Once and Again
Page 10

At the thought of Nathan, she drew a deep breath and made herself think about Josh Lucas instead. Which worked for five seconds.
Tate, Anne and Maggie Chase waved them over when they caught sight of their approach.
“Hey you two. Pitcher just arrived. I heard about how you chased your brother and caught him by jumping a fence.” Tate pushed a beer in Lily’s direction. “That’s awesome. Once when Jake was in trouble for something or other, can’t remember what now, Tim jumped the fence at the drive-in and caught him.” Everyone laughed, imagining the look on Jacob’s face as his six-foot-plus brother cleared something so tall and then got close enough to grab.
“The boy will be the death of me.” She gulped the beer as she watched the ebb and flow of people on the dance floor. “I can’t believe the little shit made me chase him in the first place. I didn’t think about it until I was nearly up and over it. Lucky I didn’t land on my ass and break something.”
“Was he with other kids?”
“Yes. I grabbed one of them too and marched him home. Chris told me he got put on restriction for six months. At least he got in trouble, I guess. The other two are little thugs and I’ve forbidden Chris from hanging with them. Who knows if it’ll take or not. I’m now the meanest sister in the world.” She mock bowed.
Beth snorted. “I bet Chris is good and scared of you now, though.”
“He does jump every time I walk into a room.” She raised her glass to the group. “Why are we here? I thought we’d head to Riverton.”
“Used to. But the Tonk is closer.” Beth shrugged. “It’s sort of become our place over the last few years.”
“How’s your momma?” Maggie asked. “Polly saw her on Wednesday out in the yard. She been sick? Polly said she seemed pale.”
That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? Her mother had taken to drinking along with the pills and walked around the house in a daze. Lily hated for Chris to see it. If it went on much longer, she’d have to deal with it, and there was already so much to deal with, Lily wasn’t sure she could do it all. Much less do it all right.
So she sighed. “She’s a mess. But she stays out of my way when I’m dealing with Chris for the most part, so that’s good. I guess.”
She and Beth had talked about it, about this growing addiction. Beth and her siblings knew what it was like to grow up in a house with addicts. It wasn’t pretty and Beth had a very low tolerance for it. Lily got that. It was bad for Chris to see, though she wasn’t sure he got it quite yet.
“If you need anything, let me know.” Tate reached out to squeeze her hand. “I understand more than you think.”
She was wrong there, of course. Lily knew exactly how hard Tate had worked to raise her siblings around the violent, drunken episodes between her parents, and the ones her father had aimed at the children who were clearly not his own. She’d seen firsthand what Tate’s face had looked like after she’d jumped in-between Beth and their father, and he’d taken out all that anger on her.
“I appreciate that.” But damn it she didn’t want to think on it. Wanted a few hours of some peace and lighthearted fun before she had to dive back in.
“Where is Chris tonight?” Beth passed the tray of potato skins over.
“Church youth group. Their youth pastor is a good guy. A few of Chris’s friends are going. Friends he doesn’t get in trouble with. Anyway, they’re doing a sleepover in the rectory and watching movies. I don’t want to take everything away from him. You know? I want him to have friends and a life. I just don’t want that life to include having to jump fences to catch him when he’s cutting school.”
The subject was dropped after some laughs, and they got down to the business of ogling the denim butts on the dance floor. Not a whole lot she found sexier than a man in a cowboy hat, jeans and boots with a button-down shirt. Yum. Even better when they were all polite. She knew the Chase husbands lurked around at their own manly table elsewhere, but a girl can still look even if she’s not gonna touch after all.
“Who is that?” Royal Watson, Anne’s used-to-be-boyfriend now best friend, leaned over to ask Nathan.
He turned to find himself mesmerized by the sway of a spectacular pair of br**sts that happened to belong to none other than Lily Travis.
“That is not yours. That’s who she is.” Nathan frowned as she took a circuit of the floor with Andy Sanchez. Andy’s hand was mighty close to Lily’s ass. That was not going to happen. It was one thing to know she was still pissed at him after all these years. He could live with that. Probably. But it was another to imagine her with anyone else in town. That wasn’t going to be a reality he’d have to live with.
“Really now?” Royal grinned and looked pointedly at Nathan’s hand. “Don’t see any ring there. Why don’t you…holy shit, that’s Lily!” Royal found this ridiculously funny and Nathan wanted to punch him.
“Yes, it’s Lily. Stop laughing.”
“I laugh because your pain is amusing.” Royal shrugged.
Matt Chase came back over. “Sorry, I had to go smooch up on my woman for a bit. She let me and then shooed me off. Don’t know why we can’t all sit together.”
“Probably because Lily is with them and she hates Nathan.”
“Thanks Royal, you can stop with that now before I have to clean your clock.” Nathan watched her move, watched Andy lean in and say something in her ear. Watched her laugh and then thankfully shake her head and step back.