by Nikki Ashton
I padded into the kitchen, still wearing my pajamas. Mom and Dad were sitting at the island, Mom reading the newspaper while Dad concentrated on his coloring book—yeah, apparently it helped him to relax.
“Morning, baby,” Mom said, looking up and giving me a beautiful smile. “How was the party?”
I shrugged and curled my lip as I opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of juice. “Okay, except for Carter is the biggest dick head on this earth.”
Dad sighed. “What’s he done now?” He pushed his coloring book away and swiveled on his stool to face me.
He opened his arms and I gladly walked into them, snuggling into his big chest, while Mom stroked my hair.
“Did he say something to embarrass you?” Mom asked.
“Nope. Worse than that.”
“Tell Daddy, honey.” Dad kissed the top of my head and then let me go, taking the carton of juice from me and pouring it into a clean glass next to the sink.
Shit, I loved my parents when they went all Mommy and Daddy on me.
“He didn’t show his wiener, did he?” Mom asked as Dad passed me my juice.
“Hey,” Dad said, wagging a finger at Mom. “That boy has the Maples wiener and that is nothing to be embarrassed about.”
I rolled my eyes and poked Dad in his rock-hard stomach. “No, it has nothing to do with his tiny wiener.”
Dad growled making Mom and me giggle.
“So, tell us, what did he do.” Mom settled her hands in her lap, waiting for my tale of woe.
“He got Hunter to dress up as a… ugh I can’t say it.” I screwed my eyes up and shuddered.
“What?” Dad asked, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Because if it was Norv Turner, I’ll kick his ass real hard.”
Mom sighed and rubbed Dad’s back. “Sweetheart, you need to let that go. Norv did what he had to do for his career.”
“Fucking traitor,” Dad muttered. “Y’all do not go from the Cowboys to the Redskins, no matter what. Damn right he got fired in the end.”
“Whatever,” I said a little impatiently. “But no, he didn’t get him to dress up as Norv Turner.”
“What then?” Dad asked, his breathing calming down.
“A… one of those things that Hunter has on his ranch.” I whimpered. “He tricked him into dressing as a ugh… cow. I had a panic attack, almost passed out and made a real show for everyone. I was humiliated, Daddy.”
I pouted and fluttered my lashes, knowing my dad would take the bait.
Three, two, one… he pulled his phone from his pocket and stabbed at it. “The little dick. He knows that’s unacceptable.”
Mom pulled me into a hug and kissed my temple. “He’s a horrible brother, and I’m sorry I ever saddled you with him, baby.”
I pulled away and looked up at her with a frown.
“But he was born first.”
“Semantics baby, semantics.”
“Carter,” Dad yelled down the phone. “What sort of trick was that to play on your sister, you little douche canoe.”
Ah shit, I really did love my parents.
Bronte and I were walking around the shopping mall, aimlessly wandering from store to store, neither of us having any idea why we’d even gone there.
I’d called her after my breakfast, half expecting her to ream my ass for leaving her at the party, but she’d been cool about it. Apparently, she’d found ‘something to play with’. When I asked who, she gave me a rough description of some guy who had gone to the party with a friend of a friend of Alaska Michaels. She said he was hot and had the most amazing fingers and tongue and that was when I’d groaned and said, ‘let’s go shopping’.
“Let’s go to the cosmetics section. I need concealer,” Bronte said around a huge yawn.
“No what you need is an early night and less partying.”
“Shit you sound like my mom. Seriously though, I do need some. Apart from the dark circles around my eyes, I’m getting the biggest break out.”
I studied her clear skin carefully and knew by the little jut of her chin there was no point in arguing with her.
“Mac have a sale on.”
I led the way past through the perfumery section of the store and when we came upon the Dior counter my heart did a little skip. The special offer scent of the day was Miss Dior and I could only think about Hunter’s face when he told me about Jefferson buying it to remind him of Sondra.
“Wait up.”
Bronte glanced at me over her shoulder. “Catch me up, I’m gonna go pee.”
As she wandered away, I moved closer to the counter and picked up the tester bottle, holding it to my nose. It did smell like Hunter’s mom, which was weird because I’d never realized before that I knew her smell. But, as I inhaled, memories of her hugging me at get togethers, or her coming over to our house and laughing uproariously with my mom and Darcy, flooded my memory banks. They made me happy and a little bit sad too. No wonder Jefferson and Hunter chased their own memories by spraying her scent.
“Can I help you at all,” the overly made-up assistant asked as she approached me with a bottle, pointing at me like it was a gun.
“Just having a little trip down memory lane.” I sprayed some onto each of my wrists and smiled at her.
“Would you like to buy some? We have a special on today.”
I shook my head. That was the last thing I would ever do. This was Jefferson and Hunter’s way of remembering the woman they’d lost, and it wasn’t something I would ever take away from them.
“I’m good thanks.”
With one last smile, I went to find Bronte, feeling a deep ache in my heart for Hunter.
Hunter
“My dad chewed me two new ones this morning,” Carter complained as he skimmed over the menu in Café Au Lait. “He actually told me I was fucking grounded.”
“Is that so,” I replied barely listening to him.
He’d been bitching since I’d picked him up, about his dad calling him about the trick he’d played on Ellie. To be honest, I’d switched off after the tenth time of hearing it.
“Well if I’d known that she was scared of them, I wouldn’t have worn it,” I added, sitting back in my chair. “It was a pretty shitty thing to do.”
Carter clutched a hand to his chest and stared at me, his mouth wide open.
“What? It was.”
“I know, that’s why I did it and you’re supposed to be on my side. Since when have you ever been on Ellie’s side?”
Since I realized she was fucking hot and kissed like a porn star—not that I’d ever kissed a porn star, but I had an imagination.
“Since that was the shittiest thing you’ve ever done to her. She was real scared and it made me feel bad.”
“Hey boys, the usual.”
I smiled up at Delphine who ran the café with her husband Garth and earned myself a beautiful one in return. Delphine and Garth were in their late fifties and didn’t have any kids, so for the thirty years they’d been running the café, every kid in town had been unofficially adopted by the sweet couple.
“Hello, darlin’,” Delphine said, scuffing my already messy, Sunday morning, had a few drinks and delivered a calf the night before, hair. “How’s your pop doing? I haven’t seen him in here for a few weeks.”
“He’s good, Delphine. We’re busy on the ranch and when he’s not busy, he’s kinda busy if you know what I mean.”
Delphine’s cheeks blushed a pretty pink; she was another one who thought the sun shone from my pop’s ass and dimples.
“What about you, sweetheart?” She turned to Carter. “Has Lance decided it’s time for you to take over yet?”
Carter pouted and shook his head, earning him a hug.
“Oh, my lord. When will that man see sense?” Delphine pulled away from Carter and took a pen from the mess of hair on top of her head. “Usual, boys?”
Carter looked at the menu again and I knew he was contemplating going healthy, as he did every ot
her Sunday when we went in for lunch. But like every other Sunday…
“Yep all-day breakfast, and some of your amazing coffee please, Delphine,” he said, rubbing his stomach.
“Coming right up.”
Once she was out of earshot, I nudged Carter with my foot.
“So, tell me, who’d you hook up with last night?”
“Who said I did.” He frowned. “Did Ellie tell you, because she’s a sneaky little liar if she did.”
What the fuck was wrong with him? He normally couldn’t wait to tell me every last little detail of who he’d banged or nearly banged at a party.
“Well did you?”
“No. After you bailed on me, I spent the night talking to Minnesota, well listening to him cry into his beer to be more truthful.”
“Really?” I asked. “Rather than get your hands into some girl’s panties you spent the night talking to Minnesota who’d just been dumped. Jeez man, way to have a good night.”
“Tell me about it. He cornered me. You should have asked me to come help with the calf.”
“You’d had more beers than me so would have been useless, plus it was your night off. I know you’ve been busy these last few weeks helping down at the O’Reilly ranch.”
The O’Reilly’s bred cattle like us, but they bred Longhorn’s which were beef stock, whereas our Beefmaster were good for milk and meat. The O’Reilly’s also had a much bigger herd than me and Pop. It was probably three times the size, so while they had a few ranch hands they tended to call on Carter and Lance, but specifically Carter, much more than we did. I also had a fancy that Marie O’Reilly their middle daughter had taken a liking to Carter which was why he was called so often. Declan O’Reilly was desperate to see all five of his daughters married and Marie and sixteen-year-old Bernadette were the only two left.
“Hey,” I said, having a thought. “Marie O’Reilly was there last night, wasn’t she?”
As soon as Carter colored up, I knew I was right.
“You didn’t. Shit tell me you didn’t go there with Marie O’Reilly. If you did you know Declan will have you down that aisle faster than I can say, ‘you’re a dick’.”
“Fuck off,” Carter snapped, checking around the café. “No, I didn’t, and don’t even joke about it. I don’t want Declan, Eamon or Pat knocking on my door wanting to know if the rumors about me and their daughter and sister are true. I told you I spent the night talking to Minnesota, so drop it.”
I grinned getting the distinct impression my best friend was telling me a great big fat lie. No matter, I’d find out soon enough.
“Fuck’s sake,” Carter groaned. “Can’t I get a break from her.”
I looked over my shoulder to see he was talking about Ellie. She was huddled in some sort of girly chat and laughter with Bronte and they were walking into the café.
If I’d thought the kiss and my raging wood the night before had been purely down to the alcohol and a cute cheerleader outfit, I was sadly mistaken.
Fuck she looked amazing.
Her face was bare of makeup, her hair in one long braid over her shoulder and she had on a flannel shirt that I knew she’d had for years. Her jeans were ripped at the knees, and not those trendy ones bought like that, and on her feet were a pair of old scuffed cowboy boots. She looked like she hadn’t made any effort, yet still managed to look more beautiful than anyone I’d ever seen.
“Well look who it is,” Bronte sighed as they reached our table. “Carter the unstoppable douche machine.”
“If you must reference crap British Indie bands then get the name right.”
Bronte huffed. “You’re hardly an unstoppable sex machine, from what I hear.”
“Yeah and that’s your problem, Bronte. You’ll only ever hear.”
Carter leaned back in his chair and smirked. I for one wondered how either of them knew about British Indie bands.
“Thank the lord. You’re such a douche even the Douche Club think you’re overqualified to join.”
“Oh, give it a rest, Bronte,” Carter sighed. “The fact that you kicked me in the balls last night should be enough.”
“You deserved it. Hi there, Hunter.”
Bronte flashed me a quick smile and then turned to Ellie.
“I’ll get us a table while your brother apologizes to you.”
As Ellie stepped forward smirking at her brother, the smell hit me. It was like I’d been hit by a truck straight in my chest. The pain slashed sharply and took my breath away.
That smell, that scent, it was home, it was fun, it was love, it was my mom.
“What the fuck, Ellie,” Carter complained. “Isn’t it enough that Dad gave me shit on the phone this morning.”
I watched Ellie’s mouth move but didn’t hear a word she said. I was too busy allowing the musky floral scent to invade my senses. I could smell her. I could feel her. And I could hear her. Ellie had done something that the bottle of perfume my pop had hidden away couldn’t do; she had brought Mom back to life.
I should have been glad, happy and joyful, but all I wanted to do was tell her to get out and take a shower. It was all too fucking much. I needed her away from me.
“Ellie, he apologized so just leave it,” I growled. “Now if you don’t mind, we want to eat in peace.”
I nodded toward Delphine who was carrying two coffees to our table.
“Hey, Ellie, darlin. You and Bronte staying to eat or just a coffee?”
Ellie didn’t take her eyes from me, her mouth dropped open not unlike her brother’s had been earlier. I knew I’d been sharp with her, but I couldn’t handle all the feelings her smelling like my mom did to me.
“Ellie?”
She shook her head and turned to Delphine. “I think we’re having cake… I don’t know… erm I’ll ask Bronte.”
Delphine put the coffee down. “It’s okay, darlin’ I’ll go ask her.”
“What the hell, Hunter,” Ellie snarled turning to me. “What woke you up biting your ass this morning? And how come what he did is suddenly okay with you?”
“Duh, because he knows it was a joke,” Carter replied sounding like a dick.
“I didn’t ask you,” she shot back. “I asked him.”
Brown eyes bored into me and I couldn’t help but think how hot she looked. Then the smell wafted over to me again and I rolled my eyes.
“Just go eat cake with Bronte, Ellie.”
“You’re as big a dick as he is,” she replied, her eyes full of fire and brimstone. “I have no idea why I even speak to you.”
“Suits me fine,” I scoffed not able to stop myself from sounding like Regina fucking George.
Okay, so I knew Mean Girls, but it wasn’t something I spread around. My mom had made me watch it with Ellie when she was about eleven and I was thirteen. Everyone was over at the ranch and for some reason Ellie didn’t want to go outside and sit in the yard. Because I had sunburn, I’d been the one designated to watch the damn movie with her. Ellie had given me a lecture practically the whole way through how mean girls like Regina George didn’t deserve to be happy. She went on for so long, the damn name stuck in my head.
Of course, I also now got why she didn’t want to go outside, it was the fucking cows. I was still messed in the head though and wasn’t in the mood for playing nice with her.
“You finished?” I asked, forcing my eyes wide to make the point I was done.
Ellie’s eyes however went narrow as she looked at Carter.
“This is for you,” she said as she flipped him the finger. “And this one left over is for you. Oh, and forget about the calendar, I don’t need your help.” She then turned to me and flipped me again before turning on her scuffed heels and storming over to the other side of the café.
“She’s a damn spoiled brat,” Carter muttered as he took a sip of his coffee.
As I watched her yank out the chair and start to tell Bronte everything, I kinda wanted to agree with him, but she was a damn sexy one that was for sure.
Ellie
Damn Hunter Jefferson, what a big douche canoe. How dare he speak to me like that, especially considering we’d kissed the night before. Well he wouldn’t be getting any more of my sugar, not unless hell froze over or I needed CPR and he was the only man around to give it.
“What the hell did he say to you?” Bronte asked, halfway out of her chair.
“Leave it, sweetie. He hangs around with a douche, so he’s a douche, no mystery there.” I glanced over my shoulder to see Hunter looking over at me, so I did what any normal twenty-four-year old woman would do and stuck out my tongue.
“Oh, it’s Hunter you’re mad at. Not your brother.” Bronte’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “That says so much.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want in his pants real bad.”
She elongated the word real and wiggled her perfectly shaped eyebrows.
“I do not.” I snatched up the menu. “Are we eating, eating or just having cake?”
“Don’t you dare change the subject, Eleanor Mary, but both.”
“I’m not,” I protested, looking up at her with a frown. “I’m hungry is all.”
Bronte leaned across the table and whispered conspiratorially. “He’s watching you did you know that. In fact, he can’t take his eyes off you.”
I buried my head further into the menu. “Don’t know and don’t care. Now, please can we just decide what we’re eating.”
With a sigh and a smack at my arm, Bronte flopped back into her seat. “You spoil all my fun. First off I’m not allowed to think about Jefferson and now I’m not allowed to talk about how you and Hunter have hot panties for each other.”
“Sheesh, will you give it a rest.”
I hoped that she couldn’t see how pink my cheeks were, because her talking about me and Hunter and Hunter’s eyes being on me, was getting me hot under the collar. I licked along my lips, remembering where his had been the night before, and cleared my throat.
