Chapter 10
Jesse
This Thanksgiving, we decided not to have clients come in to hunt. Last year, we did—hosted a big dinner and everything—but it was way too much work for my mom and Addison to do. We all helped as much as we could, but we aren’t the most experienced in the kitchen.
So, this year I got to take Ella out hunting instead. No pressure, no clients, just us. She was more than willing and excited to come along. Now here we are, tucked into one of our pit blinds on this twenty-degree morning.
We haven’t had a moment alone all week. The last time I saw her was almost a week ago, when I went over to her place to watch a movie. Although no boundaries were crossed, I have absolutely no clue what that movie was even about.
I saw her briefly at church on Sunday, but since then, she’s been busy working in the ER all week, and we had a big crew of clients come in for hunts.
“Let me try,” Ella says, holding her hand out for the duck call I just used. Her eyes are full of mischief, a small grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.
I hesitate for a second, knowing exactly where this is headed, but I hand it over anyway.
She raises it to her lips, her cute little grin still lingering and I swear she blows as hard as she can into the thing, not at all how you’re supposed to do it.
She bursts into contagious laughter, like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever done.
I knew that’s what she’d do, yet I still flinched. “Good Lord, baby.” I laugh at her. “What was that?”
She snorts, her eyes crying from laughing so hard. “That right there is going to bring in the biggest group of ducks you’ve ever seen.” Her voice is playful as she inches closer with every word.
I steal a quick kiss. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” I tease.
“Let me try again.” She holds out her hand.
I laugh. “Absolutely not.”
She gives me a dangerous pleading face. “I’ll do it for real this time, I promise.”
Those piercing green eyes of hers still weaken me so unbearably bad that I hand it over anyway.
This time, I can tell she actually is going to try. I taught her how to do it when we were dating. I’m curious to see if she remembers.
She takes a breath, purses her lips around, and steadily honks on it. It sounds … fair. Better than I expected, anyway.
Her face lights up, impressed with herself. “See!”
“That was decent.”
“Decent?” She scoffs. “That was professional grade, baby. Put me on the payroll.”
I chuckle. “I’d be down, not sure about Cody and Dad, though.”
“Their loss.” She shrugs and pushes her hair back off her shoulders.
I wrap my arm around her and press a kiss to her cheek. Honestly, I don’t even care if we don’t kill anything this morning; just having her here for the next hour or so is enough.
* * *
A few hours later, I’m in the kitchen, surrounded by the chaos of my siblings and parents hustling to get Thanksgiving dinner prepped and onto the table. All the chaos that fills the air diminishes in my ears when a familiar female voice calls from the entryway, “Knock knock?”
I turn the corner to see Ella, her smile hard to ignore with her glossy lipstick. The green sweater she’s wearing makes her eyes shine bright. She’s just an effortless breath of fresh air.
Smiling, I head over to greet her with a kiss on her cheek. “Hey, sweetie.”
“Hi. I made a pie, but I’m not sure if it’ll be any good.”
I look for said pie, but it’s not in her hands.
“I left it in the car.”
“Well, how are we supposed to know if it’s any good sitting out there?”
She flashes a playful grin and rolls her eyes. “Okay fine, I’ll get it.”
Another fifteen minutes go by and we’re all gathered around the table. There’s so much food you can barely see the tablecloth underneath it all. Mom never disappoints; she makes all the traditional dishes you can think of plus more.
As everyone digs in, the conversations flow until Cody decides to stir the pot.
“So, Addie, what’s the deal with this mystery guy?” he asks, and everyone looks at her.
Addison glares at Cody from across the table. “Seriously? You have to bring it up in front of everyone?”
He leans back in his chair. “You can’t just drop a bomb like that and expect us to wait.”
“What bomb?” Mason asks.
“Her and mystery cowboy are official now,” Cody says.
Addison’s face turns red. “Shut up, Cody!”
“Hey, hey. Be nice,” Mom scolds.
“He could’ve come to dinner.” Dad shrugs but that just annoys her more.
“Yeah, because that would’ve been great,” she mutters.
“Just tell us his name,” I chime in, trying to ease the pressure but not change the topic. She glares at me.
They’ve been “talking” since July or August but none of us have met him and she won’t tell us where she met him or even his name.
I think Mom knows more information but won’t tell us out of keeping her promise to Addison.
It’s been driving the three of us brothers crazy.
Mason has already tried to follow her, just to see what he looks like, but she caught him before she even left the driveway.
Now we just give Mason a hard time for being a cop and not even being able to manage a simple stakeout.
Ella looks to her. “Where’d you meet him?” she asks innocently.
And of course, Addison can’t get annoyed with a guest so she opens right up and answers, “At a rodeo.”
“Rodeo?!” Cody hollers.
Addie lets out a cocky laugh. “Yup. He’s a bull rider.”
The three of us let out a collective groan of dread.
Mason shakes his head. “Oh, geez.”
“Of course,” I mutter.
Dad chuckles to himself and Mom looks confused about our reservation.
Ella shifts in her seat. “I actually dated a bull rider when I lived in Texas.”
Her words strike my gut and my body stiffens. Imagining her with someone else—I’ll admit, I don’t like it.
Cody, being the typical pain-in-the-ass brother he is, glances at me and then her. “Oh yeah? What happened there?”
I give him a death stare.
Ella shrugs, her tone nonchalant. “It didn’t work out. He was … nice, but not husband material by any means.”
I watch her take a drink, refusing to look at me.
Addison looks to her. “Wait, why?”
Ella lets out a small laugh and finally glances at me before Addison.
“Big ego, always talking about or showing me videos of rides from past years. Total turnoff after a while.” Addison nods, taking a mental note would be my guess.
Cody shakes his head. “Typical bull rider. Nobody likes cocky.”
Dad interjects before any of us can. “Says the cockiest one at this table.”
Everyone except Cody laughs. “I am not,” he argues.
“Oh please. If Webster’s Dictionary had pictures, yours would be right there.”
The table erupts with more laughter, but mine diminishes when I glance at Ella. Playing with the food on her plate, her laugh is not genuine, it’s forced. Waiting for her to look at me, she doesn’t. I reach under the table and brush my hand on her leg. She startles slightly and looks at me.
“You good?” I mouth.
She grins softly and nods.
The table conversation shifts to something else, but I’m distracted. My mind is racing trying to figure out what’s going on in hers.
When it comes time for her to leave, everyone gives her a hug, insisting she come back soon.
Walking her out to her car, the cold wind is blowing her hair into her face. It’s twenty-five degrees with a wind chill of about fifteen.
I point down at the empty pie dish in her hands. “See? It’s good you brought that pie in, told you they’d like it.”
She laughs with a shrug. “Yeah, I just wasn’t sure. I never made it before.”
As we reach her car, I wrap my arms around her and kiss her goodbye, trying to hold onto the moment as I’m not sure when I’ll see her next. When our lips meet, it feels different. She’s not giving the same intensity I’m putting into it.
I pull back. “What’s wrong?”
Her eyes dim. “Nothing.”
“Yes, there is.”
“There’s not.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know, you got kinda quiet in there.”
“Well, talking about an ex in front of you and your whole family is a little awkward,” she points out.
I sigh. “I know, I’ll say something to Cody.” I shake my head. “ He shouldn’t have asked you.”
“No, it’s fine. You don’t need to say anything.”
“Well, I—”
“Jess, please? I was the one who opened my mouth in the first place. If I didn’t want questions, I shouldn’t have said anything.” She’s practically begging, desperation in her eyes.
“Fine, I won’t,” I still think there’s something she’s not telling me but I really don’t feel like it’s my place to push her for more information.
Her face looks relieved, and she stands up on her tiptoes to peck my cheek. “Thank you.” She smiles and gets in her car.
This unsaid title between us has me on edge. I want to call her my girlfriend, but I want to make sure she’s good with it before I let it slip.
I walk around the other side and sit down in the passenger seat. She looks at me, confused.
“I wanted to ask you, as far as dating and stuff goes … you wanna give it another shot?” I hold my breath.
“Finally,” she mutters.
I scoff out a laugh. “Excuse me? Finally? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We’ve been in limbo for a month. What have you been waiting for?”
“I didn’t want to just assume you were interested.”
“Well, you’d have been right.”
I smile and kiss her cheek once more. “No funny business, though. I want to work toward a future.”
She nods, but her face shifts into something I can’t quite place—fear maybe? I’m a little scared too, but I don’t let it linger long. Things between us feel too right to be scary.
“Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
She reaches for my hand. “I want that too.”