03.2023 | WELCOME BACK! Hello friends old and new! I'm so excited to welcome you all back to SITW! I've made some changes to the plot and added the ability to play supernatural charcaters! So come and check it out! I can't wait to jump back into this little town with all of you!
A strange history surrounds the town, it is a place where mysterious and supernatural things have been known to happen. The reputation of the town reguarly draws in visitors and newcomers alike. While some residents avidly believe in the supernatural, others are far more skeptical. What do you believe?
Brodie had received Kate's text fifteen minutes prior to the moment he stepped into the diner. Sure, he'd started the correspondence, but she'd been the one to tell him to come by. He tried not to feel giddy, but he did. She was still everything to him--even though he'd spent years trying to get her not to be. Nothing could replace her. There was no other woman in Sweetwater like Kate.
"Hey there, sheriff." He was greeted by a towns person. Brodie tipped his hat. Yes, he wore a sheriff's hat. He stopped by the man's table and engaged in small talk until he was sure Kate had seen him...
After the text she had got from Brodie she wasn't sure that he would actually come by. Maybe he'd come up with some excuse as to why he hadn't been able to make it. She was working behind the counter when the bell above the door chimed and the Sheriff stepped in.
He was quickly greeted by another customer and they started to engage in conversation. She put in the order for a burger to her cook and waited for Brodie to finish his conversation.
Brodie finished, but lingered, hoping Kate would approach him. She was, after all, the one who had left. It was only fitting that she should be the one to come back...or maybe he was overthinking it.
"Kate." He looked up and caught her, smiling and lifting a hand for a wave as he moved to close the distance between them. It was always hard to get near to her. His heart rate grew rapid, and he had to consciously will his eyes to keep on her face. He just knew her so well, knew he body so well, and he yearned for her. He wanted to hold her and whisper with her into the night as they had done in the past.
Kate returned the wave and stepped up to him as he stepped up to her. "Brodie, good to see you." She said, and it was, though it was always laced with pain and longing. "I didn't want to interrupt your conversation." She explained her reason for not being the first to approach.
She allowed the hug, returned it even. The feel of him was so familiar, the smell of his skin, the way she had to raise up on her toes a bit to kiss him. She shook the thought away. That was over. She wanted more than a secret lover. She wanted a husband to share her life with.
Maybe he had changed his mind...
It was a challenge not to linger into the hug but as they broke apart she smiled up at him. "I already put your order in. Can I get you something to drink?" She offered.
"You're the best." He told her with all honesty, truly believing his words. She was the best. She'd always been the best. "Yeah, I'll take a glass of Cheerwine." He glanced towards her tables, then added, "Are you eating with me?"
She huffed a bit with a smile at his compliment. Ya, she was the best. Too bad he had let her go. No, not really. Kate was far more self deprecating than that. If she WAS actually the best then he wouldn't have let her go.
She nodded as he request for drink. She wasn't a big fan of that particular carbonated beverage herself. She scribbled a little note on her pad out of habit, she liked to keep everything written down just in case.
She glanced up at his question, a little surprised by it. "Do you want me to?" She asked. It certainly wasn't a no, she had simply not expected the question.
Brodie felt a little stupid when she looked up at him with such...surprise. Why was that surprising?
"I guess I thought that's part of why you had me come..." Brodie said, a breathy laugh escaping his lips. Weren't they going to sit? To talk? To reminisce or perhaps talk about them? Or had this invitation simply been a courtesy and she intended to serve him his food and walk away--just like she walked away five years ago?
Honestly, part of her hadn't expected him to accept her invitation, and then wasn't entirely sure he'd show up when he said yes. So she hadn't really thought about it to be honest. "Ok, just give me one second." She said with a smile.
She tapped on the empty table nearest them with a smile. "Have a seat." She moved to the back and let the other server know that they needed to take over her tables. It wasn't particularly busy right now so they'd be fine for a bit. She stepped into the back and took of her apron, glancing in the reflective surface of an oven door and fluffing her hair a bit. She knew she smelled like the diner, but that wouldn't be anything new.
She came back out with Brodie's cheerwine and a Pepsi for herself and sat down opposite him as she slid the drink across the table with a wrapped straw.
"So," she started, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "any crazy cases lately?" She asked, trying to make conversation and feeling stupidly nervous.
Brodie always showed up. He was a man of his word. His "yes" was his bond. He obediently went to the table she tapped, feeling a little hot in the ears. Should he not have come? Sitting alone at the table made him feel stupid. He was the sheriff. He felt he deserved more than second class treatment. He tried to push away sensitivity and instead enjoy his sister-in-law. That's what she was, after all. Aunt Kate. Nothing more.
He wondered if she might abandon him to eat alone, but then she appeared and joined him. Brodie smiled as she sat and took a sip of his soda before responding.
"Not really." He shrugged his shoulders. The town was too small for the crazy cases to stay under cover. "I mean...I guess one. I just moved a young guy into the house. In fact, he's in your old bedroom." He felt a little odd bringing the bedroom up. He couldn't count how many times the bedroom had hosted their lovemaking. His eyes jumped to his drink at the thought.
Kate's eyes widened briefly at the revelation. "Oh. Really?" She asked, not able to completely hide the concern in her voice. Who was this guy? Was he considered about his presence around his teenage daughter? Part of her felt the bitterness of being replaced but it had been her choice, she couldn't expect him to never move on. But a young guy?
"Who is he?" She asked, trying to sound nonchalant and she unwrapped the straw and placed it into her drink. The bubbles causing it to bob back up slightly. She pulled the drink closer to her and took a sip.
"A friend's nephew." Brodie said, thankful for conversation to take his mind off of lovemaking. He hadn't done so in a while now and desperately wanted to. It would be a lie to say he hadn't been with Kate since she'd left the house...but they certainly weren't consistent. The few times they hooked up it seemed like it was more about the season than actually being with one another. Maybe she'd really moved on. Maybe it was time for him to as well.
"It's a weird situation that I'm really not at liberty to discuss." Brodie said, frowning, but added, "He's sixteen. Michael is his name. He'll be starting at the high school. Probably looking for a job. Are you hiring servers?"
Oh, sixteen. That was quite a bit different than the image in her mind of a 20-something adult living in the house with them. Still, a teenager could still cause trouble, but she had to trust that Brodie knew what he was doing and that this kind was trustworthy enough to let him stay in their home.
"Well, that's kind of you to let him stay. I hope he isn't too much of a handful." Two burgers were then delivered to the table. "Let me know if you need any help." She said. "I'd be happy to give him an interview." She said, she wouldn't hire just anybody. She hadn't realized yet that she had already met this particular kid. "I could always use more help around here."
That was Kate: always to the rescue. Always helping. She was the Latina Mother Theresa. Brodie loved it and hated it about her. It was why she had moved in--to help after Trinity's passing. If she'd never moved in then things never would have changed between them. Brodie had always thought she was obnoxiously attractive to be the sister-in-law, but he'd only had eyes for Trinity when his wife was alive. After her death...Kate had become everything to him. Then she'd walked out. The life he'd given her wasn't good enough for her.
"So," Brodie started, squirting a big pile of ketchup onto his plate, "you dating anyone?" He was really taken with his preparation to eat his sandwich so he conveniently couldn't look up.
Why did he have to sit there...looking like that? He was so annoyingly handsome. She swore that every time she saw him she instantly regretted her decision. She had given HIM up? For what? For this life of loneliness with the hope of the classic idea of a family? Was she crazy? Was her dream silly? Having him around always made her second guess her life.
His question didn't help and she had been half way through a bite when he asked it. She ended up coughing on inhaled crumbs from the bun. That question had seemed rather abrupt. After she swallowed she took a sip of her drink and then replied. "No, not right now. What about you?" She asked, unable to keep her gaze off him of him even though she desperately wanted to tear them away right now. What if he said yes?
There was something so satisfying about Kate's response. He knew the timing could have been coincidental, but he chose to believe it wasn't. He chose to believe that she was pining for him still. He wanted to believe it. Truth was, he still wanted her. Not enough to risk his reputation to ask her to marry him, clearly, but he wanted her.
"Yeah, actually," he said, though it was something like a lie. His friends had been trying to set him up with a woman for some time now, and he decided--as of two seconds ago--that he was going to ask her out on a date after he left the diner. He was doing for himself...no, for the look he hoped to see on Kate's face.
"Well we haven't been out yet, but we will soon. Go on a date, that is." He didn't like lying. It wasn't right. This wasn't entirely a lie, though, right?