Unconditionally (Brown County #4) (13 page)

“Tucker get down here if you want to go out with Uncle Toby!” Emmalynne yelled at the foot of the stairs and soon after you heard the clomping of feet from the floor above and then on the stairs as Tucker rushed down.

When he was three steps from the bottom he took a flying leap and jumped down, keeping his balance the whole time. “Hey man, let’s go before we’re late!” He expressed with a ginormous smile. As if I hadn’t been waiting on the little heifer for almost ten minutes.

I rolled my eyes at Emmalynne as I leaned forward to give Lottie a kiss on top of her mass of curly auburn hair, which she definitely inherited from her momma and pivoted on my foot to turn towards the front door, following in Tucker’s footsteps. He was already outside and rushing towards my Jeep when I threw over my shoulder, “I’ll have him home by eight!”

We loaded up on popcorn, soda, and even a few different types of candy. What kind of uncle would I be if I didn’t load him up on sugar before I sent him home? And a movie wasn’t a movie without Twizzler’s and M&M’s. Sugar was a definite weakness of mine and I didn’t even try to hide it.

Making it to our seats in just enough time before the house lights went off and the movie theater started to get dark. I tried keeping everything organized by placing each of our drinks in the respective cup holders and then staging the popcorn right between us. I held onto the candy for the time being because if I were to leave it in Tucker’s incapable hands the boxes would end up on the floor and that was just, ew…disgusting.

The first preview came on and a body caught the corner of my eye, so I turned my head to see what was drawing in my attention.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I whispered in a low breath.

Tucker leaned his ear in to me while his eyes were still trained on the big screen and he kept on stuffing his face full of popcorn, “What?”

Realizing I said that loud enough to where he could hear, I quickly covered it up, “Oh, I just got some butter from the popcorn on my pants, no big deal.” The horror of that lie, because if I were to get butter on my pants it would definitely be a BIG deal. Do you know how hard that grease stain would be to get out? I mentally cringed at the thought.

I shimmied and slouched down into my seat hoping that Ethan and Drew wouldn’t see us. Luckily I was on the outside of Tucker so he really couldn’t tell who was coming in and out of the theater. That was all I needed, to endure an entire movie sitting next to Ethan Bradley.

Mentally saying a quick prayer, I hoped they didn’t catch a glimpse of us with the dimmed lighting. I sure as hell wished I didn’t. I would definitely be watching my movements throughout the entire movie to make sure they didn’t catch sight of us, did that make me a pussy for trying to hide? Undoubtedly so.

The movie went on without a hitch, it was what happened afterward that put a damper even more so in my evening.

Tucker and I threw away our trash and I rushed him out of the building even telling him to forgo using the restroom because I needed to get him home. We still had plenty of time, but I didn’t want to risk the chance of running into Drew and his uncle.

We each got settled into my Jeep and once I placed my key in the ignition and tried starting her up, nothing happened. So I repeated the process, and still nothing.

“Great, just flipping great!” I grumbled as I slammed my palms against my steering wheel.

“What’s wrong, Uncle Toby?” Tucker had a worried look in his eye.

“Oh, I just think my battery is dead, nothing major.”

I got out of my Jeep and began pacing around the asphalt on the parking lot trying to think of what to do. I could call Mike, he was a mechanic on the side, he would know what to do. Shoveling my phone out of my pocket I was hesitant about calling him, I didn’t want to be a burden and interrupt him on family time with Sheridan and Ben. I supposed I could call a local garage and hope like hell that they were still open.

“Well, well. I thought that was your Jeep.” Ethan said in his signature cocky tone, just as Drew came running past me over to Tucker’s side of the vehicle.

“Shit,” I groaned under my breath. This was the situation I was trying to avoid, but now it looked as if I was stuck here.

I released a sigh and turned around only to have the wind knocked out of me by the sheer sight of him. Why was I attracted to him, 99% of the time he was a jerk to me. What made me think that he would actually help me now?

“Listen, I’m not here to get into an argument with you. But I do have a favor to ask, can you jump me?”

His jaw immediately dropped as well as he had a hitch in his breath and it wasn’t until his lips upturned in one of his sexy but cocky grins did I realize what the heck I did wrong.

“I mean, can you give my Jeep a jump? Not jump me, I don’t want to you to jump me per say, just my car.” The word vomit would not quit, so it was just going to be best if I just kept my trap shut. “Ok, I’m going to stop talking now.”

He walked a few paces towards me, in his tight dark denim jeans and cowboy boots, making me back up flush against my red door. “You know you’re awfully cute when you’re flustered.” He then reached around me to release the lever to pop the hood on my Jeep. And then backed up and went to do the same with his Durango which was I’m sure coincidentally parked right in front of mine.

Was that what I was, flustered? Gee thanks for pointing that out for me. As if I didn’t already know.

This man invoked weird and rare feelings out of me and I wasn’t exactly sure if they were positive or not.

Minutes later and after some rustling of parts under the hood I was able to crank the starter on the Jeep and the engine started right up. We were officially back in business and not a moment too soon.

I knew my manners and I wasn’t about to leave without extending my deepest gratitude but it didn’t mean that I was internally jumping for joy because I had to. The whole uncle/nephew role model thing, it would’ve been strongly frowned upon if I just gave him the finger and went on about my day.

He closed the hood of my car and moved towards me wiping his hands on a rag that he’d produced from somewhere. And he didn’t hesitate moving into my personal bubble of space again. “There you go, you’ve been jumped,” he whistled through his teeth and gave me a smoldering look as if he were picturing the same thing I was. And it wasn’t something appropriate to be picturing with my nephew so close.

Now it was my turn for my jaw to drop. I couldn’t hide the obvious feelings he was generating within me as my pants started to become even tighter. I needed to remember that there were two eleven year old boys only a few feet away, I needed to get a grip on myself.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Toby. If I wanted to
jump
you, don’t you think I would’ve already?”

And there was the response that I needed to remember what a self-involved, cocky prick he was.

Now that middle finger and driving away didn’t seem so harsh after all.

My chest was rising and falling so quickly due to my seething mood. Why I ever let him get a rise out of me, both mentally and physically, I’ll never truly understand. But Ethan Bradley was bad news and I needed to continue to try and steer clear of him.

Ethan

“Uncle Ethan, why did Toby storm off after you helped him? Did you say something to him?”

Such an inquisitive little lad, that nephew of mine, but truthfully I didn’t know how to answer his questions. So I just gave him a sideways glance and a half smile and hoped that he would be done with it. I knew that I was pushing my luck but the truth was I didn’t know why I was being for lack of a better term, a cocky smartass.

I was nice to everyone it was in my nature, but I couldn’t for the life of me understand why my smart allelic undertones always made a presence when I was around him.

Was I attracted to him? With every fiber of my being. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind. Perhaps that was it, I didn’t want to be attracted to him but I couldn’t help it either. His laugh and that smile completely did me in. But I hadn’t seen it as much lately which led me to believe that it was me who wiped that smile off of his face and if that didn’t feel like a punch to the throat. I tried being on my best behavior towards him, but when he slipped up and said hilarious things like “Will you jump me,” I just couldn’t help myself. I felt as if I was always on the edge of my seat anticipating what would come out of his mouth next. With Toby you just never knew.

What was holding me back from being honest and up front with Toby on my attraction to him? I’ve never had a problem with telling someone my feelings. Could it be that Owen did such a number on me that I had a problem now trusting men? I think the real thing that was bothering me was that if I were to actually open up and let him in, would he just leave? I hoped that I could figure it all out soon.

Toby

An entire week had gone by since the exchange with Ethan and things were actually looking up, besides the fact that Gio has started back up with his incessant calling. I think it’s actually high time that I told him that I was DONE, I was giving up. For him to move on, this train was well past the point of leaving the station. There was no future for us, he couldn’t love me and I couldn’t trust him.

I contacted the rest of the members of The Nation’s Capital earlier in the week to see what they thought about performing at Emmy Lou’s this weekend. That was something major that I was missing in my life, singing and performing with my band. Once I got the all clear from their schedules I dialed up Grady to make sure it was kosher with him as well. He owed me from going to Tucker’s last baseball game, not really but I didn’t tell him that, and it was easy as pie to get it all set up.

Brown County as well as surrounding counties were always excited to hear of our performances as they were sporadic and not as often as before. I knew we had to make these two shows amazing to hold the residents over until the next time. The rest of the week was spent rehearsing and making sure we were each on point. I even tried out a few of my new dance moves while we practiced to get a feel of if I could actually do it without falling on my face. That was just what I needed, to make even more of a fool of myself.