Chapter 20
TWENTY
“About that drink?” Rae was out of breath, coming straight off the dance floor and spinning into my solitude.
Alpine’s only bar was a brown brick building sandwiched between a pharmacy and a dentist’s office.
The scuff on the hardwood floor was noticeable even in the low, red mood lighting.
People packed inside, gathering in groups like clusters of wildflowers.
Tonight, everyone dressed in color and wore cowboy motifs on their belts, sweaters, and boots.
I stood out in my simple white top and basic jeans.
I’d kept to a standing table smashed against the wall, taking in the line dancing and how easily Rae floated across the room.
One moment, she had the bartender leaning all the way over the bar just to say ‘hi’ to her.
And the next she danced with the mayor, the mayor’s daughter, and then the mayor’s sister.
All of whom watched her fly to the next patch of flowers with longing.
In one night, Rae and Co. spoke to more townspeople than I’d done since moving here. They were flames, beckoning moths with a special brand of newness.
Rae’s dark brown skin shimmered in body oil and a light brush of glitter on her collarbones.
She wore an off-the-shoulder white top, a colorful tiered skirt that boasted no less than a thousand layers, and cowboy boots with floral embroidery.
A beaded vest that buttoned up tight enough to mimic the support of a corset depicted horses running free in the countryside.
It took a concentrated effort to only admire the delicate work of the orange-beaded sunset and not the soft curve of her cleavage.
“What?” The blaring music, the chatty people, and the overwhelm of her smile being directed toward me were more than enough to make English sound like utter nonsense.
“I wanted to buy you a drink.” Rae leaned over, trying to make herself clearer. She touched my hand while doing it, as if her words would transform into some telepathic message.
My mind became more muddled. “I have one.”
A sweating bottle of lemonade sat before me, my only company for the night. Not even my brother seemed interested in wallflower duties. He’d left my side as soon as the rest did, finding himself in conversation with some guy who owned a pumpkin patch and sold candles to a boutique shop in Italy.
“Something to eat, then?” Rae asked.
“Is your ankle feeling better?”
Her brows wrinkled. “Sorry, what?”
“You’ve been dancing.” It was all I’d been able to concentrate on. The way she’d taken someone else’s hand and tugged them onto the dance floor. The way she spun and sang and laughed. And how she’d leaned her head back, exposing her neck and every perfect angle of her body.
Her smile’s knowing. “You’ve been watching.”
I scoffed, having to focus hard on keeping my voice steady. “Not much else to do.”
I’d watched with an embarrassing desire to have been the one she asked. Because I would have done more than anyone else in this building to make sure people didn’t bump into her while she moved.
I would have done a better job carving out a space for her to do as many spins and dips as she wanted.
I would have pulled her against my chest when the crowd got too thick, and she needed a second to catch her breath against something stable.
“My ankle’s better. Barely a twinge anymore.” She fanned herself with her hand as she spoke. The beads of sweat trickling across her chest looked delicious.
“Still…be careful. Take it easy,” I spoke into my lemonade before taking a sip.
Rae’s gaze lingered on my neck as I drank. “You worried about me?”
“I don’t like seeing anyone in pain.”
She pressed the back of her thumb to her bottom lip, as if she were trying to figure out what to say. Before she found the words, the sharp feedback from the mic disrupted the music.
“Boo!” someone in the crowd yelled in disapproval when the playlist cut off, and the lights turned on to a harsh white overhead beam.
“Alright, alright,” Maggie Rainwood stepped onto an upside-down box someone had placed on stage for her. “I thought you all might like the idea of winning some money today, but maybe I was wrong?”
The crowd cheered, and energy quickly shifted. Maggie’s smile widened.
“Yeah, I figured.” She gestured to someone at the bar to turn the music down a bit. A live banjo started playing, and Maggie pulled out a cowboy hat the size of Texas. “We’re here tonight to see who’s got the biggest and baddest crew in the business.”
I pressed my lips together, swallowing a laugh.
Since this was my first event in town, I tried not to judge too much.
My lack of enjoyable social experiences tainted my perspective on everything community-based.
I would have excused myself much earlier if Rae wasn’t all light and wonder.
Going back home to Elmwood’s quiet sounded almost torturous when I knew she’d be here using that deep voice to make everyone in contact want to melt.
“Be right back.” Rae squeezed my hand before hurrying to the side of the stage where groups of people gathered. I opened my mouth, almost asking what she was doing before remembering she’d bought tickets for this.
“You think they have a chance at winning?” Wilson was at my elbow, eyes dancing with amusement as he watched the costume contestants line up.
I scanned the competition. One “crew” wore vampire costumes, with bloody teeth dripping down their brown fringe vests. A family I’d seen twice in Rainwood’s were zombie cowfolk, “brains” tucked inside their holsters.
“With just colors?” I asked and shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
Somehow, Rae and her team had found the time to find outfits fit for a rodeo. What they lacked in story, they made up for in layers of rainbows and laces. They looked beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But they weren’t exactly telling a story.
“First crew,” Maggie announced while looking at her phone. “The Bloodsucking Gunslingers.”
The crowd cheered and whistled as they climbed onto the stage.
“Hope you’re wrong,” Wilson leaned over to say. “I spent way too much time mending those wings.”
I leaned down, trying to hear him better. “Wings?”
“Next up, we have some of our new friends in town,” Maggie said. “They go by…?”
She frowned at her phone. December hurried onto the stage, her flowy dress with a lacy train billowing behind her. She whispered into Maggie’s ear before running back off to prepare for their entrance.
“The Demon-Slaying Fae,” Maggie laughed around the words.
I stood on my toes, trying to see over the few people who’d filtered in to block my view.
The struggle to see didn’t last long as the team climbed onto the stage.
Wings adorned their backs. Each set wass wider than their shoulders, decorated in beads and jewels.
My laugh was one of awe. They were colorful fae with cowboy hats.
The wings looked powerful enough to carry them in flight.
“You have to give us a three-sixty.” Maggie’s mouth remained wide open as Rae and her team spun. The crowd cheered at the display of artistry. I clapped along with them, placing two fingers under my tongue to whistle.
Rae’s gaze somehow found mine. She raised a brow, questioning what I thought. I shook my head, unable to communicate how everything from how she walked, talked, got people excited, and made people feel safe had me willing to do any and every single thing she asked of me.
I simply whistled again, and she did an extra spin that was just for me.
“There you are!” The spurs on Rae’s boots clicked as she made her way over the railing where I leaned. She brought with her the smell of whisky and clung to a folded-up check.
“Hey.” I smiled when she unfolded the check and did a spin while holding it over her head. Her wings were still on, glittering like a stream under a full moon.
“Why do I keep having to find you?” she asked.
After an hour of surviving the constant hum of overlapping voices, I decided I’d done enough socializing to earn a breath of fresh air. The bar had a weather-worn porch. Colorful flags from various states and countries lined the roof, flapping halfway down the porch.
“This sometimes feels more painful than work to me.” I nudged my chin toward the bar. “Being outside and around so many people.”
Her smile faded. “You’re not having fun.”
“No…I wouldn’t say that.”
Rae snorted. “Would you dance with me?”
I laughed under my breath. Rae smiled, and before I could voice my refusal, she lamented, “You won’t dance, you won’t drink, you won’t talk to strangers unless it’s a means to an end.”
Rae released an exaggerated sigh as if she’d been hunting for something important for ages. “What do you do for fun?” she asked, and before I could answer, she quickly added, “And don’t say riding horses. That’s one thing.”
“One very fun thing,” I countered. I couldn’t hold back my smile when she rolled her eyes.
It was easy to lump real-life Rae back into that framework of poster-woman Rae.
Plushie Rae. Stage Rae. The woman in front of me was all that and more, fearlessly unfolding before me.
For a moment, I ached to be more like her.
Ached to share. To be in a sort of communion with someone else without fear of being rejected.
“It’s a very fun thing that’s tied to your job,” Rae reminded me.
“And what do you do?” I challenged. “If not things that are also tied to your job?”
“Hobbies.”
I raised a brow, unconvinced. “Like?”
“I canoe.”
“You canoe?” I couldn’t help but look her up and down. I couldn’t imagine that fresh set of nails and tailored pants climbing in a thin boat and cutting through rushing waters.
Rae tilted her chin up slightly at my disbelief.
But where there probably should have been offense was amusement.
The smile playing on her glossy lips slipped a hook into my heart.
Just a corner piece. Something I could easily nudge out.
I left it there for the time being. If poison laced it, I was screwed.
“That’s surprising?” Rae rested her hands on the railing and leaned over, closing some of the distance between us. A bit of her wing brushed against my shoulder. My gaze flickered down to her waist and the peek of skin revealed as her top rode up.
“I hunt ghosts for a living across all fifty states, and canoeing is something I’m incapable of?” Rae asked.
“I didn’t say you were incapable.” I swallowed, my throat gone dry after a rogue breeze carried her smoky scent to me.
“Not in so many words,” she teased.
“You just…don’t look like you enjoy getting dirty.” I shrugged.
“Wow, well, now I have to fix this gross bit of disinformation.” She tsked, her smile ever-present. “What do you say about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?”
“You and me, the open water? My chance at changing the narrative?” she asked. “The DJ’s related to the Rainwoods. He said I could use his access to Boulder Lake any time I wanted. He has canoes.”
My brows furrowed. “How did you have time to talk to the DJ about his canoes?”
“I’m a busybody. Hazard of the trade.”
“Impressive.”
“Say yes.” She feigned a desperate plea, her eyes growing bigger and more wanting than the moon. “It’ll be fun.”
“Lots of things on land are fun.”
“Yes, but I’m really good at things in the water, so I need that leg up,” she said. “A fair shot at impressing you.”
“I think the moment you fended off a demon from ripping my flesh from my body was impressive enough,” I whispered.
“Yeah, well, that was an accident,” she whispered back and winked.
“Right. Very comforting to be reminded.”
“This time my protection won’t be accidental.”
“I don’t think it ever should, considering your choice of career.”
Rae laughed and offered me her hand. Or, at least, I thought she was offering it to me. But instead of shaking, she leaned into me, using my stability to help her swing her leg over the railing. She straddled it, swinging her feet back and forth as she handed me the check.
I accepted it, assuming she wanted to brag a bit. “Nice work. You all look amazing. What are you going to do with your prize money?”
“Read who it’s made out to?”
I frowned and looked closer at the cursive writing. Before, I’d only noted the three zeroes. This time I saw the name of my ranch.
“Why is…?” I blinked, rereading.
“A gift.” Rae beamed. “We wanted to be in the competition for fun and figured the prize could help buy a few things around the ranch.”
“I can’t take your money.” I tried to give it back.
Rae held up her hand, blocking the offer. “We don’t need it. I don’t need it. And if it helps, think of it as a coupon. You’re still paying me for our services. This could go to that. I know things are tight because of how long you’ve been working on reopening the ranch.”
My throat tightened at the thoughtfulness. I wrinkled my nose and looked away from her for a second.
“Thank you, Rae,” I murmured. “I really…thanks. I appreciate the help.”
“I’m not the only person who’d do it, you know,” she said gently. “Help you here.”
My forehead wrinkled as I met her gaze again.
Rae jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. “Everyone I spoke to in there seemed thrilled for you and Elmwood’s opening.
A couple of us were bouncing around ideas with Wilson for Halloween events.
I think I have a few event and marketing ideas that could boost visibility during your opening month…
all of this would obviously take place an appropriate amount of time after we fix everything. ”
I laughed, my cheeks hurting from smiling at the excitement rolling off her. “Of course. And that would be great, thank you.”
“It’s my bread and butter.” She shrugged. “They’re nice here.”
“You’re nice,” I corrected. “And good with people. Them. They love you already.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know whatever it is that’s got you locked in that beautiful head of yours. But I promise you, I’m not doing anything special. Alpine’s a nice community. You chose well.”
“I chose Elmwood,” I reminded her, pausing for a second when a couple of guys stumbled out of the bar. They started down the street, singing and swaying as they walked home. “And it’s not exactly a winner.”
“Once I’m through with it, it will be.” Rae smiled.
I couldn’t help but smile back. Her gaze flickered to my lips for a second, lingering on them as she spoke.
“Back to fun. Do we have a deal?” She stuck her hand out for a shake. I hesitated to accept it, feeling self-conscious about my calloused hands scratching her soft palms.
“Deal?”
“A canoe date.”
“Right,” was all I could say as my mind scrambled for reasons not to say yes. To not want to close the distance between us and bury my face into Rae’s collarbone like I’d wanted to when she held me against her in the salt circle. Except this time, I wouldn’t be looking for just comfort.
“Octavia?” Rae asked, brow pulled down and wrinkling her smooth forehead.
“A date,” I squeaked, trying to rid myself of the image of her hips on mine underneath piles of sheets. “Sure.”