Freeks(67)

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” I told him honestly.

He smirked. “I’m a grown man. I think I can decide for myself what pain I’m willing to endure.”

“But this really doesn’t change anything, Gabe.” I shook my head. “I will be leaving. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, but definitely very soon.”

“All the more reason that I should be with you now, while I can,” he persisted. “If you have to go, I’ll be here to say good-bye. And if you stay, I’m here to help. But, either way, I want to be here, with you.”

He reached out, brushing my damp hair back from my face, and he leaned in toward me. Just before his lips touched mine, he stopped.

“I won’t kiss you if this isn’t what you want,” he said, his voice low and husky.

I put my hand over his and whispered, “I want you.”

That was all the encouragement he needed, and his mouth was on mine, hot and passionate. His fingers tangled in my hair as he pulled me to him, and I wrapped my arms around him, loving the heat of his body against me.

The moment was shattered by the sound of applause, and we pulled away from each other to see what all the fuss was about.

With the AC on, we hadn’t been able to hear anything going on outside of my Winnebago, but the loud clapping and cheerful hollering was loud enough to get in. Through the window over the kitchen sink, I saw what was left of the carnival crowding around Gideon.

Beside him, I could see only the curly blond top of her head, but I knew it had to be Della Jane. She was attempting to hold Gideon’s burly fist high up in the air, but since she was so short, it only went to about his head.

“What is my mom doing here?” Gabe asked, peering through the window beside me.

“I think she just made sure that the carnival will be open until Sunday,” I said, and I’d never felt quite so conflicted about anything before.

Already grinning, Gabe turned to look at me. “That means you’ll be staying until Sunday, right?”

“It looks that way.” I tried to return his smile, but I couldn’t shake my unease about staying at this particular campsite for another three nights.

“I should probably go thank my mom, then.” Gabe took my hand and headed for the door.

In the few interactions I’d had with his mom, she’d been nothing but nice to me. So I couldn’t explain the urge I had to dig my feet in and refuse to greet her, or the sour feeling that made my stomach sick.

So I let Gabe lead me out into the thick air and intense sunlight.

“We may have won this battle, but that doesn’t mean that the war is over,” Gideon was saying as we approached the semicircle of people around him and we were close enough that we could actually see Della Jane standing beside him. “There is still an animal on the loose, and we need to stay safe.”

“The police have promised us that they’ll have their best men on it,” Della Jane interjected brightly. “So that should be taken care of very soon. Maybe even tonight.”

As she looked out at the crowd, flashing her dazzling smile, her gaze finally landed on Gabe. And there it was again, the expression I’d caught when I saw her at Gabe’s house. A split-second where her blue eyes went wide and horrified, and her smile faltered.

Then, as quickly as the look had appeared, it was gone, and Della Jane was all smiles again.

“As you all know, we are shorthanded,” Gideon went on. “We need everyone to do what we can. If anyone wants to volunteer to participate in certain acts, let me know. I’ll be in the big tent tonight, but I’ll need an assistant since Roxie will be dancing.”

I stepped up to run the museum, since Hutch was laid up, and Gideon began divvying up the workload to volunteers and allotting the tasks that nobody wanted. As things were being assigned, the crowd began to disperse so people could go to work.

The midway opened at eleven, but most of the sideshow acts didn’t start until the afternoon, with shows in the big tents. The only thing that should’ve been open already was the museum, but it didn’t pull in that much money so a couple hours closed up wouldn’t bankrupt us.

Della Jane made her way toward us, walking barefoot on the grass with her baby blue pumps in her hand. She greeted us with the warmest of smiles, but her eyes seemed to linger too long on our entwined hands.

“If I’d known you were coming out here today, honey, we could’ve rode together,” Della Jane joked.

As casually as I could muster, I slipped my hand from Gabe’s. I ran it through my hair, not because it was getting in my face, but because I was looking for an excuse to let go of Gabe’s hand. The look his mom gave me made me feel uncomfortable about the whole thing.

“I just wanted to see how Mara was holding up.” He motioned to me, and his mom’s eyes followed his hand, so her gaze landed on me.

“You must be happy about the big triumph today,” Della Jane said. “I know I am just thrilled that you’ll be around a few more days.”

“Yeah, thank you for all your help.” I forced a smile and ignored how tight her voice sounded when she said “thrilled.”

“Did you drive your Mustang?” Della Jane asked, turning her attention back to her son. “If you walked, I could give you a ride back to town.”

“Yeah, I drove.” He motioned toward the bright red sports car parked at the edge of the campsite, standing out like a shiny sore thumb. Then he glanced around at the folks working overtime to set up for tonight. “And I was thinking that I would stay and pitch in. It looks like they need all the help they can get.”