Chapter 11 #2
Like a kid, West’s eyes lit up, his lonely bachelor state forgotten.
He pulled out something bright yellow. “Socks?” He unfolded them and read, “‘Want to hear a joke about construction?’” He flipped them so he could read the rest. “‘I’m still working on it.’ Ha.
Funny guy. Sadly one hundred percent true.
” He laughed. “Thanks, Max. I’ll wear them to work and flash them at appropriate moments when we’re behind schedule. ”
“What does it say that we all went the gag route?” Knox asked.
“That we’re funny fuckers,” West said. As he stood to get the present he’d brought, he chuckled to himself in a way that made me nervous. Max and I were the only ones who hadn’t gotten anything yet.
West carried a box past Max and held it out to me. I met his eyes, and the spark in them did nothing to put me at ease.
As he sat back down, I unwrapped the box and opened it. Nestled in straw was a bottle of white wine. I puzzled over that as I dug deeper. Next up I pulled out two taper candles. I shot a look at West.
“You fixin’ to wine and dine me?” I asked in a fake deep drawl.
“Keep digging,” he said.
Next I pulled out two small silver items. “Candle holders?”
“You got it, Romeo,” West said. “One more thing in there.”
I lowered my brows at him as I dug. I hit cardboard and pulled it out to discover a box of condoms, thirty-six count.
Before I could put two thoughts together, West said, “Since you got a live-in lady now, I thought you could use some help with the romance—and the protection.”
“Always use protection,” Chance bellowed, laughing.
“Fuck.” I closed my eyes, trying to smile, but I was already in such a state over Emerson that this was hitting flat for me.
“Come on,” Luke said beside me, punching my arm. “You’ve gotta admit that’s funny.”
I forced a laugh, but it sounded as fake as it was. The room went serious in an instant.
“It’s just a joke,” West said.
“Yeah. Thanks.” Again, I tried to laugh, but the fact was, I’d had the thought last night about what if… What if I snuck up to Emerson’s room and seduced her? What if she let me? What if…
And then it’d hit me: I didn’t have any condoms anyway, so that couldn’t happen. In fact, I’d sworn to myself I wouldn’t buy any for as long as she was in my house. Maybe that would help me keep my hands off her. Now I had a damn box full.
“Something happen between you and Emerson?” Max asked sincerely, all teasing gone.
“I told you she was my best friend’s wife,” I snapped, then caught how shitty my tone was. “Sorry.” I exhaled and said a dozen more swear words in my head. “Sensitive subject.”
“Emerson’s husband was your best friend?” Chance asked. He and Knox were the only ones who hadn’t grown up in Dragonfly Lake.
“From the time we were three years old,” I told him. “When he and Emerson moved away and I went to college, we lost touch a little. We were different from each other in a lot of ways, but we were tight even in high school.”
“He thinks Emerson is off-limits,” Max said to the group.
A few seconds of silence passed. Then Luke spoke up. “Blake’s gone. As awful as that is, it means Emerson is single.”
“I know she is,” I said.
“You have feelings for her?” Knox asked.
Denying it would be pointless. I nodded and said, “Sure fucking do. For some time now.” No sense in admitting some time equaled almost twenty years.
“I mean, she’s hot,” West said.
Hot didn’t begin to encompass my attraction to Emerson, though hell yes, she was hot.
“Is she dating anyone?” Chance asked.
I ground my teeth together. “No.” Thank fuck.
“But she could,” Max said. “Because she’s single.”
I narrowed my eyes at him across the living room.
“Just laying it out there,” he continued. “If you don’t pursue her, how’s it going to feel to see her out with another guy?”
Like son-of-a-bitching shit.
“If something happened to me, I’d want Quincy to have a happy life,” Knox said. “I’d hate for her to be lonely for the rest of her years.”
“From what I knew of Blake, he’d feel the same way,” Max said.
“You really think it’d be okay to move in on my buddy’s wife?” I asked bluntly.
“I do,” Luke said without hesitation.
“The bigger question is whether Emerson’s interested,” Knox said.
“Say she is,” I said. “This town that talks about everything… It’s not going to see a thing wrong with me being with Blake’s woman?”
“First off, screw the town,” West said, “but yeah. Emerson’s got plenty of good years ahead of her. The chances of her not remarrying? I don’t know her, but I wouldn’t blink an eye if she did. Whether it’s to a friend of Blake’s or not. It’s a small town. Everybody knew him.”
“If you care about her, you should let her know,” Max said. “See where it goes.”
“I care about her.” I couldn’t see telling her the truth about that though.
“It’s either you or someone else,” Luke said. “Maybe West here.”
Luke chuckled, but I eyed West to see if there was reason for me to hit him.
West raised both hands as if surrendering. “Hey, dude, I’m not touching her. Not with that death-threat look in your eyes.”
I was starting to see their way of thinking. When I imagined Emerson moving on with someone else, it was like a blow to the gut. But they were right. She likely would eventually. Who knew how soon?
“It’s not a thing,” Chance said.
I raised my brows to see if there were any differing opinions around the group.
“Not a thing,” Knox agreed. “Blake is gone. If you’re the one who can make Emerson happy, he’d probably give you thumbs-up from beyond.”
The others nodded as if they wouldn’t think twice about it.
“Max’s turn,” I said, done with being the center of a serious moment. I gave Max a large gift bag and sat back down.
“The biggest one’s for me,” Max said. “With this group, that makes me nervous.”
“Justified,” Chance said.
Max shoved the layers of tissue paper aside and hooted. “You’re fucking kidding me.” He pulled out a twenty-inch plush white llama that looked a lot like Esmerelda.
“You’re halfway to llama expert by now,” I told him.
“I know how to catch a llama on the lam, anyway,” he said, laughing again as he stared at the animal.
“When I was down with the flu, Max and Harper captured Esmerelda like pros,” I told the others.
“That’s what friends are for, I guess,” Luke said.
Esmerelda had a history of getting out of the corral. Every damn time, she headed straight for Sugar Bakery, which had inspired the next part of his gift.
Max riffled through the tissue paper some more and pulled out a box with the Sugar logo on the side. “I hope this is full of cookies.” He opened it. “Yes. Thank you.” He stuck one in his mouth, then passed the box around, saying, “Enough for everybody and then some” around the cookie.
“One more thing in there,” I said.
He drew the bottle of top-shelf whiskey from the bag and said, “If we don’t like the cider, we’ll have whiskey. Thanks, Ben. Whiskey and cookies are a heck of a combo.”
There were several cracks about llamas and protection and God knows what else. I acted like I was listening, but my thoughts veered back to Emerson and the guys’ opinion that my friendship with Blake didn’t mean she was off-limits.
I’d received the message loud and clear, not just through my ears but maybe in my brain as well. But I couldn’t let myself think too hard about it, because Blake was only one of several reasons I wouldn’t be going home and taking Emerson to my bed.