Somebody: A Country Romance Read online

  Somebody

  What if your soulmate was a person you never noticed?

  Shayne McClendon

  Somebody by Shayne McClendon

  Original Edition © 2012 Shayne McClendon

  Revised Edition © 2015 Shayne McClendon

  Updated Edition: March 31, 2016

  Published by Always the Good Girl LLC

  www.alwaysthegoodgirl.com

  All rights reserved.

  This 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.

  Also by Shayne McClendon

  The Barter System – Book 1

  Hudson – Book 2

  Pushing the Envelope – Book 3

  Backstage – Book 4

  Liberation – Book 5

  Radiance – Book 6

  Yes to Everything

  Love of the Game – The Complete Collection

  Completely Wrecked

  The Hermit

  Break Down Here

  Roadside Assistance

  Dedication

  I dedicate this to my brilliant (and chaotic) son, Ethan. He’s one of the best people I know and a source of endless entertainment for his sister and me. His quick wit and comedic timing are matched only by his ability to grasp complex and interesting topics.

  He has a habit of overcomplicating things sometimes, not seeing the simplicity that often exists.

  I know that his powerful brain will eventually settle into a rhythm that allows him to do all the things he wants and needs to do. I can’t wait to see what happens.

  I love you, Ethan. Thanks for supporting me when you really didn’t have to and for always telling me, “You’ve come too damn far to quit now.”

  I appreciate you more than you know.

  Mom

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  About Shayne McClendon

  Prologue

  Aubrey Price was a worker bee.

  She started working for McAllister Modern Fuels when she was in high school, then returned every summer during college as an intern. She earned her master’s degree in marketing and analysis, with a secondary major she loved, at twenty-three.

  Academic scholarships covered most of her education but MMF insisted on paying for anything that would have come out of her own pocket.

  She knew more about their daily business operations than many of the employees who’d been with the company for decades. Over the years, she’d been shuttled from department to department to train, learn the ins and outs, and provide feedback on what she found.

  They offered her a permanent position before the ink was dry on her degree. Her gratitude at being able to live and work in her hometown was enormous.

  Promoted several times, provided consistent raises, allowed to pursue her hobbies, and given her own office as the public relations liaison, she had no desire to entertain offers she received from recruiters around the country.

  Aubrey maintained constant communication between the local community and the corporation that was known for its’ generosity in regards to education, neighborhood development, and children’s charities.

  Handling the public face of a company that gradually expanded their footprint around the globe entailed much more discretion locally than anyone could possibly imagine but she didn’t mind.

  She was happy to do it.

  Averting potential bad press was what she lived for. She loved the company and she loved her job.

  She also loved Elliot McAllister, the middle son, but swore no one would ever know.

  Chapter One

  May 2013

  Aubrey’s mother Lilly died during childbirth and her daddy did his best to raise her alone.

  Working a small piece of land outside of town, Brian Price kept her fed, clothed, and safe. He was a kind and stable father, if not an overly affectionate one.

  When she started her period at fifteen, he took her to the doctor for the talk she’d already educated herself on years before. Knowing her dad was out of his element, she went willingly and had a nice chat with Doc about his kids after she assured him that she understood how the human body worked. The older man was clearly relieved.

  Her father was unable to look her in the eye when she returned to the waiting room.

  A massive coronary claimed his life the week she celebrated being with the company full time for five years.

  He died on the back of the tractor he’d spent so many years driving through the fields.

  Phillip and Octavia McAllister, the owners of the company, stopped by when she returned from the hospital.

  She imagined one of the medical staff called them and was glad they pretended not to notice she’d been crying.

  “How are you, Aubrey? What can we do?” Mrs. McAllister was still a stunning woman. Hair that must have been blonde in her youth had settled into a lovely ash tone. It highlighted her magnificent green eyes. They were a feature she’d passed on to her sons.

  Discretely wiping her face, she replied, “I’m going to be fine but I truly appreciate you asking.”

  Mr. McAllister insisted on helping her feed her horse. “Looks like you need a new bag of feed in the bin. Let me do that for you. I think it weighs more than you.”

  Despite the pain in her chest, it made her chuckle. “I usually don’t try to lift the bag, sir. I load it by the bucket.”

  They talked for a few minutes and kept themselves busy so she wouldn’t feel awkward.

  When they prepared to leave, the older woman took her hands. “If you need anything at all, you don’t hesitate, Aubrey. I mean it. Call me.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. That’s kind of you.”

  After so many years, the couple still awed her. She wrapped her arms around her torso and waved as they drove away.

  When she went to the funeral home the following day to pay for services for her father, the owner told her with a gentle smile that it was paid in full by the McAllister family.

  Aubrey cried brokenly in the man’s office at such generosity during a time she was doing her best to hide her sadness and how overwhelmed she felt.

  She sent a note, a small fern, and a check for the cost of the funeral to her neighbor through the flower shop.

  Dear Mrs. McAllister,

  I planned carefully and I’m going to be alright.

  I’m sure there are so many others who could use this help and I wouldn’t feel right about taking it. I can’t thank you enough for thinking of me.

  Aubrey Price

  She received a reply, a stunning peace lily, and her check an hour later.

  Aubrey, your attention to the old proprieties is so refreshing.

  I’ve watched you grow over the years into a woman who would make your mother incredibly proud. You are strong and intelligent with the right amount of common sense.

  You look just like Lilly. I should have checked on you more since her death. I was once a young woman alone, Aubrey. She was a good friend to me when
I didn’t have many, back before I ‘married well.’ I never forgot her, or her friendship.

  I ask that you allow me do this one small thing, in honor of your mother whom I loved very much. You have a friend just up the road should you need anything.

  In kindness,

  Octavia

  When she’d gotten her crying jag under control, she watered the peace lily and placed it on the windowsill above her kitchen sink.

  Walking into her father’s bedroom, she opened the curtains and stared at the space he’d never changed since losing Aubrey’s mother.

  The quilt Lilly made laid neatly across the bench at the end of the bed. Her silver tray of perfumes sat on the end of the dresser. When she was a little girl, she’d loved to dust the pretty bottles and polish the tray.

  Walking around to her father’s side of the bed, she perched on the edge and picked up the silver frame holding a picture of her parents on their wedding day.

  Aubrey never had a chance to know her mother but the way her father teared up when he tried to talk about his late wife told her more than words what kind of woman she’d been. He was a quiet man but in regards to the small woman he’d lost too young, he held deep emotion.

  In her teens, her dad began “dating” a local woman. She wasn’t allowed to come to their home and Aubrey was not introduced.

  As a grown woman, she understood loneliness and the need to have a physical connection with another person. She never resented her father for seeking female company but wished he’d been able to love again.

  Lilly took his heart with her when she died. Maybe they were together now.

  Standing up, she wiped her face and went to his closet. She took down the suit he’d worn the only time he ever danced with her.

  At the time, she was awed that he could. Smiling down into her face, he’d whispered, “Your mother taught me.”

  Removing everything that she would take to the funeral home, she took a moment to dust his bedroom. Eventually, she would go through his papers and personal belongings but she wasn’t ready to do it yet.

  For now, she picked up the silver frame and the tray of perfume to place in her own bedroom.

  They made her feel less alone.

  A week later, she laid her father to rest beside his Lilly. People attended his funeral and whispered their condolences after the preacher finished the service. She nodded and did her best to smile, keeping her emotions in check despite an overwhelming need to cry.

  After most drifted away, she waited for the groundskeeper to cover her father’s casket and tamp down the dirt.

  Octavia startled her by taking her hand. “Aubrey, do you need anything?” She shook her head and the older woman stared at her for a long moment. “Why don’t you join us at the house for dinner?”

  “No, ma’am. I thank you for the offer but I’m pretty tired.” She swiped at a tear that tried to escape. “I’m okay by myself. I’ll just stay a while.”

  Philip, Elliot, and Noah stood just behind Octavia. She knew the eldest son was traveling.

  “Th-thank you all for coming.”

  “Gage will be upset that he wasn’t here.”

  “I hope not.” She inhaled carefully and met Mrs. McAllister’s eyes. “Ma’am, I-I need to say goodbye.” In a whisper, she added, “I can’t…I’ll be embarrassed for anyone to see me.” She blinked against tears that were getting harder for her to hold back.

  Stepping closer, hiding her from the men, Octavia told her, “Call me if you need me, Aubrey. I understand.”

  Then she kissed her cheek and hustled her male family members away toward the road.

  A few minutes later, the groundskeeper was finished laying new sod over the rich soil.

  He turned to her with a gentle smile.

  “Would you like a chair, Miss Price?” She nodded gratefully and he brought her one. “I’ll leave you alone, miss. You stay as long as you like.”

  From the basket she’d carried with her to the cemetery, she removed a few supplies. Scanning in the picture of her parents from their wedding, she found a man able to transfer it to stone. It had arrived the day before.

  Tracing her fingers over the image that now sat beside her own bed, she kicked off her heels and knelt in the soft grass in front of the large headstone she’d ordered with both of their names to replace the simple stone that once stood over the grave of her mother.

  It was a shared memorial to their enduring love story that listed their names, dates of birth, and dates of death.

  It always broke Aubrey’s heart to see her birthday listed as the day Lilly died.

  Trailing a line of liquid cement over the bottom edge of the stone photograph, she centered it along the bottom lip of the headstone. She waited patiently until it began to harden. When it was stable, she attached two stone vases in the same manner beneath their names.

  Instead of fresh flowers, she’d ordered lovely hard plastic bouquets that resembled glass.

  That they would never die was important to her.

  Applying a bit of the cement to the stem of each, she lowered them into the vases and smiled at the effect.

  She replaced everything in her basket and sat quietly, thinking about the gentle couple who’d had so little time together. Tears came and she let them.

  Near dark, she stood with a sigh. “I’ll come back to visit sometimes but I’d rather remember you in your picture. I’d rather think about the few times I heard you laugh, Dad. I’m more alone than ever. I love you, both of you. I’ll try to make you proud of me.”

  Folding the chair, she leaned it against a tree on the other side of the path through the picturesque cemetery. Then she walked to her little car and drove home.

  * * *

  Her dad’s life insurance paid off his few debts and left her enough to get some things updated at their old house.

  Aubrey paid two years’ worth of veterinary care for her sweet mare Trix and stocked up on anything non-perishable that she could possibly need inside and outside of the house.

  What remained went into savings.

  She rented out three fields to local farmers who would have the time and inclination to plant them and saved the fourth – as Brian always had – to rotate each season.

  Aubrey felt her father would be pleased with her choices.

  Her job paid her more than enough to live comfortably. She had no financial worries, didn’t live on credit, and understood that being willing to work hard availed her of many opportunities.

  As an only child, she’d never met any of her parent’s relatives and assumed there weren’t any.

  She wasn’t a person who made friends easily. When she was little, she grew accustomed to her own company and knew that her father simply didn’t consider involving her in activities where she would have met others her age.

  Aubrey didn’t date, though men offered. Her only boyfriend in high school had taken her virginity clumsily. In college, she gave two more men chances to impress her.

  They did not.

  Ultimately, she gave up. Romance didn’t seem worth the hassle…or the mess.

  She was content with her life if not exactly happy. Though she was sometimes lonely, she kept herself busy and it seemed to help.

  Chapter Two

  August 2013

  Aubrey’s life settled into a quiet routine of working, cleaning house, cooking meals for one, watching movies or reading, and riding her horse.

  Time passed slower since she’d lost her dad.

  The border between Aubrey’s land and the massive McAllister spread was a mile from her house. Most weekends, she rode Trix along the access road used by the utility companies that passed behind both properties.

  Phillip McAllister created a compound on more than a hundred acres over the years. Their residential property featured the breathtaking main house and three smaller guesthouses. Each sat on several acres of land out of eyesight of the big house or each other.

  The three McAllister sons lived in t
hem.

  The siblings looked alike, around six-two with dark brown hair, electric green eyes, and powerful bodies. Spaced an ideal four years apart, they were the most envied men in their little piece of Oklahoma.

  Their oldest boy was Gage. Once a wild man with no fear or limits, he had recently married. He was practically mellow now and the change had locals scratching their heads in confusion.

  He served as the vice president of research and development. Aubrey worked in his department through her first three years of college and he’d always been kind. From day one, he encouraged her to learn everything she could and never hesitated to answer her questions. She worked in his division on the side and loved every minute.

  When Gage went on a business trip to Savannah and came back with a beautiful blonde rumored to be a stripper, the town talked for days.

  The community was atwitter with scandalous pieces of information that Aubrey knew were patently untrue.

  Anyone who dared to bring nasty gossip to her received a verbal thrashing. “Making ugly assumptions about that young woman is just jealous. Jealousy is a disgusting trait.”

  By the time she was done, most couldn’t look her in the eye. She hated trash talk. It wasn’t right to talk about people, to comment on their personal lives.

  The youngest son was Noah. He was single and flirted shamelessly with her as well as every other available female.

  She’d always been polite but clear that she wasn’t interested in a romantic involvement with him. Though they were only four years apart in age, she knew he had a lot of growing up left to do.

  Noah was a hellion and certified lady’s man. All the McAllister boys had the same well-earned reputation. Gage was working hard to change his image since he married but his youngest brother showed no signs of settling down anytime soon.

  As the company’s vice president of finance, she’d interned as his assistant during her last two years of college. He’d been impressed with her ability to learn tasks quickly and still came to her with problems in his division.

  Elliot was the middle son, eight years older than Aubrey, who held the position as the vice president of marketing. Since finishing her graduate program and full time hire with McAllister, she’d worked in his department.