Chapter Seventeen
Grant
“Enjoy the big date tonight!” Brady yelled as I made my way out the door.
“Thanks, Shotgun,” I said.
He laughed. “You know, I haven’t been called that in such a long time. It’s so weird having you say that name all the time. It sounds weird here, doesn’t it? Like ever since I’ve moved away from Arizona, I’ve been Brady.”
“Yeah,” I said as I turned around to face him. “I know what you mean. I feel the same when you call me Patriot. But I can’t help it, man. No matter where we are or what we do, you’ll always be Shotgun to me. Even if I refer to you as Brady to other people, you’re still Shotgun in my head. It’s a brother thing,” I smiled.
“It’s the one part of the motorcycle club that I actually don’t mind, you know. Well, have a great night, Patriot,” he said and grinned at me.
I walked out feeling good about the conversation. It was the first time he’d managed to talk about the motorcycle club without freaking out. For a brief second, I thought he was going to ask me to stop calling him by his nickname. I was glad that he hadn’t. And I was glad that he hadn’t started an argument me on my way out to see Emily. I was in a good mood, and I planned for it to stay that way.
I got to Terra’s house and knocked on the door. When Emily answered, I was completely taken aback by her appearance. She’d looked beautiful every time I’d seen her, but today she looked spectacular. She was wearing a soft blue dress that made her blue eyes shine brighter, and the material seemed to flow around her body as she walked. Her hair was up and tied high so that her long ponytail moved from side to side as she walked. She took my breath away. Emily was one of the only women I’d ever met that had to do so little to look so incredibly gorgeous. Even without makeup or heels, she was stunning.
I cleared my throat when I realized I was staring.
“You look so beautiful tonight, Emily.”
She blushed, and it only made her look prettier.
“Thank you. It’s good to see you again.”
We were just about to leave when Terra came running out. My immediate thought was that she was going to say something to stop us from going out. And I could see that Emily thought the same thing. But we were very wrong. Terra was beaming when she walked out, and Emily was looking at her with a curious look on her face.
“Hi, Terra. It’s good to see you again. Thanks for letting me take Emily for the night,” I said, and I shook her hand.
“Good to see you again, too,” she said and shook back. She had a very firm handshake for someone so small. “Listen, I have a favor to ask of the two of you, if you don’t mind?”
“A favor? Sure, what’s up?” I said. I looked at Emily and I could see that she had no idea what Terra was about to say either.
“Well, I have to stay at my mother’s tonight. She’s invited me over, and I’m spending the night. I’ll only be back late tomorrow. It was a last-minute thing. She just called a little while ago. Sorry, Em, I was going to tell you, but we got caught up in other things. Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you wouldn’t mind coming in to check the house when you get back from dinner.”
“What do you mean?” Emily asked. “I can do that. I’m sleeping here, anyway, remember? I’ll make sure everything is okay when I get home.”
“Yeah, but with everything that has happened recently, I’d feel safer knowing that Grant has come in to check it out too. Just a quick check around the house.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Emily said, and I noticed that she had gone bright red.
“Only if you don’t mind, Grant. I’d really appreciate it,” Terra said to me and completely ignored the looks Emily was giving her.
I tried not to laugh. “Of course I don’t mind checking on the house.”
“Thank you. Such a gentleman. Well, have a great night, you two. I’m heading over to my mother’s soon.” Terra was practically whistling as she walked back into the house.
Emily’s face was still red by the time we got into the car, but I decided not to point it out. Otherwise we’d get into the discussion as to why she was feeling embarrassed about me being in a house all alone with her. But I liked the fact that she was feeling so shy about it. And I liked that Terra was going out of her way to give us some alone time.
“She seems nice,” I said to Emily as I started the car. I decided that I really liked this Terra girl now. She clearly had our best interests at heart.
I turned to see that Emily was grinning, but she was still not looking at me in the eye. “She is,” Emily said.
I took Emily to another place recommended by Brady. This time it was a small restaurant called Buffalo, which apparently sold the most amazing burgers. When she saw where we were going, she grinned.
“Oh, I love this place.”
“Darn, I was hoping you hadn’t been,” I said.
She laughed. “Good luck with that. We’d have to drive pretty far. I’m still amazed that you managed to take me to a new place the first time. It’s small here. It doesn’t take long to know your way around. But I don’t mind at all; I haven’t been here in ages, and they make the best burgers ever!”
I laughed at her enthusiasm. “That’s what I’ve been told. So, this place is called Buffalo and the other place was called Wyo. Is every place around here named after the area?”
She chuckled. “Yeah, and next to Wyo, there’s a place called Ming.”
“What? There is?”
She burst out laughing. “No. But there should be.”
“There totally should be.”
We laughed with ease all the way into the restaurant and took our seat at a table in the far corner. Emily said it was her favorite seat in the house because it gave her the perfect vantage point out onto the crowd.
“I’m a bit of a people watcher. I love just sitting and watching how people interact with one another. I find it fascinating. You can easily tell who is on a date, who is here with friends, who doesn’t like the person they’re with. People are so much easier to read than you think. Everyone thinks that they are so cryptic, especially the quiet ones, but they don’t realize how many other things betray who they really are. I love just sitting and trying to figure people out.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. “Oh yeah? How about me? Can you read me?”
“Well, that’s the thing. It’s often easier to read people from far away because they have no idea that you’re watching them. Up close it’s a little harder. And as this is only our second date, I’m not sure I’d get it right.”
“Go on, give it a try. I’ll tell you how close you get. You know, unless you’re too chicken?”
She looked at me and laughed. “Okay, then. I love a good challenge. Well, I think you’re a good person. But I think you’ve had a lot of things happen in your life. Things that have made you close up to your emotions. And, I think that lately, being out in the open air every day has made you start thinking about things that you haven’t thought about in a long time.”
I looked at her for a moment without saying anything. For someone that claimed not to know me, or not to be able to do this with someone up close, she sure was doing a good job at it.
“Did I say something to offend you?” she said quickly when I didn’t respond.
“Not at all,” I said and smiled. “I’m just surprised. I barely know you, Emily. And you’ve assessed me perfectly. Are you sure you’re not a mind reader? Or a psychologist or something?”
She breathed a sigh of relief at my answer. “I’m just a speech therapist. Although, I used to want to get into psychology. Okay, let me see; what else? What else?” she said and looked at me. I loved the way she was looking at me. The way her dark-blue eyes took me in. “You used to work out all the time at the gym, but now you work so hard at the ranch you don’t even miss the place.”
I laughed. “Are you kidding me? How did you know that?”
She chuckled. “You’ve clearly got muscles. And you had those before you started at the ranch. It was obvious to me that you worked out,” she said. I thought about teasing her about noticing my muscles before she’d even met me but decided not to. I didn’t want her to be too embarrassed to carry on. I was enjoying this too much. “And you told me that you used to be a real estate agent, so you weren’t getting any outdoor work done in that job.. Which can only mean you went to the gym. And there’s no way you have the time to go to the gym now.”
“But how do you know I prefer working outdoors than at the gym?”
“Okay, that part I just guessed. You seem to really enjoy working at the ranch and doing the firefighting stuff. So I just assumed you wouldn’t miss a stuffy old gym. Most people think they prefer working out at a gym until they start working outside.”
I grinned. “You’d be right. Anything else?”
“Hmm, you love animals. Cats?”
“Is that because I saved a cat from a burning house the other day?”
“Uh, maybe,” she said and chuckled. “I told you I’m not so good at this from close up. That was a bit of a guess.”
“Well, I do love animals. And yeah, I like cats. But they’re not my favorite. I’m more of a dog person.”
“I was thinking of getting a guinea pig the other day, or maybe a rabbit or something.”
“Really?” I said and thought immediately of her bunny slippers. “You should. The only reason I don’t have a pet at the moment is because I’m not sure where I’m going to end up. Moving in with Brady was such a spur of the moment thing. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with my life.”
“And that’s okay. Sometimes it’s better not to plan things too well.”
“Yeah, I’ll probably go back to visit my father again soon. But other than that, I’m not sure I really want to leave this place. I like it here.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said. “What about your mother? Do you ever see her?”
I shook my head sadly. “She passed away a long time ago. My father brought us up. I sometimes think the lack of females in our house is what made all of us so messed up.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. And, honestly, you’re not that messed up. No more than most people really.”
“You’re probably right. Things could’ve been a lot worse. And my dad did the best that he could. He’s a good man at the core. So, how about you? What’s the story with your family? Do you see them often? You already know about all my crazy family. Oh, wait, here come our burgers. Hold that thought.”
The burgers were huge and stacked so high I wondered how we were even going to eat them. Emily must’ve seen me staring at them because she laughed.
“I remember having that exact look when I first saw these burgers myself. They look so incredibly daunting up close. But don’t worry, there’s a method to this. You take it apart like this to create two burgers almost. And then you can eat each one with your hands. It’s a messy affair, but it tastes far better than if you do it with a knife and fork.”
“You okay with me eating with my hands on a date?” I asked.
She laughed. “I’m more than okay with it. In fact, I insist on it. Mostly because I don’t want to be the only person doing it.”
I chuckled as I followed her lead. Then I took a bite. “Okay, this is insanely good. Wow, the food around here is incredible.”
“All locally sourced. That’s what makes it so delicious.”
“So good. Now, moving back to our conversation. Tell me about your family?” I asked. I was eager to know more about Emily. She wasn’t as easy to read as I apparently was. Either that or I wasn’t as good as reading people as she was.
“Well, my father left when I was very young. I don’t know him at all. I tried to find him once, but I didn’t get anywhere. And then I just got angry at the whole thing and stopped looking for him. I mean, if he didn’t want to know me, then why should I try and get to know him? So I just left it and carried on with my life.”
“That’s true. I’m sorry to hear that.” I couldn’t believe that any man would want to leave Emily.
“Yeah, me too. But I made peace with it a long time ago. Luckily I still had an awesome childhood. I grew up with my mom and my gran, who were by far the most amazing women in the world. They were such role models to me. And I have no brothers or sisters. Hey, I just realized something. You grew up with only men, and I grew up with only women.”
“Oh yeah, that’s true. And where does your mom stay now?” I asked and took another bite of the burger.
Emily had also just taken a bite. She finished chewing and wiped her mouth with the napkin. I loved how she didn’t mind eating a burger like that in front of me. It was cute.
“My mother passed away when I was a teenager. It was very hard. I lived with my gran, and the two of us got super close. And then, a few years ago, my grandmother died, too. So that’s it. It’s just me now. Alone in the big bad world.”
“I’m so sorry, Emily.”
“It’s okay. It sucks. But yeah, that’s life I guess,” she said. “That was their house, you know. The one that burned down. It’s where I grew up.”
I felt a huge wave of sadness come over me. I hadn’t realized quite how much she had lost when her house had burned down. It wasn’t just a house that was gone, but all her memories had gone along with it.
“Which is why,” she continued, “I’m glad you helped me find that diary. I’m so glad I’ve still got that. And the photos. Which, by the way, I’ve put onto a computer now. All scanned and saved in three different places. I’m thinking of doing the same with the diary.”
I nodded. “You should. I’m so glad those were unscathed. Doesn’t it almost feel like they were saved on purpose? I don’t believe in anything too hokey or anything, but it almost feels like they were the ones that kept those things intact.”
She smiled at me. “That’s exactly what I think.”
Knowing that about Emily only made me like her even more. Mostly because I couldn’t believe how positive she was despite everything that had happened in her life. I thought about the year I spent working as an estate agent, and how miserable I had been. I should’ve been happy that I at least had a job.
I enjoyed spending time with Emily, and I didn’t want the date to end. But as we drove home, I started to think more and more about the fact that there was nobody in Terra’s house. We’d be alone. Was she thinking about that too? I glanced over at her as we drove. She was quiet, and was staring at her hands in her lap. It looked very much to me like she was thinking about it.
As I parked the car, she turned to look at me.
“You honestly don’t have to come in. We can see from here that the house is not on fire. Terra is just being paranoid, that’s all.”
I shook my head. “She’ll kill me if I don’t come in. She’s a little scary, your friend. Even though she’s tiny.”
Emily laughed. “She is. Okay, well, thank you. I’m sure it won’t take long.”
I walked inside with her and looked around. Emily told me a few times that it really wasn’t all that necessary and I had a feeling that perhaps she didn’t want me there at all. I wasn’t going to push my luck. I’d kiss her, and then I’d leave. But as I turned around to her, she grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me toward her.