Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
“I guess it pays to be married to the leader of the Moonshine Task Force,” Leighton teases me as she gets her second free fresh-squeezed lemonade of the day. Everyone keeps telling her in honor of my service she can have whatever she wants.
“If you would’ve known about all these perks before, maybe we could have moved the wedding date up about a year,” I tease her back as I sling my arm around her shoulders.
We’re walking along the main thoroughfare downtown that’s been turned into a midway for the carnival atmosphere we’re in right now. “I don’t know if I could have handled all this sexiness then.” She shoots me a grin with an eyebrow raised over the sunglasses she wears.
“You would have totally figured it out,” I laugh, pulling her forehead down close enough that I can kiss her.
“I definitely would have been up to the challenge.”
“Holden!” We hear a woman’s voice yell at him as we fight the crowd along the midway.
When I turn to see who’s trying to get my attention, Leighton curses loudly. Mable Hall is walking quickly to catch up with us.
Leighton grasps my bicep tighter in her hand, holding me to her. “This woman is ballsy,” she whispers as Mable finally makes her way to us.
“I’m so glad I caught you, Holden. You haven’t answered any of the messages I’ve left at the station.
” She shoots her gaze to Leighton. “And I’d asked Leighton to relay a message or give me your cell phone number.
I’d like to see about getting you to come and talk to the class again, either for summer school or the next school year. ”
Leighton’s nails are digging into my skin, and I’m not appreciating the way this woman is looking me up and down like a damn piece of meat. I also don’t appreciate the way she seems to think it’s my wife’s job to pass along information to me.
“I’m sorry to have neglected the messages you’ve left at the station, but most of those requests go through the post. Usually they’re routed that way, and I’m not obligated to answer them,” I explain.
“Your best bet is to place a call to the main office.” I pull Leighton closer to me, dropping a kiss on her head.
“As for my wife, it’s not her job to tell me what others tell her.
Don’t use her as your messaging service again.
Time with her is precious, and I sure as hell don’t want to spend it talking about you.
” I give her one of my best smiles. “Have a great day.”
At my side, Leighton is trying to keep her laughter in, but failing miserably as Mable leaves without a word.
“That was awesome.” She leans up, grasping my ear in between her teeth and giving me a little lick. If that’s how she wants to repay me, I’ll put someone in their place, every day of the week.
“There’s some of the guys.” I point to some of my team who’s congregating under a food tent. Out of the sun it’s at least fifteen degrees cooler.
“What are y’all doing?” I ask as we walk over to where they’ve commandeered three picnic tables.
“Trying to decide what we want for lunch.” Renegade takes his daughter off his shoulders and sits her down on the table in front of him.
“She’s gonna need some more sunscreen.” Whitney checks Stella for redness. “And I think she’s thirsty. She finished that bottle of water.”
Leighton has a seat next to Ryan, before leaning in and tickling Stella on the stomach. These two are well-acquainted with each other and she willingly goes to Leighton. “What’s up, buttercup?”
“Leigh!”
I watch as Stella grabs hold of her friend and gives her an excited hug. Stella can say a few words, but she’s obviously not at the point where she can make full sentences. “You having fun?” Leighton asks her.
Stella nods and reaches for Leighton’s cup of lemonade. “Drink?”
“Is it okay for her to have Lemonade?” she asks Ryan before she hands the cup to Stella.
“Yeah, I’m gonna go get her some more water, what’d you want?” He asks Whitney as I watch my wife with Stella.
I’ve always known that Leighton has a soft heart, and a good soul, but I’ve never really seen it until this scene in front of me.
Lots of people tell me how they hang out when Whitney comes to The Café to do her business meetings, but I’ve never been able to be there when it happens, so I’ve never seen them together.
Right now, what I’m watching is something amazing.
Stella is yammering on in the way she tries to talk and Leighton is listening with rapt attention, tying Stella’s shoe that’s come undone, fixing the bow that’s become crooked in her hair, and taking a baby wipe handed to her by Whitney as she wipes off the toddler’s face.
She does it all with a smile and a genuine affection for the kid in front of her.
When Stella hands back the cup of lemonade telling Leighton “All gone,” I want to laugh. She let her have every bit of the drink she just got.
“You want another?” I ask her with a chuckle.
“If you don’t mind? And I’d like some food, too.”
After the way my eyes have been opened to this woman today, I’ll get her whatever she wants.
Anything she asks for is hers, and for the first time I pray that I’ll never have to know what my life is like without her in it.
She’s ingrained herself into not only my life, but the lives of my guys, the people who mean the most to me.
They like her, care for her, and count on her, even if they didn’t want to before.
She’s become a part of a team that she and I are together, and I’m never going to give it up.
“Be right back.”
The scene in front of me is mesmerizing and filling me full of hope.
It’s making me want things I never thought I wanted.
A family, kids, a lifetime of memories that no one can ever take away from you.
Suddenly I’m seeing those memories as good ones, not ones tainted by a war and a girl who couldn’t hang.
They’re being replaced. And while it scares me to admit it to anyone, including myself, it feels good at the same time.
Maybe I’m not as damaged as I always thought I was.