Authors: Ann Vaughn
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I just keep waiting for the punch line.”
He stopped dancing and shocked the heck
out of her by cupping her face in his hands. In that moment she was
acutely aware of how tall he was, how much bigger he was than her.
“I’m not pulling a prank on you, Tess. I
promise.”
She looked up into his eyes, her breath
catching when he lightly skimmed his thumbs over her cheeks. Just when
she thought he might lean in to kiss her, his mother walked up, turning his
attention.
“I need you to take your sisters home,
Shane,” Susie McCanton said, her voice breaking the mood completely.
“Yes, ma’am, I’ll be there in just a
minute.”
“Now, Shane Gabriel.”
Shane sighed. “Yeah, OK. Do
you need a ride home, Tess? I don’t really want to leave you here alone.”
“Um, yeah, actually, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Let’s go round up my
sisters before my mom has a cow.”
“I heard that, Shane Gabriel!” Susie
called over her shoulder.
He shook his head as he took Tessa’s hand
and led her over to where he’d spotted his youngest sister, Gracie. After
collecting her, he skimmed his eyes over the dance floor, finding his sister
Cordy dancing with Pat Baker and felt his blood boil. He led Tessa and
Gracie through the dancing couples and inserted an arm between his sister
and his classmate.
“Hands off my sister, Baker,” he
growled. “She’s a Freshman.”
“Shane! Back off,” Cordy snapped.
“Can’t. Mom said it’s time for us
to head home.”
Cordy glanced at her watch then scowled
at her brother and Tessa. “Great. Because you had to hook up with
her, I get penalized.”
Tessa’s
brows raised. “What?”
“Hey, come on, McCanton, cut a guy a break,” Pat groaned.
Shane released Tessa’s hand and took a menacing step toward Pat, growling
at him.
“You keep your hands off my sister and eyes in their sockets and you and
I won’t have any problems.”
“Shane!”
Cordy protested.
“Let’s go.”
“Fine,” Cordy huffed. Gracie,
having spotted the scene with Shane and Cordy had already made her way to their
side. Shane nodded to his sisters to follow him, then to Tessa’s shock,
he laced his fingers with hers as he led them to his truck. He had a
single cab truck so they all squeezed in the bench seat, Tessa beside
him. She wanted badly to ask Cordy what she’d meant when she said they
had to leave early because of her but Cordy was nursing a bad mood so Tessa
wasn’t interested in stirring her up.
When they pulled up to her house, Tessa
watched Shane get out and motion for her to slide out on his side.
“Be right back,” he told his sisters,
then shut the door and turned to walk Tessa to her door.
“Thanks for dancing with me tonight,
Tess. It was fun.”
She nodded as they stood just outside the
reach of her front porch light. “It was fun.”
“Will you need a ride to Miss Nettie’s
tomorrow?”
“Um, I’m not sure.”
“I don’t mind picking you up if you do.”
“I’ll let you know.’
“OK. Don’t wimp on me, all
right? I expect you to be there.”
“OK. Thanks for the ride.”
“Any time,” he answered with a wink, then
turned to go.
“Good night, Shane.”
He turned back to her and flashed a smile
that had her heart pounding. “Night, Tess.”
He watched her go inside then jogged back
to his truck.
“What are you doing, Shane?” Cordy asked
when he got in.
“What?” he asked, backing out of Tessa’s
drive.
“Are you seriously falling for Tessa
Kelly?”
“You need to stay away from Pat
Baker. He’s got a big mouth. I wasn’t trying to just be a jerk
brother. I’ve heard him bragging in the locker room. I don’t want
his next story to be about you.”
“Nothing happened, Shane. We were
just dancing.”
“Nothing does have to happen; you just
have to be seen with him. Then his mouth gets the better of him and he
starts telling lies. Trust me. He’s no good.”
“Fine, duly noted. But what about
Tessa? Mom’ll have a cow if you start dating her.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it,
OK?”
Gracie spoke up for the first time.
“Well, I think you and Tessa would make a great couple.”
Shane and Cordy exchanged a look at their
younger sister’s junior high romanticism but both refrained from teasing
her.
The
next day in the study group at Miss Nettie’s, Shane found it hard to
concentrate on anything but Tessa. Her hair, her eyes...her lips.
She was so pretty she took his breath away.
“What?”
she asked self-consciously when she felt him staring at her.
He
shook his head and looked down at his notes, embarrassed to be caught
staring. “Nothing,” he mumbled. “What number are we on?”
Steve
elbowed him but Shane ignored him. Tessa gave him an odd look but didn’t
say anything. At the end of the night everyone left, but Tessa hung back
to talk to Shane. She helped him clean up their tables for Miss Nettie
and together they loaded the dishwasher, keeping conversation light since Miss
Nettie was around.
“Oh,
Tessa, honey, your mother called,” Miss Nettie said as they were finishing
up. “She said your dad was there and for you to call her before coming
home. You can use the phone over there.”
“Thank
you,” Tessa said, her voice small. Shane noticed that she was pale and
that her hands were shaking as she reached for the phone. “Mama?
Are you OK?” He heard her ask, thinking that was an odd thing for her to ask.
“Shane,
will you take the trash out for me?” Miss Nettie asked, interrupting his
thoughts. He gathered the bags and carried them to the dumpster.
When he got back, only Miss Nettie was left in the restaurant. He said
good night to her and walked out to find Tessa leaning against his truck.
“Hey,
you OK?”
She
raked her fingers through her hair. “Not really. My dad popping in
is never a good thing.”
Shane
shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out to see if her hair
was as silky as it looked.
“Your
folks are divorced?”
“Separated
and heading to divorce,” she corrected. “He hasn’t lived with us for a
while, ever since your dad booted him out one night when he was drunk.”
That
brought Shane up short. “What?”
Tessa
shrugged. “I guess I thought everyone knew. My dad is an
alcoholic. He used to beat my mom. She took it and took it until
that night when he started hitting me. She called your dad and he came in
and saved us. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you.”
“He
doesn’t talk about his work much to all of us. Just my mom. Is he
still there? Is your mom safe with your dad over there? Should I
call my dad?”
“She
called him when my dad showed up. Deputies are sitting across the
street. Your dad takes care of us. They used to date. My mom
and your dad. Did you know that?”
He
shook his head. “No. When? In high school?”
She
nodded. “They got into a fight Christmas of their freshman year at
college. Your dad was off at UT and my mom was at the community
college. Mom said she was insecure about him being in Austin away from
her. He wasn’t coming home every weekend like he’d promised and she got
mad. Said it was the biggest mistake of her life. He met your mom
not long after they broke up and the rest is history. I don’t think she
ever really got over him. Kind of pathetic, huh?”
“Your
folks must have loved each other, though, right?”
“I
suppose. She said he was different before he was in an accident at work
when we were in the first grade. I remember he wasn’t always drunk and
mean. Seems like a lifetime ago, though.”
“God,”
he managed, “you were going through all that kind of stuff when we were having
our little spats at school?”
She
smiled. “Don’t look to excuse me, Shane. I picked on you pretty
good back then.”
He
chuckled. “Yeah, ya did. Made my life Hell.”
“Well,
they don’t call me Tornado Tess for nothing,” she giggled. “I’m glad we
can put all that behind us now. These last few weeks have been nice.”
“Guess
Ms. Sheldon knew what she was doing, making us lab partners.”
“Guess
so.”
“Come
on, we’ll drive by your place and see if he’s gone yet.”
He
held his hand out to her to help stand straight. She hesitated for just a
brief moment then placed her hand in his. Shane gave her hand a light
squeeze and stood still a moment, looking down into her eyes.
“If
I never said before, your eyes are really pretty,” he said softly.
She
was quiet a moment, looking up into his. “So are yours,” she replied.
He
stood a moment longer, aching to kiss her but afraid to act. Finally, he
released her hand and walked around to open the door for her.
The
ride to her house was quiet but oddly comfortable. Shane realized he
liked having her beside him.
“Looks
like he’s gone,” Tessa said when they approached her house. “I don’t see
the Deputies, either.”
“They’re
here,” he said, pulling into her driveway, “they’re in the van across the
street. Stay here while I talk to them, OK?”
“That’s
OK, Shane, you don’t -”
“Humor
me. Just stay put while I make sure it’s OK.”
“OK.”
He
jogged across the street and went to the driver’s side window.
“Hey,
Shane,” Scott, one of his dad’s deputies greeted him.
“Hey.
Did Mr. Kelly leave?”
“Yeah,
about thirty minutes ago. You got Tessa with you?”
He
nodded. “Is it safe for her to go in?”
“Yeah,
he’s gone. I’m here until midnight and then Brandon’ll be here until
Tessa leaves for school. The Sheriff doesn’t like to take any chances,
you know?”
“Cool.
I’ll let Tessa know. Thanks, Scott.”
He
went back to his truck and opened the door for her.
“He
left about thirty minutes ago and they will have someone watching your house
all night.”
“OK,”
she said, taking a deep breath. “Thank you for finding out for me...and
for bringing me home.”
“Yeah,
sure, no problem. Call me if he shows up again, OK? I can have my dad
here in five minutes.”
“I
will.”
They
stood awkwardly in silence for a moment, neither wanting to walk away.
“You
want to maybe go to a movie with me tomorrow?” he asked, surprising them both.
“OK.
Sure. Why not?”
He
smiled. “OK. I’ll pick you up around five thirty. We can go
eat first. How’s that?”
“Sounds
good. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yeah,
OK. Good night, Tessa.”
“Good
night, Shane,” she echoed.
He
watched her walk inside then got in his truck and drove off, waving to Scott as
he left. Glancing at the clock on the dash he knew he’d have to fast-talk
his way out of trouble for being late but was sure they’d understand once he
explained what happened.
Sure
enough, both parents were waiting on the front porch when he pulled into the
driveway.
“Sorry,
I’m late,” he said as soon as he got out. He quickly explained the
situation and watched them both relax.
“Tessa
and her mom have had a rough few years,” his dad said.
“She
said you saved her a few years ago, when her dad was beating her.”
Luke
shrugged. “I did my job. He’d been beating Mary for years but she
would never press charges. Not until he turned on Tessa.”
His
mother remained quiet up until that point. She touched his cheek in a
light caress but he could see in her eyes that she was upset.
“I’m
glad you took her home and made sure she was safe but I don’t want you to make
a habit of it, OK? You don’t need to get involved in the Kelly’s
troubles.”