A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,104
of the bed and took Emery’s hand. “Of course you did. You’d never expect something like that.”
Behind her, Dallas appeared in the doorway. He didn’t come in, but Emery could see him leaning up against the doorjamb, his arms folded across his broad chest, his face a dark glower.
“Are you going to be okay?” Aiyana asked. “Dallas mentioned that you might need to see a doctor.”
She reached up to touch the back of her head. It was tender there, too. But there wasn’t anything a doctor could do. Only time could cause her bumps and bruises to fade. “That would be a waste of money that I don’t really have at the moment.”
“Have you heard from the cops?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Well, I hope they find Terrell, if that’s even his name, and that he gets what’s coming to him.”
“Ethan’s the one who put him up to it,” she said. “Even if they arrest Terrell, something like this could happen again. That’s what I’m struggling with.”
Aiyana made a sound of disgust. “I’d like to have a talk with Ethan Grimes.”
“So would I,” Dallas piped up.
“Maybe Dallas should pay him a visit,” Aiyana said with a frown. “Someone has to stop him.”
“It isn’t Dallas’s problem,” Emery pointed out. “And you shouldn’t be thinking about this, anyway. Not now. Please, enjoy your wedding day. It will only make me feel worse if this disrupts it in any way. I’ll see you there.”
“You don’t have to come,” she argued. “After what you’ve been through, you should stay here and rest. You have the day off and the house to yourself. Sleep. Recover.”
Emery wished she could let herself do that, but she was too grateful to Aiyana. She couldn’t miss the wedding, not if she could feasibly make it. “Are you kidding? I’ve been looking forward to it all month. I’ll be there.” She wasn’t sure how, but somehow she’d manage it.
“Okay, well, Dallas and Seth will go over to the Blue Suede Shoe and bring your car back, just in case. Even if you don’t come, at least you won’t have to worry about anything happening to it.”
“Can I get your keys?” Dallas asked.
Emery gestured at the dresser. “They’re right there. Thanks for doing that.”
“No problem.”
He scooped them up as Aiyana said, “Really, though, don’t put yourself under too much pressure.”
“I won’t,” she lied, and forced what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
Aiyana squeezed her hand as she got up.
“You look beautiful, by the way,” Emery told her. “Your hair turned out great.”
“Thanks. Cora came over first thing this morning and curled it. She did my makeup, too.”
Cora and Aiyana seemed especially close. “She did a wonderful job.”
Dallas lingered after his mother left. “Are you really going to try to come to the wedding?”
She nodded.
Their eyes met and held, and she felt the longing she’d been trying to avoid tugging on her once again. She couldn’t seem to squelch it no matter what she did, which just went to prove she’d let things go too far even though she’d known she shouldn’t.
“You don’t have to,” he said.
“I want to.” She couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but he didn’t seem happy. “Is there something else?”
“Yes. Will you give me Ethan’s phone number?”
“No.”
“I’m just going to talk to him.”
“No,” she repeated, unequivocally.
“Dallas?” Aiyana called up. “Will you come lift this big punch bowl into the back of my car? It’s ridiculously heavy and somehow it didn’t make it over to the ranch yesterday.”
He shoved away from the doorframe. “Coming,” he called down. He cast Emery a final, miserable glance and left without another word.
She thought that was the end of it, but about twenty minutes later, she received a text from him: I miss you.
She stared at those words. That was what he’d wanted to say when he was in her room. He just didn’t know how, and she understood why. He couldn’t say anything to follow it up, not what she most wanted to hear, anyway. It was as simple as it sounded, and she’d be stupid to construe it as meaning more.
It’ll pass, she wrote—and prayed what she was feeling would pass, too.
* * *
The entire town turned out for the wedding. Dallas had expected it to be a big event, but he was still surprised by the number of guests who flowed onto the ranch like an engorged river. It was a testament to the number of lives Aiyana and Cal had touched.
Dallas smiled as he watched his mother greet each guest as though