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“Nice to meet you,” Bridge said, a shiny smile on her face.
I nodded. “Hello.” It was all I could muster.
He returned the nod. “Spencer, Bridget, a pleasure,” his deep lulling voice responded.
Bridget leaned forward a bit and asked Ethan a question. He answered with vigor and my eyes shot to Cricket. She was watching me, gauging me, trying to decipher if my flirting earlier meant anything. I secretly smiled at her and shook my head, letting her know I was crestfallen in that moment but that it didn’t mean shit. I was cocking my metaphorical gun. Her eyes widened for the briefest of moments before cooling. She turned and feigned interest in what Ethan was talking about but she wasn’t fooling me. Click. My eyes never left her face. She periodically glanced my direction, and I knew from experience there was only one reason anyone would do this. She was trying to hide her own interest in me. Click. She turned to face me again and this time I winked, making her visibly squirm.
“Right, Cricket?” Ethan asked her.
Her gaze was riveted to mine. “Hmm?” she asked, shaking her head to focus.
“You okay?” he asked her.
She turned to face him. “What? Yes, sorry, what was the question?”
Click.
Chapter Fourteen
“Everyone! Everyone!” Emmett said, standing and clanking the side of his spoon against his tea, a canning glass I’d only seen people in movies drink from. He raised his hands to settle the rowdy table. “’Fore I say grace, I’d like to take this moment to receive the Blackwells.” He turned toward us and the others stared our direction, making Bridge blush. Jonah smirked at her, attempting to ease her, simultaneously making me very nervous. “We are all happy to have you both here and wish that you’ll be very comfortable. We welcome you into the fold.”
“Here! Here!” a few rang out over the clinking glasses.
He sat and leaned toward us. Quietly, he said, “We’ve all been made aware that your security is a priority. None of mine here will ever expose you, my dear.” Bridge’s face fell toward her lap, her eyes turned glassy, her cheeks flashed deep red. She was embarrassed. Emmett chucked her under the chin. “None of that, miss. You done good, girl. No one here thinks any less of you. Fact is, my Cricket’s the product of my middle girl, God rest her soul, in just the same way, and we wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world.” Cricket’s mom was dead? He glanced at Cricket and sighed deeply. “Yup, I’d give just about anything to keep her around forever. She’s my sweet angel.”
“Thank you,” Bridge said, raising her head and swiping quickly below her eyes.
Cricket winked at her, a silent declaration of camaraderie.
Out of respect, no one asked us a single question about leaving our parents. They asked many questions concerning us, but aside from asking when Bridge was due, which we weren’t aware yet, the conversation geared mostly toward what interested us.
“Ethan,” Bridge asked after everyone’s plates were cleared, “if you don’t mind me asking, what tribe are you from?”
“I don’t mind.” He smiled. “I’m from the Echo River tribe. We’ve been in the Bitterroot Mountains for more than three hundred years. We kept the mountains and the mountains kept us.”
“Fascinating,” she said. “I wonder how you survived the cold.”
“We are made for this weather. We were made for those mountains.”
Bridge smiled and nodded.
“What made you want to work here?” I asked Ethan, not able to help myself.
“My dad got me in. He works here,” he answered. Bridge and I looked around. “Him. Right there.” Ethan pointed to a large white man at the opposite end, a solitary-looking figure who didn’t join in much conversation but seemed agreeable enough, grinning occasionally at the others around him. Ethan shared his eyes and nose. “My mom is Echo River,” Ethan explained.
I nodded. “Where is she?” I asked.
Cricket shifted uncomfortably. Ethan’s face fell to his plate. “She, uh, died two years ago.”
“I’m so sorry,” Bridge said.
“It’s okay. She loved and was loved. I miss her, but I know where she is.” He lifted his face toward us once more.
“And who are your parents?” Bridge asked Jonah.
Jonah’s eyes widened as if in disbelief that she spoke to him. “My dad’s Charles or Chuck as everyone calls him. He lives in Butte with my mom.”
“Cool,” she responded. He grinned like a fool.
