The Best Man Read online

  Samuel moved closer to me and raised his hands slowly to push my hair past my shoulders. I closed my eyes and leaned just the top part of my body forward, until my forehead rested in the center of his chest.

  “I’m sorry for yelling at you,” I muttered. In a second, I felt his hands move to stroke lightly up and down my arms in a soothing motion. The friction through my thin dress shirt felt like silken heat encompassing my limbs, and I suddenly and irrationally felt the need to close the gap between us.

  “That means someone else in there paid for that dance,” Samuel murmured quietly. “And I’m sure whoever it was thought it was worth every penny.”

  “I don’t want to go back in there,” I shuddered. “I only...you know...went through with it because I thought I was getting even with you.” Samuel chuckled deeply.

  “Payback by inducing sexual frustration,” he said quietly. “Very effective...”

  His words caused me to catch my breath. Certainly, he couldn’t have meant the comment in the way it sounded. I tipped my head to look at him. Samuel’s hands stopped their movement but tightened around my arms instead. We looked at each other in silence.

  I wished Samuel’s face was as easy for me to read as Andy’s. I stared into the dark brown depths of his eyes and tried to pick out truths. I only saw my own questioning gaze reflecting back at me. He looked...intense and maybe a little perplexed. His cheeks were deliciously flushed. And the longer I stared, the more I was convinced I might drown under the weight of the moment.

  “Samuel?” I asked, breaking the silence.

  “I need to have my head examined,” he muttered, then chuckled humorlessly. “I shouldn’t...”

  “Shouldn’t what?”

  My question remained unanswered. Samuel released my arms and stepped away as Andy and the other men started to cross the parking lot toward us. I missed the heat of his hands immediately, and I reluctantly tore my eyes from his. I still felt slightly drunk...and confused at best.

  “If the college thing doesn’t work out, I think I’ve figured out a new career for you,” Andy shouted from three cars away as they moved closer to us.

  “Shut up, Andy,” I groaned. He laughed when he stepped next to me and threw his arm over my shoulder. I was pulled against his side tightly, and my best friend looked down at me with an adoring smile.

  “Are we going anywhere else?” Nick asked while unlocking the van. He slid the back door open, and Dan and Zack climbed inside.

  “Well, we can’t go back in there.” Andy chuckled and nudged his brother. “You had about eight bouncers ready to come out here to kick your ass.”

  “Are you okay?” Nick asked me, a worried expression on his face while his eyes darted suspiciously toward Samuel.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just embarrassed.” I frowned.

  “I think we should call it a night,” Samuel said. He was still looking at me strangely. Perhaps he was worried about my emotional state.

  Andy turned me away from him and held my hand to help me up into the van. In a minute, we were tucked away inside the dark recesses, and Nick was driving us home. I pulled my feet up onto the seat beside me and nestled into Andy’s side. The men all laughed and talked about the evening. From what I could ascertain, my slide to the bottom of public humiliation didn’t take anything away from the festivities. And by the way Dan teased Zack behind us, I might have even added a little to his enjoyment of the night. I pretended not to hear them. There was no reason for more than one of us to have to be embarrassed.

  I dozed off a bit, cuddled against Andy. I woke when he nudged me to tell me it was time to get out of the van. I was still sleepy as I stood on the sidewalk between our houses. Andy kept his arm around me, and I appreciated it.

  “Umm.” Zack shuffled his feet and crammed his hands into his jeans pockets. Both he and Dan turned to look at Nick, who shook his head a little to the side to move his bangs away from his eyes.

  “We had a little trouble with the judging tonight.” Nick took over the explanation that Zack might have been meaning to begin. “We all had a great time going to the club. It was a good plan for an activity.”

  “But Emelia was totally the entertainment for the night,” Dan added. I felt my face heat instantly, and Nick’s voice cut in right away.

  “He meant playing Quarters,” Nick hurried to reassure. “It was awesome of you to start up the game at the table.”

  “Thanks,” I mumbled. I hadn’t really meant to start a game, but everyone did seem to have fun playing along.

  “Anyway...” Zack stepped in. “We decided that tonight ends in a tie. We had fun with both of you. And you managed not to hurt each other in any way, so that ought to count for something. Right?”

  Samuel and I both laughed lightly. I looked over at him. He seemed fine with the decision.

  “Tomorrow night is the tie-breaker,” Samuel nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

  “Yeah. Me too.” I shrugged.

  “Someone else can drive tomorrow night,” Nick suggested as he moved to get back in his van. We all bid each other goodnight and went our separate ways.

  Despite the somewhat late night out, I woke bright and chipper. Dad was still in the bathroom, so I hurried downstairs to make him breakfast before his day at work. I felt guilty for not having spent very much time with him so far while home on my vacation. He needed to be spoiled a little. I had time to put eggs, bacon, and toast on his plate before my father made his way downstairs.

  “Em?” he asked with a smile from the kitchen doorway. “What’s the occasion?”

  “I feel bad that we haven’t spent much time together,” I replied. “I’ve missed you. Orange juice?”

  “Please.”

  He sat while I poured the sunny orange liquid in his glass. I pulled up my own plate but enjoyed simple coffee instead.

  “What are your big plans for tonight?” Dad asked while eating.

  “We’re going over to Moe’s,” I told him. “Keeping it local. Moe is putting up a table for beer pong in the back. And he’s got some fun new setup on his dartboard. You know Andy loves darts.”

  “I’ve never beaten him.” Dad shook his head.

  “How late do you work?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe until around ten?”

  “You should come by and have a couple beers with us,” I offered. “My treat.”

  “Thanks, honey. I might do that.” Dad grinned and patted my hand before standing to put his dishes in the sink. I stopped him.

  “Leave them, Dad. I’ve got this.”

  “You are really too good to me,” my father said.

  “I’m going to wash your truck for you too,” I told him while picking up our dishes. “It will be sparkly and pretty for your next trip out to the river.”

  “You picked a good day for it. Looks like it’s going to be a scorcher!”

  A “scorcher” in Astoria turned out to be a very sunny eighty-two degrees. It was warm enough for me to wear a small faded T-shirt and shorts when I went outside to hose down my father’s truck. I tried to keep clear of the splash-back though. It wasn’t nearly hot enough for the icy water that came from our garden hose.

  With my earbuds in place, I danced and sang quietly to myself when I put the bucket of soapy water next to the driver’s-side front tire and made my way around the hood with a large sponge. Satisfied that I loosened some of the grime, I dropped the sponge back into the bucket and made a circuit around the truck with the hose. I pressed the trigger on the spray handle and watched as the sudsy water dripped down to the ground below the truck. I was so engrossed in my task, and with the music in my ears, I flinched when a bright blue object whizzed past my ear and broke with a splash against the windshield of my father’s truck. I recognized the broken plastic immediately for what it was, but I couldn’t react fast enough to avoid the water balloon that broke across the center of my back. Instantly, the freezing cold water drenched my shirt and my shorts. I cursed loudly and ran ar
ound the bed of the truck, looking for cover. Two more water balloons crashed beside me. One hit my shoulder and managed to send its icy contents down my arm and neck as well.

  When I made it to the safety of the driver’s side, I opened the door and quickly tossed my phone and earbuds onto the seat. Then I closed the door again and peered through the glass, trying to see where my attacker was aiming from. The evidence of blond as well as brownish-red colored hair which stuck up above the railing of the house next door let me know that I was outnumbered.

  “I dropped the hose!” I yelled out loudly. “Quit throwing the balloons. I’m unarmed.” A heavy balloon was lobbed from their porch and crashed on the hood of the truck next to my head. “So help me God, you boys are going to pay!” I warned. Andy and Samuel both laughed. One more balloon glanced off the top of the truck and broke near my feet.

  “Fine, we’re out of balloons!” Andy called out. I slowly lifted my head to peek over the hood of the truck and saw both men walking down their steps on their way to where I stood. Their hands were empty. I glanced down at the bucket of water by my feet.

  “Very funny.” I stayed where I was. “It’s not warm enough to get wet.”

  “Don’t be a baby.” Andy made a face. “It’s plenty warm enough.”

  “We were just having fun.” Samuel smirked as he stepped closer. Close enough to be a victim of my plan for justice. I threw my soapy sponge right at Andy, and before Samuel could spin away, I reached and tossed the entire bucket of water right at the center of his chest.

  It was a flurry of movement then as both men yelled, and I hurried around the hood of the truck to retrieve my hose from where it lay on the ground. I pressed the handle and was thoroughly soaking Andy when Samuel moved up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I struggled and kicked as Andy fought the water and came closer. The cold water from the trigger handle dripped down my hands and arms and made my fingers numb. It was easy for Andy to pry it out of my grip. Samuel slung one arm to cross over my shoulders, with the other firmly wrapped around my waist while Andy turned the hose on me. I squinted my eyes and turned my face away from the arctic blast while Samuel laughed and held me tight. He was getting just as wet as I was, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  “Admit defeat,” he chuckled near my ear.

  “Fine! Fine! You win!” I yelled. Andy stopped spraying me immediately and stood with a giant, happy grin on his face. My hair strung wetly down my back, and water dripped from my clothing while Samuel released me to stand on my own. All three of us were completely soaked.

  “Happy now?” My teeth chattered. “I’ll probably catch my death of pneumonia.”

  “You won’t catch a cold,” Andy sighed. “You just need to get out in the sun and warm up a little. Mom has towels on the line out back. Come on.”

  I shivered and squished in my wet tennis shoes as I followed them both to their backyard. Samuel handed me a towel first.

  “Th-thanks,” I muttered. He just grinned and laid his towel in a sunny patch on the lawn before lowering himself onto his stomach on top of it.

  “You’ll warm up in no time,” Andy assured me. He put his towel on the ground too, so I did the same and lowered myself to lie between them.

  “Emelia?” I turned my head toward Samuel. His cheek was pressed against his towel, and his face was turned in my direction. “Blame Andy. It was all his idea.”

  “Oh, really?” I took a moment to really look at Samuel as he lay there with his eyes closed. His lashes were gold-tipped against his rosy cheeks. His hair was made dark by water and curled against the side of his neck. My eyes traveled down to take in the way his thin T-shirt molded to the contoured muscles of his back and narrow hips. I swallowed hard and tore my eyes away from his physique, only to see that he had opened his eyes and was watching me. My cheeks flamed to realize that he had caught me checking him out. Samuel’s expression was unreadable. He just looked at me quietly in that disconcerting way of his. As awareness surfaced, I turned my face away and looked the opposite direction.

  It was crazy and foolish for me to be so distracted by Samuel after all this time. My crush on him had ended years ago. And yet, I was so easily made aware of this strange pull he had over me. I could only attribute it to the fact that he was disarmingly good-looking. I mean, any girl would notice. And yet, when I closed my eyes, I could feel the weight of his fathomless stare almost as though he had touched me. It was ridiculous. In fact, he hadn’t even said a word. I must be desperate for a little male attention if I could let my imagination get away from me so easily.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Andy asked from beside me. He had taken off his glasses, and they were resting in the grass between us. The sun kissed the tip of his nose and brightened the edges of his hair while it curled toward the warmth and tried to dry.

  “Remember that time I fell in the creek?” I asked. He smiled at the shared memory.

  “Andy...wait up!” I hissed at the boy who laughed and ran much too fast through the undergrowth. I couldn’t keep up his pace.

  “We have to hurry to get back before Sully gets home,” Andy called out from somewhere ahead of me.

  We were both told to stay out of the woods. Some hikers had seen large wolves in the area, and my dad wasn’t convinced it was safe for us to hike alone.

  “We’ll get back in plenty of time,” I argued.

  “I know. I’ve got a shortcut!”

  I stopped when I found Andy. He was standing at the end of a mossy tree that had fallen above a creek bank. It formed a bridge over the bubbling water below, and Andy jumped up on top of it to walk across.

  “We can save time if we cut across here,” he told me.

  “I’m not so sure...” I mumbled. We were close enough to home. It wouldn’t take that much longer to walk to where the water was shallow enough to wade across.

  “Come on, chicken!” Andy called out.

  “I’m not chicken,” I grumbled. I pulled myself up the green tree trunk and began to step across gingerly. Of course, I made it no farther than halfway before I lost my footing and slipped off the side. I landed hard on the rock bottom below. The icy cold water swirled around my chest, and my ankle twisted painfully below me.

  “Emmy! Are you all right?” Andy was instantly alarmed. The water wasn’t high, but it was very cold. And I knew I couldn’t stand on my own.

  “You are going to have to get my dad.” I tried not to cry. Facing his wrath was more upsetting than the dull ache of my ankle.

  “I’ll be right back!” Andy called. I watched until I could no longer see his blond hair through the trees, and then I tried to scoot myself toward the creek edge. I couldn’t stand on my leg, but I knew I needed to get out of the cold water. When Andy arrived with Samuel, I was almost completely out of the water and sitting on the hard rocks next to the creek.

  “What in the hell have you gotten yourself into?” Samuel asked as he cautiously made his way down the steep bank beside me. I bit my lip and tried to hold back my tears. It was almost as bad as being yelled at by my father.

  “It was Andy’s idea,” I wailed.

  “The worst ones always are,” Samuel chuckled as he made it to me. I winced when he tenderly touched my ankle. “Well, I don’t think it’s broken.”

  “O-okay.” My teeth chattered.

  “Your lips are blue,” Samuel breathed near my face. “We need to get you out of here, so you can warm up.”

  “It took both of us to get you up the side of that creek bank.” Andy recollected, bringing me back to the present.

  “And Samuel carried me the rest of the way home on his back,” I added. The very same back that I had just been admiring. The same boy...all grown-up.

  “You were freezing,” Samuel murmured, adding to the conversation. I turned and looked over at him. “I felt like I was carrying a block of ice.”

  “Sorry,” I whispered. He smiled with his eyes closed.

  “Don’t worry about it, Emelia,” he s
aid. “I think I liked always coming to your rescue.”

  “Well, I don’t know about you two, but I’m going inside. I need to call Lily before I grab a shower,” Andy informed us.

  “I need to go in too,” I said, sitting up. “I should probably rinse the truck off first...”

  “You go ahead.” Samuel rolled to sit up and pushed his hair away from his face. “I have to wait for my turn to shower anyway. I’ll rinse off the truck.” His eyes darted down my torso, so quickly I was sure I might have imagined it. Still, thinking about the way I must look, with my own wet clothing clinging to my skin made me blush. Samuel frowned and looked away.

  “Thanks,” I told him.

  “Don’t mention it.” Samuel didn’t meet my eyes again. I got up and walked to the house.

  My sports-jersey style T-shirt was maybe a little too snug. However, as I pulled on my old Converse high-tops and flipped my hair over my shoulder, I had to admit that I liked the cute tomboy effect. It was perfect for a very casual night of fun and games at Moe’s bar, right here in town. Though not as glamourous as a nightclub in a big city, there is something special about spending time with friends in a familiar little small-town tavern. You could jump the bar to jockey your own beer, and you could be free to let loose and get a little silly. I was looking forward to it.

  Nick’s van was parked at the curb when I went outside. The other men were already in their seats, ready to leave. Nick lazily leaned on the side of the vehicle and smiled as I walked up.

  “You get to sit in front with me this time.” He pushed his hair to the side. I smiled at his cute expression.

  “I thought someone else was going to be the designated driver tonight?”

  “Dan will drive us home.” Nick smirked. I grinned and let him open the door for me before climbing in. “Hey, guys.” I smiled toward the back. “Who’s up for a little fun?”

  “I wonder if Moe put a pole in the back?” Andy asked smartly.