AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I will.” He smiled back. Then looked up the stairs to Aimee. “You coming?”
“I probably shouldn’t—I mean I have a lot of unpacking—if you really want me too?”
He grinned. “Mom would love to see you.”
“Go on, Aimee,” her father demanded, “Don’t hold the boy up any longer.”
She descended the stairs slowly feeling gloriously happy and approached him without realizing her face was beaming. Her mother was grinning so proudly as if Aimee had just descended the stairs on prom night, confusing her daughter but nevertheless receiving a smile in response as Aimee followed Colin out to his car.
Once they were seat-belted, he pulled the Barracuda out of the driveway and drove toward his parent’s home a few blocks over. It remained silent in the car right up until he pulled in front of his parent’s turn-of-the-century house. “So you use to have a crush on me, eh?”
“I should have known better than to think you would drop it.”
He laughed. “It’s amazing what little secrets people keep from you.”
“It wasn’t a big deal. I wasn’t keeping anything a secret.” She grabbed the door handle and opened the car door.
“I was never aware of any crush.” He pointed out as he followed suit.
“I know.” Only too well.
“So you were keeping secrets.”
“I don’t think you would have wanted to know Dennis’ twelve year old sister had a huge crush on you.”
“Huge, eh?”
Her cheeks swiftly heated up. “I was twelve. Everything was a huge deal.”
“Wish I’d known.”
She froze. “You did?”
“Definitely.”
“W-why?”
“I would have thought it cute.”
Of course. What had she thought he’d say? He had shared the same feelings?
“At twelve, I wasn’t looking for cute.”
“Still—” he trailed off, not finishing what he was going to say.
“What?”
Grinning, he took her arm and propelled her in the direction of the front porch. “It would have given me a certain amount of leverage.”
She stopped walking. “Leverage? What type of leverage?”
“The best kind.” He leaned forward. “The teasing kind.” Then unexpectedly dropped a kiss on her nose before turning toward the house and opening the front door.
Aimee’s eyes fluttered shut and she hated herself for feeling the same way she had at the age of twelve. Any sign of affection from Colin always left her giddy with happiness. From the porch, she heard him exchange greetings inside the house before she heard his mother exclaim, “Where’s Sheila?”
Aimee could have shriveled up and crawled all the way back home. She was a poor substitute for the beautiful and sophisticated Sheila McNeil. But as she followed Colin into the house, his mother’s face broke into a huge grin. “Though Aimee is a wonderful substitute. How are you dear?”
Happily she exchanged a warm hug with the woman before shaking hands with his more reserved father. “Fine thank you. I hope you don’t mind me dropping in unexpected like this.”
