First Love (Love Nibbles Book 2) (10 page)

But hadn’t she been reacting to her own unhappiness by drifting into a relationship with Joe, perhaps even using him to rebel against her parents. She hadn’t made conscious choices this summer as much as let things happen.

Now Joe was going to leave. She could choose to change her life and go with him. That would be a huge conscious decision. But did she love him enough to leave everything she knew in order to be with him?

Then the pretty girl in the movie said something that caught her attention. “What kind of a person do you think a girl wants?”

Jim Stark answered, “A man.”

“Yeah, but a man who can be gentle and sweet. Like you are. And someone who doesn’t run away when you want them.”

A sorrowful ache filled Rachael’s heart. Joe had tried to be there for her and she’d pushed him away. And he had been so gentle and sweet.
She
was the one who’d run away. Joe had remained steadfast. His leaving today wasn’t him abandoning her. She’d already done that to him, ended things without any effort to figure things out.

She felt smothered, hemmed in on every side. She needed to get out of the dark stuffy theater right away. She didn’t want to see how this movie ended.

Back on the street, she walked slowly down the sidewalk and looked in the dress shop window again. This time the mannequin wore a pretty, white organdy dress with puffed sleeves and sprigs of lilacs. It wasn’t the pink dress Rachael had always imagined but it was close enough. She decided to try it on.

A young woman came from between the display racks in the back of the shop. She stared at Rachael in surprise. “Is there ... something you’d like to look at?”

“The dress in the window. The one with the lilacs. Do you have it in my size?”

The woman looked her up and down. “You could try an eight.”

A few minutes later Rachael stood looking at herself in the triple mirror just outside the dressing room. She turned slowly and watched the girls in the mirror do the same. The bodice of the dress hugged her breasts and rib cage and the skirt flared over her hips and ended at mid-calf. The modest scoop of the neckline was accented with lace. It displayed her collarbones and the curve of her neck. Her unbound hair framed an oval face with a strong jaw, and wide-set hazel eyes stared back at her.

She could hardly connect herself with that girl. Was this what people saw when they looked at her? No. Normally they saw no further than her little white cap and dark blue dress.

The shop’s radio was tuned to a music station and just then a sweet, melting voice sang,
Only you can make this change in me. For it’s true, you are my destiny. When you hold my hand, I understand the magic that you do. You’re my dream come true. My one and only you.

Rachael stared at her reflection as a hundred memories of Joe flashed through her mind, his smile, his uninhibited laughter, his sparkling eyes, all the things she’d tried to avoid thinking about over these past days. She didn’t know if these elements added up to love. Maybe it was too soon to tell, but she deserved the chance to find out.

She approached the salesgirl at the counter. “I’ll take this dress and I’ll wear it.”

She emerged from the shop wearing the pretty lilac dress and a pair of sheer nylons, a bag of her old clothes clutched in one hand. Her black lace-up shoes had to do since she had no money to buy others.

The courthouse clock told her it was already after two.

She began to walk.

*

Rachael hadn’t considered how sweaty walking in the hot sun would make her or she might have thought twice about wearing her new dress. A car drove past and she stepped off the road but was engulfed in a cloud of dust. She was only a quarter mile from Joe’s house when she heard another vehicle coming up behind her.

Again she stepped off the road, but the truck slowed and rolled along beside her. Her heart sank when she saw Harley hanging out the passenger side window and a couple of other boys in the pickup with him.

“Hey, need a ride?” His eyes popped open when he recognized her. “Damn, is that you, little Amish girl?”

Her temper snapped from the strain of the past two weeks. She glared at him. “No thank you. I don’t need a ride. I’m not ‘little’ and as you can see I’m no longer Amish. Why don’t you leave me alone and go on your way.”

Harley opened his mouth to reply but got no farther than, “Hey...” before the truck’s driver sped away with a burst of gravel from the rear wheels that pelted her.

Rachael smiled in satisfaction and smoothed the pleats on her dress. She waited until the cloud of dust settled then continued on her way.

*

As she walked up the Langdon’s driveway, she saw Joe with his head under the hood of a rusty old car. His hands were braced on either side of the frame, and her stared at the engine. When he heard her footsteps on the gravel, he looked up.

Rachael smiled shyly as she approached, stopping several yards away from him.

Joe straightened and stared at her like he was seeing a vision. He wiped his hands on a rag and walked toward her, a slow smile spreading across his face. It started with a quirk at the corners of his lips and blossomed to a grin that made his entire face beam.

“You came.”

“I came.” Her fingers fiddled nervously with her skirt. She was terrified like the time Daniel had dared her to jump off a high tree into the lake. She was exhilarated. The same way she’d felt when she burst from the cold murky water into the air.

Joe stopped and held up his dirty hands. “I shouldn’t touch you. Your dress... You look so pretty. Not that you don’t always look pretty. You do. I just meant...” He inhaled a shaky breath and laughed. “God, I’m a nervous wreck.”

“Me too.” She ran the last few steps and threw her arms around his neck. “I’m so scared, Joe.”

“Did you come to say goodbye or are you actually coming with me?” His arms went around her waist and squeezed her tight, lifting her off her feet.

She buried her face against his neck and inhaled him. “Yes. I’m coming with you.” She pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Yes.”

“And your family? How did they take it?”

“I haven’t told them. I would like to stop there but then I might not be able to let go. If I see Mattie… No. For now, we have to just leave. I can write them a letter later after…” After what? After she and Joe settled down someplace? And where would that be, and who would she become? She nearly choked on the lump in her throat. It sounded so permanent when she put it into words. Real.

“Whatever you want to do.” He leaned to kiss her lips. His mouth was so soft and warm. “I hate driving this wedge between you and your family. Isn’t there any way we can soften their position on this?” he whispered.

Rachael shook her head. She knew better. “It’s not just about you. I want to take a chance and see what else life has to offer. Apart from you, this is my decision.” Rachael amazed herself by how confident she sounded.

Joe’s eyes searched hers then he nodded. “Okay.” He kissed her once more.

She relaxed in the shelter of his arms and lost herself in the promise of his kiss, twining her arms around him.

At last he pulled away. “I have all my things packed. I bought this car off a friend so my dad wouldn’t be left without a pickup. I have to tinker with the engine a little more before we take off. Would you, um, like to come inside and talk to my mom? You already know my parents, but I’d like to introduce you again as my girlfriend.”

She winced. “You think they’ll be happy about this?”

“They’re already so upset about me leaving, it couldn’t get any worse.”

“That’s very comforting. In that case, I’d
love
to come inside and chat with your mother.”

He laughed and scooped her up in his arms, spinning her around before setting her on her feet. “Don’t worry it’ll be fine.
We’ll
be fine. I’ve got a lead on a job at a place my uncle knows. We’ll get an apartment.” He kissed her. “I’ll take good care of you and when we’re ready we can get married.”

She smiled at his assurance and enthusiasm. “You have it all planned. I just have one question.”

“What?”

“Where exactly are we going?”

He grinned. “Well, the job lead is in South Bend, but anywhere
you
want to go, Rachael. Our choices are wide open.”

She could get a job too, maybe as a waitress in a diner or a sales girl in a shop. She didn’t need to be sheltered and protected and taken care of. She could earn money and contribute to their needs.

Rachael stood on her toes to kiss and hug him again. “We can do anything.”

The End

A Note from Bonnie: Love Nibbles is a series of short stories and novellas written for various anthologies over the years. Although newly edited, they represent an earlier time in my writing. I hope you enjoy these shorts.

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If you enjoyed this short and are interested in checking out some of my full length novels, you might enjoy
Bone Deep
, which is also about a couple from different worlds trying to find common ground.

In 1946, Sarah, a grieving war widow goes to the carnival with friends and is riveted by the tattooed man in the freak show, adorned in head to toe body art. Later she discovers the man hiding in her hayloft, escaped from imprisonment by the evil owner. She shelters Tom on her farm, fighting a powerful attraction while learning about his mysterious past and gentle nature.

When a child goes missing, Tom uses his psychic gift to find her but his assistance doesn’t relieve the locals mistrust of such an exotic stranger. Small-town prejudice tears the lovers apart and a very real threat from the carnival owner endangers them. Can the lovers rise above obstacles of fear and hatred to create the family both have always craved?

The man was a walking tapestry of color. Every bit of his skin was covered in tattoos. Angels, devils, dragons, flames, flowers and skulls were tossed on blue waves. There was no common theme to the tattoos and only the decorative blue swirls connected them. It gave the impression of flotsam floating in the wake of a shipwreck.

In the center of the man’s chest was a red heart, not a Valentine confection but a knobby fist-shaped lump with stubs of aortas sticking out. Wrapped around the heart were links of black chain, binding it tight. The movements of his muscles as he took his seat caused the images to expand and contract, as if they pulsed with life.

With all the ink covering his body, it took Sarah a moment to notice how very nearly naked he was. A loincloth hung from his hips. As he sat, propping one knee up on a rung of the chair, the cloth opened to reveal that his thigh was covered with images right up to his groin.

A flush of heat lanced through her, settling warmly in between her legs. She brushed her hair back from her burning cheeks and tucked it behind her ear. She knew she should move on, but couldn’t stop staring at the tattooed man.

He gazed past her, across the tent, focusing on something. Sarah fought the urge to look over her shoulder at whatever he was seeing.

His body was as concealed as if he were clothed. The designs covered every limb and muscle, distracting the eye from his nudity. Even his face and shaven head were tattooed. More tentacles of the swirling blue design marked his cheeks and framed his eyes making their vivid blue seem to glow like a gas flame. When he turned his head to the side, images bloomed up the back of his neck and fanned over his scalp in a fountain of colors. The shreds of pale skin between the tattoos served as contrast to red, purple, ochre, green and inky black.

Sarah suddenly realized that her friends had already looked at the tattooed man and gone on ahead while she still stood and stared. Unwillingly, she started to walk away. Just then he turned his head and his eyes caught and held Sarah’s.