Chapter 35
[Taxi]
During the week, I finally take Genie up on her invitation to go out with the girls. After my second Sylver Sunday, the girls begged me to join them, and I didn’t want to disappoint.
I also wanted to go out, not only for the break it afforded me from caretaking, but because I truly wanted to be with them. Their welcoming energy made me want to . . . belong.
Judd offers to stay with Simon at Trudy’s, keeping Nolan with them, and giving Genie a little mommy reprieve as well.
“Jailbreak,” Genie cries once we enter her SUV.
I don’t mention how her comment hits hard, letting the joke go as Genie is just too bubbly with relief for a night out.
“Nolan is a breast man like his daddy,” she overshares.
I wrinkle my nose. Despite my friendship with Judd waning for a while, I still consider him a friend.
More like a brother, as he was around so often when we were younger.
So, I do not want to hear this kind of talk, just like Vale doesn’t like to hear the girls discussing the sexcapades they have with her brothers.
I’ll also be attending my first Sterlet meeting, the weekly book club disguising a secret sex store.
I’ve already learned that the Sterlets, a take on starlets for the women living in Sterling Falls, have an open-door policy, allowing attendees to come and go to accommodate their personal schedules. Vale is ever faithful in attendance.
“I consider myself an original member,” she says, as we sit at a round table with a wooden keg barrel base. A ritual among the Sylver women who attend the book club is meeting up at Milton Roadhouse to pre-game.
Enya and, of course, Genie are also present. “Not a Sterling Falls resident anymore, though,” Enya teases about Vale’s move to Rogue River, the next town over. “How’s it going over there?”
Vale dives into the trials of living with a man other than her brother after all this time.
I can’t help myself, but I silently stew over the man who broke Stone’s heart. No, shattered it, taking with him a life-long friendship. One that Stone misses. I heard it in his voice when he explained what happened when they were younger. When his entire world imploded again.
How many times has Stone’s life been rocked only for him to remain sturdy?
“Stone and I co-existed. But having Cortland, my fiancé . . .” Vale’s face brightens with the term. “It gets tricky with Hudson around.” She wiggles her brows. “We find creative spaces and ways to come together.”
“Speaking of creative spaces,” Genie hums, lifting her glass of wine, and narrowing her dark eyes on me. Her smile makes them dance. “You were missing for a while this past Sunday.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie, as my cheeks flame.
“Funny,” Enya adds, leaning on the table. “Stone was missing for a time as well.”
“Was he?” I lift my drink, something off the special’s menu, and take a sip of the sharp sweetness.
“Maybe we should ask him what you two were up to,” Vale teases. “Oh, look, there he is.”
“Where?” I ask, raising my head and giving myself away.
“Right there,” Vale points to a high top across the bar.
Stone, in his uniform, is seated across from the beautiful blonde I remember seeing him with once upon a morning back in Tennessee. The same person he hadn’t told me he was meeting for dinner. He’d only said he had a work-related meeting this evening.
“You should go say hi,” Genie encourages, like we’re schoolgirls and I should cross the cafeteria and talk to the hot guy on the other side.
“He looks busy,” I say, pulling my gaze away and glaring at Genie. I like her. She’s a woman I want in my corner, but I will not be afraid to tell her to knock it off. I don’t need to go to Stone, he can—
“Looks like he’s coming over instead.” Vale’s comment draws my attention back to the man in uniform who is now crossing the vacant space in the middle of the bar.
“Ladies.” His low voice is smooth while equally rugged.
I do not know what it is about that sound that puts me at ease while turning me on.
“Hey.”
“Hi, Stone.”
“Big brother.”
I snort at the last one from Vale.
“Mind if I borrow Taxi for a moment. I’d like to introduce her to Emerson.”
My cheeks heat again. I could argue it isn’t necessary to meet Emerson.
We haven’t needed to discuss her again. Stone told me that only Bailey was his one-time love, and Emerson is a friend.
Plus, he did say dinner was work-related.
I know he’s the sheriff, she’s the mayor, so logically, their meeting makes sense, but still . . .
When he holds out his hand, I take it, despite nerves rattling my bones like a Halloween skeleton. This shouldn’t feel so monumental. She’s just a woman. But she’s also been important to Stone.
He helps me stand, but I instantly drop his hand despite the comfort of his palm. His hand goes to my lower back, instead, like he’s announcing to the room I’m with him.
When we reach the high-top table, Stone introduces us.
“Emerson Milton, this is Taxi.” Something strange rings in Stone’s voice. The sound a little like pride, a lot like excitement. Like he’s been eager to introduce me to her. “Tallulah Alexander, meet Emerson, mayor of Sterling Falls.”
When she shakes my hand, her fingers are long and delicate, but her grip is strong and confident. “Such a pleasure to meet you. Stone has told me so much about you.”
Glancing at him, I arch a brow.
“Because of Trudy,” I clarify.
“No.” Emerson laughs nervously. “Um . . . I believe it started when you met last year in Tennessee.” Emerson looks at Stone for confirmation before her brows crease like she might have gotten something wrong.
“Nope. She’s the one.”
“The one what?” I ask, a little too defensively.
“The woman he wanted to—”
“Okay,” Stone holds up a hand with all the authority he possesses as a sheriff. “Let’s not give away all my secrets at the first meeting.”
Emerson chuckles. “Well, knowing my secrets are bigger than yours, I guess I’ll hold my tongue. If you’ll excuse me a second, I’m going to use the ladies’ room.”
She slips from her stool, and I watch her walk away—poised, confident, not sizing me up even once. It throws me off. I was ready for claws, for competition, for her to claim she had him first.
But nothing. She seemed nice enough, confident in her place as his friend, respectful even of that position. Respectful of Stone. And as his friend, she seemed happy for him. Happy he has me.
The second she’s gone, Stone takes a seat on his stool.
“I should probably get back to—”
“You didn’t tell me you were going out.” His hands come easily to my hips, like it’s the most natural place for them to be. He spreads his knees to fit me between them.
“And you told me you had a work-related dinner,” I counter, my voice coming out softer than I intended.
“Taxi.” Stone’s voice lowers, turns warmer. “Emerson is the mayor. I’m the sheriff. We’re still friends, and sometimes we need to talk outside of the offices we work for.”
I believe him, and a small part of me hates that I believe him, because believing him is dangerous. Believing him feels like stepping onto ground that might actually hold my weight, and that’s never been my experience with men.
Stone is just a constant conundrum, steady as bedrock one second, and throwing me off balance the next by letting me get this close to his real life.
“Genie invited me to book club,” I say, scanning down his uniform, my hand landing on that badge.
Genie. His sister. His sisters-in-law, more women, more of his family and friends, pulling me into their circle, arms open, hearts eager.
“Ah. Book club.” Those hands on my hips draw me closer and glide up my side, like he can’t help himself. He needs to outline my figure, confirm I’m standing here.
“And you’re wearing that skirt again.” He hums appreciatively. “You had that on the night we met.”
“I had this on the other day,” I remind him.
“I remember.” He bites the corner of his lip. “I remember everything about you.”
Soft pressure against my lower back forces me to step even closer to him.
“Stone,” I whisper, like someone will hear him. Someone could mysteriously interpret what he means about the other night.
“So, book club?” He chuckles. “Let me know if you find a selection you like.” He gives me a wink, knowing the truth about the club. He’s so playful right now, almost silly.
“I just needed a night out.” Stone already knows that I’m struggling with the day in and day out tasks of catering to Trudy’s needs. Her house is only so big, and there is only so much cleaning, cooking, and laundry to be done. My creative itch needs scratching.
“I would have taken you out,” Stone says, sounding a little hurt that I hadn’t asked him.
I don’t respond because he’s already done so much. He comes to Trudy’s every night, and he would have been there tonight if he hadn’t seen me here first.
“This weekend is Founder’s Day. We celebrate the birth of Milton County.” He arches a brow toward Emerson’s seat, implying this is the reason for their out-of-office meeting. “There’s a barn dance held on the Milton property.”
I nod like I understand when I haven’t heard much about a Founder’s Day celebration before.
“Tallulah Alexander, would you be my date to the dance?” Stone gives me that sheepish look he sometimes has. A bashful grin accompanies the gleam in his Montana-sky eyes.
“You askin’ me out on an official date?” I tease. We might have gone to lunch by the river, but that was before everything reached a new level. A level that feels monumental and growing every day, building higher, getting taller, stronger.
I’m almost giddy, like that schoolgirl in a cafeteria. I’ve been invited to a dance by one of the most popular guys in town.
“Absolutely,” Stone says, spreading those hands on my lower back and jostling me a little bit.
“Then absolutely yes is my answer.” I pat that badge over his chest. “I’d love to go to the Founder’s Day dance with you, Sheriff Sylver.”
He grins. His mouth wide, teeth peeking out when he teases me.
“That’s Superman to you, baby.”