Page 55 of Just Dare Me
Dad hands me the shovel. “Go ahead.”
Scooping a big pile onto the shovel, I take my time sprinkling dirt into the hole. As I shake off the last bits, I glance over at Nick’s silhouette, still leaning motionless against a tree. When I offer the handle of the shovel in his direction, Nick turns away, replaces the cowboy hat on his head, and heads back toward the wagon train.
“Don’t worry, he’ll take his turn,” Mom says. “He’ll find a moment later, when he can be alone out here.”
I shrug. “If you say so. I can’t picture Nick Gorgeous being so respectful of anyone besides himself.”
Mom gives me an impish smile. “Well…Dottie Davies wasn’t just ‘anyone’ to Nick Gorgeous.”
“What?” A moment of confusion quickly turns to terrible realization, all written plainly on my face. “No!” And now everybody is smiling. I guess I was the last one in on this joke. “Nick and…Bunica?”
“Why don’t you ask him about it?”
“How about I cut my ears off instead?”
“Fine. Leave it to your imagination then, every time you see him at the office.”
I shudder. “Ew, would you stop?”
“But you still have to give him the thing.”
“No. Hell no! Somebody else do it.”
Mom shoos me with her hands. “Go on, we’ll finish up here. Guests are arriving, and we need to have her things given away before we can sit down to eat.”
I trudge back to the wagon train, where tables are being placed around the bonfire. Jay helps a pair of coyote shifters—Ben’s goons—to set up chairs. When they see me, the goons quickly avert their eyes to focus on their work. Jay gives me a quick wave, keeping half his attention on Elvira, who’s completely absorbed in chattering his ear off about all the dates she’s been on in the time he was away. I give him a wink, which is to say,Enjoying yourself?He winks back to say,Every second.
And he’s not joking, either. If people could legally adopt siblings, Jay would make Elle his baby sister. The second she arrived, he lifted her off her feet in a big hug, then graciously allowed her to rant for half an hour about not inviting her to the surprise wedding. Like an old pro, he waited the appropriate amount of time, then deftly ended her pouting by demanding that she tell him everything about the guys she’s been going out with, because he was sure they were all unworthy douchebags he’d want to punch in the face.
Their dynamic is so cute that I wish Elle could watch it from the outside, because it would make her so happy. She would squeal with glee and climb my body like a tree while telling me how adorable they are.
“Somebody obviously has experience being the big brother,” Nora says behind me.
I spin and throw my arms around her, surprised by a sudden rush of emotions.
“Oh, wow,” she says, hugging me back.
“I don’t know. Sorry. There’s a lot going on right now, I guess.” I know that Nora can feel—through contact with my skin—everything I’m feeling. Maybe that’s why I’m so happy to see her. She’s the only person here who can just download all my thoughts. I don’t have to say it all in words.
She hugs me tighter. “Oh, wow,” she repeats, taking in all my racing feelings. “Yeah, I’d call that a lot.”
“I mean, it’s mostly all good, but a lot of good is still a lot, you know?”
She chuckles. “I definitely know.”
“I know you know. That’s why…” I don’t have the words to finish that sentence, because there are no words that mean enough. Luckily, I’m tapped into a mind reader, so I let my thoughts flood with memories of the last few months—the hours upon hours, and days upon days, weeks and weeks—that Nora stayed with me, sat with me, talked to me, made sure I was eating, sleeping, taking care of myself. Brought me into her home. Stood up for me.
I’ve bonded quickly with new people before—lots of times—but always with guys. Always. Never with girls—other than Elle, who doesn’t count because she literally falls in love with everybody at first sight. Parker was saying that Nora needs girl time, but maybe I’m the one who really needs it.
Nora cocks her head. “He said that about me?”
I quickly move past those thoughts, letting my mind’s eye convey fear. Fear that with Jay back, my support group will disband, mission accomplished. But I don’t want to break up the band.
Nora pushes me back to look me in the eyes. “That’s not going to happen. You started this; you’re going to end it. And we’re all coming with you.”
Relieved, I fill my cheeks with air, then let it blast out through flapping lips.
Nora makes shifty eyes. “Unless you want to make that run for it we talked about? You grab your guy, I’ll grab mine, and we all run off to an island together, where no one can find us?”
