Augustina by Rebecca Belliston

Author:Rebecca Belliston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: lds romance, lds fiction, christian romantic suspense, clean romance, lds author
Publisher: Gated Publishing
Published: 2013-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

C H A P T E R 23

Katie Young picked up her sled and headed home. It wasn’t fair that it got dark so early in Spokane. She and Olivia only had one hour after school before it was too dark to sled. The first decent snow in two weeks, and all her parents gave her was one measly hour. She kicked a clump of snow as she headed home.

Katie wiped her runny nose with her glove forgetting she’d taken a dive in the snow on the last run. She smeared freezing snow all over her face.

She glanced over her shoulder to see if Olivia was laughing. She wasn’t. Katie and Olivia always walked each other halfway home. They stopped at the exact middle sidewalk square before they parted ways. They counted it out one day to make sure it was fair. 139 sidewalk squares to Katie’s house. 139 to Olivia’s. It was their tradition. But tonight was especially cold. And dark. Olivia was long gone. She must have taken off the second Katie left. Snow on the face wasn’t half as funny without a best friend. It was just freezing.

The street lamp above her was burned out, making the street even freakier now that Olivia was out of sight. Katie picked up her speed. Her purple sled was awkward enough she couldn’t quite jog, but she tried.

She cleared the bend and spotted a man walking toward her. His chin was tucked in his coat, so he hadn’t noticed her. She jumped sideways into the deep snow to clear a path for him and nearly face-planted. People in her neighborhood always stopped to chat with each other, regardless of the weather. Especially adults. They were the worst.

How’s your mom? How’s fifth grade? My, how you’ve grown!

Katie was way too cold to be polite. Holding her sled up to hide herself, she crept quietly through the deep snow in Maxfield’s yard, hoping to avoid chit-chat.

The man looked up as he passed. He smiled briefly but kept walking.

Whew!

She jumped back on the sidewalk and started for home. Another minute and she’d be inside with a mug of hot chocolate—assuming Drew didn’t drink the last of it.

“Hey,” the man suddenly called. “Aren’t you Josh’s little sister?”

She skidded to a stop. No such luck.

“Yeah,” she said over her shoulder. Even though she knew it was rude, she started for home again. Her toes burned, which didn’t make sense because they were freezing. They were going to fall off any second.

The man ran to catch up. She kept walking, hoping he’d take the hint. He just fell in line next to her, keeping up with her brisk pace.

“I thought I recognized you,” he said. “You’ve grown up since I saw you last, but you still have your pretty blonde hair.”

Katie’s gaze flickered sideways. She didn’t remember him at all. The guy wasn’t old, but neither was he young.

Creepy.

As if reading her thoughts, he said, “I’m Josh’s old buddy from high school. Gavin. Gavin Jenks. Don’t

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.