Shine On (16 page)

Emmie felt a bipolar range of emotions. She honest to goodness didn’t know whether to tear into her friend for the matchmaking pool shenanigans or dance around her about the awaiting proposal. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do either. However, as soon as this was all out in the air… until then she would just have to pretend.

“You know I can’t cook cornbread without Mama’s skillet,” Emmie said, continuing to unload.

As soon as the heavy cooking started Trick excused himself from the room. Apparently he needed to go make some phone calls. Ava offered to help but her services ended up being limited to boiling a pot of water for tea and bringing Emmie a ridiculously fancy apron to wear. It was one Ava’s mother had made for Ava in an effort to entice her into the kitchen. Even a frilly apron couldn’t do the trick. Emmie boiled the beans in some water and stock, adding a good bit of salt, pepper and spices. Then she set her sights on the cornbread. This is why she lugged the heavy skillet… to make cornbread in anything other than an iron skillet was blasphemy to Emmie’s mother. It was a tradition that had been ingrained in her since she was old enough to mix cornmeal and flour. She got the skillet piping hot in the oven then set it on a warm burner on the stove to melt the butter. When the butter had just started to pop she added the cornbread batter. She loved the way it sizzled and rolled slowly across the pan. Whenever she made cornbread, she could feel her mother surrounding her. The sizzling, the smells, the warmth—that’s what made it one of her favorite things to cook.

After popping the cornbread in the oven, stirring the sugar in the tea, and giving the beans a final stir, she ran upstairs to double check her hair and borrow a bit of Ava’s powder. She did not want to look like a sweaty pig when Silas arrived. When she made it back downstairs, she pulled the cornbread out of the oven to cool and set her sights on washing the dirty dishes. Over the sound of sloshing water she heard someone sit a heavy glass on the counter next to her. Her first thought was Ava had returned to help but when two arms snaked around her waist, she felt her breath catch in her throat.

“Looks good,” Silas’s voice whispered close to her ear.

She smiled, proud. Some part of her needed to hear his approval of what she’d worked so hard to prepare for him.

“Thanks. It’s not much. Just some things I had around the house, beans with bacon and cornbread.” She tried to act nonchalant.

Silas’s arms made a quick motion of spinning her around and pulling her in close for kiss. She felt herself relax in his embrace. One arm still firmly placed around her waist, he cradled her neck with the other as she tilted her face up to look in his eyes. He leaned down and whispered, “I wasn’t talking about the food.”

He gave her a devilish grin, stepped back, and took off his jacket. She got lost in the meaning of his comment for a moment and smiled, feeling her blush return.

Silas spread his arms wide and looked around the kitchen. “What can I do for ya?”

Her thoughts faltered. She couldn’t think of a single thing to tell him that she could actually say out loud. What was this strange power he had over her? She quickly turned back to the dishes and scrubbed the mixing bowl vigorously.

“Umm… you can cut the cornbread. It’s in the iron skillet.” She pointed to where it was cooling on the stove.

He reached for a knife and grabbed the pan’s handle before she could utter a warning. Silas set loose with a string of swears that would make a sailor blush. Emmie put a hand over her mouth and closed the distance between them.

“Oh my, Silas, I am so sorry. That pan just came out of the oven.” She looked up with wide eyes and reached out to take his hand. Sure enough a perfect outline of the panhandle was forming on his hand.

“No shit,” he said sarcastically.

Emmie led him over to the sink and plunged his hand in a pan of cold water. After a quick scan around the kitchen she spied what she was looking for. Under a large window in the corner was a small aloe plant. She broke off one of the spiky leaves and brought it over to him.

Silas had turned and reached for the butter.

“No butter. This will be better.” He looked up at her surprised. His brow creased with confusion as she snapped the leaf in two.

Holding his hand out carefully, she milked the leaf until a few dabs of the clear gel dropped onto the burn. With a soft touch she spread the aloe across the red welts.

“Does that feel better?” she asked, still holding his hand.

He smiled like he was seeing her for the first time. His gaze was so sincere, so honest. “It’s fine.” He paused for a minute then added, “I’m impressed, Emmie. I don’t think I’ve ever been with a girl that knows how to milk medicine out of a plant.”

She really wasn’t sure how to take that but was pretty sure it was a compliment. “I’ve had a lot of burns. I can wrap it… to keep the aloe on, if ya want.”

Silas composed himself. He shook his head and shrugged brushing off the suggestion. Clearly needing to look extra manly after making a mistake in the kitchen, he said, “Nah. I’ll be all right. Thanks anyway.”

Emmie noticed that her vase of flowers was sitting on the counter near the sink. She grabbed them along with some dishes and made quick work of setting the table. Silas brought out the cornbread, using a potholder this time, and called everyone to eat. After they were seated and the food had been plated, Silas said a quick prayer and everyone turned to their food.

Gabe dug right in. He’d spent some time in Kentucky and was used to the cuisine. Ava picked and pushed her food around… but that’s what Ava always did. Trick choked on a drink of the tea. He nearly spit it out on the table.

“Oh my…” he cut off and puckered his lips together. His face set in a deep frown. “What is in that? It tastes like syrup.”

Ava laughed out loud at his reaction. “Trick, it is sweet tea.”

Silas stomped his brother’s foot under the table. Trick tried another sip and kept his disgust down this time. “Sorry, Emmie. It’s not bad. I’ve just never…” he stammered as he ran his tongue over his teeth, “had tea leave a film over my teeth before. But this…” He pointed down to the bowl of beans. “…this looks delicious.” She could tell he didn’t think so, but she appreciated that he was trying.

Silas glared at his brother across the table like an alpha dog waiting for another member of the pack to back down. Eventually, Trick looked down at his plate and stuffed his face with cornbread and beans. He looked up at Emmie and gave her a thumbs up and smiled with his mouth full.

Gabe went on and on about how beans and cornbread were an acquired taste, which he enjoyed. Ava mainly sipped the tea, saying over and over what a great cook Emmie was and she was saving room for the applesauce. Silas drained his glass of tea and fed himself heaping spoonfuls of the beans and bacon. Every time she stole a glance at him he was swallowing and smiling. So much so that she knew it wasn’t real.

He was pretending to like it and somehow that was worse than Trick’s boast earlier. The rest of the meal was an eaten in an uncomfortable silence. She should have known better than to cook such a poor, country meal for four people who could have hundreds of dollars wired to their bank account anytime they wanted.

She wasn’t bitter. She wasn’t even embarrassed. Emmie just realized for the first time how different their life was from hers.

Chapter Twenty-five

B
efore the dishes had been cleared Ava’s father called to check on things. He was uneasy that she had been left behind without any of her immediate family. To him she was still a child. Once he’d gotten the all clear from Ava that everything was going fine, he asked to speak to Silas. Emmie was surprised to see that he took the call in her father’s office—he obviously wanted to be away from the others. Gabe followed behind him but Trick hung around to help clean up the dishes. From the bits of conversation that Emmie had picked up, it seemed there was something important going on with a court case. Al was depending on Silas to help close it out, since he was stuck in Chicago.

The girls and Trick headed into the kitchen. Ava and Trick were masters at easy conversation. But their attempts to draw Emmie into their antics were met with nods, smiles, and shrugs. She wasn’t angry, just lost in her thoughts.

It was like her eyes had been opened for the first time. The house was too grand. Their clothes had real labels. They had cars. They knew how to drive. They went to college (except Ava… she had no ambition for that and no need for the money). They had real families. They did not work in a general store. They did not wake early to can applesauce. They did not make moonshine in the hopes for a few extra bucks. They did not eat beans and cornbread.

“Earth to Emmie,” Trick repeated. A quick scan of the room showed that Ava had left and she hadn’t even noticed.

She smiled over at him, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. “Sorry.”

“I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. It really was good. I know you worked hard on it.” He took a step closer to her. He put a kind hand under her chin and lifted it so she was looking straight at him. “We all really appreciate it, okay? Just needed you to know that.” He tried to give her a carefree grin but came up short.

Emmie nodded, “I know, it’s fine. It’s even okay if you don’t like it. I’m not pouting, cross my heart. I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately.”

Trick nodded and thought for a second. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. He wanted to be as close to her brain as possible, in hopes it would take. “Don’t think about it too much.”

Emmie looked back at him with wide eyes. What was he talking about… how could he know her thoughts? “Excuse me?”

He gave her his crooked grin and cocked his head to the side staring down at her. “Don’t overthink it Emmie. Whatever’s going on in your pretty head.” He touched one of her curls with his pointer finger. “Just go with it. He pining for you, ya know? Whatever is on your mind…” he took a step back, “let it go.”

“Who’s pining for her?” Silas’s voice boomed from the doorway of the kitchen.

Trick’s grin turned into a wide smile. His eyes were amused as he opened his mouth to speak. “You are, brother.”

Startled, Silas’s mouth fell open for a brief second before he composed himself. “Yeah, what’s your point, Patrick?” he spit his brother’s full name. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t need you to tell her that.”

He cleared the space between them in a few short steps. “You don’t, do you?”

Words failed her, so she just shook her head quietly, “That’s not what I’m thinking about.”

Trick left the room. Neither of them noticed his exit.

“What’s on your mind?” He sat on a chair at the small table in the kitchen and pulled her into his lap. She felt her heart rate pick up. Never in her life had she ever sat in man’s lap.

“It’s fine. I’m fine.” She smiled and hoped it was convincing.

“Let’s not lie to one another,” he said. But as soon as the words left his mouth he felt like a hypocrite. How could he tell her that? After he’d, just days ago, rummaged through her house and contemplated taking seven hundred dollars from under her floorboard. How could he say let’s not lie after he had set the fire that torched her stepfather’s car and sat by while she believed in an accident that never happened. Silas swallowed hard.

“Okay, I’m not fine. I don’t fit in with you… any of you really,” she answered honestly. “I’m not…” She shrugged and paused unsure what to say. She looked down at her hands and picked at her cuticles. “I have never been out of Kentucky. I haven’t been to college… and I eat beans and cornbread.”

His brow creased deeply in-between his eyes. He rubbed his jaw trying to decide what to say next. “Em, sweetheart.” A nervous laugh escaped him. “You’ll go to college. And none of what you just said matters. You think I care what you eat?”

Emmie stepped out of his hold, paced across the room and threw up her arms. “It’s not about what I eat… that’s just an example,” she sighed. “I’m just saying I’m not like you.”

He laughed again. “I’m pretty sure if you were just like me, then I wouldn’t be pining for you.” His sarcasm didn’t slip past her.

“I am not kidding. It bothers me,” she sighed. “If you run out of money, you make a call and it comes through a wire and into your bank account. Like, like…” She threw her hands up again. “Like a magic trick.” She touched her chest. “Me… I need money… I get a job, and if that’s not enough, I eat beans and cornbread until I get paid again…” She was fully aware that her argument really didn’t make much sense. Emmie was metaphorically on her soapbox now and knew she needed to step down.

A glance in his direction showed his feathers were up. He was proud and no doubt didn’t like having his money thrown in his face… or compared to magic.

“Emmie. I work for my money. I. Work. Hard. Day and night. Things you don’t even know.” He rubbed a hand through his hair and then continued, “Don’t put me in a box. Rest assured, if I need money wired, it’s my money. What’s this about? Do you need money? Because if you do…” He started but she cut him off.

“No, I don’t need your money. That’s not what this is about.” She shook her head and tried to gather her thoughts. What was this discussion about? That’s when it came to her. This wasn’t about them as much as it was about her. She didn’t know who she was anymore.