Page 74 of This Time Around
“You could always stay,” Allie offered. “Once I get the B&B back up and running, I’ll still need the help.”
“Thanks. I’ll think about it. But I kinda want to venture out on my own, you know? Be open to new experiences, new jobs, new people?”
Allie nodded and turned to the cupboard filled with pots and pans, grateful she had more eggs and an abundance of good skillets in her grandma’s kitchen.
But mostly grateful she’d avoided Skye’s question. The one about what she wanted. She wanted Jack, plain and simple. Wanted him so much she practically ached with it.
And that was a scary place to be.
“Okay, you little bastards,” Allie muttered an hour later. “Time to get serious.”
She shoved one last battery into the eighties-era boom box and jammed the flap closed. Tucking the oversized stereo under one arm, she turned and crawled down through the attic door. This was the first time she’d been up here since Friday, and she knew she’d been avoiding it on purpose. Part of her didn’t want to look at the money, didn’t want to think about what she should do with it. Part of her was afraid to open any more boxes, not sure what the hell else she might find.
Most of her just wasn’t sure what to do, at least not about the money.
But she had an idea what to do to make her grandma’s house better, so she’d focused on that.
As she made her way down the ladder, she felt her ankle wobble. She was almost to the bottom and tried to jump the rest of the way, but two hands grabbed her shoulders and steadied her.
“Careful there, Albatross!”
Wade’s voice was as familiar as his hands on her arms, though neither gave her chills the way Jack did. But it was good to have him here now, especially since it meant she hadn’t fallen the last twelve inches to the ground. As her feet touched the floor, she pulled the boom box to her chest and turned to face her friend.
“Thanks,” she said. “I probably need a spotter if I’m going to keep using that ladder.”
“You probably need a neon pink Members Only jacket and some Aqua Net hairspray.”
“What? Oh, you mean the boom box?”
Wade slid a finger over the cassette buttons and gave a low whistle. “That thing is vintage. Were you planning to stand outside someone’s window blasting a Peter Gabriel song?”
Allie laughed and brushed a dust bunny off her shirt. “You’re not too far off the mark, actually.”
“Oh yeah? Wait, don’t tell me—you’re heading to Jack’s house so you can serenade him with the song you danced to at your high school prom.”
“No. I’m taking it out on the back deck to try a new strategy for getting rid of the damn woodpeckers.”
Wade quirked an eyebrow. “My idea was more romantic.”
“I don’t need romance right now.” She fiddled with the buttons on the tape deck. “I need the woodpeckers to stop making holes in the house.”
“Maybe when you’re done, I can borrow that sometime.”
“What for?” Allie started down the hall, slowing so he could fall into step beside her. He did, and they stomped down the stairs together.
“Skye told me this story last night about the guy who broke her heart in high school,” Wade said. “Dumped her right in the middle of a slow dance to some Coldplay song. I thought it might be cool to surprise her sometime, maybe show up with a corsage and ask her to finish the dance with me.”
Allie glanced over to see him grinning like a love-drunk teenager. She couldn’t help but feel happy for him, even though her own romance was a little less mushy at the moment.
It was almost noon, and she still hadn’t heard a peep from Jack.
“I think the slow dance sounds cute,” she said. “Cheesy, but cute.”
“Good cheesy or just cheesy cheesy?”
The thought of Jack and cheese made her think of last night’s wine and cracker party, along with everything that happened afterward. She found herself smiling for real, so she flashed it at Wade as they reached the bottom of the stairs and turned right. “Good cheesy. I take it you’re here to see Skye?”
“Yeah, she’s just getting ready,” he said. “We’re going to brunch someplace in the Pearl District. Then we’re checking out an exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.”
