It's Only Love(60)

“Because I don’t believe you mean it.”

She drew back from him, looking up, trying to gauge whether he was for real. Apparently, he was. “How can I convince you?”

“By saying no another two dozen times, at the very least.”

“Are you some sort of masochist?”

“I must be if I want to go out with you.”

The song, blessedly, came to an end, but he didn’t let go of her.

“Um, the song is over.”

“So?”

“So let go. Stop being a creep.”

He smiled down at her.

That arrogant little smirk made her want to smack him. She couldn’t stand how he always looked at her as if he knew her better than she knew herself. When she’d joined the running club, she’d nearly quit when she discovered he was a member, too. Now she was wishing she had quit—so she wouldn’t have to see him every week for six months and so she could sleep in tomorrow.

Running a marathon had been a stupid idea after all. If putting up with Tyler’s knowing smirk every week for the next six months was part of the deal, she might have to reconsider her new life goal.

Long after the song ended, long after he should’ve let go, he finally released her but managed to snag her hand before she could get away. “I’m not giving up on you, Charlotte. And P.S., I don’t buy all your abrasive bullshit. Underneath all that bluster, there’s an interesting woman lurking. I’d like to get to know that woman.”

He released her hand and walked away, leaving her standing in the middle of the crowded dance floor, her mouth hanging open in shock.

What. The. Hell.


*

Gavin felt like a dick for leaving the way he had. The image of Ella’s astonished expression as he turned away from her on the dance floor refused to leave his mind. He shouldn’t have left like that, as if he couldn’t control himself for a couple of hours to support her when she’d been so damned supportive of him.

“You’re a f*cking loser,” he said as he drove home through the darkness that had descended over Butler and its outskirts. With no moon to guide the way, the roads were darker than usual tonight.

He’d never told her that Ed had been the guy he’d fought with, so how was she supposed to know? It had been a shock to see him sitting among the Abbotts’ employees like he belonged there after what he’d said about the war. Surely they wouldn’t want a guy like that in their midst. Would they?

“Shit,” he muttered to the darkness. Every time he took a step forward something smacked him backward. Every goddamned time.

This was exactly why he’d told Ella he was a bad bet. He never knew when the shit would rear its ugly head to set him back.

He approached the one-lane covered bridge and slowed to a crawl as he drove across the bridge, slamming on the brakes when he saw something big and black blocking his way. Flipping on the high beams, he saw Fred the moose standing across the road and groaned. At least he hadn’t run into Fred the way Cameron had.

Gavin laid on the horn, trying to get Fred to move along, to no avail. He remained stubbornly still. Gavin opened the window. “Fred, come on, give me a break, will you?”

“Moo.”

“Seriously? Can this day get any more f*cked up?” He sat there for twenty minutes, but Fred never budged. When it became clear that Fred wasn’t going to move, Gavin put the truck in reverse, backed up over the one-lane bridge, turned around and headed back into town. He’d have to take the long way home.

As he drove through the quiet town, he began to wonder if Fred hadn’t actually done him a favor, for he was now driving toward Ella’s house rather than away.

For the first time in an hour, Gavin had reason to smile. “Freaking Fred. He’s better at this shit than I am.”

A glance at the clock on the dash indicated it was after ten. He probably had an hour or more to kill before Ella would be home, which gave him just enough time to run a quick errand. He had some groveling to do, and he needed all the reinforcements he could get.


*

Thirty minutes after the DJ played the last song of the evening and everyone had left, Ella was almost finished stacking chairs and breaking down tables. Colton and Hunter were sweeping the floor and her sisters were in the kitchen with her mother, Cameron, Lucy and Megan wrapping up leftover food. They’d sent Hannah home to bed, and Lucas and Landon had left with the young women from the store.

“Another great time,” Lincoln said when he stacked the last of the chairs on top of the cart that held them. “Well done, honey.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“What were they saying about the new product line?”

“Everyone’s abuzz over it,” she said with a smile. “That joke isn’t going to get old for a while.”

“I suppose I deserve that.”

“It’s what you get for being so progressive.”

“I couldn’t help but notice that Gavin left somewhat abruptly, and there was some sort of scuffle between Landon and Ed Sheehan.”

Ella nodded, not surprised that her dad had tuned into the drama. “Ed was the one who told Gavin we wasted our time in Iraq, which led to the bar fight last summer.”

Lincoln’s face tightened with outrage. “I hope Landon fired him.”