Chapter six

Six

            Riley couldn’t help but grin at the look on Bailee’s face, although it certainly wasn’t a pleased expression. Oh well. It didn’t matter. She was stuck with him for the evening, whether she was happy about it or not.

            They all filed into the restaurant where Kylie and Bailee welcomed them. Riley noticed that Bailee greeted him with a “hi” without looking, and the first chance she got she pulled Amy away from the group and started whispering furiously to her. He smiled to himself. This might be more fun than he thought. He didn’t care if Amy told Bailee that it had been his idea. He didn’t care if she knew that he wanted to spend time with her. He scowled, realizing that she probably already realized that. He hadn’t been exactly subtle.

            They went through the line and got their orders, then, because there were no more open seats in the building, they sat at the tables outside. Austin and Kylie sat down first, then Ben and Amy next to them. Bailee sat beside Amy, and Riley positioned himself between her and Austin. He didn’t miss the way Bailee stiffened and scooted away from him on the bench as much as room would allow. He glanced up and caught Austin’s amused smirk, then dug into his burrito with gusto.

“Did you get your car mirror fixed yet?” Austin asked, directing the question at Bailee as he swallowed a bite of taco.

            Bailee shook her head. “No, but I’m planning on doing that tomorrow.”

            “Where are you getting fixed at?”

            “Well a man I know gave me a number for a place he said was really cheap. I don’t remember what it’s called though.”

            She had broken her mirror? “How did you break your mirror?” Riley asked.

            She ignored him. Figures. Riley asked the question again.

Finally she said, “A tree branch fell on it,” without looking at him.

            Well, at least she was talking to him. He smiled and saw Amy watching them with a slightly concerned, but also amused expression. “I can fix it.”

            “Thanks, but no thanks.”

            “Really?” He looked at her surprised. “I offer to fix it—for free, I might add—and you still say no?”

            She looked at him now, but it certainly wasn’t the kind of look he’d been hoping for. “Yes, I still say no.”

            There was no more talking for several minutes as everyone ate their food. Riley’s burrito was gone in no time and he was contemplating getting another one, when Ben started talking to him. “So, Riley, how’s your grandpa’s barn going?”

            Riley wiped his hands on his napkin and replied, “Well, it’s going fine, I guess.” He thought about his grouchy Gramps. “It’ll still be several more months, I’d say.” Riley watched out of the corner of his eye how Bailee only nibbled at her burrito. Finally she seemed to give up, leaving about two-thirds of the food. He indicated the burrito. “You gonna eat that?”

            She fixed him with a hard stare, and then pushed it towards him. He inhaled it in seconds.

            “Need more food, Riley?” Kylie asked with a teasing glint in her eye. “Too bad I ate all mine.”

            Riley grinned. “Nah. I think Bailee’s covered it.” Kylie laughed and Amy joined in.

            “You keep eating like that and soon you’ll be as big as Ben.” Austin punched Ben’s hefty arm.

            “Hey, watch it, man! This ain’t fat.”

            “Oh, right, I forgot. Just an extra squishy muscle…”

            Riley chuckled.

            “You wanna see extra squishy muscle? I’ll show you—”

            “Ok, ok, you two. Relax, Ben. Austin’s just envious he not as… muscular as you are.” Amy cast her brother a mischievous smile.

            Bailee crumpled up her trash and got up to throw it in the trashcan. “Anyone else have trash?” she asked. Kylie, Amy, and Austin gave her theirs and she disposed of it. She didn’t give a second glance to Riley, or seem to notice that he hadn’t given her his garbage. She probably wouldn’t have taken it anyway, even if he had tried. It was surprising she had given him her burrito. He knew he had surprised her, but giving her the unexpected hardly warranted the treatment he was getting. She was acting completely unnecessary. Something he was going to try to remedy. Soon.

           

Bailee returned to the table but sat there quietly, sullen. She made sure she was as far away from him as she could be on the bench without making Amy unbearably squished, hoping he would get the point. So far he’d only said two things specifically to her.

            “Hello?”

            She jolted and looked at him. Make that three.

            “Returning to earth?”

            She rubbed a hand over her face and looked away. “Sorry. I’m kind of tired.”

            “Bad day, huh?”

            “Wasn’t. Is now.” She muttered it only loud enough for him to hear, and thankfully everyone else was chattering again so they didn’t notice Riley and Bailee.

            “Why is it now?”

            She looked into his gray eyes, challenging him. She’d like him to see her angry, then maybe he’d leave her alone. “You.”

             “What did I do to make your day bad?”

             “For starters, you can’t leave well enough alone and be just friends, and second, you’ve started Amy on a matchmaking scheme, and third, you found a way to go out with me when I specifically said no.”

            He grinned rakishly. “Pretty creative, huh?”

            “No! It’s…” She looked away until she didn’t feel so angry. If she started shouting all eyes would be drawn on them, and the last thing she wanted was to make a scene. She turned back to Riley, all remnants of his smile erased. “It’s just not a good idea.”

            He cocked his head. “And why’s that?”

            Bailee glanced up and that’s when she noticed that all but Kylie was watching them. Kylie wasn’t at the table, and Bailee hadn’t even seen or heard her leave.

            Riley looked up too and seemed to understand what she was thinking. He stood and grabbed her hand, lifting her with him. “We’re going to walk for a bit. See you guys later.” He pulled her towards her car.

            As soon as they were around the corner she wrenched her hand from his. “What do you think you’re doing?” She asked furiously.

            He opened her door for her, then got in on the driver’s side. “You didn’t want to talk in front of everybody, and I wanted to talk to you.” He held out his hand. “Keys, please.”

            “What makes you think you can drive my Jeep anytime you want?”

“You’re not in the position to drive, Bailee, and I know where we’re going.”

If looks could kill he would totally be a dead man right now. She pulled out her keys and dropped them in his waiting hand. “Oh really? And where’s that?”

            He started the engine and left the parking lot. “Nowhere in particular. Just looking for a good place to walk and talk.”

            She turned in her seat to sulk. “What if I don’t want to ‘walk and talk’?” She knew she was being difficult, but she didn’t care. Riley didn’t have the right to go ordering her around like she was his property, even though he might like to imagine she was. She hardly knew him, and she didn’t make a habit of forming fast friendships with men. Most guys understood. This one didn’t.

            She turned her head away and looked out the window into the fading light. The sunset was stunning, and if she wasn’t so upset, she’d actually enjoy it.

            “Don’t pout, Bailee.” He sounded like he was talking to a child, which made Bailee angry again.

            Bailee’s jaw dropped open and she jerked around to face him. “I’ll pout if I want to, thank you very much! You’re forcing me to go with you when I don’t want to, not to mention you stole my car. I think I have a right to pout.” She crossed her arms and looked away again. After a second she chanced a glance over at him. He was sitting there with a small smile on his face, as if amused by her outburst. Well, the last thing she was was amused. With a blast of annoyance, she grabbed the sweater off her lap and pelted it at him. “And don’t you dare smile!”

            Riley calmly plucked the sweater off of him and dropped it in the backseat. “Very mature of you, Bailee.”

            “Oh yeah, like you’re being very mature, yourself.”

            “I’m not the one throwing sweaters.”

            “I’m not the one abducting helpless victims!”

            Riley chuckled. “I’m not abducting you. Believe me, you are the last person I would want to abduct. And you are far from helpless.” He laughed again.

            Bailee’s mouth dropped. “You are the most despicable person alive!” She huffed and turned away from him. “Who even likes you?”

            “Shall I list them for you? It might take awhile.”

            Bailee went on as if she hadn’t heard him, ticking the list off on her fingers. “I mean, come on! You steal people’s cars, you steal people, you’re rude, you’re mean, and you like to argue!”

            “I’m not sure how much of that I can deny, but as for the arguing, I can’t take much of the blame, since you are taking part in it as much as I am.”

            “I think you started it.”

            “You think? See, you can’t even remember.”   

 “Shut up,” she yelled. “You know what? Just shut up.”

            She could see out of the corner of her eye that Riley was trying not to laugh, but apparently he had enough good sense not to do so because he wisely clamped his mouth shut, putting them in thick silence.

            Not much time had passed when Riley pulled into a small parking lot. He got out and headed around to her side to open her door, but she opened it before he could. No way would she wait for him. She snatched her sweater from the backseat and threw it on. He didn’t say anything, just led the way to a picnic bench before a pond. She sat down and rested her chin in her hands, almost forgetting the infuriating man beside her as she reveled in the beauty of the colors in the sky. Yellow melded with orange, forming a myriad of peaches and pinks. Purples and blues. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, sure that she could stay there all night like that. Unfortunately, she had business to take care of, as a soft clearing of a throat reminded her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned to face him. He was watching her with a soft smile playing about his face, amusement dancing in his eyes.   Bailee purposely ignored it, or else she would get lost in those deep, deep eyes, forgetting that she was still angry at him. “Ok, so what did you want to talk about?” She supposed she could at least be polite, since otherwise they would have wasted a whole trip out here for nothing, save a bunch of arguing.

            He sat sideways on the bench, straddling it. “How about for starters, you tell me why it’s not a good idea.”

            How could she tell him? How could she make him understand? She didn’t date. She didn’t marry. She wouldn’t get involved with anyone, no matter how irresistible. Dad had shown her that…

            Pow. Another blow. Mommy falling limp.

            “Mommy!” she screams. She huddles deeper into the corner, determined to not be seen. But Daddy sees her. He comes for her with menace in his red, red eyes.

            “No! Not me, Daddy! Not me.” She didn’t want to die; not like—

            “Bailee.” She startled at the hand waving in front of her face. Slowly her eyes cleared and she saw Riley, staring at her. Her heart thumped loudly, and one look at her hands showed her she was shaking.

            “Are you ok?” He leaned forward, concern etched deeply in his face.

            She nodded not trusting herself to speak.

            “Are you sure? ‘Cause you were really starting to freak me out.”

            “I’m fine.” She stood. “We need to go; it’s going to be dark soon.” The sun was peeping its last, causing the land around them to be filled with shadows. She shuddered.

            Riley stood too, but not with the anxiousness she felt. “But Bailee—”

            “Please, Riley. I want to go home.” She searched his face with pleading eyes.

            He hesitated and then exhaled hard. “Ok. Fine. Let’s go.” He motioned for her to precede him, and she was filled with relief that he’d given in.

They drove back to the restaurant in silence, and when they got there she waited in the car while Riley went and told Kylie that she was ready to go. He got out and started to walk away when he seemed to remember something. He came back to the car and looked in her window.

“I forgot to give you your keys.” He handed them to her.

“Thanks.”

He stood, paused, then leaned back down. “Bailee? Thanks for the evening. I enjoyed it.”

Even the arguing? She watched him leave, the faint remain of his cologne the only reminder that he’d been there.

Riley drove his truck home in silence, not putting on music as he usually did. He replayed the scene at the park again in his mind. He had no idea what had happened. He’d asked her a question, and then suddenly her eyes got this weird, faraway look to them and she’d started shaking. He must’ve called her name at least three times before she responded, and even then, her eyes had looked hazy, as if she hadn’t really understood him. She’d looked scared, and it was all he could do to not pull her into his arms. That probably would’ve just scared her more.

He rubbed a hand over his face and then rested his wrist on the steering wheel. She had been so anxious to go home, and he was willing to take her. He’d just hoped to get answers first. But after that scary episode of hers—which he felt was a fault of his—he hadn’t wanted to push. So he’d agreed to take her back to the restaurant, all the while wondering when they might get another chance to talk.

Try again. Try again another time. It’s not your fault that she was acting crazy or that she’d not wanted to date you. Right. He would wait, and the next chance he got, he would take. She couldn’t avoid him forever. And he still had several more months to work on the barn, although, like he’d said before, he really could stay as long as possible. But he would rather Bailee fall for him sooner rather than later.

He pulled into the driveway of his grandparents’ home, noting that the house was dark. Grams must’ve been tired if she hadn’t even waited on him. It wasn’t like it was very late; in fact, it wasn’t late at all.

            Kylie didn’t ask questions on the way home, and for that Bailee was thankful. On the way into the apartment building, Bailee dropped her bag and several items spilled out. She retrieved them and then followed Kylie in, who had waited for her at the front door. Kylie unlocked the door number seven, and Bailee entered, going straight for her room. She dropped the bag on her bed, kicked off her shoes, and went out to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, hearing a continual drip, drip, drip. She turned towards the sink and saw water coming from the faucet at a fast rate. Great. She didn’t know how to fix leaky sinks. She opened the cabinets under the sink and searched for water there, but thankfully, didn’t see any. Well, she’d have to call a plumber tomorrow.

            She stuck a dishcloth under the drip so the incessant dripping noise would stop. “Hey, Kylie,” she called, “we have a leaking faucet, so if you here a drip, drip, that’s what it’s from. I guess I’ll call a plumber tomorrow.”

            Kylie replied, but it sounded muffled, and Bailee didn’t make out a word she said.

            “What?” She filled up the teakettle and then set it back on the stove. She went back to Kylie’s room, and, seeing where her sister was, realized why she hadn’t heard her. Kylie was bent over from the waist in her closet; her head disappeared in a mountain of clothes.

            Bailee’s mouth hung open in shock. She’d known her sister’s room was a pigpen, she didn’t know it was quite this bad.

            “Um, Kylie? What did you do to your closet? And why are you in your clothes?”

            Finally Kylie surfaced waving a hand at the mess like it was no big deal. “This is how my closet always looks, and I’m looking for something.” She dived back down and started digging again, tossing clothes back. After waiting for several seconds, Bailee watched as her sister finally stood up, holding a shirt. “I found it!” She exclaimed with a big smile.

            “Great. Now what did you say a minute ago when I told you about the sink?”

            Kylie tossed the shirt onto her bed, then started changing into her pajamas. “Oh, I told you that you should call Austen. He’s good at fixing leaks. I’ve had him come before when my bathroom sink leaked.”

            Bailee nodded. That was a good idea, and she could call him tonight, because then maybe he’d be able to fit it into his schedule for tomorrow. “Ok, well, I’m heading to bed, Kylie. Night.”