Page 10 of Marry Your Best Friend

We all gasp, and everyone gets up from their seats to move closer. King is holding his phone up at us so Ledger can see us, and he must be airplaying it to the television. Everyone starts talking at once, and Ledger laughs. “Hey everybody! Let me see her.”

We all know who he’s talking about, so Chrissy stands up and moves closer to King’s phone. “Uncle Ledger, this is your niece, Macy.”

He’s smiling ear to ear. “Oh my, she’s beautiful. She definitely takes after her momma.” He searches out Haven in the room. “Hey little Momma, how you doing? My brother taking care of you?”

She nods. “You know he is. How about you, Ledger? You doing okay?”

He nods, and this time his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m doing good.” He looks around the room. “Wow, it looks like the family has grown since I’ve left. I need to get back more.”

“Next year, right?” Chrissy asks. “You’re getting out next year?”

Ledger went into the military when he turned eighteen, but he’s remained close to all of us. Any time he gets leave, he spends it here in Whiskey Run with us. We’re all ready for him to come home permanently.

“Yep, I should be home in June.” He looks at Chrissy. “Where you going all dressed up, little sister?”

King turns the camera to himself and grimaces. “She has a date.”

“A date? You boys keeping tabs on that?”

Chrissy throws her hands up. “Guys, I’m thirty-three years old. We can stop with the big brother overprotectiveness.”

Ledger leans into the phone. “You may be thirty-three, Chrissy, but to me you’re always going to be the little sister that begged not to be adopted because you wanted to stay with our sorry asses, so now you’re stuck with us. Gabe!” he calls out, searching the room for me. “You on this?”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Yeah, Ledger. You want me to vet the guy, I’m on it.”

Chrissy turns to me and groans as she gives me a look that says,you traitor.

I just smile at her. “Don’t worry, Ledger. I’ll take care of it.”

The conversation goes on with everyone taking a turn to talk to Ledger, and later when he hangs up there is a silence in the room that wasn’t there before.

King stands at the table. “It will be a year, guys. Less than a year if all the paperwork goes through. Then we’ll have the whole family back together.”

Everyone nods in agreement. We were all happy to see him, but also it serves as a reminder of what he’s doing. He’s served our country for the majority of his life, and we want him home with us.

They are about to serve dessert when Chrissy hands the baby to Haven. “I hate to eat and run, but I need to go.”

Haven is smiling ear to ear. “Have fun tonight. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

I growl, literally out loud and move to my feet. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

Chrissy walks around the room, hugging everyone, and then I follow her to the front door as she slides her feet into her heels. She’s huffing at me. “You really don’t need to walk me out.”

“We need to talk.”

I put my hand at her waist and guide her out the door. We’re silent until we get to her car, and I stand against the door, blocking her from getting in. She huffs and crosses her arms across her chest, pushing her breasts up, exposing more of her cleavage. I drag my eyes off her exposed skin and look into her eyes, hoping she tells me no. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

She opens her mouth and then closes it again. She shrugs. “Why shouldn’t I? Like, do you have a reason why I shouldn’t go on a date?”

Because you belong to me. That’s what I want to say. No, to hell with that, I want to scream it. I want to take out a billboard right in downtown Whiskey Run and tell the whole damn town that Chrissy Aiken is mine… but I know I can’t do that. “I can think of at least twenty reasons why you shouldn’t goon this date, but I’m not going to try and stop you.” I suck in a breath and blow it out. “I won’t stand in your way.”

She reaches for the door, but I’m still blocking it. She laughs. “But you are standing in my way. I’m already going to be late, Gabe.”

Reluctantly, I step to the side and open the door for her. She sits down, and I lean down to look at her. “Call me if you need anything. You got your phone? What about the mace I got you?”

“I have it.” She starts the car, puts on her seat belt, and then looks up at me again. “Are you going to show up at the Whistler?”

“Some of the guys were going to meet up there later.” I hold my hands up. “I won’t interfere. But I’ll be close if you need me.”

---