Page 67 of The Promise Of Rain

I shrugged.“Let them talk.”

She scoffed.“Easy for you to say.”

“No, Jenny, it’s not easy at all.But you’re not on your own anymore.”

My mind flickered to Miller and Maxine.Baxter and Maggie were back in her life.Ansel had always been there, and of all people, my grandmother adored her.

She didn’t see, but I did.

“I’m not sure you ever were.”

13

Up in Flames

Jenny

I kept my promise and didn’t backtrack, but moving forward was painstakingly slow for both of us.

And for entirely different reasons.

Deacon wanted my trust.In him.And in us.

He wanted to take me to The Loose Moose for dinner, out for coffee and shopping in Peppergrove, and away for the weekend to Mistlevale.

He was even willing to attend Frostival, Moose Lake’s winter festival, with Miller, Baxter and the rest of the gang, the same people he avoided like the plague when we were new.

Worst of all, he was making plans to have dinner with his brothers.

And hoped to include his parents at some point.

All of which gave me a bad case of emotional hives.

As for me, I wanted his body over mine.

Desperately.

But every time we got close, he pulled back.

One day, he picked me up from work and took me out for dinner and to the movies in Peppergrove.

Another day, we went to the mall where we exchanged my coat for a new pair of boots, a gift I didn’t want to accept.

On Sundays, we visited Ansel and Darlene at St.Michael’s, and we spent another wildly fun Monday in Sage Ridge where we took more pictures than I could count.

After each, he dropped me off at home.

Sometimes he came in, sometimes he didn’t, but at no time did he attempt to touch me.

Nor did he take me to his place.

I wanted to move on to the next level, but not in my safe space.To make that kind of memory there?It would haunt me when things fell apart.

If they fell apart.

Tonight was different.

Other than the bonfire, Frostival was not my favourite of Moose Lake’s festivals.It was cold, it was dark, and it was heavily geared toward couples and families.