AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry, there’s no one available to answer your call right now. Please try again,” I joke, as the throbbing sound of fast-moving air beats through the phone speakers: the line crackling.
“Rowan, are you there?”
“Sure am. Just on my way to—”
“Have you left yet?” Even though she seems to be trapped in a wind tunnel of some kind, she sounds stressed.
“Uh, I… um… I left about ten minutes ago,” I lie. It’s been more like thirty minutes.
“Are you heading toward Slidell or are you going west again? I can’t remember what you said the other day.” She sounds like she’s hoping for a particular answer, so I take a stab in the dark.
“I’m headed toward Slidell, yeah. Why?”
She exhales, and the rattling noise of it shivers my eardrums. “Thank God. Can you do me the biggest favor of all time? I know you have this big trip planned, and you can get right back to that, but I left Grace’s party dress at the house. It’s hanging on the back of the door in my closet. Please, Rowan. You’d be a complete life saver.”
“My fault!” Oscar shouts in the background. “Lynds told me to make sure it was in the trunk. I forgot to check. You’ll be savingmylife if you can get it!”
“I can just wear my onesie!” Grace adds her voice to the mix, and I stifle a chuckle. I can imagine Cybil and Benjamin DuCate’s faces if Grace turns up to their annual gathering in a reindeer onesie. For one thing, it’s the wrong season for it.
“Please, Rowan,” Lyndsey urges. “We’re almost at their house, otherwise we’d go back for it, but by the time we’ve been home and headed back, the party will be well underway, and I’ll be served up as an hors d’oeuvre. Cybil picked the dress out, and she’s been dying to see Grace in it.”
I might be driving down I-10, but there are two roads branching ahead of me: the one where I’m the hero brother, coming to the rescue, and the one where I’m the asshole who couldn’t be bothered to make a respectively tiny little detour to save the day. I mean, Iamheaded in the direction of Slidell, more or less.
“On my way,” I say dramatically, putting my foot down.
Lyndsey’s sigh of relief is palpable. “Thank you, Rowan. Thank you.”
“No problem.” I grin. “Graceshallgo to the ball, and not in a onesie with antlers and a tail, even though I’d love to see that!”
“I could kiss you,” Lyndsey replies. “I owe you, Rowan. I owe you big time for this.”
Ending the call, my mind wanders to another guest who’s going to be at the DuCate’s summer party. The only woman I want to be kissed by. The only woman I want to kiss… and more. And there she is, invading my head again, making it a full thought for the day and decimating my abstinence record of almost a week.
“I won’t stay,” I tell the recording, still running. “I’ll pick up the dress, take it to Grace, then bounce. Do you hear me? You’re not allowed to stay for the party. Just… leave her alone, okay?”
I nod to myself and stop the recording, but there’s a little voice in the back of my mind that’s still on a roll, whispering,“But what would be the harm in staying for a couple of minutes? An hour, tops.”
Maybe, it was safer when my “therapist”didn’ttalk back.
19
SUMMER
Ihear the party before I see it: the clinking of glassware, the idle chatter of guests who aren’t tipsy enough to let their hair down yet, the soft melody of a string quartet to accompany the polite conversation, and the bellowing laughter of a few good ole boys. Benjamin’s friends. They’re always the loudest at these things, and if I was a betting woman, I’d wager everything I have that one of them will try to hit on me before the night is over. Last year, Cybil chased one of them out with words alone, embarrassing him so viciously that he scampered away with his tail between his legs, and I immediately made a toast to her unparalleled badassery.
“Thank you for taking care of the cottage,” I say to Mae, who’s walking with me.
She’s in a pretty, floral summer dress that swishes with her every step and there’s a deep red stain on her lips, celebration ready. She’s off-duty for once, and I know she looks forward to this annual summer party as much as I dread it. But if anyone deserves to let loose, it’s her.
Mae waves a dismissive hand. “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I let it go to rack and ruin, and those maids that Mrs. DuCate keeps hiring don’t do a damn thing. I swear they just sit on the porch for three hours, pick up their check, and think they’ve hit the jackpot.” She pauses. “Do you like the creepers? They’ve come in so beautifully.”
“Gorgeous,” I agree.
“You didn’t feel like staying here, this time?”
I shake my head. “Still doesn’t feel right. The cottage doesn’t, either, but it’s… better.”
“You thought any more about selling it?” There’s a glimmer of something like mischief in Mae’s warm, brown eyes.
