Swept Away (23 page)

“A snowman? You want to build a snowman?” Jason narrowed his eyes. “We can’t wait to have time alone, and then as soon as we do, you want to go outside and play in the snow?”

“That’s still time alone. In fact, it’s closer to what I had in mind than all this.” She gestured at the couch. “I mean, it’s all good, but I think we need a break before we get carried away.” Or, any
more
carried away. “Come on.” She gave his sleeve a playful tug.

Grudgingly shrugging his arms into his coat, Jason sighed. “Okay. Okay.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “This is not at all what I had planned for this evening.”

“Way to be flexible, Jase.” Lilly grinned and put her hands up in the air in a mock cheer.

They pulled on their snow boots and clomped out to the backyard. The wind hit Lilly’s face, so she tightened her scarf. “How about we start over there? There’s a big drift that will make it easy to make the big snowball for the bottom.”

“You’re the boss.” He set off toward the snowdrift. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he muttered.

Lilly pushed a small snowball toward him. “Here, let’s roll this around for a while to get it bigger.”

After a few minutes of rolling the ball, Jason stepped back to survey the results. “Don’t you think that’s big enough?”

“No way! Keep rolling.” Lilly laughed. She tugged, rolled, and grunted. Finally, with Jason’s help, she had a ball for the base of the snowman that would make even a champion snowman builder proud. “There. That’ll do just fine. Where should we put it?”

Jason grinned. “How about over there by the corner of the patio so we can see him out the kitchen window?”

“Oh? It’s a him? I don’t think so.” Lilly winked. They rolled the ball into place and started on the middle one right away.

With all three balls in place, they stood back to look at their snowwoman. “Okay, she needs a face and some accessories.” Lilly surveyed the yard, looking for possibilities.

They dug in a pile of brush, and Jason found two perfect branches to use as arms. Cleverly, he turned them so it looked as if she had one hand on her head and the other on her hip.

Lilly squealed. “Oooh! That’s so cute!”

“Hold on a sec. I need to go ask my mom for a couple of things. I’ll be right back.” Jason ran off toward the house and stomped his boots when he reached the back door.

While he was gone, Lilly used evergreen boughs to give her snowwoman long hair and tiny twigs to make long eyelashes. Just as she finished sticking the last eyelash in the snow, the back door opened and Jason came out with his arms full.

He hurried over. “Check this stuff out.”

Someone seemed to be having fun after all, hmm? “Oh cool!” Lilly held up a feather boa and a sequined scarf. She draped them both loosely around … um … “Beatrice. We’ll call her Beatrice.”

“Beatrice it is.” Jason held up some plastic fruit. “What can we do with these?”

“Ooh, let me see the grapes. She’ll have green eyes. And the strawberries will be her mouth. Here, look.” Lilly positioned the strawberries sideways in a half circle like a smile but turned the center two vertically. “See, it looks like those peaks we have on our lips. What are those called, anyway?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Jason laughed.

“Okay. I think we’re about done.” Lilly nodded, happy with the results. “Hey. Do you have your cell phone on you?”

Jason nodded and reached in his pocket.

“Cool. Take a picture of me and Beatrice. Okay?” She put her arm around the snowwoman and grinned for the picture. “Now one like this.” Lilly put one hand on her head and one on her hip, mimicking Beatrice’s stance. When the picture had been snapped, Lilly jogged over to see the display. “Great!”

Jason slipped the phone into his pocket, and Lilly turned her back to secure Beatrice’s scarf so it wouldn’t blow away.

Whomp!
Lilly instantly knew what hit her in the back, but she was afraid to turn around. She surveyed the area in front of her. She could hide behind Beatrice, but she didn’t want thepoor snowwoman to suffer the pummeling Lilly knew was coming. The patio table! With a burst of speed, Lilly dove headfirst under the patio table, but not before she got walloped in the side of the head.
He’s going to get it!
She gathered up some snow and packed it together into a hard ball. As soon as she had a clear shot, she took it. Right in his face.
Oops
.

“That’s it. You’re in trouble now.” Jason brushed the snow off his cheeks while he lumbered through the mounds to reach Lilly’s hideout under the table. Rather than stoop down and pull her out, he simply moved the table, leaving her exposed. “Now I’ve got you right where I want you.” He clapped his hands together and laughed wickedly as he stood above her with an arm full of snow—enough to fill a bucket. He stooped down to a crouch and held the snow inches above her face.

Lilly couldn’t watch anymore. She scrunched her eyes shut and waited for the cold snow to land on her face. Then it happened—the tiniest, softest flutter on her nose. He kissed her. The electric shocks coursed through her body again. How could he have that effect on her time after time? She slowly opened her eyes, expecting to find Jason with his eyes closed. Nope. He stared back at her and leaned down to kiss her on the lips with an intensity that scared her. They should stop.
But I don’t want to
.

Bundled in their puffy winter gear, they lay in the snow on Jason’s back porch for about thirty more minutes. They watched the stars twinkle and kissed softly every few minutes. It was the most romantic night Lilly could have imagined.

“I love you, Lill.”

“I love you, too, Jase.”

Jason pulled back his glove and looked at his watch. “I really hate to say this, but I think it’s time I take you home. We sure don’t want to be late.”

Not that anyone at home would notice since they had severe baby-on-the-brain. “Yeah, you’re right. I could stay like this all night, though.”

“Oh, that time will come.” Jason winked.

What did he mean by that? Scary thought. Or was it?

Pastor Michaels had dyed his hair a shocking jet black. Jason kept nudging Lilly and trying to get her to look, but whenever she glanced up at the pastor, she’d start giggling. The fake tan, the ultrawhite teeth, the jet black hair—midlife crisis, perhaps? Instead of looking at him, Lilly read her Bible while she tried to listen to the pre-service announcements.

“… Women’s League has a bake sale in the gymnasium from twelve to two on Saturday. Hopefully the youth group will be cleaned up and cleared out after their all-night lock-in on Friday night.”

Jason squeezed her hand and motioned for her to pay close attention.

Pastor Michaels cleared his throat. “Did you hear that? Teens, make sure you attend the lock-in this Friday night. Be here by 7:00 p.m. There will be pizza, snacks, pop, games—video and otherwise, I’m told. You need to be picked up by ten o’clock on Saturday morning. If you have any questions, you can see Zach or Heather. Now, if we could all stand for the reading of God’s Word….”

Jason leaned over to whisper in Lilly’s ear. “We need to go to that.”

Lilly nodded, keeping her eyes on the Bible reading displayed on the screen.

“No, I mean
goooo
to that.” Jason winked. “Rather,
not
go to that.”

Huh? Did he want to go or not? “We’ll talk about it later.” What did he mean?
Hmm
. Lilly supposed he had trouble making on his mind. But she couldn’t ignore that twinkle in his eye like he got whenever he had something up his sleeve. Wait! Did he mean he wanted them to pretend to go and then not go? To an overnighter? No way she could do that. Could she?

What if she got caught? Besides, what would they do all night? Surely Jason could come up with something.
Sigh
.

The service couldn’t end quickly enough. As they walked out to the parking lot to meet up with Mom and Stan, Lilly turned to Jason. “What were you trying to whisper to me back there?”

“Don’t you get it? There’s an all-night lock-in. Your parents heard it right from Pastor Michael’s mouth. If we say we’re going, we’d have the whole night to be together.”

Just what she feared. Or just what she wanted? Lilly had never been so confused. “Oh man. I could get into so much trouble.”

“We won’t get caught. They’re not going to call to see if you’re there.”

Lilly nodded. Jason was right about that. All they could think about lately was the baby. As long as Lilly kept quiet, they left her alone. “But what would we do? I mean, we can’t sit in a car all night.”

“Ah. This is the great part. My parents are going out of town next weekend—for their anniversary on March 25th. We’d have the house to ourselves.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Excitement tickled Lilly’s tummy. The chance to be alone with Jason for a whole night? It would feel so grown-up—like they had their own house. She could even make him dinner. But what would Jason expect from her? “Jase … I … um … I’m a little afraid that I might not be ready for whatever you might have in mind.”

“I hear you, Lill. It’s okay. We’ll take things slowly. Nothing you’re not ready for.” Jason nodded over her head. “But, shh. Here comes your mom.”

“Hey, Mom. Hey, Stan. How’s it going?”

Stan waved at a church member across the parking lot and then turned to Lilly. “Church was great today. Hey, did you hear about the overnighter on Friday?”

Perfect opportunity. “Yep. I think I’d like to go if that’s okay.”

Mom smiled. “Of course it’s okay. You know your dad … er … Stan and I love for you to be involved in church.”

“Uh-huh.” Guilt and fear congealed into a lump in her stomach. What if she got caught? They’d never trust her again. But she wouldn’t get caught.

Would she?

Grams! Lilly pulled her car into the driveway, right behind her grandma’s car, after school on Friday. She threw the car into park, grabbed the keys, and ran into the house.

“Grams?” She let her book bag slide to the living room floor and bent down to kiss her grandmother, who turned up her cheek and kissed the air.

“Fresh lipstick.” Grams puckered her lips.

Lilly laughed and sat down beside her. “What do you have? A hot date or something?”

“Yeah, something like that. But I’ll never tell.” Grams winked. “What’s new with you? I feel like I haven’t seen you in months.”

Lilly shrugged. “I’m good. Nothing new.”

“You enjoying that car of yours?”

“Oh yeah. It’s been great. I think it helps Mom that I have wheels, too.” Lilly nodded toward the kitchen where her mom banged things around, probably making tea. “How’s she feeling today?”

“As good as can be expected. There are definitely reasons why it’s usually young people having the babies. She’s feeling her forty years, I think. But she’ll make it another month.” Grams cast a quick glance toward the kitchen. “Before she comes back, Lill, tell me how things are
really
going.”

Lilly knew exactly what she wanted to know. “There have been no fights at all since we started counseling. Actually, since Stan started going on his own. Things are good.” She turned her hands up. “No telling if it will last after the baby comes. But it seems possible. Makes me feel pretty good about going away to college. I won’t have to worry so much about either of them—Mom or the baby.”

“Good.” Grams nodded. “How about you and Jason? You two keeping things pure?”

Grams always knew how to get to the heart of the matter, didn’t she? Lilly laughed. “Grams! That’s kind of personal, isn’t it?”

“It’s only personal if you have an answer I won’t like. If your answer is the right one, then you should be proud to say it.” Grams raised her eyebrows and waited for a reply.

“Well, you don’t have to worry.” Lilly smiled confidently. “In fact, we’re going to a youth group function tonight instead of going out alone.” Why did she lie to Grams? She could have left that last part off.

“Hey now, that’s what I like to hear. If that ever starts to change, you come talk to me first, promise?”

“I promise.” If she only knew.

Mom walked into the room and stooped down to sit on the edge of the sofa.

Lilly grabbed a throw pillow to put behind her mom’s back. “I’m going to get ready for tonight. I’ll be down in a minute.”

What to bring? Lilly stood staring at the contents of her closet. She went to her dresser drawers and pulled them open. Pajamas? No. That would be weird. She pulled out a pair of green Victoria’s Secret sweatpants that said
PINK
across the bottom and a pink hoodie and put them into her bag. They should work for movie watching and still not give Jason the wrong idea. Was she kidding herself? Of course Jason had expectations for the night. Could she stop him? Did she even want to?

No use. She couldn’t figure it out ahead of time. She’d have to take things as they happened and make her decisions along the way. At least she knew Jason respected her enough not to push her. She hoped.

Sigh
. Lilly shook her head to clear her thoughts. What was next on the list? Dinner. She planned to stop at the store on the way to Jason’s house to buy stuff to make spaghetti. Maybe some candles. She grew more excited but was still so nervous. She should probably take a shower and change into something nice. Not too nice, or someone would get suspicious.