by Lily Cahill
“I can’t explain it,” he said. “I just know I want to spend time with you.”
“Can’t you see how someone like me might think … might think she was the target of a practical joke?” What a foolish question. Regardless of his intentions, the answer would be the same. But something in her needed to hear it—needed to see it come from his lips. There was a difference between a man who wanted something from you and a man who could lie to your face to get it. Cora didn’t think Clayton was that kind of man.
He took her other hand. They stood facing one another, the distance between them less than a foot. Cora could feel the energy there—bouncing back and forth between them, urging them to close the gap, to come closer.
“I would never do something like that to you. I know there are others who have been cruel to people in your family. But have you ever known me to be?”
“I guess not.”
“Then I’m begging you to just give me a chance. Let me take you out tonight. I promise you’ll never have to speak to me again if you don’t enjoy yourself.”
Cora hesitated. Everything in her wanted to say yes—to trust him—but it was hard. What could he possibly see in her? She knew she wasn’t ugly, necessarily. But she was no model, either, nowhere near as pretty as Violet. So why would Clayton be interested in her when Violet was around to whisper things in his ear with those red, red lips?
“Please, Cora,” Clayton said. “Just say the word and I’ll take you home at any point tonight. I promise.”
Cora met his eyes. They looked so sincere. And she wanted this—needed it, maybe. Even if it didn’t last. Even if it was just tonight. She wanted a little affection in her life.
“Okay.”
“Good,” Clayton said, beaming, and pecked her on the cheek. “You won’t be sorry, I swear.”
She was really doing this. She was really going out on a date with Clayton Briggs.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cora
“I thought maybe we could drive for a while. Would that be all right?”
“Driving is fine.” She loved the feeling of being in Clayton’s car. It was so smooth, so elegant. The top was down and the wind licked her hair into a flame behind her.
“I picked up dinner for us at the carhop. I’m sorry it’s not something nicer. I’m a terrible cook and I’m pretty sure McPherson’s doesn’t do take away containers.” Clayton pulled a paper bag from a spot behind their seats as he drove. “I didn’t know what you’d want so I tried to keep it basic. What do you like there?”
“I have no idea,” Cora said. As soon as she’d said the words, she wished she hadn’t. The last time she’d eaten out was on her birthday when she was a little girl, right before her mother had died. They had gone to the drugstore for a milkshake and it was the best thing Cora had ever tasted. But she didn’t want him to know that her meager wages didn’t leave room for dining out—at least not dining out and trying to save up every penny to leave town.
There was a flicker of understanding in his eyes, but he soon flashed her that broad smile again. “It’s a good thing I got a little bit of everything then. Cheeseburgers, fries, and two ice cream sodas—one orange whip, one black cow. Choose your poison.”
Cora tensed. That sounded expensive.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew boys paid for dates. But this was one of the many things she’d been worried about when she’d accepted his invitation—that he would think she had only come for a free meal. With her family’s reputation, she didn’t want to give him even one reason to think of her that way. Especially if he turned out to be the type who expected something in return.
It was just one dinner. She could afford one dinner. She reached into her pocket book and pulled out her best guess of what her half of all that had cost.
“Here,” she said to Clayton, handing him everything she had: two dimes, three nickels, and six pennies. It was a ridiculous luxury, considering all the money she’d recently lost. But she wasn’t about to be a mooch.
“Come on now, don’t be silly. Put your money away,” Clayton said. His voice actually sounded a bit offended.
“I can pay my share. I don’t need any favors,” Cora said, trying not to think about the fact that the coins would buy enough oatmeal to feed her whole family breakfast for nearly the entire week.
“You’re my guest. I won’t hear of it,” Clayton said.
It was tempting, but she just couldn’t do it. She held out her hand to him.
“Please. Just let me treat you,” he said. “It would be my pleasure.”
Cora flushed. Very deliberately, she opened his glove box and put her money inside. She immediately felt better. A few cents might not make a difference to him, but it did to her. As she closed the box, she noticed something else there—a condom. Probably one of the ones from the fishbowl at Dr. Pinkerton’s office. She ignored it, trying not to blush.
“I make my own money, thank you very much,” she said.
Amusement played on Clayton’s face as he handed her a cheeseburger. “I will find a way to pay you back, you know,” he said with a sly grin. “I’m not a man who likes to be in someone’s debt.”
“I feel exactly the same,” Cora said. She hesitated for another moment over the food, then picked the black cow. It would be silly to let it go to waste. She unwrapped her cheeseburger, reveling in the scent of real red meat, and took a bite. Her eyes fluttered shut with pleasure. When she shopped for groceries, she had to stretch every penny, and there was rarely money in her budget for luxuries like cheese. Most of the time she made do with scraps after she had fed Bethany and the men. This was the biggest, richest meal she had ever eaten, and extra decadent considering it was something she didn’t even have to prepare.
Then she thought about Bethany—at home this very second stretching the last of the chicken into a soup. She decided to only eat half so that she could take the rest home to share.
“How is it?” Clayton asked. His eyes were bright, and Cora could see he liked this—liked exposing her to something he knew she’d never done before.
She smiled. “It’s very good. Thank you.”
“Tell me something about you that I don’t know,” he asked as he turned off onto the road that led up Mount Desolation. It didn’t go much further than the entrance to old Fort Austen, but the views at the end were gorgeous.
“Like what?” she asked. There was so much he didn’t know.
“What’s your favorite color, your favorite holiday, your favorite food?”
“That’s three things,” Cora laughed. “And I don’t intend to just give them away for free.”
“Oh, really? And what is your price?”
His eyes were dazzling, more green tonight than gray.
“Information for information,” she said.
“Fair enough. But you first. Favorite color?”
“Blue,” she said. “Or red—dark red like the dahlias you brought me.” She felt foolish the moment the words came out of her mouth. Weren’t women supposed to play hard to get? Maybe she shouldn’t show how much she’d liked his gift. But she had liked it.
“I’d like to see you in a red dress,” he said, his voice going husky on her. She thought she might stop breathing.
His directness made her stomach twist and she set aside her food. What was the catch? She felt like she was one step away from the ground disappearing beneath her feet.
As fast as she could, she forced the conversation forward.
“What about you? What’s your favorite color?”
“Blue. The same blue as those sparkling eyes of yours.”
Cora blushed and looked away from him. That hadn’t exactly worked the way she’d planned.
“Now it’s my turn again,” he said. “Tell me anything.”
“I don’t know where to start,” she said.
They had reached the end of the road. He turned the car into a scenic overlook that looked across to Jubilation towering over the entire town belo
w—the smooth lake reflecting the white peaks and white moon above, the maze of old houses west of the river, the perfect town square laid out in a grid on the east side, the single pass that marked the only way in and out of it all. She was so engrossed in the incredible view that she didn’t notice when he slipped a full dollar into her pocketbook.
“What do you dream of, Cora? What do you want out of your life?”
Cora chanced a glance into those heathery green eyes. They seemed so alive, nearly dancing with all the thoughts stirring in his head, and were totally fixed on hers.
“To leave this town,” she said, without even thinking about it.
“What do you mean? Leave Independence Falls?”
“Yes. I just want to take my sister and go.”
“I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
“But you did live somewhere else. You were at the University of Chicago, right?”
“Nine months out of the year for the past four years. But it never felt like home. This feels like home.”
“I can’t imagine that. There must be so much to do in Chicago, so much to see.”
“There is. That’s true. But the city wears on you. People live on top of each other, and it’s unusual to know your neighbor’s name. There’s no community there, not like here. But Independence Falls—it’s nearly perfect. We’re isolated, sure. But not so isolated that we can’t drive to a big city once in a while for a little fun. And it’s small enough where you can truly know people. It’s a good town to grow up in.”
The place he was talking about sounded nice. But it also seemed entirely foreign to her.
“I think you and I grew up in very different towns.”
Clayton got very quiet.
“Sometimes I feel like I’d give anything to start over, you know?” she said. “Just go somewhere where no one knew who I was or what family I was born into. A big city wouldn’t be as close knit as here. But that would be a relief. I’d like to be able to apply for a job without someone looking down their nose at me for once.”
Clayton furrowed his brow. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to say that—”
“It’s fine. You just can’t understand what it’s like. You’ve grown up your whole life with people smiling at you when you walk through the door. I guess if I lived in your world, I wouldn’t want to leave either,” Cora said.
Again, there was only silence. Cora felt like she’d made a mistake. She shouldn’t have said that. Now it felt strange between them—like she was accusing him of being the source of her pain. She hadn’t meant it like that. There was bad blood between their families, but hers had earned its reputation fairly.
“Never mind,” she said. “It’s my turn. What do you dream of, Clayton?”
“Hmmm …,” he said. “I guess my dreams are pretty simple. A life here in Independence Falls, a family, that sort of thing.”
“Do you like working for your father?”
“I love the work,” Clayton said, but Cora caught the hesitation in his voice.
“Just the work?” she asked.
“My father and I don’t always see eye to eye on how things should be done. He doesn’t always trust me.”
“Oh?”
“It’s not his fault. I’ve made mistakes. Done things I regret.”
“Like what?”
“I got into a bit of trouble my first year of college. All that freedom sort of got to my head.”
Cora knew all about trouble. She’d been surrounded by it her whole life. But did Clayton?
“What does that mean?”
“I started, well … I guess you’d call it a gambling ring. Nothing big. Just some of the kids at school. Betting on football, basketball, running a poker game here and there.”
Cora had to stop her eyes from popping out. Clayton Briggs had been a bookie? She guessed that was something most people in town didn’t know. Was that why she’d been so attracted to him? Was he really just like everyone else in her life?
“It wasn’t the gambling that got me into trouble. It was that running things got to be more interesting than school. A lot more interesting. My grades were so bad I nearly got kicked out. If it wasn’t for my dad making a big donation, I probably would have.”
Cora stayed quiet. She was still processing all of this.
“But I worked very hard to put all of that behind me. I quit it all, made different friends, repeated some courses, really dug in at school. I was top of my class by the time I graduated.”
That was impressive. With all the side jobs and taking care of things at home, Cora had barely been able to graduate with a B average. And that had just been in high school. College must have been so much more difficult, especially when you were trying to dig yourself out of a hole.
“And your father still doesn’t trust you?”
“We butt heads over everything. Don’t get me wrong. I love my father. More than that, I respect him. My dad is the best man I know. I just wish I could convince him that I’ve changed. He’s trying, especially lately. But I don’t know. Once the family screw-up, always the family screw-up I guess.”
Cora laughed.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. It just seems so absurd. Look at you. Maybe you’ve made some mistakes, but you learned from them, didn’t you? You’re not in jail or on the streets. You’re a college graduate with a good job.”
“One my father gave me.”
“You don’t think that degree would work anywhere else?”
“It would,” he admitted.
“Then it’s hard to see you as any sort of failure. Have you ever thought that maybe you just think in a different way than the rest of your family? I know I do.”
“Maybe.”
“What would you change if you were in charge?” Cora asked.
“There’s just so much opportunity in the market right now. All he wants is to tuck the family wealth away for a rainy day. But if he’d trust me, I could double our money in ten years. ”
Cora went silent. She didn’t quite know what to say.
“For what purpose?” she finally asked. A cool breeze licked at the thin fabric of her dress.
“That’s sort of the whole point of our business.”
“Is that all you care about? Making more money?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s what you said.”
Now it was Clayton’s turn to be quiet. Cora fingered the smooth leather that lined the passenger door. What had such a luxury cost?
“There’s not a single person in town who wouldn’t kill for the kind of money you throw away on the stupidest things: cars, parties, fancy clothes, and expensive trips. And yet you want more.”
“Some people are good at building houses or fixing broken bones. I’m good at making money grow. I can’t help being who I am.”
“So be good at it,” Cora said. “But be good at it for a reason.”
“What do you mean?”
“What have you done with the money you’ve made so far?”
From the look on his face, she could see he didn’t want to tell her. But to his credit, he finally did. “I, ah … I bought a boat.”
A boat. What a waste. Cora took a deep breath, trying to calm the ire in her heart. “All I’m saying is that perhaps your father would be more enthusiastic about your skills if you had some purpose behind them.”
She looked over at him. He was staring out into the darkness of the night. “Thank you for your opinion,” he said.
The tone in his voice was new to her. Was he upset? Perhaps she had been too forthright in her opinions.
“I truly value your honesty,” he continued. “You’d be surprised how many people…” his voice trailed off. Then he turned to her. “Can I ask you another question?”
The moonlight reflected from his eyes and he suddenly seemed so soft, so sincere. Cora hoped he wanted to kiss her.
“Yes,” Cora said. She could feel a fizz in her sto
mach that had nothing to do with the black cow.
He seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking. “The other day, at the lake. Did you really come up for air?”
Her hopes fell, replaced entirely by fear. Had she been wrong before? Did he know?
She chided herself. Of course he didn’t. If he did, he wouldn’t be sitting so close to her right now. And besides, who would think of such a thing? The idea of what she could do was so bizarre she barely believed it herself.
But all this talk about the lake was too risky. She didn’t trust herself not to slip and say something she shouldn’t.
“Because I keep thinking about it,” Clayton continued, a spark of curiosity in his eyes. “And I don’t—”
Cora kissed him.
She had to lean in toward him to do it. At first he seemed so surprised that he didn’t return the kiss. But Cora didn’t stop. She scooted closer, and slid her hand up his wide chest. She could feel the ripples of muscle under his shirt and her mind immediately went to the memory of seeing him in just his swim trunks—the way his stomach muscles glinted in the sunlight. She wanted desperately to feel him without the interference of his shirt. She gripped him tighter, balling the shirt in her fist.
He moaned in response, then took her face in both of his hands and kissed her more deeply than he had ever kissed her before. Cora felt every nerve in her body light up. He pulled her closer and she felt like she could melt against the heat of him.
She hated her dress, hated her brassiere, hated the fabric that kept his body from hers. She wanted to feel his skin on her skin. She couldn’t help herself. She tugged his shirt out of his pants. He obliged her desire, pulling the polo over his head to expose a chest that looked like a statue she’d seen in an encyclopedia once. She ran her fingers across it greedily, feeling his muscles firm under her fingers. He was perfect, so perfect.
She leaned in and kissed his chest, let her lips drag across the smooth, firm flesh of him, licked and teased the dip of each muscle until she could see the shape of him grow hard in his trousers.