Her arms tighten around my neck and her breathing starts to hitch. “Do you have…any idea how much…I love you?”
“If it’s anywhere close to how much I love you, it’s a whole hell of a lot.”
Thank God that gets some laughter out of her, even if it’s mixed with tears.
She squirms enough I let her go and she wipes at her face. I gently move her hands away and grasp her chin in one of mine then wrap my other in my t-shirt and use it to clean up her runny mascara. Her big, sad eyes nearly make me start squalling. Once I have her cleaned up, she lays against my chest and we just stand there holding each other on the side of the road.
“Let’s get back in the car, it’s too hot out here,” she groans and pulls away fanning her shirt.
It feels pretty good to me, but I get her back in, then myself, and crank up the AC even higher than it already was the second I shut my door. She sucks down half of a fresh water and gives me the rest. It looks like her tears released some of her anxiety. She seems okay now, but I don’t press her with questions, I just wait for her to tell me which way to go.
She leans her head back against the seat and closes her eyes for a second, taking in a deep breath and letting it out before turning and looking at me. “Thank you,” she says, reaching for my hand.
I lace my fingers with hers and squeeze. “There’s nothing to thank me for, beautiful.”
“There is.” She pulls my hand up to her lips and kisses my knuckles then puts it on the gear shift. “Take a left till you dead end then a right.”
We make it to Betty’s about thirty minutes later. If the parking lot is any indication, everyone in Copperhill must be inside.
“It’s the only restaurant in town. You either pack a sack or come here,” Ellie says, noting my surprised look.
I smirk at her. “Pack a sack?”
“You know, a sack lunch. From home?”
“Yeah, I’ve just never heard it put quite so cute before.”
She rolls her eyes, grinning. “You think everything I do is cute, you big sap.”
“Yeah, I do.” I might also be doing whatever I can to make you smile again.
She turns to look out her window at the parking lot and that grin vanishes. “The panic attack I feel coming on probably isn’t gonna be too cute.”
“Cute or not, I’ll be right beside you. We can leave the second it gets too much. Your friends will understand and the rest of those people and their opinions don’t matter.”
She turns and looks at me, staring long enough my chest gets tight. “I love you, Nik Jensen.”
“I love you.”
She blesses me with one of those smiles and winks. “I know. Now let’s go before I chicken out. The sooner I get in there the sooner I can leave.”
I turn off the car and climb out, then go around to help her out, but she beat me to it. She’s already bouncing on her feet when I get to her. She grabs my hand, lacing her fingers with mine and pulls me towards the building. Her palm’s clammy.
A cacophony of voices and noises bombard us the second I open the door. The bell jingles over our heads and everything and everyone comes to a standstill. Only Conway Twitty continues to croon from the jukebox about his Louisiana woman.
A good thirty to forty sets of eyes stare back at us. Some seem friendly, most are in shock. Then a man who could only be Brandon jumps up from a booth towards the back. Ellie told me he was flashy. I didn’t realize how flashy she meant.
“ELLIE!!!”
“Ellie!!” a woman yells, joining in on his excitement. She’s Anna, I assume, since she was sitting across from him.
They both rush us and nearly knock Ellie to the ground their hugs are so enthusiastic. I stand back and watch their reunion along with everyone else. There’s lots of laughter, hugs, and tears and just when I think I might get a chance to introduce myself half the restaurant decides they need to reunite with her too.
I stay nearby and watch her closely for signs of panic or the wrong kind of tears. Thankfully, I don’t see any. She’s smiling and even laughing every once in awhile. My breathing gets easier with each moment that passes. I want her to enjoy this.
Suddenly my view is filled with a well-built, six-foot tall, bright and sparkly man. Brandon. He looks me up and down with his glittery eyes, licking his lips. “Mmmm, mmm, mmmm. You must be Nik. Ellie told me you were fine, but she has hit the jackpot with you,” he murmurs, batting his lashes at me. “The things I would do to you. Laaawd have mercy.”
I laugh because I can’t do anything else. I’ve had some looks from other men before, but this is a first. I pull myself together and hold out my hand. “Nik Jensen. Nice to meet you, Brandon.”
He slips his hand into mine, soft and smooth at first then grips it firmly. Almost too firm. “Let’s go get acquainted. She’ll be wrapped up with that bunch for a while.” There’s a hard edge to his voice now. Time to pass the best friend test, I suppose.
“All right, sounds good. Give me just a sec.”
He lets me go and heads to his table. I focus on Ellie again and she’s still smiling. I catch her eye and nod my head towards Brandon. She smiles bigger and nods back so I go join him.
He’s switched sides in the booth, leaving the back open for me. I’ll be able to keep an eye on her from here. “Thanks,” I tell him, acknowledging his gesture.
He nods. “She looks good. Really good. Best I’ve ever seen her. I guess we got you to thank for that.”
I shrug. “I like to think I had something to do with it, but she should get all the credit. I’ve never known anyone stronger than her.”
“You got that right.”
A waitress with shocking red hair walks up to our table, cocking her bony hip and smacking her gum. She completely ignores Brandon, her eyes checking me out just like his did. “Hi there, handsome. You new in town?” she asks, her voice pouring out like buttermilk from her smiling lips. Soured buttermilk. It’s sharp and gives me the urge to cringe.
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling or wincing at her obvious flirtation.
“Dixie, this is Ellie’s boyfriend, Nik. He’s firmly attached and he ain’t stayin’ ‘round here neither. Take the man’s order and quit your cattin,” Brandon sasses her. His perfectly waxed eyebrows rise, daring her to push him.
She snarls and rolls her eyes at him before looking back at me, not smiling near as much anymore. “What can I get you?”
“Two sweet teas, please. I’ll wait on Ellie for the food.”
She nods then spins around and stalks off towards the counter.
“Don’t pay her no mind, she’s a hot mess. So… you are firmly attached, right?” he asks, those eyebrows daring me now.
I smile in what I hope is a reassuring way. “About as attached as you can get. She’s gonna need dynamite to get rid of me.”
He doesn’t seem convinced so I cross my arms and lean over the table towards him. “I love her, Brandon. She means more to me than anything else. More than anything or anyone ever has. All I want is to make the rest of her life as happy as possible. There’s a ring ready to be picked up from the jeweler’s when we get back to Savannah. We’ve already got the wedding planned out. She’s it for me.”
He stares at me for a long minute, doing his best to weed out the truth. He finally seems to find it. His expression changes to what could only be described as “sassy dominance” as he points his finger at me. “I’m gonna trust you for now, but if you ever hurt that girl, I swear to God your sexy ass will find itself tied up in some backwoods shack. I know some crazy, redneck fuckers up here and they’d love to play with a pretty boy like you. Are you picking up what I’m putting down?”
He’s dead serious and I don’t know if I’ve ever been more terrified.
I let out a nervous laugh then clear my throat. “I am. I’ll throw my own self to their mercy if I hurt her. Scout’s honor.”
He sits back, slapping the table top, his head weaving with attitude. �
�All right then, we’re good.”
Dixie shows up with the sweet teas, plunking them down none too gently. She throws a couple of straws on the table with a curt smile before walking off.
Brandon and I shake our heads and share a smile, then he turns solemn, leaning over the table. “Seriously though, thank you for doing what we couldn’t. I thought I’d never see her alive again. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, letting her leave. You don’t know how relieved I am that she didn’t…you know?” He waves his hand in a circle, looking anywhere but at me. “Me and Anna, we were sick twenty-four/seven thinking about it.” He looks up, his dark eyes full of guilt, and he even looks smaller under the weight of it. “I can only imagine what you think about us. But we tried everything. Nothing worked. Not even that ‘best center in the country’ we sent her to. She was just suffering. We didn’t want to be the selfish bastards who made her keep on suffering. So, we let her go and just prayed she’d make it.”
I nod and take a big drink of my tea hoping the knot in my throat will go down with it and maybe it’ll cool the hot ball of anger that’s sitting heavy in my stomach. I still can’t believe they were just going to let her kill herself. But, them letting her go brought her to me so...
“She told me last week it was divine intervention that we met. I’m inclined to believe her,” I tell him.
“Yeah. I sure believe that. I probably won’t ever forgive myself, but seeing her now? It’s more than worth that.”
I look over and check on her again. Her and Anna are headed our way so I scoot over to make room for her, putting my arm on the back of the booth if she wants to get close.
She does, tucking herself against my chest, her face in my neck. I wrap my arm around her and press my cheek to hers. “You okay?” I whisper in her ear.
“Mmmm, hmmm,” she hums, but stays right where she is.
Her breathing is good and I don’t hear any sniffling and she isn’t trembling or anything so I just hold her and wait. A few seconds later she takes a deep breath and lets it out before sitting up. I search her face for any signs of stress, but she’s smiling at me.
“I promise I’m okay,” she whispers then stretches up and gives me a kiss before looking over at her friends. “So, you obviously met Brandon already,” she says to me, then turns, pinning him with a stern look. “Were you nice to him?”
“Of course, I was, sugar. It’s hard not to be when the view is so fine,” he says, grinning at her then winking at me.
He is a hoot.
She looks up to me unbelieving. “Was he?”
“Yep, he’s been as sweet as a Georgia peach,” I tell her, winking back at him with my best smile. Two can play at this game.
I swear he blushes.
“Good God Almighty, Ellie. You are one lucky bitch,” Anna breathes out staring over at me.
I can’t help but laugh again, but now I’m blushing too.
“Shit, did I say that out loud?” she whispers.
“Yeah, bitch. You sure did,” Brandon tells her, laughing.
We all start then and it takes us a few minutes to calm down. It relaxes us all though and soon we’re chatting away having a good time. They tell me stories of when they were kids and Ellie and I tell them of our adventures.
We wind up staying a few hours. I got to meet a few more people and only one or two of those ever mentioned Josh or Lucas. It was a couple of old ladies. I’m sure they meant well, but me, Anna, and Brandon were still quick to move them along to a new subject.
Ellie handled it all much better than I think she expected of herself and things went smoother than I thought they might too. I was worried some of the anger I had felt towards Anna and Brandon would surface again, but seeing them with her and the talk Brandon and I had helped.
But now we’re back in the car and headed to her house. She’s fidgeting like a three-year-old in church and I’ve got that ache back in my chest.
It only takes us five minutes and we’re pulling up the drive. I stop the Corvette and put it in park, but leave the engine running. She doesn’t look like she’s ready to get out yet and I’m not really in a hurry either. I stay quiet and keep an eye on her as she stares out the windshield at the old, but well-kept farmhouse.
“I guess we should get out, huh?” she whispers after a minute or two.
“Only if you’re ready. Do you want some time alone? I can wait out here for a while.”
She shakes her head, never taking her eyes off the house.
“You know, we don’t have to stay here tonight, we can get a hotel room if you want.”
She huffs. “No, we can’t.”
“Sure, we can.”
She turns and looks at me, frustration written all over her face. “Nik, honey, Copperhill doesn’t have a hotel. They don’t even have a bed and breakfast. It’s the house or we have to drive over to Cleveland to find anything that isn’t infested with some sort of nasty shit.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. I can do this.”
Fuck. Pissed off Ellie is not fun.
“That wasn’t what—”
She lets out a sigh, then covers her face with her hands, her head hanging. “I know it wasn’t. I’m sorry, I’m a wreck today.”
“It’s okay, you’re allowed to be. Anyone would be.” I want to reach out and touch her someway, but I don’t. She’ll get sick of me running to her rescue eventually.
“I’m still sorry,” she whispers, coming out of hiding to wound me with her puppy dog eyes and killing my self-control.
I lean over as much as I can and pull her into a hug. “You don’t have to be sorry. I am though. The last thing I want to do is push you.”
“You weren’t. You’re being wonderful as always. Come in with me?” she asks, her voice small like it was when I woke up in the hospital months ago.
“You know I will.”
This time she stays put until I open her car door and help her out. The grip she has on my hand is much stronger too. It’s hard to believe her tiny fingers can have enough strength to make me want to squirm away from the pain.
We make it up the steps and she points up at the top of the window beside the door. “The key’s up there.”
I step over to get it and she follows me, not letting up her grip on my hand for a second. I run my fingers across the windowsill and find the key. It’s covered in dust and comes with a nice chunk of insect laden spider web. I wipe it off on my shorts and hand it to her.
Her fingers shake as she tries to slide it in the lock. She mutters something to herself then pushes it home and gives it a sharp twist. Pulling it back out she hands it me. “Keep it in your pocket for me?”
“Sure.” I pocket it, then reach for the doorknob since she’s still showing no signs of moving.
As much as we probably both want too, we can’t stay out here all weekend.
I expected to be met with hot, stale, musty air, but it’s cool, fresh, and clean, as is the rest of the house. Anna and Brandon must’ve come by and gotten it ready for us.
I’m not sure how I thought it might look, maybe foreign and unwelcoming, but it doesn’t. I can easily see Ellie all over the place. The colors, the furniture, the knickknacks sitting around. It’s all her and it gives off a sense of home, and comfort. Something in me feels slightly betrayed by those thoughts, the rest of me squashes it down quick.
“It was my Aunt Maggie’s house,” she whispers, almost startling me.
“I like it. It’s…homey.”
“Yeah,” she answers, barely loud enough for me to hear, then she pulls me to the left. “Over here’s the kitchen.”
We go through a dining room, then into a small kitchen. The appliances are fairly new, while the rest is early nineteenth century farmhouse.
“Shit, I didn’t think. We need food. I’ll have to go to the grocery store,” she prattles, letting me go to look through cabinets, opening and closing them in quick succession, then she opens the fridge.
; The cabinets didn’t have much, but it’s stocked pretty well. Anna and Brandon again, I guess.
“They didn’t have to do that,” she grumbles, flinging the door shut and going back towards the living room at a quick pace.
I follow her, easily keeping up with my long legs.
She cuts to the left at the foyer and goes down the hall. “Here’s the bathroom. We re-did it after Miss Naomi… You should’ve seen it before. It was so tiny. The bedrooms are here and here,” she says flinging her arms towards the two doors further down the hall, but not going near them. She spins around and goes back to the foyer and points up the stairs. “There’s more bedrooms up there, but they’re just full of boxes. It’s too hot up there to stand it most of the time anyway. So that’s pretty much it.” She flings out her hands again, slapping them against her thighs this time. She hasn’t looked at me once since we got out of the car.
I walk towards her, intending to hold her and hopefully calm her down.
She stops me. “I gotta pee something fierce, all that tea I guess. Why don’t you unload the car?” she suggests. She doesn’t wait for me to agree, just turns around and disappears down the hall. I hear a door slam shut a second later, then a muffled sob.
She may as well have taken a hatchet to my heart. I hurry to the bathroom door, but something stops me from knocking or opening it. She obviously wants space and I need to give it to her, no matter how much it hurts to walk away.
I force myself back out to the car and pop the hatch. I could carry everything in one trip, but I don’t, leaving enough for a second trip to give her more time. I put the first load in the foyer then go back for the other half. Once that’s done, I pull the car around to the garage at the side of the house.
A little bit of breaking and entering at the side door and I’m in. There’s an old Harley in the smallest stall, then a black Tahoe at the other end, both covered in a thick layer of dust. The middle stall sits empty.
I hesitate to put my car in his spot. I’ve already taken his wife. It’d be like kicking a man when he’s down. And Josh couldn’t get any more down than he already was. This was obviously his place to get away: the bike, the workbench, the cabinets probably filled with his tools. I shouldn’t even be in here at all.
Heal Me (Magnolia Series Book 2) Page 19