Even though the singing stopped and all around them people chattered and dishes clanked, at their table for just a brief moment it felt like the world and all its noise and chaos disappeared and it was just them.
Jennie’s reaction gave away her surprise, and then almost immediately Nate saw the emotion well up inside of her in the form of tears that brimmed in her eyes but never fell. With one hand, Jennie reached in and carefully took out the necklace. It hung loosely on her fingers as she inspected every detail of the chain and then the delicately crafted angel charm.
Nate couldn’t actually hear her, but he watched her lips form the words, “It’s beautiful.”
When she was done inspecting it, she unhooked the clasp to wrap it around her bare neck. Nate stood up to help her, his capable hands taking the delicate chain and hooking the clasp before she even realized he had a hold of it. While his hand lingered near her neck the softness of her hair brushed against his skin. Even with such brief contact, Jennie could feel the sensation, barely, but it was enough to make her start chewing nervously on her bottom lip.
Things had settled back into their comfortable pattern of friendship over the last couple of weeks, but tonight emotions ran high, making friendship seem grey and lifeless compared to what could be. Even in the crowded restaurant, there was no mistaking the heightened feelings between them. Jennie wanted to throw her arms around Nate and kiss him until she needed to stop to breathe, and then breathe only long enough so that she could go back to kissing him, but she didn’t. Instead, she looked at him as she absently ran her fingers along the chain of the necklace and tried to figure out how to tell him that she had fallen in love with him.
As if she had carefully planned to wreck their moment, their server appeared with their pizza. Nate smiled at Jennie as she eagerly reached out to take her first slice, but she could see that so much more was brewing behind his smile…and she was right. Every time he looked at her with the necklace gracefully draped across her neck, he was reminded of the nearly unbearable truth that his time with her was short and his feelings for her painfully strong. It was all he could do to force himself to eat and go on with the night, but he did it for Jennie’s sake, always bearing in mind Celeste’s experiences and how he might hurt Jennie if he did or said the wrong thing.
After dinner Nate drove her home, staying as close to the speed limit as he could to make their time last a little longer. He knew he had a lonely Christmas ahead of him sitting in a hotel room somewhere far enough away that he couldn’t go to Jennie’s on an impulse. When they got to her house, he turned off the engine and they sat in his dark car like they had dozens of times before. The cold air outside and their warm breath began to fog up the windows almost immediately. Jennie ran her finger along the window and wrote thank you in the moisture. Nate laughed and stretched across her to write you’re welcome beneath her words. Jennie felt herself suck in her breath just from the feel of having him so close.
Nate couldn’t help but notice Jennie’s reaction to their closeness. He knew if they stayed in the car much longer, things would get sticky.
“You’d better get inside and I’d better get ready for my trip,” he suggested gently.
Jennie heard him but seemed unfazed by his invitation to go their separate ways. Nate couldn’t see the details of her face in the dark but he could see her eyes filled with determination. Nate had seen that look before. It meant that Jennie had made up her mind about something, and Nate knew that whatever it was, there was no changing it.
Jennie put her hand on the door handle but didn’t move. “When you get back,” she said, “I need to talk to you about something.”
Nate cringed. He had a pretty good idea about what she had on her mind.
“Okay, we’ll talk on your birthday,” he conceded, hoping that a few days would distract her from the way it felt to sit in the dark car together. Nate made a mental note. They needed to keep more friends around them when they were out together.
“I’ll see you in a few days,” he promised.
To Nate’s relief, Jennie finally pulled the door handle and climbed out. As usual, Nate met her on the sidewalk and walked with her to the door. By some miracle at the same time they arrived at the porch, her mother was coming outside to get something from her car, disrupting their privacy. Nate took the opportunity to say a quick goodbye, thank her again for the camera, and then slip away while she showed her mother the necklace on the porch.
As he drove away, he felt sick inside that in a few short days she would tell him that she loved him. Finally, the simultaneously horrible and wonderful truth would be out in the open. And what would he say in return? He couldn’t really tell her, I can’t love you even though I do. He couldn’t simply say to her, it’s against the rules…I’m not allowed to love you. Not only would that make him sound incredibly stupid, it would also lead to more questions and even worse, forbidden answers. The conversation was a disaster waiting to happen, and if it happened, he wouldn’t be able to keep her alive. Somehow, he had to find a way to make it so that she never said those three words. He would wrack his brain until he came up with a solution. He had nothing but time, at least for the next eight days.
Chapter 22
Eight days later, when Nate arrived at Jennie’s house for her birthday party, the house was already full of people. Nate had made sure it would be. Jennie wanted him to come early to talk, but he found an excuse that would sound legitimate enough to get him off the hook, at least for now.
For Nate, his time away had felt like an eternity. In past years, Nate had spent Christmas with people he’d protected and some without anyone, but he had never felt as lonely as he did over the last eight days. He’d even cut his trip a day short to come back to his own apartment, and, for the first time in his existence, coming back actually felt like coming home.
Now as he stood on Jennie’s porch he prepared himself for what he knew was going to be a difficult night. Nate rang the doorbell but no one responded. After knocking, he opened and called out. “Hello.”
Just as he was about to step in, Jennie’s mother came around the corner wearing red and white plaid oven mitts. She greeted him with an embrace without taking off the mitts and said, “Jennie’s in the kitchen with some friends.”
Nate followed her through the house. The sweet scent of something baking floated through the air, and Nate could hear the voices of several people he knew even before he could see them. When Nate walked into the room, Jennie didn’t notice him right away. Marissa was the first to say something. “Well, look at blondie,” she commented, noticing that he’d dressed up for the party. “Don’t you clean up nice.”
When she heard Marissa talking to him, Jennie pushed her way through the crowd of people in the kitchen to come and greet him. Before long, she was standing in front of him, looking radiant. Her curls fell freely around her face and her eyes were carefully made up for the night’s festivities. Nate held out a box of her favorite dark chocolate, wrapped only with a large gold bow.
“Thanks,” she said, feeling strangely shy. Jennie took the chocolates and placed them in her pantry before pulling Nate outside on the patio where it was quieter. Nate could feel his muscles tense as the dark night closed in around them.
“Finally, alone,” Jennie said.
“Yeah, we really should get back in there,” Nate tried. “Your guests are going to wonder where you are.”
Even in the cool night air, Jennie could see that Nate’s skin was moist with perspiration.
“They’ll be all right,” she soothed, wondering why he was so nervous. “I just need to tell you something, and I can’t wait one more day.”
Nate glanced over her shoulder and saw Jennie’s mom walking towards the patio door. He just had to hold her off for another minute.
“I want to say something first,” he declared, then realized he had nothing planned. He looked around for some spark of inspiration, and then he noticed she was wearing the angel necklace. �
�The necklace, you’re wearing it,” he pointed out.
Jennienie instinctively reached down and ran her fingers over the length of the chain, then looked at him with a puzzled expression. “That’s what you wanted to say?” At that moment, Jennie’s mom came through the door. Nate breathed a sigh of relief. Jennie, on the other hand, looked irritated by her mom’s untimely interruption.
Her mother walked outside, completely unaware of either of their reactions to her sudden appearance.
“Hey, Jen, we want to cut the cake. Some of your friends have to take off soon.”
Jennie knew that meant the New Year’s Eve party at Blake’s house would be starting in a little while. She was also planning on making an appearance at the party after she spent a little more time at home with her family.
“Okay, Mom,” Jen said without even turning around. Jennie let out a sigh of exasperation but eventually turned to go back in the house. As she walked through the door Nate held open for her, she looked him directly in the eyes and said, “We’ll talk later.” Nate smiled at her politely and thought, not if I can keep you busy.
Nate didn’t have to worry about Jennie cornering him for the next couple of hours. After her friends sang Happy Birthday to her and enjoyed cake, all of them except Marissa left for Blake’s party. Luckily for Nate, Braiden was out of town and Marissa would be with them all night. While the girls spent some time upstairs getting dressed for the evening, Nate played a rousing game of Monopoly with Jennie’s little sister Kate. It didn’t take long for Kate to dominate the board and by the time Jennie came back downstairs, Kate had taken most of his money as well.
“Just in time,” Nate said to Jennie, grateful to be saved from theoretical bankruptcy. Nate pulled himself off the ground where he and Kate were spread out playing the game and smoothed down his shirt.
“Yeah, good timing,” Kate taunted. “I was just about to serve up some humble pie.”
Nate laughed good-naturedly. “I feel for the business world. After you take it on, they won’t even know what hit them.” Kate blushed as if he’d given her the greatest compliment a person can receive. Just then, Marissa trailed down the stairs, looking made up for the party.
“Are we ready?” Jennie asked.
“Let’s go,” Nate confirmed.
Jennie, Marissa and Nate walked out together and piled into his Mustang. He’d readily agreed to be the designated driver for the evening although Jennie hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since meeting Nate. It had seemed natural to her not to drink around Nate, but he wanted to be in charge of the keys just in case. It was New Year’s Eve and her eighteenth birthday, after all.
Blake’s house wasn’t far from Jennie’s and it was easy to identify by the cars parked haphazardly all over the lawn and driveway. Every light in the house blazed and, music spilled out, waking up the normally quiet suburban neighborhood. Pulling up to Blake’s house was like watching a stadium fill up just before a concert or a big game. There was an excitement in the air, even an urgency of sorts to congregate and then let loose. Nate wedged his car between a large truck and another car parked halfway on the sidewalk. As Marissa and Jennie led the way to the door, Nate tried not to notice Jennie’s short shirt and long boots that accentuated her graceful legs. Instead, he looked up at the sky and reminded himself to keep his promises and act like the man he should be. The twinkling stars seemed to help, or at least they averted his gaze. Soon after they went inside the three friends became separated. Jennie and Marissa went off to the kitchen and Nate hung out with some of the guys from the basketball team, but Nate began to get bored quickly. Drinking parties didn’t do much for him, so he began to wander the house looking for Jennie. After combing the first floor and not finding her, he tried upstairs.
Just as he was about to go back downstairs, a bedroom door opened and Jace came out with his arm slung casually around Kia, a foreign exchange student from Finland. When he saw Nate, Jace feigned a smile and walked right up to him.
“Is Jennie here?” he asked snidely. “I have a birthday present for her.”
Nate started to count to ten backwards in his head to make himself stay calm, but Jace wasn’t done. He stepped away from Kia and got close enough to Nate for Nate to smell his rancid alcoholic breath and see his bloodshot eyes.
“I’m not scared of you,” he taunted. “I know you won’t lay a hand on me with Jennie around.”
Jace was partially right; Nate didn’t want to make a scene. Suddenly, he had an idea. He turned to Kia and spoke to her in perfect Finnish. Jace couldn’t understand what they were saying but he was pretty sure that Nate was talking about him.
After Nate was done, Kia briefly looked at Jace then back to Nate before responding in English. “Nate, are you sure?”
Nate nodded his head yes. Without any forewarning, Kia turned to Jace and slapped him across the face, leaving a red welting imprint on his pasty skin. Before Jace could even respond, she gave him an additional verbal lashing in her native tongue and stormed down the stairs, making an impressive exit.
Jace raised his hand to his face where it still stung and let out a string of swear words, but she was already out of earshot.
With no one else to blame Jace turned his anger toward Nate. Nate didn’t care, in fact he was wearing an unapologetic smile from ear to ear.
“You’re right, as usual,” Nate retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I wouldn’t lay a hand on you with Jennie around, but then again I didn’t need to. Kia took care of that for me.”
Jace could feel his fist balling up in response when he happened to look past Nate, over the low wall to the first floor below them. Kia had just brushed by Jennie near the bottom of the stairs when at the same time Jennie looked up and saw Jace and Nate in the middle of their heated discussion.
Jace knew he could do a lot more damage to Nate by getting to Jennie than he ever could by hitting him. Without saying another word, Jace bounded down the stairs to catch Jennie.
Jace had been taking tiny steps toward repairing his relationship with Jennie ever since the night of the winter formal. He’d carefully chosen certain people to talk to about how his life was miserable without her and how he wanted her back. Then once the gossip was set in motion, he just sat back and watched the carefully constructed rumors trickle effortlessly through the student body like a river flowing away from its source. Once he knew she’d heard them, he started sending Jennie text messages.
Things like, I miss your friendship or You look beautiful today. Simple things, not too pushy, just enough to make her think about him. His plan seemed to working. After Jace’s heartfelt apology at the winter formal, she had been warming up to him a little at a time. Last week, he’d even stopped by the pet store and bought some food to feed a nonexistent stray cat in his neighborhood and she’d gushed about how proud she was that he was caring for a helpless animal.
Jennie was primed and ready for the next step in his plan and now Jace saw a perfect opportunity to turn her against Nate. This, of course, would get him one step closer to having her all to himself.
Before Nate even realized what was happening, Jace was down the stairs, whispering in Jennie’s ear, carefully putting into motion his recently concocted plan to destroy Nate and Jennie’s friendship. His words were fervent and indignant and framed Nate as the bad guy and himself as the innocent bystander.
Nate looked down just as he was pulling away from Jennie. Once Jace knew Jennie wasn’t looking he flashed Nate a smug expression that was a near mirror image of the one Nate had worn only minutes before. Even from upstairs, Nate could see Jace’s eyes dance with vengeful glee. Clearly, Jace saw Jennie as a prize to be won and weapon in a war of territory to be conquered. Immediately, Nate regretted his impulsive behavior. He should’ve ignored Jace and Kia, for Jennie’s sake.
Jennie peered up, trying to catch a glimpse of Nate on the second floor. Even from that distance Nate could see in her eyes that she was upset. He knew he’d better handle this
quickly, before it spiraled into a bigger problem. Nate had only used the truth when talking to Kia, but Jace was far more unscrupulous than that. Nate rushed down the stairs to reach Jennie before Jace could do more damage, but she was already on her way up. They met in the middle on the landing where the stairs split in two.
“Let’s talk upstairs,” Nate suggested.
Jennie didn’t reply, but she followed him up to one of the bedrooms toward the back of the house, walking with angry footsteps.
Before the door was even closed behind them, she blurted out, “Is this where you took Kia?”
Nate had assumed Jace would turn the truth around on him. That was the way he worked. Jace’s plan wasn’t even that creative, but unfortunately Jennie seemed to believe him, especially since she’d passed Kia downstairs.
“I didn’t do anything with Kia,” Nate protested vehemently. “Jace is angry with me so he made it up.”
Jennie considered this for a minute. It did seem out of character for Nate to hook up with someone at a party, but he had also been avoiding her for days and Kia did look disheveled when she came down the stairs. For the moment, the evidence was stacked against Nate.
“I don’t know if I believe you,” Jennie said, sounding strangely cold and distant.
Jennie’s response felt like a knife in Nate’s gut. After all this time, he couldn’t believe that she would take Jace’s word over his. As the full weight of Jennie’s words hit him, he found himself becoming increasingly angry. They were supposedly best friends. She should have believed him—outright, no questions, no doubts.
Nate stood close to her, even reached out his hand and placed it on her arm over her silky black shirt. “You don’t really believe Jace, do you?”
Jennie looked away, purposely not meeting his gaze. Nate was stunned again—she actually thought he was lying. Nate let his hand fall to his side and then realized it felt unnaturally heavy as it hung there, unable to touch Jennie’s skin. For the first time in a long time, Nate felt utterly helpless and that made him even more angry. The longer he stood there looking at her, the more he wanted to lash out. All of the frustration of the last five months that had been simmering unrecognized inside of him was quickly building into a fiery boil.
Unbreakable Love Page 10