CHAPTER 32
Eve
“It’s tomorrow. Tomorrow! I don’t feel prepared for a battle. Margaret has still never fully explained what the hell we’re doing.” I sank into Grandpa’s chair and reclined. “Or maybe Margaret is right about me being bad at listening. Did you catch anything, Joanie?”
With a snort, she settled on the couch. “There was a lot about picking the battles a while back. Everyone was throwing out suggestions but…I’m still confused, too. People made a big deal about a fitted sheet folding competition.”
“Well, fuck.” I giggled when Billie’s eyes went wide. “What? I’m just not good at folding sheets.”
“Who knows what it’s going to be. Margaret and her band of crazies are up to something.” Billie looked around. “Speaking of…where’s your grandpa?”
“He’s with a friend but that’s all he’ll tell me.” I frowned. “Vera thinks he’s hooking up with Coco.”
“Grandpas hooking up. This town is wild.” Joanie caught the look I sent her and shrugged. “What?”
“He’s not hooking up with Coco. Vera is nuts.”
“Thanks for telling me all about her, by the way. You could’ve really saved me a lot of embarrassment.” Billie settled on the floor in front of the couch and groaned. “Are all the Hellstone children so beautiful?”
“I was saving her from her brothers at first and then I just forgot. I’m sorry. I suck.” I still hadn’t told them how I knew Vera. Her writing career was her secret to share, not mine. “As for being beautiful, it seems so.”
“Why aren’t we talking about that kiss, yet?” Joanie laughed when I shot her a dark look. “Sorry! You wouldn’t let me talk about it earlier, so now it’s time. You should’ve seen it, Billie. That man put his entire soul into that kiss. If I wasn’t so turned off men right now, I might’ve orgasmed.”
“So…? Are you guys taking things public?” Billie rolled her eyes. “Taking things public. Who are we?”
I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them. It was a sad replacement for feeling Nash’s giant arms around me, but it would have to do. “No. We’re not…we’re not doing anything. I mean, we’ve been together. Obviously. But they’re leaving soon.”
“I’m sorry, Eve.” Billie sighed. “Men suck.”
Tears filled my eyes and I laughed while angrily wiping them away. I held up my hands to hold Joanie and Billie off when they saw my face. “I’m fine. It’s fine. I don’t even know why I’m crying. It’s stupid.”
“You don’t want them to go.” Joanie wiped at a few tears of her own.
“I don’t want them to go.”
Billie grunted. “And there’s no chance that they’ll—”
“No.” I wiped the traitorous tears away and slammed the footrest down. Standing up, I marched to the kitchen and looked around for something to grab. I didn’t know what I wanted, though, so I just spun back around and stomped my foot. “It’s fine. I knew the score going in. I’m just…angry. Not even at them, really. I’m angry at life. I’m fucking pissed. I thought I’d never heal from Mark and just when I do, here come three amazing guys who just happen to be stupid nomadic paramedics who do charity work and volunteer to fight fires. They’re perfect and so hot it physically hurts to look at them sometimes but of course they’re leaving.”
“Life is bullshit.” Billie stood up and grabbed her phone from the island. “I don’t know what to say to help right now, Eve, because I’m feeling pretty much the same. Joanie is, too. Life sucks. But…we’re here. We have to go fight in a battle of sexes tomorrow that we aren’t invested in and it’s probably going to suck but we have tonight. Let’s forget about these stupid men for one night.”
Joanie jumped up and nodded. “Please!”
I nodded along, finally feeling something other than doomed. “I’m game.”
“Let’s go for a ride. We can blare the music until we can’t hear our own thoughts.” Billie grabbed my car keys and shook them at me. “Let’s see if we can get some mud on your tires.”
I grinned. “Except, not really about the mud. Who the hell would we call if we got stuck? Brad?”
She shuddered and shook her head. “Nope. I need a cooling off period from him after that stunt I pulled.”
“No mud. Let’s go before a man finds a way to ruin this plan.” Joanie grabbed our hands and tugged us towards the door.
I slammed the cabin door shut behind me and laughed wildly as we raced to my car and jumped in like we were running from someone. I didn’t even finish putting on my seatbelt before I spun out of my parking spot and raced down the road. Dust flew up around the car and I could feel grit between my teeth almost as soon as the windows were down. It didn’t matter, though. With my hair whipping across my face, I felt like I could breathe for the first time in forever.
“Faster!” Joanie cheered from the backseat as Billie found a female power anthem and cranked the volume.
It was high school all over again and I couldn’t help laughing. It wasn’t going to fix everything for us but for the moment, it helped. We screamed along to the songs and drove into the nearest town with a late-night gas station. We bought crappy snacks and milkshakes from a vending machine and laughed about the time Billie and I bought a pack of cigarettes from the same gas station the day we were finally both eighteen. It was somehow exactly what I needed.
When I finally parked in front of the cabin again, I saw a light come on at the guys’ cabin. Immediately a flutter erupted in my stomach and I knew I was going over.
“Go on. We’re going to head back to the ranch. We’ll see you in the morning, though.” Billie pulled me into a quick hug and pushed me towards the cabin next door. “Whatever happens, we’ll still have each other when this is all over.”
I hugged Joanie next and then wasted no time in going next door. Aiden met me at the door and pulled me into his arms as soon as I stepped over the threshold. I wrapped myself around his body and took what I could. As I came between the three of them that night, I hid the tears which slowly escaped. I felt like it was over already, like I was with their ghosts.
Despite knowing better, I couldn’t stay away. I knew I’d be back again and again until the scent of them finally faded from the empty cabin.