Pulled (6 page)

Clearly, her family was as important to her as
mine was to me.

With a wistful smile, she listened to stories of my
childhood, giggling as I told her of the trouble Erin and I
used to get into together. She asked me what I liked and
what I didn’t like, and I knew she actually cared to know the
answers. We talked about school and about how I hoped
to become a doctor like my dad.

It was as if we already knew each other; we just
needed to fill in the blanks.

We didn’t need to make any declarations; we just
were.

The whole time we talked, we lay, facing each
other, our hands intertwined.

“Daniel, it’s getting late. I’d better get home
before my dad notices.” Melanie stretched, obviously not
wanting to leave any more than I wanted her to.

I said, “Okay,” but didn’t let her go.

Instead, I scooted closer, gentle as I took her
face between my hands. My heart beat so hard, I was sure
she could hear it, just as I could hear hers. I stroked her
cheeks, hoping she didn’t notice my fingers trembling with
anxiety.

She watched me with anticipation, clearly just as
nervous as I was, but I felt no hesitation from her. She
leaned in a little closer, and I pressed my lips against
hers.

It felt so good.

I kissed her softly and slowly for a couple of
seconds. My hands found their way into her curls as I
pulled her closer. I felt a tremor roll through her body when
our tongues first met. Obviously, neither of us was very
experienced as the kiss remained slow and tentative, our
mouths gently moving together as we learned each other.

Her hands shook as they moved up my arms
and onto my face, making their way into my hair and
leaving that same trail of warmth I had felt earlier when we
first touched. Her fingers created a desire I had never
known. I clutched her to me as the kiss became urgent,
the need to consume her overwhelming. She kissed me
with as much intensity as I showed her, pressing her body
into mine. My whole body sang with want for her. As
desperately as I wanted to keep going, I knew it was too
much too fast.

I slowed the kiss, bringing my hands back to her
face. My body trembled and my hands shook. I rested my
forehead against hers as I tried to catch my breath.

I looked into her eyes, seeing her emotion there,
and I just knew.

I was in love with Melanie Winters.

“Hey, Katie,” I said, smiling as I climbed into her car.

“Morning, Mel.” She leaned across the console to hug me. “Al set?”

“Yep.” I was as ready as I could be to spend a day shopping with Katie. Shopping wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, but I knew how much Katie and Shane had riding on tonight.

I would never have turned her down.

I buckled in as Katie threw her silver sedan in drive. She sped back out of my neighborhood and jumped on the highway leading downtown.

If it were up to me, I would have grabbed the first thing I saw, but every time we went shopping, Katie insisted we try on everything. It was exhausting. It wasn’t as if she didn’t look amazing in anything she put on. She had a body any woman would envy.

I found a dress we both approved of at the third store. It was dark green and fel to just below the knees, accentuating my slender waist and the modest flare of my hips without being too revealing. Nicholas always wanted me to look my best on these nights, and I had never let him down. I wasn’t vain, but I knew the way people reacted to me. It was the very reason Nicholas wanted me on his arm when he entered a room, but none of that ever mattered to me.

At least shopping was a good distraction from the pain. It always fluttered around the edges, ready to burst through and send me spiraling, but I’d learned long ago how to push the ache aside until I was alone.

By the time Katie had settled on a deep sapphire blue cocktail dress, it was nearing two.

“Hey, Katie, we’d better get home if we’re going to have enough time to get ready.”

She glanced at me as she slid her credit card back into her wal et. “I need to make one more stop at a little jewelry store up the street.”

I hated jewelry stores. They al seemed to have a snobbish feel to them, a little like the house I lived in. I hated anything pretentious, yet somehow I’d managed to surround my life with those types of things and people.

With one look at me, she squashed al my

objections on the tip of my tongue. “This one’s different.

They have an antique section. You’l love it.” Katie knew how to get me. I loved al things old.

Old books, old furniture, old jewelry—anything somebody else had used and loved.

I could spend hours walking around in an antique store. I could imagine a mother with her son on her lap rocking him in a wooden rocker as she read him a bedtime story. I could picture a beautiful young woman in her wedding dress, holding onto the arm of her lover as they posed for a black and white photo. I could feel the anticipation as a man proposed, sliding his grandmother’s ring onto his future wife’s finger, asking her to be his forever. I could almost feel the joy and sorrow forever etched into each piece.

We entered the little store, and Katie left me to myself. I went straight for the antique section. I never bought anything but would immerse myself in another person’s world for just a few moments. I fingered the rings worn into the shape of the owner’s finger through years of use, feeling the stones set in gold. I smiled as I imagined al the places they had been. There were bracelets, some in perfect condition and others bearing the patina of age. Those were my favorites. I continued onto the necklaces, old pearls, and diamond pendants worn with pride to the most formal of events.

I trailed my fingers along the display gasping aloud at what I found next, reaching out, and clutching the simple pendant in my palm as I was thrown into the past.

Though it seemed impossible, it was the same.

April 1998

“You don’t have anything to be nervous about,” I
kept telling myself over and over. “It’s Daniel—my Daniel.”
The last seven months were indescribable. I
would never have imagined that I could find a love like
this, but I had known it that first day.

When I’d finished my freshman year of high
school in Dallas, I’d never planned to leave. But when
Dad decided to move to Colorado after Cheryl kicked him
out and filed for divorce, I had to go with him. He was
hurting. I’d never seen him like that, and I couldn’t stand
the thought of him moving out there alone. Mom had
resisted at first but relented when I convinced her Dad
needed me more than she did.

I’d never traveled outside of Texas before and
was amazed by the beauty of Colorado Springs. In Dallas,
I’d been surrounded by skyscrapers built on flat plains.

Here I found myself surrounded by snowcapped
mountains. Everything was green and lush, the opposite
of Dallas. I loved it, though the fondness I felt for Colorado
Springs may have been completely due to the people I’d
met here.

I’d come for my dad, but it was here I’d found my
life.

I loved old romance novels and spent my fair
share of time fantasizing about love at first sight and
being swept off my feet by my one true love, but I knew
things like that only happened in my favorite books.

That was until I met Daniel.

Erin had been so nice the day I had started work
at the little coffee shop. I’d been nervous, but she’d shown
me around giving me advice, and at the end of our shift,
she had invited me to her house to hang out the next day.

I’d had no idea that accepting her invitation was going to
change the course of my life.

Something had stirred in me the moment Dad
stopped the car. It had only intensified when I walked
inside. It was as if the air around me was filled with a
magnetism drawing me forward, urging me ahead. That
call was met by hazel eyes, the outer portions lined in
brown, melting into variations of green flecked in gold.

For an instant, I froze, my mind trying to catch up
with what my heart was already racing toward. It was as if
my heart jumped to life, not realizing it had lain dormant
before that moment.

I was unable to look away while he remained
motionless at the top of the stairs. His dark-blond hair was
unruly, the loose, wavy curls coming down just over his
ears and brow. He was tall and slim, every inch formed
from the toned muscles showing on his forearms to his
well-defined chin. He was perfect. But none of that would
have mattered because his eyes alone swallowed me
whole.

And I hadn’t been away from him for a single day
since.

My heart fluttered again with thoughts of Daniel
as I packed my bag for my sixteenth birthday. The rest of
his family had gone to San Diego for the weekend, so we
had the place to ourselves.

I rushed down the hall, preparing myself for Dad.

I hated lying to him.

“Hey, Dad.” He was on the couch drinking a beer,
staring unseeing at the TV. He wasn’t dealing well with the
divorce, and I was starting to really worry about him. Not
once in my entire life had I seen him drink, and now he
did on a daily basis.

Pulled from his thoughts, he turned to me and
forced a smile, setting his beer on the coffee table.

“Happy birthday, Mel.”

“Thanks.” I felt nervous and was sure it was
written all over my face. “So, Stacy’s picking me up to go
watch a movie, and then I’m spending the night at her
house. Is that okay?”

“Well sure, honey, you have fun.” He turned back
to the TV and picked up his beer. I breathed a sigh of
relief.

I raced out the door. Stacy was parked on the
street, and I climbed into her car. “Thanks for doing this.” I
smiled at her, feeling guilty for involving her in my lie.

“No problem. Just have a happy sixteenth,
okay?” She pulled into the grocery store parking lot where
Daniel waited for me.

I hopped out of her car. “Thanks,” I said. “See
you Monday at school.”

She grinned and mouthed, “Have fun,” as she
drove away.

“Hey, baby.” Two strong arms wrapped around
my waist, and I turned to look at Daniel’s face. “Happy
birthday, my love.” He kissed me and led me around to
my side of the car.

“Ready?” he asked. I fidgeted with the hem of my
shirt, realizing the double entendre. Was I ready? I
thought I was, but that didn’t make me any less nervous. I
didn’t say anything, and I could tell the silence set Daniel
on edge.

He reached over and brushed my hair behind
my ear, tilting my face toward him.

“Hey, look at me. You know we don’t have to do
this, right? I don’t want you to do anything you’re not ready
to do.” He brushed his thumb over my cheek, and I knew
he meant it. He would never do anything to hurt me.

“Are you ready?” I hesitantly looked at him,
already knowing his answer.

“I am sixteen.” He raised his eyebrow a little bit,
and I knew exactly what he meant. He’d had a hard time
holding himself back for the last seven months, but he’d
never pushed. “But that doesn’t matter. I’d wait for you
forever.”