Chapter Thirty-Eight
Emma
Sunday
We got the horses fed and worked early, and were just relaxing into the day, sitting on the porch with Riley snoozing between us, watching the day warm up into the afternoon. I looked over at Pete, smiling at the way the wind ruffled his hair. It was getting long on top. He’d need another haircut soon.
“Let’s go out tonight,” I said.
He raised his dark eyebrows at me, the surprise widening his blue eyes. “To dinner?”
I shook my head. “Let’s drive up to Austin. We can meet up with Jack and have dinner at Murdock’s. Kasey’s working tonight.”
He pouted a little, drawing a giggle from me. “I was hoping to have you to myself tonight.”
“We’ll have all night after dinner. I promise.” I widened my eyes and did my own pouting because I knew he couldn’t say no when I made that face.
“Alright. You know I do just about any damned thing you ask.”
“That’s why I keep you around,” I said and laughed.
We went inside to shower and change, then took off for Austin in Pete’s truck. I called Jack on the way, telling him we’d meet him around five. We got into the city a little earlier than we’d planned, parking down the street from Murdock’s and walking the rest of the way hand in hand.
It was busier inside than I’d expected, but I’d sent Kasey a text message as we were rolling out of Round Rock, so she’d saved a table for us. She came running over to greet us, looking a little out of sorts from the crowd.
“There’s a big game on today,” she said after she’d hugged us both. “So it’s busier in here than usual. I saved y’all a good table, though.” Pete and I sat down, and she took our drink orders.
“Don’t forget to tip your waitress,” she said, grinning, her light eyes sparkling as we laughed. She turned and hurried away, her short hair flying all over her shoulders and back.
“What are you gonna have?” Pete asked, looking down at his menu.
“The burgers here are great.” I wasn’t even bothering with the menu. I already knew I was getting the double bacon cheeseburger and plenty of greasy fries.
Jack came in right after another waitress brought us our drinks — turned out Kasey wasn’t actually our waitress after all. We waved him over. He was dressed the same way we were, in jeans and a t-shirt, his hair even shorter than it’d been the last time I saw him. One day, he was just going to show up bald.
I stood to give him a hug. “You keep cutting your damned hair!”
He smiled at me and then reached to shake Pete’s hand. “Good to see you again, man.” He sat down across from us. The waitress came back to take our food orders. All three of us got a different kind of burger.
“You have to give me some dirt on this girl,” Pete said to Jack, smiling so I could see he meant it. “She seems too good to be true. There must be some skeletons hiding somewhere.”
I slapped his arm and turned to Jack, not able to keep back my grin. “Don’t you dare tell him a damned thing!”
He laughed, his dark eyes jumping from Pete to me. “There’s not much dirt to tell. Most of the trouble we got into growing up was my fault.”
“Except that time in the library,” I said, lifting my eyebrows.
“Oh, shit, that was your fault!” he said, and we both laughed hard enough to start tears running down our faces.
“What happened in the library?” Pete asked, grinning, too.
“Oh my God. We had detention for weeks. I thought Daddy was gonna tan my hide,” Jack said, shaking his blond head. “You tell it, Em.”
I looked at Pete. “Jack was in the library studying when I came looking for him in between periods. He had study hall in there before lunch, and I had some stupid thing I needed to ask him.”
“You wanted to know if I was sitting outside in the quad or in the cafeteria for lunch,” he piped up.
“That’s right! Because you changed your mind every damned day on that.”
“She got mad when I wouldn’t answer her right away,” he continued, glancing over at Pete, who was still smiling and waiting for the punch line. “She grabbed my book and made me come after her to get it.”
I covered my mouth to keep the laughter in, tears streaming from my eyes as my shoulders shook.
“I jumped for her, and she moved out of the way all quick like, only I tripped at the same time and went hurtling into the bookcase, knocking it clean over, sending books flying everywhere.”
I was losing it at this point, bent over my lap and laughing so hard my stomach was in knots. I could see him on the ground on top of that bookcase, which had hit the next bookcase, knocking it over, too.
“Three more bookcases fell after that one. The library was in shambles, and the two of us were the only ones back there.”
I sat up, wiping my face, trying to calm down enough to speak. “You should’ve seen your face, Jack, lying on that damned bookcase. I couldn’t move! I never saw so many books in my life.”
Pete was grinning at me, an amused shine to his eyes.
“The librarian about chewed us the hell out and walked our asses straight to the front office,” Jack said. “We had to miss the rest of our classes and stay that night putting things away until the mess was cleaned up. Took damned near five hours, mostly because we couldn’t stop laughing every time we looked at each other.”
The waitress arrived with our burgers, laying them down on the table in front of us. Pete asked for refills on our beers. In between bites, we talked about the good old days. He couldn’t get enough of the stories of me and Jack in school, and boy, did Jack love to tell them. Nothing was as funny as the incident in the library — Daddy hadn’t been too pleased to have to pick me up after school at well past nine at night, but he hadn’t said another word about it when I said nothing had been broken and I’d learned my lesson.
“Y’all staying in town tonight?” Jack asked after we finished our burgers and beers.
I shook my head. “We got work on the farm tomorrow morning first thing.”
“I have a twenty-four hour shift starting in the morning,” he replied. “I should probably get home.”
Pete snatched up the tab when the waitress came by with it, sending her on her way with some cash before Jack could say anything about it.
“You can treat Emma the next time you see her,” he said, grinning that deep grin I loved, the sexy one that got me going just about every time.
“You got it,” he said.
After the boys shook hands, I gave Jack a hug.
“We’ll walk out with you,” I said. “Just let me say goodbye to Kase.” I caught her running by and told her goodnight. The three of us — Jack, Pete, and I — walked out together and said our goodbyes on the street where it was a little quieter, then, since we were parked in opposite directions, we went our separate ways.
Pete held my door open, and I gave him a kiss before climbing into the truck. We drove off, rolling the windows down while we were still in the city because I loved to stick my hand out in the wind.
“I’m glad we went out,” he said. “That was fun. Jack’s a good guy.”
I agreed.
We rolled to a stop at a red light, and he reached to take my hand, squeezing my fingers. I looked over at him, smiling as I met his light eyes.
“I love you, Emma,” he said, a sheepish grin curling the corners of his mouth.
My heart beat a little faster as a warm feeling started in my chest and spread out, tingling over my skin. I felt that need for him again, but it was different, sweeter. I squeezed his fingers.
“I love you, too, Pete.” And, I did.
His smile expanded to swallow the whole bottom half of his face, and he turned his eyes back to the road when the light turned green. That warm feeling stayed with me the whole way home, and I didn’t let go of his hand again until we were back on the ranch.