The Reluctant Bachelorette (14 page)

Jake unrolled his window. “As long as we’re both being honest,
my sister signed me up without me knowing. I would never agree to do something
like this on purpose.”

“Really?” For some reason, that made Taycee like Jake even
more. He was here against his will, too. A pawn, like her. It felt good to know
she wasn’t the only one who could be manipulated—other than Luke, that is.

“Yeah.” Jake’s elbow hung out the window while his fingers
drummed against the top of the car door. “She interferes like that. All the
time. I was mad at first, but when my video made it as a finalist, I figured,
hey, why not?” He shot her a quick look. “Besides, I’ve always been a sucker
for green-eyed brunettes.”

“Ahhh, thanks.” Even though her eyes were hazel, not green. It
made Taycee doubt his sincerity, like he would he have said blue-eyed blondes
or brown-eyed redheads if her hair and eyes were a different color. Or maybe
Taycee had become too jaded.

Jake pulled to a stop at the trailhead at the same time
thunder rattled through the skies. He pulled out a few ponchos to take with
them while Burt and Amy worked to waterproof their gear. Then away they all
went. A mile later, the skies opened up and rain came pouring down. They quickly
donned their ponchos, but it didn’t take long for the dirt path to become a
muddy mess, attaching to the soles of Taycee’s shoes like a thick paste that
became heavier with every step.

She was about to suggest they turn back when her foot slipped
out of her hiking shoe. She grabbed onto Jake to keep from losing her balance and
pointed behind her. “The mud ate my shoe.”

“What?” Jake twisted his head back, and then laughed when he
saw her shoeless foot dangling behind her. With a firm grip on Taycee’s arm, he
reached back and tugged hard on the shoe. With a
splack
, the shoe
dislodged, pitching Jake backwards. Taycee planted her socked foot in the mud
to keep from following him to the ground.

Jake sat in the mud, eyeing the shoe with a so-not-worth-it
expression.

“Really, that was above and beyond. It was only a shoe.”
Taycee tried to swallow the gurgle of laughter in her throat, but it escaped.
Followed by more giggles.

His gaze shifted to her as he held out his hand. “Do me a
favor and help me up.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I have an older brother,
so I know from experience what will happen if I give you my hand.” She paused.
“I’d love my shoe back through.”

Other than slightly raised eyebrows, his expression remained
impassive as he dutifully held out the shoe. Taycee hesitated for a second, and
then took it from him. It was on the tip of her tongue to say “Thanks” when he
lunged for her hand and dragged her down beside him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jake said. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“This means war.” Taycee grabbed a handful of mud and slapped
it in his face. Jake reciprocated, and before long, they were both covered in
mud and laughing. They sat there for several minutes before Jake finally pulled
her up. Together they trudged the mile back to the car and stood there, looking
through the windows at the clean interior.

“So what’s the plan?” Taycee asked, nudging him from the side.
“Let Burt or Megan drive while we ride on top?”

Jake turned his gaze upward, squinting into the rain. “The way
I see it, if we stand here long enough, it will be like taking a shower.”

“True.” Taycee started rubbing the mud from her arms and body
as best she could. Jake followed suit while Burt and Megan ducked inside the
car. Taycee then removed her poncho and turned it inside out so she had
something semi-dry to sit on while she peeled off her muddy shoes and socks.
Once again, Jake followed her lead and soon they were all shut back inside Jake’s
now only partially immaculate car.

“You obviously have experience with this sort of thing,” Jake
said.

“My mom’s a neat freak too.”

“I’m not a neat freak,” argued Jake. But the stiff way he sat
forward, trying not to touch the back of his seat, told Taycee otherwise. She
held back a laugh.

On their way back down the mountain, Jake called for take-out
from the diner. They picked it up and took it to Taycee’s shop where they ate
surrounded by the clutter of flowers, vases, and ribbons. No matter how many
times she tried to organize and de-clutter, it never really looked
clean—something she became even more aware of now that Jake sat across from
her.

They ate and chatted until Taycee finally glanced at the
clock. Her eyes went wide when she noticed the time. “Oh shoot, we’ve got to
go.” Luke would be at her place any second, and she was a mess. Stringy hair,
damp clothes, remnants of mud everywhere. She could already hear Luke’s voice:
Did
you save some mud for the pigs?
or
Hey, you really didn’t need to dress
up just for me.
Or, more likely he’d say something loaded with innuendo.
Wow,
somebody had a good time. Want me to take off so you two can get back to it?

Jake helped her clean up before they dashed through the rain
and back to his car. By the time they arrived, Luke was already there, waiting
in his truck.

Crap.

Taycee leaned over and gave Jake a quick hug. “Thanks for a
really fun date.” In a matter of a few hours, he’d managed to turn a bad day
around for her, making her forget about her aching feet and pounding head—not
to mention her upcoming date with Luke.

Well, almost forget.

Jake tugged on a clump of her hair. “Not everyone can pull off
this look you know. But somehow, you make mud look good.”

Taycee smiled, and then grabbed her shoes and bolted through
the rain to her apartment door. She quickly scrubbed herself off in a real
shower, yanked her hair back into a damp ponytail, changed into some dry
clothes, and threw on her favorite Bronco’s baseball cap. After shoving her
feet into a pair of blue platform sneakers, she raced back outside.

Her shoe landed in a muddy puddle just outside of Luke’s
truck. She felt like cursing as she jumped inside and slammed the squeaky door
against the downpour.

“Your shoes are muddy,” was the first thing Luke said.

Taycee looked pointedly at the faded and cracked upholstery,
old radio, and matt-less floor—a stark contrast to Luke’s Audi. “They fit right
in.”

Luke patted the dashboard. “It might be old, but it’s
clean—well,
was
clean.”

“Seriously?” Taycee said, but his gaze remained impassive.
“Okay, so what do you want me to do with my shoes?”

He gestured behind him. “Back there would work.”

“The backseat?” Burt and Megan were already there, looking squished
with their camera gear. Taycee wasn’t about to hand her shoes to them.

“The bed,” Luke clarified.

Taycee blinked. “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope.”

“Unbelievable.” With jerky movements, Taycee pulled her shoes
off her feet, opened the door, leaned out, and tossed them into the truck bed
before slamming the door shut again. “There. Satisfied? Or would you like me to
ride in the back with my shoes?”

“Nah, you’re fine.”

“Gee, thanks.”

He grinned as he flung the truck into reverse and backed out.
Like Taycee, he wore a baseball hat, only his was red with “OHIO STATE” stitched
across the front. She’d forgotten how good he looked in baseball hats.

“Don’t worry,” Luke said. “We’re not going anywhere you’ll
need shoes.”

“Is that supposed to make it okay?”

He shrugged. “It’s a win-win. You get to ride shoeless, which
I know you prefer, and my truck stays clean. What’s wrong with that?”

Taycee stared at him. “The fact that you don’t understand
what’s wrong with that makes it all the more wrong.”

“There’s an argument for you.”

Taycee glared but said nothing more as they passed through
town and headed toward the highway. Ten minutes later, he turned down his long,
windy driveway.

“We’re going to your house?” she asked.

“You’re quick.”

Taycee shot him a pointed look. At first she figured the shoe
thing had been his way of messing with her. But he’d been so quiet during the
drive here, which wasn’t like him at all. Was he upset with her for some
reason? Maybe he’d decided that he didn’t really want to be here either. Or
maybe he’d been dreading this date as much as she had—only for different
reasons.

She frowned as he pulled the truck into the garage and turned
off the engine. “Stay here,” he said before ducking out. With a bang, he jumped
into the bed and fiddled with something above them. What was he doing? She
unrolled her window and stuck her head out, trying to get a peek. “Need any
help?”

“Nope.”

Suddenly, a bright blue rectangle appeared on the gray wall in
front of her. A few moments later, blue turned to black as words appeared on
the wall of his garage. A movie. And not just any movie.
Sneakers
—a show
she, her brother, and Luke had watched over and over and over when they were
younger. The boys used to take off their shoes and put their smelly feet in her
face while they teased her about how she initially thought the show would be
about shoes. She’d loved every minute of it.

Luke actually remembered.

The door opened, and Luke climbed back inside. In his hands,
he held a large bowl of popcorn, along with two cans of Red Cream Soda—her
favorite. He unrolled his window, and then passed her a drink and the popcorn.

Taycee’s eyes met his even as her heart beat a million times a
second. “So the shoes . . .”

“I had you going, didn’t I?” Luke grinned and pointed to his
own feet, now bare. “Just like old times.”

But it wasn’t like old times—a realization that made Taycee
shift uncomfortably in her seat as she stared at the make-shift drive-in movie
screen. This was exactly what she’d wanted for a date tonight: A time to relax
and not worry about making conversation. But all of a sudden, everything seemed
so much more complicated. As if the past and the present had collided with a
colossal bang, tearing at Taycee’s heartstrings.

She wanted to believe that they could so easily go back to
those days, but they couldn’t. “Just like old times” was a lie. A clichéd
saying that made people believe they could break open a memory and somehow
recreate it and relive it for one blissful moment. But ultimately all it did
was turn a once-happy memory into a sorry reminder that things could never be the
same. No matter how much she or Luke wanted them to be.

T
aycee sat on the leather couch
adjacent
to the stone fireplace in The Barn. Burt had just finished setting up and they
now waited for Jessa, who wanted to do a quick interview about the first ten
dates. It seemed like overkill, since Taycee had already recapped each date on
SheltersBachelorette.com, but Jessa didn’t think a few short paragraphs were
enough. She wanted more. Always more. Jessa was out to prove she could
orchestrate the best bachelorette show ever, and Taycee got to be her pawn.

Lovely.

Jessa breezed into the room, said a few words to Burt, and
then plopped down opposite Taycee. Without so much as a “hi,” she cued Burt to
start filming.

“So, Tace, talk about two crazy busy weeks, huh?” Jessa said,
sounding perfectly composed.

“Um yeah, pretty crazy. I’m glad it’s behind me.”

“After tonight you’ll be down to only five bachelors. How to
you feel about that?”

Would it be rude to say “The fewer the better?” Probably.
“Actually, I’m kind of glad. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all great guys, but
dating ten different bachelors over the course of two weeks kept me a little
too busy, if you know what I mean. I’m more of one-guy-at-a-time kind of a
girl, so I’m ready to narrow it down some.”

Jessa leaned forward, clasping her fingers around her crossed
leg. “Now that you’ve spent some quality time with each of them, is it going to
be hard to say goodbye to some?”

As long as Taycee didn’t have to do it in person, then no. And
if Sterling, Alec, Gavin, and Luke were among the six leaving, Taycee might
even throw a celebratory party. “Let’s just say that I’ve enjoyed my time with
all of them and hope that life deals them a great hand from here on out.”

“How diplomatic of you,” said Jessa. “Are there any particular
bachelors you’ll be sorry to say goodbye to if it comes to that? Anyone you’ve
made a special connection with?”

Special? Not really. Connection? Possibly. Or, at least the
hope of a connection. “Oh, I definitely feel like I’ve connected with some more
than the others, but since it’s in the viewers’ hands, I have to trust that
they will make a good choice for me.” There, how’s that for being diplomatic?

“What about Luke? How do you feel about all the pictures of
him and Missy? There’s been quite a stir on the message boards and people would
love your take on it all.”