Page 13 of Paper Ghosts

“I’ve never met anyone like you.”

“So why didn’t you take the money and run?”

He hesitated. “Because you signed up for lessons. I was crushed when you didn’t show up.”

“I was crushed when I couldn’t,” she said.

“Do you want a lesson now?”

Wills shook her head. “My interest was only in the guitar player, never the guitar.”

He threw his head back and laughed, wonderful and wild. “You’re a girl after my own heart, Wills!”

To that, she quickly said, “Don’t talk hearts.”

He reached for her hand and put it on his chest and said, teasing, “Don’t you want mine?”

“No,” she said, letting her hand drop. “You keep it.”

“Hey. Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She squeezed her eyes shut, making sure she wasn’t going to cry. Then she smiled. “Forget I said that.”

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then Jack started gathering up their discarded food wrappers. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to Dorothy’s.”

That did her in. “What are you doing? Don’t you dare leave me until you have to.”

He stopped at her outburst. “But that’s only one more week, Wills.”

“I know that!”

He took a deep breath. “You make me want to be a better person. And a better person wouldn’t spend the night with you and then disappear.”

Wills gave a growl of frustration and it echoed over the field. Clear across town, people awoke briefly from dreams they wouldn’t fully remember, only that they were about lost loves and missed opportunities. “Why does everyone get a choice but me? I’ve been told what to do all my life. And I accepted it because I have more than anyone I know and it would be greedy to want more. But I don’t care now. I want you. I want this. And if you, and this, can only exist for one week, then I’ll take it. That’s my choice!”

Jack stared at her and said, “You’re beautiful when you’re angry.”

“I’m serious, Jack.”

“I know you are,” he said, suddenly leaning in to kiss her. She fell back as his hand smoothed its way under her shirt, making her stomach muscles contract. He pulled back and looked down at her, his dark hair creating a veil around their faces. “And I’m serious when I say, even if you don’t want my heart, it’s still yours.”

CHAPTER SIX

Jack saw something in her no one else ever had, like there was more to her than just being a Wester, more than the fear, more than the money. Wills would always cherish the thought, but she knew her future hadn’t changed, only her present. Jack was still leaving. And after he was gone, she would fall softly back to sleep like in a fairy tale, under the spell of the Witch of Wester House.

But for one week, she let herself be happy. Everyone noticed, and no two people attributed it to the same thing. Someone mentioned that Terrence must have finally proposed, but there was no ring on her finger. Someone said her grandmother must have finally given her a car, but there was no new car parked in front of the Wester House. She must be happy about graduation. About coming into her own. About a good grade. No one but Dorothy knew it was about Jack. Jani would sometimes catch her and Dorothy whispering about him, and she was seriously displeased when she asked what was going on, and they both said, Nothing.

After Jack’s very last lesson in the auditorium, Wills ran to him on the stage and pulled him behind the curtain for their last few stolen moments. Even when she knew it was time to go, she kept giving him quick kisses, one after the other, saying over and over, One for the road.

“Wills. Wills, wait a minute,” Jack said between kisses. “As much as I’m enjoying this display, I’m not actually going on the road after all.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling back. “What happened?” Principal Penwell was supposed to be driving him to Chapel Hill tomorrow to catch a bus back to LA.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just … I got a job at the greenhouse on the highway. I start on Monday.” Her lips parted in surprise. “Don’t give me that look, Wills. I know I won’t like it. But I could use more money. And then there’s you.”

“No. Don’t do this,” she said quickly. “I don’t want you to. You’ll be miserable.”

“Not for right now.” He shrugged. “Not until—”