Page 42 of Small Town, Big Storm

He chuckles.“Them’s fighting words, Pop.”

“Maybe.”I shrug.“But it’s the truth.”

And then I get something beautiful: soft gray eyes.

Morning fog instead of ice and thunderstorms.

“Go,” I whisper, my heart aching for all of us.“I’ll even bring out that awful bubblegum ice cream when I’m done.”

Even softer.

“Them’s more fighting words, baby,” he murmurs, his body shifting oh so slightly, his head dropping an inch.

Two.

Until I can feel his breath on my lips.

Until I start shifting too.

Until our mouths are?—

“Mom!”

We jump apart, and I press a hand to my chest.

“Go,” I order again.

This time he listens and I watch him walk into the other room, his body strong and his strides confident as he crosses the space and sits down next to Holly at the coffee table.

And thenIlisten as I do the dishes.

As Holly absolutely destroys him.

At least in the first round.

Because it turns out that Storm has serious UNO skills too.

Luckily, the fierce competition is smoothed over by bubblegum ice cream.

Thirteen

Storm

The tasteof bubblegum ice cream lingers on my tongue as I walk up the driveway to my childhood home.

And God, there’s still so much shit that’s fucked up in my life.

But tonight was nice.

No.It was great.

Holly is awesome.

I know it’s because of Poppy, but I also know it’s because of Cedar Hollow.

So yeah, the gossip is annoying and I hate that I could feel stares on me again as I left Sully’s and walked down Main Street, as I turned right and made my way past the Pioneer Museum on Eagle Place, as I then made a left and walked down to the end of Second Street.

Until the Harrison House came into view.