Chapter 15
Luke
She rolls her eyes. "Simmer down there, cowboy." She finally puts her hand in mine while she deals with the bottom of her dress. "I can't see my feet," she tells me, and I look at her.
I let go of her hand and move in to scoop her out. "Oh my God," she huffs, putting her hand to her chest as I turn to walk to the cabin. "If you carry me into your cabin, I'm going to stab you in your sleep," she warns me, and I can't help but laugh. She is the only woman who turns hot and cold in a matter of seconds. She is also the only woman who can make me want to rip the hair out of my head. I turn around, and all I can do is talk calmly to her.
"I wouldn't think of it,” I say as I walk up the five steps to the front door. "I'm going to put you down." I gently put her on her feet before standing up and fishing the keys out of my jeans pocket. I unlock the door before walking in and turning on the one light that lights up the whole place. "I'm going to go and make sure there aren't any guests around." The living room to the left side of me has an L-shaped couch facing the fireplace. It leads to the kitchen area. I spent the most money in the kitchen since I got most of my inspiration from there.
She looks at me with wide eyes. "What does that even mean?"
"There may have been once." I hold up a finger. "I forgot to close the door, and well, a family of raccoons decided that they would live here."
"Oh my God." She puts her hands to her mouth. "It is like The Hunger Games." She looks around as sounds start to come out of the forest. The sound of leaves rustling has her walking into the house with me.
"It's fine. It's just a squirrel,” I joke, and I can see her gritting her teeth.
"I need a drink," she says, looking around but not moving from her spot. "Maybe more than a drink. I need several," she adds. "Bottles of drinks."
"Okay, let me check, and then I'll get the booze from the truck,” I walk toward the kitchen and open the cupboards under the sink, seeing that no one is there. The cabin isn't much, but it's someplace that I can take off to and totally leave the outside world behind.
"I think we’re good."
"You think?" she questions, looking around. "That sounds great." She throws her hands up in the air. "I mean, what's the worst than can happen to me?"
"Rabies," I deadpan, putting my hands on my hips and trying not to laugh at her. Even after crying half the time in my truck, she still looks beautiful.
"Go get the booze, Luke," she orders with her teeth clenched together as her eyes dart around the room to see if there are any movements.
"Don't run off,” I joke and then roll my lips after she glares at me. "Too soon?"
"I don't see booze, Luke?" She puts her hands on her hips and then tucks her hair behind her ear. "And as the seconds go by, I become more and more unhinged."
"Duly noted," I say, turning and walking out of the cabin, going to the truck. I grab my backpack with the food bag and then the three bottles of scotch I thought I was going to drink the whole weekend by myself.
When I walk into the cabin, she sits on one of the stools against the kitchen island. With her dress all around her, she looks like a princess. She looks at me, and I see that she has a wooden spoon in her hand. "What's with the weapon?" I ask, lifting my chin toward her.
"If there was a raccoon, I was going to hit it with this." She holds up the spoon. "Right before I kick it with the heel on my shoe."
"Your brother is a vet." I laugh, walking into the kitchen and putting the food and booze on the counter. Then I walk to the bedroom and throw the bag on the bed.
"If it's me or the raccoon." She points the spoon to her chest. "I win each and every single time."
She leans over the counter, grabbing one of the bottles of scotch. "Do you want a glass?" I ask as she unscrews the top and brings the bottle to her lips.
"Nope," she replies, right before she takes a big gulp and closes her eyes and tries not to cough.
I walk into the kitchen and lean on the counter, facing her as she takes another gulp. "What are you looking at?"
At the most beautiful woman in the world, but I know that she'll tell me to fuck off as fast as the words leave my mouth. "I thought you gave up scotch." Those are the only words I can come up with.
"Things change," she answers, taking another pull of the scotch, and this time, she closes her eyes when she puts down the bottle in front of her.
"Apparently, they do," I agree, crossing my arms over my chest.
"I bet you’re wondering what I'm doing here," she says, laughing as she picks up the bottle and takes another gulp, then wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "Especially in a wedding dress on my non-wedding day."
"I was wondering, but I was also wondering how you can walk out of that building with no one chasing you."
"Well," she starts. "I got dressed, and well, I was a bit nervous." She takes another shot of the scotch, and I don't interrupt her. My heart starts to speed up faster for her, and my stomach sinks, knowing that whatever pissed her off or happened made her end up running away from her own wedding. "I asked my sisters to give me a couple of minutes." She laughs as she looks at the bottle, and her eyes fill with tears, making my gut twist. "There was a knock on the door, and well." She looks at me, and a tear escapes her eyes. "You know in the movies, when you yell, don't open the door?" she asks me and laughs through her tears. But when she lifts her hand to wipe the tear away, I see her hand shaking. "Well, I should not have answered the door."
"You don't have to continue," I say, not needing to know the rest. Just seeing her like this, reliving it, makes me want to throw something against the wall.
"You deserve it," she says. "Never thought I would say those words." She takes a shot of the scotch. "A woman was standing there. She was beautiful, and she was holding a baby in her arms." I stand up straight, my heart beating so fast I think it's going to come out of my chest. "Yeah, you guessed it," she continues, pointing at me as the tears run down her face like a stream going downriver. "Her name is Louise." I swallow, and I can't even fathom what she felt. "And her son is named Edward." She tilts her head to the side. "I guess you can say he's a junior. But I'm not sure how it works."
"He has a child?" I ask, my voice so low I'm surprised she heard it.
"He does," she admits to me. "They were together for four years."
"Did you know?" I ask, and she just looks at me. "Not about the baby but about her."
"No." She shakes her head. "When I confronted him about it, he said he was waiting for the DNA results."
"Asshole." I shake my head. "Listen, my parents are far from being parents of the year," I offer, and for the first time ever, I talk about my parents. "They really didn't give me much. Not sure they even loved each other, but they stayed with each other. I don't know if they did that because they wanted to or neither of them had something better. But at least they acknowledged that I was their kid. I mean, they sucked at it." I look at her and see that her tears have stopped.
"I don't think I've ever heard you talk about your parents," she says. "Like, not even in college."
"Nothing to talk about. They gave me a roof until I was sixteen, then I had to pay my way and decided that it was cheaper living with other people," I admit to her and only her.
"When was the last time you saw them?" she asks, and the only reason I'm still talking about this is because she stopped crying. That is the only reason.
“Maybe seven years ago. Not sure."
"Wow," she responds, looking down at her hands. “I can't imagine going a day without talking to my mom, no matter how crazy she makes me." She looks at me. “Anyway, I told him he was a liar and that the wedding was off." She leans back. “Grabbed my phone and then walked out of the door. He tried to call my name, but I turned around and said if he called my name one more time, I would go and tell his parents they were grandparents." She picks up the bottle, bringing it to her lips. She smiles right before taking another sip, and I was wrong before. Here right now, sitting at the island of my cabin in the middle of nowhere with her face streaked with tears and red eyes, she looks more beautiful than she has ever looked before. "And then I became a runaway bride."