Authors: Michelle Pennington
I glanced over at Colby and saw the disappointment on his face. I tried to apologize with my expression as I listened to my mom, but I was as bummed as he was.
I was so not ready to go home.
“Well, we’ll talk about your punishment when you get h
ere
. I don’t appreciate you changing your plans and going off with other people without even telling me – even if it is Marcy Adam’s stepson.”
From the
hint of sarcasm in
her voice
,
I could tell she wasn’t falling for my attempt to make her f
eel better about this.
“Sorry, M
om.
I messed up. I just wasn’t thinking and I didn’t hear the phone.”
When I was fi
nally able to hang up
by assuring her that Colby was driving me straight home, I hung up and glared at the phone. Then I looked over at Colby. “Just for the record, that’s the last time I’m checking my phone when you’re kissing me.”
H
is
laugh
lighten
ed
the
expression that had settled on his face
.
“So, I guess that’s it for tonight
. Where do you live?”
I told him and he headed in that dir
ection. “So, do
you
still
want to talk
?”
I asked.
“
Yeah, but I’d like
to do it when we have some
time. Plus I’d like to be able to look at you.
”
“Well,
I guess
choir
is out. What do you suggest?
”
“How would you feel about a date?
”
“A date?
”
Colby chuckled, but there was a nervous quiver in it
.
“Why do you sound so surprised? After what just happened, I thought you might be willing to give it a try.”
“Yeah. I’d love to. I guess
my mind hadn’t gone that far. I mean, it wasn’t too long ago I thought you hated me.”
“It
also wasn’t too long ago that you went all dreamy eyed every time you saw Brian Gibbons.”
He had a point. “Well, that’s over.
I can’
t believe it was
just, like,
a
week ago that I was crazy excited to be going
t
o prom with
him,
and now I’m racking my brain trying to think of a way to get out of it. I can’t do that to him though. It’s too last minute.”
Colby sighed. “Yeah, I guess you can’t. There’s no reason we can’t go out before then though.”
“Nope. No reason at all.”
“Friday won’t work though. I have rehearsal.
How about Saturday?
”
“Sure, if I’m not grounded. I’ve never broken curfew before, and my mom sounded pretty upset. I don’t know what she’s going to do.
”
“
Well, maybe
I
can get out of practice early
on Friday night,
and
we can have some time alone before Marcy and my dad get back.”
“I
f I can get Abby to go to sleep.”
“Well,
I can help you if she isn’t. We make a good lullaby team, remember?
Do I turn left here?
”
I sat up and looked around because I hadn’t been paying attention
. “No, it’s the next one.
In less than a minute, he pulled into my driveway and we looked at each other across the dark car. “Think your mom is watching for you?” he asked.
“Probably.”
“
So, I guess you’d rather I didn’t kiss you goodnight
, huh?”
“
Where’d you get that idea?
” I
aske
d
as I leaned towards him.
*****
“I just can’t get away from them, can I?”
Abby and I were both
lying on the plush
carpet in her room staring under her
frilly
bed. When I spoke, she looked at me solemnly and pointed at the enormous spider she’d f
ound next to her teddy
bear
behind the
dust ruffle. I’d tucked the dust ruffle up under the mattress and tried to summon courage and a game plan to get rid of the spider so she could go to sleep.
She was wearing a pretty little purple nightgown,
we’d re
a
d
a few bed time stories, and I was ready to tuck her in for the night.
But t
here was no way I was leaving her alone in here with this monster.
I had a ladle and a paper cup
from the kitchen
. Surely I could do this. I reached out and tried to scoop
up the spider
with the ladle, but I accidentally brushed one of its legs. In a flash, it pulled its eight long legs in close to its body. Abby and I both screamed and I pulled my arm back like it was about to bite me or something.
Taking a deep breath, I said, “I can do this. It sure is a big spider though.”
“Big
pidur
!” Abby repeated after me, stretching out her arm to point at it again. The spider moved away and she screamed again, pulling her arm back.
“Ok, here we go.”
I reached further in this time so I could come up behind it and held the cup sideways on the carpet ready to receive it. With one quick motion, I pulled the ladle forward and scooped the spider into the c
up. I held the ladle over it
as I stood up and ran downstairs.
I saw little legs poke out from under the ladle where it didn’t hit the side of the cup and I almost had a heart attack. I sprinted to the front door, anxious to hurl this thing outside where it belonged. There was no way I was going to squish this giant thing.
When I got to the door, I had no choice but to put the ladle down so I could open the door, and as soon as I moved it, the spider began crawling over the edge of the cup. Panicking, I flung the door upon and hurled the spider, cup and all, as far aw
ay as I could.
Which happened to be right at Colby as he stepped onto the porch.
“What the ...”
he began as the paper cup bounced off his chest.
“It’s on you!” I squealed.
“What’s on me?”
“A spider!”
“Where?” he asked.
B
ut he didn’t
wait for me to tell him before
he began
brushing
and
sha
king his clothes to get rid of it.
A
few
second
s
later, I saw the big brown monster fall onto the porch. It was a
s
stunned as we were, but it collected itself faster and scurried into the flower bed. Colby and I were both staring at the spot where it had disappeared until he said, “Well, that wasn’t the greeting I was expecting.”
“What? Don’t girls always throw spiders at you?”
“No.
This was a first.
” Then a teasing light flashed in his eyes and he said, “
I was hoping you’d throw your a
rms around me instead
.
”
“I think I can manage that.”
I smiled, completely entranced by the devilish
smile on his lips
as he came towards me.
My heart thundered even as the tension I’d been enduring all week relaxed.
I’d been so frustrated having only a few minutes to see him in choir every day or catch him in the hall. My mom
had
grounded me for breaking
curfew, saying she wanted to make sure I remembered from now on.
So, t
his was the first time I’d been alone with him since our epic goodnight ki
ss on Monday when he’d taken me home.
Colby’s arms came around me and he held me like he asked nothing more from life. I was almost startled by how right it felt to have my head pressed into his shoulder, his warmth and scent surrounding me, the rise and fall of his chest as he took a deep, satisfied breath.
“Co-
yeee
!”
Abby jumped around our legs and pulled at Colby’s shirt. He
let his arms drop away,
his fingers sliding down my arms as if he was reluctant
to let go. But he smiled at his little sister and lifted her up in his arms like she didn’t weigh anything. After lugging her around all night, I knew differently.
We went inside and I closed the door behind us as Colby went towards the stairs with her. He was tickling her and teasing her, saying, “
You’
re supposed to be in bed so I can have some alone time with your beautiful babysitter.”
I blushed and felt a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth as he looked back at me over his shoulder. “The spider was under her bed so we had to get r
id of it first,
”
I explained.
“
Pidur
,” Abby told him. She
continued to say it as
we went upstairs
, her voice almost shrill with excitement
. When Colby put her down she ran over and
lay
down on the floor to look under the bed like she expected it to
still
be there.
“Was there a spider under your bed? Well, it’s a good thing
Rylie
got rid of it for you. Now you can go right to sleep like a good girl.”
I stood in the doorway as Colby scooped her up and dumped her on her bed, making her giggle as she bounced on her mattress. Then he pulled her covers up, gave her Teddy, and ruffled her golden curls before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
“Now, you wait right there while I go get my guitar, ok?”
“K
!” s
he said in a happy little voice, sounding anything but sleepy.
Colby
,
paus
ed on the way to his room to say
,
“I’ll put her to sleep. It’ll be faster that way. I don’t know how much time we’ve got before my dad and Marcy get home.”
With a thrill of excitement, I said, “I’ll go pick up then so I don’t have anything else to do.
And, um, I’ll put this away while I’m at it.
”
I waved the ladle I was still carrying around and started downstairs.
I w
ashed the ladle, w
iped down Abby’s
high chair
,
and swept up the animal crackers she’d thrown on the floor earlier. Everything in good shape there, I turned out the light and went to wait in the living room. There were only a few toys to pick up and
put away in the ott
oman that opened up for storage before
I was able to sit and wait for Colby to come down. The only lights on in the house were the lamp
on the table next to the couc
h
and the light over the stairs
that cast a faint, romantic glow over everything.
I could see the
darkened doorway to Abby’s room from where I sat
, and in the quiet house, I could just catch the song Colby was playing for Abby.
The distant strains drifted down to me, and I could
n’t
stand not
hearing it better
. I tiptoed up the stairs and hovered next to the door where Abby would
n’t
see
me, but where I could easily hear
Colby’s voice. He
was singing “Love Me Tender,”
which surprised me until I listened to the words and realized how perfect it was as a lullaby.
Colby’s
voice was so pure, even
sin
ging
as
soft
as he
was
,
that I
was entranced and
strained to catch every quiet note and gentle inflection.
It was so achingly perfect and sincere that I closed my eyes and pretended he was singing it to me
.
A few minutes later, he stopped singi
ng and
let the guitar strings hum into stillness. I barely had time to realize that Abby must be asleep before Colby emerged from her room and bumped into me as he turned the corner into the hall.
There was a sudden firing of happiness in his eyes, and something
warmer that was impossible not to recognize for what it was.
“How long have you been there?”
“Only a few minutes. It was long enough, though, to be amazed all over again at how talented you are.”