First Real Kiss

Chapter 20

Luke

“You didn’t practice with me.” I steered us toward Commemoration Park, the new name of the town park, as of today. “I thought I was your speech coach.”

What I’d thought was that Sheridan craved my company as fiercely as I’d been craving hers, but for the past five days she’d more or less ghosted me, claiming she needed time to work on her speech.

Luckily, Dr. Cook had finally cleared me to drive again. It’d been a month. I could finally quit being I-need-a-ride guy. Driving was freedom, and being with Sheridan, having her in the passenger seat beside me, was like having a V8 engine strapped to my soul.

“I didn’t know what I was going to say until half an hour ago.”

Then why the five days of radio silence? Geez. A guy could die of starvation and daytime television. “You want to rehearse it now?” There were still fifteen minutes until go-time. “I’m all ears.”

She clicked her fingernails together, and I realized it was something she had to do herself. What was her topic? She hadn’t said, but it was clearly something explosive—to her, at least. And maybe to others, judging from what Dawsonside had alluded to. You’re going to be the big reveal at the commemoration ceremony, he’d said.

Now, more than ever, I was dying to know what that meant. A weird vibration took hold of my stomach. It wasn’t fear, more of a foreboding, as if something would happen tonight that could change things. That could derail the train that my dream had set in motion.

Well, forget that! I wasn’t letting Sheridan get away, not based on a speech she hadn’t even been sure she wanted to give. I was Dr. Luke Hotwell, heart surgeon, on track to be named MVS—and I wasn’t the type to back down when things got hard.

At a stoplight, I reached into the back seat and pulled out a gift bag. “Here. Will this help?”

She took it, her eyes lighting up. “What’s this?” From inside, she pulled a single white peony. “Oh, Luke.” She took it to her heart, pressing it there. Then, she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. Not the mouth. Blast it!

The car behind me honked. The light was green. I couldn’t grab her and kiss her now.

Fate kept stealing her from my grasp.

As we motored down toward the park, I reached across and took her hand.

She flipped hers over, and pressed her palm against mine. “Why are you always there for me lately when things are tough?”

“I could ask you the same question.”

The parking lot was already full, and I had to find a place on the street a half block down. The park overlooked the cove, not as high as the bluff above, but the ocean’s roar was audible. A sea breeze brought briny air up from the waves as we arrived at the amphitheater teeming with locals.

“You’re here, Ms. Chandler. Welcome.” A man with snow white hair and thick glasses whisked her away before I could even squeeze her hand or say good luck.

I found a spot on the curved cement steps beside a family with a bunch of kids. The man looked the same age as me. I counted—four kids. A novel thought burst into my brain: by now, I could have been a dad four times over. More, maybe. I wish I’d met Sheridan sooner. Making children with her could one day be my favorite hobby.

Take that, Dr. Cook!

Down in the well, Sheridan stood beside the man with the white hair. He looked familiar, like one of those guys who was in charge at every local event. Not an elected guy, just the one doing all the actual work and running the shows. McVail or something. He patted Sheridan’s back. She, however, looked like she was going to be sick. As a doctor, I’d seen that fear-induced nausea dozens of times on pre-op patients’ faces.

You can do this. I sent her my best vibes, holding my thumb up at her, in case she was looking.

“Do you know her?” the mom beside me asked. “Sheridan Allen?”

“Uh-huh.” I knew her even better than Sheridan could have guessed. I knew her future. “Nice girl.”

“I don’t know if she’s the one we’ve been waiting for, but I heard from my uncle who’s on the committee that today they’re going to reveal the Library Rescue.”

“The what?” I asked, not because I hadn’t heard of the Library Rescue, but because I thought it couldn’t be what she’d said.

“Are you new here?” The dad pulled a toddler off another kid and sat the child on his lap. “Weren’t you here during the Great Quake?” He went on before I could reply. “When the library was damaged, some unknown hero saved a young girl trapped inside before it collapsed. It was the hugest story of the whole tragic day, and everyone has speculated who the girl was all these years. Her name was kept confidential, and she’s always been referred to as the Library Rescue because she was a minor and her parents didn’t want her hounded by fans or reporters or whatever. But I guess today’s the day we’ve all wondered about. That’s why Ashley and I are here.” He elbowed his wife.

“Yeah,” the wife said, “Sheridan was a year ahead of me in middle school, but I remember that she got held back to be in my grade because she had a bunch of surgeries her freshman year. For a while she was in a wheelchair, and some kids were mean to her when she was learning to walk again. Everyone said it was a car accident. But I put two and two together when I saw her name online on the program. I’ll bet you fifty bucks Sheridan Allen is the Library Rescue.”

“That’s a bet you’ll win,” her husband said.