by Emily March
According to Maisy, Jeremy and his new fiancée were the talk of the town. Erica had been quick to spread the word that she’d bought the dress for her imminent wedding at Bliss. Gillian received quite a few pitying looks, but no one as of yet had the temerity to bring the situation up to her face.
She took it all with a grace that surprised herself, and she suspected her strength had a lot to do with how she spent her evenings. She’d come home from work on Monday afternoon to find a wrapped gift on her bed. Always a fan of presents, she ripped open the package and discovered new sheets. Red sheets. She’d rolled in them with the gift giver every night this week.
So far, Tucker had lived up to his claim of having secrecy superpowers. Not even Peaches heard him sneaking in at night.
“I think you need a name,” she told him on Thursday as she snuggled up against him in the aftermath of lovemaking. “Like the Phantom. Phantom of Fulfillment.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but phantoms don’t work for me. Phantoms are shadowy and fuzzy and airy. If I were going to have a superhero name, I’d need it to be something more corporal. Something strong and manly. Superman is strong. He’s the Man of Steel. Iron Man is strong.”
“See, I disagree. Phantoms are sexy. And sneaky.”
“Sexy and sneaky are good, but you have to get the strong in there too.”
He pulled her on top of him and began nuzzling her neck. She felt him harden against her yet again and observed, “I guess Phantom Energizer Bunny doesn’t work for you?”
He nipped her neck and slid into her, and she laughed. “The Stone Obelisk Phantom?”
“There’s nothing phantom about my obelisk,” he declared before proving his point yet again.
Tucker stayed the entire night, and Gillian awoke on Friday morning to the aroma of frying sausage, feeling deliciously rested and at peace. It was early, a little past dawn judging by the soft light beaming through her bedroom window. She rolled out of bed, showered, then strolled into her kitchen to find the coffee made and the makings for breakfast tacos on the kitchen island.
Tucker tossed Peaches a hunk of sausage and gave Gillian a warm smile. “Mornin’, Glory.”
“Mornin’, handsome. You’re up early.”
“We have a three-day class this weekend, and it begins this morning at eight in the classroom. I need to do some prep work I’ve neglected.” He spooned salsa onto his taco fixings and said, “We’ll move out to the canyon campus around midafternoon. It’ll probably be late before I’m through tonight, and then tomorrow’s class begins extra early. I’m not camping with them, though. Why don’t you come out to the canyon and spend the night with me in the Airstream?”
“Sorry, but I can’t. It’s my dad’s birthday. My brother and I are taking Mom and Dad out to dinner, and then we’re doing game night at their house. My dad is a Monopoly maniac. I’ll probably end up sleeping over there.” Tucker made an exaggerated crestfallen face, which caused her to grin. “You’ll survive one night without me.”
“It won’t be easy.”
Since he’d cooked, she cleaned up after, while he took a quick shower, kissed her goodbye, and made his stealthy exit from her house. With a couple of hours to kill before she needed to get ready for work, she decided to take Peaches for a walk. Without conscious thought, she selected her red yoga pants and matching shirt to wear. She chose the red retractable dog leash for Peaches and headed outside.
Dew glistened like diamonds on the green blades of Bermuda grass lawns in her neighborhood. Someone was frying bacon for breakfast. About half of the houses she passed had windows open to take advantage of the fresh morning breeze, so the sounds of everyday family activities drifted on the air. Mom, where’s my history book? Honey, have you seen my wallet? Megan, put the dogs outside before we sit down to eat.
Gillian smiled with pleasure in the morning. Redemption, Texas, really was a nice little town, and she was happy to live here. Somehow, someway, she would figure out a method to peacefully coexist with her ex and Erica and their little bundle of joy. Maybe she’d spend a bit more time in Enchanted Canyon in search of peace for her troubled soul.
Maybe she should try to cut game night short and accept Tucker’s invitation, after all.
As far as the situation with her lover went, well, it was way too soon to make any decisions beyond keeping Vegas in Vegas. This whole secret affair thing was a new experience for her, and she was having fun with it. While skittering around the truth with friends and family did not come naturally to her, and the vague explanation she’d given of how she’d spent her weekend didn’t roll smoothly off her tongue, she was an adult. Secret wedding aside, she didn’t owe anyone all the details about every aspect of her personal life.
She reminded herself of that later when the fiancée of one of Jeremy’s friends arrived for her two o’clock appointment at Bliss and spent as much time digging for dirt and flinging sand in Gillian’s face as shopping for her wedding gown. Luckily, Gillian had worn red panties beneath her usual black slacks, so she continued to keep her power attitude on. By the time the bride left the shop, Gillian had decided a bit of online shopping was in order. She needed to supplement her limited supply of everyday panties—in the color red.
Later, as she chose her dinner outfit, she debated whether or not to wear the dress that Tucker had given her in Vegas. It was a date-night dress, not an out-with-the-parents dress. Wearing it, knowing its history, would be a little weird, wouldn’t it?
She could see it now. Her mother would say, “Gillian, I know I haven’t seen you wear that dress before. Where did you get it? It’s fabulous.”
“It’s my wedding dress.”
Yeah. Right. Not gonna happen. Gillian pulled her usual black number from her closet and laid it out on the bed. Her phone rang as she was finishing her makeup. Maisy. “Hey, Maisy. What’s up?”
“Nothing good,” her friend replied. “I heard some news and figured I should give you a heads-up. Your dad’s birthday dinner is at Otto’s tonight, isn’t it?”
Warily, Gillian responded, “Yes. Our reservation is in an hour.”
“Well, Marilee Hawkins stopped in with a message for you.”
Gillian’s stomach sank, and she closed her eyes. It was easy to guess what Maisy was about to say. Marilee Hawkins worked as a hostess and handled reservations for Otto’s.
“Jeremy has a reservation tonight.”
Bingo. Gillian walked out of her house forty minutes later wearing her red underwear—and her red wedding dress.
Strength and power and passion.
Her mother loved her dress. Gillian told her it was a retail therapy purchase and changed the subject. The Thacker family was seated and enjoying drinks and appetizers when Marilee escorted Jeremy, Erica, and another couple to a table on the opposite side of the restaurant. Visiting with her mother and with her back toward the restaurant’s entrance, Gillian didn’t notice their arrival, but when her father—a man who rarely cursed—muttered an invective, she knew what it meant.
Her brother, Mike, who didn’t share his dad’s disdain of foul language, spat out a string of colorful words beginning with “that lowdown” and ending with “sorry sonofabitch” before adding, “The guy’s been needing an ass whipping for months. Tonight might just be the night.”
Barbara Thacker reached out and gave Gillian’s hand a comforting pat. Her father said, “I’ve lost my appetite for German food. Why don’t we pay our check and get an early start on Monopoly?”
Running from Jeremy Jones? The very idea of it made her see red. Feel red. She heard the echo of Tucker’s voice in her mind—Remember that red really is your color.
Strength and power and passion. Gillian lifted her chin. “No, we’re not leaving.” She shot back her chair, rose from her seat, and gave her parents a reassuring smile. “I must go congratulate the happy couple. If our server arrives before I return, order the New York strip for me, would you please?”
“Not the duck schnitze
l?” her brother asked. “You always order the schnitzel.”
“Tonight, I’m in the mood for red meat.” She turned on her snakeskin stilettos and started across the room.
Gillian felt the eyes of everyone in the restaurant on her. A wave of anticipation rippled through the room. Jeremy saw her and his eyes rounded in surprise, and then went wary. Erica’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Gillian bolstered her defenses by fantasizing Tucker lying naked in her bed, and then she formed a smile. She nodded to the mother-to-be. “Good evening, Erica.” Meeting Jeremy’s gaze, she said, “I understand congratulations are in order. I wish you much happiness in your marriage and family life.”
“Uh … uh … uh,” he stuttered. “Thank you.”
Gillian nodded regally, turned, and with her head held high, and her smile genuine, returned to her table. Her only regret was that Tucker hadn’t been there to see it.
The Thacker family took their cues from her, and throughout the birthday meal, conversation remained lighthearted and fun. Gillian’s father and brother didn’t ignore her ex’s presence, but instead, entertained themselves with creative suggestions on ways they could give him his just deserts.
They were lingering over cheesecake and after dinner port when the Jones party of four departed. The Thacker family agreed that for the gossips in attendance, the score was Gillian one, Jeremy zero.
The board game battle lasted until midnight, and as her parents prepared for bed and her brother declared his intention to go home rather than stay the night, Gillian took advantage of the opportunity to do the same. A light was still burning in Tucker’s Airstream trailer when she knocked on the door at a quarter to one. He opened the door wearing nothing but a knowing smile. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“I told you not to do that.”
“I knew that houses and hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place wouldn’t hold a candle to a trailer in Enchanted Canyon.” He took hold of her hand and pulled her inside. “You look happy. Did you win at Monopoly?”
“No. Nobody beats my dad. That’s why he loves the game so much. I am happy, though, and let me tell you why.”
She gave him a blow-by-blow report of the events at Otto’s and his “Atta girl” at the end of the telling had her glowing with pride.
Then he put his hands and mouth on her, and she glowed from a different source entirely.
Days drifted into weeks, and Gillian was as happy as she’d been in a very long time. She ran into Jeremy twice, once in the grocery store and once on Taco Tuesday at the Marktplatz. She handled both occasions just fine. She did suffer a bit of emotional angst when he married Erica and honeymooned at the same island destination where they’d planned to stay, but her friends, her mother, and her lover supported her through it, so she managed all right.
Through it all, she and Tucker continued their secret affair. The school kept him wickedly busy, which was a good thing, she thought. It kept him distracted. He wanted to begin dating her publicly, but she simply wasn’t ready for that yet.
She liked Tucker very much. He made her laugh, made her think, made her reach. He was funny and smart and oh, so sexy. She had feelings for him, yes, but what label to place on those feelings she couldn’t say. She no longer trusted herself to know. After all, she’d believed she’d loved Jeremy, yet here she was less than six months later with her heart all aflutter over another man.
She was daydreaming about said other man the first week of June when he called her to tell her he wouldn’t be sneaking into her bedroom that night. “Boone called a little bit ago. He’s on his way to Texas, and he asked if I’d camp with him for a couple of nights in the canyon. Something’s going on with him. I’m not sure what. He said that Celeste told him he needed a dose of Enchanted Canyon’s peace.”
“I hope it’s nothing serious,” Gillian replied.
“Me too. Boone didn’t sound at all like himself, and it’s beyond strange for him to make the trip when we’re all headed to Eternity Springs next week for Jackson and Caroline’s wedding.” Tucker exhaled a sigh, then added, “Sorry to cancel on you, Glory, especially tonight when we had the season three finale of ‘Pretty Cowboy’ lined up to watch. If you want to go ahead and watch it—”
“I’ll wait.” They’d been binge-watching Justified together for the past few weeks. “Pretty Cowboy” was Tucker’s nickname for the television series, something he’d adopted after hearing Caroline, Maisy, and Gillian fangirl over the actor playing the main character. “It wouldn’t be the same without you. You go on and take care of your cousin. Check in with me when you can.”
“Will do. Thanks for understanding. Sleep tight tonight, Glory. Miss me a little bit.”
“I’ll miss you a lot,” she assured him.
She would miss him more than just a lot. They spent almost every weeknight together, and she’d quickly grown accustomed to having him in her bed. It still amazed her that they’d managed to carry on in secret all this time. The man truly was a phantom when it came to sneaking about.
However, good as he was, he wasn’t invisible. The whole secrecy thing had been fun, but June was just around the corner. She’d have to decide soon.
Maybe the first step was to take their relationship out of the shadows, let her friends know, let her mother know, that she was seeing Tucker.
She was mulling over the idea, inching her way forward to acceptance when the jingle of Bliss’s doorbell announced a visitor. An unexpected, unwelcome visitor. “Hello, Erica. What can I do for you this afternoon?”
Chapter Sixteen
Tucker’s eyes went round as an owl’s when he spied his cousin walking toward the security exit at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. He looked like an extra on The Walking Dead. It was not a good look for him.
“What the hell, man?” Tucker asked when Boone grew close.
He held up his hand, palm out, and said, “Later. I’ll tell you everything, I swear. Only later.”
Tucker nodded. “Just answer me this. Is there a body somewhere you need help dealing with?”
Boone’s crooked smile both answered and relieved Tucker. “No, no bodies.” Then the smile faded, and he softly added, “Not yet anyway.”
Tucker shot him a sharp look but didn’t press him for more. Once they were in the truck, he silently offered Boone a bottle of water. His cousin chugged half of it, then dropped his head back onto the headrest and closed his eyes. Knowing Boone, Tucker bided his time.
They’d been on the road half an hour when Boone finally spoke. “I need a distraction. Tell me something, anything that will give me something else to think about.”
Something else than what? Tucker glanced at his cousin. The zombie look hadn’t changed, so he decided to lob a grenade. “I got married in Vegas by an Elvis impersonator.”
Boone smiled, but he didn’t open his eyes. “I’ve always enjoyed your imagination, cuz.”
“Hey, Boot?” Tucker used the nickname he and Jackson sometimes called Boone. “My wallet is in the console. Would you get it out, please? Grab a dollar from inside?”
Now, Boone cracked open one eye to shoot Tucker an annoyed look, but he did as asked. Once the bill was in Boone’s hand, Tucker continued. “Consider that a retainer, so I can count on the cone of silence.”
“What am I keeping silent about?”
“I’m engaging your professional services. You can write my new will.”
“Why do you need a new will?”
“I want to protect my new wife in case something happens to me.”
Boone twisted his head around like a startled owl. “You’re serious?”
“I need the cone of silence, Boot. Taking it up a notch to professional cone because Jackson can’t know about it.”
“Now, I’m officially distracted.” Boone tucked the dollar into his shirt pocket. “Spill.”
Tucker told him the story, beginning with Gillian’s long walk last fall and ending with the previous week’s misadventure when her
mother unexpectedly showed up at Gillian’s house while Tucker was in the shower. He’d had to sneak out of a bedroom window and damned near broken his neck after getting tangled in a water hose.
Boone’s laughter eased the worry lines in his expression, and Tucker was glad to have shared his secret, not only for his cousin’s sake but also for his own. He hadn’t realized until today that he’d wanted to share his news.
“An Elvis impersonator. Wow. I am so disappointed to have missed the happy event. It was April, you say? You’ve been keeping this secret for two months?” At Tucker’s nod, he asked, “So where is all this going? Are you serious about your will? Serious about the marriage?”
“Yes, I am. As soon as I heard that Gillian broke up with her ex, I set my sights on her. Didn’t plan Las Vegas, but when an opportunity knocks, you act.”
“So, you’re in love with her?”
“Head over spurs, yeah.” Tucker’s lack of hesitation shocked even him. Just when he’d tumbled all the way into love, he couldn’t pinpoint, but he had no doubt that it was true.
He loved her. He was in love with his lover. He was in love with his wife. When he’d returned to Texas for good, he’d wanted a home and family. He’d figured he’d be able find someone, a companion and a bedmate, with whom he could share a contented life. He’d never expected to find a soul mate.
Gillian Thacker—no, Gillian McBride—was his soul mate.
“I’ll be damned.” Boone gave him a congratulatory clap on the back, then asked, “How long do you intend to keep up the secrecy? Redemption is a small town. Someone is bound to notice eventually.”
“I’m good at being discreet. If we get caught, it won’t be because of me. I gave Gillian my word. She’s driving this particular bus.”
“I could say something about women drivers, but my sisters aren’t here to tease, so I won’t bother.”