Little tramp.
I turned to look at Heather and Ellie sitting on the bed. I had the strangest feeling that this was going to be a very long and painful twenty four-hours.
Turning back toward the window, and I saw Jeff, Gunner, Drake, and someone else who must have been Jack walking up from the barn. Lynda ran and jumped into Jack’s arms. Then, she turned to hug Gunner. Jeff and Josh were talking off to the side. They were both laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world.
Fucking men.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
GUNNER
The moment my dad had stepped out of the car, I had been a nervous wreck. Ellie had been amazing. She immediately walked up to him and she introduced herself. My father had fallen in love with her in mere seconds.
Last night had been a bit awkward, but today was like a dream. Sitting in the barn with my dad, Gramps, and Drake, I’d never laughed so hard in my life as we spent the day shooting the shit. I saw a side of my father I’d never seen before. He was relaxed and actually enjoying himself. He seemed…normal to me.
He asked a lot of questions about Ellie and our future. When I told him we wanted to start a family right away, he smiled and gave me a wink. I had thought he would have given me a lecture about how we needed to wait.
Gramps leaned over and whispered something in my father’s ear. He started laughing and called Gramps a wise old man.
Why couldn’t he have been like this my whole life? It sure would have been nice to grow up with a normal father instead of a prick.
As we started to walk back toward house, Lynda came running toward us before she jumped into my dad’s arms. He gave her spin as he told her how grown-up she she looked.
As Jeff and Josh stepped aside to talk about something, I looked back at the house, wondering where my Ellie was.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so excited about the party tomorrow, Gramps!” Lynda said as she hugged Gramps.
“Yeah, well, after fifty years of Emma putting up with me, the least I could do was throw her a damn party,” Gramps said.
Everyone laughed as Dad, Uncle Jim and Gramps started to walk back up to the house.
Lynda made a bee-line toward Josh, practically throwing herself into his arms. He seemed a little taken aback. Pushing her away slightly, he looked back at the house.
“Hey, um Lynda. Um do you think I could talk to Jeff and Gunner alone for a bit?” Josh said as he gave Lynda that famous panty melting-smile of his.
“Oh, sure, Josh. Yeah no problem, I’ll just see y’all inside,” Lynda turned to head back into the house.
“What the hell is going on, Josh? I didn’t hear from you again last night or this morning. What happened between you and Heather?”
Jeff asked confused as hell as he looked back at Josh and then me.
Josh threw his hands into his hair and let out a sigh.
“I kissed Heather. ”
“About fucking time, dude. Jesus, it took your ass long enough,” Jeff said as he slapped Josh on the back.
I knew there was more though.
“Yeah… well, I didn’t get the reaction I was hoping for. I mean, at first, she was really into it. Then, all I did was tell her that I would never push her to do anything she wasn’t ready for, and she pretty much did a one-eighty on me. ”
“What do you mean? What did she say?” I asked as I watched Josh kick the dirt with his boot.
“She basically told me to stop touching her. I tried to tell her that I had feelings for her…strong feelings. ” Josh cut off his sentence as he leaned over, putting his hands on his knees.
In the four years I’d known him, I’d never seen him this affected by a girl.
“Dude, are you okay? What the hell did she say to you?” Jeff asked.