Contents ( 66)
- Cover
- Books by Valerie Fraser Luesse
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Map of Florida
- one
- two
- three
- four
- five
- six
- seven
- eight
- nine
- ten
- eleven
- twelve
- thirteen
- fourteen
- fifteen
- sixteen
- seventeen
- eighteen
- nineteen
- twenty
- twenty-one
- twenty-two
- twenty-three
- twenty-four
- twenty-five
- twenty-six
- twenty-seven
- twenty-eight
- twenty-nine
- thirty
- thirty-one
- thirty-two
- thirty-three
- thirty-four
- thirty-five
- thirty-six
- thirty-seven
- thirty-eight
- thirty-nine
- forty
- forty-one
- forty-two
- forty-three
- forty-four
- forty-five
- forty-six
- forty-seven
- forty-eight
- forty-nine
- fifty
- fifty-one
- Epilogue
- Keep Reading for a Preview of Valerie Luesse’s Next Book!
- Prologue
- one
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Ads
- Back Cover
“Why? Well . . . because . . .”
Now she was smiling at him. “Because why?”
Because I’m crazy about you. Because I think about you day and night. Because the sight of you makes me go weak at the knees.
Peyton could’ve said all of that—or any of it—and it would’ve been true. But instead he blurted out the one thing that wasn’t. “Because, well . . . I mean, I can’t ask you to sit at home and wait for me . . . It’s fine with me if you want to . . . you know, go to the movies with somebody else.”
“Oh, it’s fine? With you?”
Immediately, he saw his mistake. Lisa’s smile vanished, she pulled her hand away, and her voice trembled.
“Lisa, I didn’t mean—”
“I’m yours to give away? And you’re all too happy to do it?”
“No! That’s not what I said.”
She started for the door.
“Lisa, wait!”
“Shhhh!” Nurse Buck was passing by, holding her finger over her lips.
“Sorry,” Peyton said to her before he turned back to Lisa and put his hands on her shoulders. “You’ve gotta believe me, Lisa—I didn’t mean for it to come out like that,” he pleaded as quietly as he could. “I’m just in over my head here. I don’t know what’s about to happen, and I don’t know when we’ll be back. I have no idea if Daddy’ll live through this. And my crazy uncle is driving Mama up the wall. The summer I see coming isn’t exactly the one I was hoping for. I was hoping to spend it with you. Picnics on the river and afternoons at the beach and movie nights and dancing and—just—just you, Lisa. That’s what I was hoping for. That’s what I want more than anything. Instead . . . Please come back inside?”
She let him hold her hand and lead her back into the waiting room. “I know this is really hard for you,” she said, looking up at him as he laid his free hand against her face. “Mama says . . . she says a break might be good for us.”
He let his hand glide down to her neck. “What do you say?”
She looked straight at him, shaking her head and biting her lip. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I wish I did because then everything wouldn’t be such a muddle.”
Lisa always told the truth. Her honesty was one of many things that had drawn Peyton to her from the beginning. And honesty took courage. But Lisa didn’t seem so brave just now. Her eyes were welling and she looked cornered.
Peyton, who suddenly felt very selfish, bent down and softly kissed her. “I’m sorry,” he said, putting his arms around her. “Last thing I’d ever want to do is make you cry.”
She tightened her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. “I know that.”
An image of his parents’ library kiss flashed into Peyton’s memory. He laid it next to another, of a boy and a girl just finding their way to each other—at least, that’s what he fervently hoped he and Lisa were doing. It was a picture of loving and longing, of almost touching, soul to soul, but not quite. And sometimes it hurt like all get-out.