Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Dennis
Ana had insisted on walking herself back to Brie and Lucinda, leaving Dennis to hop in his truck and drive to Fixby Hills to get the lumber, then back to the camp, where his dad and Kell were waiting for him to head on over to Nordicbeth.
The taste of her was still on his lips, sugar-sweet and oh, so good.
What a day.
What a damned weird day.
The best day of his life, really, and it included a slap.
But that slap was apparently turning into an apology cake from Miss Lucinda, so if he played his cards right, he could have everyone back on his side and the woman of his dreams.
Could life get any better? If he were a whistling man, he’d be puckered up right now, making all the good sounds.
And tomorrow, if all went as planned, he’d have Ana in his arms, all puckered up and making even better sounds.
“Stop it,” he muttered to himself as he came to a halt at the final stoplight on the edge of town.
Honk!
Behind him, a sea of pink filled his rearview mirror.
His brother, in a police cruiser.
A simple thumbs up got him another beep on the horn, then a text.
He looked at it. Luke, of course.
SCOUNDREL! was all it said.
Great. Just great.
He was headed home to meet up with his dad and Kell, where he would be teased to death. Poor Ana would never see him again. He’d be a no-show for their date because after his siblings finished with him, he’d be just a pile of humiliation and cotton, his clothes turned to burning shreds.
“Hah. They wish,” he said aloud, waving at Luke as the light turned green. Luke followed him, which made him wonder what he was in for at home. Good thing he had to swing by Fixby Hills first.
A new text. Dad.
I grabbed the lumber. Just come home and we’ll head out straight to Nordicbeth.
“Ugh,” he muttered. It would be bad enough facing Kell and Dad, and likely Mom, too. They were probably all at home by now, Colleen with a bowl of popcorn the size of Kansas, Mom sitting with a pot of coffee and a cattle prod.
Had the last ninety minutes really happened?
Dreams never felt real, but this one was.
Skin buzzing, he let the happiness wash over him, months of torment melting away. Ana hadn’t ghosted on him because she didn’t like him.
She’d ghosted because of that sick, manipulative little dirtbag.
Mind racing, he thought of all the ways to find and punish that little piece of shit, but he would hold himself back.
For now.
Ana might have processed what happened and be at peace with it, but Dennis was anything but.
“Don’t give him your energy, man,” he said aloud, repeating one of Rafe’s phrases. His buddy was smart and, like Dennis, a keen observer of humans, but less prone to rage at injustice. Not that Rafe didn’t care. He did.
He just felt the unfairness with a little less sharpness. Rafe knew how to hold it at a distance to leave room for action.
Kissing Ana had felt like the world opened up to him, like his heart walked out from a dungeon into a fresh spring day after a sudden rain, the sun shining down on all the newly washed flowers, sending nothing but love throughout the land.
And he got to have more of her tomorrow.
The drive home also gave him a chance to think about what she’d said about loving Luview. Seriously? How could she like the cheesy town? All the excess he despised was what drew her to this place? Talk about opposites.
How could someone who fit into his heart so perfectly be so… wrong?
Everyone had at least one flaw. Ana certainly was showing him hers.
“Regroup.” He shook his head hard, taking in deep breaths, fast and full, letting them out until he was empty. Nervous system resets were common in the field; he knew how to do it.
Ana had definitely triggered something in him.
Something good.
“She wants the full town treatment, man. Give it to her,” he muttered as he drove the final miles back to the camp.
What would the perfect Love You, Maine date look like?
Red-foil chocolate hearts, of course.
A bouquet of red roses.
Dinner at a Love You restaurant. He’d have to see if Blake and Sheila had any tables available for tomorrow night at The Food Apothecary. Or did Ana like Indian food? Love You India didn’t take reservations.
Worst case, there was Bilbee’s. Although the thought of trying to have a romantic evening in that dump made him groan.
A walk around the hot springs, complete with touching the water at the same time.
“Gag me,” he whispered, imagining his mother finding a nice red shirt he could borrow from Kell to round out the evening.
Maybe he should just get one of those heart costumes from Love You Chocolate and complete his humiliation.
Heart-shaped candy. Red roses. A great dinner on heart-shaped plates. The hot springs.
Done. He knew what to do next.
Turning onto the camp’s dirt road that led to their driveway, he squinted, pulling the visor down as he drove. Sunshine on a weekend was lovely, and it made him think of gorgeous Ana in her sunshine-yellow dress, red flowers and adorable sneakers making him smile.
His heart swelled to three times its normal size.
As he parked, Luke pulled in next to him and climbed out of his cruiser, wearing that stupid red uniform.
“Hey there, Officer Ketchup Bottle.”
Luke’s mouth went flat. “Scoundrel is going to be a great nickname for you, Den.”
“That was all cleared up on the common.”
Luke’s laughter turned to something braying, like a donkey, as Colleen came out from her cottage carrying an actual popcorn bowl.
“You think this mess has been cleared up?” Luke hooted. Ignoring him, Dennis walked into the big lodge. His home here was still rough, and the kitchen had yet to be outfitted properly. The commercial kitchen in the lodge was where almost everyone ate these days, anyway.
He needed caffeine. Now.
“DENNIS!” His mom was standing at the counter, chopping what definitely smelled like garlic.
Enough garlic to keep the entire camp vampire free.
“Yeah?” Unfortunately, the coffee pot was empty, so he quickly threw in a filter, some grounds, and water.
“Oh, goody. Coffee! I could use a nice cup. Let’s sit outside and enjoy it. You can catch me up.”
“Catch you up?”
Colleen appeared in the doorway, hip leaning on the frame, munching away. The big green plastic bowl she ate from was the one their mother always used for card game night.
“Yes, catch us up, dear brother!” she said in a mocking tone. “It’s good to see the golden child fall so hard. And so publicly!”
“You think I’m the golden child?” Thank goodness Colleen gave him a deflection point.
“You’re the one who got away! The only one Mom couldn’t have nearby. Denny could do no wrong!”
“Denny did plenty wrong,” he muttered, wishing he had a time machine so he could accelerate the coffee’s brewing.
“Like knock up that woman.”
“That woman has a name. Ana.”
“Ah-na,” Colleen said with unnecessary precision, “is the woman in red? The one Mom goes on and on about?”
“Mom. Stop.”
“What?” Deanna moved to the large wash basin, washing her hands with foaming soap, then turning around to look at him as she dried them on a towel. “I told Colleen about your woman in red. Can you blame me?”
“Yes.”
“So are you the baby daddy, or not?”
“Not. That was made very clear on the common today. Nobody needs to turn this into some nugget of hot gossip.”
“Nugget? It’s a boulder! An iceberg! A meteor!” Colleen said with great gusto.
“What? Why?”
“Why?” Deanna echoed as Luke appeared, mercifully changed into jeans and a t-shirt. Having a brother who walked around looking like a red wizard didn’t set well with him.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Because you’re so taciturn.”
“And weird,” Colleen added. “Don’t forget the weird part.”
“My business is my business.”
All three of them laughed. His temper was starting to rise.
“Got a problem there, Scoundrel,” Luke said as he crossed in front of Dennis and–damn him–took the first cup of coffee before it finished brewing. “Nadine Khouri was filming that.”
“Yeah? So?”
“Problem is, Nadine didn’t film all of it.”
“Good for her. Maybe she realized it was a private conversation and not fit for public consumption.”
His family was apparently part owl. Every single one of them hooted.
Loudly.
“Not exactly,” Luke clarified. “She stopped at the part where Lucinda was beating you. Now she’s showing it to everyone and they all think you poked a hole in the condom and got Ana pregnant on purpose.”
His mother’s face went somber. “Did that really happen? Some asshole really did that to her?”
Deanna Luview was not one to swear, so the impact of that curse word was huge. Luke’s jaw dropped. Colleen stopped chewing.
And Dennis’s body filled with gratitude.
“Yes. And it’s private. No one else’s business. Miss Lucinda should never have shouted that on the common.”
“She thought you had done it, honey. She was horrified. So was I, for a split second.”
“Why would you be horrified, Mom? Why would you ever entertain, for even a second, the idea that I would do something so shitty?”
“Uncle Denny!”
Everyone turned to find Harriet standing behind them, her face scrunched up in righteous indignation, Magic in her hands.
“You have to pay the swear box!”
Dennis’s shoulders dropped in embarrassment as he fished in his front pocket for a dollar bill. “You’re right. But Gamma said asshole, so she has to pay, too.”
“TWO DOLLARS!” Harriet shouted to him, then turned her ire on her grandmother. “Gamma? Really? You can’t say that word!”
“I said it about a really bad man, Harriet.”
“Daddy takes care of bad people all day for his job and he doesn’t come home and say those words.”
“Not around you, kid,” Dennis murmured near Luke, dropping two bucks in the clear acrylic container with the words SWEAR BOX written in a ten-year-old’s handwriting.
It was pretty full.
“Okay. Good. Now–do you have my five dollars? Magic is healthy and good. I fed him and played with him and his leg is really coming along!”
Dennis found his wallet and gave her a five.
“Thank you. You’re a great sugar glider babysitter.”