Kelly hugged her daughter. “My goodness. When did you get so tall, young lady?”
Holly grinned and gave her mom a small peck on the cheek. “I do have some other news I wanted to tell you about.”
“Oh?”
“There’s this three-week scholarship the language department is offering,” Holly said. “They’ll pay for me to visit Moscow, Munich, and Madrid. The host families will feed me. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”
“Oh, Holly! That sounds wonderful. When’s the deadline? Do you need me to do anything? Your father would be so proud of you if you won it. He always had such a gift for languages. He spoke four, but was fluent in only two.”
Holly stared at her mother in awe. “Wait. Daddy was good with languages? Like I am? You never told me that.”
Kelly’s brow creased in confusion. “I didn’t? That’s odd. I thought it every time you’d come home with another A. He used to sing French lullabies to you as a child.” Kelly smiled, as only a mother can when remembering something sweet from a time gone by. Her eyes grew a little misty before she blinked them back. “Anyway, he did and I was so thrilled he passed that gift on to you. Now, tell me all about this scholarship.”
Holly pointed to the envelope she’d placed on the table earlier. “I just need your signature. It’s due today.”
“Why did you wait so long, Sweetie? Here, give me that. You get that into your teachers right away. You want the best chance possible, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do,” Holly agreed, realizing it was true. “I’m going to head into school a little early,” she said, picking up her backpack and completed paperwork. “Thanks, Mom. I needed to hear that.”
After turning in her application to a thrilled Mrs. Dennis, Holly went in search of Gray.
She found him in the junior’s hallway, surrounded by his friends. She had a slight feeling of déjà vu as she smiled at her cousin Danny.
“I’m here for Gray,” she said.
“Hey, James. My cousin is here looking for you.”
Gray came out of the safety net of his friends to join her. “What’s up, Holls?”
“Let’s take a walk,” Holly invited and they set off at a leisurely pace around the school’s hallways. “First, I wanted to say I’m sorry and thank you. I apologize for being hurt and lashing out at you. You had no way of knowing I was afraid of wanting that scholarship. Afraid of being something different.”
“You already are different, Holly. You’re you. The only you there is.”
She nodded. “I see that better now. I got my application into Mrs. Dennis.”
Gray smiled. “That’s great. But I don’t get why you thought you didn’t deserve it.”
“It wasn’t that, exactly. It’s more like I was trying to wear someone else’s shoes. I thought I had to be like the Lights or Todd. I didn’t realize I had to wear my own shoes.” She glanced down at her scruffy boots. “Give a girl the right pair of shoes, and she can do anything.”
“She sure can,” Gray agreed.
“Here,” Holly said, shoving a pile of hastily stapled papers at him.
“What’s this?”
“Just read.”
Gray looked over the paperwork. “Centenary University?”
“They offer a BS in equine studies. It’s not quite the future in big pharma your dad was hoping for, but this is something you’re passionate about.”
Gray frowned a little as he read further into the information Holly had downloaded. He nodded. “I didn’t even know this existed before you.” He looked at her. “Thank you, Holls.”
“You’re welcome. But you have to help with Eggshell and Heart if I get the scholarship.”
“When,” Gray corrected.
“I’m not quite that vain,” Holly said with a laugh. “But either way, the horses will need your help.”
“Deal. But maybe you can do something for me, too?”
“Oh? Like what?”
“Go out with me when you come back. If you know, a small-town boy is still what you’d like.”
Holly smiled up at him and wrinkled her nose playfully. “Do we have to wait until after I come back?”
Gray grinned. “No. We don’t have to wait until after you return. Maybe we can start dating before you leave? What are you doing this weekend? After taking care of the horses, of course.”
“There just might be an opening in my social calendar,” Holly teased.
“Then how about a movie?”
“I’d like that. A lot.” She blushed but met his eyes bravely, giving him all she had.
He glanced around and then tugged her between two rows of lockers. “Me, too,” he whispered, brushing his lips gently across hers. The silken supple tease of lips against lips caused a shiver of awareness to slide down her spine. He nipped at her top lip and she giggled with shameless greed before he deepened the kiss. She panted slightly, eyelids at half-mast, and stared at his mouth. Anguished and more alive than she’d ever felt before.
“Ah-hem!”
They broke apart, Holly blushing hotly while Gray grinned his cowboy confident grin. “Sorry, Mrs. Dennis,” he said. “We were just celebrating.”
Mrs. Dennis lifted an eyebrow. “You get a pass this time,” she said. “See that it doesn’t happen again.”
Gray winked at Holly. “I’ll try. I will definitely try.”
But they all knew it would probably happen again.
The end.
Autumn Kisses
Jim
The noise of the coffee shop buzzed around twenty-year-old Jim Harper like a well-run hive. Drinks coming up, drinks going out, and he sat in his usual corner. Watching. Eyes scanning. Searching. Seeking. The scents of sugar and cocoa drifted up and were overwhelmed by the stinging fragrance of coffee.
She had to be here. The back of his neck prickled of awareness. In the itch between his broad shoulders. They’d never discussed it, but his phone always chirped with her unique ringtone when he stopped for coffee after his 10 a.m. class. Monique.
His cell phone chirped with a new text message. It was from her – Monique. What had started out back in September as chatting with a fellow student on social media had evolved into text messages. Somehow research papers and thoughts on books had expanded into something far deeper. Flirtation, definitely. And heat. Attraction.
Love? He wasn’t sure.
At least, he thought Monique was a fellow student. She claimed they had met freshman year in a survey course, but the two or three pictures she had sent were too blurry for Jim to recognize her. She could have been anyone.
Guilt pressed against him as his finger hovered over the screen of his phone. What would Bree say if she saw his messages? They weren’t technically an item. Their age difference was too great and she was his best friend’s little sister. His little sister’s best friend.
What a mess.
And yet…
As much as Monique made him smile and laugh and wonder “what if”, it was Bree he wanted to go out with. It was Bree’s silvery-blue eyes that haunted his dreams. Bree, he wanted to share long walks with and even longer kisses. Bree, he wanted to have his in his arms. Bree, he was in love with.
But she was only seventeen and he was twenty. He had already decided that after her birthday in May he would ask her dad if they could date.
Because really. Her father looked at him like he could read Jim’s mind. Jim smiled. Maybe he did. After all, he’d been a young man in love once, too.
But none of that made Jim feel any less like a cad. He was in love with one girl and flirting with another.
“Hey cutie. u were in my dreams last night.” Jim read the text twice before closing his eyes and cursing. Monique was funny and smart. Okay. She abbreviated a little too much but that was minor. Not everyone used proper grammar to text.
Well. Bree did, but he wasn’t talking about Bree. He was talking about Monique.
Who was always interested in what he was doing. She asked questi
ons about his friends and students and a million other things that made him crazy about her.
But she wasn’t Bree.
He’d seen what marrying young and for love had done for his parents. They were as besotted with each other now as they were when they’d met at fourteen.
His father was old-fashioned. Maybe finding your true love at fourteen did that to a person. But it left Jim feeling restless. Edgy.
He was tired of being good. Tired of being honorable. He wanted to have fun. He wanted to take his girl down the shore. He wanted to win her a teddy bear and have her kiss him.
But the only girl he wanted to kiss lived in her parent’s home and had a brother who could kick the crap out of him.
He and Bree had roots. Monique was fun. Light. Interesting.
Monique came to him free from the past with a teasing word and listened to his opinions.
But with Bree, he always felt pulled into the role of protector. Or even worse, like another big brother.
What was an honorable guy to do?
But he was only human and it felt good to be the center of a woman’s attention.
“We need to meet in person,” Jim typed back. It wasn’t the first time he had tried to initiate a meeting with the mysterious Monique. To date, there had been over a dozen excuses why she wouldn’t meet him. Projects due, family visiting, and his personal favorite, her cat got out. She couldn’t just leave Mr. Mittens out there, could she?
His phone remained silent and Jim cursed and went home to pack. He had one class tomorrow and then he was off for five days for Thanksgiving weekend. He’d see Bree and put the whole Monique thing behind him.
He picked up the phone and dialed Bree’s number.
“Jim,” she said, sounding a little out of breath. “I wasn’t expecting you to call.”
“Oh,” Jim said, feeling a foolish flush of heat run up his chest. “I’m sorry. I should have texted first. Are you busy?”
“No. I,” Bree stammered. “No, let me just go to my room. Privacy.”
From a distance, he heard Bree’s brother teasing her and he rolled his eyes. Some things never changed.
“What’s up, Jim Harper?” Bree asked as soon as she closed the door to her room.
A smile played across his lips. “I missed you, Bree Decker. It’s been a helluva semester, and I needed a friendly voice.”
<<<>>>
Bree
Bree swallowed, wondering if this was how it happened. How they would go from friends to something more? This was all she had wanted since she met her older brother’s best friend five years ago.
Oh, she was aware that at fifteen and eighteen, he was much too old for her. She settled for teasing smiles and just being generally being an annoying younger sister. She’d been a geeky fifteen, anyway with her nose always in a book and her opinions always on the tip of her tongue.
But she was seventeen now. Senior year had started, and she was looking at a long and lonely social calendar. Her best friend Madison (and Jim’s younger sister) was dating some mystery man, and it left Bree at loose ends.
“I’ve been helping Mom get food ready for her annual Thanksgiving open house. You’ll be home, right? You haven’t missed one since we moved here.”
“And miss your mom’s apple pie? Never,” Jim teased.
Bree pictured him sitting back on his bed or in a chair, all relaxed and cute.
“I’ve been practicing my crusts. You’ll have to see if you can decide which is better.”
“Oh, talk about a lose-lose situation for me,” Jim said with a laugh. “But I will see if I can spot a difference. Never which is better.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
“Have you been looking at colleges?”
“A few,” Bree said, blushing. She was glad he wasn’t here to see her.
“Is Rutgers on your list?”
“Yes,” she said. “But I’m also looking at East Stroudsburg University or even just going to community college.”
“Have you decided on a major?”
Bree grimaced. It was always like this. They’d start talking, and then he’d go into big brother mode. She had an older brother. And a younger one, too. The last thing she needed was a third. Especially when she had a crush on him.
They talked a few more minutes before Bree had to go. “Mom has her garden club meeting tonight,” she said with a sigh. “I need to get dinner on the table for the little monster.”
Jim laughed. “Your brother isn’t that bad.”
“That’s because you aren’t the one on Bobby-sitting duty. You’d definitely be singing a different tune if you were in charge.
“Duly noted,” Jim said. “I guess I should head out, too. Need to pack up so I can hit the road after my class tomorrow morning.”
Bree stared at the phone for a long minute after she disconnected.
She thought about his ready smile. A little crooked, but boyish and charming. The way his hazel eyes looked green in certain lights.
The easy way he handled a hammer or screwdriver when he helped her dad around the house.
Sadness swallowed her as she realized just how hard it was going to be to breach the gulf friendship had formed between them.
She was the little sister.
Always.
<<<>>>
Jim
Jim headed out of the coffee shop and headed back to his off-campus apartment. He was edgy. Raw. Anxious.
He thought about the silky texture of Bree’s hair and how his fingers ached to touch it. To have the freedom to twirl a strand around his finger and play with its softness.
He thought of the way her bright eyes lit with curiosity. How they’d glint with mischief when she was up to something.
But how do you change that? How do you push past the barrier of friendship and into kissing territory?
All packed?
“Just about. Looking forward to seeing my family,” Jim typed Monique back. He bit his thumbnail and checked the time. Guilt wore at him. He wanted Bree’s husky lilting voice to be the last one on his mind.
Not this game from Monique.
I hope u have fun!! Staying with ur folks?
“Yep,” he wrote back. Thank God Monique didn’t know about his family. Of the legacy of being a Harper. Of the trust fund waiting for him. He was simply Jim from Rutgers University and it felt amazing. Solid.
Totes jelly.
Jim frowned at her response. What did that mean? He did a quick search. Totally jealous. Not for the first time he wondered just how old Monique was because she typed like a 1990s-era teenager.
“What are your plans? For the holiday?” Jim asked Monique.
She sent back a pizza emoji.
He smiled.
“When are we going to meet?” He was getting impatient with her refusal to meet him and seriously considering blocking her.
Unsurprisingly, she didn’t respond.
He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair before pressing his palms to his eye sockets. What was wrong with him? He was a Harper. Of Harper’s Mill, New Jersey. He was a direct descendent to the railroad billionaire, John Ignatius Harper.
According to his trust fund, he was a millionaire in his own right.
He was descended from witches, for crying out loud. He had power at his disposal that would make him a global force. And yet …
And yet, here he was hung up on the girl next door.
“I’m tired of this bullshit,” he typed. “If you won’t respond, I will have your number blocked.” He thought a moment before hitting send. He shut his phone down and went to bed.
He had a long day tomorrow and he couldn’t wait to see home again.
She disconnected the call, and a pair of silvery-blue eyes looked back at her from the mirror over her bed. Suddenly she wished it was anything other than Thanksgiving weekend. That she was going to get her wisdom teeth removed. Have her tonsils taken out. Anything.
Those ideas seemed far tamer
than the Pandora’s Box she had unwittingly opened back in September. What had she gotten herself into now?
She grabbed her own phone and quickly typed a text to her second-best friend, Ashley Anna. If anyone could help her, it was her cool-headed and composed friend from high school.
<<<>>>
Next morning
“Let me get this straight,” Ashley Anna said, her brow furrowed. “You told a lie to Jim. Mr. Honorable Jim. The mayor’s son Jim. Our best friend Madison’s brother Jim. Do I have that straight?
Bree nodded. If anything, her friend’s crisp British accent made her feel worse.
“Now it has snowballed out of control, and you have no idea what to do next.”
Bree nodded, miserably. Both girls sat on the porch swing in front of the Decker house. The autumn wind blew and rustled their hair.
“What were you thinking?”
“Obviously, I wasn’t,” Bree said with a rueful smile.
“Can you tell me anything else about it?”
Bree shook her head. “I’m so embarrassed,” she whispered, her face blazing a bright red shade that would have shamed Jim’s own auburn hair. “I got a burn phone.” She held up the offending device.
Ashley Anna’s eyes opened wide with shock. “You didn’t.”
“He wants to meet her.”
“Well duh! Of course, he does. Goodness, Bree. I can’t believe you two. You guys need to just kiss and get it over with. Hormones, shyness, and fear have turned you both into a pair of stubborn pistachio nuts!”
Bree giggled through her tears. “Pistachio nuts?”
“Well yeah. Have you ever tried to force a stubborn pistachio into doing anything?” Ashley Anna stood and walked to the edge of the porch. “Sweetie, you were under age. This is Jim Harper. He never would have put the moves on you before you turned eighteen.”
“But I’m older now,” Bree argued. “And all he does is talk about my school work or what colleges I want to go to. It’s all just so. Awkward. Party of two.”
“Have you tried just talking to him?”
“That’s what this was about,” Bree hissed, shaking the burn phone. “When I’m her, we can talk about anything. I’m not tongue tied. He doesn’t tell me to be careful because he’s too busy flirting with me. Her. Oh, you know what I mean.
Seasons of Love (Witches of Warren County) Page 10