Fallen Crest Alternative Version (7 page)

I prayed the tears had dried. “I’m sorry I’m late.”

Her brown eyes sparkled in warmth, and she opened the door wider. “We thought something had come up. Come in, Samantha. Do. Come in.”

I smiled in thanks as I went inside.

Their home was welcoming. It was the first thought I had as I looked at the log cabin interior with granite countertops. She had wreaths hung everywhere with green foliage wrapped around tables, posts, railings. Her couches were red as well. I was struck by the living room. There was a table that was made from tree trunks.

She touched my hand. “We’ve started to eat, dear, but there’s plenty left.”

“Does David…” I started to turn around.

“He knew you were invited and he’ll be delighted that you came.” She gave me a reassuring pat on the arm and urged me forward.

My feet were clumsy. I hoped I wouldn’t fall. Everyone was silent as they saw us. My father rose in the next second and crossed the room in two steps. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me in the air. His hand brushed the back of my head in a petting motion. “I’m happy you came, Samantha.”

I hugged him back and whispered, “Can I sit by you?”

He laughed. “Of course, you can. I’ve missed you.”

“David, let the girl go. You’ll squeeze a rib out of her.” Malinda was all smiles, gesturing to an open chair. It was beside his.

“Oh, come on, Malinda. You greet Mark the same way every time he comes home from school. You’re one to talk,” David grumbled, but the grin never faded from him. He held open the chair for me and I sat, grateful Becky was on the other side. She gave me a bright smile and squeezed my knee.

Malinda laughed as she sat. “I love my boy. What can I say?”

“Mom,” Mark groaned. “Come on.”

“What?” She winked at him and fluttered her eyelashes. “You’re so handsome. I have to take my hugs when I can get them. Pretty soon, you’re going to be hugging some other girl and I’ll have to fight her for you.”

Her eyes twitched as she glanced at Amelia, but the look was gone in a flash. I blinked and wondered if I imagined that as well? And then she held a bowl of salad across the table to me. “Here you go, Samantha. Eat up. We’ve already started on our first course. Would you like a glass of wine?”

“Malinda.”

She rolled her eyes and stood. “It’s sparkling wine, David. The girl can have one glass.”

“Well, maybe one.” David shook his finger at me. “But only one. I wouldn’t want your mother saying that I’m a bad influence on you.”

“I think we can all agree that she has no grounds for those accusations.” I blushed and ducked my head. “And I think mom would agree with that too.”

Something switched in him, and he was all smiles. The wall had fallen, if there’d been one. He reached over and squeezed my hand on the table. His voice was gruff. “It’s good to have you here, Sam.”

I squeezed back. “I agree.” And I sent a silent thank you to Garrett. I wouldn’t have come if he hadn’t helped me. How he did, I had no idea, but I knew he did.

“So, Sam.” All smiles, Amelia refilled her wine after Malinda had filled mine. “Where’s Mason and Logan? I wondered if they would come too.”

David sat up straighter beside me as I gave her a polite smile. “They have a challenger’s game tonight.”

“That’s right.” Mark perked up. “They always play Roussou, don’t they? I can’t believe they play them in their challenger game. Talk about violent.” He grimaced before he reached for the mashed potatoes and lifted a spoon full of them. “These are great, mom.”

She beamed at him. “Thank you, honey. Who’s Roussou?”

Amelia snorted. “Only their fiercest competitor in sports. If they could kill each other on the court, they would.”

“Honey, do we play Roussou?”

David’s smile was strained. He busied himself with the carrots. “They’re a level above us.”

“Oh. They are?”

“We’re a private school.” Adam was the epitome of a professional diplomat. Fake smile and fake charm. Malinda bought it all the way. “We play Fallen Crest Public because we attend schools in the same town. It was a friendly competition drawn up a long time ago, but FCP is larger. They play in the league above us.”

Cassandra had been watching the conversation. She lifted a shoulder now and cooed at the hostess. “They wanted Adam to play for them. They wanted him to attend their school too. Did you know that?”

Malinda’s smile slipped a notch. “From what I’ve heard, the Kade brothers are assets to their team, but better for us. We need you, Adam. You’re our star quarterback.”

Cassandra clamped a hand on his arm. “And he plays hockey too. Did you know that, Malinda?”

He bit out a laugh as he twisted his arm from her hold. “Uh, yeah, but football’s more my sport.”

“You don’t play basketball?”

He seemed apologetic to Malinda. “I don’t.”

She turned in her seat. “Mark, you do.”

“Um.” He froze in mid-reach for the ribs and blinked several times. “I do, mom. You’re right.” He glanced around. “Was that a point of conversation? If I played basketball or not?”

Cassandra plastered another bright smile on. She took the wine from Amelia, who had filled her third glass. “My boyfriend is their captain. Peter Glasburg. You’ve met Peter, right, Malinda? He’s their forward.”

Becky groaned next to me. Her hands switched from her lap, to her plate, to her utensils, and back to her lap. She hadn’t had a bite of food from her plate.

“He’s the one who dribbles the basketball down the court, right?” Malinda made a point to flutter her eyelashes across the table. “I haven’t been watching my son play his favorite sport since he was in third grade for nothing.”

Mark grunted and walloped a spoonful of mashed potatoes on his plate. “My mom was my first coach. She played in college.” He grimaced. “If you want your asses handed to you, play horse against her. She always wins.”

Cassandra’s laugh sounded strangled. “You don’t say.”

Amelia blinked and beamed. “I’d love to learn basketball, Malinda. You could coach me.”

The older woman’s smile slipped, and she rested back in her seat. “Oh, dear. Those days are long gone for me now. I wouldn’t know how to even spell horse anymore.”

“You beat me last weeken—” Mark started to say.

“Try some gravy with those, son.” Malinda stuffed a spoonful in his mouth, and he jerked back, sputtering from the onslaught. She sat back with a contented smile and raised her eyebrows across the table. “You were saying, dear?”

Amelia looked from son to mother. “Nothing.” She folded her hands over her lap and sat back as well.

Malinda looked like the cat that swallowed the canary and got away with it. She glowed for a moment before she looked to me. “Sam, honey, tell me you’d like more than that salad? David tells me you go on long runs.”

“All the time.” Becky surged forward. Her eagerness couldn’t be contained. “She can run for hours at a time. I keep telling her to go out for cross country, but she doesn’t.”

Aware of all the attention, I muttered, “I don’t do it for sport. It’s my time away.”

“Well, of course. I know I wouldn’t even imagine trying to compete against Mason and Logan in sports. Those two are natural talents.” Cassandra leaned back and regarded me with a smug smile.

I tilted my head to the side and asked, “Don’t you run cross country?”

She blinked. “Yeah. Why?”

Malinda placed a hand on my arm and gushed out, “Oh, you must try out for the team—”

“It was in the fall. We’re done already.” Cassandra’s tone had chilled.

Malinda frowned a second and then smiled. Two dimples showed. “How about for track? Do you run for track, Cassandra?”

She seemed frozen in place. “I run the two mile.”

My arm was patted. “There you go, honey. Run the two mile. I’m sure it’s nothing for you. You could smoke anyone.”

“Mom.” Mark frowned. “You’re a track fan now? I’m not running track. I don’t care how much you love me. I don’t love you that much.”

She laughed, a bit strained. “Not for you, honey. For Sam. She’s the runner here. I think she should show something for it.”

I grinned at her words. “That’s what Garrett said. He asked what the point of running so much if I wasn’t training for a marathon.” I laughed at the memory. He’d been so brash.

She quieted and I felt David’s silence beside me.

I turned, helpless, “Not that I care what he said, but…”

David tried to give me a reassuring smile.

I floundered anyway. “I’m sorry, dad.”

He shook his head. “No. No, honey. Don’t ever apologize for thinking of a memory, certainly not when it comes to him.”

I opened my mouth. No sound came out. So I closed it and looked away. Then Adam jumped in. He asked Malinda questions about her college years with basketball. She seemed eager to respond, and an hour slipped by. As it drew to a close, I sighed in relief. Becky hadn’t done anything for me to worry about. I hadn’t done anything for me to worry about. The only two who were sloshed by the end of dinner were Cassandra and Amelia. No one seemed to care.

Everything ended in polite farewells.

I looked up once and wondered if I’d get a one-on-one time with David, but he gave us all a goodnight grin with his hand curved around Malinda’s waist and I knew it wasn’t so. He’d go to bed with her beside him that night, someone who wasn’t my mother.

And then when the door closed on us, I was jerked back to reality. It was cold. I shivered and Cassandra and Amelia seemed too jovial for my stomach to handle.

“Let’s go party!” Amelia laughed as she tipped her head backwards.

Mark frowned at her, but he made no move to hold her in place. That seemed to be Cassandra’s job as she smiled at Adam. “I heard there’s a public party tonight. Wanna go?”

“I…uh…” He looked to me.

Everyone looked to me.

Becky grasped my hand.

I shrugged. “I have no idea where it’s at.”

Cassandra frowned and snapped, “Call your boyfriend. He’ll know.”

I turned heated eyes on her, but she was oblivious. The wine rendered her brave or careless when she threw her arms wide and laughed. The sound ripped from the bottom of her throat, and it sounded inhumane.

Then I closed my mouth. No retort would make a dent so I reached out and shoved her backwards.

She gasped and reached for a hold on the person nearest.

“Cass!” Amelia gasped as she fell with her.

Both of them tumbled backwards into Malinda’s bushes. When they were caught and held for a moment, the branches broke. They landed on the ground with a loud thump.

It was silent for one second. Mark and Adam burst out in laughter.

Cassandra screamed. It was bloodcurdling, and when she couldn’t climb back to her feet, she let out another one.

“Cass, shut up. My ears.”

She was thumped herself.

“Ow! Bitch.” Amelia tried to roll away, but the branches stopped her. They continued to be contained where they had landed. “Mark, help me!”

He snorted and stepped back. “Make me.”

Then I glanced at Becky, who had retreated behind me. She had both of her hands pressed to her mouth. Her shoulders were shaking and she was taking deep breaths. When a chuckle slipped out, she shook her head and turned away.

And then I didn’t hold back my own amusement. It felt right to smile at that moment.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Adam pulled the car down a long gravel driveway. Trees surrounded us and he peered around. “You sure this is where Mason said?”

Mark poked his head between the seat divider. “The party’s at an abandoned barn. Are you expecting pools and chandeliers?”

Becky snorted.

I said, “One of their friends’ dad owns this acreage. I guess they have a winery close to it, but yeah—this is the place. That’s all Mason said.” And the car turned a last bend. A large barn stood in front of us. Lights streamed out of it as well as people. When we found a parking spot in a field behind the barn, music blared out, mixing with shouts and laughter.

The barn had two wide open doors, one in the front and one in the back. We approached from the back, but three kegs were set up inside the doorway. As a girl raced past us giggling with only a bra on, Becky’s mouth dropped. Mark and Adam swiveled as one. A guy followed in hot pursuit. They disappeared past a group of trees. When the girl shrieked, both the guys had wicked grins on their faces.

Mark bobbed his head in approval. “My kind of party.”

Adam barked out a laugh and thumped him on the shoulder.

Becky’s eyes were wide. “So this is what the real public parties are like?”

They all looked at me. I shrugged. “I guess. I don’t go that much.”

Adam frowned a bit. “Mason comes without you?”

My eyes narrowed. “If you’re insinuating what I think you’re insinuating, you better stop right now.”

His frown deepened, but he turned away.