by Dawn McClure
Misty let go of David and braced herself. Matt reached her first. He plowed into her, knocking her back as he hugged her so tight she couldn't breathe.
“Oh my God, my God. You weren't answering your phone.” Matt’s voice sounded as though he’d been strangled. It was rough and raw. She squeaked when her twin crushed her again with a squeeze. “You were here the whole time? I thought you'd have come back home. Thank God you didn't.” She could feel his arms shaking against her. “Oh my God,” he repeated. “I was praying I’d find you here.”
Absolutely sagging with relief that Matt was okay, she hardly contained the strength to hug him back. Like Matt, she shook like she was going through detox. They may butt heads all the time, but she loved Matt more than anything or anyone she could currently think of. “I had planned on it, but the tornado—”
“Brandon and I jumped in his car to come get you. I was just getting out of the field. I'd gotten the wheel of the planter stuck in the damn mud, but in hindsight, it was a blessing.” Matt squeezed her again like she'd disappear if he didn't. “We would have been here sooner, but we checked home first, plus there's a damn tree down in David's driveway. We ditched the car and came running.”
Matt pulled back just as Brandon came jogging up. He was out of breath. His hair was wet and sticking in every direction. She looked back at her brother. “I was out in the field, too, until David came and got me.”
Matt moved out of the way, even though she'd been reluctant to let go of him. Brandon put his palms on the sides of her face and asked her if she were hurt. He was out of breath from running to her.
“No, I'm okay.” She had to force herself not to pull away. She was glad to see that Brandon was safe, but why hadn't he at least tried to call her? Text her? Both her brother and David had texted her. David had run straight toward a tornado to get her out of harm's way.
“What do you mean, out in the field?” her brother asked.
“She was out in the field trying to get a calf to safety. I knew where she was and took my truck to go get her when I heard there was a tornado down. We practically kissed the damn thing, but we managed to get to the basement,” David answered.
Matt went in for the shoulder-bump hug, and David clapped him on the back. “Thank you for keeping her safe. Christ, you two look like you swam laps in a mud bog.”
“She helped birth a calf in the storm,” David said. He looked over at the house. “The roof caved on the south side. My truck was thrown into the side as well. I need to get some tarps to cover the house.”
“My parents’ house was leveled,” Matt said.
Misty broke away from Brandon and took a few steps toward her brother. “What?”
Matt shook his head and looked down at one of the many puddles, then cleared his throat as though he were too emotional to speak. She stood in shocked numbness. David took a step toward her but stopped short when Brandon was suddenly by her side again.
“Some of the fence around your cattle is leveled,” Matt continued, his voice strained. “The tornado hit our house but didn't touch much of our fields. Brandon and I will go fix your fence and get the wandering cattle back. Some were killed.”
“Mom and Dad are in Aberdeen,” she mentioned needlessly.
Matt nodded. “Cell lines are busy, but I'll try them again. Tell them we're okay. I texted Abby, too, and she’s good. The tornado didn’t come near her duplex. She said she’ll be over to help just as soon as she can get here. I told her to stay home because the roads might be blocked, but she’s already on her way.”
Apparently some calls and texts were going through. “I'll go inside and salvage whatever I can on the south side. We also need to tend the calf,” she said.
With David's parents at the hospital, they'd need all the help they could get. Considering her home was gone...
“I'll go with you,” David said.
It was an odd pairing, and from the stiffness of her boyfriend's stance, Brandon didn't like it. She couldn't blame him. But she didn't rightly care at the moment. She needed to help her neighbors, and it sounded like there wasn't much they could do at their own house. With part of the Buchanan's roof gone, they'd have to get some tarps to cover it. Until then, she should grab everything that was currently getting rained on. It would make more sense if she went with Matt, and Brandon could help David put up the tarp, but she doubted David wanted to be around Brandon.
“We'll call your mom and ask how your dad is doing,” she said to David.
“Why? What happened to Big Mike?” Matt asked.
David quickly filled him in.
Brandon grabbed the opportunity to take her by the arm and pull her aside. “Are you sure you're okay? You look like death warmed over.” He wiped at some dirt on her face and leaned in to kiss her. She numbly complied. It was a chaste kiss—an I was worried about you kiss.
If he'd been worried, why hadn't he texted?
“You should try to call your parents. Make sure they’re safe.”
“I already texted my dad. Both he and my mom are fine.”
She stared at him for several seconds, but he didn’t elaborate. She was too numb to inquire as to why he hadn’t texted his girlfriend. He’d come looking for her, and that spoke for itself.
The power was out, but David finally managed to get a hold of his mother. He’d told her everyone was okay. He didn't mention the damage to their house, because he knew she didn’t need that on her plate to worry about, but had told her about the Evans' place. His mom said the family could stay with them, and she was going to call Dan and Alice herself.
Thankfully, his dad had woken up. He was coherent and waiting to be scheduled for surgery. There wasn't much David could do but get the house back in order. Knowing his mother was surrounded by friends, he knew he'd be more appreciated at the ranch. He called the insurance company and started taking pictures of the damage with his phone before he allowed Misty to begin the cleanup process with him.
They'd called everyone in their circle. Tucker, Shane, and Abby were all fine. Abby was now with Matt, helping fix the fence with him and Brandon. After David and Misty had made their calls, he'd told her to go wash up. The water would still be on even with the power out, but she'd only have hot water while it lasted. He'd cleaned up as quickly as he could just using the sink, trying to leave her with hot water. She was thinner than his mom, but he told her to raid his mom’s closet. Misty complied, probably still stunned that she didn't have any clothing left back at her house. Matt pretty much summed up what was left in one word: nothing. A literal heap of brick and wood.
Misty walked into the family room, and he held up a hand for her to stop. “Don't come any closer. I don't know how stable this is.”
The hole was clear from the roof to the basement—a gash in the side of the house. Like someone had used his truck as a wrecking ball. He knew the feeling. Something happened during the tornado. It leveled her family’s home, took a wall down in his parents’ home, and obliterated a wall between them as well.
He casually turned to look at her. “You sleeping with him?”
She only stared at him. If she were shocked he'd asked, she didn't show it, only remained silent.
“Well, that's a yes.” He wasn't sure what to do with that information. He’d known his question was true even before he’d asked. David had known for certain during the ride back from the fair, but some sadistic part of him had wanted a rock-solid confirmation.
“And you? I don't believe I was your only screw.”
“Don't talk like that.”
She laughed without humor. “Are you serious, David? What would you call what we did?”
He knew both of their nerves were raw. They probably shouldn't have this conversation right now. Then again, he doubted she'd ever let her defenses down long enough to have this conversation later. “So, we're going to have it out now?”
She nodded, her face set in determination. “Why did you leave like that? Why didn't you have the d
ecency to at least pick up the phone before you left for boot camp?”
On the plane ride home, before the whole Caroline incident, and before the bonfire or fair, he'd rehearsed one line over and over again in his head. He wanted to see Misty and tell her how he'd truly felt all those years with her. He never thought there would be a good time to utter the sentence, but now seemed more than appropriate. Nothing like a near-death experience to light a fire under his ass.
“I was in love with you our whole lives.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Sure, throw that line out there again to avoid the question.”
That was not the response he’d expected. Her words threw him off point for a few seconds.
Finally finding his voice, he continued. “Not one day went by that I didn't think of you.” He couldn't tell her the real reason he'd left without a word. He'd been a coward. The town had come down on him. Matt. His father. He'd felt like the biggest piece of shit on the planet. How classy had he made her first time? In the back of a dirty pickup? That night had probably been the worst night of her life. And he hadn't been able to put himself through college, so she’d have been leaving in the fall anyway.
She'd deserved better than him. Still did.
He was ashamed to tell her just how bad things had gotten between him and his dad, and how badly his father’s constant rejection had hurt him. It was one thing to tell Caroline, a girl who’d known exactly how he’d felt. A girl he’d never tried to impress. But Misty?
She said nothing to his admission, so he filled the silence with a lame excuse. “I had to leave.”
“Why?”
“I gave in to what I felt just once, and I dragged your name through the mud. You deserved better than me and what I had to offer. My dad kicked me out that morning after he’d found out I had been driving drunk.” I had nowhere to go.
Misty stared at him. Shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “You could have at least said goodbye. I knew we weren't...dating. I knew we weren't a couple. We weren't even...friends at that point. But...”
This was the first time since he’d come back that he'd seen her vulnerable side—the side he'd known so well. He couldn't stop himself from going to her. He stopped an arm's length away and wished it didn't have to be even that far. “I'm sorry.”
He'd heard from different people around town that Misty rarely went out that summer. That she'd stayed on the farm and then gone to college. She rarely went out there, either. Until Brandon. “I would do anything to change what I did back then. I was immature. Scared. Pathetic. I don't know what you want me to say.”
“I only ever wanted the truth.”
I loved you. And it scared me. We were too young. I had nowhere to go. Nothing to give you. “I made a mistake.”
She pivoted on her heel, already halfway to the front door before he reached her.
“You took that the wrong way,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder when he came up behind her, but not putting any pressure in his grip. She turned back to him and stared up at him with those big, teal eyes. He swallowed, then went on to say, “I had a lot of shit going on that you knew nothing about.”
“Caroline? Oh, I knew,” she said through her teeth.
There had been enough venom in her voice to kill an elephant. “She was only a friend. I never—”
“Stop lying!”
“I'm not lying. You were the first. I swear it. I never wanted Caroline Parker. The only woman I ever wanted was you. Back then and now.”
He wasn't sure who closed the distance or who initiated the kiss. At the end of the day, it didn't matter. What mattered was that Misty Ann Evans was in his arms, willingly, and he wasn't about to let her go. The kiss turned too rough, too desperate, but she wasn't pulling away. She wasn't pushing against his chest. She was giving as much as she was taking. Her nails dug into his biceps.
Could he ever hope that she missed him as much as he'd missed her?
Her tongue expertly danced with his, and a shot of jealous rage hit his mind. Newsflash: she'd been with another man. Hadn't he just witnessed the two of them share a peck out in his driveway? What did he expect? David didn't deserve a damn second of her attention, but craved it nonetheless.
He'd be a liar if he said she hadn't played a major part in his coming home. He’d wanted to make amends to everyone—especially Misty. Memories of their first time came flooding back, not that he'd ever allowed the memories to wander too far. Innocent sin in its purest form. Nerves. Inexperience. Courage. A few hours of exploration. Of firsts.
Pulling back, he gave them both a chance to draw in a much needed breath. She was breathing shallow, and her gaze was on his lips as though she were trying to figure out what just happened. He slowly captured her lips again, hoping to keep them on cloud nine for as long as he could.
But that was the thing about cloud nine—you always came down.
Misty initiated the distance and put at least three feet between them. She raised a hand in the air as though she’d physically hold him off if needed, when seconds before she'd been clinging to him as though her life depended on it. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were slightly hooded.
“I have to go.”
He shot down the first quip that came to mind: Where to? Instead, he offered her a place to stay. “I have a couple of rooms at the guesthouse. Four, if you count the small one we use for storage. You and Matt could stay there. Your parents are likely going to stay here in the main house.”
“I'll stay with Brandon.”
The way that sentence dropped, he was surprised it didn't take down the rest of the house. He nodded stiffly. “Understandable. I mean, he is your boyfriend.”
She nodded and turned to leave.
“Misty?”
She stopped with her hand on the knob of the front door, but she didn't turn around.
“If things had been different... If I hadn't messed up in high school or left the way I did...” He couldn't even finish his thought. Heat crept up his neck as he stood there like a dumbass with a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes. The only woman he’d ever loved was going to walk out that door, and he had a sense that he'd never get another moment like this with her. He wanted to say more, but he just couldn't.
She turned her head his way but kept her gaze on the floor, missing seeing his tears by a few feet. “I wasn't even out of third grade before I started scribbling your last name behind mine. Hadn't hit puberty before I realized I loved you. Had it in my mind that we'd go to college together, get married, and stay here in Garner to work the ranches. I even pictured what our kids would look like. Dark-haired boy, blonde girl.”
She looked at him then, sorrow mixed with loathing in her eyes. She paused for a second. Maybe taken back by the sight of his eyes welling up, he didn’t know.
After a few seconds went by, she continued. “I'd have done anything for you, but you...you left. Four years, David. Four years you were gone doing God knows what with God knows who, and not once did you come home on leave. I know you got thirty days of leave a year because I looked it up on the Internet. I learned a lot in those four years. Became a different person. That innocent trust I had in you died. I’ll never look at you the same way I did back then. Never.” Her lower lip quivered, making the pain in his chest nearly unbearable. “If I feel anything for you now, it's only because I'm confusing you with the sixteen-year-old boy, not the man.”
She slowly opened the door and shut it behind her.
Chapter 11
As Brandon drove through town, the night dark as sin, Misty was unable to see all the damage, but under some of the headlights of the equipment being used to move rubble, she saw enough. Garner had been hit hard. She fought tears, blinking rapidly when her eyesight became blurry, wishing the heaviness in her chest would ease. Every other house seemed to be damaged in one way or another, and some homes were gone entirely.
The electric company was predicting that power would be restored to some homes tomorrow
and most homes in the next few weeks. Thankfully, not one individual had lost their life, probably because almost every house in Garner had a basement. Those were the only two pieces of good news that were rolling through town. Entire blocks had been leveled.
There were still news crews—KSJY and Channel 5 News—climbing through rubble and interviewing as many townspeople as they could. The crews ran around like the damage from the tornado was their ticket to breaking news stardom. Their inability to show empathy made her sick. Their camera lights illuminated large patches of debris and the skeletal remains of homes. The townspeople who stood in front of the cameras, wringing their hands, looked like they were in shock, and those sharks were taking advantage.
She felt numb as she held on to her seatbelt and gazed at all destruction while Brandon drove them to the duplex he'd rented for the summer. Headlights from several trucks trolling around town to take in the damage slid across the windshield.
Nothing felt right anymore. Her parents’ home had been destroyed. The Buchanan's place was trashed on the south side, and they had several dead cattle littering their fields. Sitting next to Brandon was uncomfortable to say the least. The safe one. Never cursed. Always considerate.
Never kissed her like she'd been kissed earlier.
She wanted to smash something with her fist until her knuckles bled. Life wasn't fair. Things had been decent before David rolled back into town. Life had made sense. She'd been content.
A little devil on her shoulder taunted her. Is that what you want? Contentment? Safety? With David you feel so much more.
There was desire, passion, anger, helplessness and hope—she felt alive when she was around David. He brought out the worst in her, yes, but there'd been a time when he'd brought out the best. He was everything she'd ever wanted. And as she sat there feeling like a cheating bitch, she had to come to terms with the fact that she'd never felt more than...content with Brandon.