Chapter 7 #2
Dad’s bushy brows lifted high. “Oh my. There’s a story there.”
Autumn patted my chest. “Vegas. What can I say? My friends and I stayed at the casino he works at and the rest is history.”
His grin remained in place. “When did this happen?”
Autumn stiffened. I was trying to figure out how best to answer, or if I should worry since Dad seemed fully on board, when she answered, “It’s our one-day anniversary.”
This time I got the satisfaction of his shock. When he slid his almost-knowing look my way, I wanted to pack up my wife and leave. “I don’t need to ponder good decisions,” I said almost defensively.
She tilted her face up toward me. Instead of wondering what kind of look she was giving me, I tightened my arm around her, dipped my head, and pressed a kiss to her mouth.
I caught her gasp and kept the kiss chaste when all I wanted to do was turn her fully into me and devour that sweet mouth. When I straightened, Dad was watching us, a wistful gleam in his eye that I immediately resented.
A small slice of empathy cut through the negative emotion.
I’d been married a day, but Autumn was a real person.
I knew she slept like she’d be out for days.
I knew that her eyes rolled back when she liked the flavor of something.
I knew she had a cat and a cozy house, the first place to make me think there really were homes out there where people could be happy.
I knew she took the advice “dress for the job you want” seriously.
If something happened to her, I’d be sad. I’d mourn. Dad had lost his partner. The love of his life. But he’d also been a dad. And he’d failed me terribly.
“Tomorrow night, then?” He rubbed his hands together. His knuckles were knobbier than they used to be. His shoulders a little more stooped. But his eyes were clear. Bright and lucid. “Is that too soon?”
“Tomorrow.” Better to get it over with, but also, I had to know if Dad could maintain this version of himself for more than a day.
Perhaps we’d caught him between binges. It had been years since he’d claimed to start his sobriety journey, but I had doubts.
Many of them remained. It’d take more than a ten-minute chat to banish them.
He winked at me. “You gonna talk it over with your wife, Giddy?”
“Don’t call me Giddy, Hank,” I growled.
He laughed, oblivious to my hatred of Mom’s nickname out of his mouth. “Sorry, boy.”
I cringed harder. Boy. His rampages went through my head.
Autumn rubbed my back again.
“Tomorrow,” he repeated. “Invite your family, Autumn.”
“Yes, of course.” She rested her hand between my shoulder blades. “I don’t want to come off as rude, but I want to make sure you know what you’re getting into. I have a big family. Just how many do you want to invite?”
“All of them.” He waved both hands in the air like he was shooing away a raccoon. “Don’t worry about space. I’ve got nothing to hide and it’s all going to be the Baileys’ soon.”
I jerked like his words were electricity. Wasn’t he starting to reconsider? I’d shown up with a wife. If this farce of a marriage didn’t work to win him over and get my mom’s land in my name, then I’d never forgive Dad. And there’d be nothing left in Bourbon Canyon that meant a damn thing to me.
Autumn’s gaze caressed over my face, and one simple question lingered in my head.
Are you sure there’d be nothing in this town that matters to you?
Autumn
As we were leaving the James ranch, my phone continued to buzz with messages from my friends checking on me. I kept telling them I was fine and that I was home already. Maybe they wanted to hear me say I forgave them, but my brain’s realty was taken up by the man next to me.
I was about to turn my phone off when it rang. Scarlett’s name popped up on the screen.
Shit.
Scarlett was Tate’s wife. She was a fourth-grade teacher at the elementary school, so my fellow travelers were also her friends and coworkers.
What had they told her?
Gideon glanced at me. My stomach did the same little wiggle it had the first time he’d gotten behind the wheel of my vehicle. I was a passenger princess, and it was a nice change.
“My sister-in-law,” I explained. The phone stopped, then started again. “Tate’s wife.”
His gaze went back to the road. “No time like the present.”
“I have to invite them to dinner tomorrow, after all.” My chuckle was a nervous chime.
I hadn’t been too worried about telling the news to Hank James.
He’d been nothing but friendly around town, and whenever I had seen him, he’d been helping at a fundraising benefit or with some other town project that needed an extra pair of hands.
Hank James liked my family, and I’d expected him to worry more about his son’s intentions. He had to know I was not Gideon’s type.
It was my family that could tank everything.
I squared my shoulders. I was an adult, and I could make my own decisions. “Hello?”
“Oh my god, Autumn,” Scarlett said on a sigh of relief. “Everyone is so worried about you. Are you okay? Where are you?”
I wasn’t ready for any of her questions. I needed more time, but things were moving at lightning speed. “I’m in town, actually.”
Another relieved exhale. “You’re at your house?”
“We stopped in, but then we—”
“We?”
“Yeah, um . . .”
“Did you come home early for Mark?”
I almost asked her who, but right. Mark. “No, not Mark.”
Gideon’s hands clenched the wheel. He did not like Mark. I couldn’t say I was bothered by his reaction after seeing Taya.
“Did you meet someone on your trip?” Her question was full of interest and concern.
“Yes, but he’s from here actually.”
“Autumn,” Tate broke in.
The acid in my stomach roiled. I wasn’t ready to face my family. “Am I on speaker?”
“You weren’t.” Scarlett’s tone was disgruntled. “My husband seems to have forgotten his manners.”
“Who is it?” Tate demanded.
My heart clawed into my throat. “Tate, listen—”
“The girls told Scarlett you stayed at Silver. What were you thinking?”
The back of my neck grew hot. My brother was speaking loud enough for Gideon to hear. “That I don’t need your permission.”
“Who is it?”
My brother wasn’t a dumb man. He’d been in charge of Copper Summit until Daddy had gotten cancer and couldn’t run the Bourbon Canyon distillery or keep up with the ranch.
Tate had left Copper Summit’s Bozeman distillery and taken over the ranch, but he still thought he was boss of everything, just like he had when my sisters and I had first arrived at the Baileys’.
“Tate—”
“Autumn, you’re stalling. I know I won’t like the answer. Tell me it’s a big damn coincidence, and you reconnected with a guy like Layton Kramer.”
“My senior prom date?” My volume pitched up. Gideon’s head snapped toward me, but he had to focus back on the road. When his gaze was off me, so was his heat, but I was hot enough with Tate’s interference. “He kissed another girl in the janitor’s closet while I was in the bathroom.”
Gideon’s knuckles turned white on the wheel. Was he annoyed with my story, that I was delaying, or was he righteously upset on behalf of an eighteen-year-old Autumn who’d thought Layton could’ve been the one?
“You know what I mean,” Tate said.
I huffed out a breath. I was done with this conversation. “Well, I’m not telling you over the phone. Goodbye, Tate. Sorry, Scarlett.”
I hung up just as Scarlett’s “I’m so sorry” filtered through.
I puffed a hunk of hair out of my face. I stuffed my phone into the glove compartment.
“That wasn’t telling them,” Gideon said evenly. “But nice power move.”
I laughed, releasing anxious energy. Was I glowing too?
Gideon had complimented me. Sure, it wasn’t my looks, but I’d take power move in a heartbeat.
My brothers often saw that little girl still getting over the injuries she’d gotten in the accident that had claimed her parents’ lives.
“Thanks. But be prepared for company when we get home.”
He slid his dark gaze in my direction again.
. . . when we get home.
I liked the way that sounded. Was he unnerved?
Several minutes later, we were walking into the house. I left my phone in the car.
I trudged to the kitchen. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
I glanced over my shoulder, but he was on his phone. So, not one of those innuendo answers. He was legitimately starving. For food.
How bad was it that I was jealous of the phone held loosely in his big hand while he rhythmically stroked the screen with his thumb?
I might have this man’s baby. Which meant we’d have to . . .
A shiver worked its way under my skin. I busied myself with looking in the freezer and the fridge. Gideon stayed where he was, his attention on his phone. I tried not to be disappointed. Maybe it was a good thing that I had regular reminders that this was the equivalent of a business deal.
Back to fixing an early dinner.
The trip had been three days, and I’d planned to get groceries on my way into town after the flight. That was before I’d gotten married and brought a man home.
I had hamburger. There was pasta in the cupboard. I could throw together—
Someone pounded on the front door. Hard.
I whirled around. Smugness infused Gideon’s gaze and he tucked his phone into his back pocket. “Ready, wife?”