And then there was nothing but rain...in her ears...in her head...in her heart.
“WHAT HAPPENED to my socks?” Bobby Joe’s voice woke Ellie from a deep, dreamless sleep and she sat straight up, bumping her head against the tent. A puddle of leftover raindrops ran from a shallow indentation in the canvas and splashed onto the ground next to the tent wall.
“Looks like you left em outside and they got soaked.” Travis’s answer held little sympathy. “Ruined ’em.”
“Think the dirt would bleach out?”
“They’re not worth that much effort, Bobby Joe. Throw them away.” It was Ross’s voice just outside her tent, and Ellie went still, remembering.
“Could dry ‘em out and use ’em as rags.”
“Ross is right. Throw ’em away.” Travis said around a yawn. “What happened to everybody, anyway? I’m not usually the first one up.”
“First one up, my ass,” Bobby Joe said. “I was awake before you, and Ross was up before me. Look. He’s already cookin’ breakfast.”
There was a clank of tin and utensils. “Don’t even think of getting any closer to that pancake,” Ross said in a firm but affectionate growl.
Ellie pulled her knees to her chest and stretched her Bachelor Daze Run The Gauntlet souvenir T-shirt down to her ankles. Ross had kissed her last night and there was no way she could go out there and face him.
“You know, we could get in a few hours of fishing before we have to go back,” Travis said. “School’s out for the summer and if I don’t make the teacher’s meeting this afternoon, no one’s going to care. There ought to be some perks to being the high school principal.”
“Yeah, but the question is...” Bobby Joe’s voice was gruff with fun. “Do you have a note from Tami sayin’ it’s okay for you to go fishing?”
“I’ll show you my note...if I can read your permission slip from Carla.”
There was some scuffling and some laughter and when Bobby Joe spoke again, his voice was muffled, as if his back was turned. “I don’t have to be home any time special. Carla and I closed the print shop for the rest of the week so we could enjoy the Bachelor Daze festivities. You want to go fishing, Ross?”
“Sure. That’ll give me a chance to test out my new reel,” Ross said, sounding completely normal. Maybe he was normal. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe he’d become a sleepwalker and had no memory whatsoever of what had happened. “I might even have time to break in my new pool cue at Ernie’s before the wedding rehearsal tonight.”
Ellie rested her forehead on her knees. Tonight Ross was going to practise getting married. And she’d have to be there. The best man had to be there. She was going to be sick.
“How come these guys are sleeping so late?” Bobby Joe asked. “Let’s wake ’em up.”
“Yeah,” Travis answered. “I know Ned brought a box of doughnuts, but I can’t find them anywhere out here.”
“He’s probably sleepin’ with them, so you can’t have any.” Bobby Joe’s voice came nearer and then there was a whump on the canvas wall of her tent. “Hey! Applegate! Wake up in there. We need a woman to fix our breakfast! Get up and get your sleepy butt out here pronto!”
“Go away,” she muttered. “You sadist.”
“I heard that, Snow White. Now get up unless you want me and the seven dwarfs to start singin’ falsetto.”
“There’s only six of you,” she pointed out.
“I’ll sing twice.” Bobby Joe’s footsteps moved on and Ellie reached for Purple Bunny. His pudgy body felt strange in her hands, but his one-eyed, flop-eared expression was achingly familiar. “I can’t face him,” she whispered to the rabbit, who had no answer. How could she face Ross? Even if, by some miracle, she’d imagined the whole thing, she knew. And if she hadn’t imagined the whole thing...well, then, he knew, too.
The whump came again, then Travis’s voice. “Applegate? There are trout out there making fun of you. Get up! Let’s go fishin’!”
“I hear you,” she said roughly and knew she would have to get dressed and go out there and see Ross.
There was a series of muffled thumps from the other tent, followed by a trio of surprised yelps and a pithy string of curse words. “Hey!” Shorty’s voice was loud. “What in the hell was that for?”
“Your morning shower,” came Travis’s laughing reply. “We just saved you three some time.”
“We’re goin’ fishin’,” Bobby Joe said with a laugh. “You were gonna get wet, anyway.”
“You didn’t have to get the tent all wet!” Brad sounded disgusted. “Damn it, Ramsey! Aren’t you ever going to grow up?”
“Ah, Elston,” Bobby Joe crooned. “Did we get your hair wet?”
“I’ll get you for this.”
“Ooh, we’re scared, aren’t we, Trav?”
“You’re toast, Ramsey.” Ned’s voice joined the threat. “You, too, Ryals.”
Ellie listened to the banter, heard the friendly scuffle, and told herself to get dressed before they came gunning for her.
ROSS WATCHED ELLIE’S TENT, waiting for her to come out, not knowing what to expect when she did. He should never have gone near her last night, should have minded his own business and stayed in his own tent. But that was water under the bridge now, and he had roughly five minutes to decide how to act when he saw her. If he behaved as if that midnight kiss hadn’t happened, she might never speak to him again. On the other hand, if he made a big deal out of it, she’d know for sure that he was as insensitive as these other clods and she would definitely never speak to him again.
The worst part of it all was realizing that what he really wanted to do was to kiss her again. In the daylight. When he was thinking clearly. When no one else was anywhere near. When he could figure out if what he’d felt had been a fluke—or a fantasy.
“What is all the ruckus out here?” Ellie stepped out of the tent to face the day, and he stopped breathing. Her bright tones fooled him for a second. Her smile was wide and full of fun and, for an instant, he thought maybe he had dreamed that brief, soul-stirring kiss. But then her gaze collided with his and he knew that what had happened between them last night was even more serious than he’d allowed himself to believe.
“Ellie!” Travis drew her gaze and her attention. “Make Shorty leave me alone.”
“You’re paying for throwing water all over me,” Shorty said, feinting an offensive move to the right, which sent Travis and Bobby Joe, who were facing the threat shoulder to shoulder, circling to the left.
“It was Bobby Joe.” Travis stopped, hands out. “I was out here with Ross. Tell him, Ross.”
“He was with me,” Ross said, but the words sounded hollow in his ears. Not that these yahoos would notice. Not that he cared about anyone but Ellie at the moment.
“You want a piece of this, Kilgannon?” Ned asked, moving friendly-like from the other side of the campfire toward the culprits. “Because we can take you, too.”
He wanted to talk to Ellie. Had to talk to her.
“Bobby Joe,” Travis said while the two of them were backing away under the advance of the other three. “Waking them up was a really stupid idea.”
“Yeah, wasn’t it, though?”
Then the wake-ees made their move and all five men dashed like wild boys into the woods, leaving Ross a small but private window of opportunity.
“Good morning,” he said over a lump in his throat that had to be as big as Wisconsin.
She looked at him and his heart hurt, and he was astonished to realize how great she looked fresh from sleep. He was even more astonished when he heard himself tell her so.
“Shut up, Ross,” she said succinctly.
He did, for as long as it took to flip the pancake from the griddle onto a plate and offer it to her. “We need to talk,” he said.
She shook her head, her eyes focused on the antics of the chase happening just beyond the clearing where they were camped. Her hair was tied in a loose knot at the back of her neck and the breeze lifted strand
s of her hair and blew them across her face. He wondered how he could have spent most of his life with her and never have seen her like this before. “What happened last night doesn’t have to change anything, Eliot.” He sounded desperate to convince her. He was desperate to convince himself. “But we have to talk about it. You know, clear the air.”
Her gaze came back to him and he knew that he would do anything, say anything to keep her friendship. “There’s nothing to talk about,” she said, a coolness in her voice he’d never heard before. Not when she was speaking to him. “You’re tense. You’re stressed. You’re getting married on Saturday. And you’re acting like a crazy person.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t excuse—”
“Yes,” she said. “It does. It wipes it out. It didn’t happen, understand? Talking about it is only going to make something out of nothing.”
Not talking about it seemed to be accomplishing the same thing, he thought, but this was her call. It was becoming apparent that he wasn’t going to get a vote. “So,” he said to be sure he had his part straight, “I didn’t go to your tent last night and we didn’t ki—”
“That’s right,” she said so fast he knew that last night’s kiss was going to be there between them from now on. The secret they pretended wasn’t there. The one thing their friendship might not be able to survive.
Travis and Shorty ambled back into the clearing, laughing and looking none the worse for the morning’s tussle. Behind them, Bobby Joe, Ned and Brad straggled in, still one-upping each other, still the same friends they’d been when the bachelor shower had begun. Only he and Ellie were different. Only he and Ellie had to pretend nothing had changed.
It would have been a hell of a lot easier to chase each other around the campsite, exchange a couple of not entirely friendly punches, wrestle a little, call each other names and come back still friends. It was the way guys settled things.
But as he was now very much aware, Ellie was not one of the guys.
Chapter Ten
“Ellie! Up here!” Tori called to her from the front of the church where the rehearsal was in progress. The entire wedding party was near the altar and, to a bridesmaid, they all turned to look back at the doorway where Ellie stood dreading the next couple of hours.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Ellie called back. “Got stuck in traffic.” It was a joke, but no one seemed to notice, so she put her reluctance in her pocket and walked down the aisle.
“You belong there beside Ross,” Tori directed, motioning her to the dais where Ross stood, tall and unsmiling. “I put little pieces of tape down, see? That way you’ll be in the exact, perfect spot.”
“Perfect,” Ellie mumbled as she stepped up to take her place on Ross’s right. Well, it was his right side as long as he didn’t turn around and look toward the back of the church which, of course, he would at the wedding when Tori made her entrance. Then Ellie would turn, too, and be on his left. And when he and Tori faced Reverend Minks, Ellie would be on his right again. Weddings shouldn’t be confusing, she thought. And confused people shouldn’t be participating in them.
“Ellie?”
She realized with a start that Reverend Minks was talking to her.
“Uh, yes?”
“You’re on.”
She wished she’d been paying attention. “On what?”
“No, no.” The reverend shared his round-faced smile with the assembled parties. “It’s your turn.”
Was she supposed to turn? Was there something she was supposed to say? She looked to Ross for understanding, but he just stood there beside her, his hands clasped in front of him, looking at her with the same expectant expression as everyone else. “I didn’t think I had to do anything but stand here,” she said.
The bride and her bridesmaids giggled. “You have to keep my ring,” Tori said. “That’s the best man’s duty.”
Reverend Minks nodded a benevolent concurrence. “That’s right, Ellie. At this point in the ceremony, I’ll ask Ross if he has a ring for Tori as a token of his vows...like I just did. Then Ross will turn to you and ask for the ring...like he just did.”
“And unless you miss your cue, like you just did, everyone will live happily ever after,” Chrissy said, and the bridesmaids giggled again.
Ellie forced her eyes back to Ross. “Am I supposed to have Tori’s ring?” she asked.
He smiled, not a real smile, just a curving of the lips. She didn’t think anyone would recognize that, though, except her. “You’re the official keeper of the wedding band,” he said.
“Just Tori’s,” Chrissy was quick to add. “I’m the keeper of Ross’s Wedding ring.”
Ross patted the pockets of his sports coat, then pulled out a diamond-studded band that could have blinded the entire wedding party if the light had struck it just so. “Here.” He held it out to Ellie. “Now, you’ll have the ring and when I ask you for it, you can hand it over.”
Tori gasped. So did Chrissy. So did the other two attendants, blondes with big, blue eyes. On Ellie’s right, the other two groomsmen, Tori’s male cousins from Milwaukee, blinked. As if to be sure she had the last gasp, Tori gasped again and covered her eyes. “Ross! Put that back in your pocket and don’t let me see it!”
“Don’t let you see what?” Ross asked with a frown.
“The ring. The ring,” Tori whispered from behind her fingers. “I shouldn’t see my wedding ring before the ceremony.”
“For Pete’s sake, Tori. You picked it out. You’ve seen it a hundred times.”
“But it’s bad luck if I see it now.”
“It’s bad luck,” Chrissy repeated ominously.
The bridesmaids nodded. The groomsmen blinked. Ellie wondered how much bad luck it would be if the ring accidently fell into the air vent under Ross’s feet.
“You’re supposed to keep my wedding band close to your heart until just before the wedding,” Tori said.
“And if I don’t, it’s bad luck?” He sounded impatient, which Ellie thought was perfectly understandable.
“Bad luck,” Chrissy agreed.
“Bad luck,” Ross repeated with a weary sigh, his eyes finding Ellie’s, his expression saying he’d had a run of bad luck already. Or maybe he was just tired. Tense. Stressed. Maybe that’s all his expression was telling her.
He put the ring back in his pocket and his nota-real smile moved to Tori, became real again. Soft, affectionate, bemused. Ellie thought she might be sick. “Tori,” he said gently, as if she were a child who might not understand. “You know there can be no such thing as bad luck when it comes to you and me.”
“Ohh.” The bridesmaids sighed in unison, Tori uncovered her eyes and peeped up at him. And Ellie was sure she was going to throw up.
“Thank you,” Tori said and patted his pocket, checking, Ellie supposed, to make sure the ring was actually back where it belonged. “You’ll keep it next to your heart until Saturday?” Her smile flashed persuasively up at Ross. “Please? It will make me happy.”
He tapped her cute button nose. “Your happiness is all I live for.”
Ellie stuck her hands into her overall pockets and looked at the floor. She wasn’t feeling sick anymore. Just miserable.
“Let’s continue with the rehearsal, shall we?” Reverend Minks swept his hands through the air, his suggestion encompassing all participants and the observers—Tori’s button-nosed parents, Ross’s parents, Freda, Mrs. Minks, Mrs. Perkins and Melva Whiffington.
“Good idea,” Ross said. “Let’s wrap this up so we can eat.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Me, too.”
The other two groomsmen showed some animation, and Ellie decided they weren’t mannequins after all. Although it was a close call.
“You’ve been hungry ever since we arrived in Bachelor Falls.” Tori teasingly patted Ross’s belly and cut a conspiratorial smile to Ellie. “You must have whetted his appetite with all that popcorn you fed him his first night back.”
Ellie lifted her chin a
nd forced up the corners of her lips in response. “It’s just nerves,” she said and hated the possessive note she heard in her own voice. “He’ll be back to normal as soon as the wedding’s over.”
Ross met her eyes and her heart broke for the second time that day. He would be back to normal. And so would she. Just as soon as he married Tori and left Bachelor Falls for good.
“That’s it. I’m only eating popcorn and sweets and everything I can get my hands on because I’m nervous.” His eager tones made the statement an exaggeration and had everyone laughing with him. It was only Ellie who didn’t see the humor.
“Oh, Ross, you bad boy.” Tori rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t tell me you’ve been eating sweets, too. You know that just destroys my image of you.”
“You’re right. Who needs sweets with you around?” Ross kissed her cheek. The bridesmaids sighed. Reverend Minks looked on fondly. The groomsmen blinked. Ellie looked closely to make sure it was Ross standing there and not Brad Elston with his glib romanticism. But it was Ross, so she calculated the time she’d need to bake chocolate chip cookies and a few more of Ross’s favorite treats, and completely destroy his image before Saturday at six. But short of distributing the fat and calories in a reverse liposuction, there wasn’t much she could do.
“Now, then...” Reverend Minks guided them gently back to the rehearsal at hand. “After the exchange of rings, Ross and Tori, I’ll look over at Mrs. Perkins, like this—” he demonstrated the “look” “—and she will nod at Melva, who will stand and sing the selected hymn.” He smiled patiently at the organist and the vocalist, who were practicing nodding and standing on cue. . Melva Whiffington cleared her throat, but Reverend Minks was nobody’s fool. “We won’t take time to do the song now, Melva, thank you. I know you’ll do a beautiful job at the ceremony. Now, once the song is through, I will put my hands over your clasped hands, Ross and Tori, like this—” He put their hands together and laid his palm on top. “Then I will say a few words. Then I’ll smile, like this.” He demonstrated the smile. “And then I’ll say, ‘Ross, you may kiss your bride.’ And then, you’ll kiss Tori, like—” “This.” Ross was nobody’s fool, either, and he demonstrated the way he would kiss his bride.
A Bachelor Falls Page 13