Rekindled
Damaged Pieces (Cape Isle, #2) by Allie Able
Copyright ©2016 C.J. McKella.
ISBN-13: 978-1532705168
ISBN-10: 1532705166
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental.
This book is intended for mature audiences only.
Developmental Editing: Chelsea Kuhler,
www.madisonseidler.com
Copy Editing: Judy Brown,
www.writetechnique.org
Proofreading and Blurb Assistance: Ami Deason,
www.bookglambyami.com
Cover Design: Hang Le,
www.byhangle.com
Interior Formatting: Elaine York,
www.allusiongraphics.com
To anyone who ever needed a second chance. Never give up hope.
7 years ago
I’m in love with you.
The words sit on the tip of my tongue, but as soon as I open my mouth to speak, fear sweeps through me like a barbed ball, slicing them apart. Bitterness coats my throat, protecting it from the jagged edges of each syllable as I swallow the words back down.
Taking a sip of my soda, I watch Callie get up from the table and wander over to the jukebox where she greets her friend, Mari. Using her left hand, she gathers the long strands of her auburn hair to hold it off her neck while leaning over to browse the song titles. She quickly punches in a combination before turning for me to see her face light up as she laughs at something Mari says.
Callie and I have been best friends since we were seven years old when her family started coming to the lake. When we were younger, we’d spend our summer mornings lounged in front of the TV with a bowl of Frosted Flakes waiting for
Animaniacs
to come on, before spending the afternoon swimming and building sandcastles. Every winter break we’d go to the Winter Festival together where we’d gorge ourselves on funnel cake and ride the Tilt-A-Whirl until we were green in the face. She was the one person who I told everything to.
Well, almost everything.
In return, I braved being in a car while she took driving lessons, held her hand during scary parts of a movie, and consoled her when her family dog, Bevo, passed away.
I only have a week before she leaves to go back to Texas with her family and her boyfriend, Zach, but there’s news I need to share with her before she leaves. If only I could manage to get more than two minutes alone with her…
“So, how’d it go?” Matt asks, as he slides into the booth opposite me to grab a handful of fries. “Was she completely stoked?”
“I didn’t tell her yet.”
“What? Why not?”
I sigh and run my thumbs along the surface of my glass, wiping away the condensation. “Because it’s not private enough in here. I don’t need the whole town knowing I got in. Besides, I don’t want Golden Boy to be there when I tell her.”
Matt chuckles and shakes his head. “Well, seeing as how he refuses to let her so much as breathe without his approval, I think you’re going to have a hard time getting her alone before she leaves.” He jerks his head in the direction of the dance floor and my attention shifts back to Callie.
My heart tries to pummel its way out of my chest when I see her dancing with him. Her arms are draped lazily around his neck and his are wrapped possessively around her waist, his class ring pressed against the small of her back. He dips his head down to whisper something in her ear and she tilts her head up to look at him with a small smile.
I wonder if he knows her face well enough to know that it’s fake. That when she smiles genuinely, a dimple appears on her left cheek and the left corner of her lip lifts higher than the right, making her smile slightly crooked. That when she smiles genuinely, she doesn’t blink three times as though it’s taking a tremendous amount of effort to do so.
I hate that it’s his arms wrapped around her, when it should be mine. That it’s his lips she kisses every night, when it should be mine. That it’s his voice she hears before she falls asleep, when it should be mine.
They started dating a little over a year ago when Callie went to visit the campus at the University of Texas and he accidentally ran her off the sidewalk with his golf cart. A college sophomore, and two years older, he was one of those “good on paper” kind of guys. Good genes, great grades, and an even greater family pedigree. It didn’t take long for Callie to fall under his spell, so when she told me he was going to be coming to the lake for the last month of summer, I knew if I didn’t do something, she’d slip right through my fingers and wind up with him. He didn’t deserve her.
“I think now’s about as good a time as you’ll get,” Matt says as the song slows to an end, and Zach places his hands on the sides of her face, bringing his lips to meet hers before pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket and heading out the front door. “You better hurry before he comes back.”
I know Matt’s right. If I don’t try to get her alone now, I probably won’t be able to do this in person. Gulping down the remainder of my Coke, I look over at Matt who gives me a quick nod of encouragement and I push off the booth and make my way over to Callie. She’s back by the jukebox picking out another song as I approach.
“I am effectively ending our friendship if you pick that song.” I tease as I step beside her and eye her index finger which is hovering over ABBA’s
Dancing Queen
.
She glances sideways at me as her lips curve into a devious smirk, her dimple taking root as she punches in a combination on the box. I groan and shake my head at her.
“Well, there goes eleven years of friendship, down the drain. I hope ABBA is worth it,” I say as I turn my back to her and start to walk away.
I hear the sound of her laugh followed by the
click
-
click
of her heels against the floor before I feel the warmth of her fingertips wrapping around my wrist. “Tate Corbin, you’re such a drama queen,” she says as she drags me out to the dance floor. “Now, get over it, and get ready to dance with your best friend. Our song is next.”
“Callie, you know I don’t like to dance. Especially to shitty pop music.”