Page 37 of Home Between Homes

“How late is it?” I asked. “We’re going to miss midnight if we don’t turn on the TV.”

“All the more reason to keep listening to Side B.” He let go of me and hopped over to the sideboard to turn the record to the other side.

The crackling started again, and after three seconds, the orchestra filled the room with a slow, romantic mood.

Jack jumped back to me and lifted his arm again so we could get back into our dancing position. I put my hand in his and my arm around his hips.

“Before I forget to tell you, Jack,” I said as we moved to the music. “I want to thank you—not just for opening up but for this entire week. Spending this time with you has been... wonderful. I wish it could go on forever.”

Jack smiled at me. “I enjoyed it, too.”

As I stared into his wide eyes, I wished for nothing more than for him to ask me to stay here in Seastone with him. But life wasn’t one of Mrs. Candice’s books. We weren’t two cowboys who could do whatever they wanted. It just didn’t work that way. He had a job to get back to. I had to pay off my debts. It was better to leave it at that for now.

He brought his lips to mine and kissed me. Not as deep as when the two cowboys were finally reunited. This wasn’t that moment. This was the moment before reality was about to hit us in the face and tear us apart.

If I hadn’t known that our time together was going to end in less than twenty hours, I would have told Jack thatI loved him. That was how I truly felt.

I laid my head on Jack’s chest again.

The moment was fleeting, but it was still there. Once the storm was over, I had enough time to cry.

We swayed left and right.

“I love this song, even though I’ve never heard it before,” Jack said.

I lifted my head from his chest and looked into his eyes. They were so warm and full of compassion for me. Everything in me wanted to believe that this was his way of letting me know he loved me, too. But that he couldn’t say it, just like I couldn’t.

We smiled at each other like two love-drunk fools.

“I love it, too,” I whispered.

It didn’t matter that the words remained unspoken. It was probably for the best because it would only make whatever came when we woke up tomorrow harder.

As the song reached its climax, we kissed once more, and as the silence between the two pieces fell, we leaned our foreheads against each other.

A single trumpet announced the beginning of a new song.

We danced through the rest of the set without saying another word. Only when fireworks lit up the sky above Seastone did we realize it was midnight.

My head was still on his chest, even though the record had ended five minutes earlier. But as the distant boom of the pyrotechnics someone had shot into the sky rippled through the night, we let go of each other.

“I guess it’s time,” Jack said. “Happy New Year, Noah.”

I smiled at him, not because I was happy but because I hoped it would cheer us up. He glanced at my lips. It took him three seconds to copy my expression.

“Happy New Year,” I whispered back.

ELEVEN

AFTER THE STORM

The ringingof the McCormac’s landline woke me from my sleep. The blanket Jack and I had shared was wrapped around my waist, leaving my legs exposed to the cold air while my upper body was covered as if someone had wanted to make sure I didn’t freeze. My eyes strayed out the window to a dark blue sky with a faint yellow glow on the horizon.

Another ring echoed through the house.

I sat up.

Jack lay on his back, completely uncovered and still naked. To this day, he spent every night like that, as if to prove that he really didn’t get cold. I put my hand on his chest to feel his skin, and he was warm as if he lived in a magical alternate world where it was summer.

---