Sweet Serenade (Riverbend Romance 3) (8 page)

One of Dad’s favorite stories had been how he’d seen Mom sitting across the classroom from him in twelfth grade English Composition. He’d taken in her red hair tied up in a ponytail and her bright happiness with her friends. Then she’d glanced his way and time held still. Right then and there he’d decided this was the girl he was going to marry. Yeah, they’d waited three years out of high school, but he’d known.

Could Carly know Reed was the right man? If her dad’s story was true, she could have known it at the very first bonfire.

“Here’s a spot in the shade, Carly. Sit down and catch your breath. You sure you’re okay?” Reed’s concerned face swam back into view as he slid an arm around her.

She leaned against him. “I’m fine.”
I think.
“Lunch sounds good. Where’s the Yellow Bus?” She looked around. Duh. Right across the street at the edge of the parking lot sat a bus. It was yellow and had a sign above an open service window. “What do they sell?”

“They serve a variety of sausages from Clark’s Custom Cuts in buns from the bakery downtown. Their bratwurst is to die for.”

She nodded as her tummy murmured. “Sounds good.”

A few minutes later they’d selected their combinations and sat cross-legged under a tree nearby, knees touching.

Reed bowed. “Thank You, God, for this good food and that Carly and I can spend this beautiful day together.” He hesitated. “Please guide us in Your will. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

“Amen,” Carly whispered. Reed felt it, too.

~*~

Reed settled against a tree near the grandstand at the south end of the park nearest the trans-provincial highway. Semis and RVs poured over the bridge beyond, all in a hurry to go somewhere else, east or west, like columns of clamoring ants.

He had no desire to go anywhere else. Not with Carly nestled between his knees where he could wrap both arms around her and feel her soft hair against his cheek. His life was perfect right here, right now, like an oasis in a desert. Like an island in the ocean. Like an eddy in the river.

His arms tightened, and Carly looped her elbows around his knees and pressed back against his chest. He felt her through every fiber of his being. It was crazy having such strong feelings for someone he hadn’t known for long.

But his heart knew hers. The conviction flooded him with absolute certainty. Reed rested his cheek on Carly’s soft hair and closed his eyes.
Dear Lord, help me to know for sure before I do something stupid. If this, this
feeling
I have is just physical attraction, please take it away. I want Your will more than anything. I really do.

It was more than a physical attraction. He knew that.

Reed was dimly aware of music striking up from the grandstand as a local band took the stage. Then people stopped in front of them, and he glanced up. Brittany and Joseph stood locked in a tight embrace, kissing each other like there was no tomorrow.

Through their shared contact, he felt Carly’s sharp inhale more than he heard it.

She stretched her toe to nudge her cousin’s leg. “Yo. You’re blocking the view.”

Brittany broke the kiss and glanced down at them. “Oops, sorry.”

She didn’t look a bit regretful or embarrassed. Reed knew they’d dated before, but they’d only gotten back together in the last week or two. Wasn’t this a bit early for practically swallowing each other’s faces?

Joseph winked at Reed. “We’ll join you guys.” He tugged Brittany to the ground beside them.

Great. Mood broken. All Reed wanted was to be alone with his girl but in the midst of people to help him remember to keep things in line. Obviously public smooching didn’t bother some people, though. Joseph started right in again where he’d left off, one hand fondling Brittany’s bare thigh.

Reed shifted slightly, trying to put his back to them without making it obvious. He didn’t want to watch or even catch it in his peripheral. Not when it made him long to do the same thing with Carly regardless of his pledge. Regardless of the people who would see.

Carly reached up and slid her arm around his neck. She tilted her head back against his chest so he could see her eyes. They begged to be kissed. Oh, she hadn’t said the words again since the day in the rapids, but he knew.

He pressed his lips to her forehead and her eyes closed. “Carly,” he murmured against her sweet skin, but he couldn’t say more for fear of saying too much. Words he wasn’t ready for. Words that would rush their precious relationship.

They weren’t ready to run that river yet. The bruises might be gone, but he distinctly remembered the pain of bouncing off rocks in the torrent of water from running a river before they were ready. He wouldn’t do that with Carly again. For the moment, burying his face in her hair, feeling her breath against his forehead... that was going to have to do.

~*~

Brittany and Joseph had stuck to them like leeches through the remainder of the day. Carly had never been so sick of spending time with her cousin. Not that Brittany had said more than a dozen words to her. Most of the time, her mouth had been too busy to talk. And her hands...

Carly was half fascinated and half repelled. Had her cousin no shame? But the half-fascinated part dreamed of doing the same thing with Reed, and having the scenario played out less than a meter away kept the vision strong in Carly’s mind.

After all these hours—weeks—she finally understood why Reed didn’t succumb. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to kiss her. His tender touch, his glimmering gaze, and that dangerous dimple told her everything his words didn’t. Everything his lips didn’t.

He respected her too much.

Did that mean Joseph didn’t respect Brittany? Carly knew they had a history but, still, things had moved pretty rapidly since they’d gotten back together. She could only hope they wouldn’t cross the line anymore than they’d done already. But if this was their public side, what did they do in private? Did she have any right to talk to her cousin about it?

The day had been full of music and speeches and the gigantic Canada Day cake served to everyone. Hyper children had dashed around with painted faces, balloons, and cotton candy. Now the sky darkened and the crowd gathered on the riverbank to watch the fireworks.

Carly nestled into the safety of Reed’s arms as the first rocket screamed into the air then shattered with a deafening pop. More and more sparklers lit the sky, one after the other. She pulled his head closer between pops. “The northern lights are prettier. And quieter.”

He chuckled against her cheek.

Another rocket soared and exploded. Another and another. This was what Brittany and Joseph were like. Flashy. Loud. Fill the sky for a glorious moment then disappear. Maybe her cousin had found something that would last. Hard to tell, just yet.

But what she and Reed had was more like the aurora borealis. Instead of an instant, it lasted much longer. Flickering and dancing, swelling and subsiding, hushed and awe-inspiring.

Carly’s heart swelled. Deep, quiet love? She’d take that over a blaze of passion, for sure.

Chapter 10

“I think you could do better than Reed Daniels.” Brittany eyed Carly across the little dining table in their apartment a couple of weeks later.
 

Carly stared at her cousin. “Why on earth would you say that?” Wasn’t she the one who said he was the hottest guy in the group? Right. But also the coldest. Brittany had been wrong, wrong, wrong about the chill.

“Cute only goes so far. He seems to have a commitment phobia.”

“A
what
?”

Brittany rolled her eyes. “You guys have spent a lot of time together since you moved here, but seriously, has he told you he loves you? Has he even kissed you?”

“We’ve kissed.”

Her cousin’s eyes brightened. “Ooh, do tell.”

Carly should absolutely not have said anything. That long ago day when they’d spilled the canoe didn’t count, even though she replayed that kiss a dozen times a day. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh, come on. Is he a good kisser?”

“Look, forget I said anything, okay?” Carly stood and picked up her nearly empty plate. Any appetite had disappeared like a wisp. “I’m up for dishes tonight.”

“Not so fast, cuz. The whole gang has been speculating about you guys, and you’re holding back info? I don’t think so. Tell me all about it.”

Reed wasn’t into random dating. Everyone must know that things between him and Carly had progressed beyond that. They held hands in public, even a bit of casual snuggling.

Brittany wasn’t a person to trust with secrets. Carly’s dinner sank with a thud to the bottom of her stomach. She could just imagine what would happen when Brittany told the gang. There’d be an explosion rivaling the Canada Day fireworks.

Reed would be furious. Well, no. She couldn’t imagine that. But disappointed, for sure. Would one careless admission to her cousin cost Carly his regard? Unless she could somehow convince Brittany to keep the secret.

One glance into her cousin’s glittering eyes dispelled that thought. Her best bet would be to minimize it, but could she do that without lying? Because, in truth, that kiss had been amazing. Had sustained Carly for over a month.

“It was the day we capsized the canoe in the rapids. I was kind of hysterical when I got safely to shore, and he kissed me to shut me up.” Man, that had totally worked. Her lips had been far too busy for a while to be used for speaking.

Brittany began to laugh. She clutched her arms around her middle and bent over, howling.

It wasn’t that funny.

Carly set the plates in the sink and waited for Brittany’s other shoe to fall.

“Oh, that’s hilarious,” Brittany gasped. “I never would have thought to try that tack, but Reed does love peace and quiet. To think Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes would kiss a girl to keep her from talking.” She wiped her eyes.

Babbling, more like. Carly wrenched the hot water faucet on and stabbed the plug into the bottom of the sink. But he hadn’t kissed like he was too good for her. Just the opposite.

Brittany elbowed her. “What happened next?”

“What do you mean, what happened next?” Carly squeezed the dish detergent bottle over the sink.

“You know.”

Carly swiveled to face her cousin. “No, I don’t. We carried the canoe back to the truck and came back to town. He dropped me off here. The next day we went for ice cream and took a long walk at the park. You know what’s happened since then.”

Brittany tipped her head and raised her eyebrows. “Uh huh? You’ve been together an awful lot.”

“Are you asking if we’ve had sex?” Carly reached back to turn off the tap. “Because that’s the only thing I can think of that your question is leading to. And the answer is no. We’ve only kissed that one time, and there definitely hasn’t been any sleeping together.” She stared into Brittany’s eyes. “How about you and Joseph?”

Her cousin shrugged. “We’ve been careful.”

“What on earth is that supposed to mean? Have you, or haven’t you?” But deep inside, Carly knew even before Brittany nodded.

“It’s not that big a deal, Carly. Everyone does it.” She quirked an eyebrow. “Well,
almost
everyone.”

What Brittany didn’t know wouldn’t bite Carly back. “But you know better. You were raised in the church.” Carly had been raised all over, at least after Mom died. Not in church so much.

“Oh, relax already. Times are different than when the Bible was written. Sure, it’s a great ideal to wait for marriage but, in reality, no one does. It’s like the whole ‘all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory’ thing. We can try to be perfect even while knowing it’s not possible. The Bible even says we can’t be. We can always ask God to forgive us, and He will.”

“So that means it’s okay to do whatever we feel like? We can sin knowingly then ask forgiveness, and it doesn’t matter?” In Carly’s experience, that didn’t ring true. She rubbed the sponge across her plate so hard the floral pattern was in danger of flaking off.

“Pretty much. Society is inundated with sexual temptation. It’s too much to expect people our age to withstand it.” Brittany elbowed Carly again. “Besides, sex is fun.”

Not always. She’d never been more thankful for Reed, and his commitment to being her friend first. To his desire to know her as a person, not a sex object. She hadn’t fully appreciated his commitment to purity until right this minute. Still, she had to choose her words carefully. “Knowing my husband has never had sex with anyone before me sounds mighty good to me.” Hopefully no one needed to know the reverse wasn’t true.

“Ha. You think you’ll marry Reed? You might, of course. I’ve never seen him give any girl the time of day before. But you might break up and marry a guy who’s been around like—I don’t know—Joseph. What would you think of that?”

Like puking? “And that’s a good enough reason to act like a tramp now?”

Brittany rolled her eyes. “You think you’re so much better than me.”

“I don’t think I’ve said anything of the kind, actually. I feel sorry for you, if you want to know the truth. If Reed weren’t... well, Reed... I might have drifted into a wrong relationship, too.” She had, in the past. “It wasn’t me who was strong. It was him. But, honestly, right now? I’m perfectly good with waiting. He’s worth it in every way.”

“Even if he ditches you?”

Carly stared into her cousin’s eyes. “
Especially
then. Then I wouldn’t have given an irrevocable part of myself to someone I wouldn’t be spending the rest of my life with.”

“But you’d have great memories.”

“I’d rather have a great relationship than great memories.”

Brittany shook her head. “You’re such a prude. No wonder Reed likes you. Good luck getting him to commit.”

~*~

“You’re kind of quiet. Something wrong?” Reed studied Carly in the twilight as they strolled toward the Friday evening bonfire.

Her beautiful mouth quirked sideways into half a smile. “I’m good.”

She didn’t look it, but she tangled her fingers with his.

He squeezed back and nudged her shoulder with his arm. “Anything you want to talk about?”

“Not really. It’s just been an interesting week with Brittany.”