Grizzly Flying Home (3 page)

He was a mess, and he needed to get a handle on this thoughts and emotions. Thank goodness there would plenty of good food and drinks to distract him tonight.

Emily quickly unlocked the door to her apartment and stepped inside, closing it firmly behind her. Then she gave her wall an angry punch. Thankfully, her arm wasn’t that strong, so she didn’t leave a hole in the wall. She did, however, leave inflamed red marks on her knuckles. Frustrated, she shook out her hand and made her way to the kitchen to put her beer in the fridge. She had wanted a drink so badly that she’d forced herself to leave her apartment to go get a six-pack, but now that she was back home she had lost her desire for a beer.

After running into Chance at the corner store, she felt like a loser. There was no other way to put it. He had looked gorgeous in his casual outfit of blue jeans and a fitted navy t-shirt. She hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off of the way his bicep muscles bulged tightly against the sleeves of his shirt. And his skin was tanned deeply, with just a hint of stubble on his cheeks. She, on the other hand, was wearing days-old sweats and no makeup. Her hair was in a complete state of disarray, and she still had streaks of dirt on her face from where Scott had pushed her down on the ground earlier today.

She looked like a hot mess, and, truthfully, she was a hot mess. And yet, Chance had assured her she was beautiful. She was sure that he was just trying to be nice, but, still, it felt good to have a man be nice to her. Actually it felt good to have
anyone
be nice to her. Now that her photography business was petering out, she had become so isolated. Trying to keep Scott appeased had become a full-time job, and she didn’t have the time or energy to pursue new clients for photo shoots. She had given up trying, telling herself it wouldn’t be long before Scott turned over a new leaf and things got better.

Deep down, she knew she was lying to herself. He wasn’t changing, and she couldn’t keep on like this forever. She had some savings, but not enough to last much longer. What little she had in the bank was quickly draining away, and she was starting to panic at the realization that the day was quickly approaching when she wouldn’t be able to pay her rent. Something had to change, but she felt powerless to move forward. She couldn’t bear to break up with Scott, even though any feelings of affection she had for him were steadily seeping away. His angry spells were becoming more and more frequent, and his moments of acting like he actually loved Emily were few and far between these days. But she knew he had demons to deal with, and she felt like leaving him alone would somehow make her a horrible person.

But there was no reason that she couldn’t go see Chance and his friends for a barbecue, was there? Emily frowned as the thought crossed her mind, trying to decide whether she wanted to talk herself into or out of the idea. She knew that if Scott found out she had gone to a barbecue Chance was attending, there would be hell to pay. Scott wouldn’t take too kindly to her hanging out with the guy who had beaten him up in the movie theater. Not that Scott would be supportive of Emily hanging out with any guy, not matter how harmless or innocent he might be. It didn’t matter if a man was happily married with no romantic interest in Emily whatsoever. Scott saw every other man as a threat.

Emily straightened up her back and got a determined look on her face. She had a sudden burst of brave energy, and realized that at this particular moment, she didn’t give a shit what Scott thought. He wasn’t around right now, since he’d gone on a drinking binge and disappeared into his apartment. Emily was actually relieved that he had decided to go M.I.A. instead of coming to bother her. He got so violent when he’d been drinking. She usually spent the days that he was missing holed up in her own apartment, waiting for him to come out of his stupor. But she was tired of being lonely, and Chance’s invitation to the barbecue was just the nudge she needed to get out and start being around other people again. Odds were good Scott would never know she had even left her apartment, so what did she have to lose? It would nice to be hanging out in civilization again, instead of drinking alone in her days-old sweatpants.

Emily quickly hopped into the shower and shampooed her hair. She used vanilla body wash, enjoying the sweet, fresh scent as she washed away the dirt of the last several days. When she got out of the shower, she towel-dried her hair and then pulled her damp strands into a French braid. She put on just a hint of makeup before slipping into a fitted turquoise t-shirt and skinny blue jeans. She chose some black flip-flops for her feet, and then stood back to admire herself in the full-length mirror that hung from the back of her closet door.

She couldn’t hold back a smile. It had been a long time since she’d bothered to wear anything other than sweats or pajamas, and even longer since she’d taken a second to swipe on some lip gloss or do her hair. She felt like a new person. She couldn’t believe how much just taking a few minutes to shower and get dressed had improved the way she felt.

“I need to do this more often,” Emily said to her reflection. Then she grabbed a black hoodie and her car keys, and headed out the door. She climbed into her car and started heading east on Red Valley highway, as Chance had directed. After fifteen minutes, a hangar appeared on the left side of the road, just as he’d said it would. Several vehicles were parked in the parking lot out front, but Emily couldn’t see anyone. She pulled in next to a big SUV, and then killed her car’s engine.

She pulled the sun visor down in her car to quickly check her appearance. She still looked good, but she suddenly felt nervous. It had been months since she’d been out with a group of people. Did she even remember how to make small talk without making a total fool of herself? What if she said something stupid and embarrassed herself? Worse, what if she embarrassed Chance, and he regretted inviting her?

Emily forced herself to take a deep breath and silence the negative voices in her head. She needed to get out of this car and go join the party before she lost her nerve. Who knew how long it would be before she worked up the courage to get out of the house again.

Before she could over think her actions, Emily quickly jumped out of the car and started walking toward the small door on the front of the hangar. She knocked, but she didn’t hear anyone inside, and she wasn’t sure if the party was in this building or not. She glanced toward the next building over, which appeared to be some sort of living quarters, and had just started to walk toward it when she heard a loud explosion of laughter coming from behind the hangar. She switched directions and walked around the hangar to find a large, grassy area between the hangar and the runway. Toward the middle of the grassy area stood several picnic tables and a large grill. A group of about fifteen people had gathered around the tables, which were covered with every kind of picnic food imaginable. Two large coolers were placed at the edge of one of the tables, and Emily spotted Chance dipping his hand into one of the coolers to grab a beer.

For a moment, she once again thought about turning around. The group looked friendly, but they all seemed to know each other. Emily wasn’t sure whether she was ready to be the newbie. She had just taken a step backward to retreat to her car, when the tall man behind the grill spotted her. He looked surprised, then glanced to the man on his left and said something that Emily couldn’t hear. Within moments, the group had fallen silent and everyone was staring at her. For one long, horrible moment, Emily felt completely exposed. But then, Chance saw her and a huge smile spread across his face.

“Emily! I didn’t think you would come,” he said.

“You know her?” the man behind the grill asked. Everyone’s faces visibly relaxed. Chance nodded, and then leaned over to say something to one of the men in the group, who frowned and glanced in Emily’s direction a few times before shrugging and nodding.

Chance ran over to grab Emily’s hand and led her toward the group. Emily smiled as bravely as she could, but she got the feeling that some of them were a little miffed at Chance for inviting her and obviously not telling them.

“I really don’t have to stay,” Emily heard herself saying as she gently tried to pull her hand away from Chance’s. She hated to break the contact with his warm, strong grip, but she didn’t want to be somewhere that she wasn’t welcome.

“Nonsense,” Chance said, tightening his hold on her. “We have plenty of food, and I want to introduce you to everyone.”

Before Emily could protest again, the tall man whom Chance had spoken to just a moment ago extended his hand. “I’m Ian,” he said. “Welcome to our barbecue. Sorry if we looked a little surprised. We just aren’t used to having visitors.”

Chance let go of Emily’s hand so she could shake Ian’s hand, and then a blur of introductions followed. Ian was married to Charlotte. Zach was the one behind the grill, and his wife, Mindy, was running after their two kids, Sophia and Drew. Trevor and Bailey also had child, a tiny baby boy named Collin. Then she met Hunter and Riley, Luke and River, and Carter and Clara. By the time the introductions were finished, Emily’s head was swimming with names, and Chance seemed amused by her overwhelmed expression.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get everyone sorted out eventually. Now, what do you want to eat? Zach has steaks, burgers, chicken, and bratwurst on the grill. And, as you can see, we have pretty much every side dish you could possibly want.”

Emily’s eyes widened as she took in the array of food on the tables in front of her. Chance wasn’t kidding. She saw dozens of options, including several desserts.

“Wow. You guys must be hungry,” she said.

Zach laughed. “You could say we have the appetites of bears,” he said.

Emily laughed, but Ian didn’t seem amused by Zach’s joke.

“Watch it, Zach,” Ian said, giving Zach an angry glare.

“Sorry,” Zach said, and quickly went back to paying attention to the meat on the grill.

Emily frowned as Chance handed her a paper plate and told her to help herself to whatever she wanted. This group was strange. They seemed friendly, and seemed to know each other well. But there was an underlying tension in the air that Emily couldn’t ignore. She had a feeling that she was the reason for the tension, although she wasn’t sure why. She tried to push away the worries bubbling up in her mind and focus on filling her plate. Maybe she was more awkward than she realized after going so long without socializing. The thought pained her, and she decided that a drink or two might loosen her up and make things easier for everyone.

“Can I grab a beer?” she asked Chance. He nodded and started to reach for the cooler, when one of the women, whom Emily thought she remembered was named Riley, jumped in to stop Chance.

“Wait! Do you like wine?” Riley asked.

Emily nodded. “Of course. I’m a native Northern Californian. I pretty much have wine running through my veins instead of blood.”

“Excellent,” Riley said. “My kind of girl. If you’re interested, we just opened a bottle of pinot noir. The guys all make fun of us for drinking wine instead of beer, but they’re just jealous that they’re not as classy as us.”

Emily laughed, while the men in the group all groaned.

“Seriously,” Zach said. “Are you gals ever gonna quit with the classy jokes. Just because we like beer doesn’t mean we don’t have any class.”

Riley just laughed, then reached for a red Solo cup from a stack on the edge of one of the tables. “Speaking of classy,” she said. “We drink our wine out of plastic cups around here.”

Emily grinned as Riley handed her the cup of wine, and she took a long sip of the smooth red liquid. She instantly felt at ease. After living for so long near Northern California’s wine country, she knew a good wine when she tasted one, and this wine was good. She might be drinking it out of a cheap cup, but she could tell that it wasn’t cheap.

As she had hoped, having a drink helped Emily relax. As the evening wore on and she continued to eat and drink, she felt more at ease than she had in a long time. She discovered that Riley was the owner of a pie shop in town called The Sweet Crust, which happened to be one of Emily’s favorite dessert spots. Clara helped Riley run the pie shop, which seemed to keep both of the women very busy. Bailey had a jewelry boutique, and Mindy was a nurse. River was a librarian, and recommended a few new novels for Emily to read. Charlotte was a smokejumper, the only female in the group who worked on the firefighting team, and Emily didn’t even try to hide her awe at the fact that Charlotte jumped out of planes to fight huge wildfire blazes.

Chance had let the women in the group hog Emily’s attention, and she was grateful for that. She couldn’t remember the last time she had sat around and hung out with a bunch of women who inspired her and were doing things with their lives. When Emily had first started her photography business, she had been motivated to network and meet other women who were happy with their careers. But as her business had spiraled downward thanks to Scott’s negative influence, Emily had isolated herself completely. Now, as she sat among the amazing group of women she had just met, she felt alive for the first time in a long time. Emily was glad she had come out tonight, and she was thankful that she hadn’t turned around and run in the other direction when her initial introduction to the group had been a bit awkward.

As the night wore on, the crowd around the picnic tables slowly shrank. Trevor and Bailey were the first to leave, begging off so they could go get their young baby in bed. Zach and Mindy followed not too long after them, since Sophia and Drew were up well past their bedtime by this time. At some point, Ian and Charlotte cleared away all the food from the tables, although they did leave a beautiful strawberry shortcake sitting out in case anyone got a craving for something sweet. Emily had eaten so much that she couldn’t imagine stuffing another bite into her mouth, but Charlotte just winked and said to wait a little while. Supposedly, the dessert was one of the few things Riley baked that wasn’t technically a pie—and Charlotte said it was to die for.