signed it. The second envelope held a note from Jason Steward.
She spent the rest of the afternoon obsessing about Jason’s note. Did he want her to call? Was he inviting her into a relationship? If so, what sort? friendship only or something more?
It took all night and most of the next day to gather enough courage to look up his telephone number. Her heart pounded in her ears as she pushed the numbers. Losing her nerve, she hung up after two rings. She picked up her portable phone half a dozen times before she finally had the nerve to try again.
A woman answered. Stammering, Dawn asked if she could please speak to Jason Steward. The woman’s voice became cold. “Who’s calling?”
“Dawn Arundel.”
“Just a moment.” Dawn could hear muffled voices. Time stretched and with it Dawn’s nerves. Had she made a mistake calling Jason? Maybe he’d sent the note only to be polite.
“Dawn?” His voice made her pulse skyrocket. She hadn’t talked to him in weeks.
“Hi.” She winced at the high-pitched tension she heard in that one word. She let out her breath and tried to calm down. “I just called to thank you for your note.” When he didn’t say anything, she wondered if they’d been cut off. “Jason?”
“I’m here. Hang on a second.” Again, the muffled receiver, the indistinct voices. Then he came back on. “How are you doing?”
“So-so, I guess. Better than my mother. Oma’s death has hit her hard. They were extremely close.”
“Was it expected? Her death, I mean. Your grandmother’s. I mean your great-grandmother.” He let out a tense breath.
He sounded more nervous than she was. That pleased her, for some odd reason. “She was in her nineties. It wasn’t exactly unexpected.”
“Oh. Yeah. Dumb question.”
“I didn’t mean that. My mom and I spent a week with Oma this summer. She was really, really cool.” Dawn rolled her eyes, thinking she sounded really, really dumb.
Jason’s mother said something. He told Dawn to hang on a second again.
“Dawn?”
“Yes?”
“I have to go. I have something I have to do before I go to work tonight.”
“Okay.” Dawn felt heat flood her entire body. “Bye.” She clicked the phone off and tossed it on the bed. She shouldn’t have called. How would she face him when school started?
Kim called later that evening. “Did Jason call you?”
“No,” Dawn drawled cautiously. “Why would he?”
“Well, I don’t know, but he called me an hour ago and asked for your number.”
“He did?”
Kim giggled. “Dad thought Jason wanted to ask me out. I didn’t dare tell him he wanted your number.”
“I guess your dad doesn’t like me very much.”
“Oh, it’s not that,” Kim said quickly. “It’s just that Jason is exactly the sort of guy my father wants me to marry. Are you coming back to youth group? Jason said he had Wednesday night off this week.”
When Jason didn’t show up, Kim shrugged. “I guess he had something else he had to do.”
Dawn took special care getting ready for the first day of school. She wanted to catch Jason’s attention and make a lasting impression. When she came out for breakfast, Mitch leaned back in his chair and gave her a wry grin. “Who’s your prey?”
She blushed. Angry, she pulled her chair out and sat down. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Ah, Pita. I see trouble ahead.” Mitch tossed his napkin on the table and stood. He kissed Mom on the cheek. “I’ll buy a shotgun on the way home.” Laughing, he headed out of the kitchen.
Mom raised her brows at Dawn.
Dawn stared back at her. “What?” She had chosen jeans that fit her like a second skin and a pink scoop-neck T-shirt that showed off her tan. She’d left her hair down and put on touches of eye shadow and glossy pink lipstick. It wasn’t that big a deal, was it?
“You look very nice. That’s all I was going to say.”
As the bus turned off Prince Street into the school driveway, Dawn caught a glimpse of Jason in the student parking lot with Tom Barrett and Kim Archer. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Dawn got off the bus.
“Dawn! Wait up!” Kim caught up with her. Jason held back with Tom, talking while looking at Dawn. Did he like how she looked? His expression showed nothing. He didn’t even wave at her. “He bought a car!”
Dawn pulled her gaze from Jason. “Who?”
“Jason! Who else? He gave me and Tom a ride to school.” She kept talking as they went inside together to their lockers. Dawn wished she lived in Windsor instead of Alexander Valley. Then, maybe, he would offer her a ride.
Jason and Tom came in the door after them. She stood with her back to them as she opened her locker. Every nerve quivered when Jason came closer. “Hi, Dawn.” He spoke quietly. She gave a quick glance over her shoulder without meeting his eyes and gave what she hoped was an equally nonchalant greeting.
After that, she didn’t see Jason until the lunch hour. He was with Kim and Tom again, sitting at a table in the cafeteria. Matt Cavanaugh came over and blocked her view. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around school. My name’s Matt. And you’re…?” He left the question hanging.
“Dawn Arundel. I was here last year.”
He grinned at her. “How did I miss you?”
“Maybe you were too busy getting dents in your football helmet.”
He laughed easily. “Where are you sitting for lunch?”
She peered around and saw the seats at Jason’s table had already filled up. Sharon glanced toward her in question. “Outside, I guess.” She headed for the door, not expecting Matt to follow.
He got to the door ahead of her and opened it. “You can sit with me in the senior court.”
Joe Hernandez and two other seniors joined them. They flirted outrageously, each trying to outdo the other, which gave her a feeling of power and made her laugh. She finished her lunch quickly and excused herself, going back inside the cafeteria. Sharon, Steven Dial, Pam Preston, Linda Doile, and Amy King still sat at the table. Kim, Tom, and Jason had left.
“Where have you been?” Sharon asked.
“Sitting with Matt in the senior court.”
“If you’re looking for Jason, he and Kim and Tom went to do a Bible study in one of the courts. I’m not sure which one.”
Dawn spotted Jason in the hallway as she headed for her Spanish class. He barely looked at her as he passed by.
The next few days were no different, other than she managed to avoid Matt and his friends. Jason hung out with Tom and Steven Dial, and sometimes Kim. He made no effort to single Dawn out or even speak to her. When she sat down, he got up and left the lunch table. She wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“What’s with you and Jason?” Sharon kept pace on the way to class. Dawn had just spent another miserable lunch hour of wondering why Jason seemed so determined to avoid her.
She shrugged off Sharon’s question. “I’ve got to get my books.”
Spanish passed slowly, Dawn struggling to concentrate on conjugating verbs. She kept glancing at the clock. She wouldn’t see Jason until tomorrow, and he’d probably ignore her again. When the bell rang, she headed for
