6. Maria
Chapter six
Maria
I was able to return a lot earlier than I thought I would. When Stacey called me to help her unknot a necklace, I had imagined it was knotted in with a whole bunch of other necklaces because her jewelry box fell over. It was literally knotted up on itself and took me all of five minutes to untangle.
The rest of my time at Stacey’s was spent talking to her and Caleb about various things for the wedding: confirming that they had heard back from the little classical quartet that would be playing the ceremony, confirming that they had everything set with the pastor and other little things that we needed to know before Friday came around.
When I returned to the Airbnb, it was only seven in the evening. As I walked into the kitchen, Maverick came in from the patio.
“Thanks for keeping the door unlocked for me.”
“I thought you were going to be later, Maria,” he said as he looked at me.
“I thought so, too, but the knot wasn’t nearly as bad as I had imagined from Stacey’s desperate plea for help,” I replied. “Hey, since it’s not so late, why don’t we watch a horror movie together?”
“A horror movie?” Mav raised an eyebrow at me. “You want to watch a horror movie?”
“It’ll be fun ,” I said, teasing him a little.
Then, I motioned to the patio. About half of the men were outside, and I assumed the other half were in their rooms.
“Besides, it looks like everyone else has already headed to bed or gotten caught up in that card game again,” I continued. “A horror movie will certainly pass the time.”
“You’re picking it, then,” he said, holding his hands up in faux surrender.
I walked into the living room and over to the movie cabinet I had looked through earlier and sorted through the movies. Hidden behind the first row of movies was The Ring , a movie I had wanted to watch for many years but hadn’t quite gotten the nerve to watch yet. No better time than now, I supposed. Besides, there weren’t any other good horror movies in the cabinet. I’d seen most of the others already, and the ones I hadn’t seen that weren’t The Ring were ones that I hadn’t enjoyed the premise of.
Horror movies had to have more than just slashers to amuse me.
“Here. This one,” I hollered to Maverick, still in the kitchen.
He wandered into the living room, looked at the movie title, and rolled his eyes. But he didn’t say anything to discourage me as I put the movie into the small DVD player. The TV didn’t have any cable. It literally only played DVDs.
I had always been intrigued by the idea of a movie centered on a journalist who had to investigate a cursed tape – and that was exactly what The Ring was all about. Even the menu on the DVD was a little spooky as I started it up with some subtitles.
I sat down on the couch, pulling my knees to my chest as the movie started.
“If you get scared, don’t you start hiding in my shoulder,” Maverick warned.
“I won’t get scared. Who do you think I am?”
I laughed a little.
The movie soon got quite scary, as I had not anticipated the older movies to be full of scares that didn’t rely on horrible jump scares as newer movies did. The first time I saw the villain show up on the screen, I yelped and hid my head in my hands. Seeing a little girl squeeze her body out of a television like that was horrifying .
If I was out of my depth, there was no way I was admitting it to Maverick. Not when he had already warned me that if I got scared, I couldn’t hide in his shoulder. I glanced up at the television, only to find that she had disappeared off the screen. That I was quite thankful for.
Maverick snorted softly.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to get scared. It’s clearly something she’s trained to do, that actor. That was a good bit of acrobatics, though,” he said.
“Hey… I thought you weren’t watching,” I teased.
His face flushed a little.
I jumped and screamed a few more times when Maverick finally put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. This close, I could feel his heart beating under my hand, which he had guided there. Feeling his heart beating steadily and calmly helped me calm my own racing heart.
“There. Not so bad now, is it?”
“No. Not at all.”
I looked up at Maverick and noticed that despite his best efforts, he was enjoying himself. The rest of the movie was spent hiding my head in his chest when I got startled. It became a reflex that was almost second nature to me, though I knew that he had never wanted it to get that way.
When the movie was over, Maverick put the DVD away for me. I took a deep breath and turned the television off. Why had I decided to do that to myself?
“Will you be able to sleep tonight?”
“Yeah. I should be able to. There’s still a couple of hours before I really should be heading to bed, anyway,” I said. “I never go to bed immediately after a horror film.”
He nodded.
“Well, you know where I’m sleeping if you need me, right?”
“Maverick, are you offering to help me get to sleep if I can’t find it myself?” I put my hands on my hips as I asked, half-teasing him and half-serious.
He nodded.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, I’m in the room to the side of the kitchen, right above your room,” he said.
With that, he walked through the kitchen and to his room. I wandered outside and sat in one of the chairs. I wanted to see the stars and the mountains that we were surrounded by. After all, it would have been awful to try to go to sleep now, so soon after that movie.
As everyone else filtered inside to go to bed, I sat and counted the stars, or at least tried to. I was able to find the little and big dippers but that was about all. I wasn’t an astronomer by any means. What beautiful country this is, I thought as I could see the mountains lit by the moonlight. With such serenity, it didn’t take long before my heart slowed down enough that I felt I could go to bed.
It didn’t take me long to fall asleep. Though I occasionally grimaced as flashes of the movie played in my head, I always ended up changing the thoughts to the way I had been able to snuggle with Maverick on the couch. He’d been so sweet to do that…
But when I woke up the next morning – Wednesday – I was suddenly glad that we had watched the horror movie the night before. As I checked my schedule, I remembered that Stacey and Caleb had scheduled a free day for all of us today.
Maybe I’d run over to Caleb’s parent’s house to see Mom and Dad. My folks had flown in from South Carolina yesterday and were staying with Caleb’s parents. They had developed a good friendship with each other before my parents decided to move to South Carolina – at least for a year or two. Dad had always wanted to live in Myrtle Beach, where he could golf pretty much year-round. He had retired, and they decided the time was now. So they sold their house and made the move. Shortly after that, Elliott moved there as well. Me? I was already in Texas. And Stacey? She was in love and had no intention of leaving Idaho.
I made my way upstairs for breakfast after getting dressed. In the kitchen, I found Caleb making crepes for everyone while quietly discussing something with Stacey. Most of the wedding party had already started eating, and I took it upon myself to go prep myself two crepes once they were off the pan.
“I hope you enjoy them. They’re absolutely delicious ,” Stacey said. “This is my favorite breakfast thing that he makes.”
I turned to Caleb and found him blushing just a bit. I smiled a little.
“They smell delicious, but I’m sure half the fun of it is the toppings,” I stated. “Oh, Maverick and I have finalized the plans for the bachelor/bachelorette party tomorrow night. We’ll be going to the Black Key restaurant for a reservation at four-thirty, with dancing, music, and games to follow at a club just a couple of blocks down the street. If we take all the cars, everyone can return to their accommodations as they see fit.”
Stacey and Caleb both smiled.
“That sounds wonderful, Maria. I should thank Maverick for his input, too,” Stacey said.
“You and Maverick have done your jobs beautifully for this wedding,” Caleb complimented her. And I can’t thank you enough for it—you especially. You’ve done so much to keep Stacey calm while we’ve been planning.”
“That’s what a maid of honor is for, right?”
We all laughed as I made my way to the table. I sat down and then started thinking about what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. The rest of the week was the bachelor/bachelorette party, getting the church ready for the ceremony, the rehearsal dinner, and the ceremony itself.
I was one of two people who wasn’t returning home on Sunday, so I had an extra day to relax after the wedding. Whatever I didn’t do today, I could do on Sunday, I supposed. But what would I do? I had already gone to the one place I had wanted to try out while in Boise that had nothing to do with the wedding because we had gone yesterday.
“So, what are you planning to do today, Maria?” Stacey asked as she sat down next to me.
“I was thinking I’d like to see Mom and Dad this morning if they’ll be around and then maybe head over to Meridian to The Village. From what I saw online, there are a few shops that I’d love to check out.
“Emma said she wanted to go to the mall too. She’s got a car. So, the two of you could go together?” Stacey suggested. “But give Mom a call first to see if she and Dad have some time this morning. I’d like to join you if you don’t mind. I’ve already spent some time with them, but Caleb and I have nothing planned for this morning, so I can drive us over and then bring you back here if Emma wants to wait a little bit.
I nodded and walked over to the table where the bridesmaids had congregated. It didn’t take long for the rest of the bridesmaids to decide they, too, wanted to go to The Village. If Stacey and I could be back by 11:30 or so, that would work out just fine. Give them time to relax and get ready.
I gave Mom a quick call. “Hey, Mom, how are you? Do you and Dad have some time this morning to have coffee with your daughters? Stacey said that the four of you have full schedules all week long with not only wedding things but fun things, too,” I asked with a smile in my voice.
“We sure do, hon,” Mom replied. “We have been busy, but the four of us have plans for lunch today and a leisurely mountain drive this afternoon. But we’d love to see both of you this morning. Come on over!”
My day was planned, and it was going to be a good one.
****
The day was fun all around, and the other gals and I enjoyed The Village so much that we didn’t get back to Eagle Falls until nearly nine thirty that evening.
The front door was locked, and believe it or not, none of us had a key. But I had noticed a light on in the kitchen, so I was sure someone was awake. After knocking on the door, I waited, about ready to knock again, and suddenly the door opened. It was Maverick. “Glad you made it back safely,” he said.