“Here they are!” Nick’s voice intruded into our own little world and cut me short.
Turning around, I found the small group of my friends headed toward us, each of them carrying a champagne flute and a smile wider than Broadway. Lisa and Ryan handed us a glass, too. “Here’s to an epic New Year!” Ryan shouted and lifted his glass. We toasted and took a swig with him, then he flung his arm around Lisa’s middle and yanked her closer for a hot kiss.
More couples started kissing, but not all of my friends.
Allie and Sasha Torres danced on the spot, Allie flinging her head back and laughing when Sasha whispered something in her ear. Nick and Justin lay in the grass with Jessa between them, watching as those people down at the beach pumped a small fortune up in the air. Sam stood on her toes, placing a chaste kiss on Tony’s mouth, before she handed him her drink and skipped off to a group of girls nearby. I recognized Chloe Summers with Brinna, her best friend, and some others there. Sam hugged her cousin tight.
I was glad the two of them were a family again, but damn, it was weird to see them together. The Christmas celebration in Chloe Summers’ house clearly had changed a lot for the two girls.
My gaze drifted over the crowd in a nearly hopeless attempt to find the one I was looking for. Was it my straight spine and craned neck that gave me away to Chris? I had no idea, but he pointed to my left and said, “He’s over there.”
Following the direction of his pointing finger, I found Ethan standing by the guys he’d spent lunch break with before he changed tables and started sitting with us. It didn’t surprise me that Ted was with the group, too. They didn’t hold hands or even stand next to each other, but every once in a while their gazes would meet and chemistry sparked between them. Perhaps that was only my wishful thinking, though…
Ethan cracked a smile when he noticed me staring at him.
“Let’s go wish him a happy New Year,” Chris said, lacing our hands, and pulled me with him over to the guys. When the twins stood face to face, Chris held out his fist and Ethan bumped it with his own. They hugged briefly with a smack on each other’s back.
“So what’s the deal?” Ethan asked, cutting a quick look at me with a wink, and focused back at Chris. “Can I hug your girlfriend without you going shark attack on me?”
Keeping a protective arm around me, Chris pulled me against him. “Nope,” he said in a playful tone.
“Chris!” I slapped his chest and laughed, wrestling free. He chuckled as he released me. Giving Ethan a bear hug, I whispered in his ear, “How are things going?”
He certainly knew that with “things” I meant him and Ted. “We’ll see,” he replied under his breath.
Then out loud, I said, “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!”
Ethan let me slip away as some of the guests started to move back into the house. A casual arm draped around my shoulders, Chris led me inside, too. “When do you have to be home?” he asked me before we joined the others.
“One thirty.” Which was far too early to go home on such a beautiful night. But my mom would freak if I stayed out much longer than that.
“Okay, I can’t drive you home because I had a drink or two earlier, but if you like, I can walk you.”
Although some of the party guests were already saying goodbye and leaving, I was sure Chris wasn’t someone who disappeared early from any party. “That’s not necessary,” I told him. “One of the guys can give me a ride.” Simone’s curfew was the same as mine, and Alex always drove her home, so it surely wouldn’t be a problem for him to drop me off at my house.
Chris pouted. “But I want to.”
Heck, who could resist a sweet look like that? Definitely not me. I gave him a small smile. “All right. But we have to leave soon. It’s two miles.”
Nodding, he pulled me along to say bye to Hunter and my friends. “Awesome party,” I told Ryan and hugged Lisa.
“Tell me everything tomorrow,” she whispered.
“Promise.”
Sam and Tony were engaged in a tongue battle I didn’t want to interrupt, so I just waved at the rest of the group and followed Chris out the door.
Hand in hand, we walked down the street, my heels on the pavement the only sound for a while. Chris started swinging our arms between us. The jingle of my charm bracelet added to the clacking of my shoes.
“It’s weird, don’t you think?” I asked him in a low voice when we’d covered half the distance to my house.
He cut me a sidelong glance. “What is?”
“This.” I held up our joined hands. “You and me, walking here, in the dead of the night.” My brow creased with a little frown. “Being together.”
Chris contemplated this for a second. “It isn’t weird at all.” He released my hand and tugged me to his side with an arm around my shoulders. As he pressed a tender kiss to my temple, my eyes closed of their own accord, though we kept walking.
“It’s not?” I murmured in the dark night.
“No,” he told me softly and pulled me against him tighter. “I think it’s perfect.”
*
September 19th
I sat in my room on my bed, an open book in my lap, but the words had stopped making sense a long time ago. One hundred and sixty-seven minutes ago exactly. That’s when Chris had sent me the last text. Leaving now. See you in a bit, sweetness.
I hadn’t replied, because I’d been downstairs getting a drink when it came in, and when I read the message five minutes later, I didn’t want to distract him from the road. It was a long drive from L.A. to Grover Beach. Three hours and nine minutes—so said Google.
Ah, my heart in a permanent rave-like pounding, I glanced at the clock on my phone for the thousandth time this evening. Maybe I shouldn’t have declined Nick’s offer to drop by his house and play some video games. But I wanted to be home when Chris arrived. I hadn’t seen him in eleven days. Hadn’t hugged him or kissed him or just breathed in his mind-blowing scent. Okay, the last one was a lie. He’d given me a blue t-shirt that he’d worn all day before he left for college. Keeping it in a box, I only took it out when the longing for him overwhelmed me and made a normal life without him hard. I sniffed the t-shirt in those moments, once or twice, and put it back quickly to save as much of his scent as possible.
Chris had laughed at me when I told him what I intended to do with his shirt, but his eyes had warmed with this loving gleam, telling a story of their own.
Another glance at the clock. One hundred and seventy-two minutes. Boy, I was a wreck. Banging my head against the wall behind me, I moaned. How much torture was a girl supposed to take? And then I heard a noise.
Was that a car door? Jerking off my bed, the book in my lap went flying and landed with a thud on the floor. Hands braced on the windowsill, I pressed my nose against the glass and peered down. A silver Honda—Chris’s graduation present from his dad. My breath went out of control and fogged up half the window before I could make him out walking toward the front door.
Squealing like a guinea pig, I skipped out of my room and around the corner into the hallway, where I skittered to an abrupt halt. Relax! Two deep breaths… Ah, what the heck, one more couldn’t hurt. Chris was always the epitome of cool, and I didn’t want to run him over like a derailed tank engine.
My mom must have heard him coming, too, and answered the door before he could ring the bell. “Happy birthday, Sally,” his voice drifted up to me. This was so much better than just hearing him through the phone.
When I felt calm enough to face him—or it could’ve been that my legs just wouldn’t hold still any longer—I walked down the stairs and stopped at the landing between the floors. Mom had caught him in a brief hug. Damn, he looked so gorgeous in that white sweatshirt, the sleeves shoved up to his elbows, and the washed out jeans I liked best hanging loosely on his hips. His blond hair was the usual mess, standing on end. My mouth watered and I wanted to eat him alive.
“Thanks, honey,” my mom said. “Now tell me, how’s co
llege?”
“It’s great.” Chris released her and smiled. “But I really miss Grover Beach.” Then his gaze wandered across the hallway and up the stairs to me. As our eyes met, time stopped for an infinitesimal moment. “And you…” he mouthed.
Screw those calming breaths and the crap about keeping a grip on my excitement. I let go of the handrail, flew down the stairs, and ran into his arms. Chris caught me, lifting me off the ground, and hugged me so tight, breathing wasn’t possible for a whole ten seconds. “Hey, baby,” he said in a low voice, meant for me alone.
I never wanted to let go of him again.
But we had plans for the evening, and since his last college classes this Friday had lasted until four thirty, he’d just made it in time. Wearing the blue dress he’d seen me in on our first date—the one that started as a tragedy—I was ready to go out. On the floor stood a black duffle bag, so he probably wanted to change clothes before we headed off to a restaurant in Arroyo Grande to celebrate my mom’s birthday together.
Taking his hand, I dragged him upstairs with me and closed the door when we reached my room. After he put the bag on my bed, he bent down and picked up my book, cracking a smile. “Left the room in a bit of a rush, did you?” he teased.
I snatched the book from him, cheeks hot like baked potatoes, and stuffed it into an empty spot on my shelf. In the meantime, he pulled open the zipper of his bag, and the first thing that appeared was…my green tee? Hello, my friend! And here I’d wondered if the washing machine had eaten it when I couldn’t find it the past couple of weeks. That rascal had taken it without a word. And after laughing at me for borrowing his shirt, too.
Chris tossed the t-shirt at me without an apology for stealing it. The only thing he said: “Wash it, wear it, and give it back to me before Monday.”
There was a sexiness to his commanding tone that made me smirk. “What do I get in return?”
He pulled his UCLA sweatshirt off over his head and tossed that at me, too. Staring at his toned abs and pecs, I sniffed the sweatshirt and sighed. Ah, a girl’s heaven. I put it into the box in exchange for the blue shirt, which vanished into his duffle bag. Chris had dressed again and was now wearing the graphite gray shirt that I still considered my favorite, unbuttoned over a white tee with some rock band’s logo on the front. Zipping his bag closed again, he walked toward me, placed his hands on my hips, and pulled me in for a really hot kiss that was all tongues and craving. About time! I’d started to wonder if he wanted to wait until after the celebration.
When he let me come up for a breath, I leaned my brow against his, my arms loosely draped around his neck. “How are Justin and Ryan doing?”
“They’re fine. Hunter misses Lisa.” Chris swept his tongue across my bottom lip. “Talks about nothing else all day.” He kissed me again, briefly. “And Ethan says hi.”
I’d talked to Ethan on the phone this morning. He really seemed to love life on campus. “So many cool guys, I swear this would be your dreamland,” he’d said jokingly. Yeah, he and Ted hadn’t worked out, unfortunately, but the whole thing had boosted his confidence in a way none of us would have thought possible. He stepped right into his brother’s footsteps with flirting once Chris was off the market. Only Ethan’s target group usually wore a five o’clock shadow. Coming clean with his family and close friends was the best thing he could have done. Now I hoped he’d find his own Mr. Right one day so he could be as happy with him as I was with Chris.
The orange glow of the setting sun sneaked through the window, reminding me that I couldn’t kiss Chris all evening—much to my regret. “We better go now,” I breathed against his lips.
“Do we really have to?” he groaned and moved me backward against the door, taking my hands and pinning them above my head as he nibbled my neck. “It’s been so long…”
I giggled, enjoying every stroke of his tongue on my skin, but eventually I pushed myself free. “We have a reservation, remember? And your mom’s waiting, too.”
“Fine.” Chris pouted, but in a voice etched with mischief, he added, “I just hope this evening goes by really fast.”
Me, too.
Looping his arm around my waist, we walked downstairs. Mom grabbed her handbag and locked the door as we headed out to Chris’s car. He’d offered to be our driver tonight.
Mom climbed into the backseat, giving Chris the opportunity to hold my hand during the ride. Our first stop was his house, where Beverly was already waiting on the front steps. Chris got out and hugged her tight to his chest. “Hi, Mom,” we heard him say through the open window.
Beverly kissed him on the cheek before she got into the back with my mother. They’d become really close friends the day Chris and I had introduced them to each other. Their chatter started the moment Beverly slammed the door and ended when we halted in front of the restaurant in Arroyo Grande. I didn’t mind being kept out of their conversation. Seizing the chance, I enjoyed watching Chris the entire time. Every other minute, he’d cut me a taunting look or a smile, and sometimes he just squeezed my hand a little tighter.
As we entered the cozy restaurant and the waiter showed us to our table by the window, my mom stopped for a brief moment and sucked in a deep breath. I knew what was on her mind. This was the table that she, my dad, and I sat at together every year for her birthday. It’s been a tradition no one ever questioned for so long.
This year, however, one person was missing to make this evening perfect. My heart stung for her…and for myself.
Mom and Dad were still keeping their distance. They talked on the phone once a month or sometimes even two or three times, but other than at my important soccer games, they never saw each other—and my last game had been before the summer. Why they still avoided personal contact, I didn’t understand, because it couldn’t have been clearer that they missed each other if they’d tattooed each other’s names on their forearms. With big, fat hearts around them. Clearly, I got the best end of their breakup deal—I could see both whenever I wanted.
Rubbing my mom’s shoulder, I gave her a warm smile. “He’s going to call, you’ll see. He won’t forget your birthday.”
Mom nodded, forcing the corners of her mouth up, but it looked little like a real smile. She’d given up hope of him remembering what day it was sometime in the afternoon. And really, I’d started wondering, too. What kept him so long? He hadn’t forgotten…had he?
While Chris pulled out my chair, the waiter helped seat our mothers. He lit the candle in the middle of the white cloth-covered table and took our drinks order. Afterward, he handed us the menus and headed off into the kitchen. When someone walked up behind my mother and me two minutes later and reached around my mom to her front, I thought it was the waiter again, bringing our drinks, and I lowered the menu wrapped in blue velvet. But this hand wasn’t holding a glass of club soda.
It was holding a red rose.
At Mom’s gasp, Chris and Beverly looked up from their menus, too, their faces breaking into wide grins. They didn’t look surprised, just happily entertained.
Mom and I whirled around. The velvety book slipped from her fingers and clattered on the marble floor, certainly leaving a dent in my big toe, but I couldn’t care less.
“Dad!” I gasped at the same time my mother breathed, “Richard!” She rose from her chair, gripping the edge of the table and the chair’s backrest for support. Oh my God, she was shaking just as much as I shook when Chris cornered me in Hunter’s pool room on New Year’s Eve.
Dad gently took her hand and pulled her one step away from the table, very obviously drinking in her delicate shape clad in a white halter dress cinched with a slim black belt. “Happy birthday, Sally,” he said in a low voice, stroking his knuckles along her jaw with the flower still in his hand and cracking a half-smile that made her cheeks turn red.
I knew she wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around his neck and crush him in a long-needed hug, but the waiter returned with our drinks, stealing that chance from her.
Placing the glasses in front of us, he asked my dad if he should get a fifth chair for him. My father didn’t reply, but the look he cast my mother held a small question. Mom nodded her head vigorously at the waiter, but her smile was for Dad alone.
When everyone was seated again and even the flower had found a place in a slim vase the waiter had fetched from behind the bar, Mom introduced my dad to Beverly. I took the chance to lean across the table toward Chris and whisper, “You don’t look surprised. Did you know he was coming?”
With a broad grin, Chris leaned closer to me, keeping his voice as low as mine. “He called me sometime last week and asked me if I knew whether you and Sally planned on coming here tonight.”
“That’s why he didn’t call her,” I concluded with a frown. “It was all set up.”
Chris nodded and leaned back, enjoying a sip of his Coke, his roguish eyes fixing on me over the rim of the glass.
The birthday dinner was one of the happiest evenings I’d had in a long time, and that’s saying something because since Chris and I got together, he’d taken me out on many happy evenings. Tonight, we ate and drank, we made jokes, and heck, sometime between the main course and the dessert, my father had started stroking the back of my mom’s hand in an inconspicuous manner. She didn't pull her hand away. My heart did a double flip for the two of them.
After Dad had taken over the bill and we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, he whispered something into my mom’s ear. Gazing into his eyes, she gave a small nod. As if there was any reason to, she asked me whether it was fine with me if Dad took her home in his car.
“Of course that’s fine with us,” I hissed, almost bouncing on the spot like a preschooler that needed to go to the toilet.
We left the restaurant together but parted at the parking lot. After kissing my dad goodbye, I climbed into Chris’s car. First, he dropped his mom of at his house, then he drove us to mine and came inside with me. I loved when he spent the weekends here. Falling asleep in his arms as he caressed the back of my neck was the best thing ever.
Dating Trouble (Grover Beach Team Book 5) Page 29