by C. A. Harms
“I love you too, pretty girl.” He leaned in and kissed the corner of my mouth. “But it’s the two of you that make everything better.”
Chapter Twenty
Clayton
I stepped inside The Pit, seeing that old familiar hustle and bustle around the place. There were so many days growing up that Corbin and I moved around this place bussing tables and cleaning floors. Never, and I do mean never, did this place get old, though. The atmosphere was always kicking, people talking, and music playing.
I looked toward the kitchen, still holding Emelie’s hand securely in my own as I held a now fully awake two-year-old in my other arm. I was nervous, not because my parents didn’t know that my girl had a son, but because they did. I’d talked about Emelie and Ethan so much they’d told me they felt as if they already knew her. I was just worried that my parents would be too much for Em. She wasn’t used to the “in-your-face,” so “involved in your life” kind of parents, and that’s exactly what mine were.
My ma could be a little over the top, but she was a damn superhero. She had always been the woman who held my heart, yet now she had to share it with Emelie.
“Well, if it isn’t the terror twins.” I laughed and hung my head when I heard Bevin’s voice squeal through the dining area, causing a few of the customers to look our way. “Any firecrackers or stink bombs in your pockets?” She stepped up to Corbin first and hugged him close. I looked over to see Palmer’s reaction, and found it interesting how she narrowed her eyes, appearing displeased. “I swear you two get more handsome every time I see you.” She moved to me next and didn’t even care that I was holding a little guy, and hugged me on the side closest to Emelie. “And more muscular too.”
“It’s good to see ya, Bev,” I said, squeezing Emelie’s hand. “Girls, this is our cousin, Bevin.”
I chanced another look at Palmer, then Em, finding that both of them seemed a little less tense.
“Your ma told me all about this little guy.” Bev reached out and tickled Ethan’s tummy, making him giggle loudly. “He is adorable.” She then looked at Emelie and for a minute, my heart sank as I waited, fearful of her next move. Then she took Emelie in a big hug and I laughed at the shocked look on my girl’s face. “Emelie, you are all my aunt has been talking about for weeks. I was starting to think she’d exaggerated, but you are just as pretty as she let on. What I wanna know is how a cute little thing like you could get wrapped up with a slacker like Clayton. Corbin, you’re a menace.” She looked toward my brother and pushed his shoulder. “Sweetheart, you need to steer clear of this boy. He once taped raw chicken beneath our principal’s chair and waited for it to rot. That was the most horrific smell that filtered throughout the main office of our high school. You just can’t trust this one.”
“He and I are not together,” Palmer stated very clearly. “But, I’m starting to think country boys have something to offer that I may like.” When she said that, she looked over the dining area and Corbin’s mouth went flat as his nostrils flared.
“My boys are here!” There was always something about my mother’s voice that took me back to my younger years. The days when she would sit on the porch swing with Corbin on one side and me on the other while she read us a book. Or on Sundays when we’d go to church and she would hold us close as she sang along with the choir. It gave me back all those comforts I felt as a young boy.
I looked up as my ma walked through the swinging doors into the dining room, towel drying her hands while staring ahead with excitement. I was proud to say I was a momma’s boy. Hell, we both were. She was the most amazing woman in the world, hands down. Luanna Powell had a heart bigger than no other, didn’t have a mean bone in her body, and gave a hell of a lot more than she ever expected to receive.
Like I said before, a superhero.
“Let me look at you.” She reached up and placed one hand on each cheek, smiling wide. Tears pooled in her eyes. “I don’t like not seeing your handsome faces every day. This internet Facetime stuff is not enough. I need my boys here so I can hug them,” she said as she released her hold on me and reached out for Corbin. “A mother isn’t happy when her children aren’t near.”
“We miss you too, Ma.” Corbin moved forward and for a moment, we all three shared a hug. Mine was a little awkward considering I still held Ethan, but I think Em sensed the difficulty as she took Ethan from me.
I laughed when I heard my ma actually breathe in deeply, as if inhaling the scent of both of us. “I smell better than he does,” I told her, and she laughed, looking up at me, then Corbin. “Everything is always better with the two of you around.”
Her words reminded me of Emelie and I and the conversation we had just a short time before. When I turned to look back at her, I found both her and Palmer looking at us in awe.
“Now you two move outta my way,” our mom finally said with a laugh. “I need to meet the sweet girl and handsome little boy that stole my son’s heart.” I stepped back, wanting nothing more than to observe my ma fawn over Ethan and Em. Neither of them had enough of that in their lifetimes, in my opinion.
She reached out, hugged them both in her arms, and whispered something that made Emelie smile. “Yes, ma’am, he sure has.” They both smiled in my direction, then I realized she’d most likely asked Emelie if I was treating them right. Luanna might be sweet and kind, but when her boys stepped out of line, especially in regards to a lady, she’d beat our asses for sure. Something told me that me being twice her size wouldn’t phase her in the slightest.
“Ethan, you are the sweetest,” Ma leaned in and placed a kiss to his little cheek, “and I’m gonna have the greatest time spoiling you.”
I wasn’t quite sure what was going on with Emelie, but she looked slightly lost as she watched my mother with Ethan. Her eyes were clouded over and glossy.
“Do you all like barbecue?”
“Yes, we do,” Palmer said, “and we’ve heard that you make the best we’ll ever have.”
“My boys are biased.” She offered Palmer a wink. “Why don’t you all grab a table and you two beautiful girls can judge for yourselves?”
“Where’s Dad?” I asked as she hurried off.
“With Uncle Truman,” she hollered out over her shoulder just before pushing through the double doors into the kitchen.
Once we were seated and Ethan was in a booster between us, I leaned in and kissed Emelie’s cheek. “You okay?”
She only nodded, looking down at the menu. I could see the way her nostrils flared and her chest rose and fell, like she was taking in one deep breath after another.
“Em?”
“Don’t,” she said, finally looking over at me. “I can’t talk about it right now because if I do I’ll cry.” She smiled, but I could tell it was forced and I started to go through everything that took place since we walked in the doors. “You didn’t do anything wrong, no one did. It’s just that your mom showed more love to my son in five minutes than his own blood has in his lifetime. It hit me a little harder than I expected is all.”
Again she looked away, and I reached out to place my hand against her lower back, offering her a soothing rub. She’d better hold on tight then, because what she’d just witnessed from my ma was only the tip of the iceberg. She would have Ethan and Emelie, hell even Palmer, drowning in love and devotion by the time we left; that was a fact.
***
“I’m stuffed.” Emelie placed her hand over her stomach and leaned back in her chair. “I think I need to unbutton my jeans so I can breathe kinda stuffed.”
I watched as Ethan mimicked his mother’s movements and slouched back, rubbing his tummy. “You full too, bud?” He looked up at me and I laughed seeing the ring of barbeque around his mouth. He even had a piece of corn sticking to his cheek. “Was it good?”
“Yesh,” he said, nodding his head before reaching out to pick up another piece of cornbread and holding it to his mouth to take a bite.
My dad had arrived, and after a r
ound of introductions, he and Uncle Truman took off for the auction in search of a few more tables for outside on the patio. The best thing about The Pit was it was never about fancy, it was about comfort. The tables didn’t match, but even then they all seemed to fit.
“So what did y’all think?”
The girls looked up at my ma, who stood at the end of our table with a handful of wet wipes. “Your boys didn’t exaggerate.” Palmer let out a deep breath and smiled up at my mother. “That was amazing, and even though I feel like I’m gonna explode, I can’t seem to stop eating.”
My ma chuckled and looked at Corbin. “I like this one,” she told him, pointing toward Palmer who, in turn, looked between Corbin and my mother.
“We’re just friends,” Palmer assured my mother around an ear of corn. “I’m not even sure if you’d call us friends. More like we were stuck in the same car for eleven hours and I had to count to ten a whole bunch of times and remember that I’m not the prison type. Yeah, I’d say that explains it much better.”
Again my ma laughed. “That, my dear, is exactly how me and my Burton started out.” Palmer’s eyes widened. “That man drove me mad, and I think I even threatened to run over him with my daddy’s truck a few times before he wore me down.”
“There will be no wearing down.” Palmer glared at Corbin and everyone around the table laughed.
“We’ll see,” Corbin added with a wink before smiling up at my mother.
I could foresee some definite trouble in the near future.
Chapter Twenty-One
Emelie
“Clayton, you do realize I am a city girl?” I held on tighter, my arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind. “This hiking thing is not me.”
“Which is exactly why I’m now carrying your ass,” he replied with humor. “Who wears sandals on a walk through the woods?”
“In my defense, you didn’t tell me we’d be reliving the life of Huck and Finn.” I held on tighter as Clay started to climb a small hill. “Will we be meeting the Grangerfords next?”
“No aristocratic families hiding in these woods, babe,” he chuckles. “You got that book memorized or what?
“I’m surprised you knew what I was talking about.”
“My mom wasn’t easy on us boys. She made us read every day for a least an hour.” Clayton looked back over his shoulder at me with a very serious expression. “Then she would quiz us.”
I could say with absolute certainty that I adored Luann Powell. The woman was amazing.
I looked up when we reached the top of the hill and was hit with a moment of awe. I had never seen anything more beautiful. We were standing on top of a large cliff, overlooking the land below. Trees so far, I couldn’t see the end of them. “This is gorgeous.”
Clayton lowered me to the ground, holding my hand close to his side. “Corbin and I would climb this hill and pitch a tent right there.” He pointed to a patch of flat land just beneath the edge of the rock behind us. “We’d camp out here, facing the front of the tent in this direction. It was the perfect view of the sunset at night.”
“Sounds magical,” I said, looking back out over the openness. “My childhood was never anything like that. I didn’t get to have nights like those. I want Ethan to have memories like that.”
“He will,” Clayton assured me, pulling my body around in front of his. “Whenever I come back here, you two come too.”
“What?”
“Em, I meant it when I said that you and Ethan are my everything. I’ve never felt for anyone what I feel for you two. I wanna share every moment of my life with the two of you. This isn’t just something to pass the time, this is real. What you and I have is as real as it gets.” I felt like a lump had formed in my throat, making it difficult to speak. “I wanna teach Ethan to fish and ride dirt bikes. I wanna be the guy he comes to when he has a crush on a girl, all that shit. I’m looking forward to being that person for him.”
“You’re unbelievable.” I stared up at Clayton, still at a loss for words.
“I love you both so much.”
Because I couldn’t seem to put into words what I wanted to say, I stood on my tip-toes and pulled him down toward me, pressing my lips to his. “I hit the jackpot with you, Clayton Powell,” I mumbled against his lips and felt him smile.
“Will you knock it off, you jackass?” I looked past Clayton’s shoulder just in time to see Palmer step into the clearing with Corbin close behind. “Or I’m gonna knock you over the head and throw you over a cliff. Then I will have to go back and break the news to your poor momma that her warped little boy fell to his death.”
Corbin seemed completely unfazed by Palmer and her threats of violence. In fact, all he was doing was scanning her over from behind. He was either extremely into her or lost in a sea of lust.
“Come on, sweetheart, I’m harmless.”
“Harmless, my ass, and I am not sweet, Corbin.” She spun around to face him. “I’m sour and mean. If I catch you checking out my ass one more time, I’m gonna jab your eyes out with the nearest sharp object I can find.”
She shoved against his chest. “Up here, you ass!” She pointed to her face. “My eyes are up here.”
“But you told me to stop looking at your ass.” Corbin seemed to really enjoy tormenting her.
“That was all of me, you idiot.” She spun around to face us and rolled her eyes. “How in the hell can you two possibly be related?” she asked Clayton, and Corbin grinned from behind her. “He skipped right over the charm and got all the garbage left over.”
“I’m charming.” Corbin peeked over her shoulder and she shoved him away.
“You are annoying and frustrating and—”
“Cute?” Corbin interrupted her, holding his hands out to his side. I’ll admit I found him cute, but that had a lot to do with the fact that he was identical to the man I was in love with, so I had a reason. Palmer, on the other hand, looked murderous.
“Cute does not make you tolerable.” She hung her head. “I have never wanted to commit a felony before,” she looked up at Clayton and me, “until now. I actually dream of sewing his mouth shut, or worse. He’s making me crazy, and I’m worried that I may actually hurt him.”
“Please hurt me.”
I wanted to help her, but oh my god I couldn’t. I laughed uncontrollably as I bent at the waist. They were by far the most hilarious thing I’d ever witnessed, and whether Palmer wanted to admit it or not, I seriously thought she had a thing for him.
“Where’s Ethan?” Clayton finally broke through the craziness.
“He’s with Dad,” Corbin replied, stepping around Palmer and joining us on the cliff. “They were driving the length of the drive over and over on the four-wheeler when we left. Ethan was laughing, saying ‘again’ each time they made it back to the house.”
My eyes widened in horror and I was just about to have a mommy freak out moment as I looked at Clayton for help. But Palmer piped in as she normally did.
“He’s wearing a baseball helmet that used to be Clayton’s, and their dad is going less than five miles per hour. Wipe the old lady look from your face and stop worrying.”
Palmer did have a way with words that made everything seem funny. Corbin looked at her proudly and nodded his head. “She is so sassy.” There was a familiar gleam in his eyes, “I love it. Dynam—”
“Don’t say it.” Palmer spun around to face him. “I swear to it right now, Corbin Powell, if you finish that sentence I will castrate your sorry ass right here and now.”
Most men would cower at the threat of losing their manhood, but Corbin just smiled wide and squared his shoulders.
Wait for it, I thought to myself.
“Sour Palmer, though I still think you’re sweet, I would love for you to manhandle my junk.” He pushed out his hips and I buried my face in Clayton’s chest to hide my laughter.
A moment of silence passed before Palmer took a step toward him and I peeked to find out what would happen next. T
hen she reached out, cupped his package and I waited to hear him squeal, but it never came. Instead Palmer let go quickly, stepped back, and stormed off toward the direction we’d all come from.
Corbin watched her for a few seconds with a grin wide on his lips before looking back at us. “I knew all it would take is just one touch and she’d decide on a better way to use me.”
He hurried off as fast as she had, and a few minutes later we heard a loud squeal echo through the trees.
“I think we should wait a bit before we head back.” Clayton chuckled. “That is nothing I wanna walk up on.”
“Agreed.” Tilting my head up, I kissed him. Why not take advantage of our time alone?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Clayton
“I heard the Powell boys were in town.” I turned around to face Dana, a girl I knew well. Though the last three and a half years had changed her into more of a woman, she was still the same: long blonde hair, big smile, and bright blue eyes.
Dana Samuels was the girl I dated throughout high school. The captain of the cheerleading squad, prom queen, the it girl. She was also the girl I’d lost my virginity to in the backseat of her car after the state championships where we’d smoked the other team.
She was also the same girl who cried when she’d found out I was going away to college instead of staying here with her. At one time she was mine, or so I considered her to be. She was the one I dreamt of at night when I closed my eyes and woke up thinking of the next morning.
“Yeah,” I said, finally realizing I had yet to respond. “We’re back for a few days, just visitin’.”
“Maybe we can catch up before you go back, grab a drink or a movie.” I didn’t miss the way she tucked her hands into her back pockets and pushed out her chest a little more. “It’s been real quiet around here without the Powell twins.” She bit her lip and that familiar stir ran through my stomach, only this time it turned quickly to discomfort. Dana was a pretty girl, there was no doubt, but she wasn’t my Em.
