Chapter 8 #2
“No. He was killed in a skiing accident over on LakeFoster three years ago.”
“Ouch, I’d say,”
Avery said and winced. No one had bothered to tell him that story, and it explained a lot.
“Yeah. Ouch for sure.”
Her eyes were sad. “Landon and I were high school sweethearts. He was a Tucker. You know, the Tuckers that TuckerCity’s named for. I thought we were set for life, getting married, planning to buy a house and have babies, and he had a degree in agricultural sciences too. We were going to farm this place together, grow soybeans and corn and sorghum and winter wheat, maybe even cotton. First we found out Landon was sterile, and then he died, and then when GrandpaSirus did what he did, that pretty much pushed me over the edge, and I’m sorry for that. Every dream I’d ever had was dust. It was like my whole life had been wasted on something that would never happen. Before that…”
Her voice trailed off and she seemed to be shutting down in front of his eyes. When she finally spoke, she said, “I was made fun of the entire time I was growing up because I was so small. The bigger kids bullied me and beat me up every time they got the chance. Then I got involved with a guy who knocked me around, and I didn’t think I deserved any better.”
That shocked Avery. “Why?”
“When my brother was little, he got hit by a car while he was riding his bike. He almost died. My parents were so worried about him that they kind of ignored me for several years. I was lonely and afraid, and too young to understand that they were just scared because they’d almost lost him. I really thought they loved him more than me. I got involved in the agriculture department and spent a lot of time out here because I felt at peace. There was no one to pick on me or ignore me except Great-Grandpa Sirus, and he didn’t give a shit about me. He just let me do my thing and left me alone. But when he killed my rabbits, well, that was it for me. I decided I wanted this farm and I wanted to show them all that I was smart and hard-working enough to make a career of it.”
A tear had rolled down her cheek, and Avery reached over to thumb it away. “Landon came along and made me think all of it was possible. And then he was taken away from me. I thought I’d get it back when Sirus died, but when you showed up, everything in my world went to hell again.”
“I’m sorry,”
Avery said softly. “I wish you’d told me all this early on. I would’ve tried to be much kinder to you. I feel like an ass,” he added.
“Well, if it’s any consolation, I can tell you that I kept thinking, ‘He must be a really good guy or he would’ve shot me by now,’”
she said and giggled.
“Don’t think it didn’t cross my mind! Only thing that saved you is, well, you’re beautiful, but I didn’t think your head would look all that great stuffed, mounted, and hung over my fireplace,”
he said with a chuckle.
“Yeah, with that snarl on my face,”
she barely managed to say from laughing so hard.
“Yeah, that snarl would’ve run off all my visitors.”
“Oh! Danette! Should we check on her?”
Lydia asked, glancing back toward the house.
Avery nodded. “Yeah. Probably. Let’s go see about her, maybe get something to eat. If we can get her settled down, maybe she’ll go home. But she brought her bag to stay the night, I noticed, so I may be stuck with her.”
Lydia shrugged. “We’ve gotten this far. We can hang in there a little while longer, I think.”
Avery leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I’m sure we can. But I don’t want to have to just hang in there.”
He stood and offered her his hand. “Come on―let’s go check on the dying princess in there.”
She let him pull her up and then wrapped her arms around his waist. “I love you, Avery. I don’t care if you can’t say it back.”
“I don’t have a problem with that. I love you too, Lydia Simone Kinsey.”
“How’d you know my middle name?”
she barked.
“I know all kinds of things. I’m just full of surprises,”
he laughed and hugged her tight.
She laughed back, “You sure are!”
* * *
“I’m so sorry, man. If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.”
Greg’s voice was weak and he sounded completely broken. “There’s nothing. I tried to think of anything I can do to change it all, but there’s nothing. My sister’s husband is disabled and she’s got a bad back. There’s no one else to take care of them, so I’m moving them up there closer to her in Arkansas and I’m going too. She can at least sit with them during the day while I work, and then I’ll be there with them the rest of the time.”
Avery shook his head even though Greg couldn’t see him through the phone. “But that’s no kind of life for you. You deserve a life too.”
“I wish I could get on board with that, but they’re my parents, you know? I have to take care of them. I don’t know what else to do.”
Avery didn’t want to ask, but he was pretty sure Greg was in tears. “And I can’t ask Danette to give up everything and move with me. She’s got her company, and she’s worked all her life to put that together. Asking her to give it up would be wrong, especially since we haven’t been together all that long.”
“I understand.”
The phone was silent for a few minutes before Greg said, his voice weak and small, “Please take care of her. I just, well, I don’t know what else to do, but I love her, Avery. I really do. And this is killing me.”
Avery’s heart was breaking. He’d always believed where there was a will, there was a way, but this seemed like an impossible situation. It was grossly unfair, and yet he understood Greg’s position. “I will, I promise. Danette’s my friend. I’ll do whatever I can to help her. Lydia will too.”
“Thanks.”
There was some noise in the background and Greg said, “It’s time for me to help my mom with her bath. I’ve gotta go. Take care, Avery. And please, take care of Danette.”
“Consider it done. Call if I can help.”
“Thanks. But nobody can help me now. Bye.”
The phone went dead and Avery was left standing there, holding it and staring at it. Poor Greg. There was nothing anyone could do to help him.
He opened the back door and went inside to find that the pizza guy had been there and brought their dinner.
Lydia and Danette had ordered, and there was more than enough to go around, plus cheesy bread and some kind of brownie bites.
Avery and Lydia talked throughout dinner with Danette only offering one-syllable responses and, for the most part, just picking at one piece of pizza the whole time and saying pretty much nothing.
She hadn’t even eaten half of that piece when she announced, “You know what? I’m exhausted. I think I’m going to bed.”
“You sure?”
Lydia asked.
“Yeah. I’ll see y’all in the morning,”
Danette told them, rising slowly and practically pulling herself up the stairs.
“I’ll come up in a few to tell you goodnight,”
Avery called after her.
“Okay,”
was the weary response that drifted down to them.
The gentle click of the door closing on the spare bedroom was all they heard, and everything went silent. They’d sat like that for a minute or so when Lydia said, “That’s all so horrible. What did Greg say?”
“He feels completely helpless. There’s nothing he can do. He’s trapped. They’re his parents, and he feels responsible for them, which I suppose he should. But it’s costing him a relationship that’s important to him. I mean, I know they haven’t been together all that long, but he really loves Danette.”
Lydia grimaced. “Is she in love with him?”
“She said she didn’t know, but I think she is. If she isn’t, it’s the strongest case of ‘like’ I’ve ever seen. And he says he can’t ask her to give up her company and come there with him, and I can definitely agree with that.”
“Where are we talking about?”
Lydia asked.
“Southwest Arkansas.”
She shook her head. “Ick.”
“Yeah. Even though it’s not that far, it would still be a big adjustment for her,”
Avery said, pulling another piece of pizza out of a box.
“So she said, ‘See y’all in the morning.’ I suppose she thinks I’m staying the night,”
Lydia said, grinning around her pizza.
“Do you want to stay the night?”
Avery asked, his hazel eyes sparkling with mischief.
“I do, but not when she’s here. I want that to be something that we… well, we’re alone and have plenty of time to… you know,”
she said, blushing.
Avery chuckled. “Yeah, I know. The first time we spend the night together, I don’t want to have to be all quiet and everything because there’s somebody across the hall.”
“Exactly.”
They both fell silent. Another piece of pizza later, Lydia grinned. “I guess I’m a hopeless romantic, but I’d love to wake up in your arms.”
Avery’s smile was wide when he said, “I’d love nothing better than to wake up with you in my arms. I mean, I suppose that could happen, but unless we want to be super careful, that’s all we could do, just sleep.”
Lydia snickered. “Could you even do that?”
Avery drew back and scowled at her. “Well, yes. I most certainly could. I’m not some kind of animal. I do have some self-control.”
When she gave him a sideways glance, he said, “Well, okay, not a lot, but enough!”
That made her laugh. “What? What’s so funny?”
“You! You’re so silly. ‘I’m not some kind of animal.’ And I’m supposed to believe that?”
she scoffed.
“Well, I’m not! You can ask Danette. The second time we were together, all we did was sleep.”
Lydia’s eyes went wide. “Oh? And what about the first time you were, um, ‘together’?”
she asked.
“The truth?”
“No. Lie to me. Of course, the truth,”
she snapped.
“The first time I banged the hell out of her.”
Lydia’s eyes went wide. “You slept with Danette?”
Avery nodded. “You wanted the truth, and there it is. The first time, I fucked Danette. Actually, it was more like she fucked me. Or we fucked each other. Oh, hell, it doesn’t matter. Point is, the first time I barely knew her. And after that, I got to know her better and I didn’t want that for her. I wanted her to have someone who respected her and treated her like a lady. And that wasn’t me. It was too late for that. But I could still be her friend.”
He could tell Lydia didn’t know whether to believe him or not. “So you’re not attracted to her?”
“Not like that, no. I wasn’t to start with. She’s the one who pushed for it. Afterward, I really felt bad, like I’d been a real bastard. So when she started in the second time, I just told her I didn’t want that for her.”
Lydia shook her head as she looked away. “Do you know how uncomfortable I feel now, knowing there’s a woman sleeping upstairs and you had sex with her at some point?”
“You shouldn’t. I just told you the truth about everything that took place between Danette and me. I could’ve lied to you, but I didn’t.”
Avery sat for a second. “Yeah, I can see how you might feel uncomfortable, but just like with what took place between you and me, that’s all in the past. Danette is my friend, nothing more. She’s more like, I don’t know, a little sister or something.”
“A little sister you fucked,”
Lydia was quick to point out.
“I told you, I didn’t know her then, not really. But you can ask her. Everything I just told you is true.”
Lydia smirked. “Don’t think for a second I won’t ask her, because I will.”
“Good! She’ll tell you the same thing I have, I swear.”
“Okay.”
Lydia looked up into Avery’s eyes. “Should you go check on her?”
“Yeah. I think I will. Come with me?”
“No. I trust you,”
she said, then laughed.
“Wow. Thanks, I think,”
Avery quipped. “Be right back.”
He bounded up the stairs and tapped on the door of the guest room. From inside there was a strangled, “Yeah?”
“Hey, babe. You okay?”
he asked as he pushed the door open and found her sitting in the middle of the bed.
Danette patted the edge of the bed. “Can you sit here with me for a couple of minutes?”
Avery sat down gently on the edge of the bed and patted Danette’s arm. “Sure. What can I do to help?”
“Nothing. Nobody can help me. It’s awful. I just… why didn’t you warn me how bad this would be if it happened?”
she whined.
“Because I never dreamed you’d fall in love with the first guy you actually dated. That possibility never crossed my mind,”
Avery told her as he swept a strand of hair out of her face.
“Me neither. Is Lydia mad because I’m here?”
Danette whispered.
“No. She likes you. Although I did have to tell her that we, um, you know, once.”
Danette giggled. “Bet she didn’t take that well.”
“Not too, but I think it’s okay. I wasn’t going to lie to her, though.”
“No. That would’ve been wrong,”
Danette agreed. “If she asks me, I’ll tell her the truth too.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to do anything else. Want something to drink? Or some music or something?”
“Um,”
she said, contemplating, then asked, “do you let Skipper sleep on the bed?”
Avery laughed. “Well, I never have, but I think I can make an exception! I guess you want me to call him in here?”
Her sheepish smile tugged at his heartstrings. “Could you? I mean, I’d love to have him in here with me.”
“Sure. I’ll go get him. Night, sweet girl,”
he told her and kissed her forehead. Crossing the room to the doorway, he opened the bedroom door and called out, “Skipper! Here, boy!”
The sound of claws on the hardwood floor sounded out from below, and then was muffled by the carpet on the stairs. In seconds, Skipper pranced into the room, then dropped to his belly. “Hey, buddy,”
Avery said, kneeling and scratching behind his ears. “This is a one-time thing. Get on up there,”
he ordered and pointed at the bed. The dog leaped up onto the bed and covered Danette’s face with kisses as she giggled and sputtered. “You wanted him up there. You deal with the tongue,” Avery laughed.
“I can. Come here, Skipper. Cuddle up with me.”
Danette reached for the dog and he scooted along her body until he was in her arms. “Good boy,”
she said and kissed the top of his head.
“Night, princess,”
Avery called as he closed the bedroom door.
“Night, Avery. Love you.”
Avery stood outside the door and smiled to himself. “Love you too, Dan.”
He found Lydia still sitting in the living room, grinning as he came down to join her. “She wanted the dog?”
Avery nodded. “Yeah. Hope he doesn’t think that means he’ll get to sleep in a bed every night, because that’s not happening.”
“Yeah. That would be bad.”
Lydia shifted over closer to Avery and he put an arm around her shoulders. “I heard you up there, you know.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She turned to Avery and looked up into his eyes, those big blue ones of hers clear and bright. “You’re a good guy, Mr.Holcomb. You’re smart and funny, and you really care about people. I heard her say she loves you, and I heard you answer her. And I could tell how you feel about her. You were telling the truth when you said she’s like a little sister to you.”
“That’s exactly how I feel about her.”
“I’m glad. I think she needs somebody to love her that way.”
“I do. Oh, and she wanted to know if you were mad that she’s here.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“I told her that you weren’t, but I told her I had to tell you about what happened between me and her. I think she was glad.”
Lydia nodded. “Good. I want to be her friend too, but only if we have that honesty between us.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Lydia threw her legs across Avery’s lap. “I’ve thought about it.”
Avery had no idea what she meant until she said, “I want to stay. But we’ll have to just sleep, if that’s okay.”
Avery reached for her and drew her up into his lap. “That’s more than okay.”
Pulling her in even closer, he tipped his head and pressed his lips to hers.
Lydia leaned into him and clasped her hands behind his neck, and Avery’s arms wrapped like steel bands around her, holding her to him, begging her without words to stay with him, to want and need him, to love him and be his.
He prayed that kiss would never end, and he knew that when it did, he’d just want another one, and another one after that.
One of her hands stroked the side of his face and it was silken against his skin, warm and soft and gentle, soothing even.
When he kissed across her jaw and up the side of her face, then nipped her earlobe, she hissed out, “Oh, god, Avery, I love you.”
“I wish you had some idea how happy that makes me,”
he whispered back, his breath warm in her ear, her scent flowing in with every breath he took. “I can’t imagine not having you in my arms, angel. I’ve wanted you since the first instant I saw you. I love you more than anything.”
She let out a tiny sob. “Oh, Avery! Oh, lord, I was so horrible to you! I’m so sorry! How could you ever forgive me? I treated you like shit and you were so nice to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you…”
He pulled back and looked at her, his eyes smiling. “For what?”
Taking her face in his hands, he wiped away her tears with his thumbs.
“For being patient. For being kind and loving. For not giving up on me. God, you should’ve, but you didn’t.”
“It wasn’t hard being patient and kind to you. I knew who you were deep down, and I wanted that Texas twister, the one I couldn’t get out of my head.”
He didn’t know what else to say. He’d known all along.
That first day he’d seen her, when she’d tottered up his front steps in those heels and started banging on that door, he’d fallen for her, fallen hard, and his heart had been broken at her hateful words, the way she’d screamed at him, and the hours she’d put into trying to make him miserable.
But every time she’d come back, somewhere deep inside he’d counted it as a chance to win her over.
Sending her to jail had been the hardest thing he’d ever done because he knew with that one action, he might be doing something he could never undo, something she’d never, ever forgive him for.
But he didn’t know what else to do.
And there she was, in his arms.
There were no words for the love he felt for her.
He thought briefly of Shannon and almost laughed.
He’d been crushed when she left, but he knew that what he’d felt for that woman was nothing compared to his devotion to Lydia.
His love for the woman on his lap was nothing short of miraculous.
“I don’t have anything with me. You got an extra toothbrush?”
Avery chuckled. “I’m pretty sure I do.”
“Can we go to bed? I can sleep in one of your tee shirts, don’t you think?”
He nodded. “I’m sure that can be arranged. Come on.”
Hands on her waist, he lifted her from his lap and set her on her feet. “Go on up. Third drawer on the right-hand side of the dresser. Just pick one. I’ll be up in a minute after I’ve locked everything up.”
He watched as she climbed the stairs, turning at the top to smile at him before she disappeared.
Avery locked the front door and then the back.
He left the light over the stove on in case anyone came down for a drink in the night, then started the dryer before he headed up the stairs.
When he opened the bedroom door and walked in, every drop of blood in his body headed straight to his cock.
Lydia stood with her back to the door in nothing but her panties. He watched, mesmerized, as she bent over, picked up his tee shirt, the one that said “Harvey’s Gas-n-Go,”
and slipped it on. She reached up, flipped her hair out of the neck of the shirt, then turned and gave a little jump. “Oh! I didn’t know you were standing there!”
“Yup. I kept hoping you’d turn around,”
he said, his eyes smiling.
“No. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a tease,”
she said, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Too late. I’m already in trouble,”
he groaned, stroking the front of his jeans.
She crossed to where he stood just inside the doorway and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I hope Danette goes home tomorrow. I hate for that to go to waste.”
He snickered. “I thought you said you weren’t a tease?”
“I’m not. Get in the bed. Let’s get some sleep.”
She took his hand and dragged him across the room, then crawled across the bed on her hands and knees. One look at her panties peeking out from under his tee and Avery almost came undone right there. “Well, go on. Get those jeans off. I’m exhausted.”
Avery peeled off his tee shirt and then his jeans, followed by his socks.
After a stint in the bathroom brushing his teeth and combing his hair, he slipped under the sheets with Lydia and waited until she’d curled into his side.
His arms wrapped protectively around her and she sighed against his skin.
“Ohhhhh, this feels nice, huh?”
she purred.
“Yeah. It does.”
“I guess you’re pretty tired too,”
she said, her fingers playing in the hair on his chest.
“Yeah, but I won’t sleep a wink,”
he sighed.
“Why?”
“Because everything from my waist down is wound tighter than a spring,”
he huffed.
“Want me to go downstairs and sleep on the sofa?”
“Hell no! I want you right here in my arms.”
“Well, okay. I’d give you a hand job, but I don’t think that’s what you really want for our first time.”
“No. It’s not. I think it should be mutually beneficial.”
He sighed again and put a finger under her chin, tipping her face upward toward his. “And I can make that happen.”
“I can barely wait. Night, baby.”
“Night, angel. Get some sleep.”
“And tomorrow we ride the horses?”
Avery grinned there in the dark. “Yes. Tomorrow we ride the horses.”