“It was, wasn’t it?”
Audrey tapped the tabletop with one short, purple fingernail. “Speaking of, I saw Guy at Grey’s last Friday. He’s still got a thing for you, I’m disgusted to say.”
Francie made a face. “Gross.”
“Says he wants to have coffee. Catch up.”
“Double gross.”
“But you’ll probably go because you can’t say no.”
The door to the café opened, but this time Francie didn’t look over. “Ouch?”
“I love you,” Audrey said. “But you do avoid saying no a lot. You know that.”
The words stung more than she’d care to admit. “I guess so. Maybe.”
“Maybe? Come on, Fran. You’re always so worried about making everyone happy.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to have coffee with Guy Davis.”
“I’d hope not. Especially since you light up like a firecracker whenever you mention Tanner.”
Francie straightened, her cheeks warm. “I do not.”
“Tanner? Tanner who?”
At the sound of the soft voice, both women looked up to see Loretta Tate standing there in an elegant, pale pink pantsuit and strappy stiletto heels. Her silky blond hair fell in ripples past her shoulders, and her makeup was flawless, as usual. She was the poster girl for Miss Montana, even all these years later.
She leaned down and kissed Audrey on both cheeks, European style.
“Loretta…” Audrey threw Francie a quick look. “We didn’t see you standing there.”
“Well, obviously.” She turned to Francie. “Hi, honey.”
“Hi, Mom.” Francie scooted over for her mom to sit.
Loretta eyed the sweet potato fries warily. She didn’t do grease. “Sorry I’m late. Your dad’s doctor appointment ran late.”
“How is he?” Francie asked. “I was planning to come by tomorrow and bring some banana bread, but maybe I should make it this afternoon?”
Loretta picked up a menu and raised her brows. “No salads?”
“Mom…”
“He’s fine. A little tired, but fine. He’s looking forward to seeing you.” She glanced up and smiled at Audrey, then shifted her gaze to her daughter.
Francie knew that look. She braced herself.
“Honestly, Francie,” she said. “Why don’t you tell me about your love life anymore?”
“I…”
“Tanner who?”
Francie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was too old for this. “Mom.”
“Tanner who?”
She knew her mother well enough to accept that she wouldn’t let this go. Far from it. They’d probably be discussing it at Christmas. She sighed and ran her hands over her thighs. “He’s just a friend. I’m watching his little sister for the summer.”
“His little sister?”
“Their mom died recently, and he’s keeping her until she goes to live with their aunt in Hawaii.”
“Oh, how awful.” But Loretta’s expression suggested she was chewing on that. Like a bulldog. “Is he from Marietta?”
Francie’s stomach tightened, and she glanced at Audrey who appeared just as pained. Tanner’s family hadn’t exactly been from the right side of the tracks. Loretta would never be unkind to someone’s face. That was tacky. But what she said behind their back had always been fair game.
“He is.”
“What’s his last name?”
She raised her chin a fraction. She hated this line of questioning because of where it would lead. She was defensive of Tanner. But at the same time, her mom’s judgements carried weight. That’s just the way she’d grown up.
“Harlow,” she said.
Loretta’s dove-blue eyes widened as she connected the dots. “Jennifer Harlow’s son?”
“That’s the one.”
“I’d heard she’d died. Such a rough life, though. I’m not surprised.”
Francie adjusted her napkin on her lap and wished she was getting a root canal instead.
“Are you two…” Loretta cocked her head as if she were studying a chemistry problem. “Seeing each other?”
“No. No. We’re just friends.” They were just friends. But would it be so terrible if they were more? As far as Loretta was concerned, she already knew the answer to that.
Her mom watched her for a few more seconds, her eyes intense. “Oh. Because when I came in, it sounded like you might be.”
“Well, we’re not.”
“It’s okay, honey. I’m sure he’s a nice guy.” Loretta ran a hand down one impeccable wave. “But he’s been through so much. You know.”
“I know. Bless his heart, right?”
Her mother remained stony faced for a moment, then cracked a smile. “Am I that bad?”
All of a sudden, Francie felt tired. Her mom couldn’t help it. She was a product of her mother, and her mother before that. Francie silently swore to herself over her plate of sweet potato fries that someday she’d step out from Loretta’s shadow and be her own woman. Even if it meant breaking ranks to do it.
But as far as Tanner was concerned, it didn’t matter what her mom thought anyway, because she was determined not to fall for him. Or his little sister. Maddie would be in Hawaii by September, and Francie would be at the helm of a brand-new teaching job in Marietta. Tanner’s business was quietly taking off, so who knew where he’d be by then? They’d reconnect this summer, and then they’d move on with their lives. As they should.
She picked up her own menu and decided immediately on a big, fat BLT.
“What are you thinking?” her mom asked softly.
The café was full of people now, coming in for lunch and coffee, and the smell of both filled her senses. Her stomach growled and her hands tightened on the menu. Would you love me even if I wasn’t your perfect little girl anymore?
“We’re just friends,” she said, straightening her shoulders. “That’s all.”
*
Tanner watched Maddie and Colton walking up ahead. They were talking about something video game related—Maddie’s voice light and airy, and Colton’s breaking every now and then.
Man, puberty really sucked balls.
Francie walked beside him with her hands in her cutoff pockets. The smell of popcorn wafted through the warm summer evening to reach them a half a block from the movie theater. It was a Saturday night, so people were out in droves, passing on the sidewalk and driving by with their windows down and music playing. It was the kind of night he remembered as a teen, wishing he had someone to go out with besides Luke, who always wanted to drag him to the shooting range. The kind of night he’d sit thinking about Francie and what she was doing. Or who she was doing it with.
And now, here she was. Walking beside him. So close that their elbows bumped every now and then. So close that he could smell her perfume, light and subtle, mixed with the scent of the flowering baskets lining the streets.
She turned, smiling at something he said. She looked absolutely stunning tonight, even though he knew that wasn’t what she’d been going for. She barely wore any makeup, and her hair, normally sleek and fine, was tousled and sexy. Like she hadn’t thought much about it before leaving the house.
She nodded toward the kids ahead. “You think he likes her?”
“I know he likes her.”
“Think she likes him back?”
“Probably. She gets all weird when she talks about him. And she’s been playing this God-awful music and stands in the shower for, like, an hour at a time.”
She laughed. “Well, that might not mean anything. I’ve been known to waste some hot water in my day, too.”
He immediately pictured warm, soapy torrents running down Francie’s body. It wasn’t necessarily the first time he’d pictured it, but it was the first time she’d given him the idea herself.
“Yeah, well,” he said. “She’s usually got her head in the clouds. But this week’s been ten times worse. I think we can thank our friend Colton for
that.”
“Can’t blame her. He’s cute.”
“Is he?”
“You know he is.” She elbowed him in the side. “You’re just being protective.”
“Well…she’s my baby sister.”
They walked in silence for a minute. Most of the shops had their doors open, and people wandered in and out. One couple walked between them, distracted by their ice cream cones, and laughed sheepishly as they passed.
“I have to tell you something, Tanner,” she said, when they came back together.
He glanced over, wanting to kiss her like he had all those years ago. But also wanting to know her, too. And that was new.
“What?”
“I admire you. What you’ve overcome. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. She was only trying to be nice, but he stiffened anyway. She couldn’t know that no matter how many years passed, or how much space he tried to put between himself and that awkward, stuttering kid, it was never enough. He hated that part of his life because it represented everything he couldn’t be, all the things he and his siblings didn’t have growing up. But here was Francie, someone who had no problem with the past because it had been kind to her, and she to it.
“Remember when you volunteered to read that passage of The Catcher in the Rye in Mr. Conley’s class?” she continued. “And you could barely get through it?”
“I remember.”
How could he forget? It had been at the height of his stutter, right before the incident with Guy in the gym. But he’d loved that book, and he was sick and tired of his tongue not functioning. Of his throat closing up like a crocus at midnight. And reading aloud in Holden Caulfield’s own words seemed like the most liberating thing he could think of at the time. Holden believed in the inherent goodness of man. It was something Tanner wanted to believe in, too.
Everyone had laughed. Except Francie. She’d looked at him with those bright blue eyes. Almost looked right into him in a way that had sliced to the bone. It had been a breaking point.
Maddie and Colton stopped up ahead and were looking at something on their phones. Francie stopped, too, and turned, forcing Tanner to face her.
“I remember, too,” she said. “Every single word. I remember how you didn’t care what everyone thought.”
He gazed down at her, standing so close that he could’ve pulled her to him if he’d wanted. Or bent to put his lips on the hollow of her throat, where he could see the pulse tapping. “I didn’t care what everyone thought. I only cared what you thought.”
She swallowed. He could see that, too. Clearly, just as he could see that her eyes had grown a little misty.
“It took guts,” she said. “What you’re doing with Maddie now? That takes guts, too.”
He glanced over at his little sister. They were almost to the movie theater. He didn’t even know what they were seeing. Something with a Disney Channel star in it whom Maddie loved. There were posters of the actress all over Maddie’s bedroom. Apparently she’d dated one of the guys from One Direction, and the fact that Tanner knew this wasn’t lost on him. In fact, they’d discussed it in great detail over pizza the other night.
He clenched his teeth before looking at Francie again. “But it doesn’t take guts to let her go, does it?”
“It’s the best thing for her. You said yourself.”
“Sometimes I think it is. And sometimes I lay in bed wondering what the hell I’m doing.”
She frowned. “What do your brothers say?”
“Not a ton. That we’ll figure it out when they come home next. But I don’t know when Luke will be able to swing it. And Judd’s flying overtime right now. We all agreed on this, but they’re not crazy about it either.”
“But you’ll get to see her a lot, right?”
“That’s the plan.”
“And how does Maddie feel?”
He rubbed his chest. “She’s pissed. She wants to stay. Thinks Marietta’s the best place she’s ever been. But she’s also never stepped foot outside the state before. My mom didn’t exactly give her many experiences. Too busy shacking up with the next asshole that came along to care much.”
“I’m sorry, Tanner.”
“Hey.” He smiled wearily. “I lived through it. I’m learning to forgive her. That’s what happens when people die.”
Francie watched him, her lips slightly parted. He wanted to rub his thumb along them, feel the edges of her teeth against his skin.
A few seconds passed, maybe more. The people walking by on the sidewalk seemed to fall away, the entire town settling into a kind of hush as they contemplated each other. Underneath Francie’s new adult exterior, the one who taught third grade and was fixing up her house on a budget, he could see the girl from all those years ago. The mouth was the same, the eyes, the audacious tilt of the chin. And her heart, which sometimes had trouble separating the good from the bad in high school, still beat strong and sure behind that lovely chest.
“Come on, you guys!” Maddie yelled. “We’re gonna miss the previews!”
It was Francie who moved first. Who stepped forward and reached for his hand. Who smiled slowly, maybe a little knowingly, as her fingers wrapped around his. And he was glad, because he never would’ve touched her first. He would’ve gone to his grave with her on a virginal, Marietta High pedestal. Keeping her at an arm’s length for all eternity because Tanner Harlow didn’t deserve someone like Francie Tate.
“We can’t miss the previews,” she said. “They’re the best part.”
And then, before he could think better of it, he leaned down and kissed her.
Chapter Seven
Francie sat in the darkened theater, the air conditioning blowing cold against her arms. But she barely noticed. She was still burning from the outside in.
She’d been kissed before. Many, many kisses that she could hardly remember. Much less, that she’d care to remember. But this had been different in every possible way that a kiss could be different. It had curled her toes, had damn near curled her hair.
Her belly tightened now as she thought about it. She’d seen the way he’d been looking at her, and his expression masked nothing. So she’d reached for him. Innocently, she’d thought at the time. But of course, there’d been nothing innocent about it. And now a space had narrowed between them. Something that had been there since the beginning, was no longer perceptible, and she felt his heat, his energy, just as strongly as she felt her own.
Maddie had seen. So had Colton. Her face warmed at the memory of them grinning at the unexpected sidewalk entertainment. But Maddie had especially lit up, as if someone had opened a window for her and she’d been able to see what she’d only guessed before.
Tanner sat beside her now, quiet and still, his big hand splayed across his thigh. Hers was only a few inches away, and it felt like the air between them was charged. She could see him out the corner of her eye, tall and imposing. She imagined coming to a movie as his date, leaning into his side as the lights went out, feeling his arm around her, and that hand moving up and down her rib cage. Maybe his thumb would brush the side of her breast, or he’d lean close and whisper something in her ear.
She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, staring up at the movie screen. So much for not falling for him. Obviously, she was going to have to get a grip. He was working for her. And she was working for him, watching his little sister for the summer. She had to remember that she was a teacher, for God’s sake, and needed to show at least a modicum of restraint in Maddie’s presence.
Tanner turned to her in the darkness, leaning close enough that she caught the faint scent of his aftershave. Goose bumps popped up along her arms at the feel of his breath against her cheek.
“Five bucks says Colton will pull the old yawning trick,” he whispered.
She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Sure enough, the boy was leaning conspicuously close to Maddie. Poor kid. And being watched from the back
row, too.
“Maddie won’t let him,” she whispered back. “Too innocent.”
“I don’t know. Her profound boy band knowledge suggests otherwise.”
She smiled. “You’re on.”
They shook, and his hand swallowed hers whole. It was warm and rough, the calluses scraping deliciously against her skin. God, he was sexy.
He let go and leaned casually back in his seat, his long legs spread out in front of him. Her heart was still hammering at the touch. How could he look so nonchalant when she felt as though she was going to have some kind of an episode?
She leaned back, too, and gazed up at the screen, willing her breaths to come slower and deeper.
Yeah. She definitely needed to get a grip. And fast.
*
Tanner walked slowly alongside Francie. Stars winked overhead in the grainy, navy-blue sky, and the streetlamps were flickering to life along Main Street. The kids walking up ahead were sipping their Cokes and chattering.
Francie pulled her soft, white sweater tighter around her. She was curvy, painfully feminine, her hair falling in silky ripples down her back. She reminded him of a 1950s pinup model, beautiful and unattainable.
“So, you owe me five bucks,” she said. “I called it. She shut him down mid-yawn.”
Tanner smiled. “He tried, though. Which technically means you owe me five bucks.”
“How about I pay you with lunch? Tomorrow? My place?”
“Tomorrow I’m laying your sod. So that works.”
“That sounds dirty.”
“Oh, it’s very dirty.”
She laughed, and he was finding the sound was something he craved. Like coming home to a warm shower in the middle of winter, or sinking your teeth into a burger after being half-starved. It nourished him somehow. He wanted to make her laugh not only to hear it, but to know he was the one invoking the emotion. He wanted to make her do other things, too. Things that weren’t nearly so innocent. Things that involved being naked and sweaty in his bed.
He clenched his jaw and shoved his hands farther down in his jean pockets. Kissing her had been a shitty idea, but since when was he in the habit of making things easier? Now he wanted her twice as bad, and where would it end? With Francie, he didn’t see a scenario where he’d finally be satiated. He touched her, he wanted to kiss her. He kissed her, he wanted to make love to her. And if he made love to her, where the hell would that lead? Nowhere? Everywhere? Realistically, he knew this wouldn’t end well. And it wasn’t just a bad idea for his state of mind. It was bad for Maddie’s, too. She was already getting too attached to Francie. To Marietta in general. All he needed was to go and screw her up even more.
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