Page 35 of Something Tattered
"Not you," he said. "Me."
"What?"
He flashed me a grin. "You're just the passenger. Remember?"
I stared up at him. The sentiment was so sweet, it was enough to melt my heart. Would he really risk that? For me? A girl he hardly knew?
From the look on his face, he would.
But this realization only stiffened my resolve. There was no way I'd let him take such a risk, and I flat-out told him so. And then, I glanced around, wondering how on Earth I'd tell Cassie that I wasn't coming.
I was still wondering when my gaze landed on the tall, narrow outbuilding that my dad used to call the lighthouse. It wasn'ttrulya lighthouse, but it sure looked like one.
The building wasn't round, but itwasthree stories high, with a two-car garage on the bottom, a small guest house on the second floor, and my dad's studio on the very top.
Back when I'd been a kid, my dad used to paint out there for hours. But it wasn't the upper level that had my attention now. It was the lowest one, the garage – and more to the point, what it contained.
I felt my lips curve into a smile. Maybe we couldn't take the Camaro. But wecouldtake something, even if I wasn't technically supposed to.
Chapter 16
When I walked through the front entrance of T.J.'s, Cassie rushed forward to greet me. "Oh, my God!" she squealed, wrapping me in a sloppy hug. "You actually made it!"
Laughing, I said, "Yeah, I took the long way, like thereallong way." I pulled back to give her an epic eye-roll. "Don't ask."
Around us, the place was absolutely packed. Like most of the buildings in the small downtown area, T.J.'s wasn't huge. But from what I could see, it more than made up for it in sheer energy.
The music was loud and boisterous, classic rock, courtesy of a live band performing on a raised platform near the far wall. In front of the band, a few dozen people were crowded onto a tiny dance floor, moving in time with the music.
I looked around in amazement. It was like every square inch of the place was packed with people. They were everywhere – standing in front of the long wooden bar off to my left, occupying the few small tables directly in front of us, and crammed into half-a-dozen oversized booths, located to the right of the dance floor.
Zooming in on one booth in particular, I felt my face break into a huge, stupid grin. The booth was overflowing, not only with people, but with colorful balloons and long, yellow streamers, hanging from the dark ceiling.
I turned to Cassie. "Oh, wow. You decorated?"
She smiled. "Not just me. All of us."
I looked back to the booth and felt my eyes grow misty. I saw Dorothy the Librarian, laughing with three of my oldest friends from high school. I also spotted a few newer acquaintances, mostly people I'd met over the last few months, since I'd started working part-time at Cassie's Cookie Shop.
I was so touched, I almost didn't know what to say. The friends from high school, in particular, were a huge surprise, because none of them were living in town anymore, or at least, not usually, since they'd all gone away to college.
At one time, I'd been away at college, too, but this was no time to dwell on my interrupted education. My friends hadn't yet spotted me, and this gave me the chance to savor the surprise, watching their familiar faces as they talked and laughed with each other across the long booth.
Were they all here for me? Just to celebrate my birthday?
My smile faded as a sad realization hit home. I'd keptallof these people waiting, and not only for a few minutes. I turned back to Cassie and said, "I amsosorry I'm late. I don't know what to say."
She laughed. "Don't say anything. It's fine."
I gave her an apologetic look. "But I'm so late. Believe me, if I'd only known…"
She poked me in the ribs. "You weren'tsupposedto know."
"But–"
She gave me another poke. "You know, I can do this all night, right?"
Laughing now, I tried to squirm away. "But whywouldyou?"
