The Jilting: Summer (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 1) Read online

  There was the time she went over Mandrake Falls in a barrel—Ryder could still recall the chalky white of her skin when he fished her out. She was pretty even then but she didn’t know it and neither did he. He had got used to her looks and then suddenly, he wasn’t. Ryder’s thoughts drifted to their prom night, the dark moving trees, the heat in the wind and Scout’s body close to his. Scout’s face swam before him, young and wild-eyed.

  She was in love him once. And now she was going to belong to someone else for the rest of her life.

  Chapter Three: The Bride’s Best Friend

  CASES OF makeup, hair appliances and accessories littered the bathroom floor. Tracy and Robin, still in their underwear, were crowded in front of the bathroom mirror experimenting with eye shadow. Scout watched her bridesmaids out of the corner of her eye. Tracy and Robin were the daughters of Lydia’s best friends; Scout practically grew up with them. She liked Tracy and Robin; they were on friendly terms but she never connected to their world. Darlene, on the other hand, had invaded Scout’s life in the eighth grade like a claim jumper and hung on. Scout still had no idea why. Darlene reveled in being a girl from her painted fingernails to her ankle bracelet while Scout felt well-dressed if she managed to find socks that matched.

  “Look this way,” Darlene ordered. Scout’s matron of honor pursed her lips and squinted at the bride with a look of supreme dissatisfaction. Scout watched her, alarmed. Darlene was the owner and proprietor of the Beauty Box, the only beauty salon in town and therefore the final word when it came to hair and makeup in Mandrake Falls. The women, by consequence, all looked a teeny bit the same.

  Darlene tilted Scout’s face up to the light and dragged a brown pencil carefully along her eyelid.

  “Not too much,” Scout instructed uneasily. “I don’t look good in heavy makeup.”

  “How would you know?” Darlene said around the cap of the eye pencil. “You never wear makeup.”

  “Not true,” Robin piped. “She wore makeup on Prom night. She looked cute that night.”

  “That was seven years ago. Once in seven years doesn’t count. Her education in the feminine arts was stunted by an immature attachment to an adolescent boy.”

  “I am actually in the room, ladies. I’m sitting right here.”

  Tracy said dreamily “I wish I were getting married to a rich older man who was going to whisk me away. I’d love to get out of Mandrake Falls.”

  “What’s wrong with Mandrake Falls?”

  “Nothing, if you like slow, slower and dead for excitement. Nothing happens here. Look at Scout’s wedding. Everyone in town is going. Shelby Porter from the Gazette is covering it. It’s the only excitement the town has seen in months.”

  “Everyone is going to my wedding because Lydia thinks she’s a socialite and no one has the heart to tell her otherwise. Besides, Noel isn’t whisking me away anywhere. I have a business here and Noel likes Mandrake Falls. We’re going to buy the Hathaway house and fix it up. I’ll probably get pregnant on our honeymoon so we have to move fast.”

  “Pregnant!” Tracy shuddered. “A little Scout Rutherford running loose just when we finally get the gymnasium back in action. Although to be fair, it wasn’t the fire so much as the water damage. Have you talked to Ryder about this pregnancy plan of yours? You two talk about everything. How did he react to the news he’s about to be replaced? It’s like a cat, you know; as soon as a baby is on the scene, everybody ignores the cat. You guys have always been a little too close in my opinion. Prom night was the start of it. It was just a rumor but where there’s smoke, you know?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” Scout said.

  “Don’t be silly. Of course you do. Do you guys remember that? Scout and Ryder disappeared that night. Rumor had it they hooked up. Dumped their dates and ran off to the woods to have sex. It was all very hush-hush. I never got the whole story.” Tracy picked up a bottle of dark purple nail polish and shook it. “You weren’t with Joel, that much I do know.”

  Scout felt her face go hot. “Sure I was. I was Joel’s date.”

  “We know, honey,” Darlene said kindly. “But Hank and I saw him leave early. And then you were dancing with Ryder. Then you both disappeared and no one saw you again all night. We all assumed ... you know ... that it finally happened between you two that night.”

  “Well, you were all wrong. Nothing happened. Nothing at all.”

  She picked up the bottles and jars Darlene had brought over, inspecting each one.

  BUT SOMETHING did happen between them that night and on the other side of town, with less than an hour to go before Scout’s wedding, Ryder stood under the shower remembering every detail.

  Scout had been asked to prom by Joel Harmon, the captain of the basketball team. She couldn’t believe it, and frankly neither could Ryder. Scout was popular but she was too preoccupied to excite much attention from the guys, especially jocks like Harmon. Harmon was a good basketball player but a jerk to girls. Scout didn’t seem to notice. She raved on about him until Ryder told her to stuff a sock in it. The theme that year was Dirty Dancing. The gym was transformed into a fifties ballroom, complete with lamp-lit tables and a glitter ball. All the girls showed up in tight dresses and strappy heels. Scout, as usual was behind the trend, wearing an Empire waist dress with a square bodice better suited to the Romeo and Juliet theme they’d had last year. Her hair was curled in Elizabethan ringlets. Ryder thought his heart would burst in his chest when she walked in on Joel Harmon’s arm.

  Later that evening, he spotted Scout and Joel deep in conversation and experienced a sickening lurch of jealousy. He couldn’t stand the way Scout was looking at Joel. She’d never looked at any boy that way before, not even him. Ryder grabbed his date, Cindy Graham, a beautiful cheerleader with zero imagination and pulled her in for a slow dance. That was all the encouragement Cindy needed; she caught Ryder by the hand and drew him out to the parking lot. Even at eighteen, Ryder was careful about going too far with girls he wasn’t interested in. But after seeing Scout with Joel, he felt like his insides were boiling over and he was desperate for relief. A wild night with an obliging Cindy suddenly seemed like the perfect antidote.

  The parking lot was dark but across the tarmac he could make out Joel Harmon getting into his pickup truck with a girl. Ryder’s insides pressed up to his throat. He took a step closer. The girl getting into the truck was a tall brunette. Scout was short. If Harmon was leaving with another girl, then where was Scout?

  Ryder turned back to Cindy. “I’ve got to go back in for a few minutes. I have to check something.”

  “Like what?” she demanded.

  “I think Joel just dumped Scout. I’m going to see if she’s okay.”

  “Ryder, if you leave me here in this parking lot, I won’t be waiting when you get back. I turned down a lot of guys to come with you tonight. It is Prom Night, Ryder! It’s not like we’re going to have another one of these. You owe me this night. So what’s it going to be?”

  Ryder looked into Cindy’s pale blue eyes. She was popular and beautiful and really into him. He groaned. He was going to hate himself in the morning. “Have a good summer,” he muttered and sprinted for the gym door.

  IT TOOK him a full minute before he caught sight of her hovering in a dark corner watching the stage. She seemed confused and preoccupied. Ryder’s heart flipped painfully. He’d have given anything to have Joel Harmon’s face in front of his fist at that moment. Weaving his way through the swaying teenagers, Ryder kept his eyes on Scout, afraid of losing her before he could reach her, before she could know that she wasn’t alone.

  Pasting a grin on his face, he bumped her gently from behind. She turned and seeing it was him, fell against his chest and pressed her knuckles to her eyes, a trick she had from childhood when she was trying not to cry.

  “Hey, whoa, whoa ... this tux is a rental. You’re getting mascara all over it. What’s wrong?”

  Scout pulled herself up. “Joel Harmon is a bloody lying
loser.”

  “I could’ve told you that.”

  “We danced once and he figured ... I don’t know. Where did he get the idea I would—? He said I must be cool with it because I’ve done it with you so many times. I told him he was a disgusting, lying creep. He grabbed one of the cheerleaders and disappeared.”

  “Which cheerleader?” Ryder glanced around the room.

  “Tina, I think. Is that all you can say? Ryder, he thinks we’ve been doing it!”

  Ryder squeezed the top of her head. “So? We know the truth. Harmon is an idiot who’ll say anything to get laid. Everyone knows that.”

  “Everyone except me.” She looked wistfully at the couples moving on the dance floor. “I thought Prom Night was supposed to be magic, you know?” Scout sighed and smoothed her hands over her dress. “Do you think he’s coming back?”

  Only Scout would expect a romantic evening from Joel Harmon. He was glad the bastard left; the thought of Harmon touching Scout made Ryder physically sick.

  The band launched into an old slow song and the dance floor emptied. The glitter ball flung colored light over the gym and the lights on stage dimmed. Ryder took Scout’s hand and without a word, he led her to the center of the dance floor.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed, glancing around self-consciously.

  “After the torrid love we’ve shared? I shouldn’t have to explain what I’m doing Scout, not to you of all people.” He was trying to make her laugh. Old movie dialogue usually worked.

  “Cindy is going to kill me if she catches us. Those cheerleaders can get pretty nasty where their men are concerned.”

  “I’m not her man, Scout. I’m yours.”

  He didn’t know where the words came from but once they were out he wished he could haul them back in again. Ryder’s face was hot.

  Scout flushed and looked away, but she seemed pleased. “Okay, you’re hired, although I was saving my babysitting money to buy a dog.”

  “A dog is a waste of money. What can a dog give you that I can’t give you?”

  Her eyes narrowed, teasing him and a grin played about her mouth. “A dog would lick my face. Are you willing to lick my face, Ryder?”

  God, when did she get so sexy! He wanted to kiss her. Holding her, dancing with her—everything between them was changing faster than he could handle. He wanted to bail, to go back to being what they were before. If he kissed her she wouldn’t be his buddy anymore and all kinds of things could separate them. Couples broke up all the time. The song ended and Ryder grabbed Scout’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go to the fort.”

  “What about Cindy?”

  “She can get her own fort.”

  “C’mon Ryder, you can’t ditch your date.”

  “I’m not ditching her, Scout. She’s already gone.”

  “Gone where?”

  “To the ridge, to the diner, to the back seat of a football player’s car—I don’t know. Gone.”

  “Ryder, what happened?”

  “The usual you-know-what. She was slumming going out with me. Some people still see me as the poor boy from the wrong side of town. I’m okay with it most of the time. But tonight, I want to be with a girl who wants to be with me. Just me.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “You know what I mean?”

  Scout nodded. Her young face seemed weary. “Yep, I know. I want to be with a guy who wants to be with me too. Just boring old me.”

  Ryder couldn’t tell her, but being with Scout tonight on this last night of their childhood, was all he wanted. He couldn’t explain why, not even to himself. The feeling was like a bomb in his chest. Suddenly, they had grown up. Scout was going to move away, meet a guy, get married and have all those kids she was always talking about. He’d get cards at Christmas addressed to ‘Uncle Ryder.’ Nothing ever stayed the same. “Boring doesn’t describe you, Scout. I want to be with you. You want to be with me. So let’s get out of here.”

  Scout nodded and let him take her hand.

  It was easy after that. Leaving Prom was like shucking off a skin that didn’t fit them too well to begin with. They stuffed Scout’s evening bag with food from the buffet table. Then Ryder led the way, disappearing them both into the dark behind the school gymnasium.

  THE FORT was half a mile away, hidden in a leafy summer forest and invisible to anyone who didn’t know what to look for.

  Scout and Ryder began building it when they were ten and for the longest time the fort resembled a dump site. By the time they turned twelve though, construction began in earnest. A foot off the ground, (Scout insisted, being terrified of snakes) the fort was a large platform jammed in a stand of trees and secured with nails, rope and anything else that would hold it up. The walls were fixed from a variety of materials and set between each tree giving the fort a bumpy circular shape. They had the most difficulty with the roof and after a couple of cave-ins, had success with some discarded rolled tin that they nailed flat to the top of the walls. The roof had held through some powerful storms. When it rained though, the noise was deafening.

  There was no rain tonight. Warm sighing breezes moved the trees that towered over the fort. They stepped up into the gloom of their old haunt.

  “Do you think the candles are still here?”

  He could hear her scrabbling in the tin treasure box on the makeshift shelf. “Everything’s still here,” sighed Ryder. He sank to the old sofa cushions that served as their furniture. They wanted to bring the whole couch but Scout’s mother had said no; mice would make nests in it. Mrs. Rutherford had long since given up on making a princess of her daughter but she drew the line at allowing her to bed down with rodents.

  “When was the last time you were here?” Scout looked at him in the flare of the match, her eyes curious. She must have thought the well-stocked treasure box was suspicious. Ryder stretched out on the cushions and closed his eyes. He tried to appear bored, like he hardly ever thought of the place much less stopped in anymore. In actual fact, he came by almost every day. Sometimes he stuck around just for the quiet, to think. Sometimes he spent the night, usually after he’d been out on a date and didn’t want to go home to face a drunken Grady. He was too old to spend the night at the Rutherford’s anymore, although he knew all he had to do was ask. “Last week, maybe. Can’t remember. Thought I should tear the place down, actually. It’s an eyesore.”

  Scout lunged at him. “Tear it down? You can’t make a decision like that without me. I’m co-owner.”

  Ryder yelped and jumped up. “Hey, watch that candle! You’re dripping hot wax all over me.” He took the candle from her and pressed it into the tin holder he’d made in metal shop the year before. “What do you think this is—a condo? You can’t co-own a fort.”

  Scout balled her hand into a fist and waved it in his face. “You sure as hell can, Ryder Dean. If you remove so much as a splinter, you’ll feel my wrath.”

  He laughed. “You actually believe you could take me with your skinny arms and those little bitty fists? Maybe when you were ten. Not now. Besides, you know I’m right about this place. When are we ever going to come back here? You’re leaving for New York, I’m going to State. We’ll forget all about this dump.” Ryder flopped down to the cushions, crossing his legs at the ankles and resting his head under his arms. The wind moved the trees outside.

  Scout crouched down beside him. “Let’s not talk about university. It makes me sick with nerves just thinking about September. What if I flunk out my first year?”

  Candlelight danced over the rough boards of the walls. “You won’t. You’re smart when you want to be. It’s me I’m worried about,” said Ryder. “The thought of starting the first day of classes without you there making me work scares the hell out of me.”

  “Oh please. Ryder Dean is the undisputed brain of Mandrake Falls High School. You co-captained three teams, served as student body president, and you were the only kid to ride a motorcycle that you saved up for by pumping gas at Ed’s Garage! I mean, who does that? And your grades
were the best in the class. I get tired just thinking about it.” She gazed down at him. “What have I got, huh? No discernible life skills whatsoever. This fort is my only claim to fame. I forbid you to tear it down. I may need to live in it one day.”

  Ryder grinned up at her. “You forbid me? Forbid? Is that the word you want to use?”

  “You underestimate my physical strength, Dean. I could do damage. Just test me. Let’s go a few rounds. You’ll see” Her voice was always unpredictable, squeaky and high-pitched one second, dipping into a growl the next. She sounded like a boy whose voice is changing but never actually changes. When she was angry she reminded him of a cartoon chipmunk.

  Ryder caught Scout at the waist and flipped her over, pinning her to the floor. “Do your worst, Rutherford,” he hissed. “You have the arms of a girl.”

  “That’s because I am a girl.”

  He had meant to tease her like he used to when they were kids, engaging in a battle of the sexes neither of them believed in unless they were hard up for a good comeback. Ryder let his gaze drop to her chest. Prove it is what he was going to say. Prove you’re a girl. The words dried on his lips. Her breasts mounded over the bodice of her dress; a silky expanse of flawless skin glowing in the candlelight. Scout had cleavage. Ryder stared, unable to move or shift his gaze.

  “I ... I know,” he rasped, losing the thread of what they were fighting about.

  And then, as if moving in slow motion, Scout flushed red and turned her face away.

  “What’s wrong?” His voice cracked. He was still on top of her. Her arms were pinned. Ryder was aware of heat rising from Scout’s body, burning the length of him even through his tux. An answering sensation whipped though his body, focusing like a blowtorch on his groin and he broke into a sweat. A fire, he thought dimly, we’re going to burst into flame. He wanted to see his best friend naked. All hell was going to break loose.

  “Get off me, Ryder.”