Read Online A Brush With Love by Rachel Hauck - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rachel Hauck
Ads: Link
come get you.”
Tom slipped out his phone, none the worse for the muddy wear, and rang Eric. Again, no answer. He tried Edward to no avail.
He offered up his silent phone to Ginger. “Guess I’m trekking.” Tom gestured to the fireplace. “I noticed firewood out back. Do you want—”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m an electric-heat-and-blankets girl all the way.”
“Right, sorry.” He reached for her hand, the one she didn’t hide under the sleeve of her sweater, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “If I had to be out on a cold, rainy night, I’m glad it was with you.” He stepped toward the door. “Good night.”
“Tom?”
“Yeah?”
“Why didn’t you call me? That night? To tell me you were leaving?”
With her questions, time peeled back, and he saw her waiting at her apartment for him to come. But he never did. “I didn’t know I was moving until I went home. Dad announced he’d resigned from the church and we weregoing to Atlanta. No debate, no questions, no argument. I was seventeen years old and my father had just destroyed my world.”
“Why didn’t you stay with your Granddaddy? Or one of your friends?”
“Dad refused. Insisted we move as a family. The night we packed up to go, Dad and I argued so much we almost threw punches. Then my sister came out of her room, hysterical, begging us to stop.” Ginger listened with her arms wrapped about her waist, the warm light of the homestead haloing her. “It scared me, humbled me, when I saw her pain. Then I saw the angst on my father’s face and I gave up my fight. I didn’t understand everything that was going on, or why we were heading out of town like bandits, but it had my dad, and mom, in knots. I’d never heard them so much as raise their voices to each other, but that night, they weren’t even speaking. Nevertheless, I still managed to be a major pain-in-the-backside. I barely spoke to him for two months after we moved. Though he tried really hard to make things right between us.” Tom winced at his confession. “Now I realize at the worst time in his life, his family was all he had and all he wanted.”
“Trust me, if you have family, you have everything.” She shivered but he wasn’t sure it was because of the cold, muddy water clinging to her jeans.
“I’m sorry I never called you, Ginger. Or e-mailed. You were my friend and deserved better. I thought maybe we’d become more than friends. But when we moved, I put Rosebud and everything about it behind me.”
“More than friends?” Her eyes glistened. “Even if you’dstayed in Rosebud, we’d never have been anything. We were barely friends. Your friends would’ve never allowed it.”
“Allowed what? For us to be friends? Or more than? My friends had no say in my relationships.” He took a watery step toward her.
“Are you sure? Seemed to me they had everything to say about your relationships. Who you hung out with, when and where. Every time we had study hall together, they pestered you to skip out. They barely spoke to me when we were together, forget when we weren’t.”
“Ginger, I could make up my own mind. Even then. They had no say. I asked you to the movies, didn’t I?”
She furrowed her brow, shrugging. “As a payback for math help.” She smoothed her sandy colored hair over her shoulder, and shoved her scarf into place. “We would’ve never been anything more.”
“If I wanted there to be more—”
A bold knock startled away the intimacy of their conversation and Tom opened to find Edward on the veranda, Scott and his four-wheel drive idling by the steps.
“We’ve come to rescue you.” Edward barged inside. “Passed the VW on our way . . .” He gave Tom the once over. “Man, what happened to you?”
“We tried to push the car out.” Tom followed Edward’s glance across the room where Ginger stood on the other side of the reading chairs.
“Ginger,” Edward said.
“Edward.”
“You know our boy here is starting a
Tom slipped out his phone, none the worse for the muddy wear, and rang Eric. Again, no answer. He tried Edward to no avail.
He offered up his silent phone to Ginger. “Guess I’m trekking.” Tom gestured to the fireplace. “I noticed firewood out back. Do you want—”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m an electric-heat-and-blankets girl all the way.”
“Right, sorry.” He reached for her hand, the one she didn’t hide under the sleeve of her sweater, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “If I had to be out on a cold, rainy night, I’m glad it was with you.” He stepped toward the door. “Good night.”
“Tom?”
“Yeah?”
“Why didn’t you call me? That night? To tell me you were leaving?”
With her questions, time peeled back, and he saw her waiting at her apartment for him to come. But he never did. “I didn’t know I was moving until I went home. Dad announced he’d resigned from the church and we weregoing to Atlanta. No debate, no questions, no argument. I was seventeen years old and my father had just destroyed my world.”
“Why didn’t you stay with your Granddaddy? Or one of your friends?”
“Dad refused. Insisted we move as a family. The night we packed up to go, Dad and I argued so much we almost threw punches. Then my sister came out of her room, hysterical, begging us to stop.” Ginger listened with her arms wrapped about her waist, the warm light of the homestead haloing her. “It scared me, humbled me, when I saw her pain. Then I saw the angst on my father’s face and I gave up my fight. I didn’t understand everything that was going on, or why we were heading out of town like bandits, but it had my dad, and mom, in knots. I’d never heard them so much as raise their voices to each other, but that night, they weren’t even speaking. Nevertheless, I still managed to be a major pain-in-the-backside. I barely spoke to him for two months after we moved. Though he tried really hard to make things right between us.” Tom winced at his confession. “Now I realize at the worst time in his life, his family was all he had and all he wanted.”
“Trust me, if you have family, you have everything.” She shivered but he wasn’t sure it was because of the cold, muddy water clinging to her jeans.
“I’m sorry I never called you, Ginger. Or e-mailed. You were my friend and deserved better. I thought maybe we’d become more than friends. But when we moved, I put Rosebud and everything about it behind me.”
“More than friends?” Her eyes glistened. “Even if you’dstayed in Rosebud, we’d never have been anything. We were barely friends. Your friends would’ve never allowed it.”
“Allowed what? For us to be friends? Or more than? My friends had no say in my relationships.” He took a watery step toward her.
“Are you sure? Seemed to me they had everything to say about your relationships. Who you hung out with, when and where. Every time we had study hall together, they pestered you to skip out. They barely spoke to me when we were together, forget when we weren’t.”
“Ginger, I could make up my own mind. Even then. They had no say. I asked you to the movies, didn’t I?”
She furrowed her brow, shrugging. “As a payback for math help.” She smoothed her sandy colored hair over her shoulder, and shoved her scarf into place. “We would’ve never been anything more.”
“If I wanted there to be more—”
A bold knock startled away the intimacy of their conversation and Tom opened to find Edward on the veranda, Scott and his four-wheel drive idling by the steps.
“We’ve come to rescue you.” Edward barged inside. “Passed the VW on our way . . .” He gave Tom the once over. “Man, what happened to you?”
“We tried to push the car out.” Tom followed Edward’s glance across the room where Ginger stood on the other side of the reading chairs.
“Ginger,” Edward said.
“Edward.”
“You know our boy here is starting a
Similar Books
