Devoted (5 page)

She smiled and said,
“You’re welcome. Thank you for making
my
best friend
happy. So when are you going to do it?”

“Saturday
night after the fight.
It’s
my
last one, forever. That makes it a significant night already. If she says yes,
it will make it the most significant and the best night of my life so far.”

CHAPTER
SEVEN

EMMI

“Do you want to go to a
yard sale?”

Braxton laughed, but
when he saw
my
face he said, “Oh, you’re not kidding?”

“My mother kind of
volunteered me to help. It’s at her church. It’s actually a bazaar
I
guess, not really a yard sale. She has her bridge
tournament tonight so she wasn’t going to be able to make it. I have to go and I’d
love it if you’d go with me.”
I
did my best to bat my
eyes at him, it wasn’t a trick I used often, but I thought I’d give it a shot.

He rolled his eyes and
said, “Lay off the eyelashes, I’ll go.”

“Thank you!”
I
said, hugging him. I normally didn’t mind going places by
myself, but my mom’s church is full of old ladies who have known me my whole
life and if I went alone they would corner me and expect me to tell them all
about what’s going on in my life.
I
was hoping that if
Braxton went with me they might leave me alone and let me just volunteer my
time and go. Besides,
I
wanted another evening with
Braxton. We had a great time at the lake on Wednesday, but
I
had hardly seen him since and tomorrow was the big fight so he would be busy
most of the day.

We made the hour-long
drive with the back of Braxton’s pickup loaded with clothes and shoes and
things that
I
didn’t wear any longer.
My
mother said she would send her stuff with a neighbor.
I
had asked Braxton if he had anything to donate and I ended
up with two faded pairs of jeans that were scuffed on the bottoms and two holey
T-shirts.

I
looked at them and said, “Really?”

“What, it’s for a
church, right? And they’re holy…get it?”

I
loved him but I was glad he didn’t ever want to become a comedian.

He turned into the
front of the church building and
I
directed him around
to the back parking lot. There was a long line of cars parked across the street
from the back of the church.

“So where should we
park?”

“I have no idea,”
I
said.
My
eyes were scanning the
lot for Pastor Cross when I suddenly saw my mother, waving her arms at us and
directing us into a parking spot.

“I thought your mother
had bridge or something.”

“Me too,”
I
said, wondering what she was up to. Braxton had already
flipped the truck around and was backing it into the spot. There were tarps set
up in front of all the cars, vans and trucks. Tables were set up under the
tarps and people were busily setting up their wares. The canopies stretched
from one side of the church, around the back and along the other.

“Hey, Mom,”
I
said as I stepped out of the truck. “I thought you had
bridge this evening.”

“It was canceled, can
you believe it?” she said.
I
was suspicious of her for
some reason. “Hi, Braxton, I’m glad you came. There are so many people I’d like
you to meet.”

Oh no, that was her
motivation. She knew
I
would bring Braxton and it was
her opportunity to show him…and me, I guessed, off. Braxton smiled indulgently
and said hello.

She dragged him off
right away saying, “We’ll be right back,
Emmi
. You
can go ahead and start setting up if you want to.”

“Sure,”
I
said, looking forlornly at the trunk full of crap my
mother had brought. Sighing,
I
started taking the
stuff out and tried to decide how to organize it on the table.
I
glanced up to see my mother and Braxton talking to Pastor
Cross. They seemed to be having a serious conversation and
I
wondered what they were talking about.

“Hi,
Emmi
,”
I
heard the voice of a woman
I didn’t want to see.
My
stomach was in knots.
Finally,
I
took a deep breath and looked up into the
face of Trent’s mother.

“Oh, hi, Mrs.
Blackwell, how are you?”

“I’m very well,
Emmi
. How are you? You look lovely, as usual.”

“I’m well too, thank
you.”

“Is your mother here?”

“Yes, she’s speaking to
Pastor Cross.” Trent’s mother’s eyes went straight over to where they were,
telling
me
that she was just as sneaky as Trent even
before she said, “Oh, there she is. Who is that handsome young man with her?”

“That’s my friend,
Braxton.”

“Oh,
the fighter.”
I
had a
feeling Trent told her about the bar incident. He was pretty close to his mom.

“Yeah, he does a little
of that,”
I
said.

“Well, it was good to
see you,
Emmi
. Trent’s here, I’ll send him over to
say hello.”

My
entire night was just ruined.

By the time Braxton and
my
sneaky mother got back, I had already pulled all
the boxes out of her trunk and sat them on the ground. She had also brought
lawn chairs and a little ice chest full of waters.
My
mother was always prepared.

“I don’t know where you
want everything, Mom.”

“Anywhere on the table
where it can be seen is fine, honey. Pastor Cross is going to have Jeffrey come
over and help Braxton set up the tarp. I have price stickers and markers so we
can price our items too.”

Braxton stepped over
next to
me
as I took things out of the boxes. “I’m
sorry,
I think my mother wants to show you off.”

He grinned. “That’s
fine.
I
understand. Who wouldn’t want to show me off?”

I
poked him in the ribs. Turning serious
I
said,
“Braxton, Trent is here.”

His face looked like
he’d just bitten into a lemon, but he calmly said, “I’ll be good, I promise.”

I
gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and said, “I know you will, I just feel bad.
I dragged you out here and my mom’s introducing you to pastors and old people
and my ex-boyfriend is roaming around.”

He put his arm around
me
. “You know what I thought about the other day?”

“What?”

“You put up with crap
from Sarah and I doubt she’ll be the last of my exes that you’ll have to deal with
face to face.
I
know I was wrong to punch Trent that
night and I won’t do it again.
I
need to handle things
better like you. Hell,
I
’m about to graduate from
college.
I
need to be more of a man and less of a
hot-headed boy. This will be good practice.”

I
smiled at him.
I
really did appreciate that he was
trying.
I
glanced over to where my mom was. Trent was
standing there talking to her. He had his most charming smile pasted on his
face. After what Trent did to
me
, my mom and dad both
would just as soon shoot him as look at him, but in a situation like this, I
knew my mother would force herself to be polite.

I
looked back at Braxton and told him, “I guess now’s your chance to try out some
of that new found maturity. I doubt he’ll do or say anything too stupid here.”

The lemon look was back
and
I
couldn’t help but have a small tickle of anxiety
in my belly. Maybe it was PTSD from the last time they met.
I
picked up one of the boxes and carried it closer to the table and started
taking things out. My mother had gathered all of her old jewelry and clothes,
and I was
pretty sure
a few of my dad’s good T-shirts
that he would have never agreed to give away.

“Hi,
Emmi
,” this time it was Trent.
I
sucked in a breath and looked up at him. He had a strange look on his face, one
I
’d never seen before.

“Hello, Trent.”

“
Emmi
,
I didn’t get a chance before…I needed to—”

Suddenly, Braxton was
standing next to
me
. Trent stopped talking and looked
at him. Finally, he said, “Hi.”

Braxton gave him a
chin-nod and with an almost pained expression on his face, Trent went on,
“Anyways, that night I saw you at the bar I was already a little drunk. I was
way out of line and I owe you an apology.”

I
was surprised.
I
think that may be the first genuine
apology he had ever given me, one where there was no benefit for him in the
end. “Okay, Trent, thanks,”
I
said.

Braxton’s spine
straightened next to
me
all of a sudden.
I
didn’t know why, PTSD again, but I startled a little when
he moved.
I
should have had more faith in him though
because what he said was, “You’re not the only one who was out of line. I’m
sorry that I punched you.”

Trent looked embarrassed
as he said, “I had it coming and if you had been treating
Emmi
the way I was that night, I would have punched you too. But thanks for the
apology. I better get going, take care, both of you.” Braxton and
I
, both still a little stunned, watched him go.

When he was out of
earshot Braxton asked, “What do you suppose brought that on?”

“I have no idea,”
I
said. Then with a giggle
I
added,
“Maybe just the simple fear of getting his ass kicked again.” Braxton couldn’t
help it, he laughed too.

We spent a few hours
“helping”
my
mother who didn’t need any help, but was
having a great time introducing us to everyone. A few of the older ladies and I
mean really old like my grandma’s age said things when my mom introduced them
to Braxton like, “Oh, so this is
Emmi’s
“gentleman.”
I
was afraid that would embarrass Braxton, but he took it
all like a trooper. When all
was said and done,
I
think I have to say that the old ladies loved him as much as the young ones did.
On the way home,
I
looked at his profile and thought
about the fact he had just given up his Friday evening to attend a church
bazaar with me. And, he apologized to Trent for punching him. He must have really
loved
me
.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

BRAXTON

I
woke up Saturday morning stoked.
I
was ready for this
fight and I was ready to put that ring on
Emmi’s
finger. She was still asleep when
I
got up and I tried
to be as quiet as I could so I didn’t wake her up.
I
was going to go out for a run and then pick Callie up to have breakfast with
me. She was the last person
I
wanted to talk to before
I popped the question to
Emmi
.
I
wasn’t necessarily asking for her blessing, but I wanted her to feel like she
was a part of it somehow.
I
was getting ready to leave
Emmi
a note when I felt her standing behind me.

“Hey,
good morning, beautiful.”
I
turned around and pressed my lips to hers.

“
Mmm
, good morning to you.
What big plans do you have this morning?”

“I was going for a run
and then go take Callie a ticket for my fight tonight. What have you got going
on?”

“I was going to take
pictures of the basketball team today.”

“The
basketball team?
They’re like 0 and 5, aren’t they?”

She laughed and said,
“So that means they don’t deserve to be photographed?”

“No, I was just
wondering what the motivation would be.”

“It’s for their annual
calendar. You know, some women find super tall men very attractive. Maybe I do
too and these will be for my private collection,” she said with a mischievous
smile.

I
stepped into her personal space and kissed her again, hard. Then flexing
my
biceps I said, “I got your private collection right
here.”

She giggled, kissed
me
again and said, “Yes you do,” in a sexy voice.