And Then You Kiss

by Heather A Buchman

  “How’s Blythe?”

  “Good. She’ll be on bed rest for a while.”

  “Did she say anything else?”

  “She said the two of them seemed happy. Peaceful. Oh, and she told us to stop over later if we wanted to. I didn’t say one way or another.”

  “She knows we’re together?”

  “Jace, it isn’t that unusual. We’ve all been spending time together lately. It might not be a good idea for you to see Tucker until he’s ready, but everything isn’t a conspiracy, ya know.”

  “Was Bree there?”

  “Ya know, she didn’t say anything and I didn’t ask.”

  “Someone should call her.”

  Lyric disconnected the call without leaving a message. “It went straight to voice mail,” she explained.

  Jace wanted to tell Bree the story about Rosa himself. He didn’t want her to hear it from Tucker, or from Blythe, or from anyone else. He didn’t know why it was important that he be the one to tell her, but he felt as though he had to. And after he did, he’d leave. There wasn’t anything here for him any longer.

  Billy was getting settled back in Crested Butte and would expect him to get back to training as soon as he could. Rodeo season was heating up, and they had to get out on the road if they planned to make any headway this year.

  ***

  “Did you talk to Bree?” Mark asked Paige.

  “No, her phone must be off.” Paige left Bree a message, and texted her. She told her Blythe was fine, and settled in. She added that she hoped they’d see her later.

  “I’m sure she’ll call as soon as she sees your text. Maybe she’s still sleeping.”

  Paige doubted it. If she didn’t hear from Bree in a couple of hours, she’d start to worry. For now, it was best to assume she was busy, or sleeping like Mark said.

  ***

  “I’m starving.”

  “Me too, what time is it anyway?”

  “After two. Mind if I go and get somethin’?

  “How bad do I look?”

  Lyric motioned for Jace to move his hand away from his face. The swelling had gone down a lot. He was still a little black and blue. “Good enough to go with me, if you want.”

  Jace couldn’t sit still, and he didn’t feel like drinking anymore. If Tucker wanted to talk to him, he didn’t want his brother thinking he had gotten drunk because he was feeling sorry for himself.

  “Yeah, I’ll go with you.”

  ***

  Bree decided to get something to eat after the movie ended. There were tables she could sit at in the bar. It was the middle of the afternoon, she might even be the only one in the brewery.

  She saw Lyric walk in before she saw Jace. If she’d seen him first, she wasn’t sure she would’ve recognized him. He must’ve been the friend Lyric had to go and help this morning. Interesting. Maybe she had dreamt he climbed in bed with her last night.

  Jace saw her too, and she could sense his discomfort. If she hadn’t already ordered, she would’ve gotten up and left. He touched Lyric’s arm and motioned in Bree’s direction. The two of them walked toward her.

  “Hey there, can we join you?” Lyric asked in her typical upbeat way.

  “Uh, sure.”

  “Hey,” said Jace, looking sheepish.

  “Hi.” Bree didn’t acknowledge that he looked any different than he had the last time he saw her. He hadn’t called her for help after all. Maybe he’d gone out, gotten drunk last night, and ended up on the wrong side of a fight. That was probably it. He’d gone to drown his sorrows over her sister.

  Lyric excused herself after they ordered a beer. “Be right back,” she winked.

  “Where does she always go?” Bree asked.

  “I don’t know, listen, I wanted to talk to you. This isn’t easy.” He ran his hand over his face.

  Bree stood and threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table. “Look, I know you’re in love with my sister. You don’t need to confess it to me. We can go back to not wanting to be in each other’s company starting now.”

  “Wait—”

  The pain meds, combined with the alcohol he consumed at Billy’s impaired his reflexes. Bree was gone before Jace realized what was happening.

  “What happened?” Lyric asked when she came back to the table. “I saw Bree pulling out of the parking lot. She looked as though she was in a hurry. Did something else happen to Blythe?”

  Jace’s head was still spinning. “I don’t think so.”

  “So…what happened?”

  “I don’t know. She said something about me bein’ in love with her sister and not wanting to be around me.”

  “She’s got it bad.”

  “What? Who’s got it bad?”

  “Bree.”

  “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

  “C’mon now Jace. She’s crazy about you. Open your damn eyes.”

  ***

  “How’s your mom?” Blythe asked Renie when she called.

  “Better than Ben,” she laughed. “He’s a nervous wreck. Keeps saying he doesn’t know how to raise girls.”

  “I can’t wait until this baby is born.” Blythe was only halfway through it, and she was on bed rest. The next few months would be mind-numbingly boring if she had to stay in bed the whole time. After she hung up with Renie, she should call Lyric, and see if there was anything she could be working on for RodeoChat.

  “Do you need me to come back?” Renie asked her.

  “No, your mom needs you now. I’ve got plenty of people looking out for me here.”

  “So how is it?”

  “It’s great, but something happened between him and Jace.”

  “What?”

  “Tucker wouldn’t elaborate.”

  “Huh. Weird.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I think.”

  “Well when you find out, call me and tell me, okay? I feel so out of it over here on the other side of the mountains.”

  When they hung up, Blythe called Lyric.

  “How ya doin’ little mama?”

  Blythe laughed. “I’m good, thanks. I’m home, well, home at my mom and dad’s house. I’ll be staying here for a while I think.”

  “I was gonna come and see ya later. I talked to your mom earlier, she told me you left the hospital.”

  “About that, I’m going to be on bed rest for a few weeks, maybe longer. I wanted to see if your offer to help with RodeoChat was still good.”

  “Of course it is. Oh my lanta, I can’t tell you how much I need your help. I’m runnin’ too fast chasin’ all these dreams, can’t keep ’em all straight I got so much goin’ on.”

  “Good, because I think I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands.”

  “I can come by later if you want, if you’re not too tired. We can talk about gettin’ you up and runnin’.”

  “That would be perfect. Hey, by the way, have you seen Bree? I’ve been tryin’ to get in touch with her and she’s got her phone off.”

  Lyric didn’t know what to say. Telling Blythe she saw Bree storm out of the parking lot, meant she had to tell her that she was with Jace, and the reason she stormed off, and gosh…all of this was making her head hurt. She decided it would be easier to fib.

  “Nope, haven’t talked to her.” That was the truth at least, they hadn’t really talked. As long as she was at it, what would one more hurt.

  “How ’bout you? You seen Jace?”

  “No…”

  “No, what?”

  “I asked Tucker about him and he growled at me. Then he wouldn’t tell me why. He’s sleeping now,” she whispered the last part.

  “Why’d you ask her if she’d seen me?”

  “Figured it was the best way to find out what Tucker told her.”

  “What did she say about Bree?”

  “That she hadn’t been able to reach her. Said her phone was off.”

  “So you told her you hadn’t seen her?”

  “No, I told her I hadn’t talked
to her.”

  “Lyric!”

  “What was I supposed to say? That yeah, I saw her for ’bout thirty seconds before she ran out of a restaurant after seein’ you with a broken nose?”

  “Okay, I get your point.”

  “Yep, writin’ a book. That’s the only thing that’s keepin’ me sane dealin’ with all of you. I got enough trouble on my hands with my own twin.”

  “You have a twin?”

  “Yeah, and if any of you could pull your heads outa your asses long enough to ask anybody else about their lives, you mighta known that.”

  “I’m sorry. There’s been a lot goin’ on.”

  “Well there’s been a lot goin’ on with me too. And I’m ’bout smooth out done with it all.”

  “Smooth out what?”

  “Nothin’. It’s somethin’ Bullet says all the time.”

  “Bullet is your twin?”

  “You catch on faster than Bree, at least I can say that much.”

  He doubted it, because he had no idea what Lyric was talking about. He could tell she was mad though, and he’d never seen her mad. At least he didn’t think he had. Maybe he had seen her mad and wasn’t paying attention.

  ***

  Bree drove straight to the cemetery at the Air Force Academy. She needed to be with Zack, to talk to him. She was so lost without him. Before he died, her life had been full. So full, she hadn’t had time to finish school. She knew what she was going to do the next day when she woke up, and the day after that too. Her life was mapped out for her.

  Now, her life had disintegrated into nothing. She had nothing. She had no reason to get up the next day. She’d been telling herself that her sister needed her, but it was clear that now she didn’t.

  Blythe had left the hospital and no one thought it was important to let Bree know. What was she even doing here? Maybe it was time to start her life over somewhere else. She didn’t know what answers she thought she’d find sitting next to Zack’s grave, but she wasn’t finding any.

  She pulled out her phone to check the time and realized she hadn’t turned it back on after the movie.

  When she did, there were eight messages and more texts. By the time she listened to the last one that came in, she realized people cared more about her than she thought. Her mother sounded frantic with worry about her. Bree would call her back first.

  The other message that struck her was one from Jace. He’d called her a few minutes after she stormed out of the restaurant, and in his message, he told her he had to see her. There were things he needed to explain to her, and whether she believe him or not, they had nothing to do with her sister.

  As much as it shouldn’t be, that was the message that mattered the most to her.

  Bree called her mother, and told her she’d be over later sometime, and asked her to let Blythe know she was sorry they’d missed each other.

  “Are you okay?” her mother asked.

  “I’m lost Mom, trying to find my way.”

  “We’re here if you need us baby.”

  “I know. And thanks. I’ll see you soon. There’s another call I have to make first.”

  Bree ran her fingers over the lettering on Zack’s tombstone as she waited for Jace to answer his phone.

  “You’re ’bout drivin’ me crazy,” Lyric said to Jace. She’d taken him back to the house in Palmer Lake, where he hoped to find Bree. She wasn’t there, but Jace refused to leave until one of two things happened. Either she came home, or she called him. Otherwise, he was staying put.

  “You can leave if you want to.”

  “And then what? I live here, remember? Although lately it hasn’t felt much like I do.”

  “I’m sorry. Do your thing. Pretend I’m not here. In fact, if you want me to wait somewhere else, say the word and I’ll go wherever you point me.”

  “Nah, you’re fine. But would you please sit down?”

  Jace almost dropped his phone when it rang, it startled him.

  “Hi,” he answered, knowing it was Bree.

  “Hi.” Her voice sounded cold, remote.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m with Zack, I needed somebody to talk to.”

  It took him a minute to figure out what she was talking about. He realized she must be at the cemetery.

  “Bree, I need to talk to you, and it’s important. Can we please meet somewhere?”

  “Where are you now?”

  “I’m at your house. Lyric brought me back here. My truck was nearby.”

  “I can come home, I guess.”

  Jace looked over at Lyric, who could obviously hear what Bree was saying. She nodded her head.

  “Okay. I’ll wait here for you then.”

  “Jace—”

  “What is it?”

  “I told you before, if you’re only going to tell me that you’re in love with Blythe, I know you are, and I don’t need to hear you say it.”

  “This has nothing to do with Blythe, except that it has something to do with Tucker. Otherwise, that’s the only connection.”

  Chapter 20

  Jace was still pacing when he saw Bree’s car pull into the driveway. Even though it would be the second time he told this story today, he didn’t feel as though telling it again would be any easier.

  He had a glass of wine waiting on the counter for her. He hoped she didn’t think he was being to forward or familiar by doing that. He knew by the time he got through his story, she’d want a glass.

  “Hi,” she said when she walked in the back door. She looked as though she had been crying. Now he wasn’t sure this was the best time to tell her this story. But after tomorrow, he wouldn’t be around anymore and that was something he had to tell her too.

  “Should we go sit down?” she asked.

  “Sure, if that’s what you’d like to do.”

  She sighed heavily. “Jace, is it what you’d like to do?”

  “Uh yeah. Let’s go sit.”

  She was back to bitchy Bree, and that was okay. He was starting to recognize the kinds of things that sent her in that direction. He was making her uncomfortable, and he was in her space. She had every right to be bitchy.

  “What did you want to tell me?”

  “It’s about Tucker, but it’s also about me.”

  “Jace, I already told you—”

  “It isn’t about Blythe, so settle down and let me talk.” He could almost see the steam coming out of her ears when he told her to settle down.

  She sat down on the couch in the living room, and he sat next to her.

  “When Tucker and I were in high school, no it was before that, a long time before that.”

  She folded her arms in front of her.

  “When we were in elementary school, we met a little girl named Rosa.”

  The story he told her was much the same as the one Tucker told Blythe, although Jace had no way of knowing that.

  “When we got into high school, Rosa and I started talking to each other more. Sometimes she’d call me after she’d been out with Tucker. At first we were just friends, but the more we talked, the more she confided in me.”

  Bree turned so her back was up against the arm of the couch and brought her knees up.

  “Tucker wasn’t exactly pressuring her into having sex with him, and the truth was, it bothered her. She thought he wasn’t interested in her that way. I was quick to reassure he that he was.” Jace laughed nervously.

  “Go on.” Bree’s face was getting tighter and tighter the longer he talked. She looked as though she was giving herself a headache.

  “We spent a lot of time talking about sex, which was strange at first, but then it seemed like no big deal. She had a lot of questions, and I certainly had the answers.

  “In the beginning it seemed like she wanted to be ready, when Tucker was. But after a while, I stopped thinking about her with Tucker, not that I ever thought about it, ya know, but I started thinking about her with me.”

  Jace took a deep breath. “On
e night she suggested we meet. I don’t have any idea where Tucker was, maybe hangin’ with his buddies. Anyway, she asked if instead of talking on the phone, we talk in person. I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but I did it anyway.”

  She asked him to pick her up at a friend’s house, so no one saw him or his car at her house, especially her parents.

  “She was pretty aggressive. I mean, we didn’t have sex that night, but we got pretty close to it.”

  They started to make arrangements to see each other more often and each time they did, they went a little further. And when they weren’t together, they still talked. Rosa told him she felt as though she could talk to him in a way she’d never felt comfortable talking to Tucker.

  “My ego got the best of me, that’s for sure. Tuck and I competed over everything. We were always trying to outdo each other. Skiing, riding—everything. She said all the right stuff, that I excited her more than he did, that I was easier to talk to, that I understood her better than he did. And I ate it up, every word.

  “When we started our senior year of high school, I started pressuring her to break up with Tucker. I never realized Tucker was as serious about her as he was, especially since she told me their relationship wasn’t physical.”

  Bree got up to get another glass of wine. Jace followed and pulled another beer out for himself.

  “Want something stronger?” she asked him.

  He wasn’t sure if she was serious, or being bitchy Bree when she said it. “No thanks. Beer’s good.”

  When she went back into the living room he followed. He thought she might sit in one of the chairs, but she didn’t. She sat back on the couch where she’d been before. This time she covered herself with the throw that had draped over the back of the couch.

  “Are you cold? Do you want me to light a fire or anything?”

  “A fire would be nice. Thanks.”

  “So where was I?” he asked after the fire was lit.

  “Senior year.”

  “Yeah, anyway, I wanted her to break up with Tuck. I figured after some time had passed, I’d tell him I was interested in her, and then she and I would start seeing each other in public.”