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Authors: Shana Norris
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for that,” I muttered.
“ But,” Aunt Lydia went on, “Jude Westmore is a little…troubled. I don’t know if he’s told you this, but his father walked out on his family years ago and then his brother passed away while deployed in Afghanistan last year.”
I nodded. “I know all of that. I mean, I’ve heard bits of it.”
“ His mother has a lot of problems ,” Aunt Lydia said. “Jude hasn’t exactly dealt with everything in his life in the best manner. He barely graduated high school. He gets into a lot of fights. There was an incident a couple months ago at the auto shop where he used to work. Some money went missing from the office and everyone thought Jude took it.”
I looked at Aunt Lydia. “What exactly are you trying to say? That I shouldn’t go to anymore tourist destinations with him?”
Aunt Lydia bit her lip. “I’m saying you should be careful. Jude is certainly not the kind of boy your parents would approve of, and believe me, Hannah, I remember what it’s like to be almost seventeen. I know the guy your parents don’t like is exactly the kind of guy you think you want. But the idea of the bad boy is sometimes better than the reality of him.”
“ I’m not dating him, Aunt Lydia. He just showed me around town. That’s it.”
“ Just be careful,” she said again, reaching over to pat my hand. “Sometimes people get hurt when Jude is around. I don’t want you to be one of them.”
“ I’m not some stupid girl who throws herself at the bad boy in town,” I said.
Aunt Lydia smiled. “That’s right, you’re not. You have everything going for you, Hannah. Next year you’ll be going off to Yale. I don’t want you to mess any of that up for some boy you don’t know.”
My head hurt at the thought of Yale and the applications I still hadn’t even looked at. Every time I thought about heading off to one of the Ivy League schools, my stomach churned like I might throw up. I had barely made it through my junior year with my sanity intact. I didn’t want to imagine my senior year striving to be the best and then four or more years at a high pressure college.
“ I won’t mess anything up,” I promised Aunt Lydia. “My mother would never let me live it down.”
Aunt Lydia gave me a sympathetic smile. “She just wants what’s best for you. We all do.” She looked at the clock, then back at me. “Your dad called about an hour ago. He really wants you to call him.”
I faked a yawn and stretched. “Maybe tomorrow. I’m tired from all that walking around today.”
Aunt Lydia frowned, but she said, “Okay. Good night.”
I stopped at the door and looked back at her. “How do you know so much about Jude anyway? Are you stalking him?”
Aunt Lydia laughed. “No, I get all my gossip from Ashton. During my breaks that girl talks my ears off about everyone in town. There’s nothing that goes on around here that she doesn’t know about.”
I said good night to Aunt Lydia and walked down the hall to my room. I wondered just how much Ashton knew about Jude.
CHAPTER NINE
“ What happened to you at the party the other night?” Ashton asked as she licked a trail of rocky road ice cream off her hand. “One minute you were there and the next you had disappeared.”
Ashton had come down from Aunt Lydia’s studio half an hour before saying that she needed to get out of the house so Aunt Lydia could work. She claimed it was one of Aunt Lydia’s “no contact days,” which apparently meant that the house had to be absolutely silent in order for her to focus. Ashton seemed confident that if we just got out of the house for an hour or two, she could actually paint something.
So we were at Mountain Dairy, where Kate worked scooping out dozens of different ice cream flavors.
I shrugged as we sat down at a little table in the corner. “I wasn’t feeling very well, so I left early.”
“ Did you walk all the way home?” Ashton asked, her eyes wide.
“
“ But,” Aunt Lydia went on, “Jude Westmore is a little…troubled. I don’t know if he’s told you this, but his father walked out on his family years ago and then his brother passed away while deployed in Afghanistan last year.”
I nodded. “I know all of that. I mean, I’ve heard bits of it.”
“ His mother has a lot of problems ,” Aunt Lydia said. “Jude hasn’t exactly dealt with everything in his life in the best manner. He barely graduated high school. He gets into a lot of fights. There was an incident a couple months ago at the auto shop where he used to work. Some money went missing from the office and everyone thought Jude took it.”
I looked at Aunt Lydia. “What exactly are you trying to say? That I shouldn’t go to anymore tourist destinations with him?”
Aunt Lydia bit her lip. “I’m saying you should be careful. Jude is certainly not the kind of boy your parents would approve of, and believe me, Hannah, I remember what it’s like to be almost seventeen. I know the guy your parents don’t like is exactly the kind of guy you think you want. But the idea of the bad boy is sometimes better than the reality of him.”
“ I’m not dating him, Aunt Lydia. He just showed me around town. That’s it.”
“ Just be careful,” she said again, reaching over to pat my hand. “Sometimes people get hurt when Jude is around. I don’t want you to be one of them.”
“ I’m not some stupid girl who throws herself at the bad boy in town,” I said.
Aunt Lydia smiled. “That’s right, you’re not. You have everything going for you, Hannah. Next year you’ll be going off to Yale. I don’t want you to mess any of that up for some boy you don’t know.”
My head hurt at the thought of Yale and the applications I still hadn’t even looked at. Every time I thought about heading off to one of the Ivy League schools, my stomach churned like I might throw up. I had barely made it through my junior year with my sanity intact. I didn’t want to imagine my senior year striving to be the best and then four or more years at a high pressure college.
“ I won’t mess anything up,” I promised Aunt Lydia. “My mother would never let me live it down.”
Aunt Lydia gave me a sympathetic smile. “She just wants what’s best for you. We all do.” She looked at the clock, then back at me. “Your dad called about an hour ago. He really wants you to call him.”
I faked a yawn and stretched. “Maybe tomorrow. I’m tired from all that walking around today.”
Aunt Lydia frowned, but she said, “Okay. Good night.”
I stopped at the door and looked back at her. “How do you know so much about Jude anyway? Are you stalking him?”
Aunt Lydia laughed. “No, I get all my gossip from Ashton. During my breaks that girl talks my ears off about everyone in town. There’s nothing that goes on around here that she doesn’t know about.”
I said good night to Aunt Lydia and walked down the hall to my room. I wondered just how much Ashton knew about Jude.
CHAPTER NINE
“ What happened to you at the party the other night?” Ashton asked as she licked a trail of rocky road ice cream off her hand. “One minute you were there and the next you had disappeared.”
Ashton had come down from Aunt Lydia’s studio half an hour before saying that she needed to get out of the house so Aunt Lydia could work. She claimed it was one of Aunt Lydia’s “no contact days,” which apparently meant that the house had to be absolutely silent in order for her to focus. Ashton seemed confident that if we just got out of the house for an hour or two, she could actually paint something.
So we were at Mountain Dairy, where Kate worked scooping out dozens of different ice cream flavors.
I shrugged as we sat down at a little table in the corner. “I wasn’t feeling very well, so I left early.”
“ Did you walk all the way home?” Ashton asked, her eyes wide.
“
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