An Autumn Dream (11 page)

At that moment, the front door slammed and we heard Chloe calling out to us. My heart plummeted.
This
was not a conversation I was looking forward to. “Just don’t blame me when she tries to kill me, okay?”

Dad laughed. “Just show her the scary angel; she’ll be too busy running away screaming to attack you.”

***

“I can’t believe Chloe was cool with everything.” After stuffing ourselves with pizza, Rafe and I had retired to the living room, where I was lying across the couch, my feet propped up in his lap. His hand rested on top of my foot, lazily tracing patterns with his thumb. I hugged one of the stuffed penguins to my chest. “I thought for sure she’d throw a fit when she saw all that stuff.”

By the time Dad and I had made it downstairs, Chloe was already in the living room with Rafe, gaping at all of the boxes. I had quickly explained everything, telling her we were only going to put a few things up, but before I could even finish, she had shoved me aside and ripped open one of the boxes, exclaiming loudly when she saw what was inside. Dad let out a sigh of defeat, told everyone he was going to eat the pizza while it was still semi-warm, and walked out of the room. Chloe hadn’t shut up about the decorations during the entire meal, and by the time the last slice had been devoured, Dad had agreed to let us put up whatever decorations we wanted.

Huh. My sister had
had a conniption when she saw me working in the garden, but she was okay with the decorations? I shook my head. I would never understand what was going on in that head of hers.

“Isn’t it better this way?” Rafe asked. “Between the two of you begging and pleading, there’s no way your dad can say no.”

I pulled my legs off of his lap so I could crawl across the couch and snuggle against him. “Too bad she insisted on putting the creepy angel right next to the TV.” Chloe had squealed when she saw the thing, hugging it like a long-lost friend. When she had propped it up next to the TV, Dad had a pained look on his face. Then he caught my eye and shrugged, as if to say, “What can you do?”

I was glad Dad was okay with everything. When he had first seen the decorations, the look on his face had sickened me. I had never meant to hurt him like that. But I knew now that the pain wasn’t entirely my fault. All three of us still had a lot to work through, but we were heading in the right direction.

Now I turned all of my attention toward my boyfriend, who had been nothing but patient and sweet during the entire ordeal, starting from when he found me outside after school. Leaning over, I kissed him softly on his cheek before murmuring, “Does that mean if I beg and plead to you, you’ll do whatever I say?”

Rafe laughed. “I already do whatever you say!”

“So if I tell you to come over again tomorrow to help me decorate, you will?” I flashed him a huge smile, which grew even bigger when he groaned. I poked him. “Come on, Rafe, what else did you have planned for tomorrow? It can’t be more exciting than spending the day with your girlfriend!”

He eyed me nervously. “That depends on what you want me to do.”

“String the lights up on the roof, for starters!”

“Are you kidding?” Rafe blanched. “That’s dangerous!”

“Dad used to do it all the time,” I said. “You’re not going to make him go up there, are you?”

He rubbed his face tiredly, already resigned to the fact that he was going to climb up on the roof tomorrow morning. “I thought you weren’t going to go over the top.”

“When did I say that?”

Rafe surprised me by scooping me up and plopping me into his lap so we faced one another. His nose brushed against mine lightly, our lips less than an inch apart. Usually he wasn’t so forward, not with the chance that Dad could (and probably would) appear at any moment. After a
quick glance over my shoulder to make sure Dad wasn’t hovering in the doorway, I leaned forward and kissed Rafe.

After a few moments, he pulled away, his hands still on my hips. “I’ll put the lights up tomorrow. And the angels and the wreaths, and I’ll even go get a tree, if that’s what you want.”

“Wow, Rafe, we could have saved a whole lot of time if you had told me in advance that all I needed to do to get you to agree to do things is sit in your lap and kiss you,” I joked.

He smiled but shook his head. “What I mean is, if doing this makes you happy, makes you think about your mom in a good way, then I’ll do it. All of it. Whatever you want. I want you to be happy, Gabi. That’s the most important thing to me. Making sure you’re always smiling.”

Crap, now I was going to cry. Again. Throwing my arms around his neck and burying my face into his chest so he couldn’t see the tears, I whispered, “Thank you.”

I dreamt about Mom last night. I thought that meant today was going to suck, but it hadn’t. The dream had reminded me of all
the good I still had in my life, and all the things I needed to focus on. Not the painful past, but the present. My loving family, my beautiful boyfriend—those were the things that mattered.

For the first time in seven years I thought about Mom, and smiled.

Acknowledgements

I’m incredibly grateful that I get to write another acknowledgment page so soon after The Sight Seer was published. I’ll try to keep this short, but you all know how wordy I can get.

This novella wouldn’t have even existed if it wasn’t for Amy, my best friend and cheerleader who I can always count on to nudge me in the right direction whenever I falter. Thank you for loving these characters as much as I do, and for being the first one to say “novella.”

Big thank you to:

My agent, Brittany Booker, for laughing and crying in all the right places.

SJ Davis, for sending me emails in all caps telling me how much you loved the novella.

Rue Volley, for another gorgeous cover.

Elizabeth Lance, my editor.

Molly and Sam, for pretty much everything and then some. I love you ladies so much!

Margaret, for always making me laugh with your insane tweets.

Jachira, for supporting me everywhere from Facebook to Twitter to my blog. You are a super fan, don’t think I haven’t noticed!

All of my dear friends who read The Sight Seer even though it wasn’t their thing and took the time to write honest reviews. That meant the world to me, it really did.

Kelli and Dimitri, for always asking how the book stuff is going, and when the movie is coming out (and what role they can play).

Everyone at the Booker-Albert Agency and Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly, for always having my back.

My family, for their love and support.

And my parents, for always being there for me, no matter what.