Only You (13 page)

“Nothing changed. Come on Josie, I saw you. With the schools side by side, I saw you ever now and then. You still sat by yourself at recess and read.” He paused before continuing. “I wanted to get to know you. Keep you company. Talk about the books you loved so much.”

“Why didn’t you?”

He laughed. Time to lighten things up a little. “Boys were supposed to play at recess. Not read. I had my rep to consider.”

She pushed at his shoulder and he fell backwards against the blanket. He propped himself up on one arm.

“Were you really going to ask me to the homecoming dance?”

“Yep.” He looked down at the heavy, unfamiliar ring on his finger. “I would have gotten one of these my junior year. I’d been savin’ up for it.”

Josie stretched out beside him on the blanket and ran her index finger around the stone in the ring, but she didn’t speak. He tipped her chin up until their eyes met. A sudden sadness filled her golden gaze. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “I was just thinking about how our lives might have been different. You know, if you hadn’t been forced to quit school.”

He cradled her warm, soft cheek in his hand. “You would have still been valedictorian.”

“Maybe.”

“For sure. You’d probably have just seen me as a dumb jock.”

“I doubt that. Those boys who used to call you that awful name, they were the stupid ones. I bet between them, they didn’t have a 2.0.”

He laughed at her characterization of them. Her hair fell across her shoulder to the blanket. He couldn’t resist testing its texture. It felt soft and silky as it glided through his fingers. He remembered again the time she’d tripped that boy in Town Square who’d been calling him “coal bucket.” She must have been about fifteen. A freshman in high school. But by then, he’d already dropped out.

A silence ensued. She rolled onto her stomach and pulled up some grass, then let it fall through her fingers. “I have a confession.”

“What’s that?”

“I thought you were pretty cute back then. In guess I had a little crush on you after you rescued me from Bobby Jones.”

“Seems I was destined to be your knight.” He sat up. “Come here.”

She pushed herself up and scooted over until he could pull her close. With her back pressed against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“What about now?” He teased her temple with a kiss. “Still think I’m cute?”

She nodded.

“So, you had a secret crush on me.” That tidbit of information surprised him. “I never would have thought you noticed anything outside the pages of those books you read.”

She sat straighter and said, “I noticed a lot of things. Who knows, if you had still been at the high school when I got there, maybe we would have dated.”

“I doubt it.”

She looked back at him. “What makes you say that?”

“Come on, Josie.” He tried to pull her back into his arms, but she resisted. He sighed. “You know your folks wouldn’t have allowed it.”

“Why not?”

“Like I said, no use wastin’ time on ‘what ifs’. I’ve done okay for myself.”

Looking into her wide, trusting eyes, he felt more than a twinge of guilt for the game he was playing. But if he told her the truth now, when she seemed ready to give them a chance . . . He just couldn’t risk messing it all up. Not now.

“No. I want to know. Why do you think my parents wouldn’t have allowed me to see you?”

“You know why, Josie.”

She turned back around. Her head fit nice against his shoulder.

“I guess I know what you’re thinking. That they wouldn’t allow their little princess of the Ridge to date someone from the back side of town, right?”

She was getting defensive.

“You sayin’ I’m wrong?”

“Yes. My parents weren’t like that, Cole.”

He didn’t like the direction this conversation was taking. He stood and walked away a few paces.

Josie followed. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“There’s no point in this. We can’t rewrite history.”

She took in their surroundings. “Everyone says this place, this clearing in the tall pines, is magical. I’ve heard stories about it all my life. That this is where the angels live. That they bless the very ground we’re standing on.” She spun back to face him. “I heard someone say the stars up here come down so close that they almost touch the ground.”

“I never took you for the fanciful type, Josie Lee.”

She shrugged and looked away. “I always wondered about it. No one ever brought me here, so I guess I just let my imagination take flight.”

He ran his hands from her shoulders to her wrists. “I would’ve brought you here.”

She cast him a sideways look. “I only saw you a couple of times after you left school.”

“I tried to keep my distance.”

“Why?”

“Come on Josie, you know that my payin’ you the least bit of attention wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. And then there was the fact that you were so young, and I was a dropout.”

“You couldn’t help that. I wouldn’t have looked at you that way.”

“That’s easy to say now, when you don’t really have to make the choice.”

She shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and raised her chin a notch. “You don’t give me enough credit. And while we’re on the subject, can I just say that I get really tired of having to live up to what people expect of me? I wish . . .”

“What?”

She crossed her arms and said a little defiantly, “I wish I could just be plain old Josie.”

He rubbed his chin. “And how is plain old Josie different from the Josie who was valedictorian and is now Dr. Allen?”

“Let’s just say, for starters, that I don’t really subscribe to the code of conduct expected of a librarian.”

“Is there a for instance in there?”

“Like being a member of the Association of University Women. I’d rather watch grass grow.”

Cole thought she’d probably fit right in with that group, but he asked, “What would you rather do?”

She walked back to the blanket, sat, pulled her knees up to her chest and started rocking back in forth. Cole followed.

“I have dreams just like anyone else.”

He could almost see the excitement pulse through her. She chanced a look at him.

“I’ve always wanted to own a little shop where I could sell old and rare books. Kind of like the ones we found in that box. A place where you could sit and drink coffee or hot tea and enjoy a good read.”

He stood looking down at her. “So what’s stoppin’ you?”

She focused on a spot across the clearing. It was as if someone had turned a light off inside her. “Mrs. McKay wouldn’t approve. She expects me to live, breathe, and sleep the library.”

He dropped down beside her. “Are you sayin’ you wish you could be something other than the town librarian?”

“Oh, no. I’ve wanted to be a librarian since I was a little girl.”

“But you want more.”

She nodded.

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

She shrugged. “What can I do?”

“Mrs. McKay and this town don’t own you, Josie Lee.”

Her laugh was harsh. “You have no idea. What about you? Are you happy being the town’s handyman?”

He paused, considering his response. “Keeps life simple when you live up to people’s expectations.”

“Sure. But does it make you happy?”

He scooted across the blanket so that he could bump her arm with his. “You make me happy.”

Her smile was a slice of pure heaven.

“I have an idea,” he said. “For the rest of the evening, let’s forget Mrs. McKay and the town’s expectations and just be ourselves.”

“Sounds good,” she said. “Let’s let this place work its magic. Let’s turn back time and pretend we’re both simple high school students.”

He slid his arm around her waist. “Come here.” He pulled her over so that she sat between his legs. She leaned back against this chest, resting her head on his shoulder as she looked up at the sky. A beautiful East Tennessee sunset painted it all blues, purples, and grays with a brilliant flash of red-orange.

“So, are you going to keep it?” she asked.

“What?”

She lifted his hand from her waist. “The ring.”

He looked at the class ring, then back at her. “Not if I can help it.”

Josie frowned. “I don’t see why not.” She traced the faceted cuts of the stone with the tip of her fingernail. “You said you always wanted one.”

“True, but you know, it’s customary for a guy to give his class ring to his girl.”

Her frown cleared. “Oh.” She turned back to the sunset, leaning against his chest again.

Cole hesitated. He felt just like a teenager. All nervous and uncertain. The girl of his dreams finally seemed within his reach, but just like in young love, one wrong move, and it could all be over. Still, maybe they
could
go back in time. Pretend she wasn’t the town’s golden girl, and he wasn’t just a Craig from the wrong side of the ridge, even if it was just for tonight.

He circled her waist with his arms and removed the class ring from his finger. Holding it in front of her, he took a deep breath.
Just go for it
.

“Josie Lee Allen, will you be my girl?”

Chapter Eight

Josie touched the ring, then pulled her hand back, almost afraid she was dreaming. When she was young, she’d played a scene just like this out in her mind hundreds of times.

Of course, no one had ever given her their class ring. She’d never had a boyfriend, or a date to a dance. She’d been uncomfortable around boys in high school. In college, she hadn’t found anyone she wanted to be with beyond a casual date. Even though she’d been mildly curious about moving past good night kisses, that’s all it had been. Curiosity.

But now, things were different. Cole cared about her. And when he kissed her, her thoughts went light years beyond curiosity.

She touched the ring again, took it and held it. The warmth left from his fingers seeped into hers. She turned in his arms. The dusky light of that time between day and night gave his hair a silvery cast, his face a chiseled look highlighted by light and shadow. He again reminded her of the handsome sword-bearing warrior depicted in the town’s angel monument. He looked just like an archangel come down from heaven.

“You want me to be your girl?”

He pushed her hair away from her face with gentle hands. “Always,” he whispered. “I’ve always wanted you.”

Her heart swelled at his words and she let the fantasy take hold. “Can I tell you a secret?”

He nodded.

“I’ve always dreamed of finding someone who would want me. Someone who’d love me just for me, the person I really am. Not the person people expect me to be.”

He trailed his fingertips up her cheek. “Let me be that someone.”

Had she waited to hear someone say that most of her life? Suddenly, it felt that way. She circled his neck with her hands and kissed him. She longed to show him how she felt, but Cole surprised her by pulling back.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“First things first. You haven’t given me an answer yet.”

He removed her hands from his neck and grasped her wrist. The gold ring she held between them sparkled with a life of its own. For now, she’d pretend it had magical properties that would bind them together when they went back to the real world.

“I’d be honored,” she said.

The smile on his face could have lit up the entire city. He slid the ring onto her index finger, but the too large size and weight of the stone caused it to spin toward her palm.

“I have an idea. Where’s that senior key you found?” he asked.

Josie reached over and pulled the key with its long, tarnished gold chain out of the jewelry box and handed it to Cole. Taking it, he put the ring on the chain, then secured it around her neck. He lifted her hair so that it wasn’t caught inside the chain.

“There. Perfect,” he said.

The ring and key nestled against her breast, near her heart. She clasped it in her hand. The comfort of its weight and warmth felt real. Confirmed that this wasn’t a dream.

She touched his face, traced his high cheekbones with her fingertips. “I couldn’t agree more. Now, can we kiss?”

“Absolutely.” He sank his fingers into her hair and slowly pulled her forward.

Before he kissed her, she felt a warm gentle breeze. Too warm for a springtime evening on the ridge, but it seemed to heighten her awareness of everything. Cole’s hand on her face, his arm around her waist, her anticipation in kissing him . . . .

Their lips met and the sensation was nothing short of electric. It sounded cliché. They’d kissed before, but those kisses couldn’t compare to this. This time, there was a connection. A oneness in the experience.

Josie wrapped her arms around Cole and held on tight. She wanted the feeling to go on forever. It was like they were wrapped in a cocoon. Like nothing in the universe existed outside this moment and these intense feelings swirling around them, so that she didn’t know where she ended and he began.

When he at last lifted his lips from hers, she opened her eyes with reluctance. What she saw when she looked into his beautiful eyes reflected what she felt.

“Whoa.”

“Did you feel that?” she whispered. She was afraid if she spoke too loudly, the spell might be broken.

“Oh, yeah.” Cole continued in hushed tones as well.

“The other times—I mean—the other kisses—”

“I know.”

An almost eerie quiet blanketed the clearing. No night sounds filled the air. No crickets, no tree frogs, nothing but utter silence.

Cole pressed his mouth to her neck. He began a painstaking exploration of every inch of exposed skin from her chin to the bend of her shoulder. Being here with him like this felt like the most natural thing in the world. She wanted everything at once. To know all his secrets, to see inside his heart. She rested her hand on his chest. The strong reassuring beat she felt beneath her palm served as another reassurance that this was real rather than a dream.

He eased her down to the blanket. She pushed his hair back from his face as he slid a hand over her hip to her thigh. The feelings rocking her intensified, if that were possible. She felt ultra-sensitized to his touch, his kiss.