Blue Willow by Deborah Smith

Author:Deborah Smith [Smith, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9780307815682
Google: 1SW4jkeoavoC
Amazon: B0060AY8FM
Goodreads: 13534099
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 2011-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

They sat on top of the wreck. It had a full-length car seat bolted to steel shanks. Climbing up had been her idea, and he seemed enormously impressed. Dusk deepened around them, and the lights and noise of the fraternity house seemed distant.

He opened up under her casual questions, telling her he came from a family of construction workers, that his mother was dead and his father was tied to a new wife and her small children. Richard had no brothers or sisters of his own. He was the first one in his family to attend college. He and Frank Stockman already had internships lined up with a big architectural firm here in Atlanta.

When Lily told him she was working weekends for a landscaping contractor and wanted to get into that business after she graduated, he said, solemnly and without the least bit of flattery, “You’re perfect.”

“Well, nobody’s ever said that to me, before,” she answered. “Boy, have I got you fooled.” She looked away, pensive and yet glad he’d said it. She was greedy for someone to talk to, to care about, for somebody to care about her.

“What are you so sad about, Lily MacKenzie?”

“Nothing.” His voice was so somber and kind. She turned toward him, studied the sincerity in his face, and watched a lightning bug blink its fairylike yellow glow on his shirt collar. “Hold still,” she said. She scooped her finger under the bug, blew gently on it, and it fluttered away. “When I was little, I’d catch these and keep ’em in a mason jar until I went to bed. Sometimes I’d turn ’em loose in my room and watch the show.”

“I did that too,” he said. “I had pet squirrels, and lizards, and a raccoon once.”

“Me too.”

They were silent. It was an easy silence, even if she felt the intense interest coming off him in waves. Strange, how she could crave his company so quickly, but in such a different way than she’d wanted Artemas’s. Maybe life was safer this way.

He didn’t seem to know what to do with his handsome, oversized hands. He kept laying them on his knees, then knotting them together. Now, he was fumbling with his tie.

Lily snagged one of them. “You’re making me jumpy, boy,” she drawled. “Are you always this fidgety?”

His shoulders slumped. “Never.” He looked at her strong hand cupping his. His long, blunt fingers curled carefully through hers. She leaned back on the car seat and looked at the stars that were beginning to appear straight overhead. He settled beside her. Peaceful, that’s what this was. The first peaceful moment she’d had in so long. She wanted to preserve it, build on it, see if there could be more to life than disappointment.

“I could get used to this,” he said. “I’d love to get used to this.”

Lily felt the careful, warm grip of his hand tightening on hers. She shut her eyes, concentrating on it. “Me too,” she whispered.

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.