And Then You Fly Read online

  Chapter 15

  They talked through pizza, and then dessert. Bree was just about to suggest it was time for her to go home when Kaleb stood.

  “Come downstairs with me,” he said, pulling her by the hand.

  “What’s down there?”

  “It’s called the Red Room,” he raised his eyebrows when he said it, which made Bree laugh.

  “It’s part of the Stash. Sort of. It’s another restaurant, more of a bar, or nightclub kind of place. My sister owns it now too, but it used to belong to Matt Rice. When he had it, it was a sushi bar.”

  “Lobar?”

  “That’s it. Have you been there?”

  “Sure, once or twice. I didn’t realize Matt sold it.”

  “From what I hear the Rices are getting heavy into rough stock contracting, and Matt didn’t have the time it takes to run a restaurant anymore.”

  “Do they still have the Goat?” Bree loved going to the Goat, especially when Ben’s band, CB Rice played.

  “I don’t think they’ll ever sell the Goat, it’s been in their family forever. That place has been around so long it practically runs itself.”

  Kaleb swept the heavy brocade drapery aside at the bottom of the stairs and Bree couldn’t believe her eyes. The space had been transformed, and it was beautiful.

  “My sister hand-beaded the bar with one of her friends. Took her about two hundred hours to do it.” Bree looked closer. It was magnificent. The entire length of the front of the long bar was intricately beaded on top of the same brocade fabric the draperies were made from.

  There were symbols and shapes, even names worked into the pattern. Kaleb pointed to one. “This guy, Novak, was a buddy of ours who died in an avalanche. And here,” he pointed to another name, “‘Eleanor,’ that’s our mother’s name.”

  “It’s so beautiful.” Bree was tempted to run her hand over the beading but resisted.

  Kaleb took her hand and led her away from the bar. “Let’s sit back here,” he said. There was a fireplace in the back room with cushions surrounding it.

  “Looks comfy,” she smiled, and wondered how many times he refilled her beer over dinner. She’d lost count. She sunk down onto the bench seat and closed her eyes. Kaleb sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

  “You look relaxed,” he murmured.

  “Hmm? Yes, I am relaxed. Which I didn’t think was possible earlier.”

  “And less sad,” Kaleb leaned closer. “Anything you want to talk about?”

  “No, but it wasn’t anything important. I was being silly more than anything. Goes to show how unimportant it was, considering I’d all but forgotten it.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  Kaleb tightened the arm he had around her shoulder, and pulled her closer to him. With his other hand, he caressed her face and looked into her eyes. “I want to kiss you Bree.”

  Instead of answering, she leaned forward and kissed him. Her head was swirling as she opened her mouth under his. This was so unexpected, but, oh so welcome. She rested her hands against Kaleb’s chest, loving the hardness of his body beneath the sweater he changed into earlier. The police officer took very good care of himself. Bree ran her hands over his strong shoulders and down his powerful arms.

  She leaned back just slightly against the cushion and Kaleb followed, the weight of his body resting against hers.

  “What the hell?”

  Bree jerked away from Kaleb and they both looked up; Jace Rice stood above them.

  “Bree? What the hell?”he said again.

  She wiped the back of her hand across her lips and looked at Kaleb.

  “Someone you know?” he whispered softly. He didn’t look bothered by Jace’s outburst, in fact he had a slight smile on his face.

  “Yeah, I know him.”

  “Big brother?”

  “Uh, no.”

  “Oh, sorry to hear that,” now Kaleb was grinning.

  Jace hadn’t moved, his hands were on his waist and he was staring at them. Kaleb moved away from Bree and stood.

  “Kaleb Akerman,” he said, extending his hand to Jace.

  Jace didn’t show any sign of responding.

  “And you are?” Kaleb asked.

  “Jace Rice,” he spat out between clenched teeth. “How the hell do you know Bree?”

  Kaleb turned and looked back at Bree, his smile broadened. “I had to arrest Bree earlier this evening, for speeding. And here in Crested Butte, we take beautiful women to dinner rather than to jail.”

  Jace looked confused. And pissed. Bree couldn’t stop herself from giggling.

  “He’s kidding. Well, sort of, I mean, he did pull me over for speeding.” Bree giggled more.

  “Jace, did you find her?” she heard someone say. The blonde from earlier came out from behind him.

  Jace had never seen her like this. Not ever. What had gotten into her? And who the hell was this guy? Was he really a cop?

  “Bree, do you want to explain what’s going on here?” he asked.

  A man who also looked familiar stood next to the blonde. “I think she’s drunk,” he said to Jace.

  Who were all these people, and why did they care whether she was drunk or not?

  Bree’s head started to feel too heavy to hold up, and she was overly warm. Maybe if she moved away from the fire a little bit. No, that wasn’t helping any. Fresh air, that might help. When she stood she was glad Kaleb was still as close as he had been. She gripped his shoulder in an effort to get the room to stop spinning. It didn’t work. She weaved little, and Kaleb pulled her back down onto the cushions. Except instead of landing on a cushion, she landed on his lap. He held her tight. And it felt so good. She rested her head against his shoulder. She could stay right here for the next few minutes, until she got her bearings.

  “How the hell much did you give her to drink?” she heard Jace growl through her haze of temporary happiness.

  “Go away Jace,” she heard herself say. “Go back to Blondie over there and jus’ leave me alone.”

  “Did you hear that? She’s slurring her words.”

  She opened her eyes and saw Jace moving closer to her.

  “I’m taking her home,” he said, trying to push Kaleb away.

  “Uh, no. You’re not.” Kaleb was so gentle. He put one arm under her knees as the arm around her shoulders tightened. He picked her up, as though she didn’t weigh a thing.

  The room was spinning again, just a little, so she closed her eyes and rested her head on Kaleb’s shoulder.

  “Give her to me,” she heard Jace say.

  “Jace—” that must have been the blonde, thought Bree. Serves the bitch right. That made her giggle again.

  “Bree, are you okay?” That was Jace’s voice.

  No, she wasn’t okay. At least not with him. Kaleb? He was another story. She was perfectly okay with Kaleb. Maybe if Jace went away, Kaleb would kiss her again. She’d like that. She moved her head just enough that her lips could brush against Kaleb’s neck. She kissed him there, and heard him take a deep breath. Instead of moving from where they were standing, Kaleb sat back down. That was unexpected, but Bree didn’t care.

  He turned his head and kissed her again. Yes, that was what she wanted. She kissed him back. When she thought he might pull away, she put her hands on each side of his face to hold him where he was.

  “Jace, what do you want to do?”

  That sounded like the blonde. Maybe she’d be able to get Jace to leave. And if he left, Kaleb might keep kissing her. In the meantime, she’d rest her head on his shoulder again. Maybe close her eyes and take a little nap while they waited for Jace to leave.

  “Look at her,” Jace shouted. “She’s passed out. What did you do, drug her?” He was fighting mad now. He’d never seen Bree have more than a drink or two, now here she was passed out in the arms of a stranger. What had happened in the last couple of hours?

  “Hey bro,” a woman pushed passed Jace. “What ya got goin’ on here?�
�

  “Nothing Kalie. I think the altitude and alcohol hit her a little hard.”

  “See it every day, don’t we? Cab is out front. Do you know where she’s staying?”

  “She’s staying with me,” Jace stepped forward. “We’re all staying out at the Flying R. I’ll get her home.” Jace stepped even closer.

  “The hell you will,” answered Kaleb. “You’re welcome to follow, but I’ll be taking Bree home, and I’ll be the one to make sure she gets there safe and sound.”

  “Oh Jesus,” Kalie groaned. “Just get out of here before this turns into something more than it needs to. And you,” she said to Jace, “I want to talk to you for a minute.”

  Jace didn’t have much choice other than to follow her, she had a death grip on his arm.

  “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t put up with people causing trouble in my bar.”

  Ben walked up behind Jace. “Hey Kalie, what’s goin’ on?”

  “Do you know this guy?”

  “Sure I do. This is my cousin Jace.” Ben turned to Jace. “Jace, meet Kalie Atkinson. She bought this place from Matt.”

  Jace didn’t care who bought what from anyone. He turned to look for Bree, and didn’t see her, or the cop. He bolted for the door trying to catch them. When he got to the top of the stairs, he saw the cab driving away. His truck wasn’t very far away, he ran toward it. Right before he jumped in, he turned and looked back across the street.

  “Go,” shouted Ty. “Ben will give us a ride back to the ranch.”

  “Thanks Ty, and sorry about this.” Jace closed the door and sped off in the direction he saw the cab go in.

  ***

  Bree’s head was throbbing. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. It took her a minute to figure out where she was, until she saw the framed photos of Ben’s son Jake, sitting next to his baseball trophies.

  The room was mostly dark, but even the small amount of light shining through the slats of the blinds hurt her eyes. She’d get up to close them more, but she was afraid she’d get sick to her stomach if she tried to stand.

  She closed her eyes tightly and tried to remember what had happened the night before. She remembered bits and pieces…getting pulled over…Kaleb asking her to have dinner with him.

  Kaleb. Oh, he was handsome. She wondered what happened with Kaleb. She had a vague recollection of him carrying her inside, whispering to her the whole time.

  “I got you baby,” he’d said. Had she dreamt it? She hoped not. If she had it might mean she dreamt kissing him, and that part she wanted to be real. He was a good kisser. She’d like to kiss him again. A lot.

  She heard someone knocking on her door and opened her eyes again. “Go away,” she answered.

  The door opened and Blythe walked in. “Oh no, it’s worse than we thought.” Blythe started to laugh. Someone else was behind her, laughing too.

  Bree put her hands over her ears. “Do you mind? First you bang on the door, now you’re screeching at me. Can’t you just go away?”

  Lyric came around Blythe. “You are bad off, ain’t you Bree? Bangin’? We hardly even tapped on the door.” Lyric was laughing too. The both were.

  “Stop your cackling,” Bree implored.

  “Here,” a voice said. Bree opened her eyes and saw her mother standing over her.

  “What is that?” she looked at the glass her mother was trying to hand her.

  “Dad’s secret recipe hangover cure.”

  “What’s in it?”

  “Oh baby,” her mother answered. “You don’t want to know. Drink it down and give it a half hour or so. We’ll let you get some more rest. I’ll come back to check on you later. Now drink.”

  Paige pushed the drink in Bree’s direction. If she drank that, she’d throw up for sure. She shook her head.

  “Trust me baby,” her mother said. “If you can get it down, you’ll feel a thousand times better than you will otherwise.”

  Her mom was almost always right, and considering she felt as though she was going to die, a thousand times better than dying sounded pretty good. She plugged her nose and guzzled the drink without taking a breath. Her stomach churned and growled, but within a minute or two, she didn’t feel as though she needed to throw up.

  “We’ll leave you now.” Her mom was shooing Blythe and Lyric out of the room. “Go to sleep baby.”

  “Thanks mom,” Bree whispered just before she drifted back to sleep.

  When she woke, her mother was sitting on the side of the bed.

  “Hi,” she said when Bree opened her eyes.

  “Hi, what time is it?”

  “A little after two. You slept longer than I thought you would.”

  Bree sat up. Too quickly. And then laid back down.

  “Two? Isn’t dinner in a half hour? I need to get up. But oh, God, I don’t think I can.”

  “No one expects you to sweetheart. We’ve all missed a Thanksgiving or two in our lifetime. This year is your turn.”

  “Oh no, I can’t believe it. I’m mortified.” Bree rolled over and put her head in the pillow.

  Paige rubbed her back. “Don’t be, everyone has been where you are at least once. Get some more rest, and tomorrow, you can have leftovers.”

  “Does everyone think I’m beyond pathetic?”

  “No Bree, everyone thinks you had too much to drink last night. And as soon as you’re ready, they all want to know all about the mountain man who so gallantly delivered you home last night.”

  Bree peeked up at her mom. “Everyone?”

  “No dear, not everyone. If there is anyone more miserable than you are today, it’s Jace. His ailment doesn’t appear to be a hangover. His is more, uh, the effects of fury.”

  “Fury?” Bree gasped.

  “After the third person asked him if he knew the man who brought you home, yeah, it turned to fury.”

  As perverse as it felt, knowing Jace was furious, Bree was able to drift back to sleep with a smile on her face.

  “You didn’t see her,” Jace said to Blythe. “She was so drunk she passed out.”

  Blythe studied him, but didn’t answer.

  He leaned forward. “Did you hear me?”

  “I heard you Jace, and you can lower your voice, I’m sitting right next to you.”

  “Okay, so, like I said, she was really drunk. ”

  “You upset her, and she reacted.”

  “Wait. I upset her? I did? How did this become my fault?”

  “Telling her she was your hookup girl? Asking her if you could scratch her itch? Bet you didn’t think anyone heard you, but I did.”

  He put his elbows on the table in front of him and put his head in his hands. “I don’t know what got into me. I was an asshole. I admit it.”

  Blythe stood up so quickly Jace had to grab her chair before it tipped all the way over and hit the floor.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Anywhere you aren’t.”

  “Blythe, c’mon? I’m trying to talk to you about Bree.”

  “I don’t feel like talking to you Jace.”

  He followed Blythe into the other room. “Wait. Please Blythe. I’m sorry.”

  When she sat down on the sofa in front of the fireplace, he sat down next to her.

  “I knew this was going to be a rough weekend,” she said. “But I had no idea it would start out this badly.”

  Jace didn’t know what to say. He agreed. He knew it would be awkward between Bree and him. This was way beyond awkward.

  “When did you get here?” Jace kept his voice soft, hoping he’d be able to get Blythe to forgive him. He needed her to talk to him.

  “Yesterday morning.”

  “Do you know the guy she was with?”

  Blythe closed her eyes. “No, I don’t, but Ben does.”

  “Is he really a cop?”

  “Yep. Ben said he and his sister own property in Crested Butte too. Something about a restaurant.”

  “Yeah, I met
her last night too. I think she was about to threaten me within an inch of my life, but then Ben stepped in.”

  Blythe raised her eyebrows.

  “How is she?”

  “Really hungover. And embarrassed.”

  “She didn’t want to eat?”

  Bree wasn’t at the table when the rest of the family had Thanksgiving dinner. No one said anything about her absence. Jace got the feeling everyone knew what had happened the night before. They probably blamed him. At the time he thought maybe he should’ve skipped dinner too.

  “I don’t think she had much of an appetite.”

  Jace leaned forward and put his head in his hands. “What have I done?”

  Blythe patted his back. “It isn’t that bad. Really. I think she’s more embarrassed than anything else.”

  “She shouldn’t be. It’s my fault. You’re right.”

  “Wait a minute. I didn’t say it was your fault. I said you upset her and she reacted. She’s responsible for her own behavior Jace.”

  “What’s the difference Blythe? If I hadn’t said what I did, she wouldn’t have ended up shit-faced last night.”

  “And if you weren’t torn up about her, you wouldn’t have said it in the first place.”

  “Hi sweetie. How are you feeling?”

  Jace looked in the direction Blythe was. Bree stood next to the fireplace. She had on a Crested Butte sweatshirt that was at least three sizes too big for her, and what looked like pajama bottoms. Her face was pale, which made the circles under her eyes look darker. He wanted to smooth her hair back from her face, and help her back downstairs to bed. She looked as though she could use several hours more sleep.

  “Oh Jace, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—”

  “Wait, don’t go,” Jace jumped up and followed her.

  She stopped in the kitchen. “I can’t do this now Jace. Can we please talk tomorrow instead?”

  What could he say? She looked green, and as though she was going to cry. He wanted to talk to her so badly, but he couldn’t force her to do it now.

  “Sure darlin’,” he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “You go get some sleep.”