FIVE
Friendly, gray-haired, and energetic, Jen’s adoptive grandparents were somehow just exactly how I’d pictured them. Her new friends from the campground were similarly friendly, gray-haired, and energetic, so much so that many of them took to the makeshift dance floor right after arriving at the party. And for most of them being in their sixties and seventies, they sure could line dance with the best of them.
I had to wonder if there was something about the adventurous lifestyle of the RV crowd that kept them young. At any rate, Jen fit right in with this crowd, jumping right into the dancing with a few loud whoops of delight.
I myself wasn’t in as much of a party time mood. I was far too preoccupied with thoughts of what Hayden was going to say to me when he saw me, if he even said anything to me at all. For all I knew, he wanted our silence of the previous few days to become a permanent thing. I just had no idea what to expect.
I didn’t even know what to expect from myself when I saw Hayden. I still loved him deeply; I knew that much. And, although I kind of hated to admit it, I knew that Mel and Carol had been speaking the truth at dinner the evening before. Hayden was just trying to keep me and Chrissy safe, and he wasn’t necessarily trying to “control” me. However, knowing this in my head was one thing, and pretending that I still wasn’t feeling anger, resentment, and frustration was definitely another.
In fact, even though I’d tried to fight it, I was still simmering about some of the things that Hayden had said to me, such as he was going to make decisions for me until I could “display better judgment.” This statement made my anger flare anew every single time I thought of it, and I just didn’t know how to get over it. Maybe more importantly, I just didn’t know if I wanted to get over it. I felt some sort of dignity in remaining irritated and angry, even though at the same time, holding on to these emotions was making me feel more than a bit guilty and immature.
It turned out that all these different things, and all the different emotions I was feeling, were no match for the simple act of me seeing Hayden’s face. Instantly, my heart seemed to do some sort of little stutter step, just like it had done the first time I’d seen him. Looking at him from across the barn, I suddenly couldn’t even remember just what, exactly, I was so irritated with him for.
I’ve been an idiot. That was all I could think. That, and I’ve been an idiot for just not apologizing for our argument and trying to make an attempt to move on.
But then, while Hayden walked behind the makeshift dance floor to go around it, I lost sight of him, and I suddenly realized that he hadn’t apologized for our argument, either. He hadn’t even spoken a single word to me since. In fact, it seemed clear that he’d been intentionally avoiding me.
By the time he reached me, I’d folded my arms across my chest. Despite this, Hayden hesitated just for a moment before loosely taking me in his arms. He then looked into my eyes while saying just three simple words.
“I’ve missed you.”
His expression was some unusual mix of serious and resignation. And maybe his eyes held a bit of pain, although I couldn’t be sure. All I did know for sure was that my heart was experiencing a bit of pain right then. Just being so physically close to Hayden, being right in his strong arms, without things being “right” between us, was physically hurting me.
Acting on impulse, I told him I’d missed him, too. “A lot.”
Before either of us could say anything else, Jen came bouncing over with Chrissy in her arms. When Chrissy saw me and Hayden, her happy shrieks of “Ah-Zhen!” became simple shrieks of “Ah!” and “Ooh!” Smiling, I thought to myself that “Ah!” by itself was possibly a sign of progress of Chrissy getting closer to saying “Ma” or “Mama.”
Grinning and giggling, she all but leaped out of Jen’s arms and into Hayden’s and mine at the same time, because we were still standing in a loose embrace. I was sure that this seemingly warm, romantic posture wasn’t lost on Jen, because she gave me a quick little wink that I just knew meant something along the lines of, “Keep that up with Hayden.”
The three of us interacted with Chrissy for a little bit, but then she got fussy, and Mel came over, saying that she’d go take her over to one of the tables by the buffet to give her a bottle.
Before leaving with Chrissy pouting and kicking in her arms, Mel quickly spoke near my ear in a low voice. “Don’t worry. I’ve got her for the rest of the night. You just enjoy your time with Hayden.”
The moment Mel and Chrissy were gone, Jen whistled to get the attention of the evening’s DJ, who was a vampire named Lexi, and then shouted at her to “please start up the slow-dance songs!” Jen then firmly grabbed one of Hayden’s hands and one of mine and pressed them together until Hayden and I voluntarily clasped our hands together, really having no other choice. Looking extremely satisfied, Jen gave us a little nod and said that she expected us out on the dance floor whenever we were ready.
“Don’t wait too long, though, guys, or else I’ll have to come back over here and drag you guys over myself!”
Something made me think that that was no idle threat.
She bounced away over to the dance floor and quickly partnered up with a gray-haired man wearing a Hawaiian-print shirt while a slow country song began playing.
Feeling more awkward and uncertain with Hayden than I maybe ever had before, I turned my gaze to him, intending to ask him if we should dance or what, but for some reason, I found myself unable to speak. This might have been due to the fact that not only was he still holding my hand, but he was now caressing it with a slow, gentle-yet-firm touch as well.
I suddenly realized that it had simply been far too long since we’d touched. In fact, being that he’d been gone for so long before our argument, I couldn’t even remember the last time we’d kissed, or had even held hands. In reality, it had probably only been a few weeks, although the way I felt, it may as well have been a year.
Before I could find my voice, Hayden asked if I’d like to dance. I immediately said yes, unable to stop myself because the feel of his hand, and the feel of his thumb slowly caressing the back of my own hand, was really having an effect on my brain. Specifically, it was seeming to short-circuit all parts of my brain responsible for reasoning and logic.
So, I soon found myself out on the straw-covered dance floor with Hayden, with my arms around his neck, his hands at the small of my back, and our bodies swaying gently. We didn't even speak at first, and instead just looked into each other’s eyes, both of us kind of smiling a little bit, or maybe fighting smiles was more like it. Having caught a hint of Hayden’s fresh-out-of-the-shower scent, which I loved, I personally was fighting not to grin like an absolute idiot.
Over the course of our relationship, I’d discovered that his fresh-out-of-the-shower scent was just as heavenly as his arriving-back-home-after-patrol scent, and it was currently making me a bit giddy. It was his same usual scent as far as masculine woodsy, musky, leathery notes, but with an added faint trace of soap.
It was a scent I knew I could be very happy smelling all night, maybe even late into the night. If Hayden and I could manage not to argue, anyway, and if I could keep my feelings of irritation and resentment about our argument tamped down. I had a feeling that even as smoothly as things were going for the time being, it wouldn’t take much to get my anger to flare once again.
However, in the present moment, I’d decided to just simply allow myself to enjoy slow dancing with Hayden. Leading with strong, sure steps, he was now pulling me just a bit closer to his long, lean body, and I found that I couldn’t resist this pulling even if I’d wanted to. The feel of his hard, chiseled chest against the softness of mine felt far too incredible.
When the first slow song was maybe halfway over, Hayden spoke in a low voice near my ear. “I’m not sure that I’ve ever danced with such a beautiful woman before. And, in fact, I’m sure I haven’t. Just to be on this dance floor with you right now, I feel like the luckiest man alive.”
Now I stopped fighting my smile in any way, and instead, I just gave into it. “So, you really like the way I look wearing an outfit a little dressier than my usual ‘mom outfit’ of yoga pants and a t-shirt?”
Jen had seen to it that I was not only a little “dressed up,” but was also wearing a bit of makeup, too. I’d also spent a good amount of time styling my long hair, giving it loose, bouncy waves with the help of a big-barrel curling iron. To complete my dressier-than-usual look, I was wearing gold chandelier earrings that Hayden had gotten me a few months earlier just for a random gift, just because I’d admired them in a jewelry shop window during a quick trip into Sweetwater that the two of us had taken. I’d quickly found that I couldn’t wear them on a daily basis because Chrissy liked to pull on them.
In response to what I’d asked him, Hayden’s delectable lips curved in a half-grin. “You’d look beautiful dressed in rags. But, yes, I think you look especially beautiful tonight. I actually felt like I got the wind knocked out of me when I saw you across the barn…and it’s not easy to knock the wind out of a vampire. We’re supposed to be pretty tough and strong. We’re not supposed to be men who turn into jello after just one glance at a beautiful woman.”
Completely forgetting about the fact that I’d been mad at him for days, I leaned into Hayden even a little further, laughing. “Jello, huh? I'm going to remember that if I ever see you battling another vampire. I'm going to think, ‘Oh, look at Hayden. Everyone thinks he’s so strong and tough, but I know that he’s really just full of jello.’”
Smiling, Hayden tightened his already-firm hold around my waist, bringing our lower bodies together. “I won’t deny it. Around you, I am really just full of jello. You can just call me your jello vampire.”
I laughed again. “Maybe just JV for short. After all, we wouldn’t want anyone overhearing me calling you my ‘jello vampire.’ They may start thinking you’re not quite as tough of a leader as you seem.”
Hayden cracked a half-grin that was devastating in its sexiness. “‘JV’ sounds just fine to me…but I can’t be the only one in this marriage with a nickname. You should have one, too.”
“Well, what should it be?”
“Well…since I always think of you as my gorgeous girl, I almost think it should simply be GG. If that sounds all right to you.”
That sounded more than all right to me, and I told Hayden so, making him grin again.
“Good. Then, we’ll be JV and GG. That sounds great to me.”
It sounded great to me, too. In fact, anything and everything was starting to sound great to me, and I was pretty sure this would continue as long as I was slow dancing while being held in Hayden’s strong arms.
Teasing, joking, and laughing, we danced through the rest of the second slow country song that was playing, then continued dancing while a third slow song began. Several times, Hayden twirled me before pulling me back into his arms, and several times I caught possibly envious looks from other young women on the dance floor.
As leader of our Watcher community on the farm, everyone respected Hayden, no doubt, but I often got the feeling that many young women felt more for him than just simple respect or admiration. This was fine with me, and in fact, sometimes I even kind of liked the feeling of having a husband who many other young women wanted.
As I was soon to learn, though, it wasn’t only young women who wanted Hayden. Apparently, older women found him quite desirable as well. This was made clear to me when one of Jen’s new friends, who was a petite, smiling woman of about seventy, gently tapped me on the shoulder and asked if she might “cut in.” Smiling, I said that was just fine, and the woman thanked me, beaming.
“You see, I’ve been a widow for about thirty years now, and it’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to dance with such a dashing young man. So, believe me, I’m going to enjoy this dance!”
Stepping away from Hayden, not entirely without a little reluctance, I smiled at the woman again, thoroughly amused when I heard one of the woman’s friends shout, “You, go girl! You go, Berniece!”
I danced the rest of the song with Bucky, who proved to be pretty amusing himself, telling me that I should “keep an eye on Berniece,” because she could be “a fresh one.” Glancing over at her and Hayden, I didn’t spot her doing anything “fresh,” and I told Bucky that.
Shaking his head, he conceded that she wasn’t. “I guarantee you, though, she’s thinking it!”
When another slow song began playing, Berniece told me that Hayden was all mine again, adding that she needed to go grab a beer to “cool down” from the dance they’d shared. I laughed, and she did, too, telling me that I had a “damned good husband” as she floated over to the drinks table. Settling back into Hayden’s arms to dance with him again, I couldn’t deny that she was right.
*
After the fourth slow country song ended, two vampire women from the farm hopped up on a small, wood-block stage adjacent to the makeshift bar and began taking requests for a karaoke duet. Hayden asked if I’d like to take a break from dancing for something to eat, and I said yes.
“Maybe I’ll get a cool drink, too. Berniece isn’t the only one overheated from dancing with you.”
Hayden cracked a grin at my little joke, and I smiled back, “overheated” from being in such close proximity to him, but also just from being in the barn. With a hundred-some people packed into it, and being that it was an extremely warm, humid June evening, it was honestly becoming a bit steamy. No one seemed to mind at all, though, and in fact, everyone present seemed to be having a ball, eating at the tables, or tearing up the dance floor now that karaoke was underway.
Taking a cue from Berniece, many of Jen’s older female friends were now pairing up with young vampire men from the farm while the two women started singing an up-tempo disco hit from the nineteen-seventies. Taking a backward glance at the scene, I couldn’t help but smile a little, thinking just how “overheated” the older women would be if they knew that the men they were dancing with were vampires.
Against the back wall, behind all the tables, was a long buffet-style table filled with catered food that Jen had picked up from a restaurant in Sweetwater. It was here that Hayden and I found Jen, who was happily munching a buffalo-style boneless chicken wing while going through the buffet, loading her already-filled plate with even more food as she went along. She greeted Jim and me with a huge smile, clearly noticing that our hands were clasped, then asked if we’d eaten yet.
“And by ‘you guys,’ I mean have you eaten yet, Syd. I know what you ‘eat,’ Hayden, and I’m sorry to say that we just don’t have your kind of ‘food’ on the buffet table. You might want to put a little something on a plate, though, just for pretend, just so my friends don’t think it’s funny that you’re not eating.”
With all the dancing and visiting that was going on in the barn, I doubted that any of Jen’s friends would notice who was eating and who wasn’t, but it seemed that Jen had put quite a few vampires up to ‘eating’ anyway. Several husband-and-wife couples sat at one of the large circular tables with plates of food in front of them, although they weren’t actually eating the food and instead were just talking and laughing.
The act of sitting with full plates of food but not even touching any of it almost seemed more conspicuous than the vampires not ‘eating’ would have been; however, it didn’t seem that any of Jen’s friends were even paying any attention to what the vampires at the table were doing.
While I surveyed the buffet, I mused that I didn’t know what to put on my plate because all the food looked so good, which it really did.
Jen grabbed my plate, grinning. “Let me load your plate up, because I’ve already sampled everything, and I already know what things are the best. Besides, you never eat enough, and this way, I can make sure that my best friend gets a good dinner. I’ll just get you some boneless wings, some cheeseburger sliders, some teriyaki beef kebobs, and some fried mozzarella cheese sticks, just to start with.”
Smiling, I said that all sounded like more than enough to “start with.”
“And, in fact, why don’t we swap out the cheese sticks and the beef kebabs for some of that green salad, and a scoop of that fresh fruit salad right next to it.”
Rolling her eyes a little, Jen looked at Hayden. “Typical mom we got here. Always worried about vitamins and minerals and things.”
After squeezing my hand, smiling, Hayden said he’d go get me a non-alcoholic Shirley Temple from the bar. This made me smile in return, heart melting, because I’d once told him that Shirley Temples were my favorite drink, but that I always felt too embarrassed to order a “kid’s drink” while dining out, so I didn’t often get to have one.
While I watched him walk away, studying his broad back, his muscular shoulders, and his tight rear, Jen began piling my plate with food, saying that part of a best friend’s job was to be a “plate-loader-upper” sometimes. I smiled at her but then went back to taking glances at Hayden while trying not to be obvious about it.
From the looks of it, several vampire women near him at the bar were doing the same thing, giving him quick little admiring sort of glances from under their lashes. However, he didn't return any of their glances, instead seeming only intent on getting my drink. This looked like it was going to take him a minute or two, though. A few older, non-vampire men had slid off their bar stools and had come over to talk to him, and I knew he might have to make a little conversation with Jen’s friends before coming back to me in order not to seem rude.
Jen soon finished loading up my plate, along with another “prop” plate for Hayden, and she and I took a seat at an empty table to wait for him.
While I dug into the fruit salad that Jen had thankfully heaped on my plate, she gave me a comically obvious wink. “Don’t worry, Syd. I’ll scoot right on up and out of here when Hayden gets back with your drink. I know three people is one too many people for a private date. Unless you want me to follow the two of you around all night and be your official person to put your hands together to make you guys hold hands with each other all night.”
I laughed. “Well, thanks for the offer, but that’s okay. I appreciate what you did earlier with basically forcing us to hold hands, but I think Hayden and I might do okay to just hold hands on our own for the rest of the night.”
Jen shrugged, smiling. “Well, all right, then. If you say so. But just know that my offer will stay available for the whole night if you and Hayden start to have any problems holding hands on your own.”
Still smiling, she cracked open a can of pop, and then took a swig before setting the can back on the table with a sigh. “I’ve gotta pace myself on the pop and food tonight if I want to eat and drink as much as I want to. See, when food is as good as we have here tonight, a person wants to have, like, at least three plates of it. Minimum. Oh, and I even almost forgot. Once my dad gets the bonfire going outside, we’re gonna have s’mores, too!”
Laughing, I told Jen that she might want to dial it back to having two plates of food if she wanted to have room for s’mores later. She didn’t laugh along with me, and instead, fixed me with an incredulous sort of look, scoffing.
“You should know me better by now, Sydney. Two plates of food over the course of a three-hour party would leave me starving. I’m still trying to convince Bucky and Phyllis about my appetite, too. They think I have a tapeworm sometimes or something. Like, the other day, for example. After paintball, they took me out for cheeseburgers, and I had two, plus two fries and an apple pie.
Then, I still wasn’t quite full enough yet, so I got a pack of chicken nuggets and an ice cream cone. Then, I was finally full, but not so full that I couldn’t finish off the last of Bucky’s fries that he didn’t want. He was like, ‘Don’t they feed you at your house?’ And I was just like, ‘Well, my dad said his grocery bill last month was the highest it’s ever been yet, and that doesn’t even count all my niece’s baby food that I eat.’”
Hayden soon returned with my Shirley Temple and a glass of what appeared to be whiskey for himself and took a seat beside me.
Just as she’d said she’d do, Jen immediately hopped up with her plate of food and began leaving the table, giving me a comically obvious wink. “Bye for now, best friend! Just remember, if you need any help with hand-holding at any point during the rest of the party, just give me a holler!”
I winked back, smiling.
With his beautiful blue eyes twinkling, Hayden gave me a quizzical look. “What did she mean by ‘help with hand-holding?’”
I explained that she’d offered to help put his and my hands together in order to force us to hold hands if we had any difficulties in doing so ourselves.
Taking my hand right then, Hayden said he didn’t think that was going to be a problem. “In fact, I’m finding it difficult not to hold your hand this evening. The way you look, and the way you’re smiling tonight…I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you look more beautiful. Maybe only on our wedding day.”
I wasn’t sure if it was because of the touch of his hand, or what he’d said, or both, but my face suddenly became very warm.
“Thank you.”
With his mouth curving in a slight half-grin, Hayden gave my hand a squeeze before picking up his drink with his free hand. However, within a second, he paused with the glass right at his lips when the fairly loud karaoke music still coming from the makeshift stage adjacent to the bar suddenly hushed. Or, the singing at least suddenly hushed anyway, but within a second or two, the music was turned down a bit, too.
Hayden set down his drink and we both turned to look at the other side of the barn just in time to see a tall, muscular man with golden brown hair coming over to us, striding so fast his pace was really a near-run. This man’s name was Abbott, and over the course of the past few months, he’d risen through the ranks of Hayden’s Watcher “warriors” on the farm to become one of Hayden’s top “lieutenants,” so to speak. Hayden trusted him completely, and had often left him in charge, along with Trevor and Sam, during the times when Hayden had to leave on the hunt for Carla.
On this particular evening, Abbott had been entrusted with leading a guard patrol around the vast property and the woodlands surrounding the farm during the party. He’d been told to come and personally speak to Hayden if any Warren fighters or spies were spotted anywhere near the property, and everyone at the party, or everyone who lived on the farm anyway, knew this, which probably accounted for the karaoke singing coming to a stop the moment Abbott had entered the barn.
While Abbott continued approaching, Hayden stood, frowning. “What is it, Abbott?”
Abbott soon came to a stop, leaned in close to speak directly into Hayden’s ear, and said something in a low voice that I couldn't quite hear, despite the fact that all laughing and conversational murmuring in the barn had come to a grinding halt. The background music for karaoke was still on, although it wasn’t very loud, and this was now the only sound in the barn.
Immediately after Abbott had finished speaking to him, Hayden addressed everyone in the bar with a faint crease between his eyes, his deep voice carrying far without him even having to raise it very much. “Everything’s fine, everyone. Just a small issue with a security breach on our property. Everyone who usually helps with security breaches like this, please follow me outside. Everyone else, please continue to enjoy the party, and have a nice rest of the evening.”
One of the RV-ers from the campground was sitting at a table nearby, and she suddenly piped up, frowning at Hayden. “Are we…are we all in danger or something? Should we go home now?”
While many of his vampires began striding toward the half-open barn door, Hayden gave the gray-haired woman who’d spoken a small smile, although it didn’t reach all the way up to his eyes. “No. No one has to go home, and no one is in danger. We just have little issues with property lines and security here on the farm from time to time. It’s really no big deal.”
Sitting beside the first woman who’d spoke, Berniece now chimed in. “Well, good, because I’m not leaving this farm tonight without having a s’more!”
Hayden gave her a broad, genuine smile and told her to enjoy. On the karaoke stage, the volume of the background music suddenly increased, and Jen began warbling some old country song. Conversation picked up again, and the sound of a few people laughing from somewhere across the barn finished officially shifting the mood from tense back to upbeat and joyful.
I was maybe the only one who wasn’t feeling the positive shift. More than a bit disappointed that Hayden had to leave, I stood to say goodbye to him.
After kissing me hastily, he spoke in a low voice near my ear. “My northernmost patrol scouts brought word to Abbott that a small group of Warrens has been spotted just a mile or so from the farm. Probably spies. We need to go try to trap them and then try to find out what they know about any impending attack. Then we’ll deal with them.”
I knew that by “deal with,” Hayden meant kill.
I asked him when he might be back, and he said he didn’t know.
“As soon as I can. That’s all I can say. Just know that in the meantime, you and everyone else here on the farm will be safe. I’m leaving Sam and at least a dozen of my other fighters here to keep an eye on what is going on here while the rest of us go deal with things.”
Without saying anything else, Hayden gave me another hasty kiss before striding away, leaving me to deal with my disappointment about our “night of reconciliation” being cut short.