Now, as she sat at the park on a big picnic quilt of Aunt Faith’s, Destiny realized she’d never actually been to a Snow Valley Easter egg hunt. Usually she came for the month of July, but she’d never come for spring break.
“It’s unseasonably nice this year,” Aunt Faith said, holding her own plastic plate and watching all the kids around them picking up eggs.
Destiny put her plate down and leaned back on her hands, tilting her head up to the sun. It was setting, and she wished she could just hold the sun right here, in this spot. Squinting, she watched the sun start to drop over the big Snow Valley Mountains, and thought about how she would paint it. The orange-pink hues seemed to melt as a backdrop against the stubborn snowcaps.
“Are you painting in your head, Dez?” Uncle John asked softly from Aunt Faith’s other side.
Dez. It still felt good and different and wonderful to be called that again. No one called her that away from here, not even her parents. She swallowed. “Yes.” They knew her so well.
Aunt Faith put her hand gently over hers and then called to Daniel and Grant to quit punching each other in line at the potluck table.
Destiny smiled, loving how good it felt to be here. Sitting here, with her aunt and uncle, made it even better, and she didn’t want to cry. That was good.
It was perfect when Chase walked up, wearing his boots, wranglers, and a turquoise shirt that matched the walls her aunt and uncle had painted in Fate’s room. He grinned, nodding to all of them. “Hey.”
Chase had pale blond hair, and his eyes were blue. Not like Fate’s had been; his were a pale blue. The thing Destiny liked best about him was that, unlike his brooding brother Adam, he always had an easy smile.
He squatted down next to them. “You look like you’re enjoying yourself.”
Destiny grinned. “I am.”
He turned to her aunt and uncle. “I heard you’ll have some new calves soon?”
Her uncle began to talk about farm and ranch stuff; Aunt Faith gave Destiny’s hand a little squeeze and cleared her throat. “So, Chase,” she interrupted. “Why don’t you drag Destiny over to play in the college game?” She nodded to where a group was getting together on one side of the park.
Chase’s grin got bigger. “Well, now that you mention it, I was just going to ask.” He looked at Destiny expectantly. “You ever played?” he teased.
A nervous flutter went through her. She scoffed. “Probably better than you.”
“Oh yeah?” He stood and offered a hand. “C’mon, then.” He pulled her closer and whispered, “I think I’ll put you on the other team so I can make sure you don’t get past me.”
She considered herself athletic, having played lacrosse all through high school. Unfortunately, college had left her playing only the occasional game, nothing serious. But she could still trash talk, and she could see he liked the idea of chasing her around. “It’s gonna take a lot more than you to shut me down.”
He kept her hand and good-naturedly pulled her toward the others. “How about a bet? If I shut you down, you have to go to the barn dance with me tomorrow.”
She laughed, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. “Hmm, this bet sounds rigged. What do I get if I do get past you?”
He shrugged. “What do you want?”
She thought about it. “I don’t know.”
“Hey, I’ll owe you a favor.” He pointed at her, nodding seriously. “Believe me, you want me to owe you a favor.”
She smiled. “Okay, it’s on.”
Chapter 7
Chase stood with a bunch of the Snow Valley crew—Cole, Jace, Trevor, Cameron, Kyle, Clay, Bill, Jeb—taking off their hats, flannel shirts, belt buckles, and boots, and rolling up their pants to play the game in bare feet. Some newcomers to town, Mercedes and Cat were with them. And, of course, Lucy. Newly married, she grinned at Cole. Good to have a doctor on the field.
One girl, a friend from the rodeo circuit down at MSU and also the reigning rodeo queen of his graduating class, watched appreciatively. “Chase, why don’t you go ahead and take off your white T-shirt, too?” Fancy—she’d always been sweet on him.
He didn’t mind the teasing and even found her attractive, but she was a bit too showy for him. So he just laughed. “I wouldn’t want to make the other guys cry, Fancy.” This comment earned him a slug in the shoulder by Owen and a bunch of rolled eyes and boos. “Just kidding. Sheesh.” He caught Destiny watching him, and winked at her.
She looked away and kind of blushed. He grinned, liking that she’d agreed to play and that she was on the opposing team—he had a reason to grab her flags.
The Easter flag football game was an official unofficial thing. Anyone who was a few years out of high school could play. No current high school players were allowed; they didn’t need running backs showing everyone up. Chase’s grin widened. It was his second year playing—he’d be a quarterback, of course—and he planned on winning. And because there was no competition, his team was sure to win.
In moments like these, having Adam not be social was to Chase’s advantage. Big time—Adam was the only other guy that could compete with him. But Adam had left early that morning, and Chase assumed he’d be back studying in the loft above the barn.
He studied Destiny, who seemed to warm up pretty quickly to some of Fate’s old friends that were talking to her. It was nice to see her mending fences, and even nicer to see her smiling. She looked different today; she’d taken off her shoes and was now looking comfortable in black yoga pants, a blue tank top, and an oversized white shirt. She looked “artsy,” he decided. Yesterday she’d looked more “sorority.” He liked this look better.
So many people commented on how alike she and Fate looked, but the more he looked at her, the more differences he saw.
They got into their groups, and Chase told his team not to worry, assuring them that they had this game in the bag. But his confidence evaporated when he picked up a familiar voice approaching the other team: “You guys need a player?”
Chapter 8
Adam hadn’t planned on playing in the stupid college game. He hadn’t the past two years. He didn’t have much in common with the rah-rah types that played in these games, the ones who wanted to relive their high school glory and talk about the play that won state. C’mon, he’d grown up.
But as he’d driven through town, he’d gotten a text from Chase that he would be at the Easter potluck and egg hunt. He had this crazy idea that Destiny might be there too.
So he’d done something that he knew would completely shock his brother: he’d actually shown up ten minutes ago. He’d gotten a chicken leg and a cup of punch, and now here he was, lounging on the sidelines to stare at Chase’s pregame speech.
“Adam?”
He turned to see Faith Haven, Destiny’s aunt, standing next to him. He nodded. “Hey, Mrs. Haven.”
She gestured knowingly toward the teams. “Ya know, your brother is going to destroy the other team because there’s not a quarterback that can match him.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
She tsked. “That’s too bad. Destiny’s on the opposite team, and she’ll be mad when they get creamed.”
His eyes snapped toward Destiny, toward that flaming red hair and black headband. On a whim, he grinned at Destiny’s aunt. “Well, maybe I should come out of retirement, just to keep the game fair.” He threw the leg bone and the drink in the trash and then moved to the group on the field, liking the idea of getting to ask the question that had troubled him all day.
He heard Destiny’s aunt chuckling behind him. “That’s it!”
His peace of mind had been ruined since that morning, when Destiny Morningstar had said she’d learned an important lesson about him. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what she’d meant, or whether it’d been a compliment or an insult. Much to his chagrin, he’d spent far too much time analyzing it, unable to relax and recharge for studying tonight.
He’d never cared much abou
t what people said. It never broke his focus, especially when he was involved in a project. Usually, he had to set timers on his phone to wake him up to reality. But the second he saw Destiny on the field, her hair blowing in the wind as she ran and caught a practice pass, he knew that he had to ask her. He knew that he’d have no peace until he’d talked to her, and here was his chance.
“You guys need a player?” he asked, approaching Destiny’s team.
No sooner had he spoken than his old buddy Broc emerged from within the milling players. “Heck yeah, we want you. Even though you’re going to steal all my glory.” Broc eyed him up and down. “‘Bout time you came up for air, Mr. Mad Scientist.”
Actually, it fed his ego more to hear that he was known for his programming skills. They shook hands. “I don’t have to play quarterback. You got this.” He nodded in assurance.
“Are you kidding me? The only one with a chance against your brother is you. Get your shoes off.”
An unwelcome hand grabbed his shoulder. “Where have you been hiding yourself?”
Automatically, he cringed. “Hey, Heather.” Heather Jenkins was one of the reasons he didn’t show his face around much; she’d had a thing for him ever since they were young. She’d already been married and was only recently divorced. Chase had teased him a couple nights ago that Heather would happily clean up after the absent professor. Chase had known it was a cheap shot, and Adam hadn’t even acknowledged it.
“You guys ready?”
Adam turned to see his brother, who was staring straight at him. His eyes narrowed, just a little.
“Hold your horses!” Broc yelled back. “We just got ourselves a quarterback.”
Chase pointed. “You’re so going down, Moon. Your head, on my platter.” He flashed a grin, but his look was serious.
Adam’s adrenaline spiked. He shrugged, keeping a lid on it. Maybe he hadn’t been doing competitive sports regularly, but he felt that tugging need to slaughter the competition, especially his brother. “We’ll see.”
The huddle came over to him naturally. Most of the team leaned in eagerly, but Destiny hung back a bit, giving him a wary look.
Not about to be bothered by this, he flashed her his nice smile. It was the smile he used to wear a lot more when he was the high school quarterback. “What position do you want to play?”
She cocked an eyebrow and looked around the group. “I don’t care, but I’m fast. I played lacrosse in high school.” Wickedly, she eyed the other team, and he recognized the competitor in her. “Just so you know, I don’t need you to babysit me on the field.”
Adam didn’t dignify that with a response.
Broc stepped forward, frowning and glancing from one to the other. Then he focused on Adam. “Okay, let’s talk about strategy. Adam, I’ll give you the lay of the land.” Concisely, Broc took him through who could play what position best.
Adam went over a simple play where he would fake and then pass off or pass deep, depending on how the field read. “The basic thing,” he said, speaking to all of them, “is that you get down the field and get open. No babysitting involved.” He tossed her a wink, then grinned at all of them. “Let’s at least make my brother work for it, okay?”
Chapter 9
Destiny laughed as she cut past Chase. He’d been dogging her when they were on offense like a border collie chasing back the cows. She cut to the right, barely avoiding him.
Then she caught sight of the ball flying through the air spiraling straight for the end zone. She kicked it up a notch, but Chase intercepted it right before she could grab it and tumbled to the ground next to her.
He popped up, grinning like a puppy that was just happy someone had decided to play with it. With a little wiggle, he held up her flag. “Sorry, but I can’t let a girl beat me.”
She gripped the ball, pushing back a surge of anger. It wasn’t just the fact he’d gotten her flag. No, it was this whole insane situation. Adam Moon had winked at her not long ago, and that had put her off her game, too.
Chase laughed at her expression. She’d already come to know it as an annoying, in-your-face kind of laugh.
Forgetting that her side would be bruised in the morning, she got up and tossed the ball at Chase. “You’re going to hate it when you owe me that favor.” With a huff, she moved toward her teammates as they gathered around the water cooler for halftime.
Adam approached her just as she was about to take her turn. “I’ll give it to ya: you are fast. We’ll get Chase next time.”
She squirted water into her mouth, not caring that it spilled on her, and grunted. “I think you both have it out for me,” she complained.
He lifted his eyebrows but stayed next to her.
Not liking the way her heart rate kicked up a notch, she turned away to glare at Chase. “It doesn’t matter how I cut or how I try to position myself. He is totally stalking me out there.”
Narrowing his eyes, Adam looked her up and down. Then his lip quirked upward. “He’s not just stalking you on the field.”
She blinked. For a second, it almost sounded like he was jealous. “Okay.....”
He gave her an intense look, then asked, “What did you mean this morning when you said you’d learned something about me?”
“What?” She was taken by surprise, and her mind flashed to earlier that day in the flower shop.
“Earlier, what did you mean?”
She cast her mind back to earlier that day at the flower shop, but was distracted at the sight of Chase filling up his cup at a cooler on their side of the field. Noticing her watching, he grinned; she frowned in response.
The light laugh at her side caught her off guard. Adam lifted his cup of water in a mock toast. “My brother likes to gloat.” When she turned her frown on him, he ignored it, pressing, “What did you learn from me?”
Holding his eyes, she wondered if she should tell him the truth. Then she shrugged, figuring she might as well. What did she care? “I learned that you’re not the brother I should call when I need help.”
Hesitating, Adam looked to Chase and then back to her. He grunted, studying her with narrowed eyes. Then he shrugged. “Well, I am the brother who can help you win tonight. Do you want me to tell you my strategy?”
Caught by his trump card, she met his gaze. Their eyes held. His were a swirl of deep blue. They were clear now, not angry or agitated like yesterday; no, they were crystal clear and completely focused on her. Her heart stuttered. “You’re acting like … like you haven’t been a jerk to me since I met you. You come here, and you’re all smiles. What happened to the broody, overly analytical, pain-in-the-butt jerk TA I’ve grown to know and love?”
He shrugged. “Look, do you want to get a touchdown, or don’t you?”
“You know I do,” she said. “More because I think Chase’s ego may need to be taken down a notch even more than yours.”
Adam nodded, quirking his mouth in a smile that put a tiny dimple in his left cheek. It was the same expression he’d had yesterday when he was figuring out the computer problem. He glanced at Chase, and she could almost hear the wheels turning in his head. “Broc, c’mere. We need to talk.”
Chapter 10
Chase didn’t like the look of the team huddle across the field. A stir of anxiety wove into his gut, and he was one to trust his gut more than any other thing. Where he followed his gut, his brother was the thinker, and at the moment the thinker looked like he had come up with a plan. As Chase watched, Adam and Broc called for the attention of their teammates, bringing them in a huddle to show them … something.
No. Chase really didn’t like it. “Okay,” he said, looking at his team. Of course, he’d played with most of them on and off a real football field his whole life. He knew all the girls, too. They’d grown up together, so he knew their strengths and their weaknesses. “We’re up by two touchdowns. I think what we’ve been doing is working.” He grinned.
“Yeah it is.” Fancy was next to him, gently patting his back
and smiling. Her touch irritated him. He didn’t like Fancy and had made that clear on many occasions, but she continued to act like they might be more than friends.
He eyed her, then glanced back at his brother’s huddle. “I think they are going to change things up. I think we can expect that.” He sighed, wishing he had more time to come up with some cool play. “But I think we just do what we’ve been doing. Maybe we’ll have to shake things up, and if they won’t let us get open, I’ll just take it down the middle.” He was good at taking it down the middle, always had been. He’d never been afraid to.
Porter and Luke Wilson were on the team. “Let’s finish these nitwits.”
Chase grinned, knowing Porter would prefer to play “real” football and forget the flag stuff. Actually, he was yearning for a good hit too—he had been, ever since Adam had shown his face and everyone on the other team suddenly clamored for him to be their quarterback. Well, pshaw, whatever. Look where it’d gotten them.
“Time!” One of the appointed refs called out.
Both teams took the field. Chase was on defense, and he prepared to do what he had appointed himself to do: stick to Destiny like glue. It had worked so far. She was fast, and it was a good thing he could stay on her.
Then, after Adam yelled out ‘hike,’ the whole team collapsed formation and spit out like a flame coming out of the fire, all unorganized and without position.
Chase tried to figure out what was happening, but Adam tossed the ball to Broc and took off like a shot down the field. Without thinking, Chase abandoned his post. Destiny wasn’t there anyway, so he hauled after his brother, who was making good time.
He wheezed in surprise as Destiny came out of nowhere and rammed him as hard as she could right in the shoulder. It made him stumble, and he lost his balance. To top it off, he could hear her roaring with laughter.
Before he could get a grip and turn back to catch Adam, the ball was already dropping into the end zone, right into Adam’s hands.
Spring in Snow Valley: A Snow Valley Anthology Page 32
