The McClane Apocalypse Book Five (17 page)

Paige took her shower already. She
didn’t want to jam up the shower time for the rest of the family.
Her hair, she plaited in two long braids on either side of her
head. It’ll lay nicer when she unbraids it after it has
thoroughly
dried. But she pretty much
has no idea what else she’s going to do with it other than that.
Sue told her this morning that she left a dress for her to borrow
out at the cabin. Sue is the closest to her in height, but they are
built very differently. Sue is curvy, voluptuous even. Paige is
tall and thin and extremely unsure of herself because of
it.

“I can help you, Reagan,” Paige offers.

“Good, this isn’t my specialty. Getting
people anywhere on time or hustling kids is a lot harder than
sewing stitches or doing a C-section,” Reagan jokes and sighs with
relief at the offer.

An hour later after assisting Reagan, Paige
makes her way to the cabin with Cory’s dumb dog following at her
heels. Everywhere she goes, Shadow follows her. They pass her
brother on the path. Simon barely offers a nod in greeting. He’s a
mess and covered in dirt, maybe even manure, and headed to the
house for a shower. He’s jogging very quickly with a bundle of
clean clothing tucked under his arm.

When she opens the door to their cabin, her
smile from running into her brother and seeing his dirty, frantic
appearance falls flat. Cory is standing there in front of her in
his underwear and nothing else.

“Shit,” she grumbles and turns her face. She
crosses quickly to her area of the cabin and tries not to think of
the nearly naked man on the other side. She pulls her changing
curtain closed with a brisk tug.

“You’d better get your ass ready, beanpole,”
he says.

She hardly needs him to tell her. She’d been
detained even longer in the house helping the moms get their kids
ready. Paige just grinds her teeth together. She’s not going to let
him ruin her day.

“Ya’ think?” she mumbles as she pulls
off her
flour-dusted
shirt and
jeans. “I’ve been up at the house helping everyone get their kids
ready.”

Cory chuckles at her hardship before saying,
“I know one kid you weren’t getting ready. Arianna. I just threw
her outta’ here…again.”

“Yeah, I noticed she hangs on you a lot,”
Paige notes with a grin. Arianna practically clings to Cory. She
has a little bit of hero worshipping going on there.

“She’s my shadow,” Cory acknowledges.

She peeks over the curtain to make sure he
isn’t looking in her direction. He’s not. He’s tugging on black
pants. His dark hair is pulled back into a low ponytail that
extends about two inches below its rubber band.

The dress Sue has left for her is a
pale peach hue. She barely has time to even consider it as she
pulls it up over her waist. The back zipper is too
deep
for her to finish zipping. However,
the dress falls just above her knees and swirls around her thighs
with a swish of soft, silky material. She’s pretty sure it’s
supposed to fall at mid-calf, but it won’t come even close on her.
It almost fits which is the best she’s going to get. The dress
should also cling more snugly to her waist, but it doesn’t.
Unfortunately, all she has to wear with it are her dirty black
ankle boots. She tugs on some clean socks and pulls on the boots.
She has no choice. It’s entirely too chilly in the evening now to
consider going barefoot, especially after the sun falls.

“Damn it,” she swears as she looks down
at her ridiculous outfit. This gown needs a pair of classic
nude
pumps,
not dirty work boots
that look like they were just in a barn.

“Break a nail?” Cory jabs from the other side
of the curtain.

“Shut up. I wasn’t talking to you.”

“Sue’s dress not fit? I can run over there
and grab you something else real quick,” he offers.

Her mouth almost falls open. That was
actually a very thoughtful thing to offer. She’s surprised.

Paige pushes the curtain aside and
frowns. “I look
freagin
’ stupid.
I don’t have any other shoes and nobody here…”

Cory steps toward her and interrupts,
“You’re
fine
. Don’t worry about
it. Nobody’s going to care. You look… fine.”

She notices as she removes her braids and
fluffs her hair with her fingers that he still hasn’t put on a
shirt. But he does wear shoes and a belt.

“I don’t want to seem disrespectful. I
mean she’s my best friend. I don’t
want
to look like an idiot,” Paige admits with a frown as she
turns to look in the small mirror on the wall. It’s the only mirror
in their cabin.

She nearly jumps out of her skin when
she feels his warm fingers
on
her
back.

“Well, zipping this the rest of the way would
help,” he says with a smile touching his voice.

“Th…thanks,” Paige stutters. His fingertip
slides inside the dress near the top of the zipper when he’s
finished pulling it up and strokes back and forth against her skin
there. She steps forward and turns to face him with a confused
frown only to be met with a perplexed scowl of his own.

She is about to reprimand him for touching
her that way when the black cord at his neck catches her attention.
She’s never noticed it before. There is a gold chain of some kind
twined around it.

“What’s this?” she asks and touches her index
finger to it. A muscle in his neck flexes simultaneously with
another one in his pectoral.

“Um, nothing,” he says as he furrows
his
heavy
, dark brows and turns
away from her.

Sam blasts through the cabin door without
knocking, which is how she usually moves around the farm. She is
full of youthful energy and sass. Paige suspects that something is
amiss between the young nymph and her brother, though. She’s sure
of it. Simon has even seemed a little moody lately.

“Cory!” she blurts. “Get ready. Good grief
already. Everyone’s up at the house loading into cars.”

Samantha is wearing a dark red, tea length
dress that swirls around and accentuates her petite curves. The
color ignites her vivid eyes with a fire that nearly sparks against
her pale skin. There is a red rose from Grams’s garden artfully
tucked into the thick bun of dark hair at the base of her neck. She
even has on black patent flats and a matching black shawl with red
roses printed on it. In Paige’s mind, Sam looks like an exotic
gypsy with her black hair in contrast to the black and red
clothing. Other than her little doll face, of course.

“Where’s my brother?” she asks of Sam.

“Up at the house. He’s about ready,
too. He hit the showers last, so that was probably a cold one,” Sam
says
with
a wicked
smile.

“Sucker,” Cory mumbles on a conspiratorial
chuckle.

“Here, Paige, I brought you a cardigan to
borrow,” she says, extending her hand.

“Oh, thanks,” Paige says and steps forward to
accept the cream-colored sweater.

“Grandpa said it’s probably going to get
pretty cold later on, and since this is outdoors, we’d better
bundle up.”

Paige stands by the mirror and tries to make
some sense of her hair. The halo of flowers tied into a ring that
Sue made for her doesn’t want to sit on her head correctly. Sam
comes over to help.

“Too bad I can’t just wear my bandana,” Paige
laments over the unruliness of her wavy hair.

Sam chuckles and exclaims, “Paige!
That’s not exactly a very feminine look. These flowers will be
perfect with your dress. You have such
lovely
red hair, it’s a shame to hide it all the
time under those scarves.”

Paige tries not to look at Cory in the mirror
as he tugs on a button up black shirt, covering the broad expanse
of his muscular, hairy chest. She’s seen him many times doing
push-ups and chin-ups in the barn. He runs with the men almost
every morning. Every night, he disappears and doesn’t return for
many hours. She has no idea where he goes, but he always takes his
horse and his rifle. She’s not sure she wants to know.

He seems oblivious
of
them other than the occasional smile he cracks
at Sam’s babbling.

“I can’t wait to see everyone. This is
just like when Hannah got married to Kelly. That was so wonderful.
This is going to be great, too. They are setting everything
up
in
the top of their barn for
dinner in case it rains, which Grandpa said it seems like it’s
going to. Chet strung some old Christmas lights up so it’ll be more
romantic. I think Talia will like it.”

“I think so, too. I can’t believe she’s
getting married,” Paige acknowledges with a lopsided frown. “Six
months ago, we were walking here on foot and trying to figure out
where to camp out for the night and how
not
to get ourselves killed. And now Talia’s
getting married. Surreal.”

“Yeah, too bad they don’t have any more
brothers,” Cory remarks. “I could get rid of you and get you out of
my cabin.”

“Maybe you should be looking for a wife so
that you can move,” Paige suggests with a smug look in his
direction.

“Cory? Get married?” Sam asks with a laugh.
“Yeah, right. Only if we pay her off.”

“Thanks, kid,” Cory jokes with her and
pinches her cheek gently.

“You know I’m only
joking
. A girl would be lucky to have someone like
you, Cory,” Sam corrects and hugs around his waist.

Paige tries not to scoff, but she does
snort.

Sam ignores her and continues, “I’m so happy
for them. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a wedding, huh
Cory?”

“Yep, kid. It’s been a long time. Reagan and
John were the last,” he says as he buttons the cuffs of his
shirt.

His clothing is more suited to a funeral than
a wedding, but perhaps they are all he has to wear. Perhaps the
clothing represents his feelings on weddings.

“Reagan and John didn’t want everyone
over for their
wedding
. Well,
John probably did, but Reagan didn’t. I don’t even think she really
wanted to get married, either. But she did. Thank goodness for
that. Your friend is going to be
so
pretty
, Paige. Someday I’ll be at your wedding,
too!”

Paige snorts and replies, “Don’t get your
hopes up, Sam.”

“Maybe sooner rather than later,” her friend
hints, her blue eyes dancing playfully. “You and Jason have been
spending a lot of time together.”

Paige’s eyes jump to Cory. He looks at her
briefly before frowning and turning away. He behaves as if he has
something to hide. He is not the kind of man to look away from
someone in such a manner. He is usually very direct and sure. She
is always the first one to look away. She actually hates his open
stare and confidence.

“We’re just friends,” she
mutters
to Sam, who seems very
disbelieving. Jason and she have been spending time together when
she goes to town, but they’ve only known each other a very
short
time
and she only sees him
when she goes to town. He held her hand once while they walked
around the town. That is hardly an engagement in anyone’s opinion.
He kissed her last week near the far perimeter of the wall. She’d
been surprised by it but not overly moved. It had only lasted a
brief second as they were come upon by one of Jason’s friends.
Again, hardly anything to write home about, but he seems like a
good man. He’s loyal to his uncle, the town veterinarian. He’s kind
and courteous. He has excellent manners, too. He’s handsome in a
clean-cut
kind
of way, which is
very different than any of the men on the McClane farm,
present
male company very
included.

“Better get a move on,” Cory interrupts and
holds open the door for them.

Paige squeezes past him, but he catches her
arm at the elbow and halts her as Sam walks away oblivious.

“Be careful with Jason,” he warns in a low
tone.

Paige looks up into his dark eyes, affronted
by his tone, the message and the grabbing of her arm. She tries to
tug free, but he tightens his grip.

“That’s none of your business,” she
corrects him with heightening anger. He holds onto her arm a
moment
longer,
twists his mouth
into a cocky, dubious expression and releases her. He sweeps his
arm out to the side as if he’s offering her safe
passage.

“Whatever you say, ma’am,” he concedes, tips
an invisible hat and follows after her.

They walk with Sam to the truck and SUV and
everyone piles in. They could walk to the Reynolds farm, but they
are all dressed nicely and don’t wish to look like they just came
in from milking the cows.

Somehow she gets stuck sitting next to
Cory in the back seat of the SUV. Kelly sits on her other side
holding his wife on his lap. They are in their own world,
snuggling, kissing, genuinely happy. Hannah has her nose buried in
her husband’s neck. Reagan rides in the rear with Sam, but Simon
has hopped in the back of the pick-up truck that Derek drives. He’s
corralling the rambunctious children- all of whom had insisted on
riding in the back of the
truck- and
keeping them under control while mostly failing at keeping
them under control at all. Her brother looks impeccably dressed
and
handsome
tonight in navy
dress slacks and a white shirt that
sets
off his auburn hair and tanned skin. John is
driving the SUV while Herb McClane rides shotgun and quietly
reviews sections he has marked in his Bible.