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I want to pull her into a hug and give her the comfort she needs, but I can't. It's been too long.
When the silence gets to be too much, I clear my throat. “How about I get your car to the mechanic and see about getting you a loaner until this one is fixed?”
“You can do that?” she says, looking back up.
“Sure,” I say, offering her a crooked grin. “I know the owner of the joint. I can pull a few strings.”
Babs’ shoulders sags with relief. “Oh, that would be wonderful! I figured with it being the weekend, and Monday being a holiday, I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone until Tuesday.”
I check my mirror, then shift into drive. “That does complicate things, but we’ll see what we can do.” I flash her another grin, hoping to reassure her. I’ve always been a sucker for a woman in need. But Babs? She’s something special. Even if she doesn’t know it. I’d do just about anything to make sure she was taken care of. I always have.
Chapter 3
Head Over Heels
Flashback: Carrie
WhenwemovedtoWalla Walla, Washington, my brother, Freddie and I were invited to a church youth group activity at a nearby lake. Boating, water skiing, and good, clean fun at the beach. Perfect for someone like me who loved the outdoors. My older brother, Freddie didn't want to spend his Senior year alone when he had been popular at his last school in Seattle, so he made me come with him.
Me, Freddie, and a couple dozen other kids crammed into several vans early in the morning and got to the lake just before lunch. All the kids seem nice enough, but there was this one guy, Ryan, who caught my attention instantly. Someone said he was a senior. That made him two years older than me.
With a quiet, shy, crooked smile, and a body with muscles in all the right places. Definitely an athlete. And all the girls seem to be interested in him. Not just one girl. All of them. I totally understood why.
“Did you just move here?” Ryan asks as we’re eating our hotdogs at lunch.
Mouth full, I nod, then swallow down my food while he waits for my answer. With an empty mouth, I say, “Yeah. We moved in from Seattle a couple of weeks ago. My parents thought it would be nice to meet some kids before we started high school.”
He leans closer, his blue eyes intent on me. One eye is a little lazy, giving him an easygoing vibe. “How old are you?”
Crap. This is the make or break. Should I lie and tell him I’m older than I am? At some point he’ll figure it out though, then I’d have to go through the shame of admitting I lied. I steel myself for rejection and say, “I’m a sophomore. You?” I know he’s a senior, but I don’t want him to know I’ve been asking around about him, either.
“A senior.” He takes a bite of a chip, seemingly unphased that I’m two years younger than him. There’s a first.
All of Freddie’s friends avoided me like the plague in high school. Of course, in Seattle, I was a gangly tomboy and Freddy’s little sister. Now that I’m in a new town, I’m determined to change that reputation.
Ryan chats with me all through lunch. When we’re done, one of his friends, Cimmeron, I think is the buff redhead’s name, calls to him from the water. “Hey! Come play Marco Polo with us!”
Ryan stands and turns to me, jerking his head toward his friends and the water. “Wanna play with us?”
A flutter starts in my stomach, and I throw my leftovers away. If I want to make some new friends, I’m going to have to crawl out of my shell and do things I wouldn’t normally do. “Sure.”
I follow him onto the beach, watching him run into the lake up to his knees, then dive into the water. When he comes up, his eyes are wide from the cold. He shoves his hair back and beckons to me with his hand. “C’mon in! The water’s great!”
Ha! I’ve already been in the water. There’s no way I’m diving in like him. But I do wade out faster than is comfortable until I’m standing near him.
Ryan and I exchange stolen glances at one another until he jumps behind me, wraps his arms around my waist, and pulls me under the water with him. The warmth of his chest and arms wars with the freezing temperatures of the lake water. When I surface, sputtering and gasping, it’s game on. We spend the next several minutes in a water war, trying to dunk and avoid dunking. Chasing and evading. Splashing and teasing.
I avoid Freddie’s glares whenever he is near. Luckily, he has his own group of girls who are interested in the fresh meat from Seattle to keep him busy.
When it’s time to go, we are expected to return in the same vans we arrived in, which separates me and Ryan. But it also means Freddie is sitting next to me. As the church comes into sight, Freddie elbows me in the ribs and says, “I know you like Ryan. Stay away from him. He’s a senior, which makes him my friend. Seniors don’t date Sophomores.”
The look on Freddie’s face tells me everything I need to know. He’ll make my life miserable if I don’t back away from Ryan. My heart sinks and puddles into my toes.
Freddie’s right. I’m smitten. But I fear Freddie more. He knows where I sleep and he’s not afraid to torment me every waking moment if he doesn’t get his way.
As soon as we get back to the church, Freddie takes off in his car to go to work, leaving me to walk the four blocks to our new home. I am one block away from church when Ryan's shiny black Mustang slows alongside the road and leans over and rolls down the passenger side window.
Holy smokes. Even his car is beautiful. And I’m not even into cars!
