The Bailey Flanigan Collection by Karen Kingsbury

Author:Karen Kingsbury [Kingsbury, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310342892
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Five

BAILEY FELT THE TEMPERATURE DROP THE MOMENT CODY parked along the circle in front of her house. Even in the dark of night, she could feel him watching her, sense his eyes on hers the way she’d sensed them on her at the football game. He climbed out of his truck, slipped his hands into the pockets of his hooded jacket, and made his way up the walk. Everything about the moment, every mannerism of Cody’s, the sway of his body, the easy athletic way he had about him even after his devastating injury in Iraq — all of it was so familiar.

She stood and waited, holding on to the feeling of seeing him here again, like a vision from some not-quite-forgotten time. He came to her slowly, his eyes on hers right up until he stood a few feet away.

She had wondered about this moment since the last time she saw him, up at the hospital with Cheyenne. Should she hug him or shake his hand … or should she just keep her distance the next time they might meet? But she had never quite made up her mind, and now he decided for her.

“Bailey.” Her name was little more than a whisper on his lips. And without hesitating he pulled her close, held her in a way that was familiar. The brotherly sort of hug he used to give her when she was in high school, when neither of them had been ready to admit their feelings for each other.

The hug lingered, the way it might at a homecoming or a reunion. But the feeling of being in Cody’s arms strangely didn’t stir her heart the way being there once had. As nice as it felt to be hugged by him again, the change, the way this was only a friendship hug, hurt. As if the Cody who had once fallen for her was as gone as those long ago days. Bailey eased away first. She crossed her arms and tried to hide the shiver that ran down her back. He was still looking at her, and she realized the comfort level between them was maybe the one thing that hadn’t changed. “Hi.”

He stopped a few feet from her, his chest rising, his breathing harder than usual. “Why?” He sounded angrier than he looked. “Why did you run?”

She forced herself to stay calm. Her eyes held his and she didn’t blink. Instead she looked at him a long time before she answered, her voice quiet and sure. “Why did you?”

He opened his mouth to say something, to rebut her response and probably demand she stick to his question. That she might give him a reason for turning around and leaving instead of walking up to him and congratulating him back at the stadium like the rest of her family. “Can we sit?”

Bailey nodded and she led him to the swing, the place where they’d talked so often before. They took opposite sides, in a way that left no danger their elbows or knees might brush against each other.

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