Chapter 9
"And that was when I knew we were in big trouble." Daniel gave a dramatic shudder.
Grace burst out laughing, and Gabe joined her.
"Your dad was mad." Damon recalled the censor in Zane's scowl as he pointed at Daniel. "And Uncle Blake was angry, but that was nothing compared to how livid your mom was."
Paige looked at Gabe. "Lottie is a sweetheart and an amazing cook, but you do not want to get on her bad side.
Messing with her garden or orchard will put you there real fast. Pretending the apples were snowballs and having a snowball fight?
" She grimaced as she shook her head. "You'd have thought we'd set fire to the whole orchard. "
"Ugh." Riley joined the conversation. "She made Paige and me scrub every inch of the floor of the main house."
"On our hands and knees." Paige's voice rose an octave.
"You girls got off easy," Damon said, shaking his head.
"Daniel and I had to do Robert and Jake's chores for a week, including cleaning out the chicken coop and the horse stalls, and we weren't allowed to use the hose to water the horses. We had to carry the water with buckets. We were only eight!” He turned to Grace.
“Do you have any idea how much water fifty horses can drink? "
"We probably only had twenty-five horses at the most." Riley rolled her eyes. "And it serves you right. You guys were the ones who climbed the trees and picked the apples and convinced us..." She made air quotes with her fingers. "...a snowball fight was a good idea."
"The real punishment came that fall when we weren't allowed to have any cider, apple crisp, or pie." Remorse was written all over Daniel's face.
"Oh, and your mom's apple fritters." Paige closed her eyes as she hummed.
The rest of them joined in with moans of pleasure.
They'd all finished eating a while ago, but they still lingered at the table talking about everything from the wedding and Riley's pregnancy to reminiscing about the good old days.
Damon had to admit he'd had an amazing childhood. When had he gone from that to feeling the need to get out of this sleepy little town?
He wanted his kids to have the kind of childhood he had.
My kids.
He hadn't thought much about having a family of his own until he heard Daniel and Riley were expecting, but now, he thought about it a lot. He didn't think men had biological clocks, like women always talked about, but he was beginning to feel like he'd be left behind if he didn't settle down soon.
He leaned back and stretched, then jerked his hand back to his lap and balled his fist.
He'd almost put his arm on the back of Grace's chair, the way Daniel had his arm around Riley, who leaned into him as though she couldn't get enough contact. On Damon's left, Paige rested her hand on Gabe's thigh.
Damon and Grace sat next to each other at the circular table. Not as close as the other couples, but close enough she could put her hand on his leg, if she wanted to.
But she'd never do it.
He mentally kicked himself yet again for telling her on Saturday that all he wanted was friendship.
She'd taken him at his word. So much so she hadn't let him walk her to the door after riding horses or after their four-wheeling and shooting outing. Which meant there had been zero chance of kissing her again, like he'd been wanting to do since their amazing kiss in the elevator.
He'd thought he might have the chance on the way here, but then Grace made it obvious she wasn’t interested in being anything more than friends.
"So, Damon," Riley pulled him from his thoughts. "I hear you and Grace got trapped in an elevator last Friday."
Grace sucked in a sharp breath beside him, and her whole body seemed to tense.
Assuming she was afraid he’d tell his cousins about their kiss, Damon fiddled with his napkin while he decided how much to tell. And how much he'd let them pry from him.
"That’s right."
"Well, give us details." Riley leaned forward in her seat. "Tell us the story of how you two met."
The story of how we met.
If he and Grace were a couple, the unusual way they met would be a cool story.
"There's not much to tell." Damon gave a casual shrug despite the lie.
"Grace rushed into the elevator carrying a massive gift basket just as the doors were about to close.
I hit the main floor button, and the elevator started to descend.
Then it suddenly jerked to a stop and went dark. Like pitch-black dark."
"That must have been terrifying." Paige pressed her hand to her chest.
"Grace thought so, because she screamed and grabbed my arm in a death grip."
"I did not."
"Did you or did you not grab my arm?" Damon dared her to disagree with him.
"Yes, I grabbed your arm, but I didn't scream."
"I'm pretty sure I remember you yelping."
"Yelping and screaming are not the same thing."
"They're not." Paige sided with Grace.
"That death grip thing is no joke, though." Gabe winked at Paige as he rubbed his chest.
"What was I supposed to do? I was falling!" Paige gave an exasperated huff. "Besides, you had caught me anyway. I was just making sure you didn't drop me."
"I'd known the woman for less than five minutes and she threw herself into my arms." Gabe's voice remained teasing as he and Paige shared a private memory.
"Why have I never heard about this?" Surprise registered on Riley's face.
"Me either." Grace studied Gabe.
"Just be glad she didn't knee you in the groin," Daniel said in a dull voice.
Laughter erupted around the table.
"Oh no." Riley wagged a finger in the air. "We're not hijacking Damon and Grace's story of how they met." Then she pointed at Paige and Gabe. "But I want to hear all about your meet cute."
"So what happened after the lights went out?" Paige asked.
Damon looked at Grace, giving her the opportunity to tell the story.
"Go ahead." She motioned to him. "But don't worry, I'll correct you if you get it wrong."
"The lights came back on within a few seconds, but they weren't the regular lights, they were just these flat, little, disc-like things that were so dim, Grace looked like a shadowy basket-wielding blob."
"A blob?" She rolled her eye at him. "Really?"
"Hey, I gave you the chance to tell the story. You can't get mad at how I saw it from my point of view."
She scowled and folded her arms.
"When the emergency lights came on, we heard the gears of the elevator engage, but the elevator didn’t move.
That’s when we realized we were stuck." Damon was really getting into the story now.
"I tried pushing the buttons, but nothing happened.
We finally managed to get a custodian on the phone, but the connection was bad, so we couldn't understand everything he said.
But basically, the backup battery for the elevator had failed. "
"Which left us in darkness again after only a few minutes," Grace added.
Paige gasped. "You guys were trapped in the dark for a whole hour?"
"No. Initially, I used my phone's flashlight, but then Grace started digging through her basket and realized there was a candle in there."
"And Damon just happened to have a lighter in his pocket." Grace jumped in again. "Can you believe that?"
"Yes." Daniel, Riley and Paige said in unison, not at all surprised.
"I told you I'm always prepared for anything." Damon gave Grace a broad grin before returning to their story. "We had no idea how long it was going to take to rescue us, so we made ourselves comfortable."
Paige's brow puckered. "Comfortable where? Elevators don't have seats."
"On the floor."
"Ooh. That's gross." Riley grimaced. "Do you have any idea how much bacteria is on hospital floors? It's even worse in elevators, since I doubt their floors get cleaned regularly."
"That's what I said." Grace pointed at Riley.
"She called me gross." Damon nodded. "But she joined me on the floor anyway."
"Only because I got tired of standing."
By the way she hugged her knees to her chest, Damon thought her choosing to sit had more to do with her claustrophobia and anxiety than being tired of standing, but he doubted she wanted him to point that out.
Damon picked up the story again, telling everyone how they snacked on Grace’s goodies and talked about bucket lists.
When he finished, Riley smiled and nodded. “I'm glad neither of you were stuck in the elevator alone." Riley pointed at Paige. "I want to hear about you throwing yourself into Gabe's arms the first time you met him, but first, I need to pee."
Grace shot Damon a look of relief and gratitude as they rose from the table. He didn’t want to talk about their kiss any more than she did, but he doubted it was for the same reason.
They all stood and worked together to clean the table and the kitchen while Riley went to the bathroom. Damon was finishing clearing the table, when Paige stepped close, holding a washcloth. She blocked his path as he turned to step away with a handful of napkins, a serious expression on her face.
"Something on your mind?" he asked.
She looked over her shoulder to where Gabe and Grace loaded the dishwasher.
"I think it's great that you're spending time with Grace.
You guys make a cute couple, and I'd love nothing more than to see you two end up together.
" She kept her voice low as she poked his chest. "But don't toy with her, Damon. "
"What do you mean?"
"She's been through a lot, and with her mother being so sick, she's very vulnerable right now."
Paige knew what Grace had been through—what Marisol had hinted at this afternoon. Damon could see it in her eyes. He wanted to press Paige to tell him what happened to Grace when she was a teenager.
Despite knowing he should respect Grace’s reticence, he asked, "What has she been through?"
She glanced over her shoulder again then shook her head. "Grace doesn't know that I know. I can't betray Gabe's trust or her privacy."
Riley walked back into the kitchen and stuck her head close to Damon and Paige's. "What are you two whispering about?"
"Nothing." Damon stepped back.
Paige kept her voice low as she slapped his shoulder. "I was just warning Damon not to hurt Grace."
Riley pointed her finger at his face. "You'd better not. She's our new best friend, because she's sticking around, and you're leaving."
"I see how it is." Damon pressed his hand to his chest, feigning offense. But he was glad they had accepted Grace with open arms.
Riley turned and clapped her hands. "Okay, let's keep this party rolling.
In the living room where it's more comfortable.
" She pointed as she issued orders. "Paige and Gabe, you guys get to share the recliner since you're joined at the hip anyway.
Damon and Grace, you two get the love seat.
And Daniel and I get the couch, so he can rub my feet while we play. "
They all took their seats amid laughter.
For the next hour they played games where they worked with their partner to solve a series of puzzles and riddles before the other couples.
Then they played a newlywed-type game during which Damon and Grace had to do a lot of guessing.
They failed spectacularly, but surprisingly, only a few points behind Paige and Gabe.
"Maybe you two should take some time to get to know each other better before getting married." Damon couldn't help teasing them since they had only known each other for four months.
"No way. The sooner the better." Gabe and Paige said in unison.
Daniel laughed. "Now, they sound like they've been married for twenty years."
Damon knew why they were marrying so quickly—because Gabe's mother wanted to see her children married before she died. But she wasn't likely to last long enough to see Grace married. If he wasn’t leaving soon, maybe he could change that.
Damon sucked in a sharp breath as realization hit him. He'd been contemplating leaving the Army to build a life with Grace, but he hadn't taken time to consider yet what that would look like.
Married. To Grace.
He liked the idea of holding her in his arms as they fell asleep each night and seeing her face first thing in the morning.
"Are you okay?" Grace whispered.
He jerked his head toward her. His heart rate spiked as he studied her big brown eyes and full, rosy lips. He was dying to kiss those lips again. But Grace had friend-zoned him.
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"The way you inhaled just now sounded like you were in pain."
He was. Every innocent bump or brush of her arm against his sent a little surge of desire racing through him.
He wanted to pull her into his arms and share everything about his life with her.
He was falling for her and wanted so much more than friendship, but he couldn't tell her. She would bolt if he did.
"I'm fine." He gave her a charming smile.
He refused to give up. There was something about Grace that wouldn't let him.
So he would be patient and steady—like Marisol said—and hope he could break down Grace's walls.
In the meantime, he'd make his intentions clear to Marisol and ask her permission to propose to Grace after he returned from deployment.
Then he'd make plans to get out of the Army.