Chapter Eighteen #2
“Is it cool?” Sarah asked.
“So cool,” said Denver. “In fact, tomorrow night you all should come out to King’s Crest for dinner, have some barbecue, and
throw some axes. Sheena can give you a demonstration.”
“We didn’t discuss that,” said Sheena.
“I know,” he said, looking unrepentant.
Without thinking she pushed against his shoulder.
And that earned her three very interested looks from her sisters.
Alejandro and Abigail got their car, they loaded up all the bags in both vehicles and they made a caravan headed back toward Pyrite Falls.
Whitney and Sarah peppered Denver with questions about how Four Corners Ranch worked, and he was more than happy to give them
all the information they wanted.
“We have to stop for something,” Denver said, swinging off the freeway so that they could stop at a Target. Inside, he picked
up a fake tree, and a whole bunch of Christmas decorations.
“What are you doing?”
“All of your decorations are in use,” he said. “And you need something. Since you all are staying at your place.”
He was revenge Christmas decorating on her. All that reciprocity again. And it made her chest warm.
“I think you need an elf,” he said, stopping in one of the aisles.
That brought out horrified sounds from her sisters.
“What?” Sheena asked. “You all like the elf.”
“You like the elf,” said Whitney.
“She does,” Denver said. “A lot.”
She grumbled the whole way through the aisle, and he put a Santa hat on her head because he thought it was funny to see her
in one when she was so grumpy. Then he bought the hat, and she ended up wearing it all the way back to the house.
They had bought the ingredients to make cider, and Sarah put it on, along with some Christmas music while they set about to
decorating the small house.
Alejandro was interested in everything. Asking Abigail how it had changed since she had been a kid, getting context for all
the stories that she had undoubtedly told him about her life.
“He seems nice,” Denver said, coming to stand alongside Sheena.
“He does,” said Sheena. “I really hope he is. Because I don’t want to go to prison. But I’m not afraid to.”
“I do like that about you.”
“Thank you.”
“You should have more confidence in yourself, though,” he said. “I don’t think you’d get caught.”
She laughed. She went into the bedroom, and took the presents for her sisters that she had wrapped a couple of weeks ago out
of the top of the closet. Then once the tree was decorated, she put them underneath.
Denver looked at the presents speculatively, but didn’t say anything.
“Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t get you anything.”
“You got me enough,” he said. So only she could hear.
He looked around the room when it was all done, then at her. “I should head back to the ranch. I’ll see you all over there
at some point tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” she said.
He didn’t kiss her goodbye. And she was a little bit disappointed, even though she recognized that he was doing his best to
maintain boundaries, which she would have said that she wanted.
“Well,” Abigail said. “You’re going to have to tell us all about that.”
She sighed. “He’s my boyfriend.”
Her sisters’ shrieks nearly broke her eardrums. She looked at Alejandro, who was clearly confused.
“Sheena doesn’t do relationships,” Abigail said. “And also, he’s this guy that our dad used to run around with. Because his
dad was the boss, and also a criminal. He’s less of a criminal, and actually, he did a lot when we were growing up to try
to help us. In fact, he paid for us to go to college.”
“I’m going to need a longer, more detailed version of that later,” Alejandro said.
“Don’t worry,” Abigail said. “I’ll be sure to draw you a diagram.”
“Your boyfriend,” Whitney said, her eyes big. “Are you going to marry him?”
“Gross,” said Sheena, ignoring the kick in her stomach. “I’m not going to marry him. I just thought it was a nicer way of
saying that I’m sleeping with him. I have to protect your delicate sensibilities and whatever.”
“You like him,” Sarah said.
“Yes. I like him. But . . . that’s all. It’s a casual thing. It’s a . . . Just a thing that will be a thing for as long as it’s a thing.”
“Sure,” Sarah said.
“We believe you,” Whitney said cheerfully.
“Hey,” Abigail said. “I was actually wondering if you still had our yearbooks.”
“Yes,” said Sheena.”
“Still in the bedroom?”
“Yeah, up in the top of the closet.”
“Okay. I just wanted to find something.”
The three sisters went out of the room, leaving her with Alejandro.
“So. You and my sister,” she said.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“I heard you want her to meet your parents.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I . . . While she’s not in here. I wanted to ask you . . . I want to ask her to marry me. But I wanted to
ask you first.”
Sheena felt like she had been punched in the stomach.
“You want to propose?”
“Yeah.”
“And you wanted to ask me?”
“Abigail has told me all about her childhood. It’s really clear to me that you’re the only actual parent that she had.”
She was touched. She was honored. And she was also angry. Her stomach tense, her whole body hollowed out. Because her dad
should’ve cared about this. Should have cared enough to live.
He should have been a better dad. So that he could be here for this. Because Abigail was amazing. She had graduated from high
school, and she had fallen in love. And she was going to live in the ass crack of central California forever.
Which was fine. It was just fine.
And she was healed, which was great. She wasn’t limping around like Sheena, insisting that she was never going to have a permanent
relationship. Because that’s how healed she was, and that was fantastic.
“If my sister wants to marry you,” she said, “then I want her to marry you. You have my permission to grand gesture propose.
It has to be awesome. And the ring has to be great.”
“I promise.”
A few minutes later, the girls came back in, holding yearbooks, and wearing . . . “Are those your prom dresses?”
“Yes,” they said.
She turned to Alejandro. “Are you sure about this?” she asked quietly, so that Abigail, Whitney and Sarah wouldn’t hear over
the sound of their giggling.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.” And he wasn’t looking at Sheena. He only had eyes for Abigail.
Sheena found herself jealous in that moment. Of her own sister. What a stupid . . . what a stupid thing.
But it would be amazing. If somebody would look at her that way.
You don’t want him to.
Yeah. That was what she told herself. And she was pretty good at sticking to her guns. So she wasn’t going to change her mind. She wasn’t.
He didn’t drive home. He drove to Gold Valley. A Hail Mary pass, because it was going to be pretty late by the time he rolled
in. And right when he got to the main street of town, he saw the shop owner reach out and start to turn her sign. He got out
of his truck in a hurry, and walked toward the door.
She stopped.
And then she decided not to turn the sign.
He walked in ready to apologize, but she smiled. “You have perfect timing,” she said.
She was a pretty woman, with sort of a bohemian style, her long blond hair loose. She was wearing a white dress in spite of
the chilly weather.
“It seems like you were just about close,” he said.
“Yes. But I’m always happy to stay open for somebody looking for something last-minute.”
“I need . . . something . . . something . . .” How did he encapsulate Sheena?
“Are you looking for a ring?”
The question caught him off guard. And there was something in his chest that seemed to bump up against his heart. “No. Not
a ring. A necklace. Or a bracelet. A necklace.” Yes. He wanted to see her in a necklace. “She’s . . .” Beautiful. Strong.
Unique. A badass. “Got green eyes.”
“Okay,” the woman said. “I’m Sammy, by the way. Sammy Daniels. The designs are mine, and I make them mostly with local gemstones.
So you can find some things here that are pretty unique. It sounds like she’s unique.”
“You got that from green eyes?”
She shook her head. “No. From the look on your face.”
That nearly knocked him on his ass.
“So the necklace has to be really special,” he said. “Because she is an . . .”
She pulled a piece out from behind the counter. “This one is new. The chain is made to look like a vine. And there’s this
purple stone in the center that represents a flower.”
“It’s like vinca,” he said, rubbing his thumb over the gemstone.
“Kind of,” she said. “Though, a lot of people consider that a weed, so I wouldn’t have used that comparison myself. At least,
not as a sales pitch.”
He shook his head. “No. It’s not a weed. It survives.”
“Do you want me to pull out some more pieces?”
He shook his head. “No. This is perfect. Can you gift wrap it?”
“Yes.”
He stood and waited while she did that. Sheena had bought presents for everybody else, and there was no gift for her under
the tree. He couldn’t have that. Couldn’t stand it.
She needed to have a gift.
Only Whitney and Sarah were staying through Christmas, so he knew that they would be opening presents early. He just needed
her to have this before the Christmas party. Before the grand opening of everything.
She handed him the box, wrapped neatly in silver paper, with a purple bow around the outside.
“Perfect,” he said. “This is absolutely perfect.”
He walked out of the store, and the flashing neon sign of the tavern down the way caught his eye.
It reminded him, just suddenly, of Vegas.
That almost made him laugh. One neon sign on a tiny main street in a small town was hardly like Las Vegas.
But that one flash of memory. That one, clear reminder set his brain along the path that it always went when he thought of
his past.
And everything was blurry. Because it had always been blurry there. Booze and anything else he could find to numb himself.
He could so easily see himself at that table. Chattering. The way that he did, to put everybody off.
Mundane trivia. Pretending that he was interested in what they had to say.
Yeah. He was just as good at bullshit as his dad.
Made everybody think he was their friend before he took all their money and ran.
He tightened his hand around the necklace.
Sheena needed a Christmas present. So he had gotten her a Christmas present. That was all this was.
And they were . . .
It was Christmas, and her sisters were here. He wasn’t going to get tripped up in his own head.
He got into his truck, and drove away from the store, the necklace sitting in the center of the seat.
And for the whole drive, he just did his best to think about nothing.