Come Fly with Me by Gina Welborn

Author:Gina Welborn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-04-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

An hour later

The four-minute surrey ride from the school to home had never lasted so long. Luanne sat turned on the bench to face Mrs. Hollenbeck in order to keep from seeing Roy, who was sitting on the bench ahead with Mrs. Hollenbeck’s driver. The dear woman, like her driver, couldn’t stop talking about the students and their balloon, which Luanne didn’t mind. Her own thoughts were jumbled.

What had happened in the school yard meant nothing.

That she and Roy arrived home together (by way of Mrs. Hollenbeck’s surrey) after school for the last twelve days meant nothing. That he’d sat by her at church and shared a hymnal meant nothing. That he’d made her fruit basket deliveries last week so she could spend extra time grading essays—again, nothing. None of it meant anything because in four days Roy would be leaving Helena.

But what if it had meant something? Was it possible to fall in love with someone in a moment?

She didn’t know.

When Roy had found her after his flight with Marcus, when she met his gaze, something happened. She felt different. She felt warm and fluttery. She’d never kissed a man. But in that moment, she felt a desire—a yearning—to run across the school yard and kiss him. Even with all her students watching!

The surrey drew up to the Palmer house.

Roy jumped down. He held out his hand to assist.

Luanne hesitated, unable to do anything but nod in response to Mrs. Hollenbeck’s salutation. Why? She had nothing to fear. Yet the moment she placed her gloved hand in Roy’s, as she feared, the tingle began. And the flutters. Not to mention her heart pounding. The instant her feet touched solid ground, Luanne jerked free. She restrained the urge to run to the house.

“Oh, Mr. Bennett, one final word,” Mrs. Hollenbeck called.

Needing to get away from his disturbing presence, Luanne headed for the house without waiting. She slammed the door as she entered, then winced, waiting for another Palmer to come running and ask what was wrong.

No one came.

Luanne glanced into the parlor where her father usually sat while waiting for Mother to finish preparing supper. Empty. How odd. The visit from Wilber Fisk’s grandparents a couple weeks ago had so upset Mother, new paper of sage green with pink and yellow flowers was ordered the next day. Last night, Father, Geddes, and Roy removed paintings from the walls, pushed all the furniture into the center of the room, and covered the pile to protect against dust and debris. Why wasn’t Father here peeling off the old paper?

“Mother? Father?”

“In here,” came Geddes’s voice from the dining room.

Luanne glanced at the grandfather clock in the hallway. Had they started the meal without her? She hurried into the dining room, surprised to see it empty save for her brother. Geddes sat with his chair angled and holding the newspaper up before him like he always did before supper because he was too tired in the mornings to read it. Four place settings had been set, instead of the usual six.

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