Chapter 15
Will: Any more sightings?
Tate: No. But the barn dance is tonight. I’m expecting an appearance somewhere.
Will: Barn dance? What year is this?
Tate: Gonna dazzle your sister with my dance moves. Unrelated, but what’s her favorite flower?
Will: Listen, moron. The possibility of you liking Liv has always been strong. We both know it. Don’t deny it. But she’s a job to you right now. And you can’t be distracted. So don’t touch her.
Tate: So…lilies?
The old community barn that sat at the end of main street had burned down years ago.
This year, the community came together to rebuild the barn and have a traditional barn raising.
Later that night, a barn dance would take place.
Tate had become even more vigilant after the sighting in the woods.
Since he wouldn’t let me out of his sight, I became his literal tool belt at the barn raising, nearly glued to his side to hand him tools and nails.
It was quite the sight to see so many men and women coming together to build something in this way.
Not to mention, many of the guys took their shirts off throughout the hot afternoon, which greatly raised the spirits of the women.
After the framing had been completed, most of the participants went home to shower, only to come back freshly shaved and cleaned up for the dance.
The sun had just dipped below the horizon, sending rays of pinks and oranges throughout the sky.
A generator hummed loudly outside, providing the electricity needed to light up the place.
Twinkle lights were woven across the boards and rafters, and construction lights lit up the corners of the barn.
Just outside, a live band was warming up.
Tate would have been perfectly happy to skip the dance.
He didn’t need to bring up the sighting in the woods, but I knew it weighed heavily on his mind.
There had been a shift between us this week.
He seemed to pull back slightly, wanting to keep us closer to home.
But I had slowly gotten more comfortable going out, which was easy to do when Tate was there.
And I now had a full-fledged scene written (mostly in my head) about a barn raising, so I obviously had to include the dance, which meant I needed research.
Inspiration. When I told him this, with batted eyes and my hands in a prayer pose, he only shook his head before trudging upstairs to shower, a hint of a smile on his face.
It was fun to see familiar faces–Reese, Ari, even Archer was there, standing on the sides, chatting with the mayor. There were so many familiar faces here, but Tate clung to my side, his eyes sifting through every person who entered like we were in the middle of Grand Central Station.
“I thought the dance would be easier for you,” I remarked when we were alone, standing against the side of the barn, watching more people arrive. “Since we know almost everyone.”
He shook his head, leaning against the barn, feigning a relaxed pose. “It’s harder being here.”
“Why?”
“It’s too easy to get distracted.”
“By me?” I dropped a hand to my chest. “Thank you. That’s so sweet.”
He turned his trained eyes over to me just then.
He held his gaze long enough that my toes began to curl.
He looked like a man who had a thousand things he could say.
He had been about to say something before he changed his mind and looked away.
I swallowed, my heart rate kicking up a notch, while my joke didn’t seem to land.
“You seem more relaxed,” he remarked.
“I decided that I’m sick of living half a life. I’m here at the dance, and I’m going to talk to my friends, and have fun, and effectively give Leroy the bird.”
“So you’re saying I’ve got my work cut out for me tonight?”
“Maybe. Want to dance?” The live band was starting, and a few couples and families with kids had made their way out onto the dance floor.
My newfound energy and excitement reminded me of who I used to be.
Bold and daring. How I used to always feel in Tate’s presence.
A mixture of safety and bravery where I knew he would always catch me if I fell.
He shook his head once. “Nah. I’m on the clock. Go have your fun, but don’t leave my line of sight without telling me.”
I wondered briefly what sort of fun I would have without him. I was getting used to the dry comments always in my ear and the way his strong body seemed to settle nicely beside mine.
I spent the next little while floating back and forth between friends and old faces. And…dances.
So many dances.
A suspicious number of dances.
Growing up, I was never exactly a wallflower, but I had definitely never been this sought after. And now, with the whole town believing me and Tate were dating, I was essentially off the market. But apparently, that meant little.
Wade Stevenson was the first to ask me to dance. And now, after seeing how he’d been looking at Ari throughout the barn raising, I was extremely grateful our Make-Out Ridge excursion from long ago had been interrupted.
“Hey, Wade,” I said, a knowing smile on my face.
He grinned, his own smile complete with a very grown-up-looking mustache, I might add. “Hey, Liv.”
“How’s the high school? Is it weird working at the same place you used to kiss girls under the bleachers?”
He laughed. “That was a long time ago, Liv. I’m extremely grown-up and mature now.”
“And how is it dating your colleague?” I couldn’t help the small laugh at the look on his face.
The faintest color tinged his cheeks, if that were even possible. “You should probably ask her.”
My eyes narrowed. “Oh, I will.”
He ended our friendly dance with one last fast twirl that made me laugh. And I went on, oblivious to a more nefarious plot underfoot.
It wasn’t even James asking me to dance that made me suspicious.
Though, perhaps it should have. We had recently shared a wagon ride, though he hadn’t said more than a few words to me then.
It was even less now, but the dance was friendly, and he asked me enough questions that I kept us afloat with chatter before he let me go, only to be gobbled up for another dance by Carson Price.
CARSON, the attractive star football player turned town dentist.
Had being a reclusive and excessively pale hermit somehow made me grow more desirable in my absence from Autumn Ridge?
When I glanced over at Tate, I was startled to see his eyes trained on us both.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d gotten used to him watching, but this look of his seemed different than the others.
My skin prickled, and I forgot the question Carson had asked me during our slow dance because my gaze kept flicking to Tate’s.
“What was that?” I asked, blinking up at him, hoping it was only the second time I’d asked him to repeat himself and not the third, like I strongly suspected.
Carson huffed out a laugh and answered my question with his statement. “I’m going to try a new question.”
“Shoot, sorry. I’m a bit scattered, I guess.”
“Understandable. I’d probably be, too, if I had a Walker staring daggers at me.” Carson squinted. “Or wait, is he staring at me?”
“Just ignore him. He’s…” I grappled with exactly what I could say.
“Jealous?” he asked, smiling.
Our dance ended before I could protest.
It was there that I began to get suspicious.
I danced with Ben, then with Luke. Was this all a ploy from Tate to keep an eye on me? Did he put all these guys up to this?
But the impish smile on Luke’s face quickly put an end to all my questions.
“What did you do?” I demanded as he spun me away from him with the skill of someone who had clearly done this before.
He grinned. “What?”
“You know what. Why do my feet hurt from dancing?”
“You’re probably out of practice.”
“Luke!” I hissed.
He pulled me in closer, nodding toward Tate, whose gaze I felt but suddenly found myself too shy to look at.
“Me, Jax, and Ben decided we’d mess with him a little tonight.”
“By having me dance with half the town?”
Luke started to smile, but I cut him off.
“He’s not jealous, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I said, wanting to hedge that particular argument in case that was where he was headed. “I already asked him to dance, and he didn’t want to.”
A tiny dimple appeared in the left corner of his cheek.
“He’s in cop mode,” he said. “He doesn’t do anything fun when he’s like this.” He waited a beat before leaning forward and whispering, “But he definitely does not like this game.”
I looked then. I couldn’t help it. All night long, I’d felt his gaze, like an itch I couldn’t scratch. He raised his brows at me, and I had to turn away.
“Because you’re making his job harder,” I said.
“Probably. But that’s not the reason he’s going to tear into me later.” He looked delighted at this prospect.
When the dance ended, Luke bowed and kissed my hand, making me roll my eyes and laugh, before leaving me alone. It was there, standing in the middle of the dance floor, completely alone, when the entire room suddenly went dark.
For a long moment, there was a heavy hush over the crowd, the shock taking everyone by surprise.
A gasp stuck in my throat as I became completely disoriented.
Eventually, low murmurs of chatter broke through.
My pulse began to thrum in my wrist. My eyes were open, but I couldn’t see anything, and the disorientation struck a nerve inside of me—the nerve that I kept in careful check as much as possible.
Someone brushed past me, their arms and shoulders bumping mine.
And again. This time, they grabbed my arm.
“Jules?” the voice asked.
“No,” I gasped, yanking out of his grasp and stepping backward, only to bump into someone else.
My chest began to heave, attempting to gulp in air while the room stirred.
People scrambled for the flashlights on their phones, while a few loud voices in the crowd cracked jokes.
I wound my arms across my stomach, attempting to center myself while my stomach threatened a revolt.
I sucked in a breath through my nose, and blew it out my mouth.
I was okay. I was safe. I was among friends.
But there was a vulnerability that always came out in the darkness.
Like hearing a thousand creaks and rattles around the house while you lay alone in your bed. I tried to breathe normally, but there wasn't enough air to do the job.
And then, Tate was there.
Even in the dark, I knew it was him. A hand grasped my arm, pulling me into him before he wrapped his arms around my body. With a sigh, I melted into him as his presence crowded out the noise and the dark.
“Are you alright?” His voice was low and clipped in my ear.
Before I could respond, he turned me around to face him. “You’re shaking,” he said. He swore while his hands felt up and down my arms before bringing me closer, my head hitting his chest.
“No, I’m fine. I just…”
“Was that Luke?” he demanded. “I’m going to kill him.”
By now, there was enough light dappled throughout the room as flashlights from everyone’s phones were dancing around. I could now make out Tate’s face and the anger pulsing from his eyes.
“I don’t think it was Luke,” I said, clutching his shoulders. At least, I hoped it wasn’t Luke. For his sake.
There was a hum and a pop, and all of a sudden, light filled the room.
Everyone held up a hand over their eyes, squinting at the sudden brightness.
Slowly, the room whirled back to life. Families and friends laughed and got back to dancing or chatting on the side.
With a couple of good-natured jokes in the microphone, something about giving everyone enough time to kiss their women, the band started back up, playing an intro to a slow song.
Ben made his way over to Tate, holding up his hands, probably protecting himself from the dark look on his brother’s face. “It wasn’t us. Just some kid playing a prank. They’ve got someone watching the generator now so that it won’t happen again.”
Tate nodded tightly. Ben shot me a sympathetic look before he turned away. It was then that I noticed my hand was still clenched, gripping tight to Tate’s shirt.
Maybe it was the song choice. After a lineup of fast, country swing dances, the first slow song we’d heard in a while began to play.
Maybe it was the fact that, even after I unclenched my hand from his shirt, we still stood there, facing each other, neither of us willing to move away just yet.
It could have been Tate’s gentle eyes on mine, a stark contrast to the way his body was still poised to attack and defend.
Maybe it was none of those things.
But instead of leaving me to go back to his side of the room, Tate’s hand reached out, lightly grasping the sundress at my hip, and pulled me slowly to him. Against him. I went, quite willingly, my body reacting to him like a sigh of relief.
I did sigh in relief.
Once things were back to normal, I should have been perfectly fine to remove myself. I had been scared, and he’d come to my aid, just like a bodyguard should. Just like I’d known he would.
But now, the chorus was playing, the deep melody and raspy voice of Teddy Swims crooning on and on about how somebody should kiss the girl. And I began to feel different things. Things that had nothing to do with comfort or being grateful to someone.
No. These feelings had more to do with the strength of the shoulders my arms were currently resting on. It had more to do with the way he held me tight and close, like he didn’t plan on letting me go. Like I wasn’t something he planned on ever letting go.
At least for tonight.