Sweet Contradiction (16 page)

e arrived at the Peterson barn along with several other truckloads of people ready and raring for a good time. Matt helped me out of the truck and Hunter helped Jen out. The guys looked great. Matt wore jeans and boots that would make any country girl beg to cool her boots under his bed. Jen’s face had been priceless when she caught a glimpse of Hunter when he came to pick us up. He’d dressed in black jeans, a little baggier than what was “in” for a country boy, a black, Johnny Cash, Man in Black tee that was plenty tight enough to highlight ripped abs and very muscular arms. They also showed of a tattoo of a rose on his bicep that was squeezed by thorns until red drops of blood fell from it. The initials A.C. and H. W. were on either side of the rose.

We could hear the strains of country music filtering out from the huge barn, and from the sound of it, the place was going to be packed. People were still driving up too. My stomach dropped a little, I wasn’t too sure how much I wanted to run in some of the people I’d gone to school with.

“Tell me again why we can’t have a little taste of this?” Matt pulled at the lid of the casserole dish he was carrying and I smacked his hand lightly.

“Because I plan on winning a blue ribbon for that triple berry crumble and I doubt the judges would look too kindly on large spoonsful being missing from it. Matt groaned again making me laugh.

“Beth, put the poor guy out of his misery,” Jen chided. I rolled my eyes and placed my arm through Matt’s.

“I may or may not have put a second berry crumble away to share later with everyone.” Matt’s eyes glinted dangerously.

“Elizabeth Michaels, you might have just earned yourself a smack on the behind.”

“Promises, promises,” I murmured.

“Oh, gag. Get a room, guys.” Jen stuck a finger in her mouth and Hunter grumbled his agreement.

“But it’s so much more fun when you do it outdoors,” I quipped. I slapped a hand over my mouth just as Hunter broke out in a fit of bellowing laughs. Jen just stood there with her mouth hanging open, glancing between me and a beet red Matt, who was trying his very best to become one with the surrounding darkness. Jen gulped.

“Well, then, I’ll have to remember that,” Jen tossed over her shoulder as she began walking toward the barn again. Hunter’s laughter cut off as instantly as it had begun. His eyes darkened as he watched Jen saunter away. We caught up with Jen just outside the barn doors. People were pouring in and out and it seemed like the entire town had turned out for the shindig. I swallowed back the sliver of fear that had snaked its way into my chest and followed everyone inside.

Rock my World
had my foot tapping before we ever made it over to the long table that ran down the length of a wall on the far side of the barn. I saw at least two dozen pies, cakes and other baked items sitting out on the table. I placed mine on it and received my number from an elderly woman who was about a foot shorter than me. When she spoke, though, she seemed about a foot taller than anyone else in the room. I was pretty sure she had been an army general in another life. Jen drug me away from the table so I wouldn’t evil eye all the competition.

Matt laced his fingers through mine and pulled me across the room when he spotted Pastor and Mrs. Wright talking and laughing with a large group. As we passed by a group of young women, I noticed several of them turned my way, a couple to openly stare to see who the new girl was, I assumed. But, one young woman with short, blond hair, big blue eyes, and a perfect body stopped to stare at me with contempt and hate in her eyes. I blinked in astonishment. What had I done to her? I wracked my brain trying to think of who she might be, but came up empty handed. When we reached the Wrights all thoughts of the girl flew out of my head.

“Beth, I’d love for you to meet a couple people.”

“Mrs. Wright, it’s good to see you again,” I answered. Mrs. Wright smiled widely at me and took my hand in hers.

“Please call me Anne, I don’t want to feel any older than I already do,” she reprimanded. I smiled and nodded my head. “Marge, Tilly, this is Matt’s girlfriend, Beth.” I blushed furiously, feeling like a fifth grader being introduced as Matt’s girlfriend. But it was true, wasn’t it? Things just seemed to be progressing so quickly that they sometimes took my breath away. Pastor Wright took his wife’s hand and tucked it under his arm.

“Anne, you’re monopolizing your son’s beautiful date.” My mouth fell open to deny it, but he cut me off with a wink. “Besides, I want to take my beautiful date out on the floor for a dance. Ladies, please excuse us.” The women all tittered and sighed as he led his starry eyed wife onto the dance floor just as one of the most beautiful songs ever written began to play.

“Will you dance with me, sweetheart?” Matt’s whisper stirred the hairs around my ear, his breath tickling the fine hairs at the nape of my neck. I nodded as Matt took my hand to lead me onto the dance floor. The words of the song swept over me, the words finally meaning so much more to me than just being nice lyrics sung by a pretty voice.

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart

Without saying a word, you can light up the dark

Try as I may, I could never explain

What I hear when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me

There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me

The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall

You say it best when you say nothing at all

Both of Matt’s hands rested on my lower back and mine were wound around his neck. I put my head on his shoulder and just enjoyed the song and the warmth of his body. When the song ended, he kissed me sweetly on the lips and a flame ignited in the depths of my stomach. I threaded my hand through his hair and tugged gently.

“I could dance like this all night,” I whispered huskily. The song changed abruptly and a crowd of people rushed the floor to get ready for a line dance. Matt turned as if to leave, but I pulled him back to me. His eyes widened and then he chuckled.

“Good lord, woman. You’re gonna make me line dance, aren’t you?” He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around for an escape.

“You bet your hot little behind I am.” I swatted his backside for extra encouragement and everyone around us chuckled at his affronted look.

“Looks like you got your hands full with that one, Matt!” Someone shouted from the crowd. I grinned in their general direction.

“As long as it’s my hands that are around her, I ain’t got a problem with that!” Matt shouted back. Everyone guffawed just as the music began. I had to hand it to Matt, he was good at doing the boot scootin’ boogie. We heel, toed, and dosey doed with the best of ‘em. Our boots were stomping, our hearts pumping, and we laughed the entire time. I pointedly ignored all the women oogling my man. He was mine after all. By the time we’d finished the dance, I was hot, sweaty, and ready for some food.

Once we piled our plates with barbeque, corn on the cob, potato salad and homemade macaroni and cheese, we made our way outside in the cool night air to see if we could find a picnic table to sit at to eat. I started searching for Jen and Hunter as soon as we made it through the crowded barn. I spotted Jen waving from a picnic table under a large tree. When we got to the table, I immediately noticed the tension crackling between Jen and Hunter. Hunter was hunched over his plate, shoveling food into his mouth, his body rigid and angled away from Jen. Jen was picking at her food, her jaw clenched and her eyes frosted with enough ice to freeze a man in his steps. We sat in awkward silence for the majority of our dinner. I cleared my throat and widened my eyes as I nodded my head in Hunter’s direction, hoping Matt could draw them into conversation.

“This barbeque is fantastic.” Matt glanced around nervously and then took another bite of his food. I groaned inwardly. Hunter grunted and Jen just kept staring at her plate.

“The ice tea is pretty refreshing too,” I added, sarcastically as I wiggled uncomfortably in my chair. Jen sighed and then stood, gathering her plate as she got up. I jumped up to go with her to throw away our trash. I put a hand on Matt’s shoulder. “I’ll meet up with you a bit later.” He nodded.

“Jen?” I caught up with her just as she threw her trash forcibly into a can. “Hey, you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” she snapped. I blinked and then threw my garbage in the can. Jen didn’t usually get this angry over anything. Must be bad.

“Awe, I’m sorry, Beth,” Jen groaned. “It’s just … Hunter makes me crazy sometimes.” She threw her arms up in the air and I just stood there for several seconds trying to absorb the fact that Jen was ranting and raving over … a
guy
. “He’s an overbearing, egotistical, jackass. Half the time I want to strangle him with my bare hands and the other half I want to ….” Her mouth formed a thin line and heat rushed to her cheeks.

“The other half you want to what?” I asked, my grin breaking through and messing up my concerned look. Jen poked my arm.

“You know what I mean. Ugh.” I smiled as I hooked my arm through hers.

“I do know what you mean.” I pulled her along through the front doors. “Should we go out there and show Hunter what he’s missing?” She glanced over at the hopping dance floor and an evil little grin appeared on her face. My own smile slipped just a little.

“You just read my mind,” she said softly. Jen didn’t hold back, she pulled out all her dance tricks and there wasn’t a guy who was single in the whole building who hadn’t either danced with her or had asked her to dance in the next hour. She let the music carry away all her fears and worries just for an entire sixty minutes. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair a little wild about her shoulders by the time a slow song came on and a shadow fell over us both. Jens stiffened without even looking behind us. I turned to see who it was and was a little surprised to see Hunter hovering close to us like a large, demon thundercloud. He looked ready to explode and I immediately put myself between him and Jen. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he spoke.

“I think it’s my turn now,” he snarled. My hackles rose and I stood up to my full height, which was an inch taller than Jen, but still a few inches shorter than Hunter.

“It’s okay, Beth. I’ll dance with him.” Jen moved around me and her eyes flashed as she spoke. Hunter extended his hand and she hesitantly placed hers in his. I heard a tiny gasp as her pulled her gently into his arms. I only waited another second before leaving the dance floor, Hunter wasn’t dangerous … he was just
intense
. I wasn’t sure if intense was what Jen needed right then though. I headed over to the refreshment table to grab an ice tea.

With my tea in hand, I began searching the crowd for Matt. When I didn’t see him, I decided to go to the restroom real quick before Jen and Hunter were done dancing. The judges were about to announce the winners of the baking contest, so I needed to hurry it up. Amazingly enough, the bathrooms were relatively empty, so I was in and out fairly quickly. I was walking back to the main room in the barn when I heard someone say my name. I stopped in my tracks and leaned my head to the side, thinking maybe I’d just heard incorrectly.

“She graduated the year Beau Montgomery did. He said she was a liar who’d slept with almost anyone she could when she was in high school. Said she left town so her parents couldn’t keep her from whoring around as much as she wanted.” I stepped back until my back was against the wall. My heart was pounding and I think I was more in shock over the fact that people still gossiped about me like I was in high school than what they were actually saying.
Must have boring lives
, I thought.

“I don’t really care who Beth Michaels is. All I know is she isn’t good enough for Matthew. He deserves someone so much better than her.” People began muttering their agreement and a knot formed in my stomach. “I mean, what will people think if he goes and marries her? How will it look when he eventually takes over his daddy’s ministry?” A cold sweat popped out on my brow. Matt planned to take over for his dad one day? Why hadn’t he told me? I bit my lip. I knew the answer, I just wished I didn’t. He didn’t tell me, because he knew I’d have freaked out, maybe even not seen him anymore. I wasn’t the right kind of person to be a minister’s wife. I wasn’t even sure I believed in a god at all. My ears were ringing when the truth of my situation hit me. I was going to drag Matt down. He was so strong, so sure of everything he believed, and he deserved someone who was his equal in all things, including faith. I clasped a hand over my chest, trying to shield it from the shooting pain.

“You guys were perfect together. I couldn’t believe it when you guys broke your engagement off.” I slapped a hand over my mouth before my gasp could escape. I knew without seeing the people around the corner that the girl who had been engaged to Matt was the pretty blonde who looked daggers at me when I first got to the dance, and Matt had been engaged to her. I took a deep breath and willed away the stupid tears that threatened. I wonder when he would have told me that he had been engaged. Definitely not last night when he’d told me I was only woman he’d ever wanted to sleep under a starry night sky with.