4. Gabe
4
GABE
I’m sitting in King’s living room with my brothers and my sisters-in-law. My eyes keep going to the door, waiting for Chrissy to get here. Did she decide to skip dinner and go straight to her date? Did she tell me the wrong day to throw me off?
I’m getting tenser the longer I sit here, so I stand up and move to the big bay windows to look out. There’s no sign of Chrissy’s car, and I turn away with a huff. Where the hell is she?
Haven comes toward me with a tray, and I take it from her. “You shouldn’t be serving us, Haven. You just made me an uncle again.” I say again because even though Cole is not blood related to me, when his mom married my brother, he became my nephew .
She puts her hand on my arm. “I swear between you, King, and the rest of them, I haven’t had to lift a finger.”
I walk with her over to an empty chair. “And that’s how it should be. Have a seat. I’ll serve.” I lean down to show her the tray. “Want one?”
She grabs a cracker with cheese off the tray and whispers, “Chrissy is coming. She said she’s running a few minutes late.”
I don’t even act like I wasn’t wondering about her because I’m so happy to know she’s still coming. Maybe I can talk some sense into her.
I nod to Haven and then move around the room, holding the tray out. When the front door opens, I stand straight up and hold my breath, waiting to see Chrissy.
She walks through the door wearing a tight dress that hugs the curves of her body. She’s smiling ear to ear as she kicks off her high heels. “Where’s my girl at?”
I set the tray on the nearest table and am about to walk toward her when King beats me to it. He’s holding Macy against his chest and puts one arm around Chrissy. “Is this the girl you’re talking about? ”
She smiles ear to ear. “That’s her. Gimme, gimme.”
King kisses the top of Macy’s head and gently lays her in Chrissy’s arms. “Oh, she’s so perfect. I wouldn’t get anything done because all I want to do is stare at her. She’s perfect.”
I put my hand to my chest because I know exactly how she’s feeling. I’m perfectly content just staring at Chrissy. Holden comes up to me and elbows me in the stomach. “Close your mouth, bro. Remember, she’s still our sister.”
I groan. “She’s not my sister.”
He nods. “Yeah, but she’s like one to me, so quit looking at her like you want to undress her.”
Haven stands up and announces, “All right, everyone’s here, let’s eat.”
Everyone hugs Chrissy as they pass her, and when I’m about to reach her, she turns and walks with the baby into the dining room. She’s going to try and avoid me, but she has to know by now that’s not going to work.
She sits down between Cat and Haven, leaving me to sit across the table from her. She may try to ignore me, but she’s going to have to look at me while she does it .
She holds the baby through dinner, and you’d think she’s a pro by the way she’s able to eat and coo at the baby at the same time. There’s something stirring inside me, seeing her like this, and it’s taking everything I have to stay on my side of the table.
Dessert is about to be served, and I can tell that Chrissy is getting antsy, meaning she’s about to leave, but before she does, King stands up. “I have a surprise for everyone.”
We all raise our heads to look at him, and he’s smiling ear to ear. He points to a television in the corner of the room, and it’s not the usual décor, so it’s obvious it was brought in for a reason. We all turn to look at the black screen. King is standing next to us, and we hear ringing and then all of a sudden, our brother Ledger’s face appears on the television screen.
We all gasp, and everyone gets up from their seats to move closer. King is holding his phone up at us so Ledger can see us, and he must be airplaying it to the television. Everyone starts talking at once, and Ledger laughs. “Hey everybody! Let me see her.”
We all know who he’s talking about, so Chrissy stands up and moves closer to King’s phone. “Uncle Ledger, this is your niece, Macy. ”
He’s smiling ear to ear. “Oh my, she’s beautiful. She definitely takes after her momma.” He searches out Haven in the room. “Hey little Momma, how you doing? My brother taking care of you?”
She nods. “You know he is. How about you, Ledger? You doing okay?”
He nods, and this time his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m doing good.” He looks around the room. “Wow, it looks like the family has grown since I’ve left. I need to get back more.”
“Next year, right?” Chrissy asks. “You’re getting out next year?”
Ledger went into the military when he turned eighteen, but he’s remained close to all of us. Any time he gets leave, he spends it here in Whiskey Run with us. We’re all ready for him to come home permanently.
“Yep, I should be home in June.” He looks at Chrissy. “Where you going all dressed up, little sister?”
King turns the camera to himself and grimaces. “She has a date.”
“A date? You boys keeping tabs on that?”
Chrissy throws her hands up. “Guys, I’m thirty-three years old. We can stop with the big brother overprotectiveness. ”
Ledger leans into the phone. “You may be thirty-three, Chrissy, but to me you’re always going to be the little sister that begged not to be adopted because you wanted to stay with our sorry asses, so now you’re stuck with us. Gabe!” he calls out, searching the room for me. “You on this?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Yeah, Ledger. You want me to vet the guy, I’m on it.”
Chrissy turns to me and groans as she gives me a look that says, you traitor .
I just smile at her. “Don’t worry, Ledger. I’ll take care of it.”
The conversation goes on with everyone taking a turn to talk to Ledger, and later when he hangs up there is a silence in the room that wasn’t there before.
King stands at the table. “It will be a year, guys. Less than a year if all the paperwork goes through. Then we’ll have the whole family back together.”
Everyone nods in agreement. We were all happy to see him, but also it serves as a reminder of what he’s doing. He’s served our country for the majority of his life, and we want him home with us.
They are about to serve dessert when Chrissy hands the baby to Haven. “I hate to eat and run, but I need to go. ”
Haven is smiling ear to ear. “Have fun tonight. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I growl, literally out loud and move to my feet. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
Chrissy walks around the room, hugging everyone, and then I follow her to the front door as she slides her feet into her heels. She’s huffing at me. “You really don’t need to walk me out.”
“We need to talk.”
I put my hand at her waist and guide her out the door. We’re silent until we get to her car, and I stand against the door, blocking her from getting in. She huffs and crosses her arms across her chest, pushing her breasts up, exposing more of her cleavage. I drag my eyes off her exposed skin and look into her eyes, hoping she tells me no. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
She opens her mouth and then closes it again. She shrugs. “Why shouldn’t I? Like, do you have a reason why I shouldn’t go on a date?”
Because you belong to me . That’s what I want to say. No, to hell with that, I want to scream it. I want to take out a billboard right in downtown Whiskey Run and tell the whole damn town that Chrissy Aiken is mine… but I know I can’t do that. “I can think of at least twenty reasons why you shouldn’t go on this date, but I’m not going to try and stop you.” I suck in a breath and blow it out. “I won’t stand in your way.”
She reaches for the door, but I’m still blocking it. She laughs. “But you are standing in my way. I’m already going to be late, Gabe.”
Reluctantly, I step to the side and open the door for her. She sits down, and I lean down to look at her. “Call me if you need anything. You got your phone? What about the mace I got you?”
“I have it.” She starts the car, puts on her seat belt, and then looks up at me again. “Are you going to show up at the Whistler?”
“Some of the guys were going to meet up there later.” I hold my hands up. “I won’t interfere. But I’ll be close if you need me.”
“Gabriel.” She huffs in frustration.
I stand up and back away. “I promise. I won’t mess with your date.”
She laughs, and it makes me thankful that she at least finds the humor in it. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“Drive safe, Chrissy. See you soon.” With that, I shut the door and stand in the driveway and watch her back out .
It gets harder and harder to watch her walk away from me. I can’t keep this up. Somehow, someway, I need to find a way for Chrissy and me to be together.