Finders Keepers (18 page)

           
“Fine.
 
It’s settled.”

Silently, Sky stalked out of the common room.

11

“Nothing like a trial by fire,” Ellie whispered to Taylor as they approached Ellie’s front door.
 
Taylor squeezed her arm.
 
When she heard about the deal Ellie made, she surprised Ellie by being completely on board with it.
 
As soon as she had hold of a cell phone again, she called Manny to invite him over to Ellie’s mom’s faux Thanksgiving.
 
“This will be fun.
 
We can double-date for everything.”
 
It was amazing how forgiving Taylor could be under the right circumstances.

Sarah was with them and stood waiting patiently as Ellie searched for her house key on the front step.
 
Gibbs was to arrive in one hour, giving them just enough time to get showered and cleaned up.
 
The door knob turned before Ellie could shove her key into the keyhole.
 
Her mom’s bushy hair bounced in rhythm with the Christmas music blaring in the background.

“Hello!
 
Ellie said she was bringing extra potato peelers.”
 
She laughed and ushered everyone in.
 
“Where’s the young man?”
 
She whispered none too softly too Taylor.
 
“Two in less than a month, I think our little Ellie may be finally blossoming into a butterfly.”
     

           
Ellie gasped, Taylor snorted, and Sarah hid a laugh behind a well-placed cough.

           
Exactly one hour later, with the equivalent of an army of frogs in her stomach, Ellie answered the door.
 
Taylor stood behind her, ever supportive and wielding a butcher knife.
 
When Ellie raised a questioning eyebrow, Taylor feigned innocence.
 
“What?
 
I was cutting potatoes!”
 

On the doorstep, as frightening and alluring as ever, stood an immaculately dressed and extremely devastating Gibbs.
 
He wore a short, fitted navy blue jacket over a crisp pin-striped button down shirt on top of snug dark blue jeans.
 

Ellie’s stomach somersaulted.
 
She resisted her first instinct, and then her second, the latter being to slam the door in his face and lock it and then push every available piece of furniture, including the sofa in front of it.
 
What was she thinking?
 
She couldn’t do this without opening herself up for serious heartache.
 
Ellie held the door open for him.
 
She heard a small, appreciative intake of breath behind her which mimicked her feelings exactly.
 
I’m such an idiot.

Before stepping in, Gibbs gave Ellie a speculative once-over as if trying to judge what her reaction to him would be.
 
She gave him a tight smile, hoping he couldn’t see through to her inner turmoil.
 
Looking past Ellie to her mother, who was peeking at the two of them from around the kitchen, Gibbs flashed one of his amazing, albeit somewhat
predatorial
, smiles before stepping up to Ellie.
 
Before she could dodge it, he kissed her right on the nose.
 
“Hi, angel.”

This time Ellie gave in to her first instinct, before the second could appear in the form of a swift slap to the face.
 
Standing up on tiptoe, she took his face in her hands and kissed him full on the mouth.
 
All her anger, fears, and doubts melted under the soft pressure of his lips.
 
It was only a second-long kiss, but when Ellie pulled away, there was way too much in his eyes and hers to be able to look at each other for very long.
 

Taylor, somehow, had managed to conveniently disappear.
 

Manny showed up soon after and with five teenagers in the kitchen, Ellie’s mom was fit to be tied with how delighted she was.
 
Taylor was on potatoes, Manny on sweet potatoes, Sarah was setting and decorating the table, and Gibbs was helping Ellie’s mom prepare the turkey.
 
Ellie was on
jell-O
.
 
While it seemed to be the simplest of all tasks, when it had been suggested to Manny or Gibbs and Sarah, they had all given her mother completely blank stares.
 
It turned out to be a sort of mercy to Ellie since she was hiding her injured hand under long sleeves and any other task would have required rolled up sleeves and an apron.
 

While stirring the boiling water into the
jell-O
mix and attempting to ignore the disgustingly cute banter going on between her mom and Gibbs, something caught her eye from the back yard.
 
A black bird flew through and landed, then disappeared into the huge pine trees that lined their property and provided their house privacy.
 
She dropped her whisk and dashed to the sliding glass door.
 
She stood at the window for several minutes but saw no further sign of the bird.
 
Maybe it’d been her imagination.
 
Or wishful thinking.
 
She returned to the
jell-O
, shoulders slumped.

The doorbell rang and everyone looked up at once.
 
Ellie was the only one whose hands were free as she had just placed the
jell-O
in the fridge.
 

“What are you waiting for, Ellie?
 
Go see who it is,” her mother said.
 
She shook her head and tossed her curls and made some remark about her to Gibbs which was rewarded by his non-chalkboard-scratching laugh.
 
Ellie shivered.
 
In a good way.
     
     

           
Her thoughts were on Gibbs and then suddenly they were on Sky.
 
Because it was Sky who stood on the doorstep when she opened the door.
 
Aside from the fact that they looked very little alike, it was like déjà vu.
 
A very pressed, fantastic looking guy with large bright eyes stood on her doorstep.
 
His hands were in the pockets of his corduroy jacket.
 
A fleeting impression that these two might share the same wardrobe flitted through her mind before she squashed it and found her wits enough to spit flustered words out at him.

           
“What are you doing here?”
 

           
Sky leveled his eyes with her.
 
There was no malice but no apology either.
 
“Your mother invited me.”
 
He sidled past her without waiting for her permission to enter.
 
Ellie was still standing in the doorway, the cold air drafting in all around her, when she heard her mother exclaiming delightedly over their newest addition.
 
Ellie slammed the door shut.
 
Yes, she wanted information from Sky, but this was a clear recipe for disaster.
 
Upon returning to the kitchen she found a sort of standoff going on unbeknownst to her flutter-brained mother.
 
Manny and Gibbs and Taylor vs. Sky and Sarah.
 
Ellie wasn’t sure where she fit in.
 

           
Speaking up and simultaneously moving toward Ellie, Sky said, “Looks like Ellie is free.
 
She and I can work on dishes.”
 
He didn’t touch her but sort of corralled her toward the sink by way of advancing on her.
 
He moved and she backed away until her back pressed into the lip of the counter in front of the sink.
 
Without waiting for her reaction, he reached around her and started filling the sink with hot water.
 
Not ready to admit defeat, she tried to slip around him, but Sky used his body to trap hers.
 
After placing a few dishes and the knife Taylor used to chop potatoes, Sky gripped Ellie’s bad arm and forced it into the water, pulling her sleeve up just before it went under the water.
 
Low and in her ear he said, “You think I don’t care about you, but I care about you more than anyone in this room, except possibly your mother.
 
Do you know what would happen if you just left this?
 
Tetanus, staph, gangrene…”
 
He moved his hand down her arm, enclosed her hand in his and squeezed until Ellie screeched.
 
The pain seared hot and sharp all at the same time.

           
“Ellie, are you all right?”
 
He pulled his hand away and feigned alarm.
 
“Mrs. Brown!
 
Ellie’s cut herself.
 
She’s bleeding.”
 
He yanked open a cabinet drawer and pulled out a clean towel.
 
He eased Ellie’s injured hand onto the towel.
 
“I think she’s going to need stitches.”

           
Manny hurried over to see, his face more gray than golden brown.
 
“I’ll call my dad.
 
We can meet him over at his clinic and he can sew you up.”

           
Sky shook his head.
 
“She’s going to need a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
 
The water was contaminated.”
 

           
Ellie’s mom rushed over holding her hands up in front of her face like a surgeon because of the raw turkey juice covering them.
 
“Oh Ellie.”

           
“There’s an urgent care down the road.
 
I’ll run her down and Ellie’s dad can meet us there.
 
Didn’t you say he was less than an hour away?
 
I’ll call him and tell him what’s happened.”
 
Sky had it all under control.
 
In desperation, Ellie turned to Gibbs.
 
Acknowledging his role as supposed boyfriend, he stepped between her and Sky.
    

           
Ellie steadied herself against the counter.
 
Her head felt light which was in contrast to her stomach which felt like it was filled with fishing weights.
 
She searched for Sarah, just to find her sitting on the floor in the family room completely oblivious to everything.
 
A steamy soap opera drama was being acted out with smoldering stares and not so subtle innuendos.
   

           
“Maybe I should take her…”
 
Her mom looked a little helpless.
 
The gigantic turkey sat on the counter and Ellie could see there was a debate in her head going on.
 
The urgent care could take hours and then dinner wouldn’t be finished on time.
 

           
 
"Please, let me," Sky said more to Gibbs than to Ellie's mom.
 
Almost not believing her eyes, she watched as Gibbs nodded and then handed her over to Sky.
  

***

           
“We’re not calling your dad.”

           
“What?”
 
Her voice was high and shriek-y in spite of her resolve to be cool.

           
“Your dad is smart.
 
He’ll know you didn’t cut yourself washing dishes.
 
You get a glorified paper cut by being careless with a kitchen knife, not twelve stitches.
 
Besides, we’re not going back.”

           
Her hand moved to the door handle.
 
Next red light or stop sign and she’d make her move.
 
And if that failed, if he slowed down to at least 25 m.p.h. and she’d attempt the jump anyway.
 
No matter what she wanted to know, there was no way she was playing this game of abduction again.
 

           
The chance never came as the urgent care was literally down the road as he said, and they pulled into the parking lot without incident.
 
Ellie fell out of the car door before he’d moved the gear into park, but it still wasn’t quick enough for her to make an escape.
 
Sky rounded the front of the car and blocked her path.