to understand a Dukes of Hazzard reference when I heard one, I think Cole was satisfied. Maybe we could leave that behind us, just like the Star Wars fascination.

  Dressing in a pair of denim cutoffs and a navy t-shirt, I pulled my hair into a ponytail and prepared to head to town. I checked myself quickly in the mirror before I grabbed my keys and my phone, and then I popped out the back door and walked to the detached garage, where Cole insisted I keep my car. He had used it previously more for a shop than a garage, and I was fairly certain he would rather keep using it as a shop, but he was also bending over backwards to try to make me happy. I honestly didn’t care if I parked inside, but since he was kind enough to offer, I didn’t want to refuse.

  When I was nearly to the garage door, our golden lab Pop found me. Instead of jumping up in front of me like he normally did, he lunge
d at me from behind. He managed to hit me right at the knees, knocking me off my feet and onto the gravel.

  “Pop!” I muttered, turning around to glare at him. Ignoring my protests, he leapt toward my face and gave me a big, slurping dog kiss. I fought to shove him away from me, laughing and telling him that he was disgusting. Slowly rising to my feet, I rubbed the top of his head for a minute before sending him after a stick.

  The drive to the café went quickly, and I arrived right as Cole’s truck pulled up, carrying his friend and coworker Jake as well. I jogged across the street quickly to see if Lily wanted to join us, and then the two of us walked towards the café together. While we were walking, I stole a quick glance in her direction.

  “So, how goes it with Nate?” I asked, remembering seeing Lily and Cole’s old firefighter buddy dancing together at the wedding. Lily gave me a sly grin around her dark asymmetrical hair before she answered.

  “Nate was really great,” she told me. “Kind of makes me wish Nashville wasn’t so far away. Jake’s been strangely attentive this week, though. I think maybe he was jealous.”

  “Jake, jealous?!” I asked, feigning shock. “Surely you’re mistaken.”

  “Probably so,” she agreed with a grin as I pulled open the door to the café, hearing the bell jingle overhead. The two of us walked over to Cole and Jake, and Cole rose to his feet to greet us. Putting his arm around me, he slid into the booth beside me, leaving Lily to sit next to Cole’s attractive, smirking friend.

  “Hey, Lil,” Jake said, winking in her direction before he turned to look at me. “Heartbreaker, I assume you’re the one responsible for Parker being late this morning.”

  Ugh, I hope Jake doesn’t insist on calling me heartbreaker for the rest of my life. It is embarrassing, after all.

  “Who, me?” I questioned. “No, I kept telling him he needed to hurry and leave.” At that, Cole rolled his eyes and hugged me close to his side.