Page 274 of Nobody's Girl

“Yeah, you have,” she says. “Do you remember the last time we kissed?”

I nod, because I know it was the night before we left the mansion in New Orleans. Before Ally and I almost kissed.

“You love her and you still want her. I’m not good enough anymore,” she says, then sits up. “I have to admit, she looked fucking fantastic. With enough money, I suppose most women could look that good.”

“Money, huh? Is that what you think about her? It’s only money that makes her glow and shine like a star? Wow, Laura, some friend.”

Standing now, she makes her way to the door. “I’ll make this easy on you, Kyle. We’re over.”

What? Shit! What have I done?

She moves quickly to the front door. My mother looks up from her seat on the couch. “Are you leaving, sweetie?” she asks Laura.

Laura stops her hasty retreat and looks at my mother. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry. I’ll explain later,” she says, then turns to look back to me as I’ve emerged from my bedroom. “Have a nice time in New Orleans.”

She walks out the door, leaving my parents looking at me. My mother jumps up and runs at me. “What did you do to her, boy?”

I raise my hands over my head in an exaggerated shrug. “Hell if I know, Ma! I asked her to go with me to New Orleans where we’ll stay in the Devlin’s new mansion for a visit. How horrible of me, huh?”

“Ally’s? You asked her to go with you to see that girl?” my mother asks, then pokes me in my chest with her skinny finger. “You are an idiot, son! That girl is married. I knew she wasn’t the one for you. You got lucky when Laura accepted your advances.”

“My advances?” I ask

Mom turns to walk away from me, but I grab her narrow shoulders and spin her around to look at me. “She told me what you did to her, Kyle.”

My mother’s words make my world tilt on its axis. Laura told my mother about how we got together. She’s insane!

Mom looks at me, her eyes growing gentle and her words not coming out as harshly. “She’s a great girl, son. Let Ally go. She’s gone anyway. Hold on to Laura. She’s a keeper.”

I spin around to walk out the front door. I have to go fight for my girl. I’ve hurt her with my insane notion of Ally and a love which is nothing more than a connection for me to protect her.

Laura lives three doors down and although she walked out of my house with her head held high and no tears on her face, I see her leaning against the wall by her front door. Her hands cover her face and I know she’s crying. It is killing me, and I jog over, careful to be quiet so she doesn’t hear me and run inside.

Her cries are quiet,and her body shakes as I approach her. I take her in my arms, pulling her close to me. She buries her face in my chest and clings to me. “I love you, Laura,” I say, without knowing I was going to do it.

I guess that’s how you know sometimes. If the thought of losing them makes you weak, then it must be love. My mother’s right. Laura is wonderful and patient with a foolish boy who pines after one he can never have.

I have to get over Ally and be happy with who I have right in front of me.

The tears have streaked her pink cheeks as she looks up at me. “Really, Kyle?” she asks. “You aren’t just saying that?”

I kiss the top of her head “No, I’m not just saying that. I love you, Laura. When you said we were over and walked out, something in me broke wide open. I see what and who is important to me now.”

Her bottom lip quivers as she says, “I love you too, Kyle. I have for a while.”

She’s loved me!

Slowly, I lean to touch her lips with mine. Her arms reach up around my neck and she pulls me to her. It’s been so long since our lips have touched, and when they do, I fall apart inside. She makes heat fill my body.

She pulls away from me a little. “Kyle, I don’t want you to go to New Orleans.”

I press my forehead to hers. She thinks I only want to go see Ally and that’s not it at all. Maybe a form of the truth would make her agree to come with me.

“Baby doll, I didn’t tell you why we’ve been invited,” I say. “A man may be trying to hurt Ally. The father of an old girlfriend of Eden’s. The guy’s crazy. He raped his daughter and left her for dead. Now it seems he may be after Ally.”

She pulls out of my arms and turns away. “Are you serious?”

“I am. You can call her if you want to.”