“Well, hello there,” said Mr. Nelson in his laid-back, trademark, nasally voice. He raised his legendary guitar in the air and nodded his head. He was wearing a red HalRem cap. “I want to extend my congratulations to the newlyweds—Meggie and Joel Halden.” The crowd went wild with applause and cheering. It was nearly midnight and no one but the singer seemed to be fading. “Golly gee—me and Lieutenant Halden don’t always agree on everything.” Laughter rolled through the crowd. “He knows exactly how I feel about energy sources. At least we can agree on curbing the country’s dependence on foreign oil. We make a tenacious pair when we put our minds together. I enjoyed the night! I wish you many more!” He turned to acknowledge his band members. “These fellas are yours until dawn.”
Meggie stepped into Mr. Halden’s arms and kissed him all over his face.
“God bless Willie Nelson!” shouted one of Meggie’s boarders.
A burly-looking bodyguard escorted the music icon off the stage to where the couple was waiting to say goodbye. I watched my aunt hang off the poor man’s shoulder. Before he left, he shook hands with Mr. Halden and waved goodbye to Gabe, who was sitting on the edge of the stage a little too close to the girl name Erika.
“You look like you had fun,” I told him when he waved me over.
Erika stood up and smiled at me as I approached. Her brother called for her, and she walked off.
“He let me hold Trigger,” Gabe replied. “That’s his guitar.” His eyes twinkled in the stage lights. He jumped to the grass and grabbed my waist with his free hand. “You look like fun in those boots.”
“Where do you want to sit to watch the fireworks?” He wrapped his arms around me and spun me around. “Put me down. How much have you had to drink?”
He lifted his cowboy hat and set it on my head. “Not enough. I know the perfect place.”
Five minutes later I was tiptoeing up the staircase to Meggie’s attic. Shelly was on the front porch texting Deliah from across the party. The babies and Brianna were sound asleep in the bedrooms.
Gabe tugged off my boots and then held my hand as I stepped into the bathtub. I climbed on the ledge so I could crawl out the bathroom window. He took the opportunity to set his hands on my legs and pretend he was helping me.
“How many times have you done this before?”
“Once on a dare when I was twelve,” he answered. “I slept out here. Eli and Lane locked me out.”
I balled my dress into my hand so it wouldn’t get snagged. I settled on a blanket on the sloped roof, and he locked his leg over mine. I draped part of the blanket over my shoulder to shield the wind and collect my bearings.
“Why are guys always wagering bets and goading each other into dares?”
“Why are y’all always doing each other’s hair and talkin’ about dudes?”
I threw my head back and took a deep breath. He had a little more than a little bit to drink. “The stars are out. This is incredible.”
“Are you scared?” he asked teasingly.
“Are you drunk? There’s no way you slept out here.”
“Hell yeah there is. I got the photo to prove it.”
I held his hand and leaned forward cautiously to study the ground below. I noticed my Jeep parked a foot off Gabe’s bumper.
He rubbed my arm under the blanket. “I dare you to take this dress off.”
We were having completely separate conversations on completely separate wavelengths.
“What other dares did you do?” I gripped the rain gutter. I needed to be distracted.
“When I was thirteen, Lane dared me and Caleb to do a syrup chugging contest.”
“Like the whole squeeze bottle?”
“Yup,” he laughed. “I was sick to death all night, and Meggie took me to the emergency room because she thought I had food poisoning. She did the same thing when Caleb tried to drink an entire gallon of milk and passed out.”
Gabe slid my strap down and ran his finger around my bandages.
“All along Meggie and my mother must have been gossiping about the bad little rich boys from Texas. Nobody thought to tell me they existed.”
“Ask her if she heard about the time we dared Eli to eat everything on the McDonald’s menu. He got through more than half of it in one sitting, and then he rolled around on the floor acting like his appendix burst.”
He slipped a hand behind my back and pulled me close so our noses touched.
“I’m glad I’m not a boy.”
“A-men to that,” he whispered and bit my bottom lip between his teeth.
“We’re four stories high and you want to make out?”
“Who said anything about making out?”
I wilted against the rough wall, suddenly conscious of onlookers. I tried to ignore his roaming hand, but he was kissing my earlobe at the same time. All I could do was stay perfectly still so I didn’t take a plunge down the death slide. “Reporters could be watching.”
“You didn’t seem to mind back at the bus when you wanted to take all of your clothes off in the road.”
“I did not!”
“Did so. You tried to take mine off too.”
He leaned back with an arrogant look about him. I averted my eyes and focused on the party below. Meggie’s yard transformed into a midnight circus. Limos were lined up along the road for as far as the moonlight stretched. The lawn was a patchwork of vehicles. Fireworks were still going off in distant fields. The Fourth of July in North Dakota lasted through the night.
“Gabe, look.” He had his hand under the blanket, under my dress. “Isn’t that your brother’s truck?” I pointed past his knees. There were two people in the truck bed. “See them laying there?”
He grunted and stretched his legs so his boots hung over the eaves. “At least somebody’s getting lucky.”
“They’re not even touching each other. It looks like they’re talking.”
His hand inched over my stomach and traced the line of my underwear. He was tickling me on purpose. I closed my eyes and grabbed another gutter in a flash of uncertainty. I sat up to get him to stop, but my foot slipped. I gasped and scampered backward as fast as I could, but I couldn’t get traction. I slid downward. The rough surface abraded my bare feet and then they scraped over the edge of the roof and dropped out of sight.
“Gabe!”
He seized my arm and wrenched me back. I flipped over and clawed the roof tiles as I continued to slide in slow motion. Gabe stretched his leg, and I grabbed onto his jeans with both of my hands. I used my knee to hoist myself.
“I got you. I really got you,” he said.
I struggled to trust the promise in his voice. My heart was thudding so hard I could hardly hear the firework show starting.
“I’m slipping!”
A hissing sound cut through the air. The pop went off, and over my shoulder a brilliant flash of blue and white followed.
Gabe pulled me by my arms until my feet cleared the roof and I could jam my toes into the eaves. I rested my head on his leg and panted. He didn’t let go of my arms. I wasn’t going to be okay until I was sitting on the bathroom floor.
“I swear I got ya,” he said as he helped me climb to the wall and turn onto my side. Sparks shot up from the coop and painted the night in flowers of fire. As I held on for my life, a sigh of wonder passed through the wedding guests.
“I almost fell off the roof,” I whimpered as the fear sunk in. “Feel my heart.”
“I can feel it alright. You weren’t going anywhere. But I think you might have set the record for mooning a crowd.”
I wiped my eyes as small, quick pops went off before a series of blasts lit the sky like hundreds of camera flashes. I was temporarily blinded. Every explosion left a trail of sparks in its wake.
Gabe stood up. “Time’s up,” he said.
He lifted the window and then climbed in while I held onto the sill with fear in my grip. It was good to set my feet on a flat surface. I flicked the light switch on just as he reac
hed for my dress and lifted it up to my waist. My knees were still shaking.
“Stop. What are you doing?”
“You’re all cut up.” He made me turn to the mirror on the back of the door.
I ran my hand over my stomach and stared at my legs and scraped knees. “I can’t go down there like this. I look like I was dragged behind a train.”
“Sit. I’ll fix you up,” he told me as he ran a washcloth under the faucet in the bathtub, rung it out, then placed it across my knees.
* * *
Gabe unraveled my braids in the middle of the night and combed his fingers through my hair while he thought I was sleeping. When he fell asleep, I watched him in the light from the kitchen. Sometimes I did that when I couldn’t believe he was mine.
We were still in our wedding clothes when we woke up on Meggie’s couch. My sister walked in carrying her blanket and an armful of stuffed animals.
“You don’t live here, Avy,” she stated in an accusing tone.
“Aren’t you happy to see me?”
“No,” she answered as she cuddled up to Gabe. He rolled off the couch and sat on the floor. I thought maybe Brianna had mistaken Gabe for someone else, but she looked right at him. He lifted her onto his lap, and she leaned back and rested her head on his arm.
“Y’all look hung over,” Deliah announced from the doorway. She walked in and sat on my feet.
Caleb was asleep in a sleeping bag across the room.
“Aunt Meggie’s going to a huggymoon. Mommy said Emmie can’t go.”
“Huggymoon?” Deliah laughed at my sister’s language. “It’s a honeymoon, and kids aren’t allowed.”
“Why?” Brianna asked.
Caleb chuckled from his corner. “Explain to Miss Cindy Lou Who just why that is.”
“Don’t, Deliah. He’s kidding,” I said and yawned. “Banana, what do you want for breakfast?”
“Cake,” she said.
“I don’t think there’s any left. All of those people outside ate it.”
“She wants to get breakfast in town,” said Gabe.
My sister squeezed his neck and shook her head excitedly. “Chocolate chip pancakes!”
“What are we supposed to do with those people out there? Shouldn’t they go home?” Deliah asked.
“My father took their keys. Most of them are HalRem employees.” I glanced out the front window. The tent was being dismantled and loaded into a truck at the road. Some of the guests were in sleeping bags in the back of their pickups.
“Emmie sleeped in mommy’s room,” said my sister.
“What about Eli?” I asked.
Caleb rolled over and stretched his arms above his head. “Molly took him to her mom’s.”
“Good morning, folks,” said his father. He was dressed in jeans and an Air Force T-shirt. He had a USAF cap shielding his eyes. He could have been any of the boys if it weren’t for the gray hair in his sideburns. “I hope y’all had a good night’s sleep. Margareta and I are heading out.”
“Isn’t it customary for the newlyweds to disappear before morning?” Caleb asked as he sat up.
My mother stepped out of the stairway carrying Emmie. Mr. Halden laughed out loud. His baby was wearing a jumper made out of the Texas flag.
“It was a present from your sister,” my mother told him and handed her over. “She sent it along with her wedding gift.”
A few minutes later Mr. Halden and Meggie said their goodbyes, and their limousine departed for the airport. The Halden-Remington jet was waiting to fly them to Galveston where they were staying on a yacht for five days. It was the first I heard of Gabe’s family owning a yacht, but I wasn’t surprised.
Gabe backed his truck out of the yard without running over the remaining guests. My father took my Jeep back to the dealer to adjust something in the headlights. We were so hungry we didn’t bother to change our clothes before we left. Deliah talked Caleb into following us to a diner Gabe heard about somewhere off US 85 where they served breakfast all day.
My sister was buckled into her booster between us. Gabe popped a stick of Juicy Fruit in his mouth as he turned off Meggie’s road. Brianna didn’t skip a beat and held her hand out to beg.
“Ask your sis,” he told her as he chewed.
“This is why she loves you. Okay, you can have one. But you have to spit it out when we get there. You know Gabe has to brush his teeth ten times a day because he chews gum and eats candy.”
“Me too,” she said proudly. “I have Dora the Explora tootpaste.”
I yawned and made my sister yawn.
“Should we pull off for you two to nap?” Gabe asked.
“Naps are for babies and daddies and sick peoples,” Brianna said.
We drove into the parking lot of the diner. It was sitting on a plot between a used truck lot and a realtor’s office outside of Williston. Deliah slid out of the front seat of Caleb’s truck and shielded her eyes with her hand.
I unbuckled my sister’s seat belt, and Gabe let her jump into his arms. He set her down, and she hit the ground running straight to Deliah. Caleb made us wait in the packed lot while he took a call. The heat was back. I could feel my already frizzy hair start to double in size.
Gabe struck a pose against the hood of his truck. He was wearing a white undershirt and his jeans from the wedding.
“I was awake last night when you were staring at me,” he said and then slid his finger under the strap of my dress and pulled me closer.
“Break it up,” said Caleb as he locked his truck cab and ambled by. My sister ran ahead and held the door open for us. My boots kicked up dirt as I walked toward the diner.
“Hey, boys,” said Erika Ingarson as we collected in the air-conditioned lobby. I closed my mouth before my jaw could scrape the ground. She stepped out from behind the register wearing an apron. Her hair was twisted up into a cap and a pen was stuck behind her ear.
“I thought you worked at the grocery store,” I said.
She smiled at me, but her eyes circled Gabe’s snug shirt and the way it showed off every muscle. She had brilliant white teeth with a small space between her top two. It made her even prettier. “Sure do. I try to pick up shifts here when I can.”
“We’ll take a booth,” I said as I locked my hand with Gabe’s.
Brianna jumped and almost knocked her head on the counter. “We’ll take chocolate chip pancakes.”
“Absolutely,” she told her in a sweet voice. Then she turned to Gabe and touched his arm. It was more than just a tap to get his notice. She didn’t let go. She was visibly enjoying the feel of his perfect bicep under her fingers. “Who is this cutie pie, Gabe?”
“This here’s Avery’s little sis,” he said as he held a hand on Brianna’s shoulders so she couldn’t jump again. “And this is my sister, Deliah.”
“Travis talks about you all the time,” she told Deliah. “I meant to introduce myself at the wedding.”
Deliah’s cheeks turned red.
Gabe slid into the booth and set his elbow on the windowsill. I had my sister sit next to him so I could trap her in. Caleb made Deliah take the window seat across from us.
Erika passed out water and set menus in front of everyone and told us she’d be back in three minutes. She wasn’t wearing a wedding band. I couldn’t help but check.
“That explains why we came here,” I said under my breath as I flipped through my menu.
Brianna reached past Gabe for the sugar packets. He didn’t answer. He helped my sister dump out the caddy so she could sort the colors.
“Sounds like somebody wants to throw a rock at the shiny object,” Caleb mocked.
“Oh no!” Deliah shrieked.
I lifted my gaze from my menu and then glanced around to see if anyone was giving us dirty looks.
Caleb sat back and set his hand on the seat behind her. “Do tell.”
“Shelly’s moving! I’m going to die if my best friend abandons me,” she cried and waved her phone in the air.
“Well, dang, crisis averted,” Gabe said.
“Legs, were you like this at thirteen?” Caleb tipped his chin at me and raised his eyebrows.
Deliah dropped her head to the table dramatically.
“Why would they move all of a sudden?” I asked. “Shelly didn’t say anything yesterday.”
She looked up. Her eyes filled with tears. “Her mom quit being principal. There are too many kids in the school district, and nobody wants to teach because there’s no houses for teachers to live in. She’s taking a job in Wyoming.”
“What’s Wyoming?” my sister asked.
“It’s where the mothership lands,” Caleb said.
Brianna and I stared across the table.
“Devils Tower. Close Encounters. You’ve seen the movie.”
“Like Haldens Tower,” said Brianna as she stacked the sugar packets into a tower.
Caleb chuckled. “They’re gonna try to send Rachel Merriweather back to her own kind.”
“Don’t joke,” Deliah cried. “My world is crumbling.”
“Speaking of crumbling—has anyone heard from Lane? You guys don’t seem concerned that your brother disappeared.”
“He’s in the big ole state of Texas,” Caleb drawled.
My jaw shot forward. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Since when do I report to you?” He crossed his arms over his shirt. “Maybe if you gave me some incentive.”
Gabe kicked Caleb under the table. I reached across my sister and set my hand on his knee.
“I just...I care if he’s alive. That’s all,” I replied. “I’m out of a job now because of him.”
“He called me not more than five minutes ago.”
Erika returned and set a plate of syrup dispensers in the center of the table. “Okay, guys, what can I get you?” Then she looked to Gabe. “You first.”
“A five stack, a side of bacon, a side of hash brow—” His attention flew out the window halfway through his order.
“Hey, are you done?” I asked him.
“I’ll have cake,” Brianna cut in. She handed her menu to Erika. I pointed to the picture of pancakes on the cover.
The Luxury of Being Stubborn (The Stubborn Series Book 4) Page 14
