The Four Stages of Loving Dutch Owen - Debra Kayn Page 0,15

put off by Amber's attitude, Marla let go of Corbet. His face had turned red during the fiasco.

"Sorry, Corbet." She smiled.

"It's okay." Corbet shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "You look different today. Want to hang out?"

Catching sight of Alyssa waving at her from the doorway, signaling that she was done putting the makeup back in Amber's purse, she stepped away. "Sorry. Can't. Maybe later."

She hurried out of the clubhouse. Once outside, she fell against Alyssa and laughed. The high of getting away with borrowing the makeup without being found out excited her.

"Tonight is going to be so fun." Alyssa plopped down on the grass.

Sitting beside her friend, she stretched her legs out in front of her and pulled the edges of her shorts up to the top of her thighs, baring them to the sun. "I know. I'm so psyched."

"You should come home with us and spend the night with me."

"Not tonight." She wanted to stay home. There was always a chance that Dutch would stay at the house instead of the clubhouse. He'd done that before when he only came for one night and left the next day.

Dutch even let her use his sleeping bag and sleep on the spare bedroom floor beside him. She always tried to stay up the whole night, talking with him. Though, he always fell asleep before her.

He had the funniest way of snoring. Sometimes she wondered if he pretended to sleep, just to make her laugh.

A group of adults carried food out to the picnic tables. Out of their way, Marla studied them. She watched the adults a lot.

They weren't much different than children. While she splurged on junk food and liked to spy on others at the party, the grownups drank, smoked, and fooled around. Sometimes, they got into arguments, as if they were tired of being around each other and wanted to go home.

"Why don't you want to sleep over?"

"Because—"

A rumble of a motorcycle made it impossible to talk and be heard. She watched the activity in the gravel parking area in front of the clubhouse. The men were congregating by all the motorcycles.

Through the crowd, she caught sight of a familiar face riding in. Her stomach somersaulted, and her heart raced. She pulled her legs up and pushed herself off the ground. Dutch had arrived.

She stepped closer, not wanting to lose track of him with all the people around.

"Where are you going?" asked Alyssa.

"I'll be back," she yelled.

She jogged over to the corner of the building and stopped. It seemed like the three weeks had taken forever to get here.

Dutch got off his motorcycle. Her stomach warmed, and she leaned against the side of the clubhouse, soaking in the sight of him. Seeing him was like remembering her childhood. All the good things, never the bad.

He was the only one who knew her and stayed with her. Sure, he wasn't around a lot, but he always came back. Always.

She inhaled as pressure built in her chest. Rachel and Skull were nice and loved her, but they weren't her parents. Most of the time, she felt like they were her babysitters, who were taking their job too seriously. They treated her nice, too nicely—which made her feel guilty for wanting to go home.

They bought her a lot of clothes and let her go to Alyssa's house all the time, or Alyssa came to their house. But her real mom was all alone. She had nobody with her in Moses Lake.

Not sure what was waiting for her back in Moses Lake, she wanted Dutch with her when she returned.

Dutch strolled toward the clubhouse, stopping to talk with Woody, the president, and half turned, scanning the crowd. She crossed her arms right before his gaze swept over her and came back. Holding herself together until she could have time with him without Woody and the others around, she stayed where she was, proving that she was older and more mature than she was last month.

Dutch nodded without taking his eyes off her. Then, he walked away from everyone and headed straight toward her. When she had all his attention, she got nervous. There wasn't anything shy about her, but around Dutch, especially when he returned after being gone for weeks, she was always nervous.

Afraid that she would do something that would send him away or never come back, she tried her hardest to act right.

He would see how she was growing up. She'd started her period two weeks ago—at home, thankfully.