Long Way Home (2 page)

         Over
the next days and weeks, Shane allowed himself to relax around Tessa and
finally let a friendship begin to develop between them.  Tessa was
included amongst his circle of friends and he found they had a lot in common,
from sports to movies and music to books and an interest in law enforcement,
which he had to admit was pretty cool.

         He
also found himself watching her when she wasn’t looking.  He liked that
she was sporty and not just a girly girl like his sisters, though not to say
she wasn’t feminine.  She had really pretty long blonde hair and eyes so
green at times they bordered on turquoise.  He thought she smelled good,
too...truth be told, he thought about her all the time.  It jolted
him. 

         At
the annual town street dance to celebrate the county fair, Shane became aware
the minute Tessa and her mother came into the square.  He’d been dancing
with Natalie Peters and looked up when he heard Tessa’s laugh, causing him to
miss a step and step on Natalie’s foot.  He’d apologized and forced
himself not to look around for Tessa any more, concentrating on finishing the
dance with Natalie.  As soon as the song ended, however, he excused
himself from the crowd. He had a feeling things with Tessa were about to
change…at least he thought he might want them to, and that confused him even
more.  He ended up heading toward his dad’s office for an escape. 

         “Hey,
Shane,” Bob, one of the deputies, greeted him.

         “Hey…just
need to use the restroom.  Is my dad here?”

         “You
just missed him.  He’s out at the square now.”

         He
headed back to the restroom then went into his dad’s office for a bit, just to
collect his thoughts.  He thought maybe he should just head home.  Being
around Tessa like that, in a social environment maybe wasn’t the smartest thing
for him right now, not with the thoughts and feelings he had going on for her
lately.  But then he realized that he couldn’t hide out here forever and
decided he might as well head back out.

Shane stepped outside his dad’s office to
head back to the dance when something in the shadows just to the right of the
front entrance caught his attention.  He wasn’t quite sure what it was at
first, but as he turned in that direction he could tell it was the sound of
someone quietly crying.  When he got closer, he was stunned to see it was
Tessa.  She was sitting on the bench in front of Mr. Jeffries’ travel
agency, arms wrapped around her knees that were drawn to her chest, forehead
resting on her knees.  For a moment, he debated about whether he should
just walk away, but as her whole body began to shake from her effort to keep
her sobs quiet, he knew he couldn’t.        

“Tess?” he called out to her in a low,
cautious tone.

Her head snapped up and a soft gasp
escaped her lips.  He took a couple of steps toward her before she shook
her head.

“Go away, Shane,” she said softly,
stopping him in his tracks.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

He snorted.  “Yeah, no offense, but
that doesn’t look like nothing.  What’s wrong?”

“What do you care?” she snapped back.

He shook his head.  “Whoa! What is
it with you?” he asked, truly puzzled.  “I thought we were friends now. I
heard you crying.  I’m just trying to be nice, but you bite my head
off.  That time in third grade when I tripped you aside, what have I ever
done to you that has made you treat me the way you have?  Because I pushed
you away when we were five?  I was a little butt to you, I get it. 
You’ve made me pay a thousand times for it, every day since…but I thought we
were past all that.”

She sighed.  “I know.”

“Wanna tell me why?” he asked, shoving his
hands in his pockets.

“You are Shane McCanton.  Even in
Kindergarten, all the girls wanted to be yours; your friend, your
girlfriend.  Yours.  I was no different.”

“Yeah, you told me we were going to get
married one day, when we were big.  Way to freak out a five-year old boy,
by the way,” he chuckled, and felt a strange little fluttering in his stomach
when she actually smiled slightly back at him.

“I learned my lesson.  I’ve never
brought up any of my dreams again after that day.”

He cut his eyes sharply over at
her.  “You dreamed about me?  In Kindergarten?”

She sighed.  “I’ve always
had…interesting dreams about people I know.”

Not quite sure how he should reply to
that, Shane chose to change the subject.

“So, why are you sitting here alone in
the dark, crying?”

She raked her fingers through her long
blonde hair, sweeping it away from her face to push over one shoulder.

“Steve and Stacy and some of the others
were talking about me earlier.  They didn’t know I was there.  What
they said…well, I don’t blame them, really.  I mean, I have made a habit
out of beating up on one of the town’s favorite sons.”

“They were saying something about you and
me?”  She shrugged.  “Well…what did they say?”

“It’s nothing.  Don’t worry about
it.”

“It’s not just nothing if it made you
come over here and cry.  You’ve been a lot of things over the years, but a
crier has never been one of them.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it,”
she said, standing and trying to walk past him.  He reached out and placed
his hand on her arm, stopping her.

“Talk to me, Tess, don’t walk away.”

“Shane, please,” she said softly, her
voice breaking slightly.

“You’re always walking away.  What
would it hurt to stay and see what happens?”

For a moment they stood silent, each
staring at the other, trying to convey in a look what the other was
feeling.  When the band began the opening chords of “I Cross My Heart” by
George Strait, Shane’s hand shifted from her arm to her hand.

“Dance with me?” he asked softly.

She sucked in a harsh breath and closed
her eyes, as if his words physically hurt her.  He saw a tear slip down
her cheek and used that moment to pull her closer and began slowly swaying to
the music with her.  Tessa held herself rigid right at first, then allowed
him to pull her closer, one arm around the small of her back, the other hand
laced with hers, held against his chest, right over his heart. 

“Stop thinking,” he whispered to her, his
lips close to her ear.

Tessa shivered and tried to pull away but
he tightened his hold on her.

“Come on, Shane,” she said, pulling her
head back enough to look up into his eyes, “I’m the enemy, remember?  We
aren’t supposed to even talk to each other, much less dance together.”

He chuckled.  “That was for when we
were kids.  I think we’re both mature enough now to handle being friends,
don’t you?”

“Hey, so long as you don’t try to rub
dirt in my face again, I’m good,” she said after a moment, a smile touching her
lips.

Shane laughed.  “You gotta admit,
you would have deserved it.”

“Ha!” she laughed up at him. 
“Never!”

He gave her hand a light squeeze. 
“See?  This is nice.  We can dance and have a conversation and even
be nice to each other.”

“Guess that means we’ve grown up, huh?”
she said, and he couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes were shining up at
him.

“Guess so…so, what do you say we really
shock the heck outta every body, and you come back to the dance with me?”

At that, Tessa missed a step in their
dance.  “Oh, well, I don’t –“

“What’s the matter, Tess?  Chicken?”

She frowned at him.  “I’m not
chicken.”

“Oh yeah?  Prove it.  Put your
arm thru mine, walk back down there at my side and dance with me out in the
open in front of everyone.”

“All right.  Who are you and what
have you done with Shane McCanton?”

“I’m serious.  Come dance with
me.  Out in front of everyone.  Lets really give them a show and keep
them guessing.  What d’ya say?”

After a couple moments of silence, Tessa
sighed and shrugged her shoulder.  “Why the hell not?”

He winked at her.  “Let’s go rock
everybody’s world.”

Tessa slipped her arm through his and
together they walked back to the main square to rejoin the street dance. 
Shane led her directly out onto the dance floor and expertly spun her into his
arms, causing her to squeal and laugh, drawing all sorts of eyes to them. 
Shane smiled and found that she was an easy dance partner, super light on her
feet and easy to stunt with.  He knew that all eyes were on them but at
that point, he really didn’t care.  He hadn’t been enjoying the dance prior
to excusing himself to use the restroom at his dad’s office. Now, he couldn’t
remember ever having such a good time at a dance.

When the band began another slow song,
Shane pulled her close and led her in a two-step, squeezing her hand when she
looked up into his eyes.

“Now, aren’t you glad you came back with
me?” he asked, keeping his voice low so she had to lean into him to hear him.

“This has been fun, I gotta admit. 
And I gotta give you Props…you got some serious moves, McCanton.”

“Amazing what six years of cotillion will
do for a guy, huh?”  

“This is more than just dance lessons, my
friend.  I’d say you’re a natural.”

Before he could respond, they were bumped
from the side.  They each looked up to see Shane’s best friend Steve
Sinclair and his girlfriend Stacy Bennett dancing beside them.

“Did Hell freeze over and we missed it?”
Stacy asked, eyeing Shane and Tessa skeptically.

“Yeah, man, what the hell?” Steve said.

Shane felt Tessa stiffen in his arms and
wanted to curse at his best friend for putting a damper on their mood.

“We’re just enjoying the dance, man,”
Shane replied.

“Be sure you keep your hands above her
waist, there, Bud.  She’s got a mean left hook,” Lane Reynolds laughed.

Tessa stopped dancing and flashed a
bright but completely false smile at Lane, putting Shane instantly on alert.

“Would you like another demonstration,
Lane?” she asked sweetly.  She’d punched him their Freshman year when he’d
taken one liberty too many at the Back-to-School dance.

“Relax, Tess,” Shane told her, twirling
her away from them, “it’s just you and me out here, OK?  Look at me,” he
coaxed when she was still glaring over at the group they’d just left.  He
waited until she complied and then gave her hand a squeeze,  “just you and
me here.”

She closed her eyes a moment then nodded
and looked back up into his deep blue eyes.  It was a jolt, seeing them
this close to her after all these years of them pretending the other didn’t
exist. 

“Why are you being so nice to me, Shane?”
she asked, genuinely puzzled.  “I’ve certainly never deserved your
kindness.”

“Not when we were kids, no, but that was
a long time ago.  People change.  I know I’m not the same person as I
was back then.”

She watched him cradle their joined hands
close to his heart again, still extremely puzzled by his actions.

“So…are we friends now, Shane?  Is
that what you’re saying here.”

He squeezed her hand.  “I thought we
already were, after being lab partners and hanging out with the group all this
time.  I know I’d like to be.  What about you?”

She tossed her head in such a way that
her long blonde hair slung back over her shoulder, then cringed at the obvious
flirtatious nature of the move.  It was habit, but it could be
misconstrued by those watching.

“Tess?” he prompted.  “Do you want
to be friends now?”

She smiled at him.  “It’s what I
wanted from the very beginning.  I just didn’t go about it the right way.”

He chuckled.  “Yeah, I’d say that’s
the understatement of the decade.  So, my study group meets tomorrow night
at Miss Nettie’s to go over notes for the English Lit test.  Want to
come?  You’re the best in that class anyway. “

She bit her lip.  “Will Lane be
there?”

“Yeah, but I’ll talk to him.  He
won’t bother you.  We could all benefit from you being there.  You
know that stuff inside and out.”

“I’ll think about it,” she hedged.

“Don’t wimp on me.  I need to ace
that test.”

“Oh, please.  You always do good on
your tests.”

“Yeah, but not without a lot of
studying.  Why do you think we have the study group?”

She snorted.  “So you guys can hit
on all the girls.”

He acted wounded.  “Please! 
When is the last time you saw me flirt with anyone?”

“Seriously?  You flirt with
everyone…well, except me, but we haven’t exactly been on speaking terms the
last ten years.”

“Guess we need to make up for lost time,
then,” he said with a wink.

Tessa shook her head and frowned at him,
missing a step in their dance.