Page 43 of All Dressed Up

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Will followed her outside the station, relieved to be going home. It may have only been a few short hours, but he never wanted to experience being locked up again.

“Rach...” he started, but he didn’t really know what to say. He slid into the passenger side of her Audi, leaning his head back until it touched the headrest. He shut his eyelids. What could he possibly say to make things right?

He should never have hit a defenseless old man. Even if half the town wanted to punch the old dude’s lights out.

Rachel started her car and backed out, taking a right onto Main Street. They drove the drag in silence as she made her way toward the lake.

“Are you hot?” she asked, turning up the air-conditioning vents.

She didn’t need to be concerned about the heat. Not when her coolness directed toward him could easily cause frostbite. “I’m fine.” He glanced out the window into the dark. He wasn’t always smart around women, but even he knew that there was nothing he should say in this moment.

Anything he offered would just make things worse. Best to keep his mouth shut. Let her be the first to speak.

A few excruciating, silent minutes later, she pulled into his gravel driveway and did just that, switching off her lights. “How did this day go so wrong?”

“I don’t know.” He turned his head to see more disappointment in her eyes.

“I was only trying to help you, Will.”

“I know.” He felt like a heel for letting her down. Correction, the biggest heel.

She twisted in her seat and faced him. “Today can never happen again.”

“It won’t. I swear to you.” That was the God’s honest truth. He let out a breath. “Rach. I’m sorry. I never should have showed up tonight in the condition I was in. I shouldn’t have picked a fight with you, and I sure as hell should never have punched the guy.”

“Why did you?” She clarified when he wasn’t sure which part she was asking about. “Why did you hit Emma’s dad? Do you know him?”

“No, but he seems to know about me, or at least my old man.” He cracked a knuckle. “It’s stupid, but all my life I’ve had to listen to snide comments about my dad. A bad joke here, a wisecrack there about how Mick Jenkins, the town drunk, mismanaged his business, nearly going bankrupt. I thought I was past it. I guess not.”

“But your family is fine now. Both of your parents established successful businesses.”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Once you’re labeled, you spend the rest of your life trying to rip it off. You know how small towns work.”

Her hand brushed over his. “I didn’t realize you felt this way.” Her facial expression softened for the first time tonight.

“Why would you?” He laughed sarcastically. “It’s not like we’re all that close.”

“Right. We aren’t close at all.” She pulled her hand away, wrapping her fingers around the top of the steering wheel.

Nice going, moron. Man, he could put his foot in his mouth. “I didn’t mean...”

She dismissed his attempt to explain with a wave. “No, you’re absolutely right. We were never friends.” She paused, adding, “And then last December happened.”

He scratched his jaw. Was she talking about their hooking up? She had to be. He wished she had a happier look on her face when bringing it up.

“Do you think we could try being friends?”

Friends. He let what she was asking sink in. Could he be just friends with the only woman in town he’d had undeniable feelings for without it crushing him? Unlikely, but he did make a promise to make things right with her. If being friends was all she wanted, he had no other choice. “Friends it is.”

“Good.”

It wasn’t what he wanted. What he wanted was to invite her in for coffee and eventually lead her into his bed. He opened the passenger door.

“Will.”

“Yeah?”

“No repeats of today. No disappearing to day drink. No bickering between us.” She sighed. “And no punching out the father of the bride.”

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