She laughed. “You and Kelsey are the same person.”
“I bet you haven’t kissed Kelsey before.”
Instantly, her head swiveled around, making sure nobody was close enough to hear that remark. I didn’t quite understand why I was being flirtatious when I had just told myself I had to stop. It was something I couldn’t seem to turn off, even if I really needed to.
“That doesn’t count, Marten,” she said. “I used to kiss my grandma on her cheek all the time.”
“Was I better than your grandma? As far as cheek kisses go?”
She shrugged. “Eh. You were a little sweaty. She usually fed me dry cookies and smelled like peppermint. I’d say she was a solid eight, and you were maybe a seven.”
I laughed, bumping the side of her arm in the dark. “Well, we can’t have that.”
What was I doing?
The past few years, I had been happy with what I had chosen for my life. Plenty of fun. No drama. No wife. No drama. Did I say that already? I could make my own decisions. If I wanted to go on vacation for a month, I didn’t have to run it by anybody besides my work. I made my own money and spent it how I wanted. I could go out with the guys every night of the week if I wanted to. I met lots of cool women, keeping things to one or two dates. I’d go to work every day, and then I’d come home to an empty house every night and do it all again the next week.
Empty house.
I was hoping that phrase still sounded good after a summer in the company of Tessa Robbins.
19
Tessa
“Alright, everyone shut up!”
The excited chatter in the field lulled to a quiet buzz, thanks to Jake’s good-natured shouting. He stood in the bed of his old pickup truck, speaking to the rest of us who were watching him from the ground. The full moon had come out for the game to give us just enough light. A breeze carrying the scent of freshly baled hay lifted the wisps of hair off my face. Kelsey and Cade stood next to Logan and me in the dark, Kelsey’s four-month-pregnant belly protruding adorably. Cade had his arm wrapped casually around his wife’s shoulders.
There was nobody happier for my best friend than me. But looking at her and her life with Cade—the vet schooling, the teaching job, living in Colorado, and the babies on the way—their life had so much meaning. Their future together was brimming with opportunity and excitement. I suddenly ached for how much seemed to be missing in mine.
I was locked in a weird game where I won a prize if Ididn’tfall in love. I was back to dating a player, somebody who saw me as a means to an end. This time, it was forty thousand dollars. I was not innocent in these games either, but I was starting to wonder if I had bitten off more than I could chew. The past few days, I had begun to sense a shift in myself. It was happening just as I had feared. Logan’s facade was fading just enough for him to wheedle his way into my heart. I would be the only one hurt at the end of this summer. And yet…here I stood.
“Everyone remember how to playfugitive?”
There were murmurs of ‘yes’ in the crowd, but Jake explained the rules briefly anyway.
“There are fifteen fugitives, two cops, and one guard.” Jake pointed toward Kelsey and her bulging belly. “Kelsey has been nominated to stand guard so she’s not diving through ditches and climbing fences in her delicate condition.”
A few whistles and shouts rang out in the crowd. A few of the guys clapped a grinning Cade on the back. I watched Kelsey, waiting for the hormonal firecracker to protest. And the lady did not disappoint.
“Hey! What? Who nominated me? I don’t need to stand guard. I’m not that far along.”
Jake made a face. “I’m not stepping into the middle of this. Cade, control your woman.”
“Control mywhat? Have you ever met my wife?” Cade quickly pulled her into a bear hug from behind, covering her mouth with his hand before saying to Jake, “Keep her as a guard and I’ll take one for the team.”
“From the looks of you two disgusting lovebirds, I think you’ll be fine.”
When Kelsey finally wrangled her mouth free from his hand, Cade turned her to face him and dropped a kiss on her lips. When he finally allowed Kelsey to break free, she was all smiles, hiding her face in Cade’s laughing chest.
I bit my lip, smiling, craving a love like that so badly it almost hurt to look at it.
“Alright, as for the rest of you, Layne and Frank will drive us out and drop us off in a pasture two miles away before they jump onto a four-wheeler and become our cops for the night.”
Logan’s dad and my dad grinned at us while they revved up their high-powered four-wheelers.
“The object of the game,” Jake continued, “is to make your way back to Marten’s barn without being caught by a cop. Once there, if you make it, the flag will be somewhere along the front side of the barn. If Kelsey tags you, you’re out. If you are caught by the cops in a field, you’re out. You’re welcome to dive through ditches, and we have permission to use the hay fields surrounding us within a one-mile radius, but beyond that, you may get shot. Stay out of the corn field, and if you step into any potato field, it’s an automatic out, and…” he continued dramatically, “you may be shot.”
