Jack dropped me off at my car with a tight smile and a have a safe trip home. My cheeks burned as I drove to my parents’, but I couldn’t pinpoint the reason. Anger? Embarrassment? Residual hangover side effect?
“Repeat after me,” Cat said Saturday morning as we stood outside our apartment building. “No alcohol and no kissing cute boys to make other cute boys jealous.” I nodded my head. “Definitely no alcohol. And no kissing. No hugging. No touching of any kind. In fact, I think I should
“Come on, Charla! We’re going to be late,” my dad called up the stairs a few hours later.My parents had returned from their impromptu trip to Hope Falls for whitefish at their favorite restaurant. They got home a few minutes after Stephen and Julie picked up Rory, utterly shocked to hear that they’d offered to babysit.
“You jackass,” I said the moment we broke through the doors of the community center. Rory’s victory yell had brought the entire recital to a halt. Between the looks Julie and Stephen gave me, and Jack’s head on my shoulder as he collapsed into laughter, I had not been able to contain myself. Time to make our exit.&n
I barely made it to the parking lot when I heard Jack’s footsteps behind me. “Tierney,” he called. “Wait up.” My feet wanted to keep moving, but every other part of me wanted an answer. Needed to know if all of this—the flirting, the fun, the chemistry—was part of a fa
“Tierney, that boy is here.” Dad’s voice boomed up the stairs the next morning. “You up?” “Shit.” I bolted upright and shoved my hair out of my face, immediately blinded by the sun assaulting me through the window. It was still morning. Who showed up for a dat
Our next stop was a couple towns over, at a diner in Cherry Lake. As we pulled into the parking lot, Jack said, “I figured you’d appreciate a meal without people staring or trying to overhear our conversation.”“You figured right.” I looked over at him, a smile taking over my face. He’d very slyly reached across the truck to hold my hand on the way here, and we had t
Jack drove. I rolled my window down and reached over, taking his hand. As we entered June Lake, I watched his hair ruffle in the breeze. We were nearing my parents’ street. Soon, I’d be getting into my car and driving back to Port Agnes. Back to reality.
“You sure you don’t want to go back in there?” I asked as we stepped out onto the sidewalk. I looped my arm through Jack’s and cast a surreptitious look at his profile. The muscles in his jaw worked overtime as he thumbed through his wallet for the valet ticket. “I’m sure,&r
Two hours later, I found myself parked at a table in the corner of the first bar I found. I didn’t stop when I walked away from Jack. I’d pushed through the crowd and right out the door. Took a right and followed the sidewalk until I found this place.Through the window, the Hope River glittered in the moonlight. All I could focus on, though, w
I had nearly two weeks to chicken out. To convince Cat that there was no need for me to attend the restaurant grand opening. To make her see that being in Jack’s presence would do neither of us any good. I was unsuccessful. Should have known better, really. Once Cat got something in her head, there was n
The next month flew by in a whir of brainstorms and phone calls and late nights staring at my computer screen. The end result: my very own literary agency.Well, technically, agent. Singular. Just me. Working out of my apartment after getting home from my day job. But I had plans, dammit. Big ones. Ones that involved getting good books by talented writers out in the world. Starting with Joy Ne
What did “fine” mean, really? For me, it meant getting up the next morning, putting my big girl pants on and finding a new job. I couldn’t just sit around and mope forever. There were bills to pay, man.
Getting dumped and getting your dream job in the same day sucked. Getting dumped, getting your dream job, and going to work the next day like everything was normal sucked even more.
A couple hours later, the sun had begun to dip below the horizon, casting a dreamy golden glow over the fairgrounds. People still milled about, laughing and talking, soaking in the magic hour before darkness took over. I sat back in my chair and surveyed the booth before me. Slim pickin’s. Jack’s a
The next morning, Cat and I were squeezed into her tiny kitchen, making pancakes and scrambled eggs before we settled down to a marathon of My Boyfriend the Vampire—a very nice Sunday, if you asked me. I had just flipped the final pancake when my phone buzzed from its place on the counter. Cat g
We wandered the fair for a while after that, hand-in-hand. Initially, we’d been looking for Luke and Cat, but they’d vanished. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I worried that the bearded man had actually murdered them. When I voiced my worry, though, Jack assured me that they were fine. “Pro
Jack was sitting on the front porch Saturday morning as I pulled into the driveway, looking like an excited kid. An excited kid with a naughty secret.We’d been talking since I left him on Thursday. His dad was on the upswing, so he felt comfortable leaving the hospital for the day.