Love You to Death (21 page)

“I’ll be sure to get a prescription for
penicillin before I do,” I said just as sweet as I could. Jesse
blinked then threw his head back.

“I like a girl who knows how to use her
mouth,” Jesse laughed. Some of the other boys chuckled with
him.

I flung my arms out, barring Gideon and Cort
from taking another step. “Let’s just go swim,” I said, looking
them each in the eye. Gideon nodded, grabbing my elbow, pulling me
past the crowd.

“You should’ve let me belt him.” Cort grumped
behind me when we were on the opposite side of the pond, under a
smaller tree with a longer rope. Clearly this was the beginner’s
tree. I unfolded my towel, draping it over a low hanging
branch.

“I’m used to it,” I told him. “It’s no big
deal. Let it go,” I raised my hands in the air.

“Jesse has no manners. He shouldn’t have
talked to you like that.” Cort was like a dog with a bone.

“True,” I conceded, planting my hands on my
hips, “But if all you’re going to do is sulk about it we might as
well leave. You’re sucking all the fun out of me learning how to
Tarzan out onto a pond.”

Cort squinted his eyes and slowly, almost
cautiously, advanced in my direction. After almost two years of
fending for myself I knew a plan of attack when I saw one.

Cort knew the moment I caught on. He grabbed
at me, scooped me up in his arms, and tossed me over his shoulder.
I squealed, kicking my legs trying to break free. He was laughing
and trying to keep his balance while running awkwardly toward the
water.

One minute I was hot and dry, the next I was
under water. Cort released me the minute we hit the water. We
surfaced at the same time. He was laughing. I was sputtering and
splashing him. He splashed back.

“Look out below!” Gideon swung over us. He
let go and Peter Panned to the left of us. A wave of water hit me,
sending me back into the bank.

I crawled up the muddy side and onto the
grass. For once I was glad I’d let Gideon boss me into doing some
physical therapy for my arm. It was back to normal, minus a few
aches now and again.

My sneakers were water logged. My feet made
loud sucking noises when I pulled them off. I knew I had to take
off the T-shirt and shorts and hang them to dry. I hesitated for
the briefest moment. Then I threw caution to the wind and stripped
down to the bikini.

“Come on, guys. Teach the city girl how to
swing,” I called out from behind the tree. Gideon cleared the bank
first, then Cort. Gideon stopped and just stared. Cort, however,
howled appreciatively. “Dang, girl, you rock that bikini.”

I reached back for the T-shirt.

“Might as well leave it.” Cort laughed. “We
already got an eyeful.”

“Shut up, Cort,” Gideon said. “Forget him,
Cherry. He’s being a jerk.”

“Me? What’d I say?” Cort laughed knowingly.
He took a running leap onto the rope, swinging it wide before
letting go and falling into the water.

Gideon held his hand out to me. “Let’s
swim.”

I took Gideon’s offered hand. He gave me a
reassuring squeeze, leading me to the swing. He showed me how to
hold the rope, where to put my feet, and told me when to let go. I
was a fast learner, but I found myself pretending to be a dummy so
I could feel those hands on my waist and shoulders again and
again.

I was playing with fire. I shouldn’t even
consider letting myself feel anything more than friendship for
Gideon. But this was the first time I ever felt the rush of my
heart. Its wings fluttering under my breast from a single touch.
The thrill of adrenaline as his fingers brushed over my skin was
addictive and I wanted more.

I turned to tell him I was ready to be pulled
back. His face was right there in front of me. I could have leaned
an inch forward and brushed my lips against his if I wanted to, and
I really wanted to.

His whiskey brown eyes were serious as they
studied my face. He lowered his gaze to my lips. My tongue darted
out nervously. Gideon’s eyes snapped back to mine. He seemed to be
conflicted. His breathing quickened, and his lips parted. My heart
hitched in my throat, anticipation coiled in my belly.

“Any day now,” Cort called out from the
water.

Gideon took a step back. “I think you’re
set,” he said.

The moment was gone. I gave my head a swift
shake to clear the cobwebs. This almost kiss by Gideon was better
than any actual kiss I’d ever gotten. I was giddy with the
knowledge that Gideon might feel something for me.

“Here goes,” I offered him my biggest smile,
then hollered, “Look out, Cort, here I come!”

Chapter
Twenty-One

The sun began its slow descent in the sky.
Clouds shaded in pinks and purples melted into the coming darkness.
I walked leisurely down the tree-lined drive. It was beautiful this
time of day, or night. I guess it was somewhere in between.

It had been a month since the day Gideon and
Cort had taken me to Miller’s pond. Gideon took me driving every
Sunday after brunch, but we never came close to having another
moment as we did that day.

I had to resort to stealing glances at him
when I thought no one was looking. Watching his mouth as he slowly
sipped his tea, staring at his big callused hands when he passed me
a bowl or plate. Catching his eyes and seeing the sparkle of my own
interest reflected back in his.

It was like striking a match just to watch it
burn.

That was me, going up in flames.

I exhaled loudly. Not for one second did I
forget that I was married. I didn’t forget that my
husband
was out there, looking for me. Waiting for me to screw up and give
him a clue as to where I was.

But hiding from Cass meant I could never
marry anyone else, because if I did, I’d have to get a divorce, or
an annulment, or something. And that meant Cass would know where I
was. That wasn’t happening. What a mess. If my mom was here she’d
know what to do.

Thinking of my mom made me think of
Aurora.

We’d been spending a lot of quality time
together, bonding over recipes. She was smart, funny, and very
maternal. I found myself wanting to tell her my story. I wanted to
ask her what she would do if she were me. But that wouldn’t
happen.

We couldn’t stay here forever.
That
I
did know. I didn’t want to leave. This was the happiest I’d been
since my mom died.

I saw headlights ahead. Someone was speeding
up the drive. I stepped off the blacktop into the thick Kentucky
blue grass. The racy sound of a car engine told me it was Maggie.
The last person I wanted to see. She’d marked me for death since
that day at the pond. Part of me felt sorry for her. It couldn’t be
easy for her to have her boyfriend hit on another girl, especially
right in front her.

On the other hand, it wasn’t fair of her to
take it all out on me. I was guessing she was mostly mad because I
spent the day with Gideon. That was too bad because I wasn’t going
to roll over for her to have Gideon, even if I couldn’t have him
myself. I was going to enjoy the time I had with him until we had
to go. When I left, Maggie could throw herself at him and they
could live happily ever after. The thought of them together made me
ill.

I kept walking, hoping she wouldn’t see me.
She certainly was driving fast enough to miss me. She blew by in a
blur of red. I sighed in relief. It was short lived. A second later
the screech of tires had me swiveling around.

“You,” she hollered, climbing out of her
little convertible.

Everything in me said to ignore her and keep
walking. Instead, I stopped and turned to face her. She was leaning
against the open door of her car with her hand on her hip, glaring
at me. I stood there, hands hanging at my sides, waiting.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she
barked.

“Why do you care?” I replied.

“I don’t.” She started toward me, “I’m just
wondering who else in my life you might be gunning for.” She
stopped a few feet from me. “My grammy lives in Lexington, but she
wouldn’t want you.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“First you become best buddies with Gideon
and Cort. Then you try to steal my boyfriend. And now,” she yelled,
raising her arm to point at me, “and now you try to horn in on my
mama. That is the last straw!”

My mouth dropped open as she ranted and
raved. But I was only truly surprised by her last statement. She
thought I was trying to Single White Female her! When she stacked
the evidence against me so clinically it did look that way.

“Maggie, you got it all wrong—”

“I don’t think so, city girl,” she cut me
off. “You think you’re so dang smart. Well, my mama is off limits!
Why don’t you go back to Baltimore to your own mom? Or doesn’t she
want you? Yeah, that’s probably it. What’d you do to her? Did you
steal her man?”

She was so busy railing at me she never
noticed the horror that had to be showing on my face. How dare she
mention my mother? And to say she didn’t want me? I snapped,
launching myself at her like a rocket into space.

The look on her face was priceless. The way
her big blue eyes bulged out and her mouth hung open. We fell onto
the hard macadam and rolled into the grass. I grabbed her thick
ponytail and pulled as hard as I could. She cried out, grabbing my
braid in retaliation. I yelped loudly.

My shoulder started pulsing lightly. I hadn’t
worn the sling in weeks and the hole was now a puckered scar, but
the muscles were still being strengthened. I pushed the pain to the
back of my mind and focused on kicking Maggie’s spoiled rotten
bratty caboose.

I pulled back, ready with a good tight-fisted
punch, but she slapped me hard in the mouth, drawing first blood
because of a ring she was wearing.

I was screaming insults as I drew back and
slapped her just as hard. I wasn’t wearing any rings, but I hit her
square in the temple where I knew it would hurt the most.

We clawed at each other, scratching and
pinching, rolling all over the place like two cats fighting over a
bowl of milk. And then, as quickly as it started, it stopped. We
collapsed on our backs, side by side, both heaving great gulps of
air.

The silence of the night cushioned around us,
leaving the two of us panting on the ground, shrouded in the pitch
darkness. We laid there for some time, neither wanting to be the
first to speak. Well, at least that’s how I felt. Let her apologize
and then I can tell her to f-off, that’s what I was thinking.

“I think you broke my bracelet,” she finally
said.

I was still torqued about the comments she’d
made about me and my mom so I ignored her.

“You’re supposed to concede gracefully. All
southern girls fight to the death then pretend to be over it so
they can fight another day.” She rolled onto her side to look at
me. I knew she couldn’t see my face any more than I could see hers,
but we could see each other’s shapes well enough.

“I’m not southern,” I pointed out, staring up
at the starless sky.

“You sure fight like it.”

I swear I could hear humor in her honeyed
voice. I shifted to my side, squinting to see if I could glimpse
any features on her face.

“Don’t ever talk about my mom again.”

“What’s the deal with you? I mean, you
latched onto my mama like she was a half-off sale at Macy’s. She’s
a little much at times, but she’s mine. So back off with the
mother-daughter bonding crap.” Maggie huffed and puffed as she
slowly got to her feet. I did the same.

We limped to her car. The headlights burned
twin beams of light up the drive. She had grass in her hair, and
her face was starting to discolor above her left eye. I wondered if
I looked better or worse than she did.

“I like your mom,” I said. “She’s nice. She
taught me how to make hot brown.”

Maggie put a hand on her hip. “You are so
weird. You really like hanging out with my mama, stuck in that
kitchen like a reject from the fifties?”

“I like to cook,” I offered lamely.

“You like to cook for Cort.” She drew herself
up and crossed her arms over her ample chest.

“Cort?”

“Don’t play dumb. I see the way you two act
all buddy-buddy around here. And don’t think I didn’t see the way
you flirted with him at Miller’s pond.”

“Cort?” I was dumbfounded. I thought she
liked Gideon?

“Yes. Cort. Why do you keep saying his name
like that? I’m not an idiot. I have eyes. Let me tell you
something, City, I’ve been after that boy for half my life, and
it’ll take more than a little scruffer like you to take him from
me.”

I gave my head a little shake. Did she just
admit to liking Cort? She wasn’t in love with Gideon? I giggled.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at me like I was nuts. Maybe I
was. Who cared? I was so happy she didn’t want Gideon.

“What’s so funny?”

“You,” I chirped. Her face puckered. I raised
my hands in surrender. “I mean you, me, and them. All of us. I
thought you liked Gideon.”

“Gideon?”

“Yeah. The way you lit into me in the stables
that day—”

“Oh, that.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re
really bad at the game of love. I knew Cort was in the tack house.
I made all that noise so he would do exactly what he did.”

My mouth dropped open. “You’re unbelievable,”
I said.

“Yeah, I know.” She frowned. “But my
technique isn’t working with him like it does with the other boys.
I feel like I’m spinnin’ my tires.”

“I think he thinks you like Gideon too.”

“Why, did he say something?” Her eagle eyes
sharpened their focus on me.

“No, but he wears his heart on his sleeve
when you aren’t looking. I just figured you knew and didn’t care.”
I shrugged.

“You think I’m a coldhearted wench,
don’tcha?” She smiled warmly. I was taken aback by the genuine
friendliness of it.