11. Delilah #2
Abby opened her mouth to protest but one look from her mom made her snap her jaw shut.
Mrs. Taylor turned a kind smile to me. “Y’all have a good time.”
“Thanks again for dinner. It was wonderful.” I stood and joined Jasper at the edge of the steps.
“Don’t worry about waking anyone up when you get back. We’re used to everyone coming and going at all hours. I’ll leave the lights on, and the door will be unlocked.”
“Thank you.” I still wasn’t sure about staying over and sharing a room with Abby, but with my camper still being de-cricketed, I didn’t have much of a choice.
“Shall we?” Jasper offered his arm.
“Sure.” I took it, letting him lead me down the steps and to the truck.
He opened the door for me and slid a cooler in the back.
“What’s in the cooler?”
“You can’t watch a movie without refreshments.”
“Are any of your brothers going to be joining us?”
“I sure as hell hope not, but I figured we could take Buster if you don’t mind.”
I held back a laugh at the pained expression on his face. His brothers might tease, but as I was learning, that seemed to be what siblings did best.
“I’d love to have Buster join us.” Abby, Mrs. Taylor, and even Maggie waved until they disappeared from view. I took in a deep breath and tried to look forward to the evening ahead. Lying on a blanket with Jasper. In the dark. What could possibly go wrong?
Jasper
It seemed like forever since I had been to the Sunday night movie at the Hampton barn.
I tried to remember exactly how long it had been and what movie had been playing.
A hazy flashback of Adeline and me watching an eighties rom com came to mind.
I pushed that memory out of my head before thinking about Adeline ruined the whole evening.
Delilah held the blanket I’d grabbed in one hand and Buster’s leash in the other while I carried the cooler.
I wanted to find a spot far enough away so she wouldn’t feel like everyone was watching her.
Speak of the devil. Adeline perched on a blanket next to a thin man with a receding hairline. Could that be her husband?
She glanced up as we passed, her eyes narrowed.
I pretended like I didn’t see her and meandered through a sea of blankets until I reached a spot far away.
“How’s this?” I stopped at the edge of the small group of moviegoers.
“It’s fine with me.”
I set the cooler down and took the blanket from her. Every time I tried to spread it out, Buster leaped up and grabbed an edge in his teeth.
“Cut it out, Buster. If you let me get the blanket down, you’ll have a place to sit.” The scolding must have worked since Buster plopped down on his butt and huffed out a breath.
“Let me help.” Delilah grabbed the opposite corners and together we stretched the blanket out and laid it down.
“Thanks.” I motioned to the dog. “There you go, bud. Pick your spot.”
The damn dog walked in a circle, first one way, then the next, before plopping down in the middle of the blanket.
“Wow. So much for sharing,” I said.
Delilah settled on the other side of the dog. “He hogs the bed, too, doesn’t he?”
“You’ve just got to be tough and show him who’s boss.
” I patted my leg, trying to get the dog to get up and move over.
On second thought, maybe it was best with Buster sitting between us.
I’d spent all day trying to figure out how to put a muzzle on the attraction I’d been feeling for Miss Lovin’ Texas.
Having Buster play chaperone might be the best thing that could happen this evening.
At least with the big lug between us, I couldn’t accidentally touch her.
The one time I didn’t want the dog to obey instructions, Buster leapt to his feet and sat down right in front of me. Now I’d look like a total dumbass if I made him lie back down where he’d been.
“Aren’t you a good boy.” Delilah gave him a good long scratch behind his ear.
“Sorry if my family was a little much tonight.”
She glanced over at me, the corners of her mouth already turning up. “They were a riot. I can’t imagine what the holidays are like at your house. It’s got to be utter chaos.”
Nodding, I chuckled to myself. Utter chaos with a major side of dysfunction. “Funny thing is, I’ve never known anything else. I can’t remember when it was just Colin and me, so my earliest memories are of all us boys. When I think about the damage we’ve done over the years . . .”
“What’s the worst trouble y’all got into?”
“Hmm. I’m going to have to think about that one. But I do remember a few times we almost lost our heads.”
“Your poor mama. What did you do?”
“You really want me to divulge those kinds of family secrets?” I laughed at the way her eyes lit up.
“Well, I remember one time Colin talked me into sneaking out in the middle of the night. My aunt Suzy had bought a new horse, and everyone said we weren’t old enough to ride him.
Colin wanted to prove them wrong, so we snuck into her barn, and saddled him up. ”
“What happened?”
“My uncle thought someone was breaking into the barn, so he fired his shotgun into the air. Damn horse spooked and took off like the devil himself was hot on his trail.”
“And you and Colin?”
I could recall the sound of the wind whipping past my ears as I gripped my brother’s back. “Held on for dear life until we got to the edge of the property line and the horse bucked us off before he cleared the fence.”
“Were you hurt?”
I pushed my sleeve up and exposed a long, faded scar on my forearm. “Shattered two bones in my arm. Colin walked away without a scratch.”
“You were lucky.”
“I suppose we were.”
“What happened to the horse?”
“A neighbor found him stomping through their field the next day and brought him home. Aunt Suzy was the only one who could ride him after that.” I shook my head at the memory.
Colin and I had been two of a kind back then.
At least until I stopped letting my older brother talk me into causing trouble.
Now we couldn’t be more different if we tried.
Delilah let her hand rest on Buster’s head and adjusted her position on the blanket. Buster must not have been satisfied with the interruption in attention and scooted himself over to where his head and half of his upper body draped over Delilah’s lap. Then he let out a loud rush of gas.
“Get off of her.” I reached for the dog’s collar.
“He’s okay.” Delilah laughed and gave me the sweetest smile as she ran her hand down the length of Buster’s side as far as she could reach.
Buster eyed me like he was rubbing in the fact he was getting a full-body massage while I didn’t even get to hold her hand.
“Want something to drink?” I leaned toward the cooler. “They’ve also got popcorn for sale if you want some fresh-popped kettle corn.”
“I’ll take a drink, but I don’t think I could eat another bite.”
“Wine or lemonade?” I held up a bottle of white wine I’d nabbed from my parents’ refrigerator.
“Just lemonade tonight. That wine from earlier made me sleepy.” She gave me a lazy grin as Buster rolled over onto his other side between us.
I popped the top off a lemonade and handed it to her as the opening credits to the movie started to play.
Two minutes in and the film shut down. The lights flipped on around the perimeter and Mr. Hampton called out from the small shed where they kept the projector. “Sorry, folks. There’s a problem with the film. Sit tight and we’ll see if we can fix it.”
“Does this happen often?” Delilah took a swig of lemonade.
“Not that I know of.” In all the years I’d been watching movies at the Hampton barn, I couldn’t remember a time when the film had been bad. They’d had to cancel for weather, but never for a mechanical failure. “I’ll go see what’s going on.”
I left Buster and Delilah on the blanket and made my way to the shed. Other folks had started packing up their things and heading toward their cars. Great. My first night to try to make a good impression on my own with Delilah and look what happened.
“Y’all need some help?” I leaned in through the open doorway of the shed.
Mr. Hampton turned, pieces of film in my hands. “Somebody cut the film.”
“You sure about that?” I eyed the pieces of filmstrip in the older man’s hands.
“I don’t know how else to explain it.”
I groaned. “I’ve got Miss Lovin’ Texas here tonight. I was trying to show her the romantic side of Ido.”
“I heard about that contest.” Mr. Hampton glanced toward the dispersing crowd. “Can you give me a few minutes? I’ll see if I have anything in the garage I can put on tonight. I’d hate for her to not get to experience a movie under the stars.”
“Absolutely.” I clasped a hand to the man’s shoulder. “Thanks.”
I made my way back to the blanket, searching for Adeline along the way.
She must have gone. Bailing at the first sign of trouble had always been her style.
At least half of the audience had left, making it feel a whole lot more intimate as a black-and-white film began to play.
Casablanca. This one had to have come from the vault.
I’d only seen it once, a long, long time ago when Aunt Suzy tricked me into watching it with her. I leaned back, ready to enjoy the show.
There was something about being outside, sitting on a blanket under the clear Texas sky, that made me consider what it would feel like to pull Delilah next to me and wrap myself around her. While the movie held her captive, I kept my gaze trained on her.
Too soon, it was over. The lights surrounding the seating area turned on as the final credits rolled. The remaining people stood and gathered their things before heading to their vehicles.
Delilah didn’t move right away. For a moment I wondered if she’d fallen asleep. I sat up, leaning toward her.
She angled her face away from me and ran her finger under her eye.
“Are you crying?” I put a hand on her arm—the first time I’d allowed myself to touch her since we sat down on the blanket together.
Smiling, she faced me. “It’s silly. I’ve seen this movie a half dozen times. But it always gets me.”