Chapter 7
Seven
Mackenzie
You could fall on your face, roll down a hill, get covered in bee stings, and Scottie would still think you float instead of walk and a golden glow surrounds your incomparable beauty.
"I can't believe this actually worked!" Joanne smacked my arm.
"Violence is not the answer, sister." Travis scolded. He worked for ODX and was generally chronically outside. Which was why I requested he meet us for lunch at the Green Door.
Scott asked me out and I said yes. Of course I said yes. But I should have known that a date with Scott wouldn't be boring or normal. There would be no picnic lunches by the river or fancy dinners at fancy restaurants. Nope. Instead we were going hiking. Tomorrow. Joanne cleared my schedule and Scott took the day off entirely.
I was still anxious about the future, but my nervous energy flew the coop this morning over the sweetest breakfast of my life. I mean, the man made me yogurt. Made. Me. Yogurt. In his home. With ingredients. Who did that? No one. But Scott did it for me and I finally, fully understood that this wasn't an elaborate joke or wild idea he was chasing.
The man was serious and so I was jumping in with both feet. "I'm going to ignore that you manipulated me into this situation because I'm actually very happy right now and I refuse to let your betrayal rain on my parade."
Joanne slumped in the chair. "You already punished me by convincing Scottie to ban me from mac and cheese bites."
It was a surprisingly effective method of payback.
I turned to Travis. "I need your expertise. I like fishing but I haven't touched a rod in a decade." Hiking I had covered but I didn't want to make a fool of myself when it came to fishing.
"Scottie's not taking you out to assess your skills. If anything, it's to show off his ." He cupped his glass with his giant paw of a hand. Travis was built for the outdoors. He hiked, kayaked, climbed, if it was something you could do outdoors, he was good at it.
Most of the girls we grew up with thought he was the hottest guy in town, but to me he was Joanne's brother, which made him my brother, which made him gross.
"So I should tell Scott how incredible he is?" I said it all breathy and high-pitched while batting my lashes.
"Not with that fake-ass voice. Have you met Scottie? He has a crazy bullshit detector. You say crap like that and he's going to dump your ass before the date's over."
Another thing I liked about Scott: he was genuine. He was also kind to the book club. He called them murderous little book nerds, which sounded bad, but he said it with such affection that it made me fall a little harder. "So enjoy the hike, let the fishing be what it is, and hope there's a spark?"
"There's a spark," Joanne snorted into her mug.
How was everyone so sure about this?
Travis threw an arm around his sister's shoulders. "What my annoying little sister is trying to say is that everyone in this town thought the two of you would be married by now. Maybe some little kids running around your ankles. There isn't one soul who missed the way you two pined after each other."
"I didn't pine. There was no pining."
"You pined. He pined. You remember who he took to senior prom?"
I tried but couldn't. "Maisy Smith?"
"Nope. No one. You know why? Because you were the only one he wanted to ask."
"It wasn't like he was an adult and I was a child. Two years is not that big of a deal."
"It was to him." Travis finished his iced tea and set it aside. "That's how much he cares about you. He'd rather be your friend, be there for you, than do anything to hurt you. Even if it tears him up in the process."
"I'm going to need him to stop being so friendly," I grumbled.
Travis flashed his killer smile. "I believe that's his plan."
"You're not a teenager anymore," Joanne added. "You are a grown woman who knows what she wants. Throw your old dynamics out the window and start over fresh."
I blinked at my best friend. "Well now, look who is using that psychology minor?"
She stuck her tongue out at me and looked up at her brother. "The whole gang is going to be back together soon. Huk is on his way to town. We're giving him the barn on the Golden Hour property to bunk in."
Travis's whole face lit up. "Bastard hasn't come home in over a year. We're going hiking and climbing and rafting—"
"We get it." Joanne shrugged his arm away. "You're going to spend all your time with Huk and forget all about me."
Travis smacked a big wet kiss on her cheek, making her shriek. "I love it when you're jealous."
"You are so gross. Go to the woods and don't come back!"
"I thought you just said you didn't want me to go at all."
I rolled my eyes at their teasing. Having surrogate siblings was the best. I got the perks of a more intimate relationship with people close to my age but whenever they got to be too much I could retreat to my only-child corner.
"You can always come with us. Be one of the guys," Travis offered.
Joanne pulled a face. "I am good with hanging out, but I am absolutely not ever going on one of your caveman adventures. Nope."
"So it's a no?" he asked dryly.
"Look, I'm excited all the lost boys will be together again. I'm happy for you and I'm really happy for Karis to have some support. I never liked Julien."
"Awww." Travis pulled Joanne into a hug that absolutely swallowed her whole. "Love you too, kiddo."
"Do not call me kiddo!" Her voice was muffled by his shirt and muscles.
"Don't suffocate her," I laughed.
"She can last a lot longer than this." But he let her go anyway, smoothing her hair and pinching her cheek.
"You are such an ogre!"
I sipped my tea and nibbled on a truffle fry. "Any other advice for me?"
He took an enormous bite of his cheeseburger and magically swallowed it after only a few moments. It was truly remarkable how giant men ate food. "For hiking and fishing? Not really. Just have fun. If you don't know how to do something, ask for help. It's not a test. It's an adventure."
I had a feeling everything with Scott was an adventure. "What about the man?"
Travis examined me for a moment like he was trying to work out how honest to be with me. I didn't blame him. I had been gone for a long time and Scott was his best friend. My “little sister” status was still relocating its legs.
He ran his tongue over his teeth and sighed. "He's the same guy he's always been, just older and wiser. Taking over the saloon matured him more than he already was."
"He was always kind of an old soul, wasn't he?"
"Sure is. He still watches over us, he's still the best friend anyone could ask for. You need help? He's there. Having a bad day? He'll whip up your favorite meal and tuck you into his sofa with a game controller. He's a grump but he's our grump."
Joanne nodded along with every point. "And he's only ever been head over heels for you. I promise you can do no wrong."
"You could fall on your face, roll down a hill, get covered in bee stings, and Scottie would still think you float instead of walk and a golden glow surrounds your incomparable beauty." Travis stuck a fry in his mouth and dared me to deny it.
"Don't you feel that way about him?" Joanne asked quietly. "If he was covered in bee stings would you still think he was handsome?"
"Of course I would."
Joanne grinned. "She admits she's attracted to him!"
"I heard they smacked lips last night and they were so into it they could have powered the town." He popped another fry while Joanne swung her gaze my way, mouth hanging open.
"Whhhhhaaaaat?"
The boys hadn't glanced my way when I said goodbye so here I thought they hadn't noticed our little disappearing act. Instead, apparently, we'd had an audience. "I mean, technically we did kiss. Yes."
Joanne was speechless. Travis was highly amused.
I wanted to crawl under the table. I knew gossip spread fast in this town, but damn.
"I'll give you some different advice." Travis waved a fry at me. "The only person more gossipy than your aunt is Digger."
"Does everyone know?" Was my aunt about to come careening around a corner looking for details?
He shook his head. "That's a lost boys thing. We may gossip, but we keep it tight."
"How is this the first I'm hearing of it?" Joanne squeaked.
Travis just grinned as I glared. "I was hoping to keep our private moment private."
"Well it's not private anymore. Dish!"
If I didn't start talking Joanne was going to lunge across the table and yank it out of me. I blushed scarlet. Even thinking about the kiss made me want to combust. Who knew pressing your lips against someone else's lips could cause such a deeply physical reaction?
Not me. I'd had my fair share of lovely kisses but not one of them could hold a flame to the one I experienced last night.
"Oh wow. Oh wow! This is really happening!" Joanne bounced in her seat and clapped. "You don't need to say a word. It's written all over your face."
"It really is," Travis agreed. "And on that note, I'm going to leave before you two go all girly on me. Have fun tomorrow, Mack." He gave my shoulder a squeeze as he moved towards the ODX offices.
"I'm as red as a tomato, aren't I?"
"It's starting to fade. You're more of a pink flamingo at the moment."
"It was a really good kiss."
She nodded once. "Did you really expect anything less?"
I shrugged. "I haven't thought about kissing Scott in years. I fully admit I fantasized about it several times in high school and even college. I was so sure he didn't see me like that. It's taking me a minute to catch up to what everyone else has apparently known all along."
"I don't know why he listened to his mom. His parents weren't even around enough to parent. Their opinions on everything should be thrown out the window."
I suspected the lack of parenting was why Scott assumed the parent role with his friends. It never occurred to me that it might have affected him in other ways. "It's one of the only times she actually parented. It must have hit him hard."
" Hmph ." Joanne slouched down in her seat.
"I appreciate you being mad on my behalf. Tell me something going on with you so I can return the favor." To my complete surprise Joanne blanched and slid further down in her seat. "What is going on here?" I waved my finger. "Something is going on."
She whimpered. "There is a thing." Then she glanced around at our exposed surroundings. The check was paid and the food was eaten but there were other diners two tables over. "Let's shop for books."
"Twist my arm."
The bell to the Tbr Pile jingled as we stepped inside. Willow waved from the back of the shop and two customers mingled in the graphic novel section, but it was otherwise empty. We beelined for Romance. "Explain yourself," I hissed.
Joanne plucked a Kate Canterbary novel off the shelf and started flipping pages. "I have a...a situation developing and Travis cannot find out about it."
I blinked. Then I blinked some more. Joanne never kept her boyfriends away from Travis. She liked watching them squirm. Her reasoning was that any man good enough for her wouldn't be intimidated by Travis.
It was sound reasoning.
If she didn't want this guy around her brother at all... "What does that mean?"
She gulped, leaned even closer, and whispered so quietly I had to strain to hear anything at all. "Noah is back."
It took a moment for those three little words to sink in and make sense. I jerked back and stared at my best friend. "Has your brain been hijacked like Peeta's in The Hunger Games ?"
"It was in Catching Fire and no."
I glared at her for nitpicking my question. Noah Harding was Joanne's high school sweetheart. They were essentially one person and everyone thought they'd be together forever. Until they weren't. Travis, Scott, Digger, and Huk drove him out of town, never to be seen or heard from again. Joanne's heart was so broken I worried about us being apart when we started college.
"What do you mean he's back?" I whispered louder than I probably should have.
She licked her lips. "He's living near Lost Lake. I ran into him at the Bigfoot Ren Faire a couple of months ago."
My eyes could have popped out of my head and rolled away. "I know you didn't just get all territorial about me not telling you about kissing Scott last night and you're over here sitting on this?"
She twisted the poor paperback in her hands. "I know. I know. But it's not like that. We're just talking. He's so sorry for breaking up with me the way he did."
"He broke up with you by getting caught with Lorna Lopez's tongue in his mouth."
"We were eighteen and stupid. I was fantasizing about our wedding and our white picket fence, for heaven's sake. I look back now and wonder what I was thinking. It's been good to get some closure."
And if Travis found out Noah was within a hundred miles of Lost Creek he would punch Noah's face in and then boot him to the moon.
Willow shot us a curious look, so I picked up a Kennedy Ryan novel and pretended to read the back cover. "I'm here, okay? Talk to me."
"Are you going to talk to me ?"
"Obviously."
"Good."
"Well now that that's settled," a familiar arm snaked between us to pluck another book off the shelf, "I say we read a romance next. I want something spicy." Aunt Sharon wiggled her shoulders.
I swear that woman could sneak up on a tiger and it wouldn't even know until it was too late. How much she heard, I had no idea, but if she knew what was best for everyone involved, she'd keep that knowledge to herself. I watched her flip the pages as her words finally sank in.
"Wait, This Book Club Is My Alibi only reads murder mysteries."
She grinned. "And you don't like it very much so we're starting a second book club. We're calling it Read What You Love," she made an arc through the air with her hand. "And we'll read through several genres. It just has to be something one of us really loves. I'm picking first, naturally."
"Naturally."
"And the opposite of death is Romance," she said matter-of-factly.
"Let's read this one." Joanne held up the book she was demolishing in her hands.
"Is it spicy?" Maeve joined us.
"Her books usually are, yes."
"Perfect!" She plucked the other copy off the shelf. "Next month we'll read a historical. My pick!"
I shook my head and laughed. "You two just run around however you want to."
"Of course we do, dear." Aunt Sharon smiled sweetly. "That's how you get what you want."
And it was right then that I realized why Scott and Sharon had a love-hate relationship. They went about life in their own ways, but they attacked it with the same absolute certainty.