by Linda Palmer
"I promise there isn't a snake in there."
She still had no words.
"Please don't thank me."
"Thank you? As if." Her last words were an angry hiss. "Do you have any idea how much you just complicated my life?"
As much as you've complicated mine? "So are you going to open it or not?"
Just then a woman popped into the foyer. She looked so much like Lily I guessed she might be a sister. "Lils, you haven't introduced your…?"
Lily quickly supplied the word. "Friend."
All my attention was on the probably big sister, who could've been the second mouse. You know, the once that actually gets the cheese. Her smug smile said she didn't believe Lily for a moment.
"Seriously. This is not what you think." Lily kept her tone stern.
"Uh-huh." She offered me her right hand. "Hi, I'm Charly, Lily's big sister."
"Guessed that. I'm Cade."
She slipped her arm through mine. "Come in, come in. The whole family is dying to meet you."
Lily groaned and buried her face in her hands. I could easily imagine her silent questions.
How could he do this to me?
Wasn't he the one who'd said we could never be?
She was right about that last thing. I had said that. And now I'd crashed her family Christmas. Was she pissed, confused, shocked?
I wasn't sure why I'd given into impulse. Had to be more than me craving a normal Christmas. Didn't matter that it used to be my favorite holiday, even after the big Santa Claus reveal. Yeah, there was something about strung lights, decorated trees, and presents that truly got to me year after year. I actually had favorite holiday movies, something I'd deny even under torture.
Mostly, though, I missed my mom. We'd had only each other for years before Ben took us in. Although he'd pretty much turned our lives around, I sometimes longed for the simple life again.
But that was in the past. Now I had unspoken promises to keep—promises I'd get to when Christmas was over.
Was I sorry I'd come?
Hell no.
I meant to enjoy myself today…that is if everyone would stop staring.
Geez.
Could there be more people crammed into one freakin' room…?
Chapter Fifteen
Lily
I stood at the den door while Charly introduced the family, a move clearly designed to distract Cade while she stripped off his jacket. Although visibly flustered, he spoke politely to each family member in turn. Charly pointed to the couch. He obediently sat. Since the only vacant seat in the room—besides the floor—was next to him, I headed that way. To do otherwise would draw even more attention to us. When I got there, he jumped up, good manners not lost on my family. We both sat, our bodies crushed together. Cade had to lay his arm along the backrest to ease our cramped situation.
"Are we ever going to open presents?" Wendy sounded whiny, but I couldn't blame her. At that age, I'd have complained about delays, too. First, the annual three-hundred-sixty-five day wait, and now dawdling adults.
Though he wasn't wearing red, Dad played Santa as always and passed out the presents, at which point everyone began tearing away holiday paper and ribbons like the little kids we still were deep inside. Nostalgia replaced my embarrassment for a nanosecond and then inexplicably lingered until everything felt suddenly right. That made me realize something had been lacking before. I flicked a sidelong glance Cade's way.
Was he the missing link?
At the moment, I could almost believe it. But I knew the second he was gone I'd have doubts. I caught him watching me, his expression guarded. Did the boy ever smile? "I wish you hadn't done this." I indicated the box. "I don't have one for you."
"Didn't expect anything."
Neither did I. After carefully untying the red velvet ribbon, I lifted the lid of a gold box that would've fit a basketball just right. But there wasn't a ball in there. Instead, nestled amongst a lot of white tissue paper, I saw part of a wolf figurine. No, wait. I dug deeper, but didn't take it out of the box. It was a table fountain—a gorgeous one carved from cedar in the shape of a waterfall with pool below it. A wolf's head had been sculpted on one side of the wood, and it was, in a word, exquisite.
"Oh, Cade." With tears brimming, I impulsively threw both my arms around him in a sideways hug. "Thank you so much." I added a kiss meant for his cheek. Somehow it landed on the corner of his mouth.
All around the room, my kin exchanged nods and smiles as if I'd never had a guy drop by before. Cade cleared his throat, a self-conscious sound, before muttering, "No problem," the southern equivalent of you're welcome. I don't think a guy's face could've turned any redder.
"I didn't come to intrude on your family time. I really should go," he whispered once the spotlight shifted away.
"Good luck with that."
His eyebrows shot up. I didn't explain. He'd figure it out soon enough.
As the pile of crumpled wrapping paper, discarded boxes, and clipped ribbons in the middle of the room grew, I relaxed. Cade, however, did not. Waves of tension radiated off him and didn't lessen when tradition kicked in and we began showing off our presents and thanking whoever had given them. When it was finally my time for show and tell—I was last—I started with the present I'd opened first that morning. It had some weight to it, so I had to use both hands to take it from the box. The room went deathly quiet.
"Oh, Lily. I think I know this piece." Mom got up and took it from me. She tipped it to read the bottom. "I do!" She caught Marcia's eye. "Kiss from a Wolf. That's Amy Messig-Cannon in Colorado, isn't it?"
Messig, huh? "That would be your…?"
He quietly filled in the blank. "Mom."
Of course they heard him, and all the ladies took that moment to begin their inquisition.
"You're from out west?"
"How did you and Lils meet?"
"Are you going to Winchester Tech?"
"Where do you work?"
"You're staying for lunch, right? It'll be ready by two."
"Would you like a cup of cocoa or coffee? Or maybe a soft drink?"
"We have cookies. I helped make them." This came from Wendy, who promptly crawled onto Cade's lap. He sat back in visible alarm.
"Hold your horses!" Dad finally came to Cade's rescue. "Give the poor guy a break. Carry on, Lily."
I showed off each my gifts and was soon the proud recipient of new PJs and jeans, UGGS, leggings, a cross-body purse, and a bright yellow slicker with matching umbrella.
I held up my last present, a pink Victoria's Secret gift bag.
"You have to take out what's inside," said Wendy. Rules were rules, after all.
"I'll show you and only you." I opened the bag so that she could take a peek inside.
She sagged her disappointment. "It's just overalls."
Everyone but Cade burst out laughing. He couldn't possibly know that's what my niece called bras. Impishly, Wendy touched her forefingers to the corners of his lips and tugged up on them. "Can you smile?"
His gaze bounced from his interested audience back to her. "Er, yes?"
"Do it."
I wanted to die. But he simply complied, flashing one that would've taken me to my knees if I'd been standing. Without explanation, I jumped up and slipped into the kitchen, where I leaned against the counter and struggled to catch my breath. What was wrong with me? No guy had ever caused trembling hands, a pounding heart, and wobbly knees. That meant I had zero experience with a reaction like this. Worse, I saw no evidence that I rattled him. Any nervousness he felt was clearly a result of seeing my family all together in one room. Who wouldn't be overwhelmed by that?
All the ladies in the house soon joined me, but not, thank goodness, to ask questions. Mom headed for the fridge and began to take out casserole dishes full of the food she'd prepared the night before. Charly checked on the ham already baking in a roaster. Gran handed Wendy a tray of finger foods and sent her to the den before pouring Gramps and my dad a
nother cup of coffee. Shelly walked straight to me and offered a hug and a whispered message. "Don't worry. If the Vincents can love me, he's a shoo-in."
I had to laugh. The process of adding her to our family had been a little rocky. For one thing, she was female, and Marcia hadn't come out to us yet. For another, she did bawdy stand-up comedy at a drag bar in New Orleans. But we'd quickly learned to appreciate her generosity, wicked wit, and love for Marcie. "Cade isn't my boyfriend."
Shelly blinked. "Does he know that?"
"Of course. We're kind of, sort of, but not really friends, which is exactly what he wants."
"And wanting that, he followed you to Little Rock, gave you a three-hundred-dollar present—"
I gasped. "Please tell me you're kidding."
"Nope. I've lusted after that fountain ever since I saw it in a gift shop last summer while we were on vacay."
"But I didn't buy him anything!"
"Maybe he gets a family discount." With a wink, she left to help Marcia with another tray of snacks.
For several seconds, I stood there in chagrin wondering what the heck to do. I peeked into the den and found Cade talking to Roger and Dad. No, they were doing the talking, and with the subtlety of a chainsaw. I guessed they were asking the very questions I wanted to ask and actually getting answers, which I so wasn't.
"What can I do to help?" I asked my mom, my eye still on the den.
"Not a thing, sweetie. Go entertain your boyfriend." My mother framed my face with her hands and kissed my forehead. "I'm so glad you've found such a nice young man. I've been worried about you."
I couldn't not correct her. "He's really just a friend that's a guy, Mom."
"Does he know that?" She sounded honestly surprised, probably because she, too, knew the price of the fountain.
Oh God. This was going downhill fast. Without answering, I went into the den and tapped Cade on the shoulder. He looked back and then jumped to his feet. "Hey."
"We should talk."
"Okay."
I motioned for him to follow and led the way up the curved stairway. From the plush carpeting to the wall art, my parents' financial status was evident. Dermatologists, they shared an office in a building they owned. The rent they got from the other doctors in the complex was substantial. With their lucrative practices and clever investing added to that, we were definitely well off.
This didn't go unnoticed by Cade, whose gaze ping-ponged from this one-of-a-kind vase to that marble-topped table. By the time we reached the upstairs hallway, he was obviously shaken.
I turned on him. "What?"
"I shouldn't be here."
"Because?"
"I don't belong in your world."
My world? He had to be talking about financial status. I rolled my eyes. "Could you be more materialistic?" Huffing my frustration, I walked down the hall to my bedroom. Cade trailed me, but stopped at the door instead of following me inside. I sat on the bed campfire style and patted the comforter. "Have a seat."
He hesitated. "Your parents won't mind if I'm up here?"
"Of course not. They stopped chaperoning me when I started ninth grade."
Cade's gaze swept the room. I knew what he saw—décor at odds with the rest of the house. That's because Mom had always allowed us our own space. So instead of original art, I had movie posters on the wall, most of them paranormal and hanging a little crooked. The corner bookshelf brimmed with books, so many that I'd double- and triple-shelved them. My closet door gaped open, helpless against the clutter stored behind it. Expressionless, he took it all in and walked over to my vanity stool to sit. That put a good six feet of space between us.
I questioned his choice with a quizzical look.
"You're safer if I stay where I am."
Hm. "Sooo…your mom lives out west."
"Yes."
"And your dad?"
"Never met him."
I'm sure my face turned as red as Santa's suit. Asking family questions was always so tricky, but I knew nothing about him. What else could I do? I did shift to what I thought would be a safer topic. "Are you a student? Do you work?"
"No and yes." He picked at a tear in his jeans.
Now we were getting somewhere. "So what do you do?"
"Does it really matter that much?"
"It might if you're an ex-con, a serial killer, or…" I tried to think of another scary scenario. "In a gang." Tennessee had a shocking number of them, most involved homicide, aggravated assault, drugs, weapons violations, and vandalism per the Tennessean newspaper.
Had he just winced? I pounced. "You've done time."
"I'm not an ex-con, okay? Or a serial killer."
"But you are in a gang. Wow. In Moonrise Ridge?" That might account for the crime wave. Was he part of that? I felt a little sick at the thought, but put it out of my head for the moment. Though I knew next to nothing about this guy, I would've bet my life that he wasn't in a gang. "Why are you here today, Cade? You specifically told me to forget us, and now you've broken your own rule."
Chapter Sixteen
Cade
She had that right. I drew in a deep breath to steady my nerves. Honestly, I'd rather have been robbing a gas station than doing this. "I'm here because I can't get you out of my head, okay? I should be headed out west right now, but no, here I am in Arkansas—with your family, no less—pretending that I'm just another guy with a crush on you."
Lily let that slide, thank God.
"Your gang's heading west?" She straightened her legs out and scooted her butt to the edge of the mattress. "I mean, you guys probably have to stay on the move."
"The gang's not going anywhere."
"So you're leaving it?"
"No. Well, yes..eventually. That's what I do."
She looked more confused than ever, but I'd already said too much. Abruptly, I stood and walked to the door. "I really have to go. Can you tell everyone bye and thanks?"
"Tell them yourself." She flopped backwards on the bed, looking near tears, but only because she was pissed, I thought. She had to be wondering why I was jerking her around, something I really wasn't trying to do. If I wasn't careful, her family's Christmas would be ruined by my intrusion and her resulting bad mood. Lily lay there for a while, eyes closed, visibly trying to calm down. When she sat up, she seemed surprised I hadn't moved. "What are you waiting for? Leave."
I hesitated, one hand on the doorjamb, before stepping into the hall. I listened to the family chatter downstairs and made a decision I knew I'd regret, probably sooner than later. Walking back to the bed, I said, "Scoot over."
She did. I deliberately sat several inches away. Lily risked a smile.
I couldn't return it. Not with my gut in a knot. "I'm going to tell you as much as I can, okay? You deserve that. But if I say too much, someone I care about could be ruined, and he doesn't deserve that."
"Blood before water. I totally agree."
"He isn't blood, and you're way more addicting than water. Make it duty before—"
"Friendship?" She'd had never looked more gorgeous.
So gorgeous, I could barely choke out the necessary lie. "Yeah. Friendship."
"I can live with that," she told me. "I'll even get you started. Why was your arm in a cast that Sunday I helped you out?"
"I'd broken it six weeks earlier." With the scent of her cologne washing over me, I struggled to stay focused.
"How?"
"I was horsing around with some guys and got stepped on."
"So someone else in the gang did it?"
"Yeah, but the break was an accident."
"Was it Rocky?"
That got me, and not in a good way. "How do you know him?"
She described a Christmas party at Tooly's. Trust Rocky to barge in on it. The guy had shit for brains.
"Stay away from that idiot. He's bad news. And it wasn't him. It was someone else in the pack."
"Did you say 'pack'?"
"Group, troupe, band, faction, gang. Ca
ll it anything you want."
"Did this person hurt your leg, too?"
"No. I did that a few weeks earlier. Took a tumble down a ravine. Twisted the crap out of my foot and ankle. On bad days, I can barely walk. I probably need arthroscopic surgery, but that's not happening until I'm done here."
She turned to face me, tucking her legs underneath her butt. "I'd really love to hear your story. Where were you born?"
"Going back that far, huh?" Damn.
I turned slightly, too, but left one foot on the floor to keep myself grounded. "Okay then. My mom got pregnant when she was sixteen and hanging out with some, uh, guys in Wisconsin. She says my dad is a jerk, and she only put his name on the birth certificate so I wouldn't be fatherless. Maybe that's true. Maybe not. Since she was a runaway at the time, she needed help when I was born, help she never got from family or the guy who'd used her. For nearly four years, we were pretty much homeless even though she worked her butt off waitressing at a diner. Her boss was a man with heart, so I was usually in an infant seat or play pen tucked in the corner of the kitchen. Someone eventually came to the rescue. A guy named Ben DeLuca. He and his wife took both of us in the year I turned four."
"That's nothing to be ashamed of."
"Did I say I was ashamed?" I quickly cleared things up. "My mom is amazing, my best friend in the world. She did all she could do at the time. Not her fault that it wasn't enough. Ben and Chelsea pretty much saved our asses. I'll be in their debt forever." I sat in silence for a moment, lost in memories. "Anyway, Mom got her GED and took some college art classes. She landed a job in a gallery. We lived with the DeLucas until she was on her feet financially, and then she got us an apartment near them. Five years ago, she met a sculptor at an exhibition. They fell in love and moved out west. I moved back in with the DeLucas to finish high school."
"Ben and his wife sound really nice."
"They've been good to me, but everything has a price. Ben's head of a secret investigational branch of the, um, government."
"Guess that rules out the FBI and CIA."
"Actually this organization is international."
"Like Interpol?"
"No, and I really shouldn't be talking about this."
