Fireflies From Heaven (21 page)

“We’re not finished
here,” Reed practically growled.
 

I couldn’t help
but think that he’d been smiling at Amber only seconds before. “Yes, we are.”

“Oh my God!
Ellie, what happened to you?” cried Amber obviously getting her first good look
at me.
 
Her red lips formed a
beautiful circle as she gaped at me like I’d suddenly stripped naked in front
of everyone and started dancing on the table.

Her exaggerated
concern was obviously faked, and I wondered irritably if I should carry around
a sign to save myself the trouble of repeatedly telling the story of how I fell
down the stairs.

What I said
next could only be explained by a little devil on my shoulder egging me
on.
 
Pretending nervousness, I
glanced at Reed warily before turning to Amber and saying softly so that only
she could hear, “Reed got kind of rough with me while we were having sex.
 
I like it when he spanks me, but the
other stuff he’s into is kind of scary.”

Amber paled. I
quickly spun around and walked away, not bothering to turn when Reed called out
my name.
 
It was the first time
since I’d broken up with him that I genuinely laughed, and I did that all the
way to my car.

A week later I
dragged myself out of bed and made my way to the kitchen for the strongest cup
of coffee I could make and still be able to drink it.
 
Cora and Isabelle were sitting at the
kitchen table waiting for me, the coffee already made.

“Hey.” I
blinked, surprised. “What are ya’ll doing here?”

“We wanted to
talk to you,” Isabelle said, handing me a mug of coffee.

I got a weird
feeling. “Oh, okay. This isn’t an intervention, is it?” I asked jokingly. They
didn’t laugh.

“I’m not going
to ask if you’re okay because I know that shit is getting old, but we’ve
noticed a change in you Ellie.”

I took a sip of
coffee while I tried to think of how to respond to Cora. “I take it you don’t
think the change is good.”

“It’s two
o’clock in the afternoon and you’re just getting out of bed.
 
You haven’t shown up all week for your
appointments, and the kids have missed you.” Isabelle glanced down at me,
taking in my pajama bottoms and oversized sweatshirt. When Aunt Lacy and
Isabelle looked at me like that, they were trying to find fault, but Isabelle’s
eyes was full of pure sympathy. “Ellie, you don’t look so good.”

“She means you
look like hell,” Cora chimed in, looking me in the eye. Isabelle kicked her
under the table. “Ouch!”

I smiled,
thinking how much I’d missed the two of them lately. “I appreciate the
honesty.”

“Maybe it would
help to talk to someone,” Isabelle suggested.

“Absolutely,
and we’re the ones you should talk to,” Cora agreed.

“I meant a
therapist,” Isabelle corrected, rolling her eyes at Cora.

“She doesn’t
need a therapist when she has us.”

“There’s nothing
wrong with seeing someone that can help you straighten out your problems,”
Isabelle defended.

“I didn’t say
there was anything wrong with it, but Ellie lost her job and she doesn’t need
to waste the cash on someone to talk to when she has friends.”

I took a sip of
coffee, my gaze zipping back and forth between Cora and Isabelle.

“Are you saying
that only people that don’t have friends need to see a therapist?” Isabelle
asked, clearly offended.

“I guess not since
you’ve obviously seen one,” Cora remarked dryly.

“Maybe you should
see one and find out where your judgmental attitude is coming from,” Isabelle
fired at Cora.

I held up my
hands and made the ‘time out’ sign. “I thought this was my intervention,” I
said, reluctantly drawing the attention back to me so that they’d stop arguing.

“You’re
absolutely right,” Cora agreed, soberly. “We can work on Isabelle’s problems
once we know that you’re okay.”

Isabelle shot a
look at Cora, and I almost laughed at their familiar bickering.

“I know I’ve been
down lately and I’m sorry for worrying everyone. Isabelle, I promise I’ll make
it up to the kids.”

Isabelle’s
expression softened. “I didn’t say that so you’d feel bad, and there’s nothing
to make up. Your dad showed up at the hospital, and Izzy and the Sheriff are a
hit. Ellie, you’re always there for everyone and we want to do the same for
you.”

I had to take a
few sips of coffee. My dad had been at the hospital with Isabelle. That was interesting.
I wondered if he knew about my recent bout with depression.

“He knows about
Ellie?” Cora asked for me.

“I didn’t
mention anything that would upset him,” Isabelle assured me.

My shoulders
sagged in relief. “Thank you.”

“I wanted to
tell him,” she admitted, catching her bottom lip with her pearly white teeth.
“Maybe he could help you.”

“No. His job is
stressful enough. He doesn’t need to be thinking about me when he should be
catching the bad guys.
 
I promise
I’ll get better.”

“Ellie, you
can’t make that promise unless you work through your problem.”

I turned to Cora,
startled by her uncharacteristic seriousness and realized how worried she was
about me to have forgone the sarcastic remarks. She was right, of course. I
couldn’t go on like this. I was down but not defeated, I knew that, but to
everyone else it probably seemed as if I was broken.

“You’re right,”
I admitted, not quite sure how to begin fixing my mess.

“Mrs. Brown
called three times yesterday, but you haven’t been answering your phone.”

This caught my
attention. “I didn’t know.” Slipping a piece of hair behind my ear, I frowned realizing
that I wasn’t even sure where my phone was.

“I put it on
charge,” Cora said, reading my mind. “You can call her today.
 
About Reed…”

Isabelle seemed
troubled. “Amber was helping him with something, but he isn’t sleeping with
her, not for any lack of trying on her part. Still, I don’t think it’s Amber
you need to worry about.”

I didn’t
understand what she meant.

“Reed has been
going out a lot lately. He and Jase have a harem of women surrounding them
anytime they show up at Shooters,” Cora said irritably.

“I can’t make
him want me.” I’d thought the words and hadn’t meant to say them aloud, but they
came out anyway and wedged their way into the conversation like the elephant in
the room.

“Ellie, you
broke up with him. Guys don’t like you stomping on their egos. If you want him
back, you’re going to have to be the one to make the first move.”

“I made dozens
of moves, Isabelle. He never returned a single call.”

“Don’t be mad,”
Isabelle said, holding up her hands. “I mentioned to Reed that I thought you
had called him, and he insisted he’d gotten no calls from you. He even showed
me his phone.”

“What?” I was
surprised.

“I think you
should call him again, or better yet go see him.
 
It’s Friday night.
 
We can all go to Shooters.”

“Okay. We’ll go
out tonight,” I agreed, thinking that seeing Reed surrounded by a bunch of
women wasn’t going to improve my disposition, but it seemed to make Cora and
Isabelle happy. They were both beaming with excitement.

“Wear something
sexy,” Isabelle said, and for once Cora agreed with her.

I could not
believe what I was hearing.

Mrs. Brown’s
last message asked me to report to work Monday morning. It was Thanksgiving
week and everyone was working overtime, Mrs. Brown explained ending with how
much they needed me next week.
 
Immediately, I picked up the phone and called her.

“Ellie, thank
goodness you called. I was afraid you’d found another position.”

“No, Mrs.
Brown,” I replied hesitantly. “I don’t understand. I thought you fired me.”

“Well, yes but
that was before Sergeant Bentley explained everything.
 
I’m sorry, I thought he would have
spoken to you.”

“No. I haven’t
talked with him.”

“He was very
upset that we’d let you go, and he has sworn that nothing untoward happened
between the two of you while you were his nurse.”

“Mrs. Brown,” I
began uncertainly, thinking of how I’d admitted the opposite to her the last
time we’d seen each other. “Are you sure?”

“Sergeant
Bentley is a hero. The VNT has the highest respect for him and would never
doubt his word. Your job is safe and waiting for you,” she assured me warmly.

I was
speechless. “Thank you,” I said finally, humbled and keenly grateful.

“We’ll see you
Monday, Ellie.
 
You’ve been missed
around here.”

I couldn’t
believe what had just happened, and I owed it all to Reed. He’d said that he
would fix things, but I hadn’t really thought he would be able to do it.
Feeling considerably lighter, I smiled. Maybe everything would work out after all.

Sitting with
Isabelle and Cora at Shooters a few hours later, I couldn’t stop searching the
bar for Reed and I wondered if he might not show up tonight after all.

“He’ll be here,”
Isabelle assured me. “You look hot. Reed won’t be able to take his eyes off of
you.”

“Thanks.” I was
wearing a short denim skirt with a black sequined tank top and my cowboy boots.
Cora had painstakingly used the curling iron to bend my locks into perfect
curls that fell delicately down my back.

“So is Jase
coming tonight?” I asked Cora.

“How would I
know?” she responded with a shrug.

“The same way
Ellie knows that Reed will be here,” Isabelle said with a small smile to Cora.

“And the same
way you know that Ellie’s dad is coming,” Cora shot back.

“What?” I asked
before I could stop myself. “It’s okay that’s he’s coming,” I added quickly.

“Forget she
said that,” Isabelle instructed. “Cora gets touchy when you mention Jase, and
she thinks it’s funny to imply that I’ve got a thing for Captain McAllister,
which is crazy.”

“Right. Crazy.”
Cora and I shared a look before I touched Isabelle’s arm. “It’s okay if you and
my dad are… friends. I just don’t want him to know what’s going on with Reed
and I.”

“I understand,”
Isabelle told me. “I doubt he’s even going to be here tonight.”

I heard the
disappointment in her voice. It was fascinating that Isabelle seemed so
flustered at the mention of my dad.

My skin suddenly
tingled with awareness, and I sucked in a ragged breath, knowing Reed was here
even before I turned to see him set a longneck on a table beside Jase and two
gorgeous women dressed in super short skirts and tiny tops that revealed the
best boobs money could buy.

“Oh good,
they’ve only brought two tonight.” Cora turned to me with an odd expression on
her face, and I could tell she hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

“There’s usually
more?”

“Like I said,
they’ve got a harem. It’s like they’re rock stars. You wouldn’t believe how
many women have soldier fetishes.”

“You shouldn’t
hold that against them,” Isabelle said, defending her brother and his best
friend. “Guys hit on us all the time. We can’t help it.”

“We don’t go
home with all of them,” Cora countered irritably.

“You don’t know
that Jase went home with Bambi,” Isabelle explained patiently.

“She was dressed
like a hooker and her name was Bambi.” Cora spoke each word slowly and
deliberately as if she were speaking to a child.

I kept my
expression stoic, careful not to give in to the smile tugging at the corners of
my mouth.

“You’ve got to
get rid of the chip, I mean boulder, on your shoulder.” Isabelle smirked.

Cora said
something to Isabelle, but I’d turned my attention to Reed. I couldn’t take my
eyes off him. Wearing a black button down shirt, faded jeans and boots he
looked like he’d stepped of the cover of magazine because he was just that
movie star gorgeous.
 
Unfortunately,
I was not the only woman that noticed.

At first I was
encouraged that he wasn’t with Amber, but as the night crept on I realized that
the two women who’d attached themselves to Reed and Jase had staked their claim
and had no intention of giving other women a chance to steal their men.

They reminded me
of those women that chased rodeo cowboys around and tried to seduce them.
Buckle Bunnies is what they were called. I started thinking of the dark haired
beauty hanging all over Reed as Bunny.

Occasionally
other women would saunter up to Reed and Jase to join the party, but none
stayed too long. Cora’s attention kept wandering to Jase and the blonde who
couldn’t keep her hands off of him. Finally, after seeing enough Cora said yes
to the next guy that asked her to dance and told me I should do the same.

Isabelle had
gone to the bar to get us another kamikaze shot.
 
I’d had two already and I was feeling
good, but I wasn’t buzzed enough that I didn’t notice the show that Reed and Bunny
were putting on. Actually, it was more her pawing him, kissing his neck and
rubbing her hands over his chest. I felt sick and was thankful our table was in
a back corner so that no one was witnessing me glare at Reed and his date. Just
when I thought I’d had enough, Bunny pulled him onto the dance floor and he
took her into his arms, her hands sliding down his back to squeeze his ass.

“Drink this,” Isabelle
ordered, setting down three shots and handing me one. “It won’t leave as bitter
a taste in your mouth as watching her grope him.
 
I swear I don’t know what’s the matter
with my brother.”

“I shouldn’t
have come tonight,” I replied miserably.

“You’re not
leaving. I doubt Reed even knows your here. Maybe it’s time to make sure he
knows,” Isabelle said encouragingly.

I picked up the
plastic shot and downed it in one swallow.

“That’s my
girl.
 
A little liquid courage can
make a big difference.”

“Isabelle, you
were so sure that Reed belonged with Amber. What’s changed?”

I watched her
dark eyes fill with regret. “I’m sorry I hurt you. If I’d known that Reed was
in love with you I’d never have pushed Amber on him.”

“I know that,”
I assured her, not wanting to make her feel bad. “You can tell me the truth.
Don’t say what you think I want to hear. Please. Do you still think they belong
together?”

She smiled,
pushing a strand of hair from my face. “I’d give anything to have someone look
at me the way Reed looks at you. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen two people more
in love. You and Reed belong together.”

I liked hearing
her say it, but I my eyes kept drifting toward Reed and Bunny. “I don’t think
he’d agree with you now.”

“I think you’re
wrong,” Isabelle disagreed as she downed a shot and handed me another. “Maybe
it’s time to find out.”

I drank the kamikaze
shot, and relished the feel of the liquid fire as it burned a soothing trail
inside of me. “What are you going to do?” I asked her.