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“I do know a few places,” he answered before he grinned. “I’ll drive.”
We headed out for the night, and the entire time I felt the slow-building tension in the air between us. Each time Tommy looked at me, I felt it on my nerves. I knew what the end game was. I enjoyed the cool music playing in the background, and the light breeze in the night’s air.
Tommy too seemed to be having a good time. When I reached for the bottle of red wine on the table, Tommy did too, and our fingers brushed. The zap of electricity that flowed through me warmed every part of my body, and I shivered because of it.
I sipped my wine and met his gaze from above the rim of my glass. Right then at that moment, I knew I would make love to Tommy Thatcher tonight and there would be no going back.
Tommy
Wehadsteakfordinner in some fancy restaurant, and by the time we returned to the cottage, it was past 10 p.m. I wasn’t ready to leave her company yet, and Leah too seemed to be enjoying herself, so we sat on the front porch with a bottle of wine, a glass, and our thoughts.
“You know I’ve always loved staying in Lakewood,” she said to me after some minutes of silence. “Growing up here was amazing. Danielle and I used to sing at Belly Row’s on the weekends and we would make just enough cash to get us something fancy and new for the weekend. Cherry would pump us full of pie and cakes and we’d come home full we wouldn’t eat whatever you’d made for dinner.”
“And I used to make dinner a lot back then,” I chirped, and we both laughed.
She held her wine glass in one hand and her free hand massaged the back of her neck. My gaze rested on the slow finger movements, and I nearly reached to help massage her.
If she was feeling anything like the tension buried inside me, then she probably needed the massage.
My tongue swept over my lip, and I realized she had caught me staring when she asked. “What?”
“Nothing,” I quickly replied.
“With that look on your face?” she questioned. “There’s definitely something. Come on, spill the beans. We’ve called a truce so there’s no need to hold back.”
I tilted my head in her direction again. “I just … it’s amazing how much you girls have grown since then. I didn’t think Danielle had it in herself to move away to a new town and start a new life on her own. I was scared that she would either screw it up or get hurt and I didn’t want any of that.”
It took something before Leah said to me. “You made it seem like you hated that she made a choice and chose music.”
I shook my head, and a wistful laugh left my lips. “That was never the reason. Danielle and I had our problems, and music wasn’t one of them. If anything, I loved hearing you girls sing around the house every day. It gave the place some sort of life and joy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed and met her gaze. “You have such a lovely voice. I wonder why you’d ever give up singing.”
My question hung in the air between us, and even though the charge of electricity stayed, Leah averted her eyes from me and sipped her wine.
“You ever had to give up something you love because it was the right thing to do?” She angled her body towards me now and her voice was in a lower pitch than normal.
Her chin quivered and the harried look on her face deepened as she paled.
Strangely, I understood what she was talking about because I had experienced it with Danielle’s mother too.
“I had to give up music because it was the right thing to do. I didn’t want to lose myself out there, Tommy. It was the only way.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why did it have to be the only way? This is something you love, Leah … do you just give that up?”
“You gave up on Danielle’s mother.” she pointed out, and when I gasped, she pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to say that I just …”
“It’s fine, it’s all right,” I interrupted. “You probably think I’m a jerk for asking her to leave back then, don’t you? Danielle has hated me since because of that.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Leah said, and she put a hand on my arm. “Danielle loves you. She was just hurt that you took her mother away from her. We were both young and nothing she did ever seemed to be enough for you. You shut her out completely after Mrs. Thatcher left, even I thought you were a jerk for doing that.”
Her eyes rounded and widened when I chuckled. “I thought I was a jerk too,” I told her before looking down at the hand resting on my arm.
I loved her light touch, and I wished I could stay here with her like this forever.
“What happened between you two back then? I thought you both were a lovely couple and I used to wish I had my dad around just like Danielle did.”
