Read Online The First Night by Sidda Lee Tate - Free Book Online Page B

her front porch. She stared at it for a minute, knowing it wasn’t there the night before. Beyond the flowers, something else that wasn’t there the night before—Gannon.
    A step back—she needed to take a step back. She needed time to process and weigh the options between what she wanted and what she needed. She knew opening the door would bring on something she was trying to avoid…complications. But in the past week, not being with him was bringing on another type of obstacle. One she was afraid she couldn’t beat. She knew that now.
    Kayla watched through the window as Gannon’s shoulders slumped, his hands jammed deep in to the front pockets of his jeans, and he moved toward his truck. He’s leaving. He’s leaving! He won’t be back. Her heart wrenched. No! Kayla tossed the book on the sofa, ran to the front door, and jerked it open. “Luke!”
    He turned at the sound of his old name. For several seconds, they both stood there facing each other, neither one certain what to say.
    “Thank you,” she said, stepping out of the doorway and on to the front porch, “for the flowers.”
    “You called me Luke.”
    Kayla nodded slowly. “Will you come in?”
    “I didn’t plan on you seeing me.”
    “But I did.”
    “I think it’s better if I leave.”
    “Better for who?”
    “You,” he answered, bringing his hand to his forehead to shade his eyes from the morning sun. “You were right before. You don’t need this.”
    “Will you come inside?” she asked again, clasping her hands to her chest, her best effort to keep her heart from bursting out. “Please?”
    A few long seconds ticked by as he considered her request. He was refusing her, and she felt her eyes begging for him not to.
    He stepped toward her, and relief rushed through her. She walked through the door. Gannon followed, closing the door behind him. Kayla sat on the couch next to the yearbook and watched as he took a seat in the reading chair across from her. She picked up the book, resting it in her lap. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”
    “Because.” He pointed to the book and snarled his face with disgust. “ That person in there, the one you remember, he’s not me.”
    “But it is you. I mean, you look different, and I have to admit I’m embarrassed I didn’t realize who you were. I knew you were familiar from the first time I saw you at Night . But as soon as I saw your picture in here,” she said, tapping the book, “everything about you came rushing back to me.”
    He furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand.”
    Her expression went serious and she gripped the book tighter. “How every day when we passed in the hall the only thing you ever said to me was ‘Hey, Kayla’ and how just the sound of your voice always made my day better. How I started taking a different route to class just so I could see your face.” She dropped her head, wiping a tear from her eye before it had a chance to fall. “I’m sorry. I feel like a complete idiot for not recognizing you.”
    “You shouldn’t. I changed everything about me to escape that person.”
    “Not your eyes. I loved the way they looked at me, as if I were the most important person in your world.” She met his gaze and realized he’d been looking at her just as she’d described since they’d reacquainted at Night and she had been too obsessed with not wanting someone else in her life to notice.
    He rubbed his face a few times then propped his elbows on his knees, letting his hands dangle between his legs. He sat silent, not looking at her, but keeping his stare on the window.
    Kayla went to him and combed her fingers across the top of his head. “One week ago, I thought there was no time in my life for someone else. And then I found you. Suddenly everything I thought I wanted was incomparable to what I realized I needed.” She took his hand and moved her head so that her eyes could lock with his. “Come with me.”
    She led him through the living room, down