Unstoppable (A Country Roads Novel)

by Richard, Shannon

  “No, Mom. She isn’t picky at all and she’ll like whatever you make her.”

  “So things are going well between the two of you?” she asked as she went to the pantry and pulled out a canvas bag.

  “Things are going very well.” He leaned back against the counter and watched Jocelyn load up the bag with veggies.

  “Oh geez, you’re just like your father, a man of few words. Can I get a little bit more than that, please?”

  Bennett laughed at her obvious frustration before he conceded and gave his mother more information, but only a little bit. Really there were a lot of things he had to leave out, because he just wasn’t going to talk to his mother about his sex life.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Dinner with the Family

  Mel wasn’t sure why she was so damn nervous. She’d brought home guys to meet her parents before—not a lot, but there’d been a few. And she’d never felt as antsy or anxious as she did right at that moment.

  “You okay?” Bennett asked.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  He was watching the road, but he glanced at her for a second. “I can hear your mind turning all the way over here.”

  “I’m worried about my mother,” Mel told him.

  “Why?”

  “Because she tends to say what’s on her mind. And I have more than a small feeling she isn’t going to filter herself around you.”

  “So what’s in store for me tonight?”

  Our wedding plans, probably. “Uhhh,” Mel said, completely unsure of what to say.

  “Oh, come on. Just tell me. Wouldn’t you rather me be prepared than surprised?”

  “My mother thinks a lot of you—” Mel began.

  “Naturally.”

  Mel rolled her eyes at him. “She tends to make things into something before they become something. Or makes them bigger than they are. And this is new, and I’m really worried she’s going to say something to scare you off.”

  “Melanie,” he said seriously. He reached across the console to take her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. “There is nothing your mother is going to say that will scare me off.”

  “You say that now.”

  “I’m serious.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “I don’t scare of that easily.”

  “Really? Because I remember a certain teddy bear that freaked you out to the point of fleeing my house.”

  “Hey, that was different,” he said, sounding mildly offended, as he rested their still-joined hands on the console.

  “How?”

  “That was me freaking out about something that you’d done, not something that somebody else had done. But I’m cool as a cucumber these days—something you should be, as well.”

  “After tonight I’ll be fine.”

  Bennett cleared his throat. “About that. I stopped by my parents’ house today, and when I told my mom I was eating over here, she pretty much demanded we have dinner at their place sometime this week. So you free on Thursday?”

  “To have dinner with your parents?” she asked, surprised. “Um, yeah.”

  Why was that even more terrifying than dinner with her parents?

  Bennett let go of her hand as he pulled into her parents’ driveway and put his truck in Park. He turned it off and moved to look at her. It took him about a second to correctly read the plethora of emotions on her face.

  “Wasn’t one of the things on your list to not dwell?” he asked her.

  “It was to not dwell on things I can’t change.”

  “All right, well, we can’t change dinner tonight, and we can’t change dinner on Thursday, so stop overthinking it.”

  “I overthink everything.”

  “Not always.” He leaned across the console and came in very close to her face. “If I remember correctly, you were a little impulsive on Saturday.”

  “Saturday I was very impulsive.”

  “Well, just keep calm and think of Saturday,” he told her before he pressed his lips to hers.

  She might’ve moaned just a little bit when he nibbled on her lower lip. “That isn’t going to make me calm,” she whispered against his mouth.

  There was a tap on the window and Mel pulled away from Bennett. She turned around to find Hamilton on the other side, looking thoroughly disturbed.

  “Come on. Time to face the music.” Bennett got out of his side of the truck.

  Hamilton opened Mel’s door, his look of disgust not moving an inch as she got out. “You two need to get a room,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Shut up,” Mel said.

  “Ooooh, Ms. O’Bryan you just said shut up. I’m soooo telling.”

  Mel looked over Hamilton’s shoulder to find Nora Ross. Nora’s hands were perched on her hips and her lips were pursed together as she gave Mel a look of sheer mischief.

  The Rosses had moved in next door to the O’Bryans about ten years ago. Nora had been four and Hamilton had been five. They’d been best friends ever since.

  Nora had shoulder-length light brown hair and big green eyes. She was also a tiny little thing, just under five feet, and she’d be lucky if she cleared it in the next year or two. But even though Nora was short, she was going to be curvy, with a narrow waist and a chest that was already just a little bigger than Mel’s.

  She was stunning even at fourteen, and she was going to cause her parents more than a little heartache when she went to high school next year.

  The two families had always been very close. Nora’s aunt Beth had been Mel’s roommate for two years in college. And even though Beth was still living up in Tallahassee with her boyfriend, she and Mel still talked on a regular basis.

  “What are you doing over there, Miss Priss?” Mel asked putting her hands on her own hips.

  “Where else am I supposed to be?” Nora countered.

  “Over here giving me a hug.”

  “Oh, well, that I can do.” She dropped her hands and walked over to Mel, throwing her arms around Mel’s waist and squeezing tight.

  “How are you doing?”

  “Good,” Nora said, stepping back. “You haven’t been around a lot lately.”

  “That’s ’cause her new boyfriend is keeping her busy,” Hamilton said.

  “Hamilton, you’re going to get a girlfriend one day and you’re going to be falling all over yourself,” Bennett told him.

  “Kind of like you are?” Hamilton asked.

  “I’ve got no shame.”

  Mel turned and looked up at Bennett. Yup, cool as a cucumber. And he hadn’t even flinched when Hamilton had called him her boyfriend. And why that was such a big deal to her she had no idea. They were sleeping together, for goodness’ sake.

  “Anyways,” she said, turning back to Nora, “you coming to dinner at our house tonight?”

  “No. Mom and Dad are going out to dinner, so I have to watch the rug rats.”

  Colleen and Kevin Ross had waited a few years between their first and second kids. Nine years, to be exact. They’d had Grant five years ago, and then Penny had come along last year.

  They all talked for a couple more minutes before Nora headed home. Mel, Bennett, and Hamilton approached the O’Bryans’ front door. Mel took a fortifying breath before they walked inside.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Bennett whispered into her ear.

  “You say that now.”

  They walked through the living room toward the kitchen. Mel’s mother was putting the meat loaf on the dining room table and her father was looking in a drawer.

  “I can’t find those salad things,” Miles said as he pushed all manner of kitchen utensils around.

  “That’s because they’re not in the drawer by the stove, darling.”

  Miles straightened and looked at his wife. “Well, then, where are they?”

  “In the drawer by the fridge.”

  “Because you keep lettuce in the fridge and not in the stove?” he asked jokingly.

  She turned to him, pu
tting her hands on her hips. “Exactly,” she said.

  “I’ll leave you to your kitchen logic.”

  “As it should be,” Corinne said. She turned and saw Mel, Bennett, and Hamilton standing on the other side of the kitchen, and her face broke out into a huge smile. “Right on time.” She crossed the room and hugged Mel, kissing her on the cheek before she let go and pulled Bennett into a hug. “I’m so glad you could come.” She put her hands on Bennett’s shoulders. “I’m so glad you and Mel are finally dating. She’s always so shy when it comes to guys.”

  “Thank you, Mother.” Mel’s face was already starting to turn red.

  “What? You are. You have to take some initiative with men. I did with your father.”

  “Hey,” Miles said. “I resent that. I took plenty of initiative.”

  “Only after I got his attention. He had his nose shoved so far in those books of his that he was sneezing ink.”

  “All right, Mother, how about we start dinner now. Do you need any help?”

  “No. Let me just get the wine.”

  “Oh, I brought some.” Bennett held up the bottle.

  “Well, aren’t you thoughtful.” Corinne beamed at him as she took the bottle and went to open it.

  “I think my mom might have a crush on you,” Hamilton said to Bennett under his breath.

  Bennett laughed.

  “He’s serious,” Miles said.

  “Why don’t you guys go sit down?” Corinne made a shooing motion toward the table as she opened a drawer looking for the corkscrew. “And I heard that.”

  “Teacher ears are intense,” Hamilton said to Bennett. “Between my sister and my mother, I get away with absolutely nothing.”

  Bennett shook his head. “Tough break, pal.”

  “Yup.”

  “So how you doing, Bennett?” Miles asked as he held out his hand.

  “Doing pretty good these days.” Bennett nodded toward Mel as he shook Miles’s hand. “How could I not be when I’ve been spending so much time with your daughter?”

  “That’s what I like to hear.”

  Miles ushered the group to the table as Corinne came back with the bottle of wine in one hand and the bowl of salad in the other. Bennett and Mel went to the opposite side of the table, and he pulled out the chair for her.

  “Thoughtful and a gentleman,” Corinne said.

  “Oh geez,” Hamilton mumbled as he sat down.

  “You could take some notes,” Corinne said to her son as she poured the wine.

  “Who am I trying to impress?”

  “Well, there’s Nora,” Miles said.

  Hamilton frowned at his father. “We’re just friends. Always have been, always will be.”

  “We’ll just see about that.” Mel grinned at her little brother. She’d always secretly wanted Nora to wind up with Hamilton, but either both kids were oblivious or they really were just friends. Either way, Mel wasn’t giving up hope yet.

  “Shut up.” Hamilton stuck his tongue out at Mel.

  Mel stuck hers out at him. “You just wait. You’re going to wake up one day and have feelings for her and not know what happened.”

  Out of the corner of her eye she caught Bennett looking at her. He was wearing a bemused expression.

  “Everyone start serving yourselves,” Corinne said, indicating the table filled with food and effectively pulling Mel’s gaze away from Bennett. “So, tell us how the project is going.” She lifted the lid off the container of potatoes and dished a little out onto her plate.

  “What, are my daily updates not sufficient enough?” Hamilton asked.

  “You’re only in one class. I want to hear about all of them.”

  “Yeah, and whenever she bombards me with questions they’re always about the two of you.” Hamilton waved his fork in the air between Mel and Bennett. “I’ve had more to report back lately.”

  “Oh geez.” Mel closed her eyes.

  “What? I’m just curious. My daughter refuses to tell me anything,” she said to Bennett. “I’ve had to resort to other means.”

  “The project is coming along real nice,” Bennett said as he helped himself to a slice of meat loaf. “We’re right on schedule, and we should be finished by the end of the semester.”

  “Well, that’s promising,” Miles said as he passed the salad bowl to Hamilton.

  “Yeah, we just need to raise the last little bit of money. But I think we’ll be good. We’ve gotten a lot for the mud run that’s this weekend, and the last little bit should be secured with the auction at the fall festival,” Mel told them.

  “And how are all of the kids responding? Are you getting them excited?” Corinne asked.

  “I think so,” Mel said as she put a dab of potatoes on her meat loaf and took a bite.

  “There’re actually quite a few who are coming in on Wednesday afternoons to work on other projects. It’s a real shame they dropped the wood shop class. I think a lot of kids could benefit from it. I know I did when I was in school. If it hadn’t been for that class I wouldn’t be in the profession I’m in now. And it really helped me when I was in the air force.”

  “It’s all because of that horrible man, Keith Reynolds. I’m so glad he’s gone,” Corinne said more than a little angrily.

  “Mom hated him,” Hamilton said.

  “I did not hate him,” Corinne explained to Bennett. “I just despised him with every fiber of my being.”

  Truer words could not be spoken. Corinne wasn’t exactly the most forgiving of people, and Keith Reynolds had never done anything to be even remotely redeemable. Ever.

  “Knowing the little I do about the man, I find that to be completely justifiable,” Bennett said.

  “Well, maybe the new superintendent will see how the class benefits the kids and bring it back,” Miles suggested.

  “I hope so. I can already see a noticeable difference in some of the kids, especially Dale Rigels. I think it really brings something out in him.” Mel reached for her wineglass and took a healthy drink before she dived back in to her mashed potatoes.

  “Yeah, he isn’t as bad as I thought he was going to be. I was real pissed when you put him in my group.”

  “Hamilton, language,” Corinne snapped.

  “Ticked! I was ticked when you put him in my group.”

  “Believe me, that didn’t escape my notice. I thought you could be a good influence on him. He needs some better friends.”

  “No kidding,” Hamilton said, nodding.

  “It couldn’t have been easy losing his dad. I know his mother Virginia has been having a really tough time,” Corinne said.

  “Maybe he’d like to work out with us,” Hamilton said to Bennett.

  “Maybe. You want to invite him?”

  “Work out?” Corinne looked between Hamilton and Bennett.

  “I told Hamilton I’d show him how to work out if he wanted to bulk up.”

  “Bennett thinks I’m too scrawny for my own good.”

  “Well, this will be interesting,” Miles said with a chuckle.

  “Hey, are you doubting me? ’Cause I can do this.”

  “I’m not saying you can’t. I just said it was going to be interesting.”

  “I was small like Hamilton when I was his age. Well, maybe just a tad bit bigger.” Bennett grinned. “I think he’s got just enough fire in him.”

  “As soon as you say the word I’m ready to start,” Hamilton said seriously.

  “Wednesday after school. We can start at three after everyone leaves, and you can invite Dale. I think it’s a really good idea. If he decides to come, tell him we’ll be running.”

  * * *

  Dinner with Mel’s family was a breeze. Hamilton was hilarious, and Miles was very laid-back and easy to talk to. Sure Corinne seemed to say whatever she was thinking, but Bennett was used to that with his own mother. He could handle strong-willed women, and though Mel wasn’t one to always voice her opinions, she was pretty strong-willed in her own right. He just di
dn’t think she knew how strong she was.

  When Bennett pulled up into Mel’s driveway he parked next to her car and turned his truck off. He turned to her as he put his hand on the back of her headrest.

  “So, do you want to come in?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

  “For coffee?” he asked, twisting a curl around his finger.

  “Sure.” She glanced at her watch. “In about eight hours.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said with a grin.

  They were in her house about two minutes later, and about five minutes after that they were in her bed.

  * * *

  Bennett was more than a little pleased to see Dale show up with Hamilton at three on Wednesday. Both of them were wearing gym shorts, T-shirts, and sneakers, though Dale’s looked a little bit more worn out than Bennett would’ve liked.

  “You two ready?” Bennett asked as he threw his gym bag into the backseat of his truck and shut the door.

  “Yup,” Hamilton said.

  Dale just shrugged.

  “Then let’s go.” Bennett led them over to the track that ran around the football field.

  They did stretches until Bennett thought they were loosened up enough to hit the pavement. He didn’t push himself as hard as he normally did, wanting the kids to keep up with him, and they did for about half an hour until Dale fell back, breathing hard.

  Bennett stopped and turned around. Hamilton was pretty short of breath and red in the face.

  “You two gone about as far as you think you can?”

  Both of them nodded.

  “Let’s go cool it down, then,” Bennett said.

  They walked onto the field and stretched out again. When they finished, Dale fell back on the grass and looked up at the sky. “You’re brutal, man,” he said as he threw his arm over his eyes.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet, buddy,” Bennett said from his position on the grass. He stretched his legs out in front of him and watched the two kids recover.

  “Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard for you if you stopped smoking weed,” Hamilton said as he grabbed their water bottles.