Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
“Right there,” she says, and I groan as I shift.
“Here?” I’m out of breath, trying to hold it in place.
“Yeah, yeah. Just like that.”
“This sounds absolutely pornographic,” a now familiar voice calls.
I peer around the giant Christmas tree I’m trying to ensure is straight and see Hallie standing beside Wren, her lips tipped in a cocky smile.
Wren turns to her, confusion clear on her face, arms crossed on her chest. “Oh, yeah, just like that, a little more, Adam. It’s almost there,” Hallie says in a breathy voice.
I shake my head, but when a blush burns on Wren’s lips, I can’t help but smile.
This morning, I woke up in Wren’s bed to find her getting ready far too early.
When I glared at her, she reminded me that she needed to head to the community center bright and early to help set up, something she had been planning for weeks and had mentioned to me the night before.
I wasn’t going to argue, not with the festival happening in just a few days and her nerves already on red alert.
So, I nodded and then stood, starting to get ready as well.
“What are you doing?” she had asked.
“I’m coming with you.”
“Really?”
“I have nothing else going on today, and if I go with you, there’s more of a chance you’ll get home quicker, right?”
She shrugged, though we both knew it was true. I didn’t mention that I also wanted to ensure she wouldn’t volunteer for more tasks, but she probably knew that as well.
“Then I’m coming with.”
“You don’t have to—”
I stopped her before she finished her sentence, pulling her into me before putting a hand to her chin and staring into her eyes.
“This is a fully selfish move, Wren.” I hoped that the truth of that was written on my face.
“You’re being selfish, huh?” she asked, quoting me.
I smiled and nodded.
“After school tomorrow, I want you all to myself.” She lifted an eyebrow, and I smiled wide.
“I know on the twenty-third you’ll be spending the entire day downtown, probably getting there at five a.m. and not coming home until ridiculously late.
I want one low-key evening so you can relax before the chaos starts.
” I pressed my lips to her neck, and her breathing hitched.
I found myself contemplating whether I could also talk her into a quickie.
“The whole day?”
I pulled back, catching the contemplation on her face and knowing I had her.
“After school. You don’t have aftercare tomorrow, right?
” She nodded, and then I saw her appreciation of my knowing her schedule.
“Tomorrow night is mine. I’m going to make sure you relax and take care of yourself before the chaos ensues.
I’ll go with you, be some muscle you boss around, and help move things along so it gets done on time, but I want you to promise that tomorrow night is mine. ”
She paused, seeming to think for a long time, and I thought I might be out of luck before she smiled softly and nodded.
“Deal.”
Then she dragged me into the shower, and I did, in fact, get my quickie.
Now I’m standing in a gymnasium in the recreation center downtown that Wren tells me is used for the recreation basketball teams in the winter and camps in the summer, moving a Christmas tree for the third time because it just wasn’t right, and being accused of making pornographic noises in a public place.
I fucking wish.
“Hallie, stop it,” Wren says, pushing her shoulder.
I’ve learned this is their way: Hallie being crude and outlandish, and Wren blushing over it. I twist the pins in the tree base until it’s stable on its own before stepping away. I look at Wren, who bites her lip.
“I don’t know—”
“It’s perfect, and you know it,” Hallie says with an eye roll before directing her look to me.
“She always gets like this. The perfectionism kicks in, and she starts overthinking everything. Sometimes you just gotta tell her to stop and move on.” Hallie spots something over my shoulder and grins deviously.
“Right, Jesse?” she calls out.
I turn to find Wren’s brothers behind me and move toward Wren as they approach. Before anyone can hear me, I whisper to Wren, “Once they’re gone, I’ll move it another dozen times until you’re happy, okay?” Wren gives me an appreciative look.
“What are you wrangling us into?” Madden asks, throwing his arm around Hallie. She pushes at his chest, and he stumbles back, laughing.
“Gross, get your stink off me,” Hallie says with a grimace. From what Wren told me, Hallie was drawn into the King family fold as a kid and is a second sister to the King brothers. But the way the oldest King scowls at his younger brother tells me there might be something more there.
“Hey, man,” Jesse says, reaching over to me and pulling me into a handshake and hug I don’t expect, but I play along. Once I’m released from that, I’m pulled into a second one by Madden, and Wren makes wide eyes at me over his shoulder before giving me an excited thumbs up.
“Thanks for helping with the wreaths. Dad said you also stayed on the farm and helped him haul the leftovers into his truck to donate. Saved me from having to do it,” Madden says when he steps back.
“And me,” Jesse says with a laugh. “Madd and I were ready to flip a coin to see who would get the job, then we found out you already did it.”
I shrug and try to ignore the way Wren’s eyes burn into me.
She knows I picked up and dropped off the wreaths, mostly because she tried to argue that I was still recovering and unable to do it, and that she should just do it herself.
That night, I fulfilled my threat of turning her over my knee while also proving I was more than okay to lug around some wreaths.
I’m happy to report that, as expected, she more than enjoyed it.
But I didn’t tell her about helping her dad with the trees.
“Poor Adam had no idea what he got himself into, tying himself with the Kings. He’s going to be dragged into every kind of favor known to man,” Hallie says to Wren, who just smiles.
“Do you snowboard?” Madden asks.
“Me?” I point to my chest, confused.
Jesse looks around the small group with exaggeration. “There’s no one else here whose entire life story we don’t know.” I blink at him. “Yeah, he meant you, Adam.”
Wren lets out a little huff. “Jesse, be nice.”
“I am! We’re trying to invite him snowboarding!”
Wren glares at her brother, clearly not buying his line, but I shrug, trying to avoid another sibling argument.
“Yeah, I snowboard. Have since I was a kid.” Another disappointment, since snowboarding was far more lowbrow than skiing in my parents’ eyes, but that’s neither here nor there.
“Great. We’re going next month. You’ll come. Not sure of the date yet, but I’ll get your number from Wren,” Jesse says.
I blink, confused.
“You could ask him,” Hallie says. “Like civilized people.”
Madden rolls his eyes but asks.
“Would you like to come snowboarding at Bear Mountain sometime next month, Adam? It would be our greatest pleasure to have your attendance,” Madden says in a haughty tone before looking at Hallie. “Was that good enough?”
“Next time, add a bow,” she says deadpan, and I snort out a laugh. Madden’s jaw drops, and I see him rearing up to respond, but I jump in before the two of them go at it.
“Yeah, I’d love to. I haven’t been boarding in a while,” I say.
“Perfect. It’ll be a great time,” Jesse says, seeming relieved that I stopped Madden and Hallie from arguing.
“Yeah, and it’ll be the perfect opportunity to feed you to a bear if you treat Wren poorly.”
Madden and Jesse laugh, and Wren opens her mouth, but Hallie must see some kind of feud brewing and steps in. I wonder for a moment if this is how it always goes with this crew: two fighting and someone else stepping in before it escalates.
“Okay, you two, follow me. I need your help hanging garland, and I’ve been instructed that Wren is no longer allowed on ladders.”
I let out a small laugh, then watch as the force of nature that is Wren’s best friend leads the two men off without a second glance.
“They like you,” Wren says after they’re out of earshot, and I let out a loud laugh.
“I think you’re delusional, sweetness.”
“I’m telling you, they do,” she says. “They like that you stood up for me at the farm.”
I pull her into me with a laugh. “Madden threatened to feed me to a bear if I broke your heart.”
“That’s just what brothers do,” she says with a shrug as if threatening murder isn’t strange at all.
“And he just wants to seem tough. Trust me, if they didn’t like you, you’d know.
” I’m not sure if I would, considering that I’m ninety-nine percent sure that their inviting me to go snowboarding with them next month was so that if I went missing on a mountain, no one would suspect a thing, but I don’t get the chance to tell her that.
One of her many alarms goes off on her phone, and Wren glances down to check the time. “It’s twelve fifty. I should head outside to wait for the volunteers’ lunch. It’s supposed to get here at 1,” she says. “Wanna come help me bring it in?”
I pull her into my side. “Lead the way, Birdie.”
A minute later, Wren glances outside and shakes her head before stepping back into the community center. “Not here yet. We’ll hang in here to avoid the cold, though.”
I nod, then glance down the hall that is lined with photos.
“Ahh, the Hall of Fame,” she says with a nostalgic sigh.
“My grandma started it, said we needed to commemorate every event that occurs in this building.” She turns to me and explains further.
“It was supposed to be torn down in the seventies. It was the old pre-k to second-grade building before they built the bigger one for all of elementary, but she championed for it to be turned into a community hub.”
I smile, fully able to see Wren doing something similar.
“This was this year’s Halloween haunted house,” she says, pointing to a photo of two dozen people all dressed in costumes. I scan the image to find Wren in a Little Red Riding Hood costume.
She looks hot, but I won’t tell her that.
“And Saint Patrick’s Day.”
There’s another with a group in green, but Wren isn’t there.
“Where were you?”
“Taking the picture,” she explains simply—typical Wren.
I move down the hall, my focus on finding Wren amongst the people in the photos, and I smile each time I do, until my heart stops when I see a familiar face.
I move in front of it, taking her in. She’s a bit younger in this photo than I remember, though not by much, and standing in front of the town hall, all lit up.
I supposed I always knew that at some point I’d see the reason I settled on this town, but after not bumping into her, I figured there was a chance she was a part of some lucid dream that had instead led me to Wren.
“Who’s that?” I ask, pointing at the woman.
“Who’s who?” Wren asks, moving closer to me. A small breath leaves her lips, and when she turns her face to me, there’s a melancholy look there, a look that is just as much joy as it is pain before she speaks. “That was my grandmother.”