The Strings That Hold Us Together

by Kendra Mase

  “You look stunning.” His thumb slipped beneath her ribbon, a gentle caress. He couldn’t help himself after the night before in the tent, the way it felt so right for him to be so close, her against him.

  He had to control himself, whether or not the rest of the town thought the two of them were anything more than—well, whatever they were.

  Stepping back, he released her and cleared his throat.

  She stared at him; mouth lightly parted as if sorting her words. Not finding them, Kit reached for her tennis shoes left by the door. They didn’t scream anniversary elegance but did a backyard celebration. She gripped the doorframe as she slipped one on.

  With a twirl, she grinned at him the way she did when she tried to copy his. He began to understand what she meant. That smile—it made him crumble.

  “That. Do it again.”

  “What?” Kit asked again, laughing.

  “That, right there. That smile!” He put a hand to his heart. “All of it is perfection, and you still worry about winning them over, don’t you?”

  “You’re crazy.” She shook her head as he approached her in his own sort of party bests when it came to the farm. Jeans and a nice shirt tucked in. His one hand pressed against the door above her until she was in a shadowy cave of Jack.

  “Aren’t we all?” he asked.

  Kit inhaled but didn’t let it out for another moment. The sharp, nervous feeling was back in his ribs, but it was all Kit and honey as she breathed again.

  They really needed to get out the door and to the party that was probably already starting without them.

  She must’ve been thinking the same thing as her hand slid toward the door handle. “Well, you hold a special place in crazy.”

  “Do I? Where?”

  “Right between the c and r, if I am not mistaken.”

  “And here I thought I was near the z.”

  “Oh, you’re there too. You’re all over crazy,” Kit confirmed, taking the extra scarf layer she left by the door to wrap around her shoulders. Though thin, it brought out the rich mahogany of her eyes.

  The night was cold, but in the short distance, as they made their way to the houses, Jack could already hear the voices.

  Kit studied him. “You’re in a good mood.”

  “It’s been a good day so far. Oddly good.”

  “I’m glad.” Though her voice seemed stilted.

  The rib-breaking emotions were making their medieval torture methods known again. “I can feel you’re nervous.”

  Her face squished. “What?”

  “I can feel it all in my ribs,” Jack admitted, gesturing in the region. “I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but don’t like it, stop.”

  “I can’t help that I’m anxious.”

  “Stop.” Jack grabbed her hand before they made it to the outskirts of the party. “Look at me. Don’t be anxious.”

  “Wow, so helpful,” Kit teased.

  He shook his head. Reaching out to bring her chin back to face him. Her eyes came with it. “I’m not done. Look at me. Everyone already seems taken with you. I’m serious. If they could trade me in for you, I don’t think they’d mind at this rate if I ever came back. Even my dad said he liked you.”

  “He did?”

  “He did.”

  “Truth?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Truth, and everyone else, if you want to meet anyone else tonight, will love you too. What’s not to love?”

  Her eyebrows raised as if she was compiling a comprehensive list.

  He flicked her nose.

  “Hey!”

  He caught her hand before it could land anywhere important. “You’ll be perfect.” Everything felt perfect right now.

  “I think you’re lying.”

  “I gave no promises,” Jack insisted, but began to lead them farther into the small crowd of neighbors. “We eat, drink, dance, and be merry.”

  “There is dancing?”

  Jack nodded.

  “Like line dancing?”

  “Depends on how late we stay, Kitten.” The pain in his ribs eased, but was still there. “I’ll be by your side all night. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  The farmhouse looked like a concert was about to begin. Lights flickered on as the sun began to set earlier than the day before and the thrum of voices calling for more green beer bottles to be passed, their own music.

  Jack led Katherine farther into the crowd, already picking apart plates of tart-smelling apple pies and burgers layered with more toppings than Katherine could ever imagine attempting to eat at once. People turned to take glances at the two of them as they passed, wandering through the groups who asked where Jack had been and why Jace was hiding. By the time they got to the house, Katherine felt that she had met the entire town.

  “Sangria, beer, liquor?” Jack offered. He scooped a beer out of the ice bucket before turning back to her.

  “Sangria?”

  “Daring.” In a cherry red Solo cup, he lifted the pitcher set to the side with a cloth draped over it and filled it to the top line. The dark liquid had pieces of fruit floating in it. Katherine took a hesitant sip.

  Her eyes widened at the dry sweetness.

  Jack smiled. “Good?”

  He topped her off at the assent just as Brian, head down, meandered to the middle of the dance floor.

  “Hello, everyone!” Brian called out to his audience. “Before we get started—”

  A few hollers and whistles rang out.

  “I would just like to say a few words about my lovely bride over there. Emily, you have been nothing but the world. You are someone who held up my world, even. Over the past many years, that woman, mine right there, has been my best friend from the first time we danced here in her parents’ backyard after saying our I dos. I’d say ‘em again.” Brian cleared his throat. “I don’t think I can say much more besides throwing up some thanks to God for us and our wonderful community here. And of course, the fact that I have all my sons here tonight. Cheers, everyone.”

  Bottles and cups clanged together in their striking symphony.

  Jack tilted his bottle against her cup with a hollow sound as he stared into her eyes. Each of them took a sip and Katherine tasted the sweetness of sangria slide over her tongue. She had to be careful drinking these. Though the air was cold, each sip made her feel warm, all the way down to her toes.

  “I’ll be right back,” Jack spoke into her ear. His hand grazed her ribbon again, giving it a little tug before walking off toward where Brian and Emily kissed, surrounded by others.

  “I know, they’re disgusting. Ruins everyone’s night, don’t they?” a voice next to her joked.

  Katherine turned to see a golden-eyed boy with shoulder-length wavy hair. The color of his eyes nearly matched a few strands, a complement to olive skin.

  He extended a hand to the side. “Jeremy.”

  “Kit.”

  “Oh, I know.” Jeremy nodded. “I was sober enough to remember you this morning.”

  Katherine took another sip of her drink, holding it with two hands.

  “You brought our lost brother home,” Jeremy said. “An impressive feat, to say the least. Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Sorry. You kind of look like Fabio.”

  “What?” Jeremy laughed. It washed over her, rich and warm like maple syrup.

  “I’m sorry. I had a whole cup of this red wine juice with fruit in it already. I should know better than to speak,” Katherine rambled. Where was Jack?

  “It’s the hair, isn’t it?” Jeremy said, not commenting on her verbal drunkenness. “I honestly only grew it out because it bothered my mother to no end, but now…”

  He shrugged.

  Katherine gave a small smile. She sure knew how to make a first impression. “I like your hair.”

  “Thanks. How are you enjoying the party?” he asked.

  After a moment, Katherine looked around the area. It was gorgeous. She could imagine this place ove
r forty years ago, Emily in a white dress walking under the swooping white fairy lights. It was gorgeous. Picturesque. Still, Katherine shrugged as she swayed to the music. Side to side.

  “It’s a fishbowl.”

  She narrowed her eyes at Jack’s brother.

  “See that man that was talking with my mom a while ago? He’s been staring at us ever since Jack walked over to make peace with my dad’s friends.” Jeremy leaned back farther into the tree, hiding behind a branch with her. “He’ll continue to stare, especially with me whispering like this to you right now. He’ll also likely pass the information on to his wife that everyone thinks is the real chatty one. Probably already thinking you’re switching one brother for another.”

  Katherine’s eyes widened, jaw parting in shock as she looked out the corner of her eye toward the man. He looked down toward his plate of homemade salt and vinegar chips.

  Jeremey’s long waves blew to one side.

  “You know all the dirt,” Katherine said slyly.

  Jeremy only nodded in slight satisfaction at the compliment. “Have to around this town. There are two kinds of people. Those who know the gossip—”

  “And those who are being gossiped about,” Katherine filled in.

  “Exactly. That girl over there?” With a tip of his pointed chin, Jeremy referenced across the crowd toward a girl holding up her plastic cup for lemonade. She had big eyes and light brown hair that curled on the edges around her shoulders. She was pretty. Very soft pretty actually. “That’s Claudia. She and Jack used to date throughout the last two years of high school, on and off. Until she met some guy in a secretarial class last year, she was still bitter that our very own Jack left her virginal at the altar.”

  Jack. At the altar. Eyes wide, she tossed her gaze back to the girl again, a demure sort of beauty, Katherine could imagine the two of them walking along the farm together. Her in her cowboy boots and him with his arm fitting perfectly around her waist.

  “You’re kidding.”

  He laughed. “Kinda. By the eleventh grade, that girl was practically boasting to half the town that Jack and she were screwing and getting married after graduation. Of course, my brother had other plans that didn’t include a ring.”

  The plans of hopping out his window in the middle of the night and running away from his family and wannabe-wife, becoming an ex-photography student and professional beater of kinky individuals. Yeah, she knew of those plans.

  The thought made her smile just as Jack looped a warm arm back around her shoulders.

  “Trying to steal my girl, Jer?”

  Jeremy only shrugged with a playful expression on his face. He put his hands in his pockets. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Especially not with Olivia around here somewhere. Where is she anyway?”

  Olivia? Katherine looked up at Jeremy. If Olivia was anything like Jeremy, maybe she would have someone to latch onto for a few hours whenever Jack was pulled away in another decade-fixing conversation.

  Jeremy looked around, but didn’t appear to be searching. “We actually broke it off a while ago after I came back from training, Jack.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yep.” Another shrug. “Things happen.”

  For some reason, Katherine could tell it wasn’t just a few things. A tinge of sorrow laced his words.

  “I’m going to go and get some food,” Jeremy diverted. “Have fun, guys. See ya, Kit.”

  Katherine gave a small wave while Jack steered her back toward the front of the house where a few groups had gathered. “That’s sad.”

  “Yeah,” Jack agreed. “I can’t believe he didn’t say anything before now. My mom wants to see you, though. Apparently, you guys got along earlier.”

  Jack dropped her off in front of his mother. Katherine turned around to say something, her mouth tingling with Jeremy’s next witty joke of farmer Jack being escorted down the aisle with a shotgun on him, but Jack was already gone. He wandered toward another group of men his father called out for him to join.

  “Sorry, isn’t every day you have to reintroduce your lost son to society,” Emily teased. “How are you doing? Enjoying the sangria?” She lifted a cup of her own. “Be careful. Our delightful neighbor makes it. She always puts in a few more shots of brandy than anyone should put into sangria.”

  No wonder Katherine felt a strange mixture of warm joy instead of cold November fear at the prospect of so many people staring at her right then. She could feel eyes from all angles.

  Another pair seemed to get even closer to them.

  “Oh! Hello Claudie, how are you, sweetheart?” Jack’s mom enveloped the girl in a tight hug before letting go.

  Claudia turned with laughter. “Hi, Mrs. Carver. How are you?”

  “Just fine. Having a wonderful anniversary so far with the help of everyone.” Still holding on to Claudia’s tiny hand, Emily turned to Katherine. “You should meet Kit.”

  Katherine gave a hesitant smile. “Hello.”

  “Hi,” Claudia said, cheerful as ever. “You must be Jack’s new girl.”

  “That she is,” Emily answered for her before Katherine even had the chance to flounder. Maybe Emily was sticking up for her. Right as Katherine thought this, however, Emily continued. “I’ll leave you girls alone. Don’t need an old woman like me interfering with good conversation. I need a refill anyway.”

  “Well, it was good to see you.” Claudia smiled.

  “You too, Claudia.”

  As Emily walked away, Katherine felt all of that sangria-fueled joy die.

  Claudia pulled Katherine forward with as much force as if she was a rag doll. Though Claudia was small, she had one impressive grip as she placed the two of them in a small group of girls that all looked the same. Like little plaid-covered clones.

  “Ladies, this is Kit. She is Jack’s new girl,” Claudia said.

  A few of the girls smiled. Nearly all of them assessed her, up and down, before meeting her eyes.

  Katherine took a sip of her drink. She was almost out. Avril would have been proud. “Hello.”

  “I heard Jack came home and brought a girl with him,” a girl with deep-set eyes said. “I figured the first part was true, but seeing is believing.”

  “I hear you’re from the city,” another girl added in before Katherine could say anything. Not that she knew what to say. Did she defend herself? Say thank you? All seemed like the right and wrong response. She tucked a piece of pin-straight hair behind her ear. “That must be exciting.”

  Katherine let the last sip of her sangria burn with brandy all the way down her throat before answering. “It is. Have you been?”

  “Oh no. I’d love to visit maybe one day and see the sights. Honestly though, I don’t even know what I would do there.”

  “What do you do, Kit?” Claudia asked, cocking her head kindly. “Do you go to school?”

  “I work for my aunt actually.” Suddenly, she was having flashbacks to that day at the square.

  “That must be nice.”

  “It is,” Katherine said with a smile. Emilie was probably bustling to clean up the place before shutting down for the night right now, if she ended up feeling better today, enough to open. Katherine should’ve called her earlier. “I love the work I do. I sew, mainly.”

  “Oh my gosh, Leah loves to sew too, don’t you, Leah?” Claudia turned toward the smallest of the ladies with long hair pinned up in braids on either side.

  Leah carefully nursed her own Solo cup, peeking up from the rim. “I have been making quilts and skirts and things for the farmer’s market.”

  Katherine saw a few large quilts stitched in swirls inside of Emily’s living room as well as on the bed in the barn. She wondered if maybe a few of them were Leah’s. They were gorgeous, not to mention exceedingly warm. Katherine thought of the one she had wrapped around her shoulders last night after they crawled into the tent.

  “So, what do you do exactly?”

  “Oh.” Katherine smiled. “My aunt ru
ns a lingerie store.”

  Leah went pink.

  “Scandalous,” one of the other girls said.

  They all leaned farther into the circle, intrigued.

  “Not really,” Katherine said softly, looking toward her feet. She couldn’t imagine what they would think if they knew where Jack worked, let alone the things that she saw on her daily errands. “We run the shop together right now. There is a lot we do from designing new things, to delivering pieces and other supplies to people who order them around the city.”

  “I’m surprised that Jack lets you do such things.”

  “What do you mean?” Katherine asked.

  “Wasn’t he jealous, Claudie?”

  Jealous? Except for that one time in DuCain when Devil approached her, Katherine couldn’t see Jack as jealous, at least not to that degree.

  Claudia only rolled her eyes, tossing a look over her shoulder. Jack’s laugh boomed across the yard.

  Katherine narrowed hers. “He appreciates my work and what I do. Both of which he has seen plenty of actually.”

  Puckering their lips, a few of the girls apparently caught Katherine’s second meaning. She wanted to say even more about it. Katherine had the intense desire to tell them all about how Jack laced her up in corsets and had taken photos of her he joked about plastering the walls with. Tell them how he spoke to her without a smirk on his face when he was serious, how he slept next to her at night and that somehow, she figured it was more intimate than any of the times he must’ve fucked half of them under the bleachers in high school. All of a sudden, she wasn’t afraid to tell the whole town about her and Jack.

  “My, my.”

  “Don’t scare her,” Claudia said, biting on her bottom lip. “It is just, well, you know.”

  “When Jack says that he is going to stick around for a while. He means stick around until it feels like a while to him.”

  “Of course, he did bring you home.” Another chimed back in. Katherine was pretty sure it was Leah, though she did not turn her head to make sure. “He must love you. Maybe the city has changed more than just his hair.”

  He must love her.

  “His hair is what drew everyone in around here.”

  “He did have great hair, though it’s shorter now.”