The sirens were the first thing I heard. Fire truck sirens. Loud… I felt Dax’s hands rest on my shoulders and didn’t shrug him off. They’re just sirens.
I didn’t wig out and run away, or hide in Dad’s truck, or go lock myself in the grocery store bathroom. I stood there, counting backward from twenty. I knew Dax’s touch kept me anchored. In the here and now—not then.
The fire trucks took hours to reach the other end of Main Street. Okay, maybe not hours, maybe it was ten minutes. It could have only been five minutes. But to me it felt like hours. They threw candy and beads as they passed us, and the dirty dozen scrambled out of the van and into the street after some of each.
Then the floats began. Rather, the farm trailers with all sorts of…interesting decorations. From a taxidermy float, complete with turkey frozen mid-flight and leaping deer, to every small Texas county and their elected peach, pear, apple, FFA, FHA, Rotary Club, or Lions Club beauty queen. I wasn’t a fan of the whole pageant thing, but it was obviously important to them. Here they were, at noon on the Fourth of July, in full formal gowns under the scorching Texas sun. But I had to give them credit; they kept on smiling and waving.
Then came the school clubs. The entire street roared as the football team rumbled down the street.
“Is it just me, or is the world shaking?” Dax asked.
I shrugged. “It’s football, brother dear. King of Texas sports, even more so in small towns, I guess. I mean, what else are they going to do?”
A squad of prancing, smiling cheerleaders surrounded the team float. “That’s one thing that doesn’t change,” Dax murmured. “Big town, small town. Cheerleaders always look the same.”
“Are you sure Molly isn’t a cheerleader?” I asked.
“Huh.” His hands squeezed my shoulders. “Guess not.”
“Aw, Gramma, don’t chase my date off,” Levi yelled over the noise. I stared at him.
“I won’t pull out your naked baby pictures yet, sweetie. Don’t you worry,” Mrs. Gunter cackled.
“I knew I could count on you,” Levi yelled back, smiling. “See you later, Allie.”
“That’s the way to stake a claim on a girl, I guess. Publically.” Dax snorted.
“I don’t think so,” I bit out.
“Tonight’s going to be…fun.” I heard the worry in his voice.
I could handle Levi and his caveman ways. Dax was crushing on Molly. No way was I going to kill his chances with her. But I sighed and acted irritated as I said, “You so owe me.”
He laughed. “It’s okay, Al, Wyatt and I will be there to protect your honor.”
“Great.” Wyatt… Levi was easier to deal with. I knew what to do with Levi—but Wyatt? He was a serious problem.
“Why don’t you like him?” Dax asked. “Wyatt, I mean.” I could tell he was smiling.
“Oh shut up,” I murmured.
A group of men wearing weird hats driving super-fast tiny cars flew down the street, making little loops and cutting close to the curbs. The kids loved it. More candy was thrown high, sending kids running in every direction.
Dax tried again. “Wyatt’s a nice guy and he—”
“Go get some candy,” I interrupted, “or some beads or something.” He laughed again.
The next set of floats carried elected officials. They waved. I didn’t. It was hot. Seriously melt-your-rubber-flip-flops-to-the-asphalt hot. I kept shifting from foot to foot, trying to ignore the rivulets of sweat running down the backs of my legs. Who has parades in triple digit heat? And why? Isn’t this animal abuse or something?
A mariachi band was next, strumming their guitars and singing with a certain flare.
“You should see about joining up with the band,” I said to Dax, who squeezed up beside me.
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Maybe.”
I shot him a look, but he didn’t see me. He was completely focused on the very pretty girl leading the rodeo procession. She had to be Molly.
I looked from her to my brother. Oh, Dax. You’ve got it bad.
I glanced back at the girl whose ass I would so kick if she broke my brother’s heart. She rode her pretty little black horse, the silver bells on her horse’s harness and saddle-thingy cheery.
I got it. She was pretty. And, knowing Dax, she’d be sweet too. And when she saw Dax…well, her smile told me everything. Dax wasn’t the only one that had fallen. Hard. So no ass-kicking, at least not right away.
Her little horse side-stepped, prancing a bit. But Molly got the animal under control, passing us with a tip of her black felt hat and another smile in Dax’s direction.
“You okay?” I asked. “Still breathing? Not hyperventilating or anything?”
“I don’t know, Al. I’m not gonna lie. My heart’s going ninety-to-nothing here.”
I stared at my brother, floored by his confession. He’d never had a crush. Not really. Sure, he thought certain girls were pretty, but that was it—as far as I knew. And even though we fought, I knew Dax pretty well.
“She likes you too,” I told him, nudging him.
He looked at the ground, kicking the rocks at his feet. “I don’t know…”
“Well, I do,” Mrs. Gunter interrupted. “Molly’s making doe eyes at you, boy. You just treat her right. She’s got three older brothers, all of ’em Marines.”
Dax’s face went from elated to terrified.
“Marines?” I laughed then. “You know how to pick ’em, Dax.”
6 CHAPTER SIX
“There’s Wyatt,” Mom said.
“You know the Holcomb boy?” Mrs. Gunter asked.
Wyatt was riding a huge tan horse, its white mane and tail bouncing in step. I admit, he looked kind of like a knight in shining armor, if knights wore straw cowboy hats, white button-up shirts, and clean starched jeans.
“He’s working out at our place,” I heard Mom reply.
“Is he, now…” Mrs. Gunter’s voice lowered, making it hard to hear what she was saying. “Poor boy…”
I wanted to listen, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. I stood there, glad of the crowd. It was a lot easier to check a guy out when you were a nameless face in the crowd.
Mrs. Gunter was still talking. “Too young…tragedy…”
Tragedy?
“He’s been amazing. He works so hard. And he’s teaching Dax quite a bit.” Mom sounded almost protective of Wyatt. I liked it. You go, Mom. I sighed. Dammit.
“He’s always been such a good boy. Nothing like his father.” Mrs. Gunter made some strange clicking sound.
I didn’t gossip. I didn’t like people who gossiped. But I didn’t know much about these people, and Mrs. Gunter definitely was the type who’d know everything about…everyone in her small town. Maybe it was because they were talking about him or I was feeling some sort of bizarre defensiveness on his behalf, but something about Wyatt was off.
Something was wrong. I don’t know how I could tell. Maybe it was the way he was carrying himself. He wasn’t smiling. And he wasn’t looking at the crowd. It was almost like he didn’t see anything around him.
I put my fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly. My “Hey, I need you” from across the field whistle.
“Damn, Allie.” Dax leaned away from me, covering his ears. “Warning next time, okay?”
I regretted it as soon as I did it—until Wyatt turned and saw me, my fingers still in my mouth. He was just as surprised as I was. Well, maybe not. I don’t think anyone was as surprised as I was. What am I doing?
But it was worth it when Wyatt winked, a lopsided smile erasing his tension. He straightened up in his saddle, owning it. I smiled back, before I could catch myself.
Dax nudged me, reminding me that it wasn’t just Wyatt and me here. No, there were lots of other people around—like Mom and Mrs. Gunter and the dozen nasty kids and my father… My father, who was frowning in my general direction.
“I think you popped my eardrum,” Dax moaned, tugging on his ear.
“Sorr
y,” I murmured.
The parade ended and the crowd started to disperse, some heading to their cars, others toward the makeshift market that surrounded the old courthouse in the heart of downtown Black Falls.
“Let’s go see what’s for sale,” Mom said, joining us. “It’s peach season. We could try making some jam.”
“Yeah, sure, Mom. We could try.” I shook my head.
“I’m not eating it.” Dax laughed, draping his arm along Mom’s shoulders.
She smiled at him. “Your loss. Allie and I might just win next year’s jam contest.”
“There’s a jam contest?” Dax asked.
“Jam. Pie. Chili. Vegetables. Fruits. Salsa. Ribs too, I think,” Dad said. “I think they have a watermelon eating contest too.”
“I’m hungry,” Dax said, and he and Dad led the way across the parking lot toward the small village of tents and canopies.
Mom slipped her arm through mine. “How’re you doing?” she asked softly. “Hating every minute of it?”
“It’s so freaking hot.” I shook my head. “It’s…different.”
She laughed. “Isn’t it, though?”
***
I stared at my reflection. Why did I care? Why was I getting all dolled up? It was a stupid hick dance. Followed by a redneck rodeo. And then a dumb-ass bonfire.
And yet here I was, wearing the outfit Lindie and I had spent way too much money on for last year’s Dallas Rodeo, the best concert—with backstage passes courtesy of her dad. We’d had to look our cowgirl best. Who knew dressing like a cowgirl was so expensive? Dad had flipped over his credit card bill. I’d done it to spite him. Thinking I’d wear it once and never again… Until tonight.
Jeans with all sorts of bling and stitching on the butt—complete with faux zebra-skin inset crosses on each pocket. Skin-tight, sleeveless blue shirt with all sorts of silver sequins to emphasize my boobs. Lindie had hated that I had boobs and she didn’t…hadn’t.
I put on big silver earrings and slipped on the faux zebra-fur belt with a flashy buckle. And boots. Five hundred dollar boots with fancy stitching and intricate cut-outs. Lindie’s had been almost twice that, but her parents hadn’t batted an eye over the bill.
“Ready? Whoa!” Dax froze. “Going native?” He was wearing his trademark t-shirt, jeans, and combat boots.
What am I doing? I shook my head. “No…no, give me a second to change.”
“Dad is already in the truck.” He grabbed my hand. “Come on. Besides, Levi will love it.”
“Dax—”
He pulled me down the stairs. “You look great. Seriously.” He tugged me out the door.
“Allie, you look gorgeous,” Mom said as I climbed into the backseat of the truck. I thought Dad glanced in the rearview mirror, but it was so quick I’d probably imagined it.
We pulled in to the fairgrounds less than ten minutes later. If I thought the parade route was crowded, it had nothing on this. We made our way to the gate and Dad turned to us. “Here.” He held out forty dollars to each of us.
“Cool!” Dax took it. “See ya,” he said, running off.
I felt a knot in my throat. I didn’t especially want to hang out with my parents but I didn’t really want to walk, alone, for the rest of the night. I didn’t look at Dad as I took the money. I looked at Mom. “Thanks.”
Her smile was strained, her gaze shifting to Dad then back to me. I knew what she wanted. She wanted me to smile at him, be the adoring daughter to his doting father. The way it had been, when I was little and adorable—not the embarrassment I was today.
Whatever.
I took a deep breath and looked at my father. “Thank you.”
His surprise was almost comical. Really. But then this look crossed his face, this hurt, vulnerable expression I wasn’t ready to deal with. I shoved the money in my pocket and hurried past them inside the fairground gates.
Damn him. All of this—this move, our beyond-screwed-up relationship, his and Mom’s bizarro marriage—was all his fault. He had no reason to look at me like that. Like I might actually matter to him. Because he’d made it perfectly clear that wasn’t true.
I wandered for a while, eyeing a few tables with shirts and bags.
“Funnel cake?”
I turned around to find Levi, funnel cake in his outstretched hand. He had powdered sugar all over his shirt. “Did it attack you?” I asked.
“Had to improvise.” He looked at his shirt, then back at me, a huge smile on his face. “Almost dropped it.”
I nodded. “Good catch.” I eyed his shirt again.
He laughed, offering me the funnel cake again. “It’s clean. Shirt too.” I smiled, a little, but shook my head. “More for me,” he said, shoving a large piece of the fried dough into his still-grinning mouth.
His funnel cake went airborne as two guys suddenly jumped him. One clapped him, hard, on the back. The other shoulder-tackled him. And this time, the funnel cake landed on the gravel at our feet.
“Fifteen second rule?” one of the guys asked.
“Shit, sorry, man,” the other guy said, laughing.
Levi punched the laughing guy in the shoulder. “You owe me a funnel cake.”
They stopped laughing when they saw me. They went from laughing-idiot guys to standing-straight-and-flexing-impressive-muscles guys in less than five seconds. I almost laughed.
Levi noticed too. But he didn’t look happy. He looked pissed. And protective. Awesome.
“Allie, this jackass is Dylan.” He pointed to the redhead on his right. “And this one’s Austin.”
I nodded at them. “Hey.”
Dylan gave me a head-to-toe inspection. “You’re smokin’ hot.”
“Hey,” Austin said, reaching around Levi to smack Dylan on the back of the head. “You’ll have to excuse Dylan. Too many concussions.”
I did smile then. And they all three stared. I wasn’t smiling anymore. “So…I’m going to get something…to drink.” I turned, searching for someplace to buy a drink.
“I’ll get it,” Austin offered, joining me at my side.
“Man, come on.” Levi shoved him, hard, out of the way. “You know she’s my date.”
“We’re not at the bonfire,” Dylan said. He took up the empty spot on the other side while Austin and Levi kept shoving each other. “Come on, darlin’, we’ll get you some lemonade.”
“I think I can handle it.” I tried to put some distance between us.
Dylan had really long legs. “Of course you can. But you don’t need to.”
“Really—”
“Allie?” Wyatt was walking towards us.
I hated the instant wave of relief I felt. Relief. Excitement. “Hey,” I murmured, trying not to act like I was happy to see him. Or breathless.
“Hey.” His gaze held mine. “You look…great.”
Holy crap, was I blushing? Was I? I was. My cheeks were hot.
“She looks hot,” Dylan said again. Wyatt sighed, shaking his head.
“I am hot,” I said. “That’s why I’m getting something to drink.”
Dylan jumped all over that. “We’re getting something to drink.”
“Back off, guys.” Levi didn’t sound like he was having fun anymore.
Austin laughed. “Chill, Levi. It’s not like she’s your girlfriend. Or like Dylan stands a chance with her.”
Dylan frowned at him. “Dick.”
“Right there, man, winning her over with all that sweet talk.” Austin was still laughing.
“Sorry, guys, her dad asked me to find her,” Wyatt said, calm and collected. He looked at me, waiting.
I knew that my dad would never ask anyone to find me. He avoided saying my name. He’d all but paid me off to disappear for the evening. If Mom wanted me, maybe she’d send Wyatt. So, Wyatt was offering me an escape—with him. If I took him up on it, I’d have to hang with him.
“We’ll see you later then.” Levi smiled at me, but he shot a narrow-eyed look in Wyatt’s direction. It
was one of those throw-down “I’m watching you” looks.
I definitely needed to let Levi know I wasn’t interested.
We stood there as the three of them walked off, laughing and talking. “You didn’t have to do that,” I said when they were too far away to hear us.
He shrugged, his eyes staring into mine without blinking. I swallowed. “Lemonade?” he asked.
“What?”
“Are you really thirsty?”
I shook my head. He smiled then. I smiled back. He froze, his jaw muscle working.
“Are you?” I asked, my voice strangely husky.
“What?”
“Thirsty?”
He shook his head.
Why was I standing here, staring at him? Why couldn’t I look away?
“That’s the second time you’ve smiled at me today.”
He was counting? Interesting…
No. Not at all interesting.
“How do you know I was smiling at you?” I asked, digging deep to snap at him.
His smile grew. “I don’t. I was hoping you were.”
My heart stopped for just a minute. He’d said that…to me. My heart had never worked so hard.
“Hey Allie.” Dax was there, talking to me… Snap out of it! “This is Molly.” Introducing me to Molly.
It was hard, way too hard, to look away from Wyatt and his magnetic gaze, but I did it. “Hi,” I said, forcing myself to relax and smile. If Dax liked this girl, I would be on my best behavior—around her, anyway.
“Hi Allie.” She had huge brown eyes. “It’s nice to meet you.” And kind of an adorable accent. “You look so pretty.”
“Thanks.” I felt like I was playing dress-up, but… “Nice to meet you.”
“Hey Wyatt.” Molly’s gaze bounced back and forth between Wyatt and me. So she’s smart, too. Or Dax had been talking about things he knew nothing about…which was entirely possible. “You ready for tonight?” she asked him.
Wyatt nodded. “And willing.”
Molly laughed. “I’m worried. Annemarie Cummings, from El Paso, is here.”
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