90 Days (Prairie Town Book 2) (21 page)

     “Something amazing.” He echoed thoughtfully.  “I think we can do that.”

     “Yeah?”

     “Yeah.” He ran his fingers through her hair and leaned in to kiss her forehead, sighing contently.  “We can definitely do that.”

     “Good.”  Her eyes closed and she rested against him, falling silent once more.

      He closed his eyes and smiled.

     Maybe this was why nothing else had worked out before. 

Chapter 11

Lydia

     “I am so glad we decided to do this.” Aggie chimed happily from the comfort of her chair.  She burst into a fit of giggles when the salon lady began massaging her feet and squirmed.  “Careful now.  I’m not used to letting people rub me down.”

     “I figured we needed to relieve some stress.” Lydia replied from her seat, pointing out the color of polish she wanted on her toes before turning her head lazily to look at her sister.  Laney’s eyes were closed and she seemed to be enjoying her pedicure.

     Good.

     It had been almost two weeks since the night she discovered the name Alisha Thomas and there hadn’t been very much progress made.  Jeb seemed to have all the answers, but actually getting him to give them up was an entirely different story.

     Alisha, better known as Mia, was apparently a crazy ex-girlfriend, which was weird because Lydia hadn’t even known he’d had a girlfriend.  Ever.

     And what was even more worrisome was the fact she knew all about Lydia’s past.  Jeb swore up and down he hadn’t said anything to her, but he feared she might have learned the truth when he’d picked up her hormone medication. 

     “Stop thinking about it.” Aggie scolded.  “Today is not a day for thinking, Lydia.  Unless it’s about how amazing your wedding night is going to be.  I cannot
believe
Callum’s taking you to Ireland, you lucky bitch.”

     “It is pretty unbelievable, huh?” Lydia forced a smile and let her head fall back against the cushiony headrest.  She sighed and closed her eyes, willing the worries of the month to go away, if only for a moment.

     “You really are lucky. I envy you.  Don’t you envy her, Laney?”

     “Every day of my life.” Laney mumbled, draping an arm across her eyes. 

     “There’s no need to envy me, Sis.  Your time is coming—you’ll see.”

     “Oh, yeah!” Aggie bolted up in her seat and caused the woman working on her feet to yelp in surprise. “Sorry.” She blinked.  “But it’s true.  You and Benji seem to be getting along famously these days.” Her eyebrows waggled.

     “Oh, shut up.” Laney’s face turned red and she smiled the biggest smile Lydia had ever seen.

     Knowing that she and Benji had finally made progress in their relationship, thrilled her beyond belief.  She’d watched them for months, flirting and shyly exchanging glances.  She knew how her sister felt about Benji, and she knew Benji returned those feelings.  It was wonderful they were finally able to be together.

    
I am so happy for her.
  Lydia thought as she gazed down at her newly manicured nails. 
She deserves to be happy.  They both do.

    
It had once been an impossible thought; her friends finding something real in the very same town as her.  When she lived with Benji and Ags in Vermont, they always talked about the day when they’d meet the loves of their lives, and when she met Callum she had thought it was a one-in-a-million occurrence. 

     But for Benji and her sister to hit it off?  Incredible.

    
Now if only Ags could find someone to make her happy.
  She thought, her eyes moving back to her best friend.  Aggie had gotten into a serious discussion about her ticklish feet and was paying no mind to her at the moment, but Lydia took the opportunity to simply admire her beauty.

     Ags really was one of the most amazing people on Earth.  Others viewed her as strange, twisted, and complicated, but Lydia only saw a good heart and a light soul.  Anyone would be lucky to have someone like Ags.

     But who?

     The first person to come to mind was her brother.  Of all people, it was Jeb.  She’d always got the feeling there was something more between the two of them, but aside from a few lingering embraces and the one instance of her comforting Jeb during their mother’s surgery, she couldn’t really pinpoint an exact moment when she felt they should be together.

    
Who am I to judge if they should be together or not?  Jeb is a good guy.

     True.  He was a good guy.  He was good enough that he re-ordered all of her invitations, filled them out, and sent them to the post office.  If that didn’t qualify as a good guy, she didn’t know what did.  But, he was also battling his own demons at the moment.  She was still trying to get the whole truth out of him and that was like trying to get blood from a turnip.

    
I will get to the bottom of it.
  She affirmed. 
And Alisha Thomas or Mia, or whatever the hell her name is, will rue the day she messed with my family.

     After their visit to the local salon for some much needed pampering, Lydia, Ags, and Laney stopped by the bookstore so Laney could get ‘the new book she had been waiting for all week’.

     As soon as they entered the store, Laney darted to the back and Lydia was pretty sure it wasn’t to fondle something with pages.

     Following Aggie down a random aisle, she leaned against the bookshelf and waited patiently for her sister to return.

     “Are they sure there aren’t any vampires in this book?” Aggie asked as she plucked a book off the shelf and began thumbing through it.  “Oh, I like this Taryn girl.  I might need to buy this today.”

     “Then buy it, silly.” Lydia laughed.  “That’s what a bookstore is for, you know?  You see a book, you like a book, and you buy it.”

     “Really?  I had no idea!” Aggie stuck her tongue out at her and tucked the book beneath her arm, moving down another aisle.  “Oh! Look, Liddy Biddy.  They’ve even got
The Kadenburg Shifters Series
!”

     “The what?”

     “The… ugh, you know, it’s the bear shifters series I was telling you about?  Oh, come on.  I’ve talked about it before.” Aggie stared at her as if she’d grown a third eye.  “Bear shifters?  Tennessee? Hunky gay werewolf I’d totally do bad things to?”

     “I think I remember you mentioning something about that.”

     “How can you not?  I raved about those books for weeks.  I’m still waiting for the final installment.  I’m not a patient person.”

     “Don’t I know it?” Lydia laughed, reaching for her phone when it began ringing.

     “Is that the future husband?” Aggie giggled as she continued grabbing books and hugging them to her chest.

     “It’s the father.”

     “Ohhh.  Well, tell him his favorite gender fluid adopted child says hello.”

     “Will do.” She headed back to the front counter and answered her phone, smiling happily.  “Hey, Daddy.”

     “Lydia.”

     The tone of his voice immediately made her heart sink.  Something was wrong.

     “What is it?”

     “You need to come home.” He replied with a heavy sigh.  “And bring your brother and sister, too.”

----------

Laney

     She had been enjoying a rather spontaneous make-out session with Benji when her sister interrupted them, in the storage closet of all places, and said they had to head back to their parents’ house.  At any other time she would have complained, but the expression on Lydia’s face told her it was important and it wasn’t something to argue with.

     So that’s how she found herself in the backseat of the car with a fresh hickey on her neck and a stomach full of anxious butterflies, heading down the gravel road that led to her Mom and Dad’s place.

     Lydia was driving and hadn’t said a word since they left the store.  Aggie was sitting in the passenger seat, admiring the new books she had purchased before their departure.

     As much as she wanted to ask what her father had said on the phone, a part of her really didn’t want to know.  It must have been bad.  It
had
to be bad.

     But what was it about?  Had his heart gotten worse?  Was their Mom okay?  Did someone die?

     More and more questions swirled around in her mind and they weren’t helping the nervous knots in her stomach.  They squeezed around her organs and made her feel sick.  When the car finally stopped, she pushed open the door and got out, practically running up the steps and into the house.

     “Dad!” She called, her heart beating so hard it felt like it may explode.  “Mom?  Where are you?”

     “In the kitchen, sweetie.” Her mom replied.

     Lydia was just making it through the front door when Laney was off again, darting into the kitchen.  She found her parents sitting at the table.  Her mother was holding a cup of coffee between her hands and her father was staring at a piece of paper, his fingertips resting against his temple with a look of concern on his face.

     Either someone had died or something really, really bad had happened.

     “What’s going on?” Lydia asked as she finally made it into the kitchen, leaning against the back of her mother’s chair for support.  “We’re here like you wanted.  Now tell me what happened.”

     “I’d much rather wait for your brother.” Her father said quietly, placing the paper face down on the tabletop before lifting his gaze to meet hers.  “This is a family matter.”

     “Oh, God.” Laney wailed, putting a hand over her mouth.  Insta-tears came out of nowhere and she all but threw herself into her father’s arms.  “You’ve gotten worse, haven’t you?  Oh, God!”

     “Calm down, Laney.  No—it’s not that.  Stop crying.” Her father patted her back and hugged an arm around her, sighing.

     “Wait, what?” Lydia sounded confused, and rightly so.

     None of them had had the courage to tell her about Mr. McIntosh’s heart condition.

    
And I just stupidly blurted it out.  Way to go, Laney.

     “Oh, dear.” Mrs. McIntosh sighed.  “Lydia, sweetheart.  I think you should come sit down.”

     “Why?” Lydia became defensive.  “What’s wrong with Dad?”

     The sound of tears in her voice made Laney feel even worse.  She had such a stupid, big mouth!  Pulling away from her father and wiping at her eyes, she turned to stare at Lydia apologetically.

     “Lydia, I—”

     “What’s wrong with Dad?” Lydia repeated, her eyebrows furrowing.  “What the hell are you all not telling me?”

     “Oh, Lydia.” Mrs. McIntosh’s eyes glistened as she looked to her husband nervously.  “Sweetie, we wanted to tell you, but—”

     “But what?”

     “We were going to wait until after the wedding.” Mr. McIntosh gazed at her sadly.  “I didn’t want you worrying about it.  You’re so happy, baby.  I didn’t want to take that away from you.”

     “Oh,
okay
.” Lydia’s hands soared into the air as she scoffed.  “Because
not
telling me something is so much better.  ‘Oh, you’re getting married, Lydia?  Well, let’s not tell you about your father being sick because you need to be happy!’ Really?  You think that’s a good reason not to tell me?”

     Laney watched her parents bow their heads in shame and she mirrored them, which was a bad idea because Lydia laid into her.

     “And you knew! Laney, how could you keep that from me?”

     “I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry.” But she knew that wasn’t good enough.  What they had done was wrong.  They were trying to protect her, to shield her, to
keep
her, but they had gone about it all wrong.

     “How long?” Lydia asked in an angry whisper, her voice trembling.

     “How long what?” Her mother questioned with a sniff.

     “How long has he been sick and how long have you been hiding it from me?”

     Laney and her mother exchanged glances before the McIntosh Matriarch responded.