face and he occasionally darted glances around him. Arden had always thought he looked like a criminal. Maybe he was and maybe that's why he always looked so uncomfortable. Travis stood with them, real easy-like, his thumbs hooked in his pockets.
Arden bit her bottom lip. The husbands stood a few yards away from the women, so maybe it would be okay to go over there. But she didn't want Travis getting the idea that she was going to see him. She started to turn around, but then Shannon saw her and waved her over.
"Arden!" Shannon shouted over the crowd. "Come stand with us!" She shoved a strand of her long, curly red hair back up into her stocking cap.
Arden took a breath and then squeezed through the crowds to her friends. She got hugs from Emma and Alice and then the sound of drumsticks marking time indicated the beginning of the parade.
It came down the street from City Hall and would end down by the river. Russell and Vince moved behind their wives and Emma and Arden so the shorter women could see. There was a float from the church, the high school marching band, and some local businesses. And then the Miss Merry Christmas contestants rolled through, each in a skimpy prom gown, each riding on the hood of a car or truck driven by a high school football player.
Arden remembered riding on the hood of Allen Jessop's Mustang her senior year. She'd had on a strapless, pale pink gown and the smile of a girl who knew without doubt that she would win any pageant she wanted to just because it was what she was born into. Now she looked at these girls and thought how ridiculous they all looked freezing their asses off in those inappropriate dresses.
Suddenly Arden felt a pair of strong hands grip her upper arms. She knew it was Travis even before she felt his breath on her ear. "That one's mine," he said. "Isn't she gorgeous?" He pointed to a teen princess dressed in a pink, strapless gown that strongly resembled the one she had worn only five years earlier. The girl rode on the hood of some kind of muscle car. Arden didn't know what it was. She'd never been terribly interested in cars.
She turned to face Travis, feeling completely disgusted. "She's sixteen, Travis!"
"Not her. The car. The kid next door, Kyle Sanders, asked if he could drive it in the parade. Isn't she a beauty?"
Arden felt a rush of relief and a mild wave of nausea at the passing of what might have been jealousy if she cared at all about Travis. "Yes," she said. "She is indeed a beauty."
Travis beamed proudly as his '69 Mercury Cyclone rolled slowly past. He kept his arm draped over Arden's shoulders. She felt immediately warmer with him pressed up against her. He had on a flannel lined denim coat and a stocking cap pulled down over his ears. He'd shaved his beard and now sported a day's worth of stubble and Arden thought he looked terribly handsome. She applauded herself for her self-discipline when she forced herself to not slip her arm around his waist and bury her face in his chest. That would have been inappropriate, of course. In fact, she should probably make him take his arm off her shoulders, but she couldn't quite bring herself to go that far.
Fortunately, Travis amended the situation himself. After his car passed, he turned back to Russell and Vince who were talking football. Russell, perpetually unshaven, long, scraggly hair hanging in his face, looked completely unfit as a husband for the refined Shannon. Vince, the tallest person in the group, was married to Alice, the shortest. Nobody belonged together.
Arden couldn't help contrasting Travis with the other two men. They were all as redneck as could be. But next to Russell, with his dark, edgy nature and Vince with his strong, quiet reserve...Travis shone like the sun. He was cheerful, witty, outgoing. Of course she already knew this about him from her own personal experience, but seeing him amongst her own acquaintances made her appreciate him all the more.
Shannon tugged on Arden's sleeve and pulled her a little farther from the men. The women circled round her. "Nick's over there glaring daggers at Travis," Shannon said, in a hushed voice.
Arden didn't look. "I should go back to him. He's got it in his head that he should be jealous of Travis."
Alice snorted. "Gee, I wonder where