Page 74 of Stone

His lips thinned. “Happy New Year. You wanna come through, or stay out here being inappropriate with my daughter?”

I nearly said, “Door number two, please,” but I clamped my mouth shut. The dude hated me already, and I didn’t want to make it worse, so I gave him a chin lift and pulled Elise toward him. I could hear the strains of Karen Carpenter warbling ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ from the room behind him. As we approached,he turned and gestured for us to go through, and I looked down, grinning at Elise.

She grinned back, understanding everything my face conveyed. Me and Leesy, our parents, our environments, and even our homes were opposites. My home was filled with crashing beats, electric guitars, and cool riffs. In contrast, hers was easy listening and classical, mixed with mainstream Dolly P.

Night and day.

Dark and light.

Rock and pop.

But I didn’t care. It worked for us. I liked our differences because when you slotted them together, they made something whole.

Something complete.

Something beautiful.

The room was filled with the town’s ‘elite’ standing around drinking champagne from crystal glasses and eating tiny morsels of food from patterned china plates. The men were dressed in suits and the women cocktail dresses, whereas I’d rocked up in my jeans, white tee, and leather jacket.

I looked around for somebody I knew well enough to speak to and caught the eye of Bert Henderson, who stood in a huddle with Malcom Stafford, Harry’s dad, and Pete Barrington’s dad, Malcom, who owned the bank.

A huge smile spread across Bert’s face. “Well, if it isn’t John Stone, our returning Marine. Come here, son.” He waved me over. “Tell us how you’re doing over in California.”

The mayor was a good guy. He’d been around all my life in some capacity or other. He and Dad, for all their differences, had a bond I recognized as close friends and brothers in arms. I knew this because I held the same bonds dear these days, too.

It was a shame that Robbie and I couldn’t be closer. He was my bud—at least he was before he went to Yale—but we’d grownapart since he’d been back, and when California beckoned, I didn’t have time to get to the root of our issues.

Bert held his hand out, pulling my arm as I walked up to him and the good ol’ boys he was with. “Here he is. The man of the moment. Our returning hero. How’s military life treating you, John?”

Shaking his hand, I flashed a smile around the crowd of men. “Life’s good, Sir. The Marines are everything I dreamed of, more even.” I dropped the mayor’s hand, taking Elise’s instead. “I miss home and my loved ones, but I get to come back now and again.”

Bert cocked his head thoughtfully. “You’ll have to look into getting one of them cell phones those bigwigs on Wall Street yap into all day. That way, you can keep up with everybody.”

I grinned. “Doubt my lieutenant would like that, Sir.”

“Maybe not,” Henderson mused. “I doubt they’ll take off anyway. Those things will probably give you brain cancer from their radioactive waves.” He leaned closer. “You heard anything about the troubles in the Middle East?”

“I have, Sir,” I confirmed. “But only from the news like everybody else. I don’t have any insider information.”

He sucked air in through his teeth. “There was enough unrest with the recent Iran-Iraq war. That Hussein came out of it smelling of roses. If you ask me, that man’s getting a bit too big for his breeches.”

My lips twitched because an hour before, I’d listened to my dad ranting about the same thing.

“Mark my words, we’ve not heard the last of that Saddam Hussein. He’s got the war bug in him; I can see it.” Bert’s eyes met mine and softened. “But at least we’ve got fine men like you to keep our country safe. Best military personnel in the world.”

“Men like you and my dad laid the groundwork.” I clapped Bert’s shoulder. “You gave blood, sweat, and tears at a time whenwe didn’t have the caliber of weapons we have now. If I can fight half as well as you and my dad did, I’ll be doin’ my job.”

Henderson beamed, his eyes going past me and landing on my girl, who waited patiently by my side. “Ahh, Elise. You look pretty as a picture. Bet you’re happy to see young Stone here.”

She smiled at him. “Yes, it’s great to have John home for New Year.”

The mayor focused on something over my shoulder and waved again.

I turned to see Robbie making his way over, and I almost groaned out loud. The last thing I needed was a confrontation here, of all places. Elise’s dad didn’t need much of an excuse to hate me even more than he already did, but shit going down at his NYE party might be the icing on the cake.

To my surprise, he shot me a sheepish grin and clasped my shoulder. “Hey, John. Good to see you.”

“Rob,” I greeted icily, giving him a chin lift.

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