by Score, Lucy
Well, hell. I had no idea my mom was such a romantic. It made my throat tickle.
Bowie nodded and swallowed hard. “Thanks for being here, Jenny. I know you’re Jonah’s mama and all, but I kinda feel like you belong to all of us.”
My mom’s eyes went damp. “I’m honored to be here with all of you boys,” she whispered.
There was a lot of throat clearing and a few covert swipes at eyes with sleeves.
“Jameson, sweetheart, let me at that tie,” Mom demanded, righting the damage he was doing.
She gave us all the once over, helping Gibson into his jacket. Tucking my boutonniere into place. Giving Bowie an extra squeeze.
The music outside changed. Checking her watch, she peeked out into the backyard. “Well, boys, I think this is your big moment. Are you ready to walk out there and get your brother married?”
“Yes, ma’am,” we answered.
“Good. Then get out there and have the best time,” she said, shooing us toward the door.
Bowie paused in the doorway. “You’ll sit up front, won’t you?” he asked her. “You and Jimmy Bob? You can sit across the aisle from the Tuckers.”
She pressed her lips together. “I’d be honored,” she whispered.
We exited the den, and I dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Thanks for being here, Mom.”
“I love you, Jonah Bodine.”
She was the second woman to tell me that today.
And it was the first woman I was thinking of when I took my place next to Jameson to the right of the trellis Gibs had finished in a burst of energy. Mayor Auggie Hornsbladt took his role as officiant seriously. He was wearing a shirt and tie under his best overalls.
Misty Lynn, the man-eating Venus flytrap, was dateless in the front row with her father and my mother. The way she was eyeing Gibson made me think there might be trouble later.
But I didn’t have time to worry about Misty Lynn and whatever scene she’d undoubtedly cause. I was too busy looking at Shelby. I’d spotted her immediately a few rows back on the aisle next to her parents. Her thick bangs framed those watchful hazel eyes. The rest of her dark hair was pulled back in a low bun behind her ear. She was wearing a sunshine yellow dress and a smile that brightened my entire world.
Shelby gave me a little finger wiggle, and I returned it.
It was a good day. Not only was my brother tying the knot, but Shelby Thompson told me she was in love with me. And tonight I’d tell her that the feeling was mutual. That I didn’t want this summer to come to an end.
“Here come the girls,” Jameson hissed at me.
Reluctantly, I dragged my eyes away from my girl. Leah Mae, June, and Scarlett, eschewing the traditional aisle, saunter-strutted down the grassy expanse in blue. Scarlett blew Devlin a kiss when she passed him, and you’d have to be blind to miss the pride and love that beamed off him. My sister was loved. My brother was getting married. And I was starting my own future.
June, more dignified than the rest, gave GT a polite nod and the slightest of smiles as she passed him. GT looked like he wanted to jump up from his seat next to his mother and squeeze her tight. I had a feeling there was another engagement in the works there. Leah Mae, instead of taking her place next to Scarlett, be-bopped over to the man-side of the aisle and planted a kiss on Jameson that had the assembled guests cheering.
“Oh, what the heck,” she said. She planted a kiss on me, then Gibson, and finally a resounding smack on the lips for Bowie.
Love was a physical presence here.
I’d been to weddings before. I’d watched brides and grooms share their vows over the murmured complaints of guests who didn’t really want to spend their day celebrating. But today was different. Every single person in attendance was here because they loved Bowie and Cassidy and wanted to be here. To celebrate with them. To shed tears with them. To be there on the most special day of their lives.
The music changed, and I chanced a glance at my brother. Bowie’s eyes were squeezed closed.
Cassidy appeared on the arm of Sheriff Tucker, a vision in blush and lace. She floated rather than walked to the head of the aisle. And when she arrived, when she paused to take in the moment, Bowie opened his eyes.
The moment was so powerful, so moving, I heard an intake of breath rise up from the chairs. Followed immediately by sniffles. Mayor Hornsbladt blew his nose noisily into a handkerchief.
When Bowie bent at the waist to catch his breath, I found Shelby again in the audience. Beaming through tears. I remembered back to when I thought maybe there was a possibility that I could see myself as the faceless groom in Rene’s Pinterest vision.
This was different. This was real.
I wasn’t some guy trying to fit himself into someone else’s ideal. I was a man in love with a woman. And I wanted what Bowie and Cassidy had. What Scarlett and Devlin found. What Leah Mae and Jameson discovered. What George and June built.
And I wanted it all with Shelby.
Sheriff Tucker nudged his daughter forward, and they started down the aisle. Bowie was so excited he met them at the front row. The sheriff, with glistening eyes, let go of his daughter long enough to hug Bowie hard.
“Proud of you, son,” he whispered.
They were words we all needed so desperately to hear.
Jameson cleared his throat next to me. Gibs was swiping at the corner of his eye with his jacket sleeve.
I looked for Shelby again. She was watching me.
I love you, she mouthed.
52
Shelby
The wedding was picture perfect. There wasn’t a dry eye in the backyard when Cassidy and Bowie pledged their love to each other, and it wasn’t just because the caterer had opened the bar early.
No, Bootleg Springs was as enamored with the happy couple as they were with each other. After the vows were spoken, the toasts made, and dinner served, I finally got a slow dance with Jonah.
“You look beautiful, Shelby,” he told me as we swayed under strings of lights. I was barefoot in the grass in the arms of the man I loved under a starry summer sky.
“You look pretty great yourself,” I said, plucking at his collar. He’d removed the tie, shed the jacket, and rolled up his sleeves after the pictures were taken. And looked even more delicious now with his suspenders showing than he had in the suit jacket.
“How you feeling?” he asked, swaying us in a slow tick-tock that made it feel like time was standing still.
“I feel… magical,” I decided. That was the perfect word for what I felt.
“You’re not too sore?” he pressed, pausing to dip me backward in a slow-motion arc. The lights and stars above us blurred in happy confusion.
I grinned as he pulled me back to standing, his arms banding around me. “I will be tomorrow and the next day and the next day.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Jonah said, leaning in to rest his lips on the top of my head. I was really glad I’d taken a second pass with the shampoo in the shower.
“I’m pretty proud of me, too.”
“How did your parents take the ‘hiding a diagnosis from them’ news?” he asked.
I glanced over to where my parents were feeding each other cake. “Better than I expected. Though they still got in a parting guilt trip.”
I wanted to tell him about the sketch. About what it meant. But the moment was so perfect. I selfishly held on to it.
“Speaking of parents,” I said, nodding over Jonah’s shoulder.
He turned us and spotted his mother dancing with Bowie.
“Everybody needs a mom,” I whispered.
Jenny was laughing as Bowie spun her away from him. And then Gibson captured her other hand and took over the dance.
“This is what she always wanted,” Jonah confessed. “A big, complicated family.”
“It doesn’t get much bigger or more complicated than the Bodines,” I teased.
“Uh, excuse me you two.” Jimmy Bob Prosser looked like his necktie was ch
oking him. He was a big man with broad shoulders and work-roughened hands.
He was also sweating profusely.
“Hi, Jimmy Bob,” Jonah said amiably, and I loved him just a little more for it.
“Hi,” Jimmy Bob said. His Adam’s apple worked in his throat. “I just wanted to, uh, tell you, well, reassure you that…” He got that look that people got when the words they wanted to say up and evaporated right out of their head.
“Jimmy Bob, would you like a glass of water?” I offered.
“Oh, no thank you, Shelby. I’m just trying to work up the nerve to tell Jonah here how much I like his mama and how I have nothing but honorable intentions toward her,” he croaked.
Love was in the air.
“That’s good to hear, Jimmy Bob,” Jonah said, giving the man a pat on the shoulder.
“She’s one of a kind,” the man continued. “And she and I have been talking some.”
Judging from the flush on his face and neck, they’d been doing a lot more than just talking.
“Anyway, your mama’s real special, and I was hopin’—”
“Hello.” The woman in question floated into our little circle, a glass of champagne in hand and a lovely smile on her face. She pressed a kiss to Jonah’s cheek, then turned and did the same to Jimmy Bob.
Jimmy Bob beamed at her brighter than the moon above. “Jenny, darlin’, I was just tellin’ Jonah and Shelby here how much I enjoy your company.”
“Did you also tell them that I’m considering moving to Bootleg Springs?” she asked brightly.
Jonah stiffened in surprise next to me. “Are you serious?”
Jenny grinned. “Only if you don’t mind.”
“Mind?” Jonah laughed. He released me with a parting squeeze and picked his mother up in a bear hug. “Are you nuts? Are you sure?”
He set her down to see her face.
“Clarabell and her husband are thinking about retiring in a few years. They want someone they can trust managing Moonshine Diner.” She shot a look at Jimmy Bob. “And I happen to like the company here.”
Jimmy Bob looked like he’d just won Chicken Shit Bingo and the state lottery on the same night.
What Jenny didn’t voice, what I wasn’t about to bring up since I was all about not ruining the moment, was the fact that she was probably also going to need to be available to a lot of questions from investigators. Callie Kendall was alive and out there somewhere. And someone was determined to make sure she stayed dead.
A shiver worked its way up my spine, and I felt as if there were eyes on me. I thought of the sketch folded up in my clutch. The shadow it represented.
As if sensing the chill, Jonah slipped his arm around my waist, drawing me into his side. I spotted my brother dancing forehead-to-forehead with June on the other side of the yard. Bootleg Springs had cast its spell on all of us, drawing us in and making us feel like we belonged.
I only needed to know if there was a place here for me with Jonah.
“I’m happy for you, Mom,” he said gruffly.
“And I’m happy for you, son,” Jenny said with a knowing tilt of her head in my direction.
“On that note, I’m going to whisk my girlfriend away to a dark corner of the yard for some necking,” Jonah announced.
True to his word, he set a course and led me through the throng of jubilant celebrators. We were stopped a dozen times by friends and family.
Nadine Tucker’s gardening shed, a charming little building tucked away behind the garage, appeared to be our destination.
Jonah paused in front of the door.
“About what you told me earlier,” he began.
My pulse picked up. “Refresh my memory?” I said coyly, tapping my chin with a finger. I imagined nerd girls everywhere standing up and cheering.
“You said you loved me,” he said, his voice whisper soft and deep as the night that surrounded us here in this quiet little corner.
“Oh, that.”
“I don’t want you to leave at the end of the summer,” he said. “I don’t want to find a good home for Billy Ray. I want to keep him. And he and I will follow you wherever you go.”
He was warming up for the big finish, and as much as I wanted to hear those words, as much as my soul was vibrating with the need to hear them, I had a few loose ends to tie off first.
“What about your mom? You can’t leave Bootleg Springs if she’s moving here. You have family here. A lot of family.”
“And now that I know where they live, I can visit whenever it’s convenient. I love this town, and I love my family, but, Shelby…” He paused and tilted my chin up so I was looking in those oh-so-tender green eyes. “I’d rather be next to you.”
“Jonah,” I sighed, savoring his name.
“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind since this afternoon?” he teased.
I shook my head. “You’d follow me?”
“Wherever you go,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. Soft, intimate touches that were untying every knot in my stomach. “I can work anywhere. I can visit my family any time. But I want a hell of a lot more than a fling with you, Shelby.”
Say it. Say it. Say it, the fifteen-year-old nerd in me chanted.
“Hmm, why is that?” I asked, dancing my fingers under his suspenders.
“I think it has something to do with the fact that I’m head over heels in love with you. Frankly, I’m surprised a smart girl like you didn’t figure it all out weeks ago.”
I poked him in the chest. “I’ve been a little busy.”
“How’s your schedule looking now?” he asked, leaning in and down, down, down.
“Wide open,” I whispered. His lips were a breath away from mine, but I stopped him. “Jonah, wait.”
He paused where he was. “What? Are you okay?”
His breath was hot on my skin. And I could feel the heat of his body through his shirt.
“I want to stay here. In Bootleg. Morgantown isn’t too far. And there are a handful of universities within a hundred miles. I might be able to work from home part-time like June. Or I’ll just get good at long commutes. But my point is, I want to be here, with you and my brother and June and everyone else and—”
I was sure there were more words. And definitely a few not so pretty ones. I had to tell him about the sketch, and we had to talk to Sheriff Tucker sooner rather than later.
But for right this second, I was just going to kiss the hell out of Jonah Bodine on a beautiful, hot summer night.
His mouth closed over mine, tongue and teeth taking charge, and I welcomed it. He was who I wanted for my lifetime. We fit. We belonged.
“Shelby, honey, how much do you like that dress?” he asked.
“Not as much as I’d like your hands on me,” I told him.
53
Shelby
The garden shed had the metallic tang of potting soil in the musky air. Dimly, I could make out shelves along one wall stocked with terra cotta pots and the like. The opposite wall was a puzzle of tools and gardening implements. And on the back wall, there was a long, skinny workbench.
Jonah carried me to it, settled me on it, and drew me to the edge.
He cupped my face in one hand, and I felt rather than saw him stare into me.
“My girl,” he breathed.
I spread my knees wide and used my heels to drag him against me.
The bulge behind his zipper ground into me. I could feel the metal through the thin cotton of my thong.
The noise he made was primal. We were eye-to-eye as he flexed his erection against my opening.
I gripped the edge of the workbench, and the straps of my dress slid down my arms, hanging precariously. The scoop neck deepened to indecent. Jonah was bucking against me now, slowly, rhythmically. As if he were waiting for the dress to give up its battle against gravity.
Obliging him, I curved my shoulders forward and was rewarded with a gasp that I felt on my hard, furled nipples. He bent and dipped his
tongue into the neckline of the dress where one areola peeked through. The rough flat of his tongue drove me wild. While he licked and sucked, I went to work on his belt and pants.
I didn’t want him slow and sweet tonight. I wanted him wild with his own need. Desperate to have me.
I used my hands and my heels to shove his pants down just enough.
He sprang free, bobbing against my swollen clit, and it was my turn to gasp. Ignoring the fact that I was fisting the root of his cock, Jonah moved to lick over my other nipple. The dress was bunched around my waist from the top and bottom like a yellow tutu. My breasts were bared to his mouth while his hand slid between my legs.
He hooked a finger under the thong over the growing wet spot and then, with unfair patience, dragged the material back and forth over my cleft.
“I’m going to want you in this dress again and again,” he growled.
He raked his teeth over my nipple, and I shivered.
“I’ll want you bent over a table, your skirts pushed up, and your sweet ass on display. Just waiting for me to touch you.” He slid the thong to the side and skated the tip of one finger through my seam.
I was balanced on the edge of the table and had nowhere to go. Forward would have me falling. Back would take me away from the cock I was trying to tempt with busy fingers. I stroked up to the top, my thumb dancing over the slit there.
“I’ll want you to wear this to nice parties so I can lure you out into the woods and finger fuck you against a tree.”
Jonah pumped into my hand and then slid two fingers into me.
I gripped his cock tighter. He groaned, nuzzling his cheek against my breasts before bringing his mouth to mine.
The kiss, that glorious filthy kiss, mimicked what we were doing to each other. Short, sharp thrusts of tongue, finger, cock. I ached for more, even as I felt my inner muscles dance. I could come on his fingers. But I wanted all of him. I wanted to seal this night and our promises the right way.
