Carry Me Home (The Home Series: Book Three) (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Even though my mom said she wanted a small wedding, I was de
termined to make it memorable.  True to their word, Brandon, Mandy and Jesse had helped me finish up the center pieces.  We’d met at Jesse’s house a week after my wipe out on the quad.  The leg had scabbed over and the surface cuts on my legs and arms had faded to a light pink.  Not surprisingly, Brandon had a field day when Jesse recounted what happened that night.  Truthfully though, when I thought of that night, I didn’t much think about flying off the four-wheeler.  I thought about the fact I’d nearly kissed Jesse.  I hadn’t seen him since that night until we all met at his house to work on the centerpieces.  I’d been nervous, wondering how it would be, but somehow we moved past it, or at least we pretended we had. 

With the centerpieces finished,
I’d recruited my friends to help set up the backyard the night before the ceremony.  Evan was coming too and his car pulled up as Mandy and I were weaving flowers into the arched trellis where the ceremony would take place while we waited for Brandon and Jesse to return with the tables and chairs we’d rented.  It looked like Evan had come straight from work when I saw his khakis and button down shirt.

“Need some help?” he called as he walked toward me.  I finished placing the flower I was working with and then went to meet him.  He was smiling and I knew he was happy to see me.

“Hey,” I said when we finally met.  He took my hands and I stretched on my tippy-toes to greet him with a kiss. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said, b
rushing a piece of my hair back. “Let me see that leg of yours.” I hadn’t seen Evan since my visit to Kansas City and when I told him about the accident, as he was referring to it, he’d nearly freaked out. 

“See, I tol
d you it’s not that bad.” I turned my calf towards him and I saw him grimace.

“Looks pretty bad to me.”

“Then it’s a good thing you didn’t see it a week ago.  Now stop worrying about it,” I said, leading him over to where Mandy was still working. 

“Hi Evan,” she said in her typical cheerful voice.

“Evan, this is Mandy and as you already know, Mandy, this is Evan.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” he said.

“I know.  It’s weird you two have been together this long and this is the first time we’re meeting, although I feel like I al
ready know you from everything Riley’s told me about you,” she said and Evan looked at me, a satisfactory grin on his face.

“Riley’s told me plenty about you too.  You’re the one who sorts her Skittles, right?”

Mandy glared at me and I just shrugged.

“Despite what Riley’s told you, I’m not a complete weirdo.”

“Rest easy, Mandy.  I never thought you were,” he said and then turned to me. “How can I help?”

“There’s not much to do right now.  We’re waiting for Jesse and Brandon to return with the chairs and tables.”

Perhaps I imagined it or maybe it was the guilt I felt about that night at Jesse’s house, but Evan’s mouth seemed to grow into a stern line and then our eyes all turned to see Jesse’s truck bumbling toward us.   

I hung back and watched as Jesse climbed out of the cab.  I wasn’t sure if anyone else would’ve picked up on it, but I noticed the uneasiness on Jesse’s face as Evan approached him.  Evan reached out and shook Jesse’s hand as they exchanged words and then they went to the back of the truck and started unloading tables together. 

“Thanks for picking these up,” I said to Jesse as he and Brandon walked past me.

“No problem,” he answered, but I noticed how he didn’t look at me and I
figured it was because Evan was watching him. “We’re gonna need to make another trip to get all the chairs though.”

“I can give you some gas money.  I didn’t realize it’d take two trips.”

“You’re not being serious, are you?” he asked, finally looking at me.

“I am.  You shouldn’t be running around all over town for me on your dime.”

“I’m not taking your money,” he said with a smirk as he walked back to the truck and then my eyes focused on Brandon, still in awe as I watched how effortlessly he seemed to move as he helped unload the truck.  It was strange the way Jesse and Evan worked together and I had to admit, it made me uncomfortable having them interacting.  They couldn’t have been more different: Evan in his white collar business clothes and Jesse in his usual loose jeans and t-shirt.

“We’re gonna head back to get the rest,” Jesse said once everything had been unloaded and he and Brandon climbed back in and pulled away.  I was alm
ost relieved when Jesse left.  The air felt heavier when he and Evan were together, but now that Jesse was gone, I could breathe again. 

Evan set up chairs as Mandy and I put the finishing touches on the trellis.

“You did check the weather report, didn’t you?  I don’t want this all blowing away if a tornado decides to rip through town,” Mandy said.

“The weather is going to be great so all of our hard work will not be in vain, I assure you.  This wedding is going to be
perfect.  It has to be,” I insisted, straightening a flower and then stepping back to take a look at it. “What do you think?”

Mandy stood next to me, admiring our handiwork and then I felt Evan’s arm slide around my waist.

“Looks good,” he said.

“I hope she likes it.  She didn’t want me to do anything.  I know she’ll think this is too much.”

“But, she’ll appreciate it,” Evan said and I saw Mandy nod.

“She’ll love it,” she added.

“What else do you have to do?” Evan asked.

“Just set up the rest of the chairs once Jesse and Brandon get back.  I’ll put out all the tablecloths and centerpieces tomorrow morning.”

“And the food?’

“I’m picking the cake up in the morning and then the food’s being delive
red around three o’clock.  The ceremony’s at four so it should be fine,” I said as I started going through everything I needed to do in my mind and then I sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Evan asked.

“I just realized I never picked up the damn sherbet.”

“Sherbet?”

“Yes.  It’s for this punch I want to make. I saw it on Pinterest and it looks really good, but I forgot it,” I rambled quickly.

“Hey,” Evan said, taking my hand and turning me to him. “Relax.”  He brushed a piece of hair from my forehead and smiled reassuringly at me. “I’ll go get the sherbet and you go inside and relax for a bit, okay?”

“You don’t need to do that.  I can go.”

“This is not up f
or discussion.  Go take a break.”

“You don’t even know how to get to Dillon’s,” I sighed and then Mandy piped in.

“I’ll go with him,” she offered.

“See.  We’ve got this under control.”

“Fine,” I said, giving a meek smile of appreciation. “Thank you guys.”

“No problem.  C’mon, Evan,” Mandy said, walking towards his car.

“No go inside and get a drink or something. We’ll be back in a few minutes.” He kissed me sweetly and then joined Mandy.  I watched as they drove away and then went inside. 

Evan was right, I needed a breather. I’d been so stressed about making my mom’s wedding perfect that I’d barely taken a minute to myself all day.  I went inside and got a glass of lemonade and then parked myself on the couch.  It felt good to sit and do nothing.  I closed my eyes for a second, but I must’ve nodded off because I was startled awake by the sound
of the screen door shutting and Evan and Mandy walking in, sherbet in tow.  I glanced at the clock and realized it’d been nearly a half an hour since they left and I stood up.

“Thank you so much, you guys.  Seriously, you’re lifesavers.”  I took the sherbet and put it in the freezer.  When I returned to the living room, Mandy was gone and Evan was sitting on the couch.  I didn’t like the look on his face.  He looked worried. 

“Everything okay?” I asked him.

“Yeah,” he said, but his voice was hesitant. “Can we talk for a sec?”

“Sure.”  I knew my voice sounded apprehensive and I walked slowly, sitting down beside him. 

“
Um…your friend Mandy sure knows how to talk,” he began and I shifted uneasily on the cushion.

“Yeah?”
I asked, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah,” he said and then met his eyes with mine. “She told me some interesting tales about your life before me.”

“Is that right?” My voice was nervous because I could only imagine what she’d told him.  With Mandy it could’ve been anything. “What exactly did she tell you?”

“She
told me about Alex,” he said and I felt my mouth form into a stern line. “You seem upset.”

“No, I’m not upset. 
Just curious what exactly you guys were talking about that caused my ex-boyfriend to come up.”

“You never told me about Alex,” he said, sitting forward on the couch so his elbows were resting on his knees.

“Because he’s in my past and I don’t waste my thoughts on him.”

“It sounds like he hurt you pretty badly,” he said and then paused for a moment before continuing.
“And Jesse too.”

“What the hell did you gu
ys talk about?” I said with an anxious laugh.

“Why are you getting so worked up about this?”

“I just don’t know why you two felt the need to talk behind my back.” I knew my defensiveness was caused by my nerves.  I had worked too hard to put this all behind me and now it was all coming back to slap me in the face.

“And I don’t know why you never shared any of this with me,” he shot back.

“What exactly did Mandy tell you?”

Evan finally sat back on
the couch and waited a moment before speaking again.

“Mandy mentioned she thought it was cool I was okay with you hanging out wi
th Jesse again,” he began, but I wasn’t surprised.  There had been no doubt it had been Mandy and her big mouth that brought it up. “I asked her why I wouldn’t be cool with it because you’d told me yourself you hadn’t seen him in almost four years and then she told me how Jesse beat the crap out of that asshole Alex before you ran off to Boston.  Why didn’t you ever tell me about that?”

“Why would I?  I wanted to forget it, Evan.  Alex was my biggest mistake and Mandy doe
sn’t even know the whole story.”

“What is the whole story?”

“What does it matter?”

“It matters because I love you, Riley.”

“It’s my past though and I don’t want to live in the past.”

He just stared at me and I didn’t know how I could keep it from him.  I’d never told h
im about any of it: Alex and what he’d done to me, Jesse and how he’d come after me or how intense the summer had been before Jesse left.  It was just easier moving on like it hadn’t happened. 

“
I thought I loved Alex and I thought he loved me,” I began nervously. “He didn’t.  He made some bet that he could sleep with me and guess what?  He won that bet and broke up with me two days later.  Jesse found out and took care of it.”  I knew I was being blunt, but I hated reliving that time in my life.  Even though it had happened almost five years ago, when I thought about, it still hurt.  I don’t think you ever get over a betrayal of that nature.  You may move on, but you never forget.  The only reason it still didn’t fester inside of me was because of my relationship with Jesse that followed.  Before Jesse’s dad died, my relationship with him had been the best time of my life.  What I had with Jesse overshadowed the pain of Alex.

“I’m sorry, Ry,” he said, taking my hand, and brin
ging his eyes to meet mine. “I just thought you would’ve told me something like that.  That’s a pretty big deal.”

“Maybe five years ago, but not anymore.
  I’m sure you haven’t told me about every girlfriend you’ve had.”

“Because nothing’s been worth telling.
  Believe it or not, my life has been pretty boring.”

“Well, I’m glad you’ve lived such a drama-free life.  I wish I could say the same for myself, which is why I didn’t tell you.  I just want
ed to put it all behind me.”

I pulled my hand away from Evan’s and sat back on the couch, bringing my legs up so I was sitting Indian style and staring ahead at the wall instead of at him.

“Have you put Jesse behind you too?”

“What does that mean?” I asked, turning my head quickly to face him.

“You never told me how serious you two were.”

“Why would I?  Exes are in the past.  No explanation is needed.”

I didn’t want to be discussing this with Evan.  I had never told him much about Jesse because I was trying to put him behind me.  I always thought it was better Evan not know the whole story about Jesse.  It just made life easier and I didn’t want him to think there was still a part of me that wasn’t over what he’d done to me.  As I sat in front of him now, I realized it probably would’ve been better to be open about everything, instead of sitting here facing the firing squad.