Page 8 of Bad Girls Don't Marry Marines (Rock Canyon, Idaho 3)

Had she really become grandma-ish, watching the world pass her by? She was only twenty-six, but some days she felt like she was fifty.

As she sat back down on the couch and flipped through the channels again, she tried to remember the last time she’d cut loose and had fun. It was depressing how far back she had to go to find a memory. Sure, she’d been a partyer in college, until she’d met Cole her senior year at Boise State, but if she were being really honest with herself, the best memory she had from her wild days was the night she’d spent with Justin Silverton.

She’d been turning seventeen a few days later and her friends had found out about a party down by the river. She’d waited for her dad to go to sleep and crawled out of the window, just like Caroline had. Val had snuck out quite a few times with her older sister, but the thrill of doing it by herself had been a new high.

There had been four of them. Thea Andrews had managed to get around her overbearing mother only to offer to be the designated driver. Val had bumped into Thea since being back in town, and Thea had become exactly who her mother had wanted her to be: the perfect wife and mother. Everything Val wasn’t.

Pushing back the thought, Val concentrated on that night. Charlene Hamilton and Hope Reynolds—now Weathers, after marrying Officer Sam Weathers—had sat in the back, giggling and singing loudly, already drunk on half a bottle of vanilla vodka and Coke, and Val had joined them.

By the time they’d arrived, she’d had a good buzz on, and when someone let out a catcall as they walked by, she had turned to find a group of guys drinking beer by the side of a blue lifted pickup. Val had switched directions to say hi, with Charlene and Hope giggling behind her and Thea hissing something. Val hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything except one guy with broad shoulders, leaning against the truck. She could tell he was watching her approach and it had thrilled her.

“What are you guys doing?”

“We were getting ready to take off until we saw you walk up,” one guy she recognized as Thea’s brother Carl said. His leer lasted just long enough to catch sight of his sister. “Shit, Thea! Mom catches you here and she’ll blister your hide.”

“Leave her alone, Carl,” Hope had snapped.

Carl sucked in his breath and squinted at them. “Hope. Charlene. Valerie. What are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be at home having a slumber party?”

Hope walked up to Carl and hit him on the bill of his baseball cap. “You are such an ass.”

“Hey, Carl, your sisters are hot,” another guy teased, and the group roared when Carl’s expression darkened.

“You all need to get out of here.”

Finally, Thea had stepped in and stood up to her brother. “We’ll go when we’re damn ready,” she’d said with a sniff. “Come on, we should keep moving to the party.”

The rest of the guys booed and the one eyeing Thea had said, “Forget Carl. Hang with us.”

“Where are you going?” Charlene asked.

While the rest of the group argued and made suggestions, Val’s gaze kept straying to the quiet guy, who seemed to be watching her with a small smile, his ball cap set low over his eyes. Val’s heart was drumming a loud tempo in her chest and she felt warm under his scrutiny.

Finally, when the group decided to head over to the high school for some mischief, the quiet guy stood up straight and advanced toward her. She hadn’t moved, even when his hand reached up, cradling the back of her head and his other arm went around her back. He’d kissed her fast, but his mouth was soft and gentle, sweeping his tongue out to run across her lips until she’d opened to him.

With a sigh, Val closed her eyes now and envisioned that kiss, the way it had felt to be swept up in the moment. The way he’d given her one more light kiss before whispering, “I’m Justin.”

A shrill ring cut into the memory and she frowned, glancing at the caller ID on her phone. Edward Willis.

She thought about not answering and letting it go to voice mail, but depending on how bad Ellie had rattled his temper, he might just come over instead.

“Hello, Dad.”

“Is she there with you?” His voice was a dark growl, something so deep she could imagine it coming from a bear more than a man.

“Of course she is. Where else would she be?”

“Out carousing with those no-good friends of hers and dragging the family name through some more mud.”

Val sighed and continued her search for the perfect movie. “I’m sure there’s no mud dragging.”

“All day, I have been fielding phone calls because her actions made the damn paper. Did she tell you what she was caught doing in the Thompsons’ barn?”

She held the phone away from her ear as he yelled and said loudly, “No, she didn’t tell me.”

“She was screwing both the Thompson boys!”

“At the same time?” Valerie said, adding a gasp for dramatic effect. It would do no good to discuss her worries about Ellie’s behavior with her father; all it would create was more reason for him to get all riled up. But tomorrow, she would definitely have a heart-to-heart with her sister about making smart choices.

---