Deceptive Cadence (35 page)

THIRTY-ONE

The application for the University of Western Australia sat on my desk. Beside it lay several others, including one for James’ university, which he’d pulled out for me, one for UWS that Geri gave me, and one for UNSW that Harper insisted I fill out. I felt like they tugged me in several different directions.

I slowly filled out each of them, and considered flunking my exams so I wouldn’t have to go to any. But I needed to get good enough marks to go to Western Australia, if that’s what I decided on doing. I hoped only one of them would offer me a place so I wouldn’t have to decide.

I set the applications aside and slipped out my scrapbook. I turned to some pictures of Melody and stared at them. She was such a beautiful child, with her daddy’s eyes and the same golden hair I’d had as a little girl. Her personality poured out in each of her photos as she glared, grinned, and pouted at the camera.

I came to a photo of Austin laughing as she kissed his cheek. In the next photo, he and I kissed while Melody tried to pull our faces apart. It made me chuckle as I remembered how protective she was of each of us. So protective, that in her mind, only
she
was allowed to kiss either of us, and we weren’t allowed to kiss each other.

Sweet little Melody.

I closed the scrapbook and sighed. Over the past few weeks, Melanie struggled to recover. Geri and I went out of our way to do things for her. We brought her gifts, had her sit with us in the classes we shared, and went by her house after school to help her focus on her schoolwork.

It did the trick, too. She really picked up her game and even applied to a couple of universities. Her course choices varied drastically, so I knew she didn’t have a clue what she wanted to study, but the fact that she considered it meant she’d come along in leaps and bounds.

“Cadence?”

I looked up to see Dusty standing at my door.

“Can I talk to you?”

I glanced at my scrapbook and saw it had turned into a textbook. I patted the bed beside me, and he shuffled over. He sat staring off for a while, then he spoke quietly. “Promise you won’t tease me or tell anyone this?”

“Ah, sure.”

He let out a long sigh. “You know how I give Geri a hard time?”

I giggled. “Yeah.”

“Here’s the thing . . . I kinda like her. Is that weird?”

My jaw fell.

He turned his head to look at me and flushed. “It is, huh? She’s way older than me and looks at me like her little brother.” He huffed. “I knew I didn’t stand a chance.”

He moved to stand, but I grabbed his arm. “Dusty, you’re serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my . . . wow!” I couldn’t help the smile that burst across my face. When Geri and I split up in the first timeline, Dusty had only been in the eighth grade, so a chance to develop a crush had never been in place, but this time . . . I was speechless.

“Don’t look at me like that.” He scowled. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. Just don’t tell her, okay?”

I squeezed his hand. “Dusty! I didn’t see this coming at all. Sit and tell me what’s going on. You know I love Geri, so this is like . . .
wow
!”

His eyes lit up as he turned to face me directly. “It just kinda happened. One day I was like, hey, she’s actually really pretty, and from then on, I couldn’t help noticing. Do you think maybe I should ask her out?”

I paused. Geri just started to like Cody, and I knew from the timeline before she would date him soon. I also knew approximately how long it would last, so I decided to give Dusty a vague time frame. “She’s actually kinda seeing someone right now.”

His face fell, so I hurried on. “But, you know how high school things go. I’d wait for a few months and see where she is then. She might be hesitant because, as you said, you’re younger than her. She might not take you seriously at first because she’ll think you’re teasing her, but stick to it and I’m sure she’ll come around.”

He took a moment to contemplate my suggestion. “So, for now I should date around, see if I can make her jealous―”

I slapped his shoulder and laughed. “Dusty!”

He laughed and wrapped his arms around me.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw James waiting at the end of the corridor. I squealed with delight and ran into his arms.

He stumbled back, laughing, and kissed my ear. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“It’s been almost two weeks! I can’t believe how hard it’s been to line up our schedules.”

“I know. Stupid work.” He kissed my cheek. His gaze darted over my shoulder and he grinned. “Hey, Mel.”

She stepped up beside me. I let him go so she could hug him. I loved seeing the protective expression on his face as he squeezed her. He’d been very conscious of her feelings and what was going on in her life since the pregnancy. Luckily, she’d been more careful, and it helped that she had rejoined my group of friends and felt loved again.

She looked into his eyes. “We’ve got exams coming up so I need to study, otherwise I’d totally hang out with you guys. Have fun with Cadence.” She reached across and squeezed my hand before heading out.

James turned to me, grinning. “My place?”

“Sounds good.”

“Awesome.”

At his house, only Tom was home and studying with his notes strewn across the floor. He glanced up when we entered and smiled.

“Hey guys.” He smirked. “Cadence, super brain, come here for a second.”

I stepped over and looked down at his notes. “What?”

“Can you write this essay for me? You seem to know a lot about physiology and such, and your referencing is spot on—even your high school teachers can’t fault it.”

“Ah . . . no.”

“Fine, it was worth a try.” He gathered up his notes and slid them into a binder. “I’ll go upstairs so I can type something out then.”

As he left the room, my stomach growled. James looked at me and raised his eyebrows. “I’ll get us some snacks.”

We went into his kitchen and I almost threw up. Dishes lined the counters while the dishwasher sat empty. Five bags of trash sat along the wall. “James!”

He spun from inside the pantry. “What?”

I waved my arms around. “Gross!”

“What?” He glanced around the kitchen. “Oh, it’s just a little mess.”

“There are maggots in this pot!”

He looked into the pot with leftover Bolognese in it. “Oh . . . yeah, that’s kinda gross.”

“Kinda?” I reached for two bags. “Take these outside right now!”

He moaned. “Cadence . . .”

“I’m not eating anything from here until this place is tidied up.”

He growled and snatched the bags from me. “You’re such a woman.”

I kicked his butt.

“Ouch! Geez, Cadence!” He hurried out the front while I turned to the dishes.

It took us about an hour to clean it all up, and when we finished, James sighed. “Excellent! It’s spotless.
Now
can we eat?”

He raided the pantry again and pulled out several packets of chips.

“Why don’t you just make dinner?”

He rubbed his neck. “That’s such a hassle.”

I growled and shoved him out of the kitchen. “Go do something constructive, like maybe some laundry―which I’d bet is piling up.”

“Aw, Cadence . . .”

“Go, James!”

Once he left to thump around his room in a huff, I started making dinner. They had very little fresh food, but I managed to throw something together with frozen and canned foods. Soon I had the chicken parmigiana cooking and the garlic bread ready to go with a pot of mixed frozen vegetables steaming on the stove.

Tom returned downstairs. He sniffed the air, then called, “James?”

“What?” James bellowed down the stairs.

“Is your girlfriend cooking us dinner?”

“Why don’t you ask her, genius?”

Tom appeared beside me. “Damn! I don’t think I’ve had a real meal like this in months.”

“I really have no idea how you guys stay alive,” I responded.

“Pizza and burgers have veg on them.” He smelled the food in the oven. “Geez, Cadence, when are you moving in? I can eat like this every night.”

I giggled. “Keep dreaming.”

“So . . .” He leaned against the counter. “Got any idea which uni you wanna go to? James said you were talking about Macquarie with him.”

I sighed and stirred the veggies. “
He’s
talking about Macquarie. I’ve been looking around at all my options.”

“Don’t wanna go to school with him again?” he said teasingly.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. “You know that’s not it. Geri wants me to go wherever she goes so we can move in together, and Harper wants me at her school so I can move in with her, too. I just wanna get
in
first, and into a uni with a good sports science program.”

He let out a quick sigh. “Macquarie
is
a really good uni.”

“I know.” Which concerned me. If I was admitted, I’d struggle to make a legitimate excuse for
not
going there. “I don’t think it really has what I want course-wise though.”

James entered and stared at me. “Macquarie is awesome, and we can be together again.”

“James, you know it’s not about you. UTS, UNSW, and UWS would be much better fits.” I didn’t dare even mention the University of Western Australia.

“Okay, but you’re still applying, right?” He stepped over and pulled the milk out of the fridge.

“Yeah, I sent in the application.”

He grinned and kissed my cheek. “Good.”

I stared after him in exasperation as he walked out, swilling his milk.

“Cadence,” Tom said softly. “He just wants to be with you.”

“I know.” I turned back to the veggies. “It’s just . . . what if I end up at Charles Sturt or one of the unis further away?”

Tom groaned. “Please don’t put
me
through that. He’s bad enough when he hasn’t seen you in a few days.”

I groaned, and thankfully, the oven beeped. James would make things hard for me, but I didn’t want to leave him either. I pined for him after a few days apart, too.

I slipped the garlic bread in the oven to toast while I divided up the chicken and veggies onto three plates. Tom hovered in anticipation, and kept a close eye on the garlic bread. James heard me dishing up, and appeared behind me in a flash.

“Mmm. Real food.”

“Don’t get too accustomed to it. You boys need to make your own food.” I lifted two plates and carried them to the table, pushing a pile of clean, unfolded laundry onto the floor to make room.

They both followed me and sat expectantly. Thankfully, they had enough manners for me to return and sit with them before they stuffed their faces.

“This makes me miss Mum a little,” Tom said through a mouthful of food.

James grunted.

“Cadence.” Tom turned to me with a huge grin. “Can we adopt you?”

James kicked him under the table. “Weirdo.”

After dinner―which they completely devoured, leaving none for Sam―James took me up to his room where we made love.

“This is payment for dinner,” James said as he kissed my ear.

“I’m okay with that.”

Afterward, he lay on his side beside me as his fingers stroked over my waist and hip. I nuzzled up to him, taking in his scent and warmth.

He stared into my face, examining my features closely. He took a deep breath and sighed. “Cadence, move in here with me.”

I shook my head, smiling. “I’m still in high school―”

“I meant after you graduate. Tom and Sam won’t mind, they like having you around, and I . . . well, I
love
having you around.” He leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

My stomach did somersaults as I thought about my applications, and the one I knew I’d definitely get into―the one clear across the country where Austin would be. The time had come for me to tell him what might happen. “James, what if I don’t get into one of the local universities?”