Our Kind of Love (24 page)

No. I don’t want him to leave, not like this.

I suck in a deep breath then hurry over to the
kitchen. I see him heading for the front door.

“Micah,” I call out. His hand freezes on the
door handle and he looks over at me. So does everyone else, including my
confused parents.

“Um…” I chip at my nails as I build up the
courage to tell them, “Micah and I are dating now.”

John laughs because someone like him probably
thinks my announcement is a bit dramatic. Aislin slaps him on the arm to be
quiet. Mrs. Nunez smiles warmly at me. Dad’s face is unreadable, and Mom just
looks worried.

“Well, can’t say I didn’t notice,” Dad remarks.
He glances behind at Micah, still standing at the door.

Finally he swallows hard and walks back into the
kitchen.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Mom chimes. She
moves closer to me.

“I didn’t want you to feel bad about inviting
Nate and his parents, and you guys looked so happy today. I didn’t want to ruin
it.”

“Oh, honey,” she rubs my arm.

“So, you broke up with Nate for Micah?” Dad
clarifies.

“Yes and no.”

“Yes and no?” Mom repeats.

“Well, I’ve been trying to make it work with
Nate but our relationship just didn’t feel right. Then when Micah came along,”
I pause and look over at him. He smiles back at me. “We started spending time
together and I developed feelings for him I’d never felt for anyone before. I’m
happier with him. I laugh more. I feel so relaxed and…safe.”

I walk through everyone and inch closer to
Micah, placing my arm around his lower back. “He’s the guy I want to be with.
Not Nate.”

“But you two barely know each other,” Dad
retorts.

I shrug. “I know enough.”

“Micah,” Mom cuts in. “I thought you were gonna
leave Newport after this summer?”

He shakes his head. “No ma’am.” Then he looks
down at me and grins. “I have a reason to stay.”

“Okay…what about…that…did you…” She stops
herself from finishing.

I glance up at Micah. His eyes are pleading as
he gazes at her. And there’s a combination of worry and fear engraved on his
face.

“What Mom?” I prod, looking back at her.

She waves me off.
“Nothing.”

Silence engulfs the room until Dad breaks in,
“Fireworks. Let’s get the show on the road.”

Everyone starts out, leaving me and Micah with
Dad back in the kitchen. He gives us a glance over then says, “Just don’t move
too fast.”

“We won’t,” I tell him. He might have a break
down if he knew just how much our relationship has progressed in the last
forty-eight hours. Then again, that’s probably why he gave me that jumbled
lecture on sex earlier.

Dad turns to go outside but then stops by the
kitchen door, looking sideways at us. “I have to say that I’ve noticed a change
in you, honey.” Eyeing Micah, he adds, “Don’t make her cry, or you’ll have me
to deal with.”

“Yes—I mean, no sir. I won’t.”

I stifle my laugh; it’s funny seeing Micah so
flabbergasted and afraid of my dad, who’s like a big teddy bear to me.

He finally steps outside, leaving us alone.
Micah kisses me softly before we join everyone out on the sand, watching with
excitement as Dad fills the evening sky with a blast of dazzling red, white and
blue displays.

He continues the spectacle as night falls, and
Claudia comes back in time for the grand finale. She looks happier than ever. I
make a mental note to ask her about it later.

I snuggle up to Micah on a blanket in the sand.
Sitting close to him makes me feel safe. I don’t hear Mary’s cries in the ocean
or see her face. And for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel as guilty
for her death.

Twenty
-
nine

Micah

I’VE COME ACROSS people with a fear of the ocean,
but this isn’t the same thing. What’s holding Reign back isn’t a phobia, it
goes deeper. She’s inside a mental prison where she sees her sister drowning
and didn’t do anything to save her. For Reign, stepping foot into the ocean is
like facing Mary, and she’s still afraid of that.

We’ve been at it since the day after Fourth of
July when she believed she could handle it, now almost two weeks later and
still I can’t get Reign to step any further than the shore. Each time she makes
an attempt, water touches her feet and she turns and scurries back up the sand.

“I thought you said she was gone. What was that
talk about the weekend at your house?” I ask her.

She brings her knees up to her chest and slouch
over them. “I don’t know, a momentary calm,” she snorts.

I reach my hand down to her. “Let’s try again.
This time I’ll hold your hand the entire time.”

Reign shakes her head. “It’s useless. I’ve
already tried with Claudia. It doesn’t matter if I’m starting to forgive
myself. I’ll always see Mary’s face.”

“What does she look like?” I ask, sitting down
beside her.

She spins her head and blinks in her confusion.
“What do you mean?”

“The expression on Mary’s face,” I explain, “is
she angry, scared, is she screaming at you?”

“She’s not doing anything, at least, not
anymore. Not since
you
. These days she’s just looking at me, like she’s
waiting.”

“Then go to her,” I say. “She just wants you to
let it go completely, not just the blame but the sadness over her death, and
whatever else is eating at you.”

A smile sneaks its way across her lips. “Gosh,
how are you not calling me crazy right now? How are you still with me knowing
all this?”

I lean over and brush her face. Her whole body
trembles. “That’s because I get you.”

She kisses me before I have the chance, pushing
me down into the sand to straddle me.

“Whoa, look who’s getting kinky in public.” I
laugh and bring my hands down to her butt, cupping them.

She wiggles out of my grasp and hops up, dusting
sand off her shorts and arms.

I spring to my feet and ask, “Wanna try again?”

A slight frown appears as she glances out at
sea. After a beat, she looks at me again. “No, let’s head back. It’s almost
time for work.”

Staring down my nose at her, I raise an eyebrow.
“I meant to toss me to the ground and straddle me one more time.” Licking my
lips, I eye her from head to toe and add in a deeper more flirty voice, “Mmm…I
don’t mind a good wrestle in the sand.”

Reign scoffs and folds her arms. “Is that so?
Now who’s kinky?”

“Hey, you know me? I like excitement.”

“So it seems.”

Laughing, she rolls her eyes and nudges over her
shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”

I drape my arm around her waist as we head for
her car.

“So, I’m having a dinner for my birthday next
weekend. It’s only gonna be my parents, Claudia, Mrs. Nunez, and the guys from
the restaurant. You’re coming too, right?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I
tell her. “What would you like, because I’m terrible at buying gifts?”

She pouts and wobbles her head. Her ponytail
dances in her back. “Uh-huh, you have to surprise me. I’m sure whatever you get
I’ll appreciate.”

“
Riiight
,” I exhale.
“Girls always say that then complain that guys buy them crap. I won’t risk it.
I’ll just take Claudia with me. She’ll know what to get you.”

When we reach her car, my cellphone rings. I
peer at the screen. It’s Greg again. I haven’t told him my decision yet.

“Micah?”
Reign
notices I’m not getting in the car. “What’s wrong?” she asks when my smile
fades.

I tuck my phone back inside my pocket and hop on
the passenger seat, closing the door. She climbs in and shuts her door, waiting
for me to tell her what’s going on.

My phone starts to vibrate again but I ignore
it. That only intensifies her curiosity.

“Who’s calling you? I’m kind of surprised; I
never hear your phone ring.”

Looking over at her, I lift a shaky hand and
stroke her cheek. I’ve never been so scared of losing someone. But she deserves
to know. She’s been nothing but honest with me so I owe her the same.

“That was Greg. I probably have to go back to
Haxtun soon,” I tell her.

Her eyes narrow and she blurts out all at once,
“Who’s Greg? Why do you have to go back? I thought you were gonna stay in
Newport?”

“It’s not like I won’t come back. I just have to
take care of something.”

“What?”

I drop my hand from her face as I mentally scold
myself for hiding it all this time.

“Who’s Greg? Micah?” she urges me.

It’s now. Damn it! Tell her now. “I was in juvie
for eight months.”

Reign stares at me open-mouthed. “Oh…okay. Why
were you there?”

The fearful look in her eyes scares me, because
she’s already piecing parts together to try and decipher what I could have
done.

My heart races and my palms begin to sweat as I
relive that night in my head, so that I can tell her everything.

“First off, my real name’s Mitchel Stephens.
Micah’s my grandfather’s name and Grams used to call me little Micah when I was
growing up ‘cause I looked so much like him. Delaney is her maiden name.”

She slumps forward and releases a razor-sharp
breath. Her eyes expand as she utters, “You…lied? I don’t understand. Why did
you—”

“Because I wanted a new start, and I didn’t want
anyone finding out about what Mitchel Stephens did in Haxtun. I didn’t want it
following me everywhere.”

She flares her hands, asking in a biting tone,
“What
did
you do in Haxtun?”

“I guess the only thing to hope for now is that
you won’t be mad at me for this, though, you’re already mad about me lying.”

She turns her head slowly and slit her eyes away
from me, looking down at her fingers. “Just tell me the truth,” she whispers.

After a brief pause, I begin, “It was exactly a
month after my seventeenth birthday. That was the day my dad had taken off for
good and I was pissed at the world. I wouldn’t even talk to Grams. Jason came
by the house that evening, said there was a party little out of town.”

“Who’s Jason?” she asks, bringing her eyes back
to meet mine.

I collapse my head against the headrest and
stare out the windshield at the ocean. “A friend I had. He wanted me to snap
out of it, so I decided to go to the party. We were drinking; having a good
time…I was just trying to forget about everything. Jason was really wasted by
the time we left the party. I didn’t drink as much as he did, but I was still a
little out of it.”

“We were driving back to town in his truck, and
then all of a sudden, Jason wanted to stop by our high school. He grabbed his
bat from behind his seat; he had a bottle of vodka and he wouldn’t let me take
it. We jumped the fence to the football field and snuck in the gymnasium. I was
just following along because…I didn’t know what he was going to do and I didn’t
want to leave him by himself…” I trail off for a moment.

“Because he’s your friend,” Reign says.

“
Was
,” I correct, carrying my gaze to
her. “He
was
my friend.”

She urges me to go on, “So what happened?”

“Jason walked around to where the lockers were.
He started hitting everything and laughing. He was going on about how good he
was…how he was better than the other players on the baseball team. When we
reached the glass display shelf where all the trophies were, he started
swinging the bat like crazy; the glass shattered to pieces. His hands even got
splinters in them and there was blood running down his arms. But he didn’t even
budge. He hit the trophies, breaking a couple of them. I tried to stop him, but
he’d push me off every time…now and then he’d stop to drink more, and of
course, to laugh. He loved to laugh. Everything was always a joke to him. Then
he’d start to swing his bat again.”