Rise and Shine (Shine On Series, Book 2) (23 page)

Silas didn’t say anything for a long while, just nodded like he was processing everything she had unloaded at his feet.

“So this is you and him then. Last night you thought about asking me for help but as soon as I left your bed you jump in the truck with him? He sends you back to me all broken and scratched?” Each word got a bit louder than the one before it.

“No. It’s not like that,” she said. “You’re twisting it around.”

“Am I?” he asked.

“Well none of that matters. You’re not going through with this.” He pointed a finger in her face.

She swatted it away. “Yes. I am. In case you haven’t heard, Mr. Johnson isn’t someone you can just back out on.”

“Oh you’re afraid of him are you?”

Emmie nodded. “A little.”

“Well, it isn’t him you should be scared of. That asshole answers to me,” Silas shouted, slamming his hand on the table to her right.

“I’m finished with this conversation.” She turned away. He would not try to intimidate her. It could never work. She knew too much about him.

“I’m not done with you.” He grabbed her shoulder.

Gabe stepped forward to intervene. She put her hand up to stop him. She wasn’t afraid.

“I was a fool to think you would help or support me on this,” she said, her lip quivering.

“I offered to pay for it. I asked how much money he needed. You said they don’t want my money.”

“You cannot always throw money at a problem Silas. That’s what’s wrong with you people. Love is shown in action not dollars.” With that she spun on her boot heel and climbed the stairs to the loft.

And Silas didn’t follow her.

Chapter Thirty-two

E
mmie lay stretched across her bed in only her slip and flour sack drawers. She was half listening to the men downstairs, half lost in her own thoughts. She couldn’t believe Silas had said those things to her but now, in the dark and still of her room, she wondered if there was some truth in them. Why had she felt like it was her place to jump in and save Max? Was she looking for a family to replace her screwed up one? Emmie shook her head to clear her thoughts. This was what happened when people poisoned you with words. They were the words that leaked in and bruised your insides with worry and second-guessing.

Her dress, stocking remnants, and boots lay at her feet. Emmie didn’t feel like cleaning them right now, so she pushed them in a pile against the wall. She sat up and undid what was left of her braid. It felt good to be free from the pins. Now, if she could just manage a bath. What she wouldn’t give for a proper one at Ava’s house. She closed her eyes and imagined it, the claw-foot tub, hot fresh water, and those big fluffy towels. She was thrown out of her imaginary bath by the shrill ring of her phone. It was awful late for it to be ringing.

Oh no. Walter. It had to be Walter—she was supposed to call him. She jumped off the bed to beat Silas to the phone. Her bare feet padded down the steps. The cut on her thigh stung with each flex of her muscle. It didn’t appear that any of the three had made a move to the phone. How could they just go right back to whatever they were planning at that table? Like nothing had passed.

When Silas saw her coming his eyes narrowed and he frowned. He stood and reached a long arm out to pick up the phone.

“No. I’ll get it.” She hopped down the last couple of stairs.

He ignored her and answered anyway.

“Hello,” he said with a deep voice.

She walked right up next to him and put her hand on her hip, tapping her bare foot in an angry rhythm. “My house, not yours,” she mouthed.

“Oh, hey. Hold on just a second. She’s right here, okay.” His voice was hurried.

He passed her the phone and sat down, picking the conversation right back up, making notes on a sheet of notebook paper. That was unexpected. It clearly wasn’t Walter. Emmie turned her back to the boys and answered.

“Emmie… So, Silas is staying with you. All alone. Ooh la la.” Ava sang into the phone.

“Hello, Ava.” She tried to be polite.

“God. I have missed you up here. I’d expected you to call me by now,” Ava said. “I’ve tried to call you a few times but you’re never home. So I thought to myself, just call her in the middle of the night.”

Emmie felt a little guilty. Truthfully, she hadn’t even realized it had been a while since she’d talked to Ava. She probably would have felt worse if she wasn’t in the middle of her own drama.

“I’m sorry, Ava. I’ve just had a lot to take care of here.”

Silas snorted, “That’s an understatement.” But he never looked up from his paper. So, he was listening to every word she said.

Ava ignored her reply and went straight to the meat of the conversation. “Emmie, I need you up here. You have to help me plan this wedding. I am feeling so overwhelmed. It’s your job as maid of honor you know.”

“You’ll be back for Christmas, right? We can plan then,” she said, trying to appease her friend. She really didn’t give a rat’s behind about dresses or flowers right now.

“Well, that’s the good news I’ve been trying to tell you. We’ve moved the wedding up. We’re going to go ahead and get married at Christmas. It will be lovely don’t you think? That’s why I need you. I talked to mom and pop, we will buy your ticket, you can just come on up here now. We’ll have Thanksgiving together, plan the wedding, go shopping, and I’ll get married,” she crooned into the phone.

Emmie snapped her head around and looked at Gabe. He was staring at her with wide eyes. He knew what she’d just heard; he gave her an unsure smile and a shrug. “Christmas? Why in the world would you do that?”

“You know I love Christmas. It will be lovely, really. I think we can have red flowers, and everything else white. If we’re lucky it will snow and everything will be the perfect canvas of red and white.”

“Ava, you hate the cold. You love the sun and summer. Just think this over,” Emmie said.

“There is nothing to think over. It’s done okay, and I need you here. You are my best friend. You are my sister. I need you. I cannot plan all this without you,” Ava pleaded.

“I can’t,” Emmie said. She did not have time for Ava’s games. “I can’t do this right now. Maybe I can come by Thanksgiving but I’m going to have to be sure things are fine here.”

“What do you mean you won’t come up? Emmie please. I need your help. You’ll keep me sane. It’s crazy all the work there is to be done.”

Emmie couldn’t believe her. It was a wedding that shouldn’t be happening right now. Ava was the most impatient person she’d ever met. And selfish. She just expected Emmie to drop her life and run up there to help her plan a wedding. She had no idea what was going on and probably didn’t care. Emmie sighed into the phone.

“Look Ava. I really can’t do this right now. I’ll give you a call next week. Good luck with your planning.”

Ava said nothing on the phone for a moment. Emmie knew she was surprised. She rarely ever turned her friend away but thinking of a wedding at this moment was a ridiculous notion. When she saw Ava and could explain, it would be different.

“Gabe is here, why don’t you talk to him,” Emmie said.

“Fine,” Ava answered with a bite.

Gabe stood and walked to the phone. He kept his voice so muffled Emmie couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it sounded soft and reassuring. She felt guilty that she’d upset Ava, however, she was at her limit with petty drama today. She walked to the back porch and grabbed her large washtub. It was ice. She really should have brought it inside already. She cared it to the fireplace to warm it up before she filled it with water.

She went to the sink, filled a kettle and a couple of pans with water and set them to heat on the stove. She wanted a scalding bath. Silas looked up and watched her move around the kitchen and carry things into the den. At first he had no idea what she was doing or why she was moving around them half naked, like it didn’t bother her a bit. He shrugged out of his coat, stood, and dropped it on her shoulders.

The motion took them both back to their first meeting at the pool. It had been a similar action that had united them all those months ago. But this time, she did what she hadn’t had the courage to do then. She brushed it onto the floor, rejecting his offer with her shoulders high and chin out. She carried the hot water in trips from the kitchen to the den. It was heavy on her tired arms. Silas picked his coat off the floor and tossed it to the chair.

Trick looked over at his brother while Emmie was in the den. “She shouldn’t have gone behind your back today.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Silas asked.

“But you said things you shouldn’t have.”

“I’m tired of seeing her bend over backwards for those people. Put herself in danger for those people. And I am not talking to you about this.” He ignored his brother.

“If you were done with her and this fight we’d be gone. There are too many other places we could be… but here we are hulled up in this tiny house.” Trick grinned. He knew his brother better than anyone.

Silas dropped his pencil. “She doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“You sure about that?” Trick asked with an arched brow. “Cause she’s parading in and out of this room in her slip. She seems to be fixing a bath and is apparently going to be naked in a few minutes in that room.” Trick wadded a piece of paper and tossed it into the den. “And I can see a lot further than I can throw. Now you think she’s after Gabe’s and my attention or yours?”

Chapter Thirty-three

H
e was an idiot not to see it but Trick was right. She was parading for his attention. On her next trip to the kitchen, Silas stood and grabbed the kettle with one hand, grabbed her elbow with the other and led her back to the den.

“So you’re taking a bath?” he asked.

“Yeah, unless you think there is something else I can do with all this hot water and wash tub,” she spat at him.

He grinned and she fought the impulse to smile back at him. She was mad. She didn’t want to see his charm.

“You gonna just get naked with me and my brothers right here?” he asked.

She stood and reached her hand behind the tall chest and pulled out a fabric sheet that was attached to wire that hung from the ceiling. The chest had concealed it perfectly. Blue floral now separated the den from kitchen.

She stared at him with a hand on her hip and put her arm out to showcase the curtain.

“Oh,” Silas said. “Well, that’s handy.”

“My mom did this for me when I started getting old enough to need some privacy in the tub,” she said. “My mom.” She shouted. “I had a family. Different than yours but I had one. She loved me. I knew love. I know love. Part of love is doing things for people, Silas. She made me this curtain out of love. And she may have made a mistake with his father but she was a good mom to me.”

Emmie hated the tears falling down her cheeks. She angrily brushed them away with the back of her hand.

He stood and wrapped his arms around her. “It didn’t come out how I meant it to.”

“Yeah, well how did you mean it to sound when you said I was looking for love because I never had a real family?” she asked, her voice full of venom.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just get tired of watching you work so hard for these other people that may or may not be using you. I mean look at your best friend Ava. When is the last time she just did something for you? My guess on the phone tonight, she was asking you for something?” he asked.

Her silence told him he was right.

“Max is not Ava. Walter and Mae are not Ava. I want to help them. I make my own choices, Silas. But of course the people I love will be a factor in them, whether they are blood family or not. You have to understand that.”

He put his hand on her cheek and brushed away the tear that fell as she was talking. “I know that. I just wish I could be one of those people.” He gave a laugh with no humor.

“What?” She was confused.

“Did you think how I would feel with you running off with Bo everyday to make your little apple pie? Was I a factor in your decision?”

Her mouth dangled open in an “O” a moment or two. She wasn’t sure how to answer that question.

“Of course, I thought of you,” she whispered.