“Yeah, I was staring. I was staring at a man
that I haven’t seen for so long. I could hardly believe it was
you,” I say bitterly, because he hasn’t come back since that day he
sent me inside. Not even to say goodbye. “You look different,” I
say shyly.
“Different good or different bad?”
“Good, very good,” I mutter and go flush. I
feel him slide a little closer to me as he chuckles at my
admission. The air between us is thick and I am having a hard time
breathing.
“Lilly flower, you look different too. It is
definitely different good. You're even more beautiful than I
remember,” he says moving toward me, bumping my shoulder with his.
Lilly flower is what he always used to call me. It still has the
same effect on me, only more so now. Heat runs through my body like
a tidal wave.
“Who I remember as a little girl is now a
very stunning woman,” he turns his head straight staring out into
the darkness the same as me. “You are only sixteen, and you are
already so…. ” He mumbles under his breath not finishing his
statement. This makes me blush even more, knowing that he thinks
I’m beautiful and stunning. I can’t wrap my head around it.
Jane always tells me that I am so ordinary
and I will probably never land a husband. Miss Finnegan tells me it
is what’s on the inside that counts. Emma says I’m drop dead sexy,
but compared to her I feel like an ugly duckling.
“You never said goodbye. I thought I would
never see you again.” I blurt out the words before I realize how
pitiful they sound.
“I’m truly sorry Lilly. Don’t think it wasn’t
hard. Dad insisted that I not come anymore. I think you know why.”
Regret fills his voice, and deep down I know the truth. I know
why.
“I was a foolish little girl with a crush.
I’m sure it was awkward for you having me hang around you all the
time. You surely had a girlfriend.” The thought makes me cringe. I
hope he doesn’t tell me that he has one even if he does. I can live
in my fantasy world. The thought of another girl having what I have
desperately wanted for so long makes me queasy.
“You were not foolish, but you were a girl.
You still are a girl, Lilly, but I never felt awkward. In fact, I
loved spending time with you. And just for the record, there was no
girlfriend. There isn’t one now either,” he says bumping my
shoulder with his again. My belly flips flops from the simple
touch.
“Are you helping your dad for a while?” I’m
desperate to know how long he will be around.
“Yeah, he’s been busy with all the
landscaping Mrs. Sumnor is wanting done.” I can feel him staring at
me as I look off into the darkness. Everything is silent for a
while. All we hear is the chirping of the night’s insects and the
rustling of the trees in the timber from what little breeze there
is. It is a muggy June summer night and I’m very warm. Not just
from the temperature of the air, but from sitting so close to Luke
that we are almost touching.
Luke’s leg moves a little touching mine, and
even through his jeans I can feel electricity run through my body.
My breath hitches, embarrassing me immediately, as Luke turns to
me.
“Are you ok?” He has concern in his voice,
but something else in his eyes. Does he feel it too?
“Umm, yeah. I’d better be getting back in the
house.” I stumble for words not knowing how to explain what just
happened. I can’t explain it because I don’t know how a simple
touch can have such an effect on me. I go to stand and Luke
hurriedly stands up first taking my hand. He helps me up very
gentleman like. This too is having a reaction on me. I feel weak at
the knees but try very hard to not let it show.
We start walking back to the house in
silence. Luke is still holding my hand, and I feel like I am
walking on pillows. We are walking slowly so I am able to hide the
fact that my legs feel like jelly. He’s so strong and confident
next to me. I wonder if he is feeling the same thing that I am,
surely not. He probably has beautiful girls throwing themselves at
him all the time. What would he want with someone like me? Was it
pity that made him come to see me tonight? Had he heard about what
Jane had done today from Miss Finnegan? I don’t want him knowing
any of it and will try my hardest to make sure that I keep it all
from him.
We make it back to the patio on the backside
of the house. Luke leans down so his lips are close to my ear and
whispers, “Goodnight, Lilly flower. I’ll see you tomorrow.” His
lips graze my ear lightly causing me to gasp again as chills run
through me. He looks at me and I can tell his mind is racing.
Before another word can be said, he squeezes my hand and takes off
into the darkness. I am standing alone in the darkness and can
still feel his warm breath on my ear. A shiver runs down my spine.
My insides feel toasty warm even though goose bumps are forming on
my arms.
I make it back to my room with no one the
wiser, just as easily as I had made it out. I notice the clock says
two thirty. What seemed like a matter of minutes with Luke was
really two hours. I crawl into bed and lay there wide awake. All I
can think about is him. For the first time in two years I am
actually looking forward to waking up tomorrow, because I will get
to see Luke again.
Chapter 3
I wake up the next morning around nine to a
knock on my door. When I roll over I see Miss Finnegan standing
over my bed. “Wake up sleepy head, she’s gone,” she says smiling
from ear to ear as I stretch.
Last night’s events suddenly come to me. For
a minute I think it had to be a dream, but it wasn’t. My insides
are still warm. I can’t help but grin from ear to ear feeling
great. Not only because Jane is gone, but because I can’t wait to
see Luke.
“I’m going to take a shower,” I inform Miss
Finnegan as I disappear into the bathroom shutting the door. I feel
the urge to look really nice for Luke.
“I’m going to run some errands dear, I’ll be
back later this afternoon,” Miss Finnegan yells through the door,
and I hear my bedroom door close as she leaves.
After my shower I search my closet for
something to wear. Unfortunately I don’t have many nice things to
choose from, other than the few frilly southern belle dresses that
I have to wear when Jane is entertaining and I am expected to play
the dutiful daughter role. Hidden in the back of the closet I find
some white shorts and a nicer light blue short sleeved top. Emma
had bought it for my birthday and I have never worn it. I throw it
on and look in the mirror. The shorts are a lot shorter than I have
ever worn. I tug them down a little till they reach my upper
thighs, which leaves a little of my belly button showing since the
shirt is short also. The sleeves barely cover my bruises, but at
least they are covered. I fluff up my curly brown hair deciding
that down is best and leave it to drape over my shoulders. Emma had
left some light pink lip gloss for me and I brush some on my
lips.
I walk into the kitchen and my heart starts
racing just thinking about him. Before I can change my mind, I slip
out the French door to go search for him. It doesn’t take long for
me to find him sitting in the shade of a cypress tree eating his
lunch. I stop in my tracks when I see him. My knees go weak and my
mouth instantly goes dry. His legs are bent and he has his toned
muscular arms resting on his knees. He sees me and waves me over. I
walk his way with my head down trying not to look too eager. When I
reach him, he pats the grass motioning for me to sit down. “Keep me
company,” he tells me giving me his gorgeous smile.
“You hungry?” He asks offering me half of his
sandwich then looks into my eyes. I feel the heat between us as his
dark brown eyes look me up and down. I don’t know if I imagined it
or not, but there is a flicker in his eyes that makes me think he
does feel the same way I do.
“No, thank you.” I feel like all my nerve
endings are on high alert as I sit cross-legged next to him and
smile.
“You’ve got a gorgeous smile, you know,” he
says making me blush.
“I hear Jane is gone for a few days. That’s
really good news.”
“It’s the best news, because I can relax a
bit when she’s gone.” I wave my hands in the air in an I’m free
motion. My hair that was cascading over my arms brushes way and my
sleeves inch up.
Instantly Luke is up on his knees and takes
my wrist. He pulls up the sleeve of my shirt. “When did she do
this?” Luke growls and does the same to my other arm revealing
another hand shaped bruise.
I shouldn’t have worn this shirt knowing the
sleeves were too short. “Did your mother do that?” His concern
deepens as he takes a hold of my wrist and twists my arm to see the
entire bruise.
“No, she’s not my mother! Jane did it and its
fine,” I snap at him. My reaction causes him to let go of my wrist
and I instantly apologize. “Sorry, I mean Jane is not my mother. I
don’t like her being called that,” I say in a much softer tone.
“Well, whatever you call her, it’s not fine,”
he grates.
“It’s OK. I’m OK. Let’s not talk about it
please,” I say calmly.
“Jesus, I can’t believe she gets away with
treating you like that. She needs to be in jail for child abuse!”
Luke yells then punches the ground. His outburst makes me jump and
his hand reaches up to my face. “I’m sorry, please don’t be
scared.” He moves so he is sitting on his knees facing me. What is
more upsetting than anything is that he said “child,” he thinks of
me as a child.
“I’m not scared. I could never be scared of
you.”
Luke reaches out grabbing my hand giving it a
squeeze sending white-hot lightning up my arm. The warmth of his
touch makes me forget all my thoughts for a moment. I turn to him
and his eyes are intense staring at me.
“It won’t be long and you will be free,” he
tells me then abruptly frees my hand. I can tell something in the
distance makes him do so. I turn and look in the direction of his
alarm and see his dad walking our way. “I’ll be here again tonight.
Meet me at the end of the lane the same time as last night,” he
whispers before his dad is upon us.
“Luke, I believe your lunch break is over
son,” Jeffery says sternly looking at us with dismay. “Lilly, good
to see you sweetheart. I trust Luke has not been bothering you?” He
says turning his attention to just me.
“Oh no, I enjoy his company,” I tell him and
give him the most innocent smile I can muster. “It’s nice to see
him again. It has been so long,” I add.
I hear him draw in a sharp breath as he
notices the deep blue hand shaped bruises on my arms. He quickly
averts his eyes from me to Luke.
“Come on son, we’ve got work to do,” he
orders Luke and turns to walk away.
Luke gets up. Before he turns to follow his
dad, he mouths to me “tonight” with a sweet smile and a wink then
he hurries to catch up with his dad. I sit and stare at them walk
away. When they are out of earshot, I see them start to argue. I
can tell that Jeffery says something to Luke that instantly
infuriates him. They seem to share a heated argument before Luke
finally walks away in a huff. I see Jeffrey shake his head in
frustration and walk in the opposite direction.
The rest of the day I am fidgety and restless
as I move from one room to another watching the clock. “You’ve got
ants in your pants,” Miss Finnegan says to me when I start making
laps around the kitchen table not able to sit still. She’s making
supper for her and me. Usually as soon as the dishes are done she
retires for the night.
“No,” I say defensively. “Just seem to have a
lot of energy today.” I quickly add as she looks at me with
confusion to my response.
“I bought you some more books when I went out
today,” she tells me. Normally I would be really excited about
this. I love to pass the boring days with a good book that Miss
Finnegan sneaks to me. I really get into the stories, and for a
while I am in another happy place. But today I am going to do
something that I never dreamed I would ever be able to do while I
lived in this house. The time is moving so slow that I almost think
the clock is going backwards.
“Thanks,” I tell her trying to be
enthusiastic so she doesn’t get suspicious. “I can’t wait till
after supper so I can start reading.” I lie and she seems to buy it
as she dishes us up some chicken and rice. My belly is in knots and
I can hardly swallow the bite that I put in my mouth.
“Does it not taste good dear?" She asks me
when she notices me pushing the food around on my plate not
eating.
“No, it’s very good.” I smile at her and
force down a few more bites as she watches me. I continue this for
the next ten minutes then tell her that I’m full. She accepts this
without concern and I excuse myself telling her that I am going to
my room to start on one of the books she bought me.
“Goodnight dear,” she says to me as I walk
out of the kitchen and head to my room. I know in the next hour she
will be fast asleep.
The next two hours are excruciating. I’m
excited and nervous at the same time to see Luke.
When the clock reaches midnight, I start
sneaking out of the house. I’m wearing blue jeans and I have my
Nike’s in hand as I make my way down the stairs. When I’m on the
main floor, I stop to listen. The house is silent and dark. Miss
Finnegan is in her room on the other side of the utility room. I
make my way to the front door without making a sound and am able to
slip out of the front door with success. I smile to myself as I sit
on the front step tying my shoelaces breathing in the fresh night
air.
I’m not sure when Luke will be here, so I
just wait on the front step silently as my eyes adjust to the
darkness outside. It’s not long before I make out the front lane.
Some clouds that were over the moon float away and the bright full
moon illuminates the front yard.