3. Meredith
CHAPTER 3
Meredith
W ell, that hadn’t gone the way I expected, but I probably handled it badly. In my defense, I hadn’t thought the gift my family and friends gave me shit for was actually a thing, and I certainly never expected it to work on myself.
How damn ironic.
Tuevo hightailed it out of there so fast it was like he was on the ice, skating toward the goal, a breakaway with the puck with two seconds left on the clock and one chance to score a game-winning goal.
“Well, shit,” I whispered.
Caleb’s hand landed on my shoulder, shaking me without even meaning to, he was just that strong. “Want me to go talk to him? Explain?”
I shook my head and took a sip of my drink. “No. That’s okay. Probably could have handled that better. You mad?”
“What? That you’re going to marry my friend someday? Only that we’re now rivals, which means I’ll see you even less.”
I chuckled, took another sip of my drink, and rested my head against his shoulder.
I was lucky. My family loved me and while my brothers were ultra-protective of me, they’d never once thrown down the cliché, patriarchal, and bullheaded boy shit of no friend can date my sister. No guy I know is good enough for her . The first time they ever hinted at it, my mom and dad both gave them shit. “What kind of asshole friends are you spending time with then? Maybe you’re the one who should stay away from them.”
That had shut both Caleb and Cameron up right away. Because they knew. They were good guys. Would never be friends with guys who treated women like second-class citizens who should still not own their own checking accounts and all that bullshit. My dad had hauled them off to the field, and they’d come home exhausted, dirtier than I’d ever seen any of them, and both of them had muttered, “You’re smart enough to love whoever you choose. Sorry we doubted you.”
And that was it.
“You should know, though, the reason I thought this was so damn funny is that Tuevo absolutely despises the idea of marriage. Says he’ll never do it, ever, under any circumstances.”
“Then maybe I’m wrong.” I could have been. Maybe all I was feeling was an extra dose of pheromones or something from being so particular when it came to men. I wanted to date a guy like my brothers or my dad. Charles Kelley set the bar high in what to look for in a man, and both of my parents stressed to all of us the benefits of waiting until we really cared about people before being intimate. I didn’t come from an abstinence only family, but one who thought that physical intimacy was a connection you didn’t hand to every hot girl with big boobs or any guy who complimented you.
I’d taken it to heart. I might have been a party girl and an adventurer, but the partners I’d had so far were slim.
But that feeling I got when I saw Tuevo in person? It was the same sensation I had every other time I told someone they were a perfect match.
It’d been happening to me since I was a little girl and would see strangers in a grocery store or at a restaurant. My parents accepted my weirdness.
Tuevo was going to be a completely different story.
“Where would he have gone?” I asked Caleb.
“If he didn’t charge back to the hotel, he’s on the roof, probably scowling in a dark corner somewhere. He’ll be back when he cools down.”
Well, great. I was really screwing this up left and right.
“Here.” Hailey pressed her fingers to the bottom of my whiskey sour until the straw tapped my bottom lip. “Drink.”
I sucked on the straw on instinct. “I don’t need you to bottle feed me like I’m a baby.”
“Then stop pouting like one. You’re a pro at shoving your foot in your mouth. Today’s no different.”
I rolled my eyes at my best friend, who I currently hated but who made several excellent points. I was known to leap without looking. So I’d screwed up, blurted the first thing that came to mind. In three minutes of meeting Tuevo, I’d messed up more than once.
Whatever. I was probably wrong anyway.
But I’d do what Caleb said, give him time to cool down and then go to apologize. Hopefully by the end of the night, we’d be laughing this off. Become friends like he wanted. Caleb would go back to Colorado with my brothers and Tuevo would stay here.
I’d probably never see him again.
“How’s the ranch?” I asked Dalton. Because if anything could get my mind off the mess I’d just created it was talk of home.
I couldn’t wait to get away from the small town, but I missed the hell out of it.
“Dad’s being a stubborn ass. Profits are up, we’re doing better than most, and we’ve had a couple good years of weather and healthy cattle. I’m trying to talk Dad into working on the succession plan, but he’s still refusing to let go.”
“How’s Bryce handling that?”
Out of the six of us, Bryce and my dad were the ones who constantly went head-to-head. He might have only been nineteen, but he’d lived and breathed that land his entire life. The problem was, he didn’t want to follow in Dalton’s footsteps and work it. He wanted to do other things with it. Expand outside of cattle. The last plan he put together involved a small petting zoo and an onsite brewery.
The kid wasn’t even old enough to drink yet, although it wasn’t like that stopped him.
“The kid’s head is in the clouds, Mere. He’s pissed. With Gavin gone now at Colorado, it’s just Bryce and me and Dad, and I had to take Bryce out to the creek last week and chuck him in it to cool him down.”
He tore off his worn, University of Colorado ball cap, swiped his forehead, and then readjusted the hat on his head. “Kid’s gonna give us all a heart attack someday.”
“Go easy on him. He’s trying to make his mark and it’s not easy following you three especially.” Lord knew what Gavin would end up doing, but I doubted he’d stray far from the land or the town.
“You made it just fine.”
“Yeah,” I snorted. “Because I’m here . It’s hard growing up in your shadows, and Bryce is still young.”
“He’s nineteen.”
“Exactly. One year into adulthood.”
“And when I was his age?—”
“Nope.” I threw my hand up. “Don’t start that. You were groomed from the day you could say cow to take over that land. I’m thrilled for the family you want it, but that’s been your birthright since Mom peed on a stick and you know it. Bryce is different. Ease up on him. And would it really hurt to consider any of his ideas? Give him a plot of land. Let him sink or swim. Might as well try now when there’s two of the best men around to teach him.”
Dalton’s nose twitched like he smelled sour milk. “College is making you too damn smart. You should move back home.”
“When the Tennessee rivers run dry is when I’ll head home.”
A soft, sad smile pushed through his beard. “Then I’ll start praying for a drought.”
He threw his arm around me, yanked me to his side, and kissed the top of my head. “Miss you, baby sis.”
I wrapped my arms around my oldest brother. “I miss you too. But stop being so grumpy all the time. I need you around for a while.”
“I’m twenty-six.”
“Practically ancient,” I teased. He went to swat at me, and I ducked, laughing before he could make contact with the back of my head.
His chin tipped up. “You really stepped in a pile of manure with Tuevo, you know.”
“Thanks for the reminder.”
“Go apologize. He’s Caleb’s best friend, and he’ll be bummed his friend isn’t around us tonight to celebrate. If you need us to explain the magic shit that goes on around you, we’ve got your back, you know. Always.”
A lump lodged in my throat. Damn, I missed my brothers. Phone calls and annual visits weren’t enough.
I turned to Hailey. “You going to be okay if I go find Tuevo for a few minutes?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure your brothers will keep me out of trouble.”
I kissed her cheek. “Be back as fast as possible.”
“Make sure you bring your fiancé back with you.”
She laughed. Caleb and Cameron joined her.
My family and friends were the best.
They were also idiots.
Caleb wasn’t wrong.
As soon as I reached the rooftop level of the bar, I went as far away as I could from both the music stage and the bar. Passed the bar and around the corner, there was a roof overhang that shadowed most of the area. There were no tables out there, standing area only with a drink ledge at the railing that overlooked a side street off Broadway. There was no point in putting furniture out there because who wanted to not be able to see the stage or people watch?
Tuevo Skyye apparently, because he was there, elbows resting on the railing, two hands cupping a bottle of beer. One foot was crossed over the other and the way he was bent slightly forward, head down, ball cap now spun around facing the front and tugged lower over his eyes, his ass looked amazing in his jeans.
Not Wranglers. Definitely not country guy, Tuevo was known in the social media stratosphere for being a jerk on and off the ice but had a wicked fashion sense. Those jeans probably cost more than one head of cattle during a high-profit season.
But they sure did make his ass look good.
I wasn’t immune to him. I’d seen his pictures. I’d seen him wave hello as he walked behind Caleb during a FaceTime call. And I was certainly one of the hundreds of women who stalked his social media pages. He was sexy. No doubt about it. I just hadn’t thought the attraction I felt when I looked at those pictures like any other fan girl would have turned into the disaster I created. And all because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
He turned his head in my direction and didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see me standing there, checking him out.
“You going to stand there and stare at me all night?”
There was the tiniest bit of amusement in his voice.
“It’s a nice view.”
He huffed, shook his head, and with the smallest jerk of his head gestured for me to join him. “So wanna tell me what that was about down there?”
“I’m surprised Caleb never said anything.”
My brothers liked to whip out my gift, as they called it, like a party trick.
“He’s always said you’re awesome and a whole lot crazy.”
“He’s not wrong.”
I settled at the railing with him. Standing next to him, that same sense I had when I first saw him downstairs hit me again. It rolled over me like a warm blanket on a snowy Colorado night, but this time, I forced myself not to react.
Since he was still wearing that amused, only slightly irritated quirk of his lips, I continued. “The story goes, one day when I was six, I was at the grocery store with my mom. We passed a couple in the cereal aisle, a man and a woman. Out of nowhere, I said, ‘you shouldn’t be married to him.’”
“No shit?” Tuevo laughed and took a pull from his beer. “Why?”
“I have no idea. I just got this feeling.” I laughed, remembering the look of horror on my mom’s face. “My mom slapped her hand over my mouth and practically dragged me out of the store. We got to the car and she kept asking me why would I say that, and asking what had I heard. Who had told me. That kind of thing.”
“Can you blame her?”
“No, not now.” Their names were Marie and Bill Eckston. I’d never forget them. Mostly because ten years later, Marie showed up at my parents’ house to give me a hug. “What I didn’t know then because I was six , was that Bill beat Marie. Everyone in town knew, and her family had never wanted her to marry him. Kept trying to get her away from him. I had no idea, but I saw them, and I can’t explain it, but felt an ugliness about them. She left him six weeks later after he shattered her nose and broke two of her ribs.”
“Holy shit.” Tuevo tore off his hat, resettled it, and then twisted, settling his hip against the drinking ledge. “So what? As a kid you magically call out one abuser and now you have some gift?”
“I’m not always right. It’s not like I’m psychic. I just get these feelings. There’s no way to explain it and have it make logical sense.”
“And your feeling tells you we’re getting married.”
“Not tomorrow. I’m not psychotic either.” There was doubt in his eyes. Anger almost as he pushed his bottom jaw forward and ground his teeth together. His lips pulled back into a sneer before he sighed.
“And if I tell you that I have no intention of ever getting married? To anyone? Regardless of how beautiful I think they might be?”
A flush of warmth invaded my chest, then sent a flash of pain tumbling and twisting through me. The way he looked at me, the way his eyes dropped to my body and slowly rose again, forced me to keep my knees locked so I didn’t fall over. Or throw myself at him.
By the time he met my gaze again, there was no hiding the blush on my cheeks. But I wasn’t some simpering fool. I could have pushed him on the foolish thing I’d said. I never considered I’d meet someone and blurt it out like that, but I hadn’t been able to stop myself. I could also go on with my record of predicting perfect matches, but that wouldn’t mean anything to him.
And really, there was no point. Fate would decide the rest. The rest of the night should be about my brother and Tuevo and seeing my family again.
So with a laugh, I said, “So you think I’m beautiful.”