“I told her no because I had met you,” Taylor continued. “From the moment you came barging into my apartment sopping wet and pissier than a cat in a bath, I couldn’t imagine going out with anyone but you. No one else appeals.”
Oh, shit. She eyed the champagne, wishing she could chug it down without looking ridiculous. In a matter of seconds, he’d blown apart one of the two reasons she’d used to convince herself they shouldn’t see each other again.
When Jane put her arm around her unexpectedly, Caitlin jumped. She hadn’t even noticed her walk up.
Jane accepted an offered glass of champagne, then retrieved Caitlin’s from the table and handed it to her. “So, here’s to Animal Attraction’s first annual pet shelter fundraiser ball.”
Everyone at the table raised their glasses and took a sip. Caitlin took more than one, resisting the urge to chug it like a shooter. Even covered in fur and feathers, Taylor made her feel like her batteries were overloading. She took another drink of her champagne.
“Go slow,” Jane said. “Your first client is at seven.”
She’d seen the paperwork terminating Beau’s contract, which meant her first client was at eight. Maybe she’d picked one up. “Do I have a new client?”
“No.” Jane shook her head, smiling.
All kinds of bizarre scenarios, each one less probable than the last, tumbled through Caitlin’s brain, making her feel off balance and confused.
“Dance with me,” Taylor said as the band began another slow song.
She shook her head, tears threatening to make an unwanted appearance.
He took her hand. “Please, dance with me, Caitlin.”
Before she could get a no out or even shake her head, Grams cut in. “Do you remember what I told you at the top of that hill when you were too scared to slide down?”
Caitlin blinked rapidly, then took a breath, hoping her voice came out strong enough to not sound like the Ferret Whisperer. “You said not to rule something out based on a bad experience.”
Grams nodded. “I also told you to come at a new thing as if it has the power to prove the past wrong.” She lifted her champagne glass. “Here’s to proving the past wrong.”
“Hear, hear!” Jane said.
Everyone lifted their glasses and drank, including Taylor, but Caitlin was still trying to make sense of it all.
“And here’s to new things!” Jane said, glass held high. All at the table toasted and cheered.
Taylor took Caitlin’s glass and set it on the table with his. “Dance with me.” Taking both of her hands, he backed up the few steps to the dance floor, taking her with him.
Still shaking, she reveled in the feel of his arms wrapped around her, and she wound hers around his waist, swaying to the music, loving the smell of him—evergreen and mint—and the sound of his heart beating against her ear. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?” she asked, resisting the urge to look over at the table and the half dozen or so sets of eyes on them.
He ran his hands up and down her spine as they continued to sway on the dark dance floor.
“I want to see you. Tonight. Tomorrow. The next day.”
She stiffened. “Has your trip been postponed?”
Hands still smoothing up and down her back over the satin dress, he put his mouth to her ear. “You could say that.”
This time, she stopped and pulled back from him, heart threatening to break out like all the animals had. “For how long?”
He pulled her back to him and enfolded her in his arms, which slowed her heart rate, but he didn’t sway to the music. They simply stood still on the dance floor. His voice was hoarse, like his throat was tight as he spoke with his lips at her ear. “I’m here for as long as you want me.”
She pulled back to look at his face to find him staring at her with absolute sincerity. She couldn’t form words, but he knew what her question was.
“Grams came by. She has a talent at phrasing things in a way that makes sense out of the senseless.”
Caitlin’s stomach flipped over. He’d worked his whole career to reach this point as a pilot. “Did you lose your job?” she asked in horror.
“Yes.” He smoothed away a strand of hair that had come loose at her temple and ran a thumb over the troubled crease between her eyebrows.
The music ended and another slow song began. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Will and his wife strolling to the dance floor hand-in-hand. “But Jane told me you and Will were close friends.”
“We still are.”
“But then, how could he let you go?”
“He didn’t. I quit.”
For a moment, she felt like she might be sick. He’d made it seem like his job was the most important thing in his life. Why would he throw it away? Completely still, she stared up at him as couples danced by them on all sides. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Like I said, Grams has a way of phrasing things that puts life in perspective. There are more important things than a job, Caitlin.”
“There are more important things, but you still have to have one,” a deep voice said from behind her. She spun to find Will Anderson with his arm around his wife. “My brothers and I talked after you left my office—”
Taylor held a hand up to silence him. “I made up my mind, Will.”
“Just shut up and listen, Blankenship. You didn’t let me get a word in edgewise in my office, but you’re going to hear me out now.”
Resigned, Taylor gave a long-suffering sigh as the dancers swayed around them.
Satisfied with his reaction, Will continued, “We had no idea your schedule was so screwed up because none of us paid attention as to who was flying when.”
“It’s all good,” Taylor said, wrapping his arm around Caitlin’s shoulder.
“Not yet, it’s not. My brothers and I don’t give a shit which pilot moves to Boston. The new guy says he’s happy to go.”
Taylor’s fingers tightened on Caitlin’s shoulder, and she glanced up to find his lips tight as he studied his friend.
“And as for hours,” Will continued. “We’re going to pick up a third guy to be on call for off hours when Michael gets a bug up his ass and decides to go close a deal in the middle of the night on a Sunday. Neither Chance nor I knew he was doing that so often. In short, we’re not going to accept your resignation. You’ll work during business hours only on weekdays with an occasional weekend flight if the guy on call is over his designated flight hours.”
Taylor appeared speechless as he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. Claire, Will Anderson’s wife, winked at Caitlin.
There went her heart again, rattling its cage.
Will dug a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Taylor. “Here’s your resignation. Keep it, burn it, shove it up your ass for all I care, but I’m not accepting it. I’ll see you in my office on Monday at nine to go over your new schedule.” And without another word, he took his wife in his arms and joined the couples dancing around them.
Taylor stared after his friend for a moment, then with a grin, tore the sheet of paper in half and threw the pieces over his shoulder. He took Caitlin’s wrists and looped her arms around him, leading her back into their swaying dance. For a few blissful moments, she simply leaned into him, letting this “new” Jane had toasted sink in.
“A regular schedule will make Beauregard happy. He’ll see more of you,” she said.
“I’m hoping he’ll see more of you, too.” When she didn’t answer, but buried her face against his jacket, he continued, “I’m hoping to see more of you. As much time as you’ll give me.”
She stopped and stared up at him, words still bouncing around in her head out of order.
“We have something between us. It’s why I quit. Why I decided to stay,” he said. “I know you felt it too. Our weekend was the most incredible thing that’s happened to me in my adult life. Grams says we have something special, and I agree. I’d like to explore it. See where it goes.”
Wo
rdlessly, she stared up at his handsome face, flickering multicolored in the lights on the dance floor. Grams was right. She needed to come at this new thing as if she had the power to prove the past wrong. And she would, from this point forward. No more holding back.
His brow furrowed. “Say something, please, Caitlin.”
All the emotion she’d so carefully tamped down over the last week came to the surface as she slammed the lid closed on that steamer trunk of baggage she’d been lugging around for years. Looking up at him, she thought for a minute she might lose her balance, but stayed upright because he was holding her. Adding to who she was and making her more solid.
“Kiss me, Blankenship,” she ordered. “Without hesitation. Without question. Kiss. Me. Now.”
Of course, he obeyed.
And that laugh she couldn’t hold in when the kiss finally ended long after the music died? It had nothing to do with a stress reaction, and everything to do with complete and total happiness.
Epilogue
“Just like I told you last year, I make the rules,” Grams said.
Rock held up his beer and gave her a salute.
“But daring someone to not talk for the rest of the night isn’t fair. It’s supposed to be a specific task,” Bethany whined from the end of the table. “Also, how am I supposed to play the rest of the rounds if I can’t talk?”
“Pantomime?” Rock suggested.
“It stands,” Grams said, “but I’m limiting the time to one hour, not the rest of the night.”
Caitlin stared out the window at the snow falling in big, fluffy flakes, bringing back memories from Grams’ anniversary party last year that mixed with the new ones she and Taylor had made since since then. She still couldn’t believe she was here again with this amazing family she had grown to love over the year and the man she loved more than she imagined possible.
The first time she’d gone to their house for dinner after she and Taylor had begun dating for real, she was worried they’d be mad at her for having pretended to be engaged. To her surprise, his parents and sister had found it amusing that not only had they tried to pull one over on Grams (which they all agreed was impossible), but that the charade had backfired, and they ended up falling for each other.
“Taylor’s turn,” Attie said, passing the battered hat with the fishing lure through the band to Taylor. He reached in and pulled out a piece of paper and grinned when he glanced at it. “I drew Caitlin,” he said.
Adrenaline spiked as his eyes met hers. “Truth or dare?” he asked with the lift of an eyebrow.
She straightened in her chair. Sexy man. Of course she was going to take dare. It turned out well last year. Another kiss would suit her just fine. She looked around the table at the expectant faces of his family, and her heart squeezed. “Dare.”
Taylor sat back and gloated. Oh, yeah. She was totally going to get a kiss.
“Iiiiiiiiii…” He drew the word out, like Attie had done last year when she dared them to kiss. “Dare youuuuuuu…” He paused dramatically, drawing everyone in like he did when he told stories. After a while, every person was leaning in expectantly, including Caitlin. “…To marry me.”
Well, if there was a penalty for not completing a dare, Bethany was busted because she was the first to squeal. Followed by the entire family.
Caitlin sat in stunned silence. The only one who didn’t seem surprised was Grams, who smiled smugly from her chair at the head of the table.
He reached into his pocket and dropped to a knee, which made his mother gasp and cover her mouth. Bethany bounced up and down in her chair, and Attie and Rock clasped hands. Caitlin could only stare, heart hammering so hard, she was sure people could hear it on the other side of the Catskill Mountain range.
He took both of her hands in his and she held her breath. “Caitlin Ramos, dog walker, CPA, and woman extraordinaire, would you make me the happiest man in all of Weirdville…” He paused because she busted out laughing at his repeat of his fake proposal in his bathroom last year.
While she pulled herself together, he pulled something out of his pocket and put it behind his back. “And do me the honor of being my wife? Not because I want to get my grandmother off my case before she drives me completely nuts this time, but because I love you and can’t imagine life without you.” He placed a small, velvet box on the table.
Trying to control her shaking, she reached for the box, but right as she touched the soft velvet, it was yanked from under her fingers by a huge, slobbery mouth.
“Beau!” Bethany screamed, jumping up to chase him. Rock joined in, but before Caitlin went into full panic mode, Taylor smiled at her, and she relaxed back into her chair, watching him laugh as Bethany tried to pry the box out of Beau’s mouth.
He slid his other hand from behind his back. “I have it.” He opened fingers to reveal the ring Grams had given him. This time when he slid the ring on her finger, she didn’t care if it got stuck. She was never taking it off.
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Acknowledgments
Huge shout out to Liz Pelletier who always makes my books shine from concept to finishing touches. You make it look easy.
Thank you, also, to Holly Bryant-Simpson for her keen eye, Lynn Lorenz for the animals-gone-wild suggestion, and to Amalie Howard for being my favorite cheerleader and for telling me I’m funny (even when I’m not).
A book is a group project, and this one would not have happened were it not for the talented team at Entangled, my fierce women in Camp Clarke, and of course my family, who do not find me nearly as funny as Amalie does. Most of all, thank you to my readers. You make it possible for me to do what I love the most.
About the Author
Marissa Clarke lives in Texas, where everything is bigger, especially the mosquitoes.
When not writing or reading, she wrangles her rowdy pack of three teens, husband, and a Cairn Terrier named Annabel who rules the house (and Marissa’s heart) with an iron paw. If you love young adult fiction, be sure to check out Marissa’s alter ego, Mary Lindsey!
www.marissaclarke.com
https://www.facebook.com/mary.lindsey.54
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