At the sight of my raised eyebrow, she immediately began to blush again and bit down on her lip, turning away from me.
.
The rest of the night passed pleasantly enough, with all of us talking and laughing happily amongst the little group at our table. I couldn’t help noticing that Adam seemed to be a little quieter than usual, consistently looking down at his glass instead of at any of us, and I made a mental note to check in with him later. My little brother was usually the most cheerful one out of all of us, so to see him so introspective and quiet was highly unusual.
All the while, Molly kept the drinks coming, and as the night went on, I started to feel lighter. The decorations seemed to shimmer more brightly, as did Lucy’s eyes and dress. The soft heat of her woke me up every time my hand floated down close to her leg, and I felt her closeness in my belly all through the night.
At one point, as midnight started to creep closer and closer, I felt the impact of all the drinks that I’d had in a different way, and I reached over to tap Lucy on the shoulder. “I need to use the restroom,” I said.
I did my business and washed up, stepping out of the restroom, eager to get back to the table. I was so eager, in fact, that I wasn’t paying any attention as I bowled straight into someone in the hall. “Ow!” I heard, feeling the impact a second later as I stepped back from the woman in front of me.
“Shit,” I said, feeling a sinking in my stomach. “I’m sorry, Luce. My head was somewhere else.”
“That’s okay,” she said, pausing and leaning back against the wall. “The drinks have been flowing tonight. Besides—” she said, pointing at the TV screen that hung right above the bar, “it’s almost a new year.”
Weirdly, in the hallway next to the bathrooms, it was like we were in our own little world. Everyone else was in the main room, watching the timer on the TV as it began to count down from ten.
All too soon, the number on the screen read zero, and we were surrounded by a chorus of shouts of, “Happy New Year!” from all around us.
I looked down at the stunning woman next to me, tempted beyond belief to do the typical thing, and yet holding myself back. “Happy New Year, Lucy.”
She looked up at me, not saying anything in response for a moment as she tilted her head to the side. “You know,” she said softly, “it’s bad luck not to kiss anyone at midnight on New Years’.”
I couldn’t really believe what I was hearing, and yet, I didn’t want to second guess the fact that she was saying it. Setting my hand on her shoulder, I leaned down, pressing my lips to hers as she leaned into me with a sigh.
It wasn’t an explosive, passionate kiss—not one of those ones that led to ripping clothes off and a tryst against the bar wall… although I wouldn’t have been opposed. No, it was gentle, and soft, and she reached up to cup her hand around my cheek as her mouth moved against mine.
And yet, for all its softness, I felt like my entire being was on shifting sands, feeling as though I might explode in an enormous celebration of light and color and joy.
Happy New Year, indeed.
16
AARON
Sitting on top of Ember as I looked around the pasture, I felt the heavy winds gusting toward me as I took in all the horses that I still needed to round up. The forecast had said that a storm was coming in. And I needed to round up the horses, so I could get them under cover before it started to snow.
It was one of those beautiful winter evenings where everything had gone so silent that it echoed inside my soul—my favorite kind, one where I was able to sit on top of Ember—my gelding of the last twenty years, who I’d trained practically from birth—and allow my mind to settle as I watched the sun go down over the hills… or the clouds rolling in.
As I looked out over the pasture, though, I was unsettled to see that the usual milling horses were all gathered in a cluster in the center, staring down at one spot.
“Come on, boy,” I said, clicking my tongue a few times as I pulled on Ember’s reins and turned him toward the center of the paddock. “Come on. Let’s go see what’s happening.”
As Ember and I trotted up to the cluster of horses and I climbed off his back, I felt my stomach sink even further as I eased my way through the animals to find out what they were gathered around. Their neighs of concern seemed to drag my mind even further down, and when I got to the center, my alarm bells were going off full blare.