Samantha Young - Out of The Shallows.pdf

(788 KB) Pobierz
Out of the Shallows
Into the Deep – 2
Samantha Young
1
Lanton August 2013
The heady scent of flowers filled the room. These days it clung to everything. Even after I washed my
hands a dozen times, they still smelled as if I’d doused them in floral perfume.
“That’s pretty.”
I turned from the arrangement of red roses and white lilies to find Claudia gesturing to it. I glanced
back at the flowers. “I think I’m getting the hang of it. Finally.”
“Whose it for?”
“It’s Hub’s. For his wife. Their fifteenth anniversary.”
Claudia nodded. “Heart of mush underneath that bear-like exterior, huh?”
I grinned. Hub owned the local diner in my small hometown of Lanton, Indiana. He was a huge guy
with an even huger beard and gruff demeanor, and I could see why non-locals might find him slightly
intimidating. But Claud was right. Hub was all heart. “He placed this order over a month ago. That is
not a man who forgets his anniversary.”
My friend smiled and then gestured behind her into the store front of my mother ’s florist shop. “I
rearranged the shop window like you asked.”
Delia’s was the only florist in town, and although Lanton wasn’t huge, she kept fairly busy. She’d had
a mold issue in the back room where I was working on floral arrangements, but after spending
money my parents really couldn’t afford to spend to fix it, Delia’s was up and running again.
If only I could be one hundred percent positive that Delia, my actual mom, was up and running too.
“Thanks. If I don’t tell you enough, I really appreciate you being here.” Once Claudia had finished at
the University of Edinburgh, she’d rushed back to the States, suitcase in tow, and moved in with my
parents and me. She’d been here the whole summer, helping us out during one of the worst times of
my family’s life.
“You can stop saying that now. I might have to hurt you if you don’t.”
I smirked. “Fine.”
Claudia frowned as she glanced around us. “Uh… where is Delia Mom, anyway?”
Mom was at the cemetery. It was becoming a regular hang out for her. I found myself hunching back
over the arrangement as I murmured, “Where else?”
“Ah. Okay.” Claudia sighed. “So, Lowe called me this morning.”
I didn’t answer.
“He says he’s tried calling you.”
Shrugging with more nonchalance than I felt, I said, “I know. I just… I haven’t spoken to Jake, so I
don’t think it’s right if I speak to Lowe.”
“Lowe’s your friend.”
“No, Lowe is Jake’s friend. I’ve hurt Jake enough without confiding in his friend when I won’t
confide in him.”
I reached for more filler foliage. Claudia’s hand curled around mine, stopping me. “The arrangement
is done.”
Turning to her, I said, “I get the feeling you want to talk.”
“Charley, school starts back up in a week. Are you ready?”
“No. But I’m trying to be.”
“We’re going back to the old apartment, and it’s senior year so we’ll have tons on our plates to keep
us busy. You’ll get to see Alex again, too. This will be good.”
I looked away, worrying my lip between my teeth. After a moment of silence, I said softly, “Do you
really think they’re okay for me to go? Mom still visits the cemetery every day and Dad… he’s still
mad at me.”
Claudia’s eyes were filled with sympathy but I could also see determination in them. “Maybe Delia is
still visiting the cemetery but that doesn’t mean she’s not good. She’s much better, Charley. She can
cope on her own here now. And Jim… he loves you. He’ll come around when you come around.”
“Don’t,” I warned, definitely not wanting to walk into that territory.
She held her hands up in surrender. “I won’t. But are you ever planning on talking to Jake again?”
I glowered at her. “What is this? Piss-Off-Charley Day?”
“No, this is ‘It’s time to get back to normal and start facing up to the decisions you’ve made these last
few months Day.’ Such as the one you made regarding a certain Jacob Caplin?”
A familiar pain sliced across my chest, but I refused to give into it. Instead I brushed past Claud to
grab a broom and started on the back room floor. “Then no, I don’t plan on talking to Jake again. It’s
over. We’re just going to leave it at that.”
Claudia inhaled sharply. “You’re just going to leave him hanging, wondering where it all went
wrong?” She sounded horrified. Guilt crashed over me.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin