At the intersection, Jake and Annie crossed the street, Jake whistling at a car that zipped through the yellow light, but Daniel’s eyes stayed on Annie.
Gone was the stiff olive uniform, replaced by a loose cream-colored blouse over casual jeans. She looked different. Her hair was still in its long braid, but it was woven a little looser today, with a few wavy locks hanging free, framing her face. From this angle, in side profile, that freckled, upturned nose looked even more delicate, and Daniel smiled.
They stepped under the awning of the Sky High, and Annie reached for the door, tugging it to no avail. The smile on Daniel’s lips froze and fell away.
He was touching her.
Jake was touching her.
His hand was on the small of her back, his fingers dimpling the soft fabric of her blouse, and Annie was making no move to stop him. Daniel scrambled to reach a different conclusion from the one his eyes were telling him. Jake was a friendly guy. A touchy-feely guy. He often clapped Daniel on the back, sometimes hugged him, and once or twice he’d even rubbed Daniel’s shoulders in a gesture of friendship, but as he stared out the window, Daniel could not explain away the tenderness of the touch. That was not the touch of a friend. It was the touch of a lover.
He felt sick, and he wanted to turn away, to look anywhere else, but his fingertips stayed glued to the glass, his eyes following Jake as he led Annie around the corner toward the main door of the restaurant.
Of course. How could he have been so stupid? They worked together. They spent every day together. What woman in her right mind wouldn’t fall for Jake, with those bright blue eyes and that ready smile, his easy way with words, and the carefree attitude of a man who had never known the ugly bid for survival that life could be.
Daniel swallowed, doused by a cold wave of disappointment.
What he’d felt in the boat last night had been completely one-sided—all in his head, a figment of his love-starved imagination. And foolish moth that he was, he’d flown close enough to be badly, blisteringly burned.
“Excuse me?”
The voice behind him was high and feminine, and Daniel turned to find a vaguely familiar face with just a little too much eyeliner blinking up at him.
“Hi…” he said, flipping through the Rolodex in his head for the name of the girl standing in front of him, the Boyd girl who lived down the road. “Jamie?”
“Yep. And you’re Daniel, right?”
He nodded.
She was almost shockingly pretty, this girl, except for her teeth, which were too small, crooked, and fading brown. But her bone structure more than made up for the ruined smile. Refined and almost feline with the high cheekbones and wide tropical-blue eyes of a Siamese cat—eyes that were fixed unblinkingly on his face as she tucked a lock of honey-blond hair behind her ear.
“You live up at the end of my road, don’t you? Lake Lumin Road?”
Daniel nodded again, glancing back over his shoulder at the empty sidewalk where Jake and Annie had been.
“Do you think I could get a ride home?”
She made the request with such directness that Daniel turned back, blinking in surprise.
He hesitated. “Uh…”
He didn’t know Jamie Boyd. Not really. Nothing more than a nod if she happened to be outside when he passed by in his truck. Up until this very minute, they’d never exchanged a word.
“Did your car break down or something?” he asked, giving the parking lot a quick scan.
Jamie shook her head. “Don’t have a car yet.”
Daniel shifted his weight. He wanted to ask how old she was, but the question wouldn’t sound quite right voiced out loud. Improper. Or creepy, maybe. He lifted a hand and rubbed it across the back of his neck.
“I’m not sure your parents would be okay with me taking you home.”
“I’m eighteen. Nineteen next week. I can decide for myself who I get in a car with.”
Daniel considered her for a moment. She was older than she looked, this wide-eyed waif of a girl. And, fair enough. By the time he was her age, he had been living by himself in the boathouse for almost three years. She was technically an adult.
“Okay.” He nodded. “I’m leaving now, though.”
“Great.” Jamie gave him a wide smile. “Just let me buy my gum and I’ll meet you outside.”
