Until Next Time (The Shooting Stars Series)

by Michelle Maness

  “Omigosh! I am so sorry I was being nosey,” she was laughing now.

  “You didn’t embarrass me,” he informed her.

  “No, just myself,” she shook her head; she was starting to recover.

  Adam kissed her and felt her tense.

  “Relax, I have no intention of getting dumped today,” he teased.

  Katherine smiled then and leaned back against him to welcome his kiss. It didn’t take long for what started as a simple kiss to escalate. Katherine shuddered as his hands played with her waist, tugged her closer even as he caressed her. She heard him groan as he released her, his hands coming to the wall on either side of her. She understood without being told that he was trying to rein it in. For one crazy moment she considered putting to use what she had discovered in his top drawer. Shock had her breaking the kiss and staring up at him in speechless surprise as her chest heaved. His gaze held hers and she watched him shake his head lightly before he shoved off the wall.

  “We should go,” he told her.

  Katherine lingered a moment longer in indecision.

  “Come on, Kaitlyn,” Adam encouraged her.

  Katherine shoved off the wall and allowed him to escort her out to his car. She was still mildly shocked by how seriously she had considered sleeping with him. She was also aware that it was Adam, and not her who had put the brakes on. She wasn’t sure what to make of that.

  “Thank you,” she finally offered.

  “Sure,” he shrugged; she could see the tension in his shoulders.

  “Are you mad at me?” she asked him.

  He glanced over at her in surprise and took her hand. “No, Kaitlyn; I’m not mad at you.”

  “I know you wanted…” she tried to decide how to say it.

  “Yes, Kaitlyn, I wanted you, do want you and I don’t see that changing. I wanted you more back there than you can possibly know. I want you to not hate me even more,” he informed her.

  Katherine was quiet on the remainder of the drive to her house. She turned to him in the drive and cupped his face before she kissed him lightly.

  “Thank you.”

  “Welcome,” he cupped her face and caressed her lightly.

  ***

  Adam mounted the porch steps and braced himself as he opened the door. He knew before he entered that his mom would have been drinking and that she would be ready for a fight.

  “Where have you been?” his mom demanded as soon as he’d entered the room.

  “With a friend,” he yanked the fridge open for a soda.

  “With her again? You’re just like your dad; chasing women and ignoring your family!” she yelled at him.

  Adam tensed, she was trying to pick a fight and he knew it.

  “Make some friends, Mom,” he muttered.

  “Look at me when you talk to me!” she demanded with a rough tug at his shoulder.

  “You’re drunk, can this wait?”

  Her answer was a hard smack across his jaw that left his cheek burning. He turned for the door and stormed from the house before he reacted in a way that he would regret.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie; I didn’t mean it,” his mom called after him.

  Adam kept walking. He walked up the row of dilapidated trailers and to the gas station on the corner. He needed the space and so did she. He would likely return home to find her passed out somewhere. Then he could clean up the mess and get some rest before he had to be at work in the morning. He would leave for work before she woke and when he returned home she would act as if nothing had happened. He would play along. He spotted a pay phone on the corner of the gas station building and fed coins into the slot.

  “Hello,” Kaitlyn, her voice heavy with sleep, answered.

  Adam sighed; he hadn’t meant to wake her.

  “Hey, Kaitlyn, I’m sorry to wake you, I just needed to talk to someone a moment.”

  “Adam, are you okay?”

  He could hear rustling and the click of a lamp switch.

  “Not really, I got into it with my mom.”

  “Where are you?”

  “At a gas station.”

  “What are you not saying, Adam?” she asked quietly.

  “She’s drunk; she’s mean when she’s drunk.”

  “What can I do to help?”

  He heard her mom say something in the background and realized that he had managed to wake everyone up. Everything became muffled and he knew that Kaitlyn, her hand over the phone, was talking to her mom.

  “Adam?” Kaitlyn was back on the line.

  “I’m sorry I bothered you, I’m okay now,” he said in what he hoped was a normal voice.

  “Did you drive to the gas station?”

  “No, I walked. I left everything and walked.”

  “We’re coming to get you,” she announced.

  Adam felt humiliation wash through him. He shouldn’t have dragged her into his problems.

  “I’m fine, Kaitlyn; I just needed to hear another rational voice for a moment.”

  “Adam Cole Ellington I am coming to get you!” she insisted.

  Adam smiled despite the deep ache in his chest.

  ***

  “What happened?” Julia asked after they had reached the house and had cups of hot cocoa in front of them. Adam related his evening to Julia and Kaitlyn. He started with when he had left Kaitlyn after the basketball game and met another friend at a restaurant and finished with his leaving the house and calling Kaitlyn.

  “She’s not always like this,” he defended his mom. She might not be easy to live with but she was the only one who hadn’t left him in his lifetime. To him that counted for a lot.

  “It just seems lately that she’s worse. She’s all I’ve got and I love my mom; I just don’t know how to handle it when she gets like this.”

  She always apologized at some point and he knew she meant it. He believed her when she said that she was doing the best she could; it couldn’t be easy to raise a kid alone.

  “Would she accept help if it was offered?” Julia asked.

  “I doubt it.”

  “I think your cheek is going to bruise,” Kaitlyn told him as she brushed her fingers along his jaw line.

  “Maybe,” he mumbled uncomfortably. He didn’t mind Kaitlyn’s touch, would welcome it under different circumstances, but he was fairly certain her mom didn’t approve of him and would approve even less if she knew what had happened in his bed room a few days earlier and how difficult he had found it to walk away.

  “What do you do when she gets this way?” Julia asked with a small frown at her daughter.

  “Sometimes I shut myself in my room. More often I leave and wait until she passes out before I come back.”

  “Where do you go?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “For a drive, a walk, the park…anywhere,” he shrugged.

  “I know you aren’t a minor, Adam, but these streets still aren’t any place for you. You call us if you need us,” Julia instructed.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Mayfield, but I feel bad enough for disturbing you guys tonight and always hanging around as it is.”

  “You’re not disturbing us, Adam. I’ll go make up the spare bed,” Julia assured him as she left the room.

  “How old are you, Adam?” Kaitlyn frowned at him.

  “Nineteen as of last week.”

  “Nineteen? I thought you were my age.”

  “We moved a lot and I fell behind.”

  He didn’t tell her how often he had considered quitting school but he had seen enough people struggle to make ends meet after quitting to know better than that.

  “Oh.”

  They fell silent until her mom came to announce she had the spare bed ready. Everyone filed off to bed ready for some sleep. The next morning they dropped Adam off at home. When their friends at school asked what had happened to his cheek, Adam fumbled for an answer and Katherine changed the subject.

  ***

  The following Friday night, Katherine decided to take Adam out for a belat
ed birthday dinner and tried calling. When her call was answered by a recording stating the phone had been disconnected, Katherine drove to his house and climbed from the car. She knocked on the door and waited; the sound of something hitting the floor inside reaching her, followed by Adam’s voice.

  “I’ve got it, Mom; sit down before you hurt yourself.”

  Adam pulled the door open and frowned at her.

  “Who is it?” his mom stumbled to the door. The woman pushed her son aside and stepped onto the porch. She was slightly taller than Katherine with graying blonde hair and worry-worn brown eyes.

  Katherine was shocked by her appearance. She had to be much younger than her own mother, but looked much older.

  “Hi, Ms. Ellington, it’s nice to meet you,” Katherine smiled and extended her hand. His mom glared at her and made no move to take her offered hand.

  “What do you want from my son?” she demanded; her words were slightly slurred.

  Katherine didn’t flinch, “He’s my friend, Ms. Ellington.”

  “I know your type, you always want something,” she flung at Katherine before turning on her son. “You stay away from her, son. We don’t need another one coming around claiming she’s gonna have your brat,” his mother shoved him backward. Adam’s jaw clenched but he did nothing to retaliate or defend himself.

  “You owe Kaitlyn an apology; she’s not that kind of girl,” he countered.

  “Neither was I, Adam,” she laughed bitterly.

  “Mom, I think you should go inside.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do!” she snapped.

  “Ms. Ellington, you must be awfully proud of your son,” Katherine spoke up. “He just made honor roll again and won an award for a poem he wrote. Mom says he has excellent manners; he says he learned that from you. He talks about you all the time, how you’ve been there and…” she stopped when Donna turned, entered the house and shut the door behind her.

  Adam was stunned. Kaitlyn had defused his mother. No one had ever defused his mother. It was quiet for a moment as they stood on the dim porch. Kaitlyn stood with her arms wrapped around herself; Adam stood watching her.

  “Did you need something, Kaitlyn?”

  “I wanted to take you out for a belated birthday dinner,” her voice was barely audible.

  “I’m sorry you had to witness that, Kaitlyn.”

  “I’m sorry that I barged in where I shouldn’t have.”

  Adam could hear the tears in her voice.

  He came to stand in front of her and took her by the arms. “As far as I’m concerned you’re always welcome. Mom runs every one off,” he lowered his head to meet her gaze.

  “How do you stand it?” she asked. Her voice was compassionate but held no pity; he was relieved as he wouldn’t have been able to stand that. Adam pulled her closer; her head tilted to look up at him.

  “She hasn’t always been this bad, just recently,” he assured.

  “Look, I’m sorry that I came at a bad time..."

  “Actually, if the offer still stands I’d like to get out of here for a while,” he told her. She smiled and nodded. Adam kissed her before releasing her and going to grab his things.

  A short time later they were seated at a table in a local restaurant and waiting for their order.

  “I have to tell you, Kaitlyn, you did something tonight that I didn’t think anyone could do. You defused my mother,” Adam told her.

  “All I did was distract her,” she shrugged.

  “It worked.”

  “She said some mean things.”

  “She always does. I suppose you’re wondering about the things she said,” Adam sighed; even though it had been a while, the memory still stung.

  “I'm sorry for the things she insinuated. The last person I got close to was a girlfriend in California. When she turned up pregnant she came to me. I would have fallen for it too; except that one of my friends fessed up that the baby was his. He had been seeing her the whole time, since before I started dating her and continued to behind my back.”

  Katherine was quiet. She’d known without being told, of course, that there had been others in his past. It still smarted somehow to have it confirmed and to hear about it.

  “I haven’t led a sheltered life, Kaitlyn,” he told her.

  “I know,” she admitted. And she had, he didn’t say it but it was true. She had been sheltered and raised in a conservative home. From what she had seen he had raised himself.

  Four

  Katherine stood in front of her full-length mirror and surveyed her appearance with a critical eye. She was wearing an ankle length red prom dress, the bodice and skirt fitted; the straps narrow and set wide on the shoulders. It was simple without beads or sequins, but decidedly elegant. Her mom had called it a classic dress. Her hair had been swept up on top of her head and artfully arranged in small curls and ringlets with a few framing her face.

  “Kattie, Adam’s here!” her mom called up the stairs.

  Katherine grabbed her evening bag and started down the stairs. She felt her breath catch when she spotted Adam standing in the foyer. She had yet to see him wear anything other than his baggy, mismatched clothes. Adam in a tux was a devastating sight.

  “Hi,” she smiled as she stepped off the last step.

  “Wow, you look nice,” he told her.

  “Thanks,” she smiled. “You look great yourself.”

  He helped her with her corsage and then her mom was asking for pictures. Once they were in his car and actually on their way, Katherine was, for once, tongue tied in his presence.

  “You really do look beautiful,” he told her.

  “Thank you. You should dress nice more often yourself,” she teased.

  “I feel funny. If some of my friends could see me now, they would never let me live it down.”

  “You look wonderful,” she assured him.

  They arrived at the prom after dinner to find things already in full swing. Since the senior class tended to be large, the prom was held at the civic center and tonight was no exception. It took them a full five minutes to find their friends among the crowd within the room.

  “Hey, Kattie,” Tess smiled.

  “Hi Tess, hi Jason,” she greeted. Several others joined them and they talked for a while, until couples began to drift onto the dance floor together.

  “I’m not much of a dancer, but I do believe I could manage a slow dance,” Adam suggested when a slow song began to play. Katherine smiled and took his hand to follow him onto the dance floor. He slipped his arms around her waist and she slid her arms around his neck.

  “So, do you regret coming?” she asked with her head tilted back to look up at him.

  He smiled, “Not in the least. You?”

  “No. I’ve enjoyed myself.”

  “So have I, Kaitlyn. I’m going to miss you when you leave for college.”

  “You wouldn’t if you would quit being stubborn and apply. You’d do well.”

  “Nice try,” he smiled.

  “I’ll miss you too, Adam,” her smile was gone.

  “Hey now, none of that. We’re supposed to be having fun,” he told her as he pulled her closer.

  Katherine laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Life was going to pull them in two different directions. She knew this without being told and if she were honest with herself she had known this from the moment she had met him. So why had she allowed herself to get close to him? Had she been able to read Adam’s thoughts she would have found them to be running along similar lines.

  ***

  Katherine dashed through the rain to a pavilion where Adam was waiting for her. Graduation was over and summer had begun. Adam had called early that morning and said he had to see her. She had arranged to meet him at the park and it had started raining on her way there.

  “It would rain,” she commented as she climbed onto the picnic table to sit beside him.

  “Of course.”

  “What’s up?”


  “My uncle, my real uncle, a man I barely remember meeting, has arranged for me to have a job in the plant where he works.”

  “Where?”

  “Detroit.”

  “Are you coming back?” Katherine felt her heart fall.

  “I don’t know. I agreed to take the job for the summer and then I’ll go from there.”

  “What about college?”

  “I’m thinking about it.”

  “I’ll miss you,” she couldn’t meet his gaze.

  “Not as much as I’ll miss you. You’ll still have your friends here.”

  “It won’t be the same without you,” she looked up into his face. She felt as though her heart had taken up residence in her throat.

  “How did we end up together?”

  “We just hit it off,” she shrugged.

  “We’re as different as day and night.”

  “Maybe that’s it; we balance each other.”

  “Maybe. I’m going to miss this place, out of all the places we’ve lived, I think this one will always be home,” he said thoughtfully. “The irony is that when I arrived here I was certain I couldn’t put Tennessee behind me fast enough. I hated it and I hadn’t even really seen it or experienced it yet.”

  Katherine laid her head on his shoulder and listened to the rhythm of the rain as it pounded on the roof of the pavilion and on the sidewalk in front of them. An ambulance raced up the drive from the nearby hospital, its wailing sirens breaking the moment. Katherine sighed and sat up.

  “So what do we do now?” Katherine asked him.

  “I’ll write and call every day,” he promised her.

  “We’re going to try this across the country?” her eyes were miserable when they met his.

  He pulled her close and kissed her long and hard before resting his head against hers. “I don’t want to let you go,” he told her.

  Katherine felt her tears spill over.

  “I’m not leaving,” she reminded him.

  “You are in the fall,” he countered.

  He was right; she didn’t want to admit it but he was right. She had a plan and she was determined to see it through. She sighed.

  “So what do we do?” she asked him again.

  Adam cupped her face, his thumb caressing her jaw.