6. Tessa
6
Tessa
A t ten minutes to six, Mama yells that I need to hurry up. I hate what I’m wearing. I’ve been rotating between the same four outfits for the past hour and at the moment, I have on a baby blue sundress with little white daisies on it. Nothing looks right together, my hair is a mess, and I’m pretending I don’t know what… or who …is causing this meltdown.
I sigh and give up. Ten minutes won’t make any difference. As I walk down the stairs, my parents go out the door in front of me.
“Are we not riding together?” I ask, skipping the rest of the way down.
“Not anymore,” Mama says, looking back with a grin.
“Not anymore?”
“Your dates are here.” Was that a pronounced S I heard?
“What?” I whisper-shout, skidding to the front door.
They’re on the porch steps. Through the glass, I can see my dad squeeze Shep’s shoulder as they say something to each other. Mama waves her hand in the air as she gets in the car and they back out of the driveway. Leaving me here to fend for myself. She loves doing this, creating these little opportunities for me to be in the same room with Beau. I bet she’s over the moon they’re both here.
I open the door with an eyebrow raised, crossing my arms over my chest. “What is this?” I motion with my fingers between them. “Where’s Peyton?”
Beau moves to sit on the porch swing and spreads out, throwing an arm over the back, eerily reminiscent of last night. His eyes scan down my body and he wants me to watch him do it. He smiles appreciatively and heat flares in my belly despite myself.
“I came to pick you up and he wouldn’t get out of the car.” Beau hooks a thumb at his brother.
“I don’t remember saying you could pick me up,” I say coolly.
“You didn’t tell me not to.”
Shep chuckles, leaning against the porch railing.
“Why are you laughing?” I ask. “I flat-out told you no.”
“Peyton went with Mom and Dad. She’ll meet us there. And because no one’s gonna believe you actually went to the fair with Beau. But they’ll definitely believe us .”
“Can we just go?” Beau interrupts. “Before she changes her mind.”
Shep pushes off the railing and takes my hand, pulling me away from the door and down the steps. “Come on,” he says. “It’ll be fun. Even if we have to bring him along.”
“Call it what you want, but I’m driving,” Beau says, happily arrogant as always.
He walks ahead of us to his Jeep and I steal a glance as he adjusts the ball cap on his head. His eyes dim with what looks like jealousy, but it’s gone again as he swings up into the driver’s seat.
I’ve already decided I’m going to try to be civil tonight, turn over a new leaf, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun at his expense. As Shep opens the door for me to climb in the back seat, I smile sweetly and stand on tiptoe to give him a quick peck on the cheek.
“Thanks,” I say, looking him right in the eyes.
I can see Beau watching us from the corner of my eye but he looks away quickly, running an annoyed hand over his mouth.
“No problem.” Shep smiles back, a conspiratorial glint in his dark eyes.
From the moment we walk into the fairgrounds, all eyes are on us. I scan the crowd to see too many people watching intently. Shock registers behind smiling eyes when they see Beau walking close enough to me to mean something. Barely concealed jealousy shows up on a few girls’ faces. I don’t like attention, but I can’t deny that it feels good to be seen with both of them. Like suddenly I’m the “it girl” and everyone wants to know my secret. When in reality, I’m just as confused as they are about what’s going on here.
We walk around for a bit, trying to find our families, who are sure to be somewhere together. As the guys walk side by side a little way ahead of me, talking and joking, I’m struck with the subtle differences between them.
Without that famous McAbee grin to tie them together, they really don’t look that much alike. Sure, they’re both fair-haired, but Shep’s coloring is a little darker. His hair is sandy, longer on the top than the sides. His smooth shaven jawline is enough to break hearts in itself. Shep is pretty boy handsome where Beau is more rugged. His face is similar, but more used to hiding his thoughts and emotions behind midnight blue eyes. Cool, calm Shep McAbee. The serious one.
Everything about Beau is thrown into contrast when they’re near each other. He hides nothing. Not his smiles or his laughter, everything is out in the open with him. One look into his ocean-blue eyes and you know everything he’s thinking. His hair is just long enough to really let his curls show and it’s bright and golden, like everything else about him.
Their bodies are different too. I’m much more aware now than I’ve ever been of Beau’s since the pond. Now that I’ve seen most of him, he’s broader than Shep. Shep’s all sleek muscles, with a baseball player’s natural grace. But it’s his arms that make a girl tingle. The veins stand out starkly anytime he moves his hands. The man could make opening a box of cereal a sexual activity.
Beau, on the other hand, is bigger and looks stronger. His body is packed with muscle everywhere, either from working in the orchard or playing football in college. I’ve seen him shirtless plenty through the summers, and while his abs are impressive, it’s the memory of his legs in those tiny, black briefs that makes me feel a little funny. I can still remember how they felt pressed to the front of my thighs.
We walk a little more, past rides and food vendors and the barn. Beau slows to walk beside me again without it looking intentional. You have to give it to him; he really is so smooth.He takes my hand, clearly not worrying, like me, what people will think. I want to let him hold it, try on this feeling for size. But nervous flutters in my belly have me removing my fingers as casually as he put his there. He doesn’t even glance my way.
We find our parents milling around with a group of their friends and thankfully, no one comments on who I arrived with, though I see a few eyes dart our way. Peyton sidles over to me when we come to the edge of the group. She smiles and it reminds me, as it always does, of how much they all look alike. Their whole family favors each other, but that McAbee grin is an exact copy, split into three, of their mother’s smile.
“Tessa, you look lovely!” Ella comes over to kiss my cheek and Beau promptly moves away from me, choosing to talk to his dad instead.
“So do you,” I tell her. And she truly does. She’s beautiful and blonde, taller than me, with effortless grace. She reminds me so much of Shep. I glance over at him, wondering what she thinks of me showing up with both her boys.
“Your mama said you were thinking of skipping the fair this year.” She grins.
“Is there anything you don’t tell each other?” I give her a pointed look and she laughs.
“I don’t think so. But I’m glad you came.”
“I’d bet they didn’t give her much of a choice,” Peyton says good-naturedly as she steps up beside me.
Beau butts in, leaning between them playfully. “You saw who she came with?”
“Yes, honey. She and Shep make a pretty cute couple, don’t they?”
I swear his face falls faster than a popped balloon. Suddenly, Ella’s my favorite person in the whole world. Peyton smirks and her mom winks at me.
I turn to him. “Don’t you think?”
He scrunches up his face, mocking me right back. This…this I can do.
We extricate ourselves from the parents and walk around for a while. Beau is always friendly, but I swear he’s talking to everyone we know. Peyton slips her arm through mine while we wait for him to finish talking to a few guys from high school.
“What plan are you hatching?” she asks, putting her chin on my shoulder.
“Why do you assume I am?”
“Because you walked in with Beau. Something’s going on.”
“Technically, I came with both of them.”
She gives me a look that tells me I’m full of shit. “You walked in with Beau .”
“Does it look like he’s showing me off?”
“No more than usual.”
“I feel like he’s doing it on purpose. Like he’s making sure everyone knows we came together.”
“Oh everyone knows. Don’t you worry about that.” She looks at me with the most mischievous smile on her face. “But you should have some alone time with your date.”
Peyton cackles as she runs ahead of us to jump on Shep’s back. He catches her easily and carries her piggyback farther through the grounds, leaving me behind with Beau. I can keep an eye on wherever they go because of Peyton’s red bodysuit. It stands out brightly against her light jean shorts in a sea of red, white, and blue clothing, but so does she.
She has common enough characteristics; blonde hair, blue eyes, tan skin, but something about her is striking. Her long, pin-straight hair hangs to her shoulder blades and she has a body to die for. Her pretty, tom-boy look attracts everyone’s attention, but she’s completely oblivious to it. She’s as humble about her looks as Beau is arrogant. I wonder, not for the first time, how three people who grew up in the same household can all be so very different.
When Beau lingers longer on purpose, making it clear I’m waiting for him, I decide time with my date is decidedly not what I want. I think he deserves to be messed with. Just a little.
We catch up with Peyton and Shep and I ask Shep to ride The Scrambler, knowing it’ll force him to press up against me. Beau stays with the new group he’s chatting with, but our eyes connect and I tease him with a smirk as he watches us walk away.
When we get off the ride, he’s waiting for us by the gate. We head over to get ice cream as the sun starts to set and he doesn’t even look riled. I guess I’ll have to try harder.
I purposefully order something other than rocky road, even though it’s my favorite, when Shep orders it too. When we sit down, I ask if his is good and if I can try a bite. He offers the cup and the spoon out to me, but I open my mouth slowly. Expectantly. Beau chokes on his ice cream and coughs, but Shep just smiles, knowing the game I’m playing. He takes a spoonful and places it chastely in my mouth. I wrap my lips around the spoon and hum, “Mmmmm.” Peyton just shakes her head. He’s looking a little more riled now.
Conversation between the four of us is easy, but stilted because we have to stop every so often to speak to someone. It’s not awkward, this triple-date I’m on. Beau and I still bicker back and forth with Peyton playing referee while Shep laughs at the three of us. It really is just like old times. As we weave through rides and stalls, my earlier anxiety feels silly. I know how to be around both of them. It’s just the label that freaked me out.
Later, after it’s fully dark and maybe one degree cooler, there’s dancing in the barn. I remind Shep I owe him a dance. We wait for a slow song and when I look around, I find Beau laughing with a few of our dads’ friends. He’s turned his hat around and my eyes get stuck on how his throat works when he laughs. You can’t grow up in the South and not find a boy with a backwards hat appealing. But the trick is not to let them see the way it affects you. I rip my gaze away before he notices, walking with Shep out into the middle of the floor. I wrap my arms around his neck and stare up into his amused, navy eyes.
“What?” I ask, making sure to smile for my intended audience.
“You’re killing him.” He grins, but his tone doesn’t match it.
“So?”
“It’s cruel. He’s following you around like a puppy, waiting for you to say good boy.”
“Because he was trying to show me off on purpose, like I was some prize he won.”
“Maybe that’s what you are to him.” His voice is low and serious, forcing me to own up to that twinge of guilt in my chest.
My eyes flash and I feign ignorance. “Oh please.”
“Can you cut him some slack? I love seeing him sweat, but I do still love my little brother. And he’s been on his best behavior tonight.”
I don’t answer for a long time because all I can see is Beau’s face when I kissed Shep’s cheek earlier. Then, finally, I nod.
“Fine.”
Beau hasn’t asked me to do anything. Not to ride any of the rides or get food with him. Nothing. He hasn’t intruded on this whatever-it-is-that-all-three-of-us-are-doing date at all. He’s joked and laughed like everything’s normal and it’s weird. Even our bickering has been good-natured. Since Shep’s scolding, I’ve been watching them both quietly and he’s right. Beau has acted like the perfect gentleman all night, except for the hand-holding.
We walk around for a while longer, but the fairgrounds have cleared out, little by little. I take Peyton’s arm as we walk through the muggy July air.