Dark Secrets (27 page)

“
Don’t flatter
yourself.”

He laughed for a
second, then became all stern; “But, seriously, Ara? Please don’t
set me up with this friend of yours. I’m in a difficult place right
now with matters of the heart. I’d rather not drag anyone else into
that. Okay?”

“
Sure thing.” But I
knew he’d change his mind when he saw her.

The fresh scent of Mr
Warner’s cut grass next door mixed with the lemony fragrance of
Vicki’s bathroom cleaner, and the sound of the vacuum cleaner down
the hall sent a warm pang of calm through me. I smoothed my hands
over the unruffled bedcovers on top of me, remembering my
irrational but normal dreams. I wondered how today could seem so
perfectly sunny and bright when yesterday, despite the weather
being the same, my whole life had felt grey and stormy.

With a hint of a skip
in my step, I leaped out of bed and stood right in front of my open
window, drawing a breath of the fresh, cool morning air. It wasn’t
even nine o’clock yet, but I wanted nothing more than to be up and
a part of the day.

When my crappy old
phone bleeped, I dove onto my bed and opened my messages;
Can I come see you today? It’s David, by the
way.

An invisible
paintbrush swerved across my lips, bringing them up on both
corners. I texted back:
Are you kidding?
Of course you can.

Didn’t want to seem
overeager.

Be there in
five
, he texted back.

My eyes went wider,
taking in my ultra messy room. I scooped my clothes off my floor in
one big pile and threw them in the laundry basket, then shook my
quilt over my bed and sprayed deodorant all around my room, waving
a hand through the scented cloud to rid the stench of depression
from within the walls.

“
Vicki?” I called,
grabbing my doorframe to lean out into the hall.

“
Yes,
dear?”

“
I’ve got a friend
coming over, okay?”

“
Okay.” I heard the vacuum cleaner start up again, relieved
she didn’t ask if it was a
boy
friend or a
girl
friend. I wasn’t ready to tell her I had a
boyfriend
yet.

I shut my bedroom door
to get changed, but as I lifted my shirt, heard a high-pitched
yowling echo in the street below. Hanging from the old oak tree in
the backyard, a fat grey body swung from side to side, flailing
around in an attempt to free its paw from a branch.

“
Stupid cat.” I
laughed, pulling my top back on as I burst through my
door.

“
Hey, princess.” Dad
passed me on the stairs. “Where’re you running off to in such a
hurry?”

“
Vicki’s dumb cat’s
got itself stuck in the tree.”

“
Ara to the rescue,
huh?”

“
Again.” I passed
through the forbidden formal room, pushed the back door open and
leaped off the porch, landing on the dewy grass. But instead of
climbing up a tree, stopped dead at the sight of every sunrise that
ever brought day, standing in my backyard, holding a very
sorry-looking grey fluffball.

“
David?”

“
He’s fine,” he said,
tucking Skittles’ lashing tail into the hold as we met under the
tree.

“
Oh, my knight in
shining armour. You saved my baby.” I took the cat from him, then
squeezed the tip of its paw to inspect the claws.

“
He’s just a little
embarrassed, I think.”

“
He should be.” I
cradled the cat close to my face; he was still growling in the back
of his throat, not at all amused to be held like a baby. “Silly
kitty.”

David smiled fondly at
me.

When I released my
hold on the cat, he bolted over the hedge fence—into the front
yard.

“
How did you sleep
last night?” David asked, running a finger down my arm.

“
Laying down,” I said, and David laughed. “No, in all
seriousness, I actually did
sleep
. No joke. And I had normal
dreams.”

“
Then my work here is
done.” He took a step away, then turned back, wedging his hands in
his pockets. “Kidding.”

“
Not funny.” I
slapped his chest, noting that small indent between his pecs. I
just wanted to keep my hand there, against his plain white
T-shirt.

He grabbed it as I
pulled away, and brushed his lips across my knuckles. “You don’t
have to be afraid to touch me, Ara.”

Oh, my heart. Will it
ever beat again?
I smiled and slowly
reached up to his face; it felt silky, warm under my fingertips,
with just a tiny hint of regrowth breaking the skin around his chin
and upper lip. “It looks good.”

“
What
does?”

“
You. Clean-shaven. I
like it.”

He gave a short,
breathy laugh, and placed his hands on my hipbones. “So, how are
you feeling today? After everything we talked about
yesterday.”

“
I’m really good. I
mean, I still hurt inside, all the time, and I never stop thinking
about them, but—” I shrugged.

“
It will get easier.”
David ducked his head a little so our eyes met in perfect
alignment. “You will always think about them, but I can promise you
that missing them will get easier.”

“
How do you know so
much about this stuff?”

“
I’ve suffered a lot
of loss in my life.” He nodded smoothly and looked away. “But, I
find more people to love and make my life about them.”

As our eyes met again,
his warmed with a soft, simple smile.

“
If you’d told me
that a week ago, I might not’ve believed you.”

“
But you do
today?”

I nodded, resting both
hands flat on the front of his chest, my elbows touching his ribs.
I needed to stand on my toes a little to feel like he could hear me
talk without my having to yell, but that only made my lips come up
to his chin; not close enough to lean forward and steal a kiss.
“I’m glad my dad told you, David—about my mom. I think I’ve decided
I’m not going to yell at him. I mean, he was just doing what he
thought was best for me, right?”

“
He didn’t really
mean to tell me, Ara. That wasn’t his intention. I lead him into
it.”

My smile twisted up
with a frown and I shook my head. “Is that why he gave you the
touch-my-daughter-and-you-die speech?”

David’s eyes narrowed
a little as he cleared his throat. “He never gave me that
speech.”

“
But, in History
class, he—you said he—”

He shook his head
once, a suppressed grin creeping up into his eyes. “I
lied.”

I dropped my arms to
my sides. “I told my dad off, you know, for giving you that speech?
And worse, he played along. How could you two just conspire against
me like that?”

David laughed aloud,
tilting his head back so his canines showed. “I’m sorry.” He shook
his head, failing to subdue his amusement. “I shouldn’t laugh. But
you’re just so funny when you get on a heated rant. I love it when
you do that.” He pointed to my hands wedged firmly on my hips; I
dropped them.

“
So
what
was
my dad
saying that day?”

“
He asked me to keep
an eye on you, since I already knew why you were here, and you had
apparently taken a liking to me.” He combed a fingertip though my
hair and swept it back behind my ear. “And I told him I had
absolutely no intention of letting you out of my sight.”

Hmph! “Well, it’s nice
to know he approves of you. But how’d he know I liked
you?”

“
Something about
sultanas and grapes?” David’s dark brows pulled
together.

I laughed, thinking of
Dad’s weird teacher lingo. And then, so many other things suddenly
seemed to fit together, like a three dimensional puzzle that I
assumed was only two. “So, when you said you didn’t know he was my
dad, that day after History class?”

David’s smile slipped
away. “He asked me to keep it from you that I even knew your
name.”

I nodded slowly. “I
wondered how you knew it was
Ara-Rose
—in the library, because no
one here knew that until after History class. You sneaky little
thing.” I pointed at him.

He reached down and
took only my fingertips in his delicate grasp. “I’m sorry I
deceived you. I meant no ill intent.”

“
It’s in the past,
David.”

“
So, you’re not still
mad at me?”

“
I’m incapable of
being mad at you. Well, for long anyway.” I smiled, drawing my
shoulder up to my ear. “I’m glad you talked to my dad. If you
hadn’t, we’d never’ve met, and I would’ve wished every day that we
did.”

“
Not possible. You’re
not the kind of girl I could ever just pass in the street, Ara. I
would’ve seen you eventually, and it would only have been a matter
of time until I made myself a part of your life after that.” He
cupped his hand over the side of my neck. “Tragic past or none, we
would’ve ended up friends.”

“
Ara-Rose!” a
high-pitched and rather cross voice called from behind. Vicki stood
on the back porch, her hand on her hip, still clutching a
dishcloth. “Get some clothes on, please.”

“
Oh my God!” I
covered my chest with my forearms. “Why didn’t you tell me I was
still in my pyjamas?”

David grinned, looking
at my tiny pink shorts and white tank top. “Relax. You look
adorable.”

“
Adorable?” I said,
making myself smaller. “I’m not even wearing a bra.”

He took my hand and we
walked toward the house. “Yes, I noticed that.”

“
What’s this one?”
David called out.

“
What’s what one?” I
called back from my wardrobe.

“
The playlist called
Mike
?”

“
Hey! Are you
snooping through my iPod?”

“
Of
course.”

My eyes
narrowed.

“
So, why do you have
a playlist named for a guy?”

“
Oh, it’s just all
the music that makes me think of him. You know, the fun we had,
that kind of thing.” I shrugged and shimmied out of my bed
shorts.

“
Should I be worried? There’s no
David
list.”

“
Not yet.” I smiled to myself, glad I saved that one as
Night Fantasy
—deliberately leaving off the K.

“
Hm, this
Night Fantasy
one looks awfully suspicious.” I could actually
hear the grin in his tone; I wanted to throw something at
him.

“
Hey, don’t look at
that list.” I pulled my dress over my head quickly.

“
There are a lot of
sad songs on here, Ara. I hope this isn’t my playlist.”

“
What if it is?” I
said, stepping back out into my room.

My gorgeous boyfriend
docked the iPod and a
‘David’
song came on. “Because it gives me the impression
that you think I don’t like you.”

“
Then, maybe, after
yesterday, I need to make a new list.”

“
Yes. I would say
so.” He turned to face me and his mouth fell open. “Ara, that
colour is beautiful on you.” He practically floated over to me. “It
really brings out the pinks in your skin.”

I flattened the front
of my cotton dress, closing my eyes when he ran the back of his
finger over my cheekbone. “Emerald green,” I muttered, getting lost
in the way the tingle of his touch made my teeth feel numb. “It’s
one of my new favourite colours.”

“
One of? What’s your
favourite, then?”

“
Yellow.”

“
Any reason for
that?”

“
It’s a happy colour.
The colour of the sun.” I opened my eyes. “I just refuse to think
everything in life has to be all dark and gloomy all the time. So,
I like yellow,” I said. “What about you? What’s your favourite
colour?”

He stared at me for a
moment, smiling as he looked down at my mouth, then back into my
eyes—catching them in a breathless hold. “Sapphire.”

“
Why
sapphire?”

“
Because, since I met
you, I’ve seen nothing but magic in the world.” He gently moved his
cold fingers from my cheekbone to the nape of my neck. “You might
say that sapphire represents the blue of a brighter horizon—a life
I never imagined.”

“
Being in
love?”

His fingers tangled
in my hair and he pulled me slightly closer. “Being in love
with
you
. And
now, every time I see this colour, my heart skips a beat; it makes
me think of everything that might be possible, that never was
before.”

I kind of laughed.
“Aw, I feel special now.”

He laughed too.
“Sorry. Does it bother you for me to speak my heart?”