Read Online Here & Now by Melyssa Winchester, Joey Winchester - Free Book Online Page B

few more minutes to get ready and he’ll meet you at the door.”
    “Did you tell him this was a really bad idea and that if he didn’t get rid of the limo you wouldn’t let me out?”
    Her eyes crinkle as she laughs and just like it did at the ravine with Dillon a few days ago, the same feeling pops up again. The now familiar ache to be able to hear what she sounds like when she does it. I’ve gotten to experience her doing it with my eyes from the day I was born, but to actually hear her, it’s going to be out of this world.
    “You should laugh more. It suits you.”
    “Well maybe it’s a good idea you stick around for the next few years and continue making me laugh.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    “In all seriousness,” she starts, moving over to my bed, sitting and waiting until I’m with her to start again. “Enjoy this. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. From what I know about Dillon, he’s not the flashy type. Let him give you this one night.”
    She has no idea what she’s even saying right now. I have a feeling that if I give Dillon this night, a whole lot more then dinner is going to happen and even though it should scare me, I’m actually looking forward to finding out if I’m right.
    If she had a clue that this was even a thought in my head, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be making it out the door tonight. I can’t imagine there being a girl alive that ever has an easy time of it, even when the guy is someone as trustworthy as Dillon’s been since we started dating.
    “This is awkward for me, Mom. I get why he wants to do it and it’s sweet, but it’s too much.”
    “What was it that I told you last year about a man when he’s in love?”
    “That he doesn’t do anything rational or right?”
    “Yeah, that sounds about right. So tonight just remember that and you’ll get through it easily. He’s doing this because of the way he loves you. I get the feeling with all of the time you’ve spent apart over the last few months, he’s trying to make up for lost time.”
    Could that be what this is really about? Does Dillon feel like he owes me something because he followed a great opportunity to play football at a school that was willing to pay his way? Is that what I set in motion when I forced his hand to go?
    “He doesn’t need to make up for anything.”
    “I agree. So get your butt downstairs and tell the boy that, Cadence. He’s the one that really needs to hear it.”
    Standing from the bed, she motions with her hand to the door and I follow her out, both of us paused at the top, the smile from earlier still plastered across her face with no signs of lessening.
    If I didn’t know any better I would think she was more excited for this date than I was.
    “You just want to see him react to the dress, don’t you?”
    “Have you always been a mind reader or is that a skill you’ve picked up recently?”
    “Had it all my life.”
    She laughs again, her whole body moving as she does and even though I still think this entire night is over the top, the way she’s reacting, trying her best to put me at ease, it lessens the focus I’ve been putting on it.
    “Can’t blame a mom for wanting to see a boy go speechless at the sight of her beautiful daughter. It’s been a long time since your father did it for me.”
    “Maybe I’m not the only one that needs to tell someone something.” I reply with a smile, letting a couple of beats of silence pass between us before sticking my tongue out and making a break for the stairs.
    The doorbell rings almost the minute I slow down and wrap my hand around the handle and wasting no time, knowing that it’s Dillon the other side, I swing it open and seeing him and that smile, the way his hair is styled back and out of his face, I get what my mom was trying to do upstairs.
    She saw the way he was dressed when she went out to the limo, so she knew what I was going to be confronted with the minute he came to get me. From the black suit with