Page 89 of The Triple Threat

“You might not want to, but I honestly don’t think I’ll be enough for you.”

I chewed on my lip as Hunter watched me, his dark gaze burning into me. After a few uncomfortable minutes of silence, he nodded his head.

“Okay, if you really think that’s how little I feel about you, Ellie, then so be it. I guess we’ll never know now though, will we.”

He ran a hand over his head and exhaled heavily as he gave me one last look before turning to leave.

“You know it makes sense,” I called after him, having a good look at his ass as he strode away.

“Nope, it doesn’t Ellie,” he said without looking back. “And stop perving on my butt.”

The only sound then was that of his boots stomping on the wood flooring and then the slam of the front door.

“Shit,” I cursed as I dragged my hands through my hair. “Shit, shit and crap.”

“You okay, sweetheart,” Mom asked, coming up behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder at her and then back to the door, which Hunter had just exited from.

“Yeah.”

“Okay then. Oh, and by the way.”

I turned to face her. “Yeah.”

“Dad bought us all tickets to the pre-Christmas dance on Saturday. Won’t that be great, all of us going together.”

My heart sank as Mom’s beautiful face lit up with excitement.

“When you say all, who’d you mean?”

“All of us. You, Carter, me and your dad. In fact, the whole gang is going.” She winced. “Well maybe except Jim, he’s in Lubbock for a few days, but we hope he’ll be back. Thanksgiving was such good fun, your dad thought it’d be good to pay for a whole table. His treat.”

She clapped her hands and then with a quick kiss to my forehead, raced up the stairs singing to herself.

All of us, on one table. After I’d already told Hunter I wouldn’t go with him. Well, wouldn’t that be fun. I just had to think of a way of getting out of it, or hope he didn’t go, otherwise it could turn out to be the worst Christmas party ever.

Shopping alone for a dress at Middleton Ridge Mall was not what I thought of as fun. My dad, feeling all warm and generous, had offered to buy me something for the dance and Bronte had agreed to come with. Then, on the eleventh hour she’d backed out with a headache of all things. Personally, I thought she had a date with a man. Bronte never gave up a day of shopping, unless there was a possibility of sex.

At least I knew it wasn’t with Jefferson. He was at the ranch and I knew that because my dad and Jim, Bronte’s dad who was back from Lubbock, were helping him to clear out some old barn he’d been storing an ancient old tractor in and had now disposed of.

Mom had also offered, but then got a call from Darcy asking if she’d go for lunch with her. Seeing as Darcy and Jim were having problems, I insisted Mom go and spend the day with her friend.

That was why I was flicking through the racks of dresses having no idea what on earth to buy. I wasn’t a girly girl like Bronte. Yeah, I liked nice clothes and makeup and liked to dress up from time to time, but the Pre-Christmas dance was a pretty fancy affair that most of Dayton Valley attended, so I needed something special.

“Can I help you, miss?”

I turned to see an assistant, probably my age, with her hair in a French braid and wearing the standard black skirt and white blouse that all the staff of Hemmingway’s Department Store wore.

“Oh hi,” I replied, giving her a warm smile. “I’m looking for an evening dress for a dance but have no idea what to get.”

She looked me up and down and then walked around me, until she was right back in front of me. One more glance and then she nodded.

“Size eight, but you need a ten for your top half, right?”

“Woah, yes.” I was surprised as I looked down at my jean and t-shirt clad body.

“If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll go and find you something suitable.”