Read Online Daisy's Back in Town by Rachel Gibson - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rachel Gibson
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all-American boy, with his wavy blond hair, smiling brown eyes, and a Texas grin as if he hadn't a care in the world. He'd played football and basketball and been involved in student government, going on to be class president his senior year.
Daisy thumbed a few more pages and looked at Jack's yearbook photo. Unlike Steven, Jack never grinned and smiled as if he didn't have a care in the world. It wasn't that he was more serious than Steven, it was just that he didn't waste energy laughing and smiling when he didn't feel like it.
During that school year, he'd turned sixteen, a year older than Nathan was now. The two had the same dark coloring in hair and skin tone, and perhaps their noses were similar. She looked for other resemblances and found none.
That was also the year jack had quit football because his father needed him after school in the garage. Up until his sophomore year, jack had always been the first string quarterback. When he quit, Steven took over the position. As far as she recalled, he'd never had any hard feelings toward Steven, only a sadness that he could no longer play ball.
That was also the year she'd started to fall in love with him. Oh, she'd always loved Jack in the same way shed loved Steven, but it seemed that one moment she'd been looking at him as she always had, and in the next everything changed.
On that particular day, he'd been waiting for Steven to finish football practice, sifting on the tailgate of his daddy's old truck. She'd stayed after school to make posters for the homecoming dance and later saw him in the parking lot, sitting and watching instead of playing.
Perhaps it had been a trick of the light, an early fall sunset casting him in gold. She didn't know, but she'd noticed more than his usual good looks. More than his lashes that were longer than hers. More than the slight stubble on his jaw. More than his arms folded across his chest and the defined balls of his biceps and the hard cord of muscle of his forearms. Jack did not lift weights. He lifted car engines.
"Hey there," He said, and patted the tailgate next to him.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she sat. She placed her school books in her lap and looked out over the field as the Lovett Mustangs broke practice and the players jogged toward the locker room.
"Waiting for Steven."
"Do you miss playing, Jack?"
"Nah, but I miss the pretty girls." It was of course true that the football players did get the prettiest girls. But it wasn't true that just because he no longer played, he didn't get his share.
"Now you have to settle for the ugly ones," she teased and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Daisy, don't you know there aren't any truly ugly girls in Texas?"
He was so full of it. "Where'd you hear that?"
He shrugged. "It's just a fact. Like the Alamo and the Rio Grande, is all." He took her hand and brushed his thumb over her knuckles as he studied her fingers. "You'll still be seen with me, though, won't you?"
She turned her head and gazed more fully at him, all prepared with a flip answer, but he glanced up and something in his green eyes stopped her. For about half a second, she saw something, something in the way he looked back at her, something that made her think the answer was important to him. As if he wasn't sure. She got a surprising glimpse inside of Jack that she'd never seen before. Maybe things didn't bounce off him like he was superman. Maybe he felt things like everybody else. Maybe more.
Then he flashed her a smile and it was gone.
"Of course, Jack," she said. "I'll always be seen with you."
"I knew I could count on you, buttercup." For the first time, his voice slid inside her chest and warmed her up with hot tingles. It was all so incredible and fantastic and left her stunned. And it absolutely could not happen.
She couldn't fall in love with Jack. He was a friend, and she didn't want to lose him. But even if he wasn't her friend, she'd be an idiot to let it happen.
He
Daisy thumbed a few more pages and looked at Jack's yearbook photo. Unlike Steven, Jack never grinned and smiled as if he didn't have a care in the world. It wasn't that he was more serious than Steven, it was just that he didn't waste energy laughing and smiling when he didn't feel like it.
During that school year, he'd turned sixteen, a year older than Nathan was now. The two had the same dark coloring in hair and skin tone, and perhaps their noses were similar. She looked for other resemblances and found none.
That was also the year jack had quit football because his father needed him after school in the garage. Up until his sophomore year, jack had always been the first string quarterback. When he quit, Steven took over the position. As far as she recalled, he'd never had any hard feelings toward Steven, only a sadness that he could no longer play ball.
That was also the year she'd started to fall in love with him. Oh, she'd always loved Jack in the same way shed loved Steven, but it seemed that one moment she'd been looking at him as she always had, and in the next everything changed.
On that particular day, he'd been waiting for Steven to finish football practice, sifting on the tailgate of his daddy's old truck. She'd stayed after school to make posters for the homecoming dance and later saw him in the parking lot, sitting and watching instead of playing.
Perhaps it had been a trick of the light, an early fall sunset casting him in gold. She didn't know, but she'd noticed more than his usual good looks. More than his lashes that were longer than hers. More than the slight stubble on his jaw. More than his arms folded across his chest and the defined balls of his biceps and the hard cord of muscle of his forearms. Jack did not lift weights. He lifted car engines.
"Hey there," He said, and patted the tailgate next to him.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she sat. She placed her school books in her lap and looked out over the field as the Lovett Mustangs broke practice and the players jogged toward the locker room.
"Waiting for Steven."
"Do you miss playing, Jack?"
"Nah, but I miss the pretty girls." It was of course true that the football players did get the prettiest girls. But it wasn't true that just because he no longer played, he didn't get his share.
"Now you have to settle for the ugly ones," she teased and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Daisy, don't you know there aren't any truly ugly girls in Texas?"
He was so full of it. "Where'd you hear that?"
He shrugged. "It's just a fact. Like the Alamo and the Rio Grande, is all." He took her hand and brushed his thumb over her knuckles as he studied her fingers. "You'll still be seen with me, though, won't you?"
She turned her head and gazed more fully at him, all prepared with a flip answer, but he glanced up and something in his green eyes stopped her. For about half a second, she saw something, something in the way he looked back at her, something that made her think the answer was important to him. As if he wasn't sure. She got a surprising glimpse inside of Jack that she'd never seen before. Maybe things didn't bounce off him like he was superman. Maybe he felt things like everybody else. Maybe more.
Then he flashed her a smile and it was gone.
"Of course, Jack," she said. "I'll always be seen with you."
"I knew I could count on you, buttercup." For the first time, his voice slid inside her chest and warmed her up with hot tingles. It was all so incredible and fantastic and left her stunned. And it absolutely could not happen.
She couldn't fall in love with Jack. He was a friend, and she didn't want to lose him. But even if he wasn't her friend, she'd be an idiot to let it happen.
He
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