Page 41 of The Perfect Heart

“Well, I’m glad you two connected again. You could use more friends in town. So many people moved away after graduation.”

“I mean, I knew a lot of people were leaving—they always did. I did. But the only people I see around town I know are the older folks who were always there. Although I did run into Susan grocery shopping the other day. That was weird.”

“Weird? How so?”

Halle’s eyes moved to the ceiling as she thought, one finger tracing the top of her glass. “She was so buttoned-up. I told her I was back home, separated from my husband, and she had the gall to look offended before she pulled her bunch of kids away from me like I had the plague. I mean, who is she to judge? She was one of the wildest kids in our graduating class.”

“I guess she’s grown up since then.” It was a half-serious, half-joking statement and at least drew a small smile from my best friend.

“I guess we all did. Do you remember half the stuff we used to get into?” Halle’s eyes glimmered with remembered mischief over the rim of her glass as she took another sip of her beer.

Chuckling, I broke off a piece of bread and used it to sop up the sauce that had covered the fish. “I’m pretty sure half the town remembers the things we used to get into. Especially the time we released the reindeer into the school cafeteria.”

That was the stunt, I believed, that would get us thrown into town history with all the other infamous characters. Susan was the one who had masterminded that plot for a small group of us, our unauthorized senior prank, when we thought the planned joke was too boring. What else did a bored kid do in a small mountain town but misplace half a dozen reindeer from the local reindeer farm attraction?

“Well, what else were we supposed to do? I mean, they were Benny’s reindeer.” Halle’s giggle was contagious, and then we were both laughing at the shared memory of that caper—rounding the reindeer up, getting them into the trailer, leading them all into the cafeteria for the principal to find in the morning because one had escaped to wander into his office and chew on his pencils and the plant in the corner.

“How we didn’t get arrested, I’ll never know.”

“Because Jeremy Moore was with us, remember? Sherriff Moore’s kid?” Halle pointed her fork at me, then dug it into her winter salad.

“Oh, yeah. How did I forget that?”

Had it been that long since our senior year that I had forgotten specifics like that?

Halle’s grin was enormous, and it warmed my heart to see it. She looked so incredibly beautiful tonight, her eyes shining, truly happy for the first time since she’d come back to Leavenworth, as though, for one night, I’d helped her forget her troubles.

The sparks from her hand over mine hadn’t disappeared, and the way she glowed with happiness, her smile, her eyes, her dark hair cascading over her shoulders and down her back only made them stronger. Something was building within me, threatening to grow and overwhelm me.

The server came over with yet another dish, followed closely by my buddy again, who pulled up a chair for a bit to chat and share the first taste of a beer he was developing. We finished our dinner with an incredible dessert with chocolate from a local Seattle small-batch chocolate factory and more reminiscing about middle and high school.

Stuffed to our gills, Halle and I meandered down the street as a soft snow filtered down from the sky and wandered into a random arcade. We spent the remainder of our evening laughing as we competed to see who could get the most tickets. Halle won by a mile, though I jokingly protested I had let her win, and went home with a giant stuffed dog from the prize case.

I had won, too, though, because halfway through the night, Halle had slipped her hand into mine in a way that had made my heart jump, the sparks jumping as though coming from a live wire. Playing games, we had brushed hands, brushed arms, stood side by side, laughing, hugging when one of us beat a game.

It felt like the tension had been building all night, a vibration between us as we drove home along the dark, quiet highway. Climbing the stairs to Halle’s door, I knew I would have to go home and take care of business—my entire body felt electrified, ready to burst, all my attention, all my senses focused on Halle, every inch of me aware of every inch of her.

She unlocked the door, which swung open when she twisted the handle. But instead of heading inside, she turned to me. Her dark eyes searched my face, her lips parted slightly, and my gaze dropped to them, mesmerized by their perfect pink, the curve, the bow, the way she flicked her tongue out to lick her bottom lip before she bit at it.

I could still taste her on my tongue, remember the feeling of her mouth pressed against mine in a way that had been driving me insane for days.

The memory driving me forward, I bent my head and pressed my mouth to hers, wrapping my hands around her arms to draw her into me.

Our first kiss had been thorough but gentle, a question that had sought and received an answer and permission. An exploration into what had been brewing and what might be. This kiss was anything but as I took her in with an urgency of which I didn’t know I was capable, my tongue slipping into her mouth and sweeping across hers, demanding, desirous, electricity crackling between us.

When I pulled away, Halle was breathless, her eyes round with surprise, and she pressed her hand against her lips.

We stood that way, staring at one another, our rapid breaths rising as steam between us in the frozen night air.

Then Halle took a deep breath.

“Do you want to come inside?”

Chapter 20

Halle

I WAS JUST AS SHOCKED as Nash that the words had come out of my mouth.