Page 82 of Fall to Me
“Hi, Mimi.” Tucker greets my parents, giving each of them a hug. “Hi, PawPaw. Dad told Mom you shot Uncle Carter. Said you nicked his ear pretty good. Never seen you miss before. You gettin’ rusty in your old age?”
Cal and Aspen glance at each other, and everyone else stops what they’re doing to look at my dad.
“Well, boy, you see, there was this fox trying to get into the hen house. I saw it right over Carter’s shoulder. His ear was just a mild casualty.”
“Yeah. I don’t know if I’m buying that story but if that’s what you wanna go with . . . where’s the fox?”
Dad scratches his neck.
“We buried it last night, along with the hatchet, didn’t we Rhett?” Carter cuts in, then turns to Cal. “I told you not to say anything,”
“Sorry, dude. You know I can’t keep shit from my wife. Anyways, it’s good to see you survived another day,” he laughs, clasping Carter’s shoulder.
A few minutes later, Katherine walks through the door . . . followed by Luke and Hannah. My mom about falls over herself to get to Katherine. Those two are as close as Aspen and me.
It’s nice having my family together. I just wish Carter’s parents and his sister could be here, too. I know he would’ve loved that.
Maybe next year.
The thought brings a smile to my face. Not so long ago, the idea of Carter scared the shit out of me, and now here I am, making plans for our future. Plans that include us together next year.
Maybe I’m not still standing in place while the world spins around me after all.
Twenty-Six
Carter
River fires up her dirt bike and throws on a helmet. I stand in front of her, clipping and tightening the straps. “I have to admit, you look hot as fuck sitting on that bike, but I don’t know how I feel about you racing.”
“We do it every year after Thanksgiving dinner. The Hendrix dirt bike race is a rite of passage.”
Harley and Harper are on either side of River, revving their engines.
“Alright,” Rhett says with his pistol at his side, standing off to the side and facing the dirt bikes. “Y’all know the rules. First race winner secures the girl’s slot. Second race winner secures the boy’s. The final round is girls against boys, and winner takes the three-hundred dollars in my pocket.” Rhett’s eyes meet Aspen’s. “You sure you don’t want to race this year?”
“No, I’m good.” She shakes her head and leans back against Cal’s chest as he wraps his arms around her.
“Hannah?”
She looks to her dad then back at Rhett. “No, but thank you.”
Rhett nods. “When you hear my shot.”
I back away from the bikes and stand by Aspen and Cal as Rhett holds his gun in the air.
“Ready.”
“Set.”
He fires into the air, and the girls take off, passing him. River pops a wheelie, then disappears through the trees. I’m gonna spank her ass for that. Sweat drips down my temples even though it’s forty-five degrees outside.
“You look nervous,” Aspen says to me with a laugh. “Just wait till she hits that jump on her way back.”
She points at a mound off to the right that I didn’t notice. A few minutes later, River clears the trees and takes the jump, flying through the air. My heart stops beating. Her cousins follow behind her. Each one right on her back tire. Landing hard, she pushes the bike forward, then pops another wheelie before slamming it down and skidding out in front of us, kicking up dirt.
She hops off and places her helmet under her arm, walking up to me, all smiles. “I am the weener!”
“Damn. I think that was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” I say pulling her into my arms. “But also, I don’t know if my heart can take you doing that again.”
