The next day, after spending every waking moment drenched in anticipation and making a complete fool of myself singing and dancing through my workday, it was finally time to put the plan in action.
A secret meeting in the woods, in the hidden hollow where all the best parts of our lives got started; it was an omen, I thought, and a good one. We were going to get through this together, just as we always had before.
I was halfway to our meeting point when my phone rang. My heart leapt, thinking it was Kash, until I remembered that I hadn’t actually ever given him my number. I glanced at the caller ID and sighed.
“Hey Dad, what’s up?”
“You done with work?”
I ground my teeth. “Just finishing up, I have a little while longer. Why?”
“They change your hours or something?”
Oh, now he wants to start paying attention. I should have known, though, especially after last nights treat of him searching my room like a mad man. “Not really, we’re just working on a few projects which are taking a little longer than we thought. Did you need something?”
“Yeah, your Uncle Charlie is coming through tonight. You better be home in time for dinner, he’s gonna want to see you. And we’re gonna need some drinks. Double what you usually get. And butane, my zippo’s out.”
You always need drinks, I thought. But what I said was, “Soda?”
“What am I, a goddamn teenager? Beer. Enough for the both of us.”
So, half your usual? “I won’t be able to carry two cases home by myself,” I pointed out.
“You could make two trips.”
“Or you could use the truck.”
“I don’t want people thinking I’m an alcoholic!” he barked.
“So tell them you’re throwing a party. That’s what I do.” The words came out harsher and angrier than I’d intended. It made him pause for several heart-wrenching seconds.
“That’s not a bad idea. Fine, I’ll get the beer myself. But you better get home in time to help your mother with the kitchen, I swear she’s given up on cleaning.”
“She does her best. You could help her, you know.”
“First I’m a teenager, now I’m a woman? What the hell’s gotten into you today?”
Kash. Well, not yet. But his energy was infectious. Even though he’d been good through his incarceration, there was still that rebellious undercurrent, that deep sense of fairness and the utter lack of ability to ignore bullshit. It got under my skin and loosened my tongue and I lived for it. But I had to be careful. Dad always had said that Kash was a bad influence on me and Hunter. He’d pick up on the difference if I didn’t tone it down.
“I’m sorry Dad, it’s just work. This new filing system they’re trying to teach us is stressing me out. I’ll be home as soon as we’ve wrapped everything up here, I promise.”
He grunted his approval and barked his good-bye just as I reached the corner of Main Street and Poplar. Somewhere down Poplar’s crusty, gravelly depths was Kash, waiting for me in the trees. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see him from the street—that was the magic of Poplar, that little dip in the center, hidden from view on all sides—but I gazed down that way for a moment anyway, searching for him. I almost wanted him to have forgotten, just so I wouldn’t have to be the one to disappoint.
But of course he was there. I turned the corner into the magic little dip to find him sitting on a tree stump with a bouquet of wildflowers in his hands. He was frowning at them as though they had disappointed him deeply. His face lit up when he saw me, flowers all but forgotten as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in to him.
“You smell like home,” he murmured in my hair. He breathed it in, then exhaled warmly against my neck. It was enough to make me shudder with a long-dormant desire.
“I can’t stay,” I said as I clung to him.
“I know,” he said with a soft sigh. “Your dad talks pretty loud. Which one is Uncle Charlie?”
I grinned and pulled back enough to see his face. “The one who eats black bananas and is always pestering Dad to play board games with him. Dad will do it after three beers, but he never wins and then things get broken.”
Kash laughed, then winced. “Are you going to be okay?”
I shrugged. “I always am, aren’t I? Mom’s gotten good at distracting both of them, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I just wish the timing wasn’t so terrible.”
Kash kissed my forehead, sending shivers down my spine. “Me too. But there’s always tomorrow.”
“And the flowers…they’re so pretty, Kash. So very pretty.”
“I’m hearing a ‘but’.”
I smiled apologetically. “But if I bring them home, Dad will want to know where they came from.”
Kash tilted his chin up defiantly. “From the side of the road,” he said. “I picked them all on my way here, it’s not a lie.”
I took the flowers from him and looked them over. They were beautiful, and masterfully arranged. “You picked these?”
“Every single one of them.” His eyes twinkled. He always did enjoy surprising me.
I buried my face in their heady scent and breathed deeply. Goosebumps rose over my arms and for a moment nothing mattered except him, and nothing existed outside of that fragrant little dip. The urge to kiss him was strong—but then I remembered why I was in such a hurry.
I hugged him quickly and squeezed hard. “Same time tomorrow?”
“Is that what you want?” He sounded so reserved it startled me. I looked up at him and I could see him bracing for rejection.
“Of course it is. Why
