Home Again

Now she moved just a little bit toward him, until she was close enough to see the tiny freckles on the bridge of his nose. She waited for him to look at her, but he didn’t. He just kept staring up at that sky. She squeezed her eyes shut and thought kiss me as hard as she could.

He didn’t move.

Finally she released an exasperated sigh. No wonder she was still a virgin. She couldn’t even get a guy to kiss her. She’d spent two years trying to get Jett to look twice at her, and he never had. And now Zach treated her as if she were his kid sister’s best friend.

“There’s something wrong with me,” she muttered, horrified to hear her words slip into the quiet between them.

He rolled toward her. Cocking one elbow up, he rested his cheek in his hand and smiled down at her.

She noticed how his blue eyes looked almost black at night, and how his nostrils flared just a little when he breathed. He had a face like her uncle Francis’s—the kind that invited you in and made you feel like a friend. She wanted to ask him if he thought she was pretty or fat or what, but she didn’t have the nerve, so she said nothing.

He smiled, and she got the uncomfortable feeling that he knew exactly what she was thinking. It humiliated her, the thought that her lack of self-esteem was so apparent. Nervously she tucked her hair behind her ear. “What is it?”

“You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,” he said.

The words made her want to cry, and she wondered if that’s what it felt like to fall in love. She wanted to know what to say—the right grown-up words—but she couldn’t find them.

“You know, the winter prom is coming up….” he said finally. “What… what do you say we go together?”

She felt a flash of fear; maybe he was making fun of her. “We’d look like Courtney Love and Mr. Rogers.”

He laughed, and it was such a wonderful sound that she laughed right along with him. “So?”

She stared at him in awe. Her emotions were a confusing jumble, and her heart was clattering a crazy beat in her chest. “Okay.”

He gave her one of those smiles of his, slow and steady, the kind that made h

er throat go dry. Then he kissed her.

Lina was still walking on air an hour later when Zach drove her home. In the driveway he stopped the minivan and cut the engine. Then he came around to her side and opened the door.

She took his hand and stumbled out of the car. She wished she had the nerve to ask for another kiss, but she didn’t dare. She was afraid she’d melt into a little puddle right there alongside her mother’s rose garden.

He moved closer, gazed down at her with an intensity that made it hard to breathe. “For the dance … wear something blue—like your eyes.”

She couldn’t even answer, just nodded.

Smiling, he led her up the path to her house. Halfway to the door, she realized that her dad was sitting on the porch steps. Just sitting there in the darkness, all by himself.

Lina and Zach stopped in front of him.

Angel got slowly to his feet, dusting off his jeans and extending a hand toward Zach. “I’m Angel,” he said unnecessarily—as if he weren’t a Hollywood superstar. “Angelina’s father.”

Zach shook his hand. “I’m Zachary Owen, Mr. DeMarco. I’ll be taking Lina to the winter prom, if that’s okay with you.”

Angel laughed. “I’m not that kind of father. Any dating will have to be cleared through her mom.”

The way he shook off the responsibility stung. Lina frowned.

Zach turned to her. “Night, Lina. See you tomorrow.”

She nodded almost distractedly and watched him go, then she turned to Angel. “What are you doing out here?”

“Waiting for you.”

A warm feeling spread through her. She grinned at him. “Cool.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Come here.” He led her to the top step and they sat down side by side. The darkened front yard stretched out in front of them.