Ransom Canyon (19 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Lauren

“I’
M
SIXTEEN
,”
Lauren whispered to the mirror in her bedroom. “I’m finally sixteen.”

The day was windy and still cloudy, but she didn’t care. Tonight was her party. A birthday party on the beach, or it would be if she could call the mud around the lake a beach. Her father had borrowed picnic tables from the Baptist church and ordered a big cake. He’d dug out a pit six inches deep and three feet around and banked it with rocks for a big bonfire.

He’d even offered to decorate the tables, but she decided she’d do that herself. In two hours people would start arriving. It wouldn’t be a huge party like Reid Collins had last month, but that didn’t matter. Her dad planned to let everyone roast their own hot dog and she’d made sure she’d bought all the toppings.

She’d invited several adults, too, so, hopefully, her father would talk to them and not interrogate her friends. She had simply made a list of all the people who weren’t criminals that her father had talked about in the past few months. Lauren wanted him to have a good time, as well.

Her pop sat on the deck blowing up balloons when the doorbell rang. Lauren squealed. She wasn’t dressed yet in her new jeans and jacket. The kitchen had no decorations, and the fire wouldn’t be started for another hour.

The bell sounded again, and she had no choice but to open the front door.

There, in a business suit, was her mother, looking totally out of place.

“Hello, sweetie,” she squealed as if she were the grand prize of the night. “I thought I’d surprise you for your birthday.”

Lauren forced a smile. In truth she was surprised Margaret remembered her birthday. Usually a card arrived sometime in March, but never close to the day. “Come on in,” she managed, then added, “Please, don’t fight with Pop today.”

Her mother had the nerve to look hurt. “I’m not here to fight. I’m here to celebrate my baby girl growing up.”

Tears welled in Lauren’s eyes. All year she’d thought about this day. If her friends saw them fighting, they’d probably feel sorry for her or make fun of her parents. Just this one night she wanted the world to revolve around her.

Margaret looked worried. “I shouldn’t have come. This was a bad idea. Just let me get your gift out of the car and I’ll go.”

Now Mom was making her feel bad. Lauren shouldn’t have let her feelings show. She should have just let Mom come in and ruin her party.

Before Lauren could think of what to do, her father appeared and caught up with his ex-wife halfway to her car. “Stop making this all about you, Margaret. We’ll be glad to have your help around here. She’s your daughter. You should be here. But, Lauren’s right, no fighting today. Whatever you’ve decided I’m doing wrong this month will just have to wait until the night is over.”

Margaret opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it closed.

Lauren watched in shock as Margaret released her trunk and got out a small box and her purse. Pop pulled out a suitcase and said, “Your room’s still ready. It may be a little dusty.”

“That’s fine.” Margaret lifted her chin. “I’m not here to be any trouble. I’m not a guest, Dan, I’m here to help with the party.”

Pop walked past Lauren and whispered, “That’ll be the day. Trouble’s walking in, and I’m dumb enough to carry her suitcase.”

Lauren grinned. Her father usually let Margaret walk all over him, but today he’d refused to let her do the same to his daughter. She was proud of him for standing up, and she was also proud of Margaret for bending just a little. Maybe the party wouldn’t be so bad with both of them here.

An hour later she had to escape. Her parents were trying to kill each other with kindness. Margaret offered to help him do everything, and he praised her for her efforts, though decorating was not her mother’s strong suit. Together her parents had managed to make the picnic tables outside look like they’d been taken hostage by clowns.

Lauren walked up the beach toward Tim’s house. She wasn’t surprised to see him sitting on the deck, his nose in a book. The joker had become a bookworm since he’d broken his leg.

“You coming to my party?” she called.

“Of course. Can’t wait. You’re my only social life.”

She climbed the steps and leaned against the deck railing. “It’s no big deal. Just a birthday party. My dad had Dorothy make the cake in the shape of Cookie Monster because I used to love him when I was four. When my mother saw it she freaked out and thought candles would help make it more sixteenth birthday-looking. They didn’t help. Other than that, the food will be good.”

“I don’t care about the cake as long as we can eat it. Yours is the first party I’ve been to this year,” he said.

“Why didn’t you go to Reid’s last month? Everyone was there.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Reid and I stopped hanging out. Maybe I’m not as funny as I was before the accident. He hasn’t dropped by to show off his new car. Guess he’s afraid to drive down the hill.”

“You’re still my friend, Tim.”

“Thanks. To tell the truth, I’m in no hurry to see him, either. I’d just as soon sit on the porch and read a book.” He frowned at her. “Did you ever have the feeling that we grew up that night at the Gypsy House?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “It’s like I looked the same the next day, but inside I was different.”

“Me, too.”

“Promise you’ll come tonight,” she begged.

“I promise. Mom’s driving me over.” He looked up and stared at her.

“What?”

Tim seemed to struggle with his thoughts, then said, “Don’t go out with Reid if he asks you. Promise me.”

“Why?” She hadn’t planned to, but it seemed odd of Tim to warn her.

“Just don’t. If you mean it that I’m your friend, take my advice.”

She smiled, making light of how serious he’d turned all at once. This wasn’t the Tim she knew. “All right. I promise.”

On the way home along the water’s edge, Lauren wondered why Tim felt the need to warn her. Reid was so popular he wouldn’t be seen with her anyway. Plus, if they did go out, she could handle him, football player and all. Being a sheriff’s daughter had its advantages. She’d been trained.

The shadows had grown long, and she could see the twinkle lights come on at her place. Amazingly, Pop had gotten them up and working. They made the deck look like a fairyland.

She was sixteen. Sixteen, with her whole life in front of her. There was magic in the air tonight. Like she was stepping into a new world, waking up as the cocoon began to crack open.

When she reached the bottom of the deck stairs, Lauren glanced up and saw something that froze her blood.

Her parents were just above her with their lips locked together. They weren’t hugging. It looked like somehow their mouths had accidentally touched and stuck together, but their bodies were fighting the attraction.

This could mean nothing but trouble. Lauren whirled around and made it two steps before she slammed into someone.

“Reid!” she managed to say before he pulled her farther down the path, away from the lights.

“What are you so mad about?” he asked, laughing at her. “Your little party not going like you want it to?”

She could smell beer on his breath. “Reid, you’ve been drinking. Are you drunk?”

“I’m older then you, Lauren. I always will be, so stop talking to me like I’m a kid.”

“You’re not old enough to drink.” She slapped his chest as if he needed waking up.

“What you going to do about it, birthday girl? Tell your daddy?”

Suddenly Lauren felt trapped. If she told Pop, all hell would break loose. Reid had to have driven here. He might not be falling-down drunk, but he was on his way. If he showed up at her party drunk, her father was bound to notice.

“You can’t come to my party,” she ordered, pushing Reid a few feet farther away from the deck.

“Why not? I brought a bottle to add to the lemonade. You won’t even taste it, but you’ll feel it. It’ll make everyone happy.”

“No!” She shoved again.

Reid caught her arm. “Forget the party, Lauren. Go for a ride with me. Just me and you.”

“No,” she answered, feeling suddenly sorry for him. “Why do you keep asking, Reid? We’re not alike. I’m not your type. After the disaster at the Gypsy House, I’m not even sure we’re friends.”

“Sure you are,” Reid insisted as he grabbed her arms and tried to pull her close. “You know you’ve always been nuts about me.” He leaned in to kiss her. “I’ll prove it.”

Lauren reacted just as Pop had trained her. She jerked her knee up, slamming Reid hard between his legs.

To her surprise, he crumbled.

While he gulped for breath, she said politely. “Thank you for coming to my party, Reid, but I think you’d better go.”

She walked away, wishing she could tell her pop how great his lessons had worked. But she never would. She wasn’t even mad at Reid. She knew he didn’t really like her; he was simply wanting one more girl to join his fan club.

The thought crossed her mind that maybe the reason her parents didn’t touch when they kissed was because one would likely hurt the other. It must be a kind of hell to be attracted to someone you hate.

* * *

A
S
PARTIES
WENT
,
Lauren rated hers a B. Nothing bad happened. Everyone laughed and talked. Most of the popular kids didn’t show up. Most of her friends did. Reid would have probably been disappointed to know that no one missed him.

Her mother gave her something she might use for once—a diary. Obviously Margaret had lost the argument to give Lauren her old car. All the other gifts were great. Staten Kirkland and Quinn O’Grady, surprisingly, arrived together and gave her a phone with a whole year’s worth of usage free.

The rancher and Quinn didn’t fit together, but somehow they seemed to be a couple. Lauren decided it must be a full moon or something because strange people seemed to be pairing up. Quinn and Staten. Her mother and Pop. Reid and—no wait a minute. That one was not happening. Not tonight. Not
any
night.

She worried that Pop might think she didn’t need a phone, but he said he wished he’d thought of it. Then he listed a few rules. She knew he’d think of more later.

At ten, everyone waved goodbye. Her parents were talking as they did the dishes, so Lauren walked out along the beach. She was sixteen. She had expected to feel different today, but she felt pretty much the same.

Halfway between her house and the O’Grady’s place, she noticed Lucas’s old pickup parked on the lake road.

When she strode near, he climbed out of the cab. Even in the moonlight he looked different. The boots were still there, but tonight he wore a regular white shirt, black slacks and a red pullover sweater. For a moment, she thought, he looked older.

“I’m sorry I missed your party.” He walked slowly toward her. “I just got back from Tech. It’s like a whole other world there. In a few months I’ll be stepping into this bubble where everything is different.”

She laughed. “You sound excited.”

“I am.”

He took her hand, and they moved to the tailgate where they could sit and watch the night sky. “I wish I could have been here with you. Or better yet, you could have been there with me. The campus is beautiful, and you wouldn’t believe the library. There is a bookstore right in the middle, and the place is so big I’ll have to hop a bus to get from class to class.”

“I wish I’d been there, too. The party was fun. Tim made everyone laugh for the first time since his accident. My folks got along for a change. Mr. Kirkland gave me a phone, and he barely knows me.”

“Funny, he gave me one, too. Said it was for my birthday in three days, but since I was going to be on the road today, he wanted me to have it early.”

They pulled their new phones out and clicked them together, then laughed.

Lucas flipped his open. “I haven’t used it yet because I didn’t have anyone I wanted to call, until now.”

“You don’t even know my number.”

“Tell me,” he said.

She ran through the numbers she’d just learned, then said, “Aren’t you going to put my number in or at least write it down?”

“I got it,” he said. “I won’t forget.”

The phone suddenly became her favorite gift. “When you leave, we can keep in touch.”

“Sounds like a plan. You can tell me what’s going on here, and I can tell you about college.”

She bumped his shoulder. “You know for three days I’m only a year younger than you, so you’ll have to stop treating me like a kid.”

He put his arm around her. “Deal. You’re no longer a kid.” He hopped off the back of the truck and disappeared. Thirty seconds later he stood in front of her with one long-stem yellow rose. “I had to stop at three florists on the way back to find this. Happy birthday. No matter how old you get,
mi cielo
, for three days we’ll only be a year apart.”

“We’re almost the same age.” She’d looked up what he’d called her in Spanish and knew it meant
my sky,
but she was too shy to ask him to explain why he called her that.

Laughing, they walked back to her house. Just before they reached the lights, he leaned down and kissed her. Her first real kiss. Not a light touching of lips or a quick peck in greeting, but a long, curl her toes, real kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in, wishing this one kiss could last forever.

When he pulled away so he could see her, Lucas laughed. “You know, we can only do this for three days. After that, you’ll be too young for me.”

“Do it again,” she whispered. “I don’t want to forget.”

He kissed her again, hugging her so tight she knew he felt as she did. Neither wanted these few minutes to end.

Finally, he pulled away, and without a word he disappeared into the night. If she wasn’t still holding the rose, she might have believed she’d dreamed him.

They weren’t dating, or falling in love, or promising to be best friends. In August he’d be in college, and she’d be a junior in high school, but they would talk. Mr. Kirkland had no idea what he had started.

Somehow thinking about the next few years didn’t seem so bad. Whenever she was alone, she’d think of Lucas, and if he got too rushed at college, maybe he’d remember her and the way they watched the sky.