Chapter 10
ten
Charlie
F ifteen minutes later, we drove deep into the heart of my grandparents' ranch. How much caffeine was in that pre-workout drink? Because I was actually excited. Ford parked next to all the other vehicles in the grass.
Cash jumped out as soon as the wheels stopped, raced around, and opened my door. As we walked toward our big, extended family, waiting fifty feet into the woods, he lifted his phone and angled it down at us, before hitting record. “What are we doing right now, Charlie?”
I smiled at the camera. “Spartan race training.” I swung my bent arm in an upward motion with mock pep.
“That’s right.” His brows flicked. “Running the Sprint looks a little different this time.”
He slipped the phone into his pocket and tossed his chin at our family waiting up ahead. “You guys ready for this?” he hollered.
Hoots and shouts of excitement ensued. Ford hadn’t lied. Everyone was there. Silas and Holden’s families, Anna and Blue and their kids, my family, and yes, even Theo, who looked like a pro with a Spartan headband cutting across his brow. Wait. My pregnant mom, too?
Even after five pregnancies, she was still so beautiful. Wearing leggings and a fitted tank top, her big old, adorable belly was out there for the whole world to see. Dad had that same look he always got around her—like he couldn’t believe she was his. I hoped I looked as good as her after having five babies.
You’re not having five babies. You’ll be lucky to have one.
My breath stuttered at the thought.
I looked around. “Where’s Liam?”
“He can’t do the race,” Cash said. “It’s in his contract—he’s not allowed to compete in anything outside of team training.”
“And Sage?”
Cash had filled me in on everyone’s lives over the past few days. Apparently, James had proposed to his long-term girlfriend at Christmas. They’d been together since they were juniors in high school, when James had finally gotten up the nerve to ask her out. They were getting married at Dupree Family Beach Week next summer.
Cash’s forehead wrinkled with concern. “She’s the same.”
Meaning, she passed out whenever she over-exerted herself, became dehydrated, or even stood up too fast. It was a condition called Vasovagal…something or other.
A pretty blond—about my age, medium height, with a chin-length bob and wide green eyes—hung on Griffin’s arm. She pushed up on her tiptoes to pat down his cowlick but he was still too tall. He crouched to help her out. Griff was the only son of Lemon and Silas who’d inherited his mom’s red hair. But good luck with the cowlick. That thing had been sticking up his whole life.
“Griff has a girlfriend?” I asked.
“Oh. Yeah. That’s Maggie. Her family moved to Seddledowne a few years back. They met when they were volunteering at the rescue squad.” Cash shoved his hands into his pockets. "Kind of a weird dynamic. They date whenever they’re both in town. Then, when they head back to college, they date other people. But they both just graduated. She got accepted to med school at UVA and Griff starts recruit school for Honeyville Fire Department next week, so they’re finally exclusive.”
“Wait. Griffin is going to be a firefighter. Like as a career?” He’d talked about it all the time as a kid, the same way I’d talked about being a school bus driver when I grew up. But I came to my senses. “Like he’s going to run into burning buildings to save people?”
“Says he can’t wait. He starts training next week.”
“Wow.” My head gave a little shake. “You like her? Maggie?”
“Yeah. She’s cool. She and Bowen can’t get along for five seconds though, which makes it hard for all of us to hang out.”
“Oh gracious.”
Jane, my fourteen-year-old sister, jogged over, grabbed my hand, and pulled me away from him. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she squealed.
“Me too, cutie. Is Mom doing the race?”
“No. The baby is due a couple of weeks before that, so she’s just cheering us all on. She’s going to walk the trail though, just for exercise.”
Mom must’ve heard us talking about her because just then, her eyes met mine and she smiled. I returned the smile but couldn’t hold her gaze. Instead, I glanced at Granny who was rocking black leggings, a Spartan Race T-shirt, and had her shoulder-length gray hair pulled back into a ponytail. She already had her arms out, ready for a hug. I skipped straight into her embrace and breathed in her familiar smell—baby powder and cinnamon.
“How’s our girl this morning?” Gramps pressed a kiss to my temple and the scent of saddle oil and rich Virginia soil drifted down to meet me. “My barn’s never looked better, sugar. You’re hired. Permanently.” Then he slipped fifty bucks into my hand.
“Gramps.” I shoved it back at him. “That’s too much. It only took an hour.”
Granny’s arm was still around my waist. “Slide it into your pocket, now. He won’t take it back.” Fine. I’d split it with Cash.
Speak of the devil—he really needed to aim that heated look somewhere else. I was already burning. Even as he chatted with James, Griffin, and Theo, he watched me with a dark intensity.
Uncle Holden cupped his hands like a megaphone and yelled at Ford and Peyton, bringing up the rear. “Any time today, slow pokes!”
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Dad grumbled. “This humidity is already ridiculous.” He slapped a mosquito that had landed on his forearm.
Mom unzipped a cross-body fanny pack and sprayed bug repellent on him.
Ford pulled his phone from his pocket. “All right, boys. I’ve gotten a Venmo from every family except for yours, Silas.”
“What’s happening?” I asked Granny.
“There’s a money pool. Winner gets all the cash.”
“Well, the winning team,” Gramps corrected. “We’re pairing off.”
I threw my hands up. “Nobody told me there was a pool. I would’ve run these all along.”
Everyone laughed.
“This is the first year we’ve done it,” Silas said, fishing his phone from his pocket like it physically pained him.
“How much is the pool?” I asked, curious.
“Right now, it’s up to…” Ford tapped on his phone. “$8,172.”
“What?” I yelped.
But Ford scowled. “Y’all can do better than that. Especially you, Blue. And Ash. Come on now.”
Uncle Ford had the fame, the fortune, and the fan base—but he lived like giving was the point. And he and Blue had plenty to give. My parents did too, now that their spy-romance book series had been turned into movies.
“Bo,” Granny said. “Put in a little more.”
Obediently, Gramps pulled his phone out with the rest of them. “How do I work this confounded app again?”
Bowen—named after the man himself—stepped over to help. “I gotchu, Gramps.”
My head gave a little shake. “Since when do Duprees gamble? What happened to you all while I was away?” I looked at Granny. “You’re okay with this?” The grandmother I knew would’ve put the maternal smack down on the very idea.
She squeezed me tighter against her side. “It’s all in good fun.”
I shook her loose and took a step back. “You’re not my real family. Aliens abducted my real family and replaced them with…” My face scrunched. “Whoever you people are.”
One side of Cash’s mouth lifted in a slow, knowing smirk. “Figures. Perfection like this doesn’t just happen by chance.”
I rolled my eyes. “ Please .” But my cheeks flushed. Because he was pretty darn perfect.
Theo looked at me like I was crazy. “If we were aliens, don’t you think we’d have picked a better sport? Like, I don’t know, intergalactic dodgeball?”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“I’m just saying.” He held his hands up. “You think aliens went through the trouble of replacing us just to make sure we could gamble on a Spartan race? That’s the weakest invasion plan I’ve ever heard.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Nerd.”
“Geek.” He hit me with a perfectly executed brow lift. “A sexy geek. And proud of it.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Are those the sweet nothings your last girlfriend whispered in your ear? Oh, you sexy geek,” I said like I was narrating a perfume ad. “The way you push up your glasses and say ‘Fascinating’ in your best Spock voice is doing things to me.”
I caught Mom and Dad smiling at each other, delighted at our sibling banter.
“Girl.” Anna laughed. “I’ve missed you.”
I fluttered my lashes.
“It’s really us,” Aunt Christy shook me by the arms. “We just decided to up the stakes this year. Give people a little more incentive to keep running when they’re thinking about walking. Maybe hang onto the monkey bars when it would be easier to let go.”
“A little more incentive?” I pursed my lips. “Eight thousand dollars isn’t a little more incentive. That’s?—”
“It’s up to twelve thousand now,” Ford said proudly.
I shrieked. “Well, somebody take Blue out at the knees so the rest of us have a fighting chance.”
Everyone laughed.
Fourteen-year-old Blaze punched his fist into his opposite hand, dimple popping out. “I’m going to smoke all of you.”
I’d been to plenty of Blaze’s youth league games. He was super talented at football just like his dad—and stupid fast.
“Not if I smoke you first,” his twin sister, Belle, said with a snort. Holden rubbed his hands together, taking charge. “It’s time to draw for partners.”
“Whoa,” Griffin said, his mouth hanging open. “No one said we didn’t get to pick our partners.” He gestured at his girlfriend who looked just as shell-shocked.
“It has to be by chance,” Ford said. “That’s the only way to make it fair.”
“But…but…” Griffin made an over-exaggerated circle around Maggie’s face. “I promised her we would do the race together.”
Ford scratched his temple and looked at the older adults. “What do you think, guys?”
Silas shrugged one shoulder. “You can be partners but you can’t compete for the pool.”
When Griffin started to protest, Anna talked over him. “If we make an exception for you, we have to make one for everybody.”
“Agreed,” Christy said.
Griffin’s face twisted up in frustration but then he straightened it out. “Okay. Fine. Maggie and I are out,” he said like it was some kind of punishment to the rest of us.
“Your loss,” Bowen muttered. “Gives the rest of us a better shot.”
Maggie huffed. “Speak for yourself,” she said to Griff. “I’m winning that money. Sorry, babe.”
Everyone laughed but Griffin. And Bowen who just scowled.
“All right.” Holden took over again. “We settled?” His eyes scanned the group and no one else protested. “Chris, take it away.”
My petite, pixie-like aunt sprang forward, holding a deck of cards. “I’m only explaining this once, so listen up.” She waved the stack. “There are two of every card. For example, there are two king of clubs, two red hearts, two jack of diamonds. You’ll draw one and whoever draws the match? That’s your partner. Easy peasy. Everyone understand?” We answered that we did. “There are no trades, no refunds, and no complaining. You get who you get and you don’t throw a fit. And don’t think we won’t know. Tally is writing it all down.” Mom shook her phone in the air for everyone to see. Christy drew a line in the dirt with the toe of her shoe. “Single file, right here.”
“Can’t tell she used to be a teacher or anything.” Holden laughed.
Aunt Christy was now the athletic director for Seddledowne High and had been as long as I’d known her. She knew how to handle a crowd.
Cash slipped behind me in line and whispered in my ear. “We’re gonna be partners.”
I snorted. “How could you possibly know that?” I leaned sideways to peer back at him. “Did you stack the deck?”
“Nope.” He grinned. “I just know.”
“Mhmm. Well.” I stepped forward as the line moved. “You probably don’t want to stand right behind me then. You heard the woman. The deck was shuffled.”
“Nah.” He heaved a happy sigh. “I’m good right here.”
“I’m going to be rich!” Jane shrieked. “I got Blue!” Half my cousins groaned. I groaned. Blue was a retired NFL quarterback who could crush us all, and he had, many times.
“Sorry, baby.” He kissed a dejected Anna and then walked over to Jane, high-fiving her. “Nice.”
“Hate to break it to you, Janer-Brainer,” Blaze yelled from the end of the line. “Him being your partner doesn’t automatically make you fast. He can only go as fast as you go.”
Jane’s face fell. “Oh. You’re right.”
“No worries,” Blue said. “We’ll work on your speed. And I give one heck of a piggyback ride.” That did it. Jane’s jubilee was restored.
I watched as partners found each other. Maddie and Holden. Silas and his youngest, Sophie. Gramps and Belle. James and my dad.
Cash and I let out an oof at the same time.
“That’s going to be a tough pair for us to beat,” he said, like our partnership was a done deal.
James had won state in cross country in high school, and my dad had the longest legs of anyone here, and he loved to run.
Aunt Lemon stepped out of my way. “Queen of diamonds?” she called, looking around for her partner.
Griffin held his card up. “That’s me,” he said with a frustrated sigh. Which had nothing to do with Aunt Lemon. The woman was super fit. But, like the good son that he was, he gave her a congratulatory hug.
Maggie stood off to the side, flicking her card against her thigh, nervously watching the line move.
It was my turn. Christy held the cards in a fan. I took the third card from the right and moved out of Cash’s way. Then, I watched as he closed his eyes, his fingers hovering as if some otherworldly power would guide him. He pulled the last card on the left side.
Once that was done, I walked a few feet away and peeked at mine. Ace of spades.
“What’d ya get?” Cash breathed in my ear.
I jumped and smacked him in the chest. “You can’t sneak up on people like that! Keep that up and I’m going to make you wear a bell around your neck.”
He laid his hand over mine, which was already firmly pressed right between his pecs. I thought he was putting the moves on me after I’d laid down the law on the no touching. But then he yanked my card from my grasp, flipped it over, and…broke into a victorious smile. “Well, well, well. Would you look at that?” He fanned his card next to mine. “Twinners.”
My mouth fell open. I spun and looked at Christy, who was handing the second-to-last card to Bowen. “Christianna Dupree, you raise that right arm to the square.”
She laughed but obediently complied.
I narrowed my eyes. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”
“I do.”
“Do you solemnly promise that you had the cards in your possession the entire time and that you aren’t in cahoots with Cash?”
“I solemnly promise. Shuffled them at home and tucked them in my bra for safekeeping.”
“Eeewww.” Maddie shuddered. “Mom. No.”
“These are boob cards?” Belle shrieked, sending her card flying.
“There’s boob juice on my hand!” my brother Tristan shouted. He frisbeed his card into the air and wiped his hands vigorously on his thighs.
Jane was the next to freak out, followed by Blaze and his younger brother, Bronco. Cards flying everywhere.
“Quit the hysterics!” Holden ordered. “There’s no boob juice on your hands. Aunt Christy doesn’t have boob juice!” His brows flicked up. “Trust me, I’d know.”
Maddie tossed her card to the ground. “That’s it. I’m out. I can’t do this race with you people.”
“Pick the cards up. Now!” Holden roared in a terrifying voice.
Everything went pin-drop silent and kids scampered around, searching for their cards in the decaying leaves from last fall.
Christy gave me a proud smile like that nonsense had never happened. “Face it, Charlie. It’s meant to be.”
Cash bumped his hip to mine. “That’s what I’m saying.”
Christy flipped the last card over. Her card. “Who has the four of diamonds?”
“Me!” Anna held her card up and they squealed like ten-year-old girls.
I turned to my race partner. “Tell the truth. You drank your vial of Felix Felicis this morning, didn’t you?” Felix Felicis was a luck potion from Harry Potter—basically, one swig and the world rolled out a red carpet just for you.
“Drank it?” His lips pressed together in a self-satisfied, almost-smile. “I am Felix Felicis, in human form.”
“Wow.” I poked him in the belly button and dang if he didn’t flex those glorious abs. “I don’t know how you orchestrated this but God is watching. I hope you know that.”
“I’m fully aware since He’s the one who made it happen.” He booped me on the nose. “I told you. You’re my miracle.”
Just then Bowen growled, “You have got to be kidding me!” as he stomped over to Maggie. “Let me see your card.”
She held it out and he ripped it from her hand. Then he dropped his head back and shook his fists at the sky.
She waved her hands mockingly. “Oh no! Not the sky fists. Anything but the sky fists.”
“Oh, I like her,” I hooted, making Cash laugh.
Bowen glowered at her, his light gray eyes a pair of threatening storm clouds up against that dark hair.
She pursed her lips. “Relax, drama queen. It’s not like we’re getting married.”
“Dang right, you’re not,” Griffin growled.
I shook my head. “Whoo buddy. This is gonna be fun.”
Cash rubbed his hands together. “Best. Race. Ever. And we haven’t even started yet.”
I heard his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out. I only got a two-second glimpse but it was enough to make my blood run cold.
Millie
Fine, Cash. Have it your way. But when it hits the fan, don’t say I didn’t warn you.