Page 29 of Tattoo My Heart
Bass takes a step closer to me in an attempt to shake my hand again.
“Sorry, man, I didn’t know she was yours. I would’ve never…”
“Oh my god!” Evie covers her face with her hands. Her shoulders are shaking slightly. I’m not sure if she’s laughing or crying. Maybe a little bit of both.
I don’t have time to make her feel better because I see Nancy heading right our way.
“Hi, kids,” her cheery voice reaches us before she does. “Cal, honey, I can’t believe you’re in town again. How good to see you!”
She opens her arms to give me a hug. She’s met me only a handful of times, but she always made me feel welcome.
“I see you met my nephew.” She reaches up in an attempt to squeeze Bass’ cheek. He obliges by bending almost in half for her to reach him. “And Bass, you met Evie’s brother. I love it!” She claps her hands together with obvious joy.
“Wait,” Bass looks from me to Evie and back. Evie still has her face covered, refusing to participate in whatever madness is now happening. “You two are siblings?” I swear his eyes are ready to pop out of his head.
“Oh my god,” Evie whimpers.
I hate to agree with her that this looks bad, really bad.
Nancy now looks concerned. A little too late for her to read the room, but it is what it is.
“Everything okay?” she looks around in confusion. “Evie, honey…”
“My dad is married to Evie’s mom,” I explain to Bass, hoping to save this cluster of a situation.
“He isnotmy brother,” Evie’s voice screeches over mine at the same time.
“My goodness.” Nancy presses a hand to her chest, looking distraught. “I knew you kids didn’t like each other, but this is a little extreme, wouldn’t you say?”
I decide that this is too much for Evie to handle. She looks like she is about to lose her shit all the way, and I think she’d prefer for it not to happen in front of her employee and the whole town.
“Me and Evie need to talk,” I speak up. I grab Evie by her wrist and drag her to where I parked my Jeep. She pretends to fight it, but it’s weak. “Good to see you, Nancy. Bass, give me a call.”
With that, I open the door to the passenger side of the Jeep and help Evie up, then walk around and get into the driver’s seat. Without another word, I back out of the parking spot and make my way out of here. I’m not quite sure yet where we’re going, but we’re going.
Neither one of us says anything for the longest time. Considering how small the town is, getting out of the main part of it is easy. Before I know it, we are on a dirt road that takes us to a piece of property I recently scouted. When I turn the engine off, the silence between us is deafening.
I’m not sure what to expect when I turn my head to look at Evie. She stares out the window for the longest time. When she licks her lips nervously, it’s taking everything out of me to not grab her and drag her onto my lap.
“Ah, the hell with it,” she mutters to herself.
I frown in confusion, almost unable to process what is happening when she snaps the seatbelt off and pulls her right arm out of it. She turns sideways to look at me, a determined expression on her face.
“You better be ready, Cal Prentice,” she says in warning.
I don’t have time to ask her what she’s talking about. Instead, I am completely under her spell. When she throws her leg over the shift stick, I open my arms in welcome, waiting for her to crash into my chest. Instead, the car starts jerking back and forth.
“Oh my gosh,” she gasps in fear. “What just happened?”
The Jeep jerks again, then starts rolling forward. Evie looks over her shoulder just in time to see us approaching the pond that’s at least a hundred feet away from us.
“Don’t try to do anything else,” I warn her and jump into action.
I press my foot on the clutch, then put the vehicle back into neutral before releasing and waiting on the car to stop. I turn the engine off, Evie still straddling the middle console, my arm in between her legs for my hand to rest on the shift stick.
“Are we stopped now?” she whispers. I almost start laughing when I see the worry in her eyes.
“We are,” I assure her. “But a more important question is, where are you going?”
