Read Online Righting a Wrong (A Ripple Effect Romance Novella) by Rachael Anderson - Free Book Online Page B

looked a little less hideous. “You could always paint the cabinets black and make it Halloween-ish since you love that holiday so much,” she teased again. Jace had once made the mistake of telling her that he hated Halloween and all the gruesome costumes that came with it. From that point forward, she’d shown up on his doorstep every October 31, wearing the most hideous costume she could come up with.
    Jace leaned against the counter and folded his arms. “I should enlarge some of those pictures of you in that Joker costume to hang on the wall.” Thinking about it still gave him the heebie geebies. The blackened eyes, the white, crackled face, the bright red lips that bled beyond the point where lips should bleed. And her hair—all scraggly and oily looking.
    “I used to dress up as a princess or maid or movie star,” said Cambri with a wistful smile. “But then I got to know you and … things changed.”
    “I’ll say. I brought out the worst in you.”
    Cambri looked down and picked at the corner of the counter, where a bit of laminate had come loose. “Maybe when it came to Halloween costumes. But otherwise I really liked myself when I was with you. With everyone else, I always felt like I had to say the right thing, look the right way, and fit the right image. But with you, I could be goofy, stupid, ugly, and silly, and I knew you wouldn’t care. You liked me no matter what.”
    She peeked at him in a hesitant way, and a palpable energy filled the space between them. Why did you leave then? Why didn’t you return my calls? Why didn’t you keep in touch? And why did you kiss me back? Because she had. It had been tentative at first, but then her fingers were in his hair and her lips moving hard and hungry against his. For a brief moment, Jace had felt like he’d somehow managed to get the one girl he never really believed he could ever get.
    But then Cambri froze, slowly backed away, and asked him to drive her home. Two days later, she’d left town and that was that. No explanation, no goodbye, nothing. Just gone.
    The feelings of way back when slammed into Jace once again, feeling fresh and raw. Six years, and he still hadn’t put it behind him. Six years, and she could still make him feel this way. His jaw clenched in frustration.
    “Listen, Jace.” Cambri was back to picking at the laminate with her fingernail. “I know this is long overdue, but I owe you an apology.”
    Jace swallowed. “No need. It’s all water under the bridge now.”
    Her head shook. “Maybe for you it is, but not for me. It never has been. I know I have no right to ask you anything, but I’d really appreciate it if you’d hear me out.” She paused. “Please.”
    With a sigh, Jace dropped down on a barstool and nodded.
    The mole to the side of her lips twitched a moment, and then she began. “When Mom died, everything changed, including Dad. He went from being the person who stayed out of my way and let Mom deal with me to someone who was always in my way. Nothing I did seemed to satisfy him. He hated that I was a cheerleader. He didn’t like my friends—except you, of course. And when I started talking about going across the country to school, he got after me about that too. He couldn’t understand why I wanted to go to Penn State over CSU. It didn’t matter that Penn State had the program I wanted to attend and CSU didn’t. And the more he pushed, the more stifled I felt.”
    She shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. “Then there was you. My best friend. The one person in my life who never pushed and always wanted what was best for me. You even helped me research colleges and landscape architect programs, remember?”
    He remembered. Remembered inwardly cringing when Penn State gradually rose to the top of her wish list. But Jace had never said anything to discourage her. If that’s where she wanted to go, he’d help her get there.
    “But then you kissed me.” She looked so troubled, even confused.