Overhead, the floodlights attached to thehouse lit the broken brick patio, gray porch, and the beer pongplayers. Melanie sat on the steps and set her glass of water besideher. Kyle settled next to her and tilted his head back to take inthe thousands of stars in the clear night sky. In the distance, heheard the steady hum of traffic and the blare of a horn, but it wasfar quieter here.
“I love fireflies,” Melanie said.
Lowering his gaze from the sky, he spotted acouple of fireflies flickering in the bushes crowding the wood,stockade fence.
“They’re some of my favorites too,” he said.“At my family’s home in Maine, you can sometimes see hundreds ofthem.”
Melanie bit her lip as she restrained herselffrom asking more about him. If she asked questions, then he wouldask them too, and she’d have to start lying almost immediately.She’d asked him about attending college inside, but she blamed thetequila. However, her buzz was beginning to wear off.
“I used to catch them all the time with mybrothers and sisters. Sometimes we’d have a competition to see whocaught the most,” he said.
“How many brothers and sisters do you have?”she asked and then winced.
Okay, maybe the tequila wasn’t as out of hersystem as she believed. She mentally slapped herself in the head afew times. Coming out here with him was a bad idea. She was finewith him while people and loud noise surrounded them. Out here, itwas too easy to be lured into conversation.
“Nine,” he said.
“Nine!” she blurted.
He chuckled as he placed his foot on thefirst step and draped his arm over his knee. “Yep, nine. And it wascertainly interesting to grow up in my house. What about you? Anysiblings?”
And there it was. The whole reason she didn’task questions was they were suddenly directed back at her. But, tobe fair, that was how conversations worked. She was a freak with amessed-up childhood and a whole history of crap she’d prefer tokeep hidden.
“No,” she said.
He didn’t understand why his questionbothered her, but the clipped tone of her voice told him it wasn’tsomething she wished to discuss. He waited for her to say somethingmore, but she didn’t. A young woman’s cheers broke the silencebetween them when she sank her ball into the last cup.
Deciding to switch topics, he returned tosomething Melanie had been willing to discuss earlier. “What areyou going to college for?”
“Social work. I’m on track to graduate at theend of the fall semester. I plan to get my masters afterward, butI’ll have to find a job and work my way through doing that.”
“That sounds interesting. Where do you wantto work?”
“I’d like to either work in a school or withfoster kids; I haven’t decided yet.”
It was only her home life and family shedidn’t discuss, Kyle realized. He could work with that. Noteveryone came from the happy household he did, so he saw no reasonto push her for more details.
Her eyes slid to him and her mouth pursed asif she were fighting against something. Then, her shoulders saggeda little.
“What about you?” she asked. “What do youwant to go to college for?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I’m not sure schoolis for me. I mean, I liked high school, but it was never really mything. I attended because it was expected of me and graduated forthe same reason, but then I moved to Boston with my sister, got ajob as a bartender, and I like doing it.”
“Then why are you thinking aboutcollege?”
He wasn’t really thinking about college, buthe would attend if it meant getting closer to her. “It’s somethingto do.”
When his gaze ran over her, she gulped downsome water to cool herself. She failed miserably.
Determined to keep herself distracted fromleaning closer and kissing him, she tried to think of somethingelse to say. She had so many questions for him; she tried to thinkof the safest ones to ask if they got turned back on her.
“I’m Kyle Byrne, by the way,” he said as heheld out his hand. “I know we met before, but I don’t think I everproperly introduced myself.”
“Melanie Hall,” she said as she shook hishand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Melanie.”
“You too, Kyle,” she said, and she meantit.
