Book Read Free

Fade to Us

Page 17

by Julia Day


  After turning off his computer, I locked the workshop, returned to the house, dropped the cookies off in the kitchen, and went upstairs. Natalie’s door was ajar. When I knocked, it swung open.

  She was sitting on her bed, her hands on her computer’s keyboard, Tigger at her feet. “What do you want?”

  “Can we have our evening chat?”

  “I like it better when I come to your room.”

  “How about now?”

  She closed the lid on her laptop and followed me. I landed on the edge of my bed while she hung onto the doorframe.

  “I’m here now. What is it?”

  “Micah and Lisa are driving to Elon on Saturday.”

  “And?”

  “He can drop you off at your mom’s, if you want.”

  Emotions chased themselves across her face. Surprise. Hope. And finally, worry. “What if Mama doesn’t want me?”

  “She does. I’ve already asked Jeff about it, and he called Mei. They think Saturday afternoon would be fine.”

  “This will be very good. Why did Micah suggest it?”

  “He’s a nice guy.” I gave her a casual smile. “I’ll ride along, too.”

  Her brow scrunched. “Mama didn’t agree to that. She finds you annoying.”

  “Me? Why?”

  “Because you boss me around like you’re one of my parents. She thinks I have too many as it is.”

  Ouch. Mei would be pissed if she knew Natalie was repeating that. “Do you agree with her?”

  “Not really. You are kind of bossy, but since you’re a teen, I get to selectively ignore you.”

  I should learn to never use the word why with Natalie. “I won’t stay in Durham. I’ll go with Micah and Lisa to their house.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  Because I can hardly stand to spend a single day away from him. “We could talk about the show.”

  “That won’t be fun. It’s the weekend.” She hunched her shoulders and looked at her feet. “Will Mama let me spend the night?”

  “My mom is umping a game in Greensboro that afternoon. She can come through about ten o’clock to pick us up.”

  “This is plenty to think about.” Natalie darted from the room.

  I flopped back on my bed, happy that Micah’s suggestion had worked out for Natalie and me.

  24

  Wonder and Awe

  Natalie rode up front from Azalea Springs to Durham, talking with Micah the whole way. Lisa read a book in the backseat next to me. I had nothing to do, so I dozed.

  The handoff at Mei’s house was completed successfully, and thirty minutes later we were pulling off a rural highway onto a long, winding driveway. Ahead of us sprawled a red brick ranch house. The driveway curved past the front door before forking toward a detached, three-car garage.

  As we parked, someone sauntered out the side door. Once he stepped into the sunlight, I could tell he was a slightly older, slightly taller version of Micah. The guy was also incredibly beautiful in a way that would require all of my self-discipline not to stare in wonder.

  Lisa gave a giggle of pleasure and had hardly opened the door when he pulled her into his arms.

  “Mom!” He gave her a noisy smack on the cheek.

  “I didn’t know you were coming,” she said with an excited laugh.

  The Lisa I knew had vanished, and the woman in her place was a mom who was happy to see her son. They walked around to the rear of the vehicle and opened the hatch.

  Micah held the door as I slipped from the backseat.

  “Your brother?” I asked.

  He rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”

  They disappeared inside the house, with Lisa talking while her middle son carried her bag. By the time Micah and I had reached the door, Jude had returned.

  “Who is this?” he asked with an assessing look.

  “Brooke,” Micah said with an edge in his tone, “and keep your distance.”

  “Hi, Brooke. I’m Jude, and I’m too polite to keep my distance.”

  “Hi.” I smiled.

  “Mom said you’d figured out how to catch a girl. This one looks surprisingly good…”

  Really? You just said that in front of “this one”?

  “… Better than I would’ve expected for your second try.”

  Micah lunged, hands clenched. Jude dodged whatever blow was coming and took off. Micah swore at him. That made two never-before-experienced reactions from him. Not that Jude hadn’t deserved it.

  I preceded Micah from the utility room and halted in a large open space. It had a vaulted ceiling, a massive stone fireplace, furniture that was oversized, and a glass wall overlooking a lawn and small lake. The area behind me functioned as the kitchen, a sleek high-tech wonder of stainless steel appliances and charcoal-gray granite countertops. By the glass wall sat a trestle table with six chairs.

  The kitchen smelled amazing. Trying not to be too obvious, I peeked in the oven door. A large glass casserole dish bubbled out puffs of garlic and tomato. Yum.

  Micah flung his duffel bag next to a navy sectional couch and knelt to scratch an old collie behind its ears.

  I joined him and waited while the dog lazily sniffed my shoes. “Where is Jude in college?”

  “Virginia Tech. He goes back for his sophomore year in August.”

  “What’s his major?”

  “Don’t think he’s declared it yet.”

  “And he has a job this summer?”

  “He’s a counselor at a sports camp near Blacksburg.” Micah rose, slid a possessive arm around my shoulders, and pulled me against his side. “Why so many questions about Jude?”

  “Simple curiosity. When Peter shows up, I’ll ask about him, too.” I laid a hand on Micah’s chest. “This can’t be jealousy, because you have to know I’m all yours.”

  “That’s a very good answer.” He pressed his lips to mine.

  “Excuse me.” A deep, amused male voice spoke.

  Micah broke the kiss. “Dad, I’d like you to meet Brooke Byers.”

  “Your dad?” I gasped and tried to back away, but Micah wouldn’t let me go.

  “Brooke, this is my dad, Charlie Dalton.”

  Was my face bright red? Because it felt like it was on fire. “Hi, Mr. Dalton.”

  “Charlie.” He offered me his hand. “I can see you’re already feeling welcome.”

  Could this get any more embarrassing? “Um, well…”

  “Dad, give her a break. She’s still recovering from Jude.”

  Charlie laughed. “It’s okay, Brooke. When Micah brings home a girl, it’s noteworthy.” He strode past us and into the kitchen, checking on the dish in the oven. “We’ll have lunch in another hour. Why don’t you two take a walk around the farm?”

  “Sure, Dad.” Micah linked his fingers through mine. “Did you bring a hat?”

  I shook my head.

  “It’s hot out there. Hats are required.”

  We walked around the fields, hand in hand, hats and shades on. I stayed quiet, marveling at how much Micah knew about his father’s farm. He explained what was in season and what was on the way. When to harvest each crop and how much labor it took. I loved listening to him talk.

  We had reached a thick line of trees when he stopped. “Am I boring you?”

  “Definitely not.” I looked across the fields. I was mostly uninformed about food production. As far as I knew, food appeared magically in stores, trucked in by elves. It was satisfying to learn about the real story, especially when the teacher was Micah.

  He shifted so that his body blocked the sun. “What?”

  “You know so much about things that are mysteries to me. It’s kind of sexy.”

  “Yeah?” He grinned. “I’ve lived here my entire life. It would be odd if I didn’t know things.”

  “Do you like farming?”

  “No. Neither do my brothers.” He looked toward the house, which seemed to shimmer in the heat on a ridge a good ten minutes’ stroll away. “Dad
’s disappointed. I don’t know what will happen when he’s tired of doing this anymore. Or not able to.” Micah’s smile was shadowed with sadness. “Let’s head back.”

  We walked in the shade of the trees for as long as it was practical, then detoured around the lake. We didn’t speak for several minutes, but this silence was different, denser, as if we both sensed a shift in our relationship. Because this day had altered us. We had crossed the threshold between “What are we?” to “We are.”

  “You seem distracted,” I said.

  His hands cupped my face. “I am distracted—by you. It scares me. Not just how quickly life changed, but how much I wish the inevitable end weren’t so inevitable.”

  I waited for his kiss, confident it would come. He explored me with his lips. Softly. Sweetly. A kiss full of wonder and awe.

  When I’d been with Jonas, making out could only be described as frantic. It was as if we tried to devour each other to mask how little we had in common.

  Everything about Micah felt right, as if our hearts had perfectly aligned in the short time we’d been together. The intensity had taken me by surprise. Our relationship was supposed to have been for fun, not forever. Should I put the brakes on? Lighten the mood? I slipped my arms around his waist and pressed deeper into his embrace. “For a guy who had his first kiss three days ago, you’re doing pretty well.”

  He smiled against my cheek. “YouTube has a how-to video for everything.”

  I smothered a laugh. “You learned how to kiss from YouTube?”

  “Are you complaining?”

  “Not at all.”

  He started to add more, but his phone buzzed. Taking a step away, he pulled the phone from his pocket and grinned at the screen. “Natalie.”

  “What does she want?”

  “Her current interest is understudies. She’s been wondering why we don’t have them in this show with so many campers.”

  “Are you going to answer her?”

  “Yeah, in a little while.”

  “What will you say?”

  “Professionals can handle the disappointment of preparing for a role that probably won’t be needed. High school students mostly can’t.”

  He laced our fingers together and started back toward the house. We walked in silence, allowing me to take in everything about this place. The colors in the fields of ripening vegetables. The fragrance of honeysuckle climbing the wooden fence. The insects skating on the surface of the lake.

  Once we were on the deck, Micah dropped my hand and reached for the door. “When Natalie and I talk, she brings you up all the time.”

  I shivered, not sure I wanted to hear more. “Is that good or bad?”

  “It’s very good. Natalie admires you a lot.”

  “She told you that?”

  “Well, she probably used the word awesome. The rest was my interpretation.”

  I would’ve loved to hear Natalie say something like that to me, but she probably never would. Knowing that she had told Micah felt amazing.

  He slid the door open. “Let’s go. It’s time to eat.”

  * * *

  Meals lasted a long time at this house. Where my family ate efficiently and left, the Daltons made it an event.

  The food was incredible. We had baked spaghetti with meatballs and a tomato sauce made from scratch. The salad greens had been harvested this morning. And Lisa had “whipped together” a blueberry cobbler that was incredible.

  Micah’s oldest brother had arrived while we were wandering around the farm. Peter was almost as hot as Jude and just as noisy. He was in graduate school at Georgetown University, majoring in public policy. He had a lot to say on, well, everything. Politics. Sports. D.C. nightlife (which Lisa shut down with a muttered “TMI”).

  Peter nodded at Micah. “You should come up for a weekend this fall. You could take the train…”

  I ate my pasta, half-listening as the two of them made tentative plans. The conversation swirled around me, loud and overwhelming. One thing that became clear—Peter and Micah were close, and Jude was the odd man out. The twist to his lips suggested he knew. When he caught me staring at him across the table, I smiled sympathetically. In an instant, the twist changed to a sneer. Then he winked.

  Beside me, Micah tensed and made a big show of reaching for my hand. “Everything okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I didn’t know what their problem was, but I wouldn’t be dragged into it. Leaning closer, I whispered in his ear, “If there’s anything else you want to do to brand me, I’d appreciate the chance to weigh the options.”

  “Sounds like a conversation for later.”

  “Guaranteed.”

  After lunch, I offered to help with the dishes, but Lisa waved me away. “Charlie and I have this.”

  I looked at Micah. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

  He grabbed my hand. “My room.”

  His dad laughed. His brothers made silly hooting sounds. And Lisa said, “Guys, please.”

  All I said was “Okay.”

  Like me, Micah had a corner room. It was sparsely furnished and incredibly neat. The bedspread and curtains were dark green. A bookcase had two lower shelves stuffed with books and two upper shelves full of trophies and awards. I walked over to check them out. Most were for the theater, but there were also a couple of swimming trophies, a fencing medal, and a ribbon from a writing contest.

  I read through them with pride. He was brilliant at so many things, but the knowledge deflated me, too. Even though Natalie had said he couldn’t fit a girlfriend into his schedule, I’d begun to hope that our relationship would be different—that maybe we could survive the summer. This bookcase awakened me to reality. Next fall, he’d be busy with classes, theater, sports, and all the extra things seniors had to deal with. He wouldn’t have room for anything—or anyone—else.

  Micah wrapped his arms around me from behind. “What are you thinking?”

  I shook off my melancholy and refocused on him. “I’m glad I’m here. You have a nice family.”

  He made a humming sound in his throat and kissed my temple.

  “Why don’t you get along with Jude?”

  Micah stiffened. “For reasons.”

  “When you pull me into the feud, I deserve to know why.”

  “Jude will—”

  “Stop.” I turned in his arms and rested my hands against his chest. “It doesn’t matter what Jude will. It only matters what I will. Okay?”

  Micah gave a sharp nod.

  I studied his blank expression. His unwillingness to meet my gaze. This was strange and important. “We have to discuss this. Tell me, please.”

  He exhaled slowly. “I told you about the girl I took out for coffee.”

  “Yeah. She didn’t know it was a date.”

  “And she pumped me for information about another guy.”

  “Jude.”

  Micah winced.

  So much was clearer now. “I asked you those questions about him out of simple curiosity. That’s all. Because everything about you interests me.”

  He nodded.

  “Did Jude ever find out about the girl?”

  “They dated for a couple of months.”

  “Did he know how you felt?”

  “Yes.”

  Micah needed comfort. Reassurance. Absolute confidence in us. I linked my hands behind his neck. “I’m sorry that happened to you, but you and I are different.”

  “I believe you.” His arms wound around me, so tightly it was painful. But I let him, because he needed this now. We needed it.

  “Game’s starting,” Peter shouted from the living room.

  “What game?” I asked.

  “The Nationals.” Micah’s arms dropped.

  I reached for his hand. “Who are the Nationals playing?”

  “Don’t even care.” He grinned.

  His brothers were already sprawled in recliners, absorbed by the game. I curled next to Micah on the couch, still holding hands. The Braves and
the Nationals weren’t two of my favorite teams, but hey, baseball.

  In the top of the third inning, Jude hunched forward, rested his arms on his knees, and gestured at me. “The runner on first will be looking for a chance to steal second.”

  “Um, okay.” Beside me, Micah’s chuckle rumbled in his chest.

  His middle brother gave him a sour look and returned his gaze to me. “The batter will likely bunt.”

  “Thanks, Jude—”

  Micah interrupted. “Brooke’s mother called your semifinals game in high school.”

  Jude’s eyes widened. “Your mother is the lady ump? The tiny one?”

  “She is. I’ve been a baseball fan from the cradle.”

  Jude looked at his younger brother. “This girl is perfect.”

  Micah’s hand tightened around mine. “I already knew that.”

  25

  Waiting in the Dark

  Mom arrived by eight but didn’t stay long at the Daltons’ house. After she spoke with Micah’s parents, we were on our way. I twisted in my seat, straining to see the lights from his house flicker and die in the distance. I’d hated saying good-bye to him. We wouldn’t see each other again until Monday morning—and being around him then would be frustrating, since we’d be near each other for nine hours and have no real way to be alone.

  Mom didn’t say anything until we reached the interstate. “Did you have a good time?”

  “It was wonderful.”

  She chuckled. “Could I have a few more details than that?”

  “His family is nice, and they’re all so different.” Images of the meal flashed through my brain. Everyone laughing and talking at the same time. It should’ve been chaos, but instead it was charming. I’d loved it. “Peter is open and happy. Jude is dark and mysterious. Charlie is just a big, friendly man. Definitely the center of the family. Lisa seems to worship him and can barely let him leave her sight. I don’t know how she can live in Azalea Springs without him.”

  “You’ve mentioned everyone but Micah.”

  “Oh, Mom. I hardly know what to say about Micah. He’s smart and interesting. A little nerdy, but he knows so much about so many things, and at the theater, he’s good. Like crazy good. Kind, calm, and competent. And so talented you’ll follow wherever he leads, hoping it’ll rub off.”

 

‹ Prev