Echols, Jennifer (21 page)

I cupped my hands around my mouth like a megaphone. "Move off the Devil, toward my voice."

His expression didn't change. The cigarette quivered in the corner of his mouth as he said, 'I'm trying to think like you."

I laughed. "If you were trying to think like me, you'd be turned around, straddling the Devil."

"Or Will," he said. "Or Eric."

My stomach knotted again at the thought of me and Eric. Surely John didn't believe by now that I had the hots for Eric, or Will, either. But he obviously believed Eric and I were alike. Just as I'd told him in the first place.

I said, "I had no idea about your brother."

He winced. I hated to hurt him. Again. But at least his glower was gone.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and leaned forward with his fists on his knees. "Even if you didn't, Meg, how could you
do
that to me?"

It was my turn to wince. I stepped back from the wall of the fountain with the force of the blow. I said lamely, "I can't stay in that town, John. But I love you, and I can't leave you there." I stepped forward to the wall again. "I swear I didn't know about your brother, though. If I'd known, I would have come up with something else. Dynamited the bridge."

"Mmph," he said. "I know you didn't. Will told me you did—"

"He was wrong," I said quickly. "He is very sorry, and also his ass is grass."

"—but then I had dinner with Leroy," John went on, "and he told me you didn't know. So I went to Rashad's hoping to see you, and I've spent the past few hours making all these great plans for you and me. And then Eri told me you were with Will." He shook his head. "He tried for years. Eric finally got me."

I walked to the side of the fountain nearest the rabbit, where I was as close as I could get to John without crossing the moat between us. "What kind of plans?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, then shook his head and opened those dark eyes again, watching me. They weren't green anymore. They were back to the familiar, beautiful brown. "I'm glad it happened. I mean, I wish it hadn't happened in exactly that way. But something had to happen to make me see. I thought I was protecting people. When I handcuffed you, I realized I've let the bridge turn me into a monster. It might be good for me to get out of that town."

I gaped at him for a few seconds, honestly not believing at first that I'd heard him say this. Then I laughed. Really laughed. "No!" I said sarcastically.

He grinned. "I plan to ask Will if I can move in with him this summer. And I'm joining the university track team. I was thinking you might want to, too."

I gasped in horror.
"Join? A team?"

"You're running five miles a day anyway," he said. "You might as well join the track team and get more scholarship money."

"That actually sounds like"—I swallowed—"fun."

"I know we need money for rent and stuff. But if we can save enough, this summer or next summer, maybe you and I could go to Europe. I could show you what I've done, and we could discover some new places together."

"I do hope you mean that in the dirtiest sense possible." I'd had enough crying for one day, so I shut my eyes and willed the tears away.

Had I fallen into the parallel universe Will had talked about at the beach? I looked around me at the majestic church behind the fountain, the bohemian storefronts. Tiffany and Will talking under a flowering tree. The dark blue sky above me seemed infinite.

John sat up, took a deep breath, and sighed. "So you like my plans?"

"I like your plans," I said. "I like having plans with you. Now come down off the Devil. It's illegal."

He jumped from ram to rabbit, paused to balance the cigarette in a turtle's mouth, stepped on a spitting frog, made it to the wall in front of me, and jumped down beside me.

And then I heard a low hum. I glanced around desperately. When the blue lights and siren burst on, the cop car was already bearing down on us in the intersection.

"Let me do the talking," I yelled to John over the wail. "I have a way with cops."

"Yes, you do," he growled at me as the cop car blew past us and kept going up the hill. "They weren't after me.

You don't use your siren for college students in the fountain. Thanks for taking up for me, though." He wrapped one arm around my waist, pulled me close, and ran his fingers down a lock of my hair. "You're the bravest person I've ever met." His dark eyes gave me the loving look. The look I'd longed for.

I shivered at the chill that traveled from my scalp through my body and all the way down to my toes. "You haven't told me what you think of my hair."

He chose another lock and twisted it around his finger. "I liked it better cyan."

"Really? Then that was a complete waste of six dollars and ninety-nine cents."

"No, not really," he laughed. "Are you kidding? Now everyone can see what I saw all along."

He wrapped his big arms more tightly around me and leaned down. I caught the scent of his cologne. His warm, sensitive lips met mine.

And the rest is happily ever After.

*

The next night, John came to the diner around ten. Watching him park the cop car, I tried to look cool and aloof behind the counter. But considering what we'd done with each other after Rashad's party, there was no way. I grinned like an idiot as he hung his leather cop jacket on the coatrack. When he turned around, he grinned back at me, showing his dimples.

This cop was my boyfriend. Weird!

He squeezed between two bar stools and came right up to the counter. I stood on my tiptoes and leaned forward to kiss him. His lips touched mine, pressed harder. The tip of his tongue grazed my lips, so slowly. I shuddered. Even though Bonita was in the back clocking out and I had only two customers sitting over at the Princess Diana table, we couldn't very well get into it here in the diner, with John in uniform. But I'd never wanted someone so badly, and I could tell he felt the same.

He broke the kiss, set his forehead against mine for a moment, and finally pulled back. "Didn't you work all morning? I was afraid you wouldn't be here."

"I thought you might come in at the beginning of your shift. I didn't want to miss you."

His lips pursed ever so slightly. He reached across the counter to stroke my hair away from my face.

I actually giggled. God! "You've got me so whipped, I can't think of a single sarcastic thing to say."

"That makes me feel powerful and manly. Don't worry. I'm sure you'll think of something." He glanced at the chalkboard on the back wall. "What's the Meg Special?"

"Cobbler." I nodded to a bar stool. "Have a sit-down so we can talk while I cook."

Already taking a step toward the Elvis table, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Sorry. Can't have my back to the window."

"I dare you."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "You
dare
me, huh?" Biting his lip, he slid onto the stool.

"I can see out the window," I assured him. "I'll watch for perps." To make good on my promise, I leaned to one side to look past his shoulder at the parking lot. A car pulled into the space beside his cop car.

He watched me closely. "I can't stand it. What is it, perps?" He turned around to look.

"My parents." They'd parked here rather than at the trailer because the suspense was killing them. They needed to make sure I hadn't burned down the diner while they were gone. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I gave my dad a thumbs-up.

He stared at me. My mom turned to him in the car, asking him.
What? What is
if? He kept staring at me. My brown hair was an even bigger shock for him than I'd expected,

I smiled and waved at him and mouthed, "Welcome home."

He put his hand to his eyes. He knew I was finally cured.