by Tess Oliver
I patted his shoulder.
The medic walked up. “We need to look at these burns, Mr. Stone.”
Amy patted my arm. “I’m going to watch them work on my mom. I need to be there when she wakes up.” A nervous laugh rolled from her mouth. “She’ll be convinced the aliens did this, and I don’t want her to freak out.”
I glanced at the medic with a questioning look. Just as I had done, he shook his head slightly to let me know what I already knew. “I just need a minute,” I told him. He nodded.
Amy turned to walk away. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her back against my chest.
“What are you doing, Hunter? I need to be there. She’ll be scared to death when she comes to.”
I picked her up into my arms and carried her past all the spectators and to Mr. Ames’s front yard, away from the chaos. She wriggled in my arms. “What are you doing?” she asked, sounding more frantic. “Hunter?” Tears fell from her eyes. She kicked out and pushed out of my arms. I grabbed her before she ran. Again, I pulled her back against my chest and wrapped my arms around her.
“No,” she cried. “No!” She dropped to her knees and I knelt down behind her. “No. You’re wrong.” She pounded my arm with her fist, but I held her. She crumpled in front of me and I spun her around and pulled her against me.
“She was humming this morning,” she sobbed. Her tears ran down my chest as she pushed her face against me. “She was humming show tunes.”
I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight.
Chapter 24
Amy
It was a dreary, foggy day. I’d hoped for a better one for my mom’s send off. She deserved at least that, a little sun to warm the breeze as it carried her ashes away. The five of us, the brothers and my best friend, Jade, my only family now, stood along the starboard side of the Durango and watched the gray soot scatter over the choppy, emerald green water. The ashes stayed on the surface for just a brief second giving it an almost iridescent sheen before dissolving into the cold, briny water for good. Now she’d be with my dad. It was what she’d wanted. I could still remember the conversation well because, like the morning before her death, she’d had one of those completely rational moments. We were eating some donuts I’d brought home from the store, and she’d told me that when her time came she wanted to be cremated and her ashes scattered on the sea. She’d added that she was holding out hope that dad would be a nicer entity in the afterlife.
Jade put her arm around my shoulder, and we pressed our heads together. My throat thickened as I thought about how lucky I was to have my friends. For days I’d been convinced that Mom had killed herself. I blamed myself for not stopping her to see what she’d taken from the kitchen. I’d assumed it had been our candles and matches for emergencies. She’d had that lucid moment, giving me the advice to chase happiness, and I had pieced it together as a sort of suicide note.
But all my assumptions had been wrong. The fire inspector and the coroner had both concluded that the fire had started in the wall, an electrical wiring problem. Mom had died of asphyxiation. I’d puzzled it out that the dresser had been in front of her door to keep out aliens. She hadn’t planned her death. She’d been a victim of her rampant paranoia. I still hadn’t squared away my feelings about it. I wasn’t sure which would have been easier to hear— that she’d taken her own life or that she’d died accidentally. Either way, I’d lost her for good.
Colt pulled a bottle of vodka out from under his coat. He held it in front of me and flashed that easy smile of his that suddenly made the day seem less gloomy. “It’s that weird marshmallow flavored kind you like.”
I took the bottle. “I like it when it has chocolate liqueur and whipped cream. Not too sure about it straight.” I twisted off the top. “But today, anything will work.” I hopped on my toes and kissed his cheek. “And thank you for thinking of it.” We all gazed out at the rippling water. The ashes had all disappeared, and the small, intimate funeral at sea had been joined by a group of seagulls. There were days when the horizon looked so far away, it seemed you could travel forever and never reach the end of the world. Today wasn’t one of those days. Today there was a solid barrier of slate gray between us and forever.
I held the bottle up. “Here’s to humming show tunes, keeping out the aliens and the voices being silenced for good, Mom. I’m sorry life wasn’t better for you.” I put the bottle to my lips and winced as the burning liquid hit my throat.
I handed the bottle to Jade. She lifted it. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Linton, that I didn’t know you better, but you had to be cool because you raised an amazing daughter.” She took a drink and handed it off to Slade.
He swallowed hard and stared down at the water. He nodded as if he was telling himself that it was all right to say something. “Hey, Mrs. Linton, I never told anyone about that winter you saw me walking into school with a short sleeved shirt.” He smiled weakly. “I was freezing my fourth grade ass off. I guess it was my own pride. I didn’t want anyone to know. I told everyone I’d found the coat. No one else knew but you and me. And I never really thanked you. Thank you for the coat.” I pushed my fingers against my mouth to stifle a sob as he lifted the bottle and drank.
He handed the bottle to Colt. “I guess we all have our secret stories about Mrs. Linton.” I looked over at him and swallowed to ease the lump in my throat.
“I think I was in fifth grade when the teacher had sent me to the nurse with a raging fever,” Colt continued. “I’d had it when I left the house in the morning, but our mom sent me anyhow. The nurse couldn’t reach anyone at home, and Sarah was on my emergency card. She rushed over to the school and took me home to her house, even though our mom was at home. She tucked me under a blanket on the couch and gave me soup.” He raised the bottle. “I’m sorry, Sarah, about the bad stuff. You were a good person.”
Their stories were adding a layer to my mom that I hadn’t even known about, and hearing them now made me love her more.
Jade pulled out some tissue and handed me one and kept one for herself. There had been nothing salvageable after the fire. My entire life and the remainder of my small family were gone with one misfire in an electrical wire. I’d gone to stay with Jade and Colt. Jade had been thrilled to be able to return the favor of lending me some clothes just like I’d done for her when the guys had found her on their boat.
Hunter had his hands shoved in his coat pockets. As usual, at times when emotions were high, he curled in on himself like an armadillo rounding into his protective shell. I knew it was his way of dealing with stuff, and I was used to it. Growing up, he’d had to be the silent, stoic, ‘take it like a man’ brother and that skill of being unflappable had never left him. But I knew he’d been grappling with some anger about not getting to my mom in time. Even though she was most likely gone long before he’d pushed into the room, he was still trying to reason how he could have done better.
Colt handed off the bottle to Hunter. Bucking tradition, something that was, ironically enough, tradition for Hunter, he took a drink first. His face scrunched up and he pressed the back of his hand against his mouth as he swallowed. “Fuck, that’s awful.” He pulled a chrome flask out of his pocket and unscrewed the top. He held it up. “To Sarah. I know I was the last person you wanted to see hanging around your daughter, but you never said an unkind word to me in a world where I was used to hearing a lot of unkind words.” He paused. Seeing sadness wash over his handsome face made my own tears flow faster. Jade took hold of my hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you in time. And, Sarah, thank you. Thank you for letting Amy be part of my life”—he looked at Colt and Slade—“our life. We’ll take good care of her.” His chest rose with a deep breath. “I’ll take good care of her. I promise.” The silver flask glinted in the few strips of sun pushing through the unstable layer of clouds as he pressed it to his mouth and tipped it back.
We stood there for a few minutes longer, but the steel gray horizon urged us to head back into the harbor.
Jade and I stayed at the bow watching the storm roll in while the brothers got the Durango back to the dock. Then we all piled into Colt’s truck and headed back to his beach cottage.
***
Everything in my life had changed dramatically, but nothing had changed between Hunter and me. I was still just as unsure of where I stood with him, and I was still ridiculously in love with the man.
As we climbed out of the truck, the sky grew even thicker with rain clouds. The first lightning bolts lit the sky over the water and the taste of electricity filled the air. I held shut the coat I’d bought myself and followed blindly behind Colt, Slade and Jade as they headed for the house.
Hunter’s hand grabbed mine before my foot landed on the first step. “Stay out here with me a few minutes, Street.”
I looked back at him. “It’s going to rain.”
His grasp on my hand tightened. “I know.” He led me back to the truck and opened the bed. He grabbed my waist and lifted me up to sit on it and then jumped up next to me. We both pulled our collars up to block our ears from the cold wind.
He gazed out at the ocean view for a second. Then his long lashes dropped and he stared, seemingly, at his booted feet as they hung off the tailgate. “You need to pack up your stuff tonight and come home with me.”
“Why?”
“Because your place is with me.”
A dry laugh shot from my mouth. “My place? And should I bake cookies for you when you have one of your infamous slumber parties?”
He shook his head. “Told you it’s always been you, Street. I don’t want anyone else.”
“Shit, if only I could believe you. The insurance company will be sending a check soon, and I’ll have money to buy my own place. I’ve decided not to rebuild on the lot. It’ll bring back too much pain.” I hopped off the truck and walked toward the house. I hadn’t heard him follow.
He grabbed my wrist and spun me toward him. His eyes were dark with emotion as he took hold of both my arms and kissed me. My hands were flat against his chest, and I fought the urge to throw my arms around his neck and hold him closer.
He lifted his face. “Marry me.”
A laughed again. “This isn’t funny, Hunter. I just lost my mom, and I’m about as vulnerable as a sugar sculpture in a heavy rainstorm.”
He kissed me again. It was a hard, urgent kiss. Not the kind that led to amazing sex but the kind that told me he was serious. His chest lifted and fell as he seemed to be searching for the right thing to say. “That night when I raced into the house, I remember thinking that if you”—he swallowed hard—“if you were dead then I knew I wouldn’t walk back out of that house.”
“What are you saying?”
“If you’re not part of my life then I don’t need to be here. There’s no fucking reason to get up or to breathe or to live without you, Street.” He held one of my hands and dropped to one knee.
I covered a shocked gasp with my free hand.
“I don’t need anyone in this whole fucking world but you. There’s no one who knows me like you do. We’ve been connected forever. It just took my hard skull to finally crack open and realize that I can’t be without you. Amy, will you marry me?”
I blinked down at him, speechless, breathless and stunned. “You’re serious?”
“I am.”
“Then”—my voice wavered—“yes, I will marry you.”
He jumped to his feet. I threw my arms around his neck. He grabbed my waist and lifted me off the ground. As he spun me around, I heard cheers and whistles coming from the house. Hunter lowered me to the ground.
Slade was the first to come down the steps. “Was that what it just fucking looked like?”
I nodded and hugged him.
Jade came out next, and I ran to her. We hopped around screaming with laughter.
Colt and Slade each gave their brother a hug.
“Well, damn,” Colt said. “My big brother has finally been toppled like a great fucking tree in the forest. But I guess I always knew that there was only one girl who could do the job.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me against him. “My favorite annoying pest is going to be a sister now.” He gave me a noogie. “I love ya, Street. I’m glad the blockhead finally came to his senses.”
I walked back into Hunter’s arms and smiled up at him. “Yep, and it’s about damn time.”
Chapter 25
Hunter
I’d pulled at my tie for the hundredth time. Slade laughed. “You can keep pulling at that necktie, bro, but it’s not the knot that’s making it hard to breathe.” He patted me on the shoulder. “I’m really happy for you, buddy. I know she’s been the center of your world since forever and well, you know how Colt and I feel about her.”
Colt turned back at the sound of his name. Of the three of us, he was the only one who looked semi-at-ease in a suit and tie. In fact, being Colt, he looked like he could have just walked out of a fucking fashion shoot.
“Little bro,” Slade called, “you look like the top of a fucking wedding cake, you know that?”
Colt made a show of brushing off his lapels. “I look pretty slick, I’m aware of that. I’m thinking of finding some career where I have to wear a three piece suit and tie every day.”
I laughed. “The only suit wearing career you’d qualify for is being a corpse. Otherwise, stick to fixing up houses. Especially since I sank most of my savings into your newest venture.”
The side door opened, and the justice of the peace walked out. Her hair was piled up high in one of those old-fashioned beehive dos, and she had on a dress that looked about as vintage as her hairstyle. She smiled. “The bride is right behind me.”
We’d decided not to wait. Amy didn’t want a big wedding, and the only people we truly cared about were standing right there with us.
The woman reached her podium and turned on some recorded music. Led Zeppelin’s Hey, Hey What Can I Do blared out of the small speaker. It was our song, the song about the street corner girl. My brothers took the time to fist bump each other for adding that touch.
The same side door opened. Jade came out wearing a slim cut, blue dress that stopped just above her knees and had thin straps that were glittering with pearls. She was holding a bouquet of yellow flowers. Colt’s shoulders lifted and fell as if he’d drawn in a long, slow breath.
“Easy, buddy,” Slade said to Colt under his breath. Jade walked up to the podium. She whispered something to Slade.
“Really?” Slade asked. “Cool.” He hurried down the aisle and knocked on the door.
Amy stepped out and took hold of his arm. It was my turn to have the breath catch deep in my chest. My throat tightened as she walked toward us. Her white, silky dress had the same pearl covered straps. The dress had a tight white bodice and it came to just above the knees. She’d pulled her copper hair into a twist in the back. She was head to toe angel.
Slade beamed as he led her up to the podium.
Amy turned and faced me. Her eyes were glossy with tears, and she was smiling. I reached forward and took her hand. It was shaking a little. Or that could have been mine.
“I’m glad I didn’t stop chasing happiness,” she said softly.
“I had my happy ending living just fifty yards away my entire life.”
It was a quick, simple ceremony. Just the way we wanted it. Colt, Slade and Jade cheered and clapped as we kissed.
Amy reached up with her pinky and wiped her lipstick off my mouth. “I got you a wedding present.”
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her hard against me. “Damn right but shouldn’t we wait until we’re in our hotel room?”
She laughed. “O.K., I got you two wedding presents. But one of them is outside.”
I glanced over at our three wedding guests. “Why do you all look like the cat who swallowed the goldfish? What the hell is going on?”
Amy took hold of my arm. “This way, Mr. Stone.” We walked toward the exit and our small entourage followed. We got
to the door. “Wait,” Amy said. She handed Jade her flowers and stepped behind me. Her small hands reached up to cover my eyes. “O.K. let’s go.”
“Uh, I can’t see because your cute little hands are in front of my eyes. By the way, you’re giving me some really creative ideas for that second gift in the honeymoon suite.”
“Yep,” Slade said, “from what I hear the best sex you’ll ever have is on your wedding night.”
“Shit, Hunter, you better make it a good one. It’s all downhill from here,” Colt said.
“Are you two done with the king of stupidity contest?” Amy asked. “Someone open the door so he doesn’t run into it.”
Fresh air blew against my face as someone yanked the door open. Amy held my eyes, and I took a blind step forward. “Now you can look.” She dropped her hands. A Harley Dyna Super Glide was sitting in the driveway of the wedding chapel.
“What the—”
Amy wrapped her hands around my arm. “I sold the Ranger. Do you like it?”
“God, baby, I can’t believe it.” I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.
Slade clapped his hands. He walked forward and handed me the keys. “I say we go back to Colt’s for food. I’m starved, and our boy here will need plenty of energy for tonight’s activities.”
Amy’s fingers wrapped around the lapel of my suit. “Are you going to give your wife a ride?”
“Fuck yeah, I am.” She squealed with laughter as I swept her up into my arms and carried her to the bike. I climbed on. She yanked her silky white dress up above her thighs and climbed on behind me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and propped her chin on my shoulder.