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Fifteen minutes later, Bridget emerged in a simple pair of jeans and long sleeved t-shirt and I nodded my approval at her, to which she rolled her eyes. I did notice she had curled her hair, though, and applied makeup, but her choice in clothing, which had always left something to be desired in my opinion, impressed me to no end. Mostly because it covered every inch of her. Good girl, I thought.
Jonah helped her on with her jacket, even going so far as to playfully spin her around as he wrapped her scarf around her neck and making her giggle like a little girl. I got into the driver’s seat and Jonah opened her door for her. She got in the backseat then he slid in behind her.
“You’re not going to ride up front with me?” I asked, confounded.
He looked at me like I was crazy. “We’re taking Cricket and Ethan up with us,” he explained before looking at Bridge.
Bridget’s eyes crinkled. “Uh, oh yeah! Um, you’re taking Cricket and Ethan to Kalispell with Jonah and, well, now myself. I volunteered you. Is that okay?” she asked, shrinking into her seat a little.
“Fine,” I gritted, trying not to look as pissed as I sounded.
I turned and put the truck into drive. Jonah and Bridget giggled and I whipped my head around to look at them, which plastered them into their seats. Bridge cleared her throat to fight the laughter, which earned her a look that could kill.
I parked outside Ellie and Emmett’s and honked the horn, my windshield wipers were at full blast as well as the heater and defrosters, but I still couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of me.
“Think it’s a good idea for me to be driving in this?” I asked Jonah, who had leaned up and almost over the console to check out the dash and the radio.
“Yeah, this is pretty standard this time of year.”
Kill me if I’m in Montana this time next year, I thought.
Just then two dark figures appeared in the foggy headlights. One immediately went to the back to sit next to Bridge and the other toward the passenger door. Please be Cricket. Please be Cricket, I thought, staring at the figure at the passenger side window.
The car door opened and my stomach sank. Ethan. He climbed in and shut the door. The door behind me opened and in popped Cricket. I couldn’t see her because she was so small and her head was hidden by the headrest. She kept fiddling with her coat and cursing the thing for being too long. I was desperate to see what she looked like but when she finally sat back, the cabin lights had gone dull and only the dash lights lit the interior, leaving Cricket in the dark, only the shadow of her face visible to me. Damn!
I meandered the long drive from the Hunt Ranch to the main road but barely. I kept stopping short thinking there was something in front of me. The truck was quiet except for the occasional snort from Ethan’s side, which really angered me. I was making everyone uneasy and that pissed me off because I was a flipping awesome driver when snow wasn’t involved. I looked over at Ethan, who was eyeing me. Not everyone can grow up in Montana, asshole!
“Do you want me to drive?” he offered, emasculating me in front of his unbelievably wonderful girlfriend.
“No,” I said, staring him down. “I’m a fast learner.”
He nodded his head but looked unsure, pissing me off further.
The highway was easier to navigate as there were lamps lighting up the way as well as a clearer path. The tension in the car eased to a tolerable level eventually and a conversation started between the three in the back. Ethan and I hadn’t even glanced each other’s direction since his stupid offer, and I could tell from his body language, rigid spine, crossed arms, that he did not like me.
“...and that!” Bridge said. I’d missed their entire start of conversation. Bridge whined a little. “I wish I had dressed up now too!”
“I am not dressed up, Bridget,” she laughed. “You’re just so used to seeing me in dingy ranch clothing, you now think it’s the norm, but it’s really not. I’m actually kind of a clotheshorse. I just have no occasion to wear them,” Cricket replied.
“How do you even get pieces like this around here?” Bridge asked, genuinely curious.
I glanced back in my rearview and couldn’t see anything, frustrating me to no end.
“I order them online, baby. There is no better invention than the Internet.”
I kept glancing back in my rearview at Cricket, hoping somehow her face would magically light up and I could stare at her.
“Do you have any hobbies?” Ethan asked me suddenly and I jumped. He sat coolly in his seat. No movement, not a single twitch or shift. “Nervous?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
I swallowed. “What?”
“I said, do you have any hobbies?”
I collect money. Lots of it. “Not really. I was on the row team at Brown, but I wouldn’t call that a hobby,” I told him truthfully. “How about you?”
“Cricket’s my hobby,” he said possessively under his breath.
I looked over at him as he stared me down with a fierceness I had rarely seen in another man. I stared back as savagely as he eyed me, my jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. We stayed locked like that until he broke the contact, satisfied I understood what he meant, and I turned my attention back to the road. What he didn’t understand is that I wasn’t afraid to bruise his face or my knuckles. I’d never shied away from a fight. Ever.
