Page 59 of Keepsake
Parting her lips with my own, I got the first heady taste of her. All logic and reason fled the building as I took sip after sip of her mouth. Her grip tightened on my wet shirt as we lost ourselves to the hunger that had simmered between us since…I didn’t know when.
I didn’t even know my own name. All I knew was the ache she made me feel. The need. My hunger was like a devil on my shoulder, urging my hands to coast down her back, pulling her hips against my eager ones.
More of this would kill me. Calling upon the last tattered threads of my willpower, I broke our seal, my head thumping back against the doorframe. It wasn’t like me to feel so reckless. Maybe other people could afford to abandon all their self-control, but I never could.
“This keeps happening,” Lark whispered, her fingertip tracing my lower lip.
Because I’m weak, I thought, just as footfalls could be heard on the back steps.
Lark took a healthy step backward just as the door opened, admitting Ruth Shipley. “Hello!” she said, sounding winded. “You look even wetter than I am.”
“Sure is coming down out there,” Lark said, plucking the raincoat I’d worn off the floor. We’d tossed it there during our hasty make-out session.
“Visibility was terrible! I doubt I drove above thirty miles an hour.” Ruth took off her own coat. “What’s everyone up to?”
Finally I found my voice. “Griff is in the cider house. Dylan and May are doing homework.
She kicked off her boots and sidestepped me. “Oh, eggs! Thank you.”
It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about. I’d forgotten the darned eggs a half second after Lark smiled at me. “You’re welcome,” I said a beat too late.
Lark gave me a secretive smile, and then asked Ruth if she wanted any help starting dinner.
That night Judecame over after supper. He and Griff had hatched a plan to stay up late working on the bungalow’s kitchen cabinetry together before the plumbers came tomorrow to install the new sinks.
I told them I’d help, of course.
There were four of us working under the night sky. The rain stopped, so we set up the cabinet doors on sawhorses. Jude and I sanded while Griff and Kyle primed by the porch light.
“Listen, Zach,” Jude said as we worked together. “You helped me find my job, and I’m starting to think I can return the favor.”
“But I have a job?”For now.
“Yeah, but this one could be pretty great. My boss has a brother who lives in the Northeast Kingdom.” That was the most remote corner of Vermont, abutting Canada. “They have trouble with tractor maintenance, because there isn’t enough demand in any one town. Mr. Marker wants to set up a traveling repair service. Like a van full of tools and supplies.”
“But what about parts? There’d be no way to have the right stuff on hand in a van.”
“Maybe not for larger repairs,” Jude conceded. “But you always say that routine maintenance is key for tractors. I told Marker you’d be good at this—that you were the tractor whisperer.”
I snorted.
Jude grinned. “You should call him before someone else does.”
“Thanks, man.”
“What’s this?” Griff demanded from a few yards away, paintbrush in hand. “You’re poaching my best employee?”
“And I’m chopped liver?” Kyle teased. “Don’t you see me volunteering my time on a Sunday night? Where is the love?”
“The love is just inside the back door,” Griff said, jerking his chin in that direction.
Kyle set down his brush and disappeared for a moment. A hoot of joy could be heard before he reappeared with a six-pack of bottled beer in each hand. “There’s even some non-alcoholic stuff here for you, Jude.”
“That is nice,” Jude said, setting down his sanding block. “Pass me one? And Griff—you wouldn’t get in Zach’s way of doubling his income, would you?”
“Course not,” Griff said. “Zach knows I was only teasing. He’s gonna move up in the world pretty soon, anyway. And hey—if you took a mechanic’s job then mom would stop trying to enroll you in the GED program. So you should probably talk to Jude’s boss.”
I gave a grunt of acknowledgment. I didn’t know which option was worse, though. Struggling with a test or working by myself in the boonies. The Northeast Kingdom was comprised of the three least-populated counties in Vermont. Living alone in a trailer somewhere, driving around to fix strangers’ tractors? Shoot me.
