Chapter Seven
THE AIR BUZZED as rides soared up toward the night sky, alive with bright colored lights, their riders screaming, arms flailing, mirroring everything Grace felt as she and Reed meandered through the crowds. For the first time in forever, Grace felt carefree and truly happy—and it scared the heck out of her because where would she be three weeks from now when she went back to New York? She couldn’t go through another heartbreak, but being with Reed, even just being around him when he wasn’t kissing her dizzy, was everything she’d remembered. He was real, and he didn’t put on a front, pretending, or hoping, to be something he wasn’t. She’d always admired that about him.
They stopped for cotton candy, and Reed pulled a piece of the sticky sweetness off and held it up to Grace’s lips. “Open up, beautiful.”
She opened her mouth, and he set the cotton candy on her tongue. “Mm. I haven’t had cotton candy in ages.”
He gathered her in his arms and lowered his lips to hers, the sugary goodness giving way to his unique, heavenly taste.
“Well, well, well, look at my big sister making out like she’s not Miss Buttoned-up City Girl.”
Grace tore her mouth from Reed’s at the sound of Brindle’s voice. She tried to step away, but Reed’s grip tightened, keeping her close. He didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, as he cupped her jaw, keeping her attention focused on him as he placed a tender kiss to her lips and said, “No hiding, Gracie.”
How could he be so calm when her insides were whirling?
Reed brushed his thumb over Grace’s cheek and turned slowly toward the others. Brindle was tucked beneath Trace Jericho’s arm like she was sewn there, her eyes dancing with delight at catching Grace in a compromising position. Trace was a strappingly large cowboy, with dark hair and eyes and an ever-present arrogant smile. Beside him, two of his four siblings, Shane and Trixie, who helped him run their family ranch, were talking with Chet, who carried his four-year-old nephew, Scotty, on his shoulders.
A slow grin spread across Reed’s lips as he said, “How’s it going?”
“Apparently not as well as it is for you guys,” Trixie said with a smile. “I’d hug you hello, but it looks like your hugs are all spoken for.”
Grace couldn’t suppress her smile, even though she hated the snarky look on Brindle’s face. “Hey,” she said, then chided herself. Hey? How long had it been since she’d replaced hello or hi with hey? She’d worked too hard to shake off those country ways to fall back into them. If that’s what Reed’s kisses did to her, she’d have to rethink things.
As if he could read her mind, he leaned in, touching his cheek to hers, and whispered, “Doesn’t it feel good to be us in public?”
Maybe country bumpkin wasn’t so bad after all, because heck yes, it felt amazing!
“Oh my gosh! I just figured it out!” Brindle waggled her finger at them. “This is why you freaked out the other night. How long have you two been secretly hooking up?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Reed winked at Brindle, and Grace glared at him. He pressed his lips to hers. “Guess they figured us out, huh, Gracie? No more hiding.”
Taking his much-needed hint to avoid any further questions about their past, she said, “You caught us, Brindle. We’ve been having a secret long-distance, torrid affair for years.”
Brindle seemed to think about that for a minute, her brows furrowed, nose wrinkled, in that adorable way she had that Grace had always envied.
“Man, that sounds perfect,” Shane said. “Long-distance means you see each other often enough to make the most out of each visit without having time to get sick of each other.” He was every bit the cowboy, like Trace and the rest of his brothers, but he was three years older than Trace and had never been as cocky.
Grace liked all the Jericho siblings, but Shane had a certain gentlemanly way that made him one of her favorites.
Trixie tugged at the knot in her flannel shirt, which was tied above her belly button, leaving a glimpse of tanned flesh above her denim shorts. “We’re going on the Ferris wheel. Want to come?”
“Hell, yes,” Reed said. “I’ve been dying to kiss Grace at the top of it for years.”
Her stomach flipped. He really was going for no more hiding. She made a mental note to define borders on their newfound relationship, like please don’t out me to my family. She’d never been a liar, except where seeing Reed was concerned, and she knew she needed to come clean to her family about their past before they heard about their fake multiyear relationship from Brindle.
Falling into step with the group, Trixie nudged Grace’s arm. “Those boots are wicked cute. Aren’t you worried about ruining them?”
Grace looked down at her black leather ankle boots, which were already covered in dust, and she winced. She’d forgotten how dirty the fairgrounds were, and she’d been so swept up in Reed, she hadn’t given a thought to anything other than looking cute for him.
“You should have worn Mom’s boots,” Brindle said.
As much as she hated to admit it, Brindle was right.
Reed glanced down at her boots. “I’ll get those cleaned up for you back at my place. No worries.”
Butterflies swarmed in her belly at the prospect of going back to his place, and at his confidence that that was exactly where they were heading. But weren’t they? Hadn’t she spent the whole evening trying to ignore that she was secretly hoping for the same? Apparently Brindle didn’t miss that comment either. She was grinning like a Cheshire cat as they made their way into the Ferris wheel line.
They finished their cotton candy, sharing with everyone as they waited their turn. Chet set Scotty’s feet on the ground. His face and hands were pink and sticky.
“Be right back.” Reed gave Grace a quick kiss, then ran out of line to a nearby food vendor. He returned with a bottle of water and a handful of napkins. “Give me your hands, buddy.” He poured water over Scotty’s hands and cleaned them off.
“Dude’s making your uncle look bad, Scotty,” Chet teased.
“Nah,” Reed said as he tousled Scotty’s hair. “I did some work with kids in Michigan. I’m used to sticky hands.”
Holy cow. “You just got ten times hotter,” came out before Grace could stop it.
Reed pulled her close again with a frisky expression. “If that’s all it takes, maybe I should tell you about the time I dressed up like Santa Claus.”
He touched his lips to hers, and Trixie said, “I’ve gotta find myself a long-distance lover.”
“Over my dead body,” Trace said.
“And once he’s dead, you’ll need to take me down, too,” Shane said, bumping fists with Trace.
“I’m so glad I don’t have a pack of brothers,” Brindle said. “Trix, you go to Maryland enough. Just pick one up there. Or come help with my drama club play. There are lots of single dads there.”
“There are?” Trace gave her a stern look. Brindle laughed and rolled her eyes.
“No single dads for me,” Trixie said. “I need my freedom.”
Brindle smirked. “I hear ya, sister. Being tied down is not in my plans, either.”
Reed gave Trace a look that clearly asked what was up with that comment.
“No strings,” Trace said with a wink. “That’s what life’s all about.”
Brindle nodded in agreement. Even though Grace knew Brindle had no interest in settling down with any one man, it still made her sad to know she was okay with the idea of Trace being with another woman. She had no idea how she and her siblings could have been raised by the same parents when they were different in so many ways.
Scotty tugged on Brindle’s shirt and said, “Mommy said I can be in your play when I’m bigger.” He pushed his mop of blond hair from his eyes for the umpteenth time, and it flopped right back down.
“Darn right you can, little man,” Brindle said. “That reminds me. Grace, can you stop by rehearsal one afternoon this week? I’m having some trouble with the script. We start at three thirty. I could use your insight.”
She and Brindle might not see eye to eye with their personal lives—Brindle flirted shamelessly, while Grace had always been very careful in that department—but when it came to their careers, they were equally as passionate. Brindle gave her all to her students.
“Sure. I’d love to. My class starts tomorrow and runs from four to six, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at Amber’s bookstore. Why don’t I come by Tuesday?”
“That’s perfect,” Brindle said.
Reed squeezed Grace against his side. “If you ever need help with the sets. I can squeeze in a few hours here and there.” He kissed Grace’s temple and said, “If my girl’s there, it’d be even more of a priority.”
His girl? Everything about tonight should worry her, but being with Reed had always been easy. It was the hiding that had been torture. Warnings screamed in her head, Tread carefully! Heartache up ahead! But maybe her mother was right. She had three weeks, and it had been a long time since she’d been this happy. Why not enjoy it?
Brindle looked up at Trace, who towered over her and said, “See? Some guys make time to help.”
“Babe,” Trace said, “I’ve got a ranch to run. But if you want to spend the time we have together building sets, instead of”—he glanced at Scotty and cleared his throat—“our other extracurricular activities, that can be arranged.”
“Nope! Never mind,” Brindle said, and promptly changed the subject.
The line moved faster than expected, and before Grace knew it, it was their turn. They climbed into their car, and Grace’s pulse quickened. She loved rides, but they always made her nervous. Reed hauled her against him and pointed to Scotty safely tucked beneath Chet’s arm.
“There’s nothing sexier than a man who watches out for children,” Grace said.
“I was pointing to Scotty, not Chet,” Reed growled.
“I know you were. And I was talking about you.”
“Aw, Gracie.” His lips touched hers in a feather of a kiss as the ride began and they were lifted into the air. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” she said honestly, and was surprised at how much she felt herself opening up to him. “I want to know all the great things that have gone on in your life.”
As their car sailed toward the sky, Reed pointed beyond the fairgrounds. “See that road over there? It leads to the theater, where I lost my virginity to a very special girl. That’s also where I first told her I loved her. See the high school? The football field? That’s where I first saw her.”
Grace snuggled closer, the breeze stinging her eyes. Or maybe it was nostalgia. It had been so long since she’d felt anything other than rushed and lonely, she couldn’t decipher which. “I was there for all those things. I want to know what’s happened since then.”
He gazed deeply into her eyes, and she felt the emotions she saw there climbing beneath her skin and burrowing in.
“Don’t you get it, Gracie? You’re all that matters.”
THEY HUNG OUT with their friends, riding roller coasters and bumper cars, and raced down an enormous slide in burlap bags. They played darts, and Trace won a small stuffed dog for Brindle. When Grace gushed over it, Reed spent fifty bucks playing a shooting game until he won her an enormous stuffed bear. She hugged it tight, looking cute as hell.
“Show-off,” Trace teased.
“I love it!” Grace exclaimed as she tried to figure out how to carry it. “What should I call him?”
Reed stole another kiss and said, “Greedy Boy, of course. That way you’ll think of me every time you see him.”
She tugged him down by his shirt for another kiss. “Thank you. How will I be able to not think about you again after such an amazing night?”
“You won’t, if I can help it.” He hoisted the stuffed animal onto his shoulders and put his arm around her as they followed the others toward another ride. After a while they parted from their friends, and finally, Reed had Grace all to himself again.
“I love being here with you,” she confessed. “We missed out on a lot as kids, but I think it made our relationship deeper because we spent so much time alone, really getting to know each other.”
“We’ll make up for those missed things,” he assured her. “I have to admit. I was jealous of the little things we didn’t get to do, like going on real dates and wearing those boyfriend-girlfriend beaded bracelets everyone had. I would have loved to see you wearing one of my football jerseys on game day, too.”
“We missed prom, the homecoming dance…”
“We’ll make new memories,” he promised.
“One dollar! Guess your weight or height!” a man called out from beside a tall scale.
Grace dragged Reed away from it. “Give that man a wide breadth. That’s the scariest thing at the fair.”
He chuckled as they ducked into an arcade tent and made their way to the photo booth. Surprisingly, there was no line. He set the stuffed bear in the booth and they climbed inside, closing the curtain behind them. Serenaded by whirring machines and ringing arcade games, he pulled Grace down on his lap, and a sense of completeness flooded him. It had been so long since he’d felt anything remotely close to that, it took him a second to identify it.
“Remember the pictures we took in the photo booth in Wishing Creek?” The town of Wishing Creek was about half an hour away from Oak Falls. They’d gone there when they were younger so they could spend time together without worrying about their friends seeing them.
“I still have mine,” she said happily.
“Me too.” He pulled out his wallet and withdrew a few bucks for the pictures. Then he handed Grace the wallet. “Look inside.”
She opened it with a confused expression.
“Go on. Look through these.” He pointed to the plastic credit card holders.
She flipped through them, pausing with uncertainty.
“Keep going,” he said.
A small sound escaped when she came to the pictures they’d taken in Wishing Creek. They were gazing into each other’s eyes, with smiles as bright as their newfound love.
She ran her finger over their faces. “We were so young.”
“And you were so beautiful.” He withdrew the picture and unfolded it, revealing another picture of them kissing and a third of them making silly faces.
“You’ve carried them all this time?” she asked.
“No. There was a time I didn’t, right after we split, but I always had them with me. When I decided to move back, I put them in my wallet. The universe must have known we weren’t done.”
He fed the money into the slot and slipped the picture back into his wallet, tucking it into his pocket. “Time to make new memories.”
They pressed their faces close together. Grace smiled for the camera, but Reed was too taken with her to look anywhere else. And when her green eyes met his, their mouths came together hungrily. Her lips were warm and sweet as he took the kiss deeper. The flash went off around them a few times, and then there was only the darkness, the curtain to the booth buffering them from the outside world as they made out like they had all those years ago, groping and kissing like they’d never get enough of each other. He lifted her up and she straddled his lap, holding his face between her soft hands like she never wanted to let him go—and man, he hoped she didn’t.
“Come home with me, Grace,” he said between kisses.
“Okay,” she said, and pressed her lips to his. “One more kiss.”
By the time they stumbled out of the booth with their enormous bear, Reed’s body was on fire. They made out on the way to the truck, stopping every few minutes to maneuver around the bear. He tossed the stuffed animal behind the seats and they tumbled onto the front seat in a flurry of lasciviousness. His body pressed down over hers, and he pushed his hand beneath her blouse, filling his hand with her womanly curves. She moaned, breaking through his lust-addled brain.
He ground out a curse. “Not here, Grace. I want you naked in my arms, and I don’t want to worry about who might see or hear us.”
“Oh! Right!” she said, and then worry rose in her eyes. “Brindle saw us together. We’ll be the talk of the town tomorrow, if we’re not already.”
“That’s not what I mean,” he said, laughing softly as he stepped out of the truck and helped her sit up. “I’m glad they saw us.” He went around to the driver’s side and hauled her across the seat until she was pressed tightly beside him. “Talking is one thing. Giving them a show is another. Let them talk all they want. Pretty soon nobody will remember a time when we weren’t together. Most of all, you.”
They kissed at every light on the way to his place, and when they turned off the main road, Grace said, “Remember when we used to dream about owning that Victorian on the road where Sophie’s parents live?”
“Mm-hm.” The nearer they got to his house, the clearer his thoughts became. He was pushing for no more hiding, and that meant being honest about everything. Including Alina. He hated the idea of bringing her up and hated even more having to admit to Grace that he’d almost married the wrong woman. But she trusted him, and he didn’t want to keep anything from her.
“Sophie built a house there. She’s coming home for her baby shower next weekend, and—” She stopped talking when he turned down his and his new neighbor, Sophie’s, road. “Reed…?”
He turned into his driveway, which was lined by tall oaks, and his pulse kicked up as the house came into view. He parked out front, the headlights illuminating the house.
“You bought it? This is yours?” Her gaze sailed over the wide front porch that abutted the turret on the left, then drifted up to the two windows on the third floor.
He cut the engine and stepped from the truck. “Fate’s got a strange way of making things work out. This Painted Lady came on the market at the right time. How could I not buy it? It’s a piece of history”—ours and its own—“and has all the hallmarks of the things I treasure. Check out the gingerbread trim, the wide porch, and octagonal tower. And the steep, multifaceted roof is true Victorian. Not to mention the memories I have of us ogling the place.” He glanced at Grace and caught her watching him with a wondrous expression. “Sorry. I get a little carried away.”
“No, it’s nice to see you haven’t lost that romantic touch. You always got carried away about houses and things other kids paid no attention to. It was one of the things that I admired about you. You were different from everyone back then. I guess you still are.”
As they headed for the front door, she said, “It’s gorgeous. It looks the same, only different. Better.”
“I fixed up the siding, replaced the gingerbread around the peaks, had it painted. I fixed up the whole porch and was able to use most of the original pieces. Wait until you see the inside. It’s even better than we imagined.”
“You painted it white, lavender, and pale green,” she said with a smile.
“I was never very good with colors.” It wasn’t really true, but Grace had loved those colors, and when it came time to paint, he figured, why not? “You had a great eye for that.”
“I’m sure I sound shell-shocked. I can’t believe you bought it.” She ran her hand up the railing as they ascended the steps.
“I’ve still got a little work to do in the kitchen, and I need to paint the living room, but it’s getting there.”
He pushed the door open, revealing high ceilings and archways leading into the living room and kitchen and restored carved woodwork along the lower half of the walls and stairs to their right. Grace smiled appreciatively as she took in the results of his hard work. She stepped into the living room, which opened to the dining room.
“The kitchen’s around back, and there’s a great morning room that overlooks the creek.”
“Wow. This is gorgeous.” She ran her fingers over the complex moldings and glanced up at the ornate chandelier and intricate medallion on the ceiling. “Did you do all of this work?”
Pride rose inside him. “Yes.”
“It’s really stunning. And what’s going on over there?” She pointed at the color samples he’d painted on the wall.
“I couldn’t decide which colors would look best. Which do you like?”
Her brow wrinkled in concentration, her head tilting to one side, then the other. “I really love this one.” She pointed to his favorite, pale seafoam green. “It ties in with the outside of the house. It’s vivid and somehow also soft, but it might be too much for the whole room. I’d probably go with something like this one.” She pointed to the next sample. “It reminds me of buttercream, and white trim would make it pop. It also goes with anything.” She looked around the room. “Not that you have anything to match it to. Where’s your furniture?”
“I have the necessities, a mattress and dresser, a kitchen table. Until now I haven’t needed anything else. Other than when I showed the house to my aunt and uncle, you’re my first guest.”
“With a house this special, don’t you want to show it off?”
“Not really. I’m rehabbing it for myself, not so other people can gawk at it.”
“Well, you’ve done an impressive job, and it brings back memories. It smells like the houses your uncle used to work on,” she said, lacing her fingers with his.
That simple act of claiming him, letting him know she was still right there with him, brought a streak of happiness. “The houses we used to sneak into to make out? I have a faint memory of that smell you’re referring to, but mostly I remember your sweet scent knocking me off my feet.”
“Reed,” she said with a bashful smile.
“I can’t help it, Grace. I remember it all, the way we kissed, lying beneath the stars and never wanting our nights together to end. Texting until three in the morning when you’d fall asleep and leave me hanging more often than not.”
She buried her face in his chest with a groan.
“My girl needed her beauty sleep.”
“Your girl needed to go to the same school as her boyfriend so she could have seen you every day without worrying about what anyone else thought.”
“Rivalries were awful back then, weren’t they?” He remembered too many kids who had gotten into fights to prove their school was the best and girls who had been called horrible names because they dated guys from other schools. He never would have risked that happening to Grace. “It’s not that way now around here. Did you know that? Everyone gets along, regardless of which town they’re from.”
She nodded. “That’s what I hear.”
“I wanted to be with you every second. You had to know that, Grace.” Her gaze was soft and alluring, drawing him deeper into her. “And right now I want to carry you upstairs and make love to you until nothing else exists.”
“I like that plan,” she said softly.
He knew what he had to do next might ruin this moment, but to keep Grace’s trust, he’d take that chance.