Igniting the Wild Sparks (26 page)

Rod shrugs, staring attentively at the scissors cutting through a paper cup
that leaves a triangled trail on the table, and distractedly says, “I can only try.”

“Coach Wilder, you’re here!” Val waves
as she comes out of the hallway past the kitchen.

His deep voice reverberates throughout the room as h
e replies over my head, “I am. What can I do to help?”

Rod answers for Val
, “You can stop pawing your wench and help me with the tables.”

I play with Sparks’ fingers as he
warily asks, “You can’t manage a table by yourself?”

Now bored with the shears,
Rod sets them down. “I don’t know. I haven’t tried. I was waiting for your manly muscles.”

“I’m so glad I’m needed for my personality.”

Rod walks past us and playfully punches Finn’s arm. “When I need a whipped, over-the-hill, volunteer, softball coach’s bubbly swagger, I’ll call you.”

Sparks’ fingers tense over mine. “Whipped?”

Rod rolls his eyes. “You’re creamier than a can of Reddi-wip, Wilder. You’ll do anything Hadders tells you to.”

He mutters,
“It depends on what it is.”
Right
. That’s a big “depends.”

Val says, “I have a question for you, Finn. Since our first game is next Saturday on the 28th, and the we
dding is the Saturday after that, what do we do? The whole team is going.”

I feel his shrug against my back
. “We have to forfeit.” He knows all about forfeiting to me.

“Oh, no!” Val yelps.

Sparks slowly says, “Actually, I won’t be at the first game. I have to work. Ricky’s got it, though.”

This is news.
Bad news.

I step o
ut of his hold and turn to incredulously glower at him. “What? Are you serious?”

He glances away from me
and mumbles, “Yeah. I’m sorry. I, uh…I won’t be able to go to the wedding the following weekend, either.”

Rod says, “Well, Hadders, it looks like you’re my date now. Aw, yeah. Bring a casket because it’s going to be a killer.”

Ignoring him, I stare at Finn, dumbstruck. I knew he probably wouldn’t be able to go, but still.
Both
weekends working? This sucks.

Seeing my woeful expression, he explains, “I was given an extra assignment out of town since Drake is on vacation that week.” I nod,
feeling a dull pang in my stomach, but don’t let on that I do. He’d probably rush me to the hospital again.

Not wanting to get upset over something I knew wouldn’t happen anyway, I turn back to the table to finish up my last favor. Finn wraps his arms around my shoulders and kisses the top of my head. He then moves to my ear and whispers, “I’m sorry, baby.”

I shrug and lightly say, “It’s fine. I understand.”

He hangs onto me for a minute, watching me assemble a favor, before sighing and taking off his dark brown, leather jacket. Tossing it onto a chair, he walks over to the stack of tables leaning against the wall and drags a table to the middle of the room. He asks Val how she wants them and she waves her directions.

I testily chew on my lip, mad at myself that I’m so disappointed. How stupid was I to get my hopes up that Finn would be able to go, or even want to if he could have?

I help Val open tablecloth packages while Sparks and Rod set
out the tables. I can’t help but stare at Finn’s barbed wire biceps bulging underneath his black T-shirt as he pulls the metal legs out of the tables before setting them up. With the thoughts entering my mind, I also have to remind myself that I’m in a church.

Val whispers, “He
is
a cutie pie.”

Startled for
the second time tonight, I look down at the package I’ve been holding for the past five minutes. “What? Who?”

“Finn.
I said he’s a cutie pie and evidently, you think so, too.” She winks at me and I softly giggle as I watch him ruffle his magical, marbled hair, making it stick up, and for me to nearly melt into a puddle of goo in a church basement.

Smiling at Val, I say, “He is.
”

“You’ve been watching him put up every table, babe.”

I shake my head and finally open the package in my hands. “Oh. I was just daydreaming. Sorry.”

“I bet. Why don’t you two go home? I can finish up here.”

“No. I will help until we’re done.”

Rod yells
from the other side of the room, “How many chairs do we need?”

Grabbing a honeycomb bell decoration,
I answer, “Probably 40 would be more than enough.” They get started putting chairs out and I start to feel guilty that the three of them are doing all the work while I gawk at my boyfriend.

I set the big,
blue bell that I just put together onto the main table and go over to the stack of chairs in the corner, but before I can pick one up, a hand grabs my wrist. “What are you doing, Becks?”

I glance up at Finn. “I’m helping set out chairs.”

He shakes his head and grimly laughs. “I don’t think so.”

“Why? They’re not heavy. My stomach isn’t hurting.” That much.

“It will if you pick these up. We’ll get them.” He nods to the table where I was working, essentially telling me to hit the road.

I try to reason, “
It’s been a week.”

His brown eyes frost and he stoops, emphatically saying,
“No.”

Nope. Not interested in hearing me
out at all.

Rod looks at the empty cart. “There aren’t enough here.”

Val says, “There are more in the next room.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s only a bruise, Finn.
We’ve talked about this.”

Still close, he
lowly asks, “Yeah, we did, so didn’t you hear me before? Why won’t you ever stop arguing with me?”

“Babe, will you go get me some more napkins from the kitchen, please?”

Sighing and giving up on the chairs, I say, “Sure.” So, now Val’s in on the conspiracy, too. I walk away from Finn and see Val winking at my boyfriend. Traitor.

I bring the light blue napkins out and set them down on the table we’re working on. Val taps my arm. “Why are you giving
Finn a hard time?”

“What? I wanted to help. They’re not heavy chairs.”

“He’s looking out for you. A lot of husbands aren’t like that.”

Reacting
petulantly to her particular word usage, I contend, “He’s
not
my husband.” Only my boyfriend. Nothing more. That depresses me.

“He will be.”

I nearly snort at her in disbelief. “How do
you
know that?”

“I told you I know these things, so don’t argue with me, either.”

While tightening my ponytail, I mockingly say, “It must be the marital glow we ooze.”

“No. Actually your auras aren’t good matches.”

My mouth falls open in shock because I hadn’t expected that kind of reply. “What?”

“Well, Finn’s aura is green. He’s a daredevil of sorts, extremely driven, smart and charismatic
. Type A. He wants someone who can appreciate his success and support his endeavors. You, on the other hand, are a blue. A dedicated, loyal person who falls deeply in love and will do anything to sustain that love. You crave an emotional, monogamous commitment from your mate that will last forever.” Finn doesn’t?

I blink into space as I try to absorb that bit of information.
“You can really see our auras? So, our mismatched colors mean we’re doomed?”

“Yes, I can see them and no, that doesn’t mean you two aren’t meant for each other. It just means you’ll have to work together more to keep your
amor
alive.”

I morosely glance down at the table.
“Oh.” Great news. Like we don’t have enough slogging against us.

“I’ve only been studying them for a short while now with my sisters, Merida and Paloma, for fun.”

I smile. “I’m sure your kids think you’re losing it.”

“Ali thinks it’s neat. Two-thirds of my boys think I’m crazy. I haven’t mentioned it to Nicky, so I have no idea what he’d think.”

I say, “Maybe you shouldn’t tell him since the odds are against you.”

Val
laughs. “True.” Then she looks me up and down, studying me, which makes me self-conscious, so I cross my arms and look to the doorway for Sparks or Rod. “Your aura is mixed. I’m not sure what that means.”

I raise an eyebrow at her.
“Mixed?”

“You’re blue, but there is a flare of orange. I’ve seen it before, but don’t know what it is.”

I shake my head with a rueful smile. “I’m a freak.”

She
pushes my arm. “No! Orange is a hopeful color. Morgan has it, too. You’re both hoping to get married.”

“Then mine should be a shockwave, not a flare.”

We look to the other side of the room as Rod carries in two chairs and Sparks follow carrying four. It took them that long to bring in six chairs? Sparks sets out the chairs he brought in, while Rod does his two, peers around with his hands on his hips and says, “I think that’s it. Anything else?”

Val replies, “Nope. Thank you, boys. I love you both.” She blows a kiss at them. Finn
adorably smirks in response, while Rod’s face turns red, and he uncomfortably scratches his head as he transiently looks around the room.

I walk around the table to red Rod and put my arm around him, giving him a side hug. I peek up, smiling at him. “Thank you so much for helping.”

His unnerved smile slides into a relaxed one and he crushes me with an arm around my shoulders. “Anything for you, Hadley.” I glance at the floor and feel him stiffen against me before he lets go. Peering at Finn, I see him looking away from us, working his jaw with his teeth as he glares at the wall. What’s bothering him now?

Wanting to be close to him, I let go of Rod,
walk over to Sparks and wind my arms around his muscular waist, hugging him and reveling in my most favorite scent. “Thank you, too, baby.”

He
instantly puts his arm around me, securely hugging me to him and stroking my back. He sighs and says, “Oh, I was in the neighborhood.” I giggle, remembering that’s what I told him at Chimborazo when I showed up to his promo shoot.

“Babe, really. We’re good here. Go home. We only have to worry about the food now. I’ll
hang up a couple more decorations and then I’m going to head home.”

Looking over my shoulder, I ask, “Are you sure? I can stay.”

“No, go on home. We’ll finish the final things before the shower tomorrow.”

“Okay.” I pick up my spare car key, along with my purse from the table,
and hand the key back to Sparks. He shoves it into his pocket and grabs my hand. We say a quick goodbye to Val and Rod before we walk out to our cars.

When we get back to my apartment, Finn goes into my bedroom, kicks off his sneakers and plunks down on his side of the bed, propping his head on his two pillows with his arm hanging over his head. I stand at my walnut-stained dresser to take out my ponytail and loosen my hair. In the mirror, I see him watching me.
I ask his reflection, “Can I practice tomorrow after the party?”

I notice him taking a deep breath before responding. “I don’t know about that.”

“I’m feeling better.”

“I’ll think about it. We’ll see how it looks tomorrow. Everyone knows practice was moved later, right?
I told them last week, but you see them every day.”

I nod. “I sen
t an email to everyone about it a couple days ago.” Then, as I remove my bracelet and watch, I remember what I had wanted to ask him. “I have a question.”

I peer at him in the mirror as he returns my gaze. “And what’s that?”

“Why didn’t you tell me everyone was in the hospital waiting room?”

He shrugs. “It slipped my mind.”

“And I thought Ricky and another cop brought my car home. You didn’t tell me Morgan and Rod did.”

“Oh.”

He doesn’t comment further, but keeps staring at me as I unbutton and peel my lavender blouse off so I can take a shower. Standing in my bra and skirt, his penetrating gaze from the bed is unwavering. Through the mirror, I ask, “What?”

“Nothing.” His tone suggests way more than
nothing
. He shifts his eyes away from me, now staring at the wall.

I pull off my black skirt and toss it into the hamper. Turning from my dresser, I walk to the end of the bed,
putting my knee on the edge. He swings his head back to me, his eyes scouring my chest as I crawl up his body to straddle him. Careful to not put too much pressure on my stomach, I lie down on top of him and look into his sad, brown eyes. I worriedly ask, “What’s wrong?”

Sparks puts an arm around me and
with the other, gently brushes my hair with his fingers. “I don’t want to leave you.”