Heather was walking up with a case of mason jars, which Josh promptly took out of her hands. He turned to take them into the house. Heather gave him the sweetest smile as she followed him.
Ari was still sitting in the truck. That’s weird.
“Ellie, is Ari feeling okay?” I asked, looking at her.
Ellie’s face went from a smile to a panicked look within a second.
“Um…I think she’s feeling a bit, um…under the weather. ”
I walked over to the driver’s side of the truck and opened it to find Ari with her head leaned up against the steering wheel.
“Baby, are you alright?” I asked as I reached in to her out of the truck.
She was completely limp in my arms while she just buried her head into my neck. Normally, her hot breath on my neck would have turned me on, but this time it was actually starting to scare me.
“Take me home, Jeff…please,” she whispered.
Home? What the hell?
“Ari, that’s a few hours’ drive back to Austin, baby. Maybe you should just. ”
“Not Austin, Jeff…our home. Please just take me to our house,” Ari said.
My heart soared when she called the ranch house our home.
I kissed her forehead and looked back up at Ellie and Gunner. I walked her around to the passenger side and put her into my truck. She just sat there and stared straight ahead. What the fuck was going on? She was fine when she left. Oh my god. I hope Rebecca didn’t call her. She’d been trying to call me all evening, and I ignored every call. She never once left a message, so I figured it wasn’t important.
“I’m going to go say good night to Gunner and Ellie. Will you be okay until I get back, baby?”
She turned to look at me. “Yeah…I’m fine really. I just feel a little sick. That’s all. ”
I shut the door and walked up to Ellie, who was looking at Ari in the truck. Then she glanced back at me, then back at Ari, and then back at me.
“Ellie, what the hell happened? Rebecca didn’t call her, did she?” I asked confused.
Ellie looked at Gunner and then back at me. She was acting really strange.
“Um…well, um…. no, Rebecca didn’t call her. She just, um…she just got sick and threw up. So, yeah, she’s probably just really stressed. You know this whole thing just has her thrown for a loop, Jefferson. ”
I turned and looked back at Ari. She was still sitting in the truck, just watching us talk. She was staring at Ellie like she wanted to get out of the truck to say something. When I turned back to look at Ellie, she was mouthing something to Ari.
Then she looked at me and smiled.
“I think she just needs some sleep, Jefferson. She’ll be fine. I promise. ”
“Okay…Gunner, will you make sure you tell Garrett and Emma we said thanks for dinner again? I guess I’m heading over to our place. Talk to y’all tomorrow?”
Gunner and Ellie both said good night and watched as I drove the truck around to the gate that was between both ranches.
****
During the whole drive to our house, Ari just stared out the window. It was 11:30 at night, and I was exhausted from moving furniture all day. I just wanted to get home, shower, and go to bed.
I pulled up to the house and jumped out. I ran around to the other side of the truck, but Ari was already getting out. She was staring at nothing as she walked up to the house.
I grabbed her arm and turned her around. Pulling her close to me, I said,