The West Wind (9 page)

“Thanks. I’m Xander,” he said, offering his hand.

“Jared DiBenedetto,” Jared said, accepting the young man’s hand
and shaking it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. DiBenedetto.”

“What can I do for you, Xander?” Hero’s father asked, bodily
blocking the way off the dock. His manner was calm, assertive without being
aggressive. “I’m afraid I can’t let you see Hero right now. She’s been grounded
until her birthday.”

Xander nodded his understanding. “Actually, sir, I came to see
you, or your wife.”

Jared’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?”

“Yes, sir,” Xander said politely. “I wanted to apologize for
keeping your daughter out so late and falling asleep. I should have brought her
home when we first started getting tired.”

The older man pursed his lips in thought. After a moment, he
nodded. “Thank you, Xander. That’s quite a brave and bold thing to do, owning
up to the girl’s parents. You do understand, however, that her punishment will
not change because of it. She is still equally at fault.”

“I understand.” The boy smiled wryly. “I guess I’ll have plenty of
time to work on the house.”

Jared gave him a curious look. “You and your parents are fixing
the house by yourselves?”

“My dad and I, sir. Not all of it, but most.”

“Impressive,” Hero’s father noted. “Is there anything else I can
do for you Xander? I’ve just returned from out of town and I’d like to get back
to my family.” He leaned his head suggestively toward the flowers.

“Yes, thank you.” Xander fished them from the boat. “If you would
please give these to Hero,” he said, handing Jared the bouquet of roses. “And
these to your wife,” he continued, handing over the irises and lilies.

“You’re a smart young man,” the elder noticed.

“Just well trained, sir,” the younger replied with a rather
roguish smile.

“I’ll see that they get where they belong.”

“Thank you, Mr. DiBenedetto. It was nice to meet you,” Xander
said, and left.

Hero watched the whole scene, nervous. Paranoid fantasies of her
father cursing and a villainizing Xander flashed through her mind. She was
afraid he would send him away forever, or they would fight and she would have
to tell Xander she could never be with someone who struck her father, or. . .
the stories went on and on. A couple times she discovered she’d forgotten to
breathe. When Xander pulled a couple of strangely shaped, colorful items she
hadn’t noticed out of the small boat (where had those come from?), and handed
them to her father, her heart leapt with hope. She was disappointed when Xander
rowed away, but was wild with anticipation by the time Jared climbed up the
steps.

“Well, what did you say?” his wife asked, eyeing the flowers
suspiciously. He didn’t answer her, instead handed Hero the bouquet of roses
and was rewarded with a smile and a bright spark in her eye that warmed his
heart. “These, mademoiselle, are for you.”

He turned to his wife and handed her the other bouquet. “And
these, my dear wife, are for you, from the young man.”

Anna was speechless for a second. “But these are my favorite
flowers. How did he know?”

Her husband and daughter shrugged and shook their heads. Hero
buried her nose in the roses, the petals tickling her cheeks.

“By the way, I gave him a piece of my mind and told him that he’d
be lucky if he ever got to see our daughter again,” Jared said with a wink at
Hero.

“I saw that!” Anna said.

“Saw what?” Jared asked innocently.

“You winked at her!”

“Who, me?”

“You’re worse than she is!” Anna protested.

It was Hero’s turn to respond. “I don’t know what you’re talking
about, Mom.”

Anna’s face scrunched up. “I suspect conspiracy,” she stated.
Then, unable to resist any longer, she followed her daughter’s example and dove
her nose into her flowers.

One Friday two weeks into being grounded, when Hero had decided
she was going to go crazy for the 100th time that day, her mother knocked on
the frame of her open door. Anna had just come back from a shopping trip. Hero
had heard the boat arrive, but hadn’t bothered to get off her bed and look.

“Hello, dear. How are you?” her mother asked.

“Bored out of my mind. How are you? Did you have a good shopping
trip?” Hero tried to care.

“It was nice, thank you. I brought you a gift.”

“Thanks.” Hero rolled back over and played with an app on her new
phone, which was almost useless since she didn’t have any of her friend’s
numbers and her parents were tracking her actions on all her social networks.

She heard her mother sigh and say, “Go on in.”

Hero rolled over in a flash, part of her expecting, hoping to see
Xander. She was only slightly disappointed when Jaimie walked into the room.

“Jaimie!” she exclaimed, flinging herself off the bed and running
to hug her friend.

“Hey!” Jaimie greeted her.

“I’ll leave you two girls to catch up,” Anna said as she left.

“Thanks, Mom!” Hero called after her. Hero only called her mother
“Mom” when she was very happy with her.

“You’re welcome,” her mother called back up the stairs, her tone
amused.

“Oh my god, it is good to see someone other than my mother,” Hero
told her friend.

“It’s good to see you too. The Coven isn’t the same without you.”

Hero had let her friends in on the joke the last time they were at
Ambrosia and they had claimed the term for their own.

“How is everyone?”

“Good. Leana is leading Jeremy around by the nose. She has him so
off balance he doesn’t know what to do.”

“Does she actually like him?”

“I think she does, but she won’t tell me. And she won’t tell him,
just does little things you would normally think were obvious signs, but she
never discusses them or follows through to the next step.”

“Does he like her?”

“He does now. He’s. . . What’s that word from Bambi?”

“Twitterpated?”

“Totally twitterpated.”

“Good for Leana! How about the others?”

“Evan and I are Evan and I,” Jaimie said.

Hero nodded as if it was truly a profound statement.

“And Brian came out of the closet,” Jaimie finished.

“What? Really?” Hero was surprised.

“Yeah, apparently Jeremy was the only one who didn’t know. He was
a little weird at first, but Leana told him that if he made any nasty jokes
she’d never talk to him again.”

“That worked?”

“Yeah, totally twitterpated.”

They both laughed.

“And what about. . .” Hero trailed off.

“Xander? You’re still thinking about him?”

“Constantly,” Hero said with a sigh. She would never forget their
first kiss, but the sensations of it were fading and she really wanted them
back. Wanted to feel his arms around her again, to dance with him, to move with
him.

Jaimie looked from side to side as if checking for spies. Finding
none, she drew a simple envelope out of her purse and handed it to Hero. The
envelope smelled of sawdust with a hint of the A87 Aeropostale cologne Xander wore.
Her name was scrawled in cursive across the front. That surprised her, though
it shouldn’t have. It wasn’t sealed.

“Did you read it?” Hero asked Jaimie.

“No,” Jaimie said. “He told me I could, though, if I really wanted
to.”
“And you didn’t?” Hero was impressed.

“Want to? No,” she said with a straight face.

Hero raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Jaimie grinned.

“I really, really wanted to. But I thought my best friend might
want to read the letter from her boyfriend first.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Hero protested weakly while she hugged
Jaimie.

“Uh huh,” Jaimie replied. “Read your letter,” she ordered.

Hero slipped the letter out of the envelope. It was written on
plain notebook paper, the kind with perforated edges. The pages still had some
rough spots where the paper had ripped. She could see that the entire letter
was written in cursive, by hand. It made her smile. Of course Xander would take
the time and effort to do so. She unfolded it.

Dear Hero,

I miss you. I found out from Jaimie that your birthday is coming
up and I am relieved that it’s closer than I expected. I can’t wait to see you
again. When you’re no longer grounded, I hope you can come up and see the
ballroom my dad and I created. I didn’t get the chance to show you the other
night and we’ve finished up the work since then. I think you’ll love it and I
know that until then, dancing won’t feel the same without having you to dance
with.

Speaking of dancing, I haven’t been in the last two weeks. I’ve
thrown myself into the work on the house and besides, it’s kind of like that
one song, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. “Thought I’d visit the club / got as
far as the door / couldn’t bear it without you / don’t get around much
anymore.”

The house is going well. We finished our bedrooms as well, though
I still have no curtains or a bed, and we started on the living room. I got
covered in soot when I was checking the chimney. A pile of it fell on me. Dad
is still laughing. I don’t think I’ll ever live it down. We still haven’t begun
furnishing anything else either; I told Dad that I wanted to wait for you and
he’s fine with that, as long as that’s still what you want. I hope it is. I
can’t stop thinking about you. If I never kiss you again, my life will be less
for it. Listen to me. I sound like Shelley.

I spoke with Jessica after I heard about what happened at
Ambrosia. She still isn’t very happy but I think she’ll at least be civil in
the future. I’ll have to tell you about what happened after you left my place
when I see you next.

Jaimie is pacing around my room waiting for me to finish writing
you, so I must keep this short. She showed up on my doorstep about half an hour
ago, ordered me to write you a letter and demanded that I hurry. I think
there’s a huge heart in there. I can see why the two of you are friends.

I miss you. If I may, I’ll see you on your birthday.

Yours Always,

Xander McConnell

Hero smiled at the formal tone of the letter, so like him. She
took a deep breath with the letter close to her nose and sighed happily at the
memories the scent of him awakened. When she unburied herself, she found Jaimie
looking at her expectantly.

“Well?” her best friend asked.

“He says he misses me.”

“Duh.”

“He also said he thinks you’re a big fake and a softy,” Hero
teased.

“What?” Jaimie exclaimed, grabbing for the letter. “Let me read
that!”

Hero held the paper just out of reach until Jaimie tackled her and
pulled it out of her hands. At first she began to skim it while she pinned the
squirming Hero beneath her. After a moment, she settled to read more carefully,
still using her friend as furniture.

When she finished, she screwed her face up as if she’d eaten
something unpleasant. “Ugh, I think I’m going to barf.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Hero protested.

“Yeah, like rotten honey,” Jaimie agreed.

“Honey doesn’t rot,” Hero pointed out.

“It doesn’t?” Jaimie looked surprised.

“If it’s stored right, no. They found some in an Egyptian tomb
once.”

“How do you know that? Xander?”

“No, the Discovery channel.”

“Oh, well it’s still bee vomit. And so’s your letter.”

Hero laughed. “You win.”

“Of course I do,” Jaimie said with so much pride in her voice it
made Hero laugh again.

Suddenly, Jaimie had an epiphany. “Hey! I have an idea!”

“Uh oh,” Hero joked. Jaimie poked her in the ribs and she
squeaked.

“We should have your party at Xander’s,” Jaimie suggested, though
she sounded like it had been her decision to make and had already been made.

“I don’t know if my parents would go for that. . .” Hero
mentioned.

“It’s your 18th birthday. How could they say no?”

Xander stepped out of the bathroom into the hallway, a towel
wrapped around his waist. He felt good, his muscles warm and relaxed from an
extra hot shower after a long day of work. To his complete surprise, a blonde
head was stalking down the hallway toward him.

“There you are!” Jaimie said, clearly frustrated that he hadn’t
been somewhere else.

Apparently his state of undress wasn’t an issue, as she didn’t
even blink. That was a relief, though it would be nice if he could stop ending
up unintentionally half-dressed in front of the women in this town. Xander
stared at her for a moment, confused. It was the second time she’d been in his
house today. His dad wasn’t home, so he wasn’t sure what she was doing
wandering around inside.

“Did you let yourself in?” he asked.

“Of course,” she answered as if it was a stupid question. “No one
answered the door.”

“You didn’t think that maybe no one was home?”

“No. Your truck is here.”

“And if I’d been somewhere with my dad?”

“I’d have left.”

Xander paused. Her confidence and sense of entitlement were
disconcerting. “Is there something I can do for you? Did Hero write me back
already?”

“No. She didn’t have time. We were too busy planning her birthday
party.”

“Then,” he sighed, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice.
“Why are you here?”

“I need to talk to you,” she said, once again making it sound like
the answer was obvious and he shouldn’t have had to ask.

“About what?” he gritted his teeth. Her condescending tone was
starting to set him on edge.

“The party, of course.”

One eyebrow went up. “Oh, yes, of course.” Xander came to two
conclusions. First, Jaimie was more confusing than any other woman he’d ever
met, including Jessica. Second, Evan was the most patient, easy-going person on
the planet. He thought for a moment while he tried to put together a question
that would elicit a real answer from her.

“Why do you want to talk to me about her party?” he tried.

“We’re going to have it here,” Jaimie informed him.

Xander had had enough. “No,” he said firmly.

Jaimie was taken aback. “Excuse me?” She had prepared for any
excuse or protest, except for this one.

“I said, and I repeat. . . No.”

“But it’s for Hero,” she stated in disbelief.

Xander gathered she thought he would be happy to do just about
anything for Hero. It was true, and he didn’t actually have any problems with
the idea. He just thought Jaimie’s attitude needed a severe adjustment.

“That’s wonderful,” Xander said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“But. . .” Jaimie looked confused and off balance.

Xander responded with a raised eyebrow and silence.

“You’re like, in love with her,” the pushy little blonde
continued.

His eyebrow raised higher.

“Aren’t you?” she asked.

“Something like that,” he responded.

“Then why would you say no?”

Her confusion drew her face in on itself and Xander decided it
wasn’t the best look for her. He laughed at the thought and she frowned. Her
expression brought him back to the matter at hand.

“Because you’re rude,” he said bluntly.

“Excuse me?” Jaimie went from confused to livid with the speed of
a Lamborghini.

“First off, you barged into my house without an invitation.”

“I knocked, no one answered,” she interrupted.

“And how does that constitute permission to answer?” Xander asked.

“I do that at all my friend’s houses,” Jaimie said matter of
factly. “What’s next?” she asked, a warning in her voice.

“What’s next?” Xander was a bit surprised that Jaimie considered
him a friend, since they hardly knew each other and he was pretty certain she
didn’t like him very much.

“Yes, you said first off. I answered it, so what’s next.”

This woman was very difficult to argue with. “You didn’t ask,” he
said simply.

“Ask what?”