by Marie Force
“Lots of questions, a few raised eyebrows, but otherwise no real outrage,” Hannah said.
“Same at my table,” Cameron said. “Mildred asked if she could test them out for us.”
That sent the rest of them into fits of laughter.
“I’ll never get that image out of my head,” Colton said.
Lucy ran a soothing hand over his back. “It’s okay, honey. She was probably just kidding.”
“God, I hope so.”
Hunter and Megan joined them. “What’s so funny?” Hunter asked.
“Mildred wants to try out the new product line,” Ella said.
Hunter’s face went totally blank.
“He’s in shock,” Megan said bluntly, setting off another wave of laughter as she fanned his face.
“We need to be more mature about this if we expect the others to buy in,” Wade said.
“Maturity is so totally overrated,” Charley said. “Take him, for example.” She nodded to their brother Max, who was sitting alone at a table, an untouched beer in front of him while he stared off into space.
“I was surprised to see him here tonight,” Hannah said. “I thought he was staying in Burlington until the baby arrives.”
“Chloe told him she’ll let him know when she’s in labor,” Colton said. “Otherwise, there’s no reason for him to be there.”
“Wow,” Hunter said. “What the hell?”
“Will tried to talk to him this week,” Cameron said softly. “He’s not talking about it. Not even to Will.”
Ella’s heart ached for her brother, who’d always been happy and lighthearted and fun to be around until recently. Seeing him so down and despondent broke her heart. Hopefully after the baby arrived he’d rebound and be able to put his focus on the baby rather than on the relationship that wasn’t working.
After several fast songs, the DJ slowed the tempo with “A Thousand Years.”
Gavin approached her, took her hand and led her from the group without a word to anyone. His sexy, possessive gesture did funny things to her insides, which only continued when he wrapped his arms around her and left no room for doubt that they were together with the way he held her close to him.
Ella felt every eye in the room on her and them as they moved together to the song that summed up the depth of her love for him.
“Relax, babe,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve been dying to hold you all day.”
What else could she do when he put it that way but relax into his embrace?
The dance floor filled with other couples, including her parents, Will and Cameron, Hunter and Megan, Colton and Lucy, Hannah and Nolan as well as employees and their spouses. Surrounded by family and friends, Ella felt less on display but no less overwhelmed to be dancing in public with Gavin for the first time as his girlfriend or significant other or whatever they were to each other now.
Because the DJ knew exactly who he was working for tonight, the next song was one by the Beatles, “The Long and Winding Road.”
“Another song that suits us,” Gavin whispered, setting her on fire with his husky words, the scrape of his whiskers against her neck, the scent of his cologne and the tight squeeze of his arms around her. Between them, his arousal pulsed against her belly, reminding her of what to expect when they got home. She couldn’t wait.
Lost in the song, the moment, the magic of being in his arms, she was instantly aware when his body filled with tension.
Ella raised her head off his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s he doing here?” Gavin asked in a much harsher tone than she’d heard from him before.
“Who?”
“Ed Sheehan.”
“He works at the tree farm. Why?”
“Since when?”
“I’m not sure exactly when he started,” Ella said. “A couple of years maybe?”
“He’s the guy I fought with that night at the bar. He said—”
“I remember,” Ella said, sparing him from having to repeat the hateful words and filled with fury over what Ed had said to Gavin.
Gavin released her so suddenly she nearly stumbled.
“I . . . I can’t be in the same room with that guy. I’m sorry.”
He stunned her when he turned and walked away, leaving her standing in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by her employees, parents, siblings and their partners, all of whom looked on in surprise and dismay.
Ella started to go after him, but something stopped her. First of all, she couldn’t leave. This event was her responsibility, and it wasn’t over yet. Second of all . . . She’d gone after him for the last time. He’d chosen to leave, to walk away from her. It would have to be his choice to come back. She couldn’t continue to make that choice for him.
“Um, what just happened?” Charley asked after Ella walked off the dance floor.
“He saw Ed Sheehan here.”
“So?”
“Apparently, Ed told him we wasted our time in Iraq, which led to the bar fight last summer.”
“Oh damn. I didn’t know the fight was with him.”
“I didn’t either.”
“Tell Landon to fire him,” Charley said emphatically.
“Is it wrong that I want to do that?”
“Hell no, it’s not wrong. We lost our brother-in-law over there. How anyone in this town could say such a thing to Gavin, of all people, is beyond me.”
“What’s wrong?” Colton asked when he joined them.
Charley filled him in.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Where’s Landon?”
Their younger brother was across the room, surrounded by some of the store’s youngest female employees.
Colton rolled his eyes. “Look at him.”
“Why are you rolling your eyes?” Charley asked. “A year ago you would’ve been right there with him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Colton said as he went to retrieve Landon.
Ella watched Ed, talking and laughing with some other guys from the farm, blissfully unaware of what was going on around him. He was a big, burly guy with muscles on top of muscles, and though Gavin was no slouch in the muscle department, he was lucky to have walked away relatively uninjured from a fistfight with Ed.
Colton returned with Landon, who was pissed about being pulled away from his female admirers.
“Tell him,” Colton said, giving Landon a final push that landed him in front of Ella and Charley.
“Tell me what?” Landon asked, one eye over his shoulder at the women as if to make sure they didn’t get away.
“Ed Sheehan,” Charley said.
“What about him?”
“Remember the fight Gavin was in last summer?” Ella asked.
“In the bar on 114?” Landon asked.
Colton and Charley looked to her to fill in Landon.
“That’s the one,” Ella said. “He fought with Ed after Ed told him we’d wasted our time in Iraq.”
Landon’s amiable expression hardened. “He said what?”
“That we’d wasted our time in Iraq,” Ella said again, each word causing her the same pain it had to have caused Gavin at the time. No matter what your thoughts were on the war, saying that to someone who’d lost his only sibling there was so far outside the boundaries of propriety it wasn’t even funny.
Landon turned away from them and crossed the room to the table of employees from the Christmas tree farm. He pointed to Ed and indicated he should follow Landon.
With a shrug for the other guys, Ed got up to follow Landon through the main doors to the parking lot outside.
Colton crossed the room to the doors to keep an eye on what was happening outside through the window to the right of the entrance.
Filled with anxiety, Ella watched Colton, know
ing he’d be through the doors in an instant if Landon needed backup. Hopefully, Ed would go quietly without causing more trouble.
She breathed a sigh of relief when Landon came back inside, his face flushed from the cold and the confrontation. He nodded to Colton and then crossed to where Ella and Charley still stood together.
“He’s history,” Landon said bluntly.
“Did you tell him why?” Charley asked.
“Yeah, and I reminded him that my brother-in-law was killed over there, and no one in this family or the Guthrie family wants to hear his opinions or employ someone who’d say what he did to Gavin.”
“What did he say?” Ella asked.
“That we’re all a bunch of warmongers, yada yada. I didn’t listen. I told him to get lost and stay away from us and our property.”
“Thank you, Landon,” Ella said. “I know it’s a tough time of year to be down a worker.”
“We don’t need his kind on our payroll.”
“No, we don’t.” She gave her brother a kiss on the cheek. “I appreciate you handling that.”
“No problem.” He smiled, and she could see he’d already shaken off the unpleasantness with Ed. “Can I get back to my ladies now?”
“By all means,” Ella said.
“There may be hope for him,” Charley said as they watched him return to the women who’d waited patiently for him.
“Our baby brother is growing up,” Colton said.
“If you did, there’s hope for him, too,” Charley said, drawing a snort of laughter from Ella.
Colton bent at the waist and picked up Charley, swinging her in circles, making everyone around them laugh at the way she pounded on his back.
“Put me down, you immature idiot!”
Ella stood back to keep from getting knocked over by their foolishness.
Colton put Charley down right in front of Tyler Westcott.
Charley sputtered at Colton and pushed her hair back from her face, looking up to see Tyler standing there watching her, an amused expression on his handsome face. He really was adorable, Ella thought, wishing Charley would give the poor guy a chance.
“Hi, Charley,” he said, nodding to Ella and Colton.
“Tyler. What’re you doing here?”
“I brought my mom.” He nodded to Vivienne Westcott, who waved at them from across the crowded room. She worked in the bakery at the store. “She doesn’t like to drive at night.”
“Oh,” Charley said. “That’s nice of you.”
“Would you like to dance?” Tyler asked.
“I, um, well, ah . . .”
Ella nudged her sister to remind her that Vivienne was watching.
“Sure,” Charley mumbled, nudging Ella back.
“Great,” Tyler said, beaming. He was tall with really nice wavy dark hair and blue eyes that stood out even behind a set of black-framed glasses that made him look smart and sexy at the same time.
They walked away together, Charley turning to glare at her siblings over her shoulder. Had she been expecting them to bail her out?
“I like him,” Colton said.
“I like him, too,” Ella replied.
“If he likes her, I also feel sorry for him.”
“Stop it. She’s awesome, and when the right guy comes along, she’ll lose her claws.”
“We can only hope so. I’m going to find Lucy. Are you okay?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t blame Gavin for being upset to see that guy here.”
“I don’t either.” She did blame him, however, for leaving the way he had, but she’d take that up with him when she got the chance. If she got the chance. No, when . . . Definitely when.
CHAPTER 18
Hope is tomorrow’s veneer over
today’s disappointment.
—Evan Esar
Charley wished she could click her heels together three times and be anywhere but in Tyler’s arms on the dance floor of the Grange with her entire family looking on—or so it seemed to her.
She hadn’t wanted to dance with him, but what were her options with his mother watching so hopefully when he came over to her? Ugh. Vivienne was a nice lady and a great employee, and Charley would never want to offend her. Which was how she ended up dancing with Tyler to “Stay with Me,” of all things.
Shoot me now. Please.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Tyler asked.
For a second her brain froze before she realized he meant the group run. “I hope so.”
“Did you get to run at all this week?”
She shook her head. “We were too busy getting ready for tonight.”
“Were you sore after last weekend?”
“For a day or two.” In truth, she’d been hobbling around all week, not that she’d ever tell him that. It had been years since she’d done a distance run, and she’d been foolish to jump right in with six miles the first time out.
“You’re really going to need to run during the week, too, if you’re going to be ready by May.”
“I know that.” Charley didn’t mean for that to come out so sharply, but she hardly needed him telling her how to train. He always did this to her. He made her feel stupid and inadequate and . . . on edge. His presence put her on edge, and she didn’t like the edge. She didn’t like it one bit. She particularly didn’t care for dancing with him. She didn’t like that she could smell his cologne or that she could feel the well-toned muscles of his shoulder under her hand.
She didn’t want to know what Tyler Westcott smelled like or felt like under the pressed dress shirts he favored. He reminded her of her brother Hunter, which wasn’t a bad thing, per se. It just wasn’t her thing.
“Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?” he asked in a low, soft tone for her ears only.
“What? No, I will not have dinner with you.”
He laughed. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“I just did. I have before. Why can’t you take no for an answer?”
“Because I don’t believe you mean it.”
She drew back from him, looking up, trying to gauge whether he was for real. Apparently, he was. “How can I convince you?”
“By saying no another two dozen times, at the very least.”
“Are you some sort of masochist?”
“I must be if I want to go out with you.”
The song, blessedly, came to an end, but he didn’t let go of her.
“Um, the song is over.”
“So?”
“So let go. Stop being a creep.”
He smiled down at her.
That arrogant little smirk made her want to smack him. She couldn’t stand how he always looked at her as if he knew her better than she knew herself. When she’d joined the running club, she’d nearly quit when she discovered he was a member, too. Now she was wishing she had quit—so she wouldn’t have to see him every week for six months and so she could sleep in tomorrow.
Running a marathon had been a stupid idea after all. If putting up with Tyler’s knowing smirk every week for the next six months was part of the deal, she might have to reconsider her new life goal.
Long after the song ended, long after he should’ve let go, he finally released her but managed to snag her hand before she could get away. “I’m not giving up on you, Charlotte. And P.S., I don’t buy all your abrasive bullshit. Underneath all that bluster, there’s an interesting woman lurking. I’d like to get to know that woman.”
He released her hand and walked away, leaving her standing in the middle of the crowded dance floor, her mouth hanging open in shock.
What. The. Hell.
* * *
Gavin felt like a dick for leaving the way he had. The image of Ella’s astonished expression as he turned away from her on the dance floor refused to l
eave his mind. He shouldn’t have left like that, as if he couldn’t control himself for a couple of hours to support her when she’d been so damned supportive of him.
“You’re a fucking loser,” he said as he drove home through the darkness that had descended over Butler and its outskirts. With no moon to guide the way, the roads were darker than usual tonight.
He’d never told her that Ed had been the guy he’d fought with, so how was she supposed to know? It had been a shock to see him sitting among the Abbotts’ employees like he belonged there after what he’d said about the war. Surely they wouldn’t want a guy like that in their midst. Would they?
“Shit,” he muttered to the darkness. Every time he took a step forward something smacked him backward. Every goddamned time.
This was exactly why he’d told Ella he was a bad bet. He never knew when the shit would rear its ugly head to set him back.
He approached the one-lane covered bridge and slowed to a crawl as he drove across the bridge, slamming on the brakes when he saw something big and black blocking his way. Flipping on the high beams, he saw Fred the moose standing across the road and groaned. At least he hadn’t run into Fred the way Cameron had.
Gavin laid on the horn, trying to get Fred to move along, to no avail. He remained stubbornly still. Gavin opened the window. “Fred, come on, give me a break, will you?”
“Moo.”
“Seriously? Can this day get any more fucked up?” He sat there for twenty minutes, but Fred never budged. When it became clear that Fred wasn’t going to move, Gavin put the truck in reverse, backed up over the one-lane bridge, turned around and headed back into town. He’d have to take the long way home.
As he drove through the quiet town, he began to wonder if Fred hadn’t actually done him a favor, for he was now driving toward Ella’s house rather than away.
For the first time in an hour, Gavin had reason to smile. “Freaking Fred. He’s better at this shit than I am.”
A glance at the clock on the dash indicated it was after ten. He probably had an hour or more to kill before Ella would be home, which gave him just enough time to run a quick errand. He had some groveling to do, and he needed all the reinforcements he could get.
