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“I’m going to kill you,” I yelled as I chased my jerk of a sister and her annoying friend, Laurel, through the kitchen and out the back door.
“Dillon Lewis,” my mother’s scolding voice called from somewhere in the house. “You be nice to the girls.”
I scowled as I watched Jazzy’s bright-red hair and Laurel’s sunny blonde get further away as they ran toward the fields, their peals of laughter floating back toward me in the wind. We’d just had our ninth birthday, and I’d cherished the bike my parents had given me. When I’d gone outside that morning to ride over to Reardon’s to meet him and Gabe to head to the springs, I’d found my perfect, red bike had been spray-painted purple with flowers painted on it.
Not in a good way either, so I knew Rena hadn’t been involved; her flowers would actually look like flowers. No, I’d known immediately that it had been Jazzy and Laurel, and I vowed right there on my back porch that I’d make them pay.
I sighed.
Now, logically, I knew that we were all grownups, and neither Jazzy nor I were the same people. In fact, Jasmine and I were very close now, even though she still liked to press my buttons. I was sure that Laurel had grown up as well. But, I didn’t know that for sure. Laurel had left town after high school and moved to Houston after college, so I hadn’t seen her in years.
The last time I had seen her, however, had been at high school graduation, when she and Jazzy had painted Honk, Cause I’m Horny, on the back window of my cherished Jeep and I hadn’t been able to get it off.
I’d had honks following me all the way from Cherry Springs to my college dorm
, and although it had been a prank that actually ended in me getting laid my first week at school, that didn’t change the fact that whenever I thought of Laurel, I wanted to run away.
Fast and far.
Although a small part of me wanted to tell Carol to cancel the appointment, because I wanted to be in the same room with Laurel about as much as I wanted to get a rectal exam, I’d promised Jasmine that I’d hear Laurel out and possibly help her with her business plan.
Just the thought put a scowl on my face.
Maybe this would be the perfect opportunity to start getting some of that revenge you always promised, I thought, and my scowl was quickly replaced by a grin as I gathered my things and told Carol I’d be back.
2
Laurel
“I don’t think I can do this,” I said, wringing my hands together as I paced the floor in my flower shop.
“You can,” my friend and new employee, Chloe, assured me as she took my hands and held them between us. “Dillon is a great guy, Laurel, and yes, you guys have known each other forever and you were a bit of a wild child, but you’re an adult now. You’ve both changed. Plus, he’s agreed to help you. He wouldn’t do that if he hated you, right?”
“I guess so,” I muttered, but my stomach was still in knots, and I’d started sweating all over the place. I mean, really sweating. If I didn’t calm down I’d have to go home and shower before my appointment with Dillon.
“Well, I know so,” Chloe said firmly, and I let out a deep breath.
“I haven’t really talked to him since I’ve been back,” I began. I’d moved back to Cherry Springs from Houston after being away for most of my adult life. “I thought he’d been avoiding me, but maybe the fact that we haven’t spoken is just a coincidence. I mean, he was busy at Gabe and Zoey’s wedding, and he’s running a company, so … maybe I shouldn’t take things personally?”
It was more of a question than a statement, because I’d always taken things personally where Dillon was concerned.
I’d been in love with him since I was nine years old.
“I’m so excited your mom said you could come over,” my new best friend, Jasmine, said as we walked from my car to her house. “It’s going to be the best weekend ever.”
My parents had been thrilled when I asked if I could spend the night at Jazzy’s house, since I’d never been invited to a sleepover before. It was almost weird how excited they were, but I knew they’d made plans to go out on a date while I was gone, so maybe that’s why they’d been smiling so big as I packed my favorite backpack.
“What do you want to do?” I asked, trying not to stare at the biggest, most amazing house I’d ever seen.
It was beautiful, with pillars on the porch and stairs that started out wide, then shortened as you moved up them. It was painted bright white, with a porch that wrapped around the house.
I’d never seen anything like it.
That was when it happened… A lanky boy with red hair and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen, outside of Jazzy’s, stepped out onto the porch with a glass of lemonade in his hand. His hair was a little long, with curls on the end, and he had freckles dancing across his nose. And when he smiled in response to something his mother, who I hadn’t even noticed was next to him, said, I fell head over heels in love.
“Who’s that?” I asked in a whisper, suddenly cold and clammy at the thought of getting too close.
“Ugh, my twin brother, Dillon,” Jasmine said with a sneer. “He’s been sick, and you would have thought he was dying with all of the moaning and groaning he’s been doing over the last week.”
