Page 40 of Butterfly Sisters
Colton seemed pleased that he’d been able to make her happy. And she suddenly wondered: the chicken curry, the pie—had he thought of her when he’d bought it all? She dared not even consider it, given the state of her life right now. Plus, Rose Thompson had said he threw dinner parties. Perhaps he was always prepared…
After lunch, Colton gathered their plates and set them in the sink. “What’s the verdict? Pie or no pie?”
“I’m gonna be really sorry I said this later,” she said, partly because she’d miss out on the pie but mostly because she wished they could spend more time together, “but I’m just too full to have any. The chicken curry was so good that I cleaned my plate.”
“I see,” he said, nodding toward the empty dish in the sink. “Another time then,” he said, giving her stomach a lurch of excitement at the thought of spending more time with him. “I want to show you something,” he said with a sparkle in his eye. “I just put it up this morning. It’ll be perfect for relaxing with all this curry in our bellies.”
He led her out to the back deck with Elvis on their heels. Along the side of the deck with the stone fireplace, he’d hung a massive two-person hammock from posts on either end of the decking.
“Oh wow,” she said, running her hand along the thick rope of it.
“You first.” He motioned for her to hop on.
Leigh climbed onto the hammock as he held it still. Then he went over to the fireplace, grabbed a pack of matches off the mantle, and lit the logs, a flicker starting at the bottom and swelling upward. When he’d gotten onto the hammock beside her, he clasped his fingers and put them behind his head, his body so close that she could’ve curled herself around him if she’d wanted to.
“Know why I put this here?” he asked as they lay under an electric-blue sky.
“Why?” she obliged.
He nodded toward the view. “For that.”
Leigh turned her attention past the glass on the edge of the deck. She could see all the way to the lake, the sun sparkling off its surface like diamonds.
“You can literally lie here looking at that until you fall asleep.”
“Mmm,” she said, her troubles almost melting away.
He turned his head to make eye contact, his dark eyes finding hers. “I wondered about you over the years,” he admitted.
She tried not to acknowledge the flutter in her chest at his confession.
He peered out at the view. “Can I confess something?”
“Of course.”
“I had grand plans for us that last summer before we turned eighteen.”
She twisted toward him, the hammock ropes creaking. “You did?”
“Yep.” He smiled a knowing smile. “I was gonna make a move and kiss you.”
Happiness bubbled up. “Youdidkiss me.”
“Out of desperation! You dropped the bomb that you were leaving. I figured I’d better do it right then or chance wondering for the rest of my life what your kiss felt like.”
“How was it?” she teased.
“Freaking amazing. I mean, better than Mary-Jo Sanders and Sharon Easton—the other two girls I’d kissed by then.”
Leigh laughed. She’d missed his wit and lighthearted banter. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I really am.”
But then he sobered. “I remember holding in my sadness that last day with you—I thought I’d never meet another girl like you.”
“Ah, I’ll bet you did.”
He smiled but didn’t answer, leaving her to wonder. As much of a disaster as she felt she was at this moment, and as different as the two of them were, she wanted to hear his response. “May I ask you something—seriously?”
“Absolutely.”
