Hey Sunshine (19 page)

“Your mom must’ve loved that,” I said, thinking about not seeing my parents every day. I was ready to move on, but I wasn’t sure they were ready to let me go. I couldn’t say that I blamed them. If it were Annabelle talking about moving two thousand miles away, I’d be a wreck. Fox had gone into the blazing wilderness to face the wrath of Mother Nature.

Fox smiled his half smile. “Yes, she did.”

“Do you ever think you’d like to do something further with filmmaking?” I asked.

“I’ve been considering it.”

“Really?”

His face turned thoughtful. “When I graduated and went to the fire academy, my goal was to get my paramedic certification and move up in the ranks as far as I possibly could.”

I thought of the few movies I’d seen about firemen. I knew wildland firefighting was different, unpredictable and definitely dangerous. They did search and rescue and evacuated homes that were somewhat off the grid, but mostly they delved deep into the heart of these forest fires, with limited resources. It seemed like a natural environment for someone as serious and steady as Fox, someone who could analyze risk on the fly and know how to proceed. But he had said ‘was.’ “And now?”

He looked directly into my eyes and my breath caught. “I don’t think my career is over. But I’d be lying if I said things haven’t shifted.”

My brain scrambled at a million miles an hour trying to read between the lines of what he just said, but my speculations were endless.

Fox set his mug on the coffee table and turned to me. “I brought you something.”

Surprised at the subject change, I looked around. “You did?”

He nodded. “And before you say it’s too much, or you can’t take it, just hear me out.” He rose quickly and retrieved his messenger bag from where he’d left it when he came in.

Settling himself back on the couch next to me, he opened the bag and pulled out a silver laptop, which he placed on the table. I glanced at him, confused. Did he order me something off Amazon?

“I had this laptop among some of the things that were shipped to me, and I’d like you to have it. For school, for Annabelle, whatever.” He reached into the bag again and pulled out a charger.

I sat back, stunned. He was trying to give me a computer? And not just any computer, but a seemingly new laptop? I shook my head.

“Fox, I can’t–”

“You said you’d hear me out,” he reminded me.

I had not agreed to that, in fact, but I nodded. “Okay.”

“It’s not brand new,” he continued. “But I fully refurbished it and it’s all ready to go, installed with whatever I thought you could use, including a 4G wireless card that will solve your connection problem for now.” Fox flipped the top open and the screen came to life. A couple swipes on the trackpad and we were scrolling through the available software. I didn’t know what to say.

“You’d really be doing me a favor, Avery,” he said.

“A favor? By taking a laptop that you could probably sell for hundreds of dollars? How?” I laughed.

“You know the diner apartment is small. I don’t have room for it.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a laptop, Fox, not a walk-in refrigerator. It doesn’t take up any space. Try again.” His dimple was wearing me down all on its own, but I was enjoying the banter.

“Well,” he said, sliding a little closer to me on the couch. “It would be much more gratifying for me to send the videos that I’ve made for you, knowing you actually had somewhere to watch them.”

“You’ve made videos… for me?”
He said videos, right? As in, plural, more than the one I already saw?

“Yes.”

“And you want me to watch them on this laptop?” I felt like we were having this conversation in a language I didn’t speak.

“Yes.” Fox’s eyes held an indecent amount of amusement. He always enjoyed making me wonderfully uncomfortable and confused.

I briefly argued with myself over the impropriety of taking the computer versus the overwhelming curiosity I had regarding the videos. My weakness for Fox won, as I was sure it would every time. My thick skin was nonexistent when it came to him.

“Okay. I’ll take it. Thank you. But just as a loaner, until I get one for myself.”

Fox’s face split into his rarely seen full grin. “That was easier than I thought it would be.”

“I guess you make me easy.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself. My cheeks flamed into color. “I mean, you make it easy for me to let you… You know. You’re easy and I… Shit.” I dropped my head into my hands.

Fox snickered and slid a little closer. “You’re very pretty when you blush.” He paused. “And also when you don’t.”

I peeked at him through my fingers. “I have to stop doing this.”

“Doing what?” His dimple popped and I groaned again.

“Letting you get to me!” My frustration boiled over. “I’m normally a very articulate person! I’m in the top ten percent of my class! My degree is in writing and WORDS, for fuck’s sake! And then you come along, and you’re all mysterious and perfect and unnerving, and suddenly I can’t complete a sentence!”

Fox was silent for a moment, his expression carefully blank, but I could tell he was fighting a smile by the way his lips thinned and it just annoyed me further.

“Oh sure, it’s really funny, right? You fluster me and it’s hilarious.” I sank further down into the couch, knowing that I was pouting over something petty but beyond caring.

“If you think you don’t affect me too, you’re wrong.” His voice was so low, I almost missed it.

“Wh– what?” I stuttered. Seriously, I had to get it together. This was ridiculous.

Fox leaned toward me and whispered a kiss across my cheek. “Check your email.” He rose to his feet and was at the door with his boots on before I could fully register what he’d said.

“My email?” My cheek was on fire where his lips had touched it.

“Goodnight, Avery.” The door clicked shut behind him.

It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to wait until I’d closed up the house to curl into my bed with the laptop. Within seconds I could see that this new computer was going to make my life a million times easier. The internet content loaded immediately, without any hiccups or false starts.

I logged into my email account and found a few expected items: study group times, reminders about Annabelle’s class photos, some junk mail. The last email was from Fox. I clicked it open and hesitated, my finger hovering over the trackpad. What would he show me in this clip? More importantly, what did I
want
to see?

I pressed play and sat back. The screen immediately brightened to an almost blinding white, and slowly color filtered back in, leaves dappled with shadows, birds chirping. The camera panned quickly to the left, now in full spectrum, and focused in on a retreating figure while everything else was blurred.

A delicious shiver licked down my spine. The figure was me, walking away from Fox toward the library on campus. He’d definitely made this today. After a few seconds, the point of view shifted to a cloudless blue expanse, and a few haunting notes from an acoustic guitar slid through the silence. I imagined him lying on his back in the bed of the truck watching the sky as I wracked my brain to recognize the song. The camera jumped to Fox’s hand, paging through a book, and focused on a single line –
yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking
.
Anna Karenina
, that was the novel he had in the car. An interesting choice, but I knew he liked Tolstoy from my introduction to his bookcase today.

That song kept playing as the scene slid back to empty blue sky, and it finally registered. It was a broken-down version of “Ain’t No Sunshine (When She’s Gone).” The video faded from blue sky to black and I shut the lid of the laptop with a happy snap.

Sunshine.
I smiled. Maybe a little corny, but so much better than “babe.” Oh yes, Fox. Things had definitely shifted.

Chapter 13

The sky was already darkening with heavy clouds when I picked up Annabelle from school. I glanced overhead nervously as I ran from the car to her classroom. Fat droplets of rain started to fall, and I cursed my lack of umbrella. Damn these sudden storms. I was never prepared, even after living in West Texas my entire life.

“Sorry, sorry,” I said to her teacher, rushing through the door. Her preschool’s aftercare option was essential to my schedule and I tried never to abuse their policies, but today I was late.

“It’s okay, Avery,” Mrs. Dale said kindly. She gestured to Annabelle, coloring at a little table with a couple other children. “She’s just fine.”

I let out a big breath. “Thanks.” Annabelle wasn’t the last child here today, but she had been in the past. Still, it made me feel better to know that I wasn’t the only parent who occasionally pushed the limits of the program hours.

Annabelle saw me and jumped up from her seat. “Mama!” she cried, running over.

“Hi, baby,” I said, hugging her. “Did you have a nice day?”

“Yes,” she said, hopping from one foot to the other. “I’m hungry!”

I glanced at my watch. My parents were in Midland picking up some supplies, and my dad called me earlier to say they’d be home later than they thought. The dogs were outside and with those clouds we’d definitely have some heavy rain, so it looked like I still had to drive out to the ranch to let them in before I could head back into town.

When we'd moved out to the ranch ten years ago, after my grandfather died and left it to my father, I knew my dad wanted to bring back the full glory of the property, but the diner had ups and downs with its profits, and he was stretched thin trying to maintain both the ranch and the restaurant. He just couldn’t do it all anymore, which was another reason I was so grateful that Fox had come into our lives when he did.

“I think I have some crackers in the car, baby,” I told her. “We have to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s real quick, and then we’ll go home for dinner, okay?”

“Okay, Mama,” she said agreeably. “I can’t wait to see Duke and Missy!”

I smiled as I thought of my parents’ old Lab/Aussie mix and his mate. Duke was a senior citizen now, and Annabelle had a real soft spot for him. The feeling was mutual, especially since Duke knew that Annabelle was very liberal with her meals and snacks.

I bundled her into her hooded sweatshirt and we made a run for the car. The rain was coming down harder now, but the air was still fairly warm. I navigated the wet streets carefully, half-listening to Annabelle chatter in the backseat. When we turned off the highway onto the main road that would lead us out to the ranch, I heard the first crack of thunder.

“Shit,” I said under my breath. I hoped the dogs had enough sense to seek cover on the porch, but Duke and Missy had two half-grown pups from their last litter who spooked easily. The last thing I wanted to do was have to hunt around for them in the rain. Duke was a good herding dog in his time, with a level head. Hopefully the others would follow his lead.

“Mama, what was that?” Annabelle asked suddenly.

“What?” I said, my voice distracted as I peered over the steering wheel. The wind was blowing any and all loose leaves and branches, swirling them into a soggy mess that kept sticking to my windshield wipers as they tried to do their job. One plus side – after the rain, all the dust and dirt would be hard packed for a while.

I heard a thump and a rattle. “That!” Annabelle cried.

The car lurched slightly but kept going. Oh, this was great. “I’m not sure,” I said slowly. I eased my foot off the gas pedal and tried to listen, but the rain made it hard to distinguish any abnormal sounds.

I made a split-second decision and pulled into the next driveway I saw. Unfortunately, I didn’t recognize the house, but when the windshield wipers cleared a little of the gook, I did see something familiar: Chase’s SUV. Relief flooded through me. I thought I remembered Chase telling me he was out of town, but I must’ve heard him wrong. If he was here, this house had to belong to someone I knew at least vaguely. Maybe it was Derek’s, although I was fairly sure Derek lived closer to town. Regardless, I could knock on the door and see a friendly face, which was wonderful since the weather seemed determined to derail my errand.

I pulled up as close to the front door as I could and judged the distance. I couldn’t leave Annabelle in the car, but I didn’t want us both to get soaked.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned around to face her. “Ready to make a run for it, baby?”

Annabelle laughed. As annoying as this was turning out to be for me, to her it was a fun game. “Yeah!”

I reached over and unbuckled her from her car seat, then hauled her bodily into the front seat and threw my windbreaker over her head like a cloak. “Okay, let’s go!”

We ran up the porch steps holding hands, and when we reached the door I whipped the jacket off her head as she stomped the rain off her shoes and laughed. “We made it, Mama!”

I shook my wet hair, feeling the rain soak into my T-shirt. I was just about to ring the doorbell when the door opened and a woman appeared. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“Hi, I’m so sorry to bother you,” I started. I shoved my straggly hair out of my eyes and focused on her face. Wait a second. I knew this girl. This was the pretty redhead from Lucky’s, the one who had been flirting with Fox the night we were there.

“Oh, hi,” she said with mock surprise.

Suddenly I was very confused. “I’m sorry,” I said again. “Do I know you?”

“You’re at
my
door,” she said. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” She didn’t seem startled to see me at all, even though I’d appeared randomly on her doorstep resembling a drowned rat.

“Right. Sorry.” I couldn’t stop apologizing. I glanced over my shoulder at the driveway. That
was
Chase’s car, right? “Um, I’m really confused,” I admitted. “Is that Chase Dempsey’s car?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said in a bored voice.

“Chase Dempsey?” I persisted. “He’s my– well, he used to be–”

“Babe, who’s at the door?” I recognized his voice immediately.

“Mama?” Annabelle tugged on my hand.