Gossamer (11 page)

My car ride home with Lexie buzzed with excitement, from talking about me telling Cerise off to imagining what we might do tonight, there wasn’t a moment of silence.

“Well, well, well, looks like someone couldn’t wait.”

I looked up as Lexie coasted into my driveway, to find Grant once again sitting on my front porch. My heart lurched. I took my stuff out of her car and anxiously approached him.

Lexie called out, “See you in a little while,” and backed out of my driveway leaving me alone with Grant.

“Hey,” I said as my heart raced and my skin tingled.

“Happy Birthday.” He smiled, looked down then back up at me. “Sorry, I’m a bit late.”

“You’re not late, that’s the thing about birthdays. They last all day.”

Grant laughed. “Is that so, Miss Smarty-pants?”

I grinned back. He looked at the roses in my hand. I shifted uncomfortably, ashamed I held flowers from Bryce while standing here with him.

“Those are nice.” I shrugged still embarrassed. “Kind of makes me wish I’d come better prepared.” He pointed to the porch steps. A bouquet of fuchsia-pink flowers sat there. I laid down the roses and scooped up his flowers.

The flowers grew in rosettes atop a stem. Several had been clustered together creating a dense bouquet of small flowers. They were simple yet beautiful, and I suspected Grant’s flowers were hand-picked with careful thought put into their selection.

“They’re gorgeous. What kind of flowers are they?”

Grant cleared his throat. “Hmm, not sure. I just thought they were pretty and it made me think of you.”

I met his eyes. Sparks sizzled around me. “Thanks Grant. I love them.”

He shrugged and looked back down at the huge bouquet of roses. They were pretty and looked expensive, but were generic, the kind of thing a flower store always had available for last minute purchases.

“The flowers from Bryce are a sweet gesture, but roses aren’t my thing. Each bud is pruned and plucked until they are practically identical.” I sought a better explanation. “They are too…perfect. Does that make sense?”

The corners of Grant’s mouth tugged up as he nodded.

“Your flowers are exactly something I would pick for myself–they are very me. Even though Bryce and I have been friends for years, he clearly doesn’t know me. You nailed me, though.” I paused, realizing the innuendo my comment made.

Grant chuckled. Heat rose to my face as I mentally chastised myself. I snatched the other flowers and headed to the door.

“Want to come in? I need to change before we go to dinner. That is if you still want to go?”

“Of course I do.” His eyes were wide. “I need to meet up with Conor first, then we will come pick up you girls around five.”

“So I heard. Conor texted Lexie.” Grant raised an eyebrow.

“Conor texts? When did–” he broke off and shrugged. “One car ride and they are BFF’s.”

I burst out laughing at his use of girl slang.

He grinned back. “Sorry that I’ve never texted you, but I prefer to see you in person.”

“I’ll take that over a text any day.” I bit my bottom lip and smiled.

“Good, we are on the same page.” His gaze met mine for a moment. “I’ll see you at five.” He turned and walked away.

“See you then.”

I walked into my house and tossed the roses onto the table. I dug around under the kitchen sink and found a vase. I filled it with water and placed Grant’s flowers inside, adjusting them until I could see every one of the five petaled flowers. I carried the vase to my room and placed them on my vanity. The delicate blooms complemented the antique beautifully. I stared a minute more, then decided I should start to get ready.

Chapter 8

At five o’clock on the dot, Conor’s car pulled into my driveway, and of course I knew this because I had been watching the clock and my driveway for a good fifteen minutes.

“They’re here.” I bounced with excitement. “Do I look okay?”

“Beautiful as always.” Lexie smiled broadly.

We decided to spare the guys the long trek to my door and met them halfway. Grant’s gaze washed over me, then quickly met mine. “Ready to go?” he asked and I nodded.

The four of us walked to the car. Conor and Lexie were already laughing and teasing each other. Seriously, she made more progress in a matter of minutes than I made in days. When we approached the car, Conor tossed Grant the keys. “Here, you drive.”

Grant caught them with ease. Conor opened the back door for Lexie. He started to slide in after her but paused and looked at me. “Birthday girl sits up front.”

Grant opened the passenger door leaving us only inches apart. Just as I was about to get in, he touched my neck and heat exploded in my chest. I gasped, at once, flustered by my reaction. He pulled his hand away and gazed into my eyes. He hesitated before returning his hand to where he had been looking– My necklace.

He gingerly picked up the medallion, leaving sparks behind. “The tree of life.”

“Is that what it’s called?”

“You didn’t know?” I shook my head. “It’s Celtic. The oak tree symbolizes a lot of things for people of Celtic descent.

“You’re Celtic?”

“I’m of Irish descent. Are you Irish?”

I eyed him, curious as to where that question came from. “I don’t know. My parents don’t talk about their families. Why do you ask?”

“Well, your name. It’s Irish.”

“I didn’t realize that.” I thought back to the time I searched for my name at one of those mall kiosks that sell stuff with names and their meanings. I never could find mine. It wasn’t in their list. “Do you know what it means?”

He nodded. “Beautiful.” He met my eyes briefly then looked back at my necklace still in his hand, and delicately placed it down. “It suits you.”

“That’s what Lexie said.” I smiled. Grant looked at me, his head tilted slightly, a small crease forming where his eyebrows knitted together. “When I saw it in the glass window, I just couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It drew me in, and I instantly fell in love with it.”

His expression cleared. “The necklace.” He nodded with understanding, then stepped back so I could slide into the front seat. Grant walked around and sat down in the driver seat. “Here we go.”

“Where exactly are we going?” I eyed him with curiosity.

“Yeah, which restaurant are we going to?” Lexie chimed in. “I’m starved.”

“For attention,” Conor said without missing a beat. I whipped my head around expecting Lexie to give him a verbal lashing, but instead they both laughed.

She nudged Conor. “True, but you saw the contents of my fridge. My parents are starving me emotionally
and
physically.”

“Oh, that’s right. Guess you didn’t want the pudding cup with mustard dinner?” They both laughed again.

I looked at Grant. He wore a similar expression as mine as he watched them through his rearview mirror. He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged and shook his head, clearly just as confused as I was with those two.

“Actually, we aren’t going to a restaurant.”

“Oh no. You’re going to starve me, too?” Lexie joked.

Conor chuckled. “We are going to eat. We just aren’t eating in a restaurant. We are having a picnic.” She eyed him as if trying to decide if he was serious.

“He’s telling the truth.” Grant glanced at me, then back at the road. “It’s Kyla’s day, and I heard she prefers the outdoors, doesn’t care too much for meat and likes fresh fruit and vegetables. So we figured we could be accommodating.”

“You read my autobiography?”

He laughed. “No, I just talked to your best friend.”

Lexie smiled. “Yeah, but I didn’t know it would end in outdoor dining.”

I looked at her, then back at Grant. He’d done his research. “Well, I love the idea. It sounds exactly like my idea of the perfect end to an amazing birthday.”

“Best birthday ever!” Lexie said in a sing song voice. I grinned at her in agreement.

A short drive later we pulled into the parking lot of the community college. “Please tell me my parents aren’t going to join us?” I asked only half-joking.

Grant laughed. “No, they aren’t joining us. This location just has the best place for a picnic.” He popped the trunk, handed me a blanket and grabbed a bag. Conor reached in and snatched a second blanket and shut the trunk.

Lexie and I followed the boys as they led us to an area of the campus referred to as the front lawn, which was actually confusing because it sat on the opposite side of most of the school traffic. The evening sun sank low on the horizon, casting a beautiful glow. Varying shades of orange and pink peeked out around the lush trees lining the park. The view took my breath away. I never visited the campus this time of the day, and if I did, I usually just headed straight to Dad’s office.

“You’re right, this is a good spot,” I said.

Grant smiled, obviously happy I approved of his idea.

We spread out the blankets and unpacked the food. It consisted of fresh strawberries, grapes, chopped apples, crackers, various cheeses–and a cheeseburger for Lexie. Which we all laughed about.

“Thank goodness, you had me worried I was going to get stuck eating rabbit food,” she joked.

I wasn’t a vegetarian, I just preferred fresh foods. Lexie, on the other hand, was a hardcore meat eater. A meal of fruit and crackers would be a complete joke to her.

“Oh, and one last thing.” Grant reached into the bag and produced sweet biscuits and a bottle of honey to drizzle on them.

My eyes brightened.

“You really did do your homework didn’t you?” I smiled.

“How did you know she loved honey?” Lexie asked, unwrapping her cheeseburger.

“Didn’t you tell him?”

“No, I forgot. After I talked to him I realized I forgot to mention honey.” We both looked at Grant for an explanation.

“Lucky guess.” He smiled as Conor snickered.

We dug into the food and Lexie into her cheeseburger. We ate and laughed while she recounted my cafeteria story which embarrassed me, but seemed to impress the boys. They both seemed surprised by my boldness but agreed Cerise deserved it.

The sun faded over the horizon, it began to grow dark. I hadn’t even realized how much time had passed. The campus had become quiet, with only a few students here and there, but I recognized a certain cute nerd in a blazer and glasses.

When Matt saw me, he came to an abrupt halt. He quickly looked around, with wide eyes seeming very paranoid.
He is so weird.
I stood in polite greeting. He took a few steps toward me, and I moved toward him.

“Hey, Matt.”

“Kylie, what are you doing here?” He spoke with urgency, glancing over his shoulder then back to me.

“It’s my birthday, and I’m here with friends,” I explained, confused by his reaction.

“Oh right. Happy Birthday, but um, why here?”

I didn’t exactly know how to respond. I turned to my friends and began to introduce Matt.

“Matt, this is Grant–” I pointed at Grant and before I could even finish the introduction he shot to his feet as did Conor. Lexie squealed, almost spilling her drink.

“How do you know him?” Grant asked, his expression fierce. Completely taken aback, I stood speechless. He was okay with Bryce but this struck some psycho jealous nerve?

“How did you find her? Who’s with you?” Grant’s eyes were narrowed as he scanned the area around us. Conor did the same.

“Dammit Conor, I thought you secured the location.”

“Whoa, it was safe when I checked.”

“Wait guys.” I sensed a fight coming on. “This is just Matt. He’s a student in my dad’s class.”

“That’s how you did it.” Grant glared at Matt. “Sneaky bastard,” he mumbled.

“What is going on?” I asked annoyed. Lexie stood at my side.

“This is the help your dad had Saturday?” Grant’s tone was accusatory, but I wasn’t sure if it was directed at me.

I nodded still confused and beginning to become angry myself.

“You son of a–” Grant advanced on Matt with his clenched fist.

Matt stuck up his hands in a defensive gesture. “It’s just me here, I swear. They don’t know yet. It’s just me.”

My gaze flicked back and forth between the guys. What in the world were they talking about?

“You expect me to believe you haven’t told them yet,” Grant scoffed.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but after lunch with Kylie–”

“You’ve got to be kidding. Lunch?” Grant glowered at Conor. “Some watchdog you are.”

“Hey, it is not my fault. He left no trail. Honestly.”

“He’s right. I have been very careful, especially after I met Kylie. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell them. For the last forty-eight hours I’ve done nothing but try to figure a way out of this.” Matt ran his hands through his hair. “You’ve got to get her out of here.” His gaze danced around. “Just take her, somewhere far away. You never met me.” He paced. “I am so screwed.”