Out at Home (2 page)

Shrugging, he squeezed her shoulder lightly as the warning bell rang. “Hey thanks. I’ll see you at lunch.”

And that’s how it had started. She sat with him everyday that week at lunch, going over a study sheet she'd comprised at home one night. Friday, after their English class, as soon as he walked out of the classroom, he pulled her into a huge hug. She blushed profusely as he gushed about how he never would have done so well on the test had it not been for her. He shocked her even further when he asked her to have dinner with him that night. She reluctantly agreed.

Her nervousness that evening had vanished quickly as she found him to be charming and quite amusing. They'd dined at a quiet pizza place, sipping soda and talking for two hours. She’d been surprised at how easily the conversation flowed between them. He told her about his parents and his siblings. She told him about her younger brother who wouldn’t attend their school until the following year.

“
Where did you live before you came here?” he asked, studying her face in the low light.

“
We lived up north, near South Bend.” A wistful smile crossed her face. “My brother and I both want to go to Notre Dame so I’m sure we’ll go back someday.”

“
How did you end up here? In Somersville of all places.”

“
My dad was transferred to his company’s Indianapolis office. He didn’t want to live in a big city so we found a house here. It’s close enough to easily commute.”

Brady took a big gulp of his soft drink. “It must’ve really sucked to move to a new town and a new school right before senior year.”

Looking down, she shrugged. “It wasn’t easy.”

He reached across the table to gently squeeze her hand. “Hey, people here actually like you. If only you’d talk to people, you’d have more friends.”

She looked up and smiled. “Are you talking about your group of friends?”

Leaning back, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Why not?”

She shook her head. “I don’t fit in.”

“
You could if you tried.”

“
Maybe I don’t want to try.”

He smirked at her. “I like your attitude.”

She narrowed her eyes. “It’s not an attitude; it’s a state of mind.”

He threw his head back and laughed, drawing a cautious smile to her lips. Once he got his laughter under control, he looked at her. “So, if no one’s asked you yet, would you like to go to the winter dance with me?”

She snapped back to the present as she parked in the driveway of the small duplex she rented. After she let herself in, she listened to her messages, grinning at the exuberant message Tia had left her. Apparently, her uncle Luther had informed her of Taylor’s latest assignment.

She wandered down the hall to the bathroom to start a bath. After collecting some comfortable pajamas, she poured a glass of wine, grabbed the novel she’d been reading, and retired to the tub.

Sinking into the warm bubbles, she released a content sigh. At least the day was finally over.

Chapter Two

Wednesday afternoon found Taylor tracing intricate paths through the heaping mound of ketchup with a soggy fry as she sat in the diner, listening vaguely to Tia's latest rant. Tia Spencer chattered incessantly about rude waitresses and how it wasn’t her fault that she detested mustard.

“
Huh?” Taylor muttered.

“
Taylor, you haven’t heard a word I’ve said,” Tia pouted.

“
Yes I have,” Taylor protested. “You said that waitress was grouchy because she had to take your hamburger back because the cook put mustard on the bun. I heard you.”

“
Hmph.”

Taylor rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Tia. Would a little mustard hurt you?”

Tia smiled brightly as the wary waitress placed a fresh, mustard-free hamburger in front of her. “Thanks a bunch!”

The waitress sneered as she scurried away to attend to less picky customers in a nearby booth. Taylor cracked a smile. “You’re awful.”

Shrugging, Tia inspected her burger carefully for any signs of mustard. “Can’t help it.”

When she finished her inspection, she happily took a huge bite out of her burger. Taylor laughed, amazed that the girl could eat so heartily and still maintain a trim figure. Tia was only an inch or two taller than Taylor with wavy blonde hair and mischievous blue eyes. She was absolutely stunning and didn’t even know it. That’s one of the reasons why Taylor adored her.

“
So,” Tia mumbled between bites. “Tomorrow’s the big day, huh? Brady Nolan. Yum! He is so gorgeous.”

“
Please,” Taylor snorted.

Setting the burger down on her plate, Tia's brow furrowed as she studied her friend. “You don’t think he’s hot?”

“
On the outside maybe. Don’t you remember him from school?”

With a dreamy smile, Tia nodded. “Yeah. He was hunky back then, too. Most of the girls in my class were hot for him even though he was a grade behind. I never really talked to him, though.”

“
He was an arrogant ass, let me tell you,” Taylor informed her with disgust. She picked up a fry and threw it back down before pushing her plate away from her. “I’m really not looking forward to this at all.”

“
Taylor, I thought you’d be thrilled. Uncle Luther told me you didn’t seem as excited as he thought you’d be. Maybe Brady Nolan is arrogant and cocky, but still, this is a great opportunity for you. You’ve been waiting for a chance to get a real story for a long time.”

Sighing in resignation, Taylor sat back in the booth. She gazed out the smudged windows at the traffic on the main strip. “I dated him. Did I ever tell you that?”

Tia gasped. “No! How could you keep something like that from me?”

Taylor shrugged, eyes trailing an old blue truck chugging toward the farm supply store. “I don’t know. I don’t like to talk about it.”

“
Well I’d tell everyone,” Tia proclaimed as she finished off her hamburger with zest. She wiped her mouth with a napkin as she chewed. “As I recall, he went through the whole cheerleading squad my senior year - when he wasn’t dating Gretchen Smith.”

Taylor wrinkled her brow. “I wasn’t there when you were, remember? I didn’t move here until a few weeks before school started my senior year.”

“
Brady was already a big man on campus when he hit his sophomore year. His older brothers were athletic and nice looking also, but not nearly as much as Brady,” Tia explained. “Everyone adored him. All the girls wanted him and all the boys wanted to be like him.”

“
That explains his over inflated ego,” Taylor mused. “Besides, as I recall, all of his groupies were fake.”

“
Come on,” Tia jeered. “You know what it’s like in a school such as ours. Nothing but cliques.”

“
Yeah and I didn’t fit into a single one of them,” Taylor remarked. “Not even when I dated Brady. They were all nice to me, but that was just because of Brady. Not a single one of them speaks to me to this day. The only friends I have in this town are you and Josh. Both of you had already graduated by the time I got to Somersville High.”

“
Well, most of the people from high school high tail it out of here. I don’t know if any of Brady’s friends are still around. Jason is out in California, I think. A few might be in Indy.” Tia sipped her iced tea.

“
I don’t really care,” Taylor said. “I have no desire to see any of them anyway.”

“
So why did you and Brady break up?” Tia asked, eyes shining with curiosity.

“
That’s a story for another day,” Taylor told her. She frowned as her cell phone rang. “I have to go. It’s Josh. Thanks for lunch.”

“
Call me later,” Tia ordered sternly. “I’m going to need to calm you down before you meet Brady tomorrow.”

Laughing, Taylor agreed.

***

“
Have a nice lunch?” Josh Parker asked as Taylor breezed back into the office. He gave her a sexy smirk that crinkled his brown eyes. She ruffled his dark hair and sat at her desk.

“
Peachy,” she replied. “What’s up? Lou Grant in a foul mood?”

Josh laughed at her use of their nickname for their loud, sometimes boisterous, boss. “Nah. Just thought I’d help you prepare for your big interview tomorrow. You know, help you figure out what kind of questions to ask and such.”

She flashed a crooked smile. “I’d appreciate that. I need to be in total control of the conversation tomorrow.”

As he got up, he nodded at an empty interview room. She grabbed a notepad and followed.

“
So, Miss Lockwood, how do you want to handle this interview?” he asked as he closed the interview room door.

She sighed as he slid into the chair across from her. Josh Parker was the first friend she'd made when she'd moved to Somersville seven years ago. His family had lived two houses down from her family and had welcomed them to the neighborhood immediately.

Josh had graduated two years prior and attended a community college in Indianapolis, commuting back and forth instead of living in the dorms. Tall and thin, he loved basketball, though he wasn’t very good at it.

He had dark brown hair and the sweetest brown eyes that hid behind wire framed glasses. When she'd first met him, she'd had a tiny crush on him - college boy from a nice family who treated her like he'd known her forever.

That crush had dissipated quickly as a strong friendship had taken its place. Whenever her father had slipped into his depressive hole or had drown his pain in alcohol, Taylor would wander down to Josh’s house and they’d shoot hoops in his driveway until it either grew too dark or the mosquitoes drove them inside.

He'd interned each summer for the
Somersville Times
and when Taylor had needed a job, he'd put in a good word for her with Luther.

“
I don’t know, Josh. But if he mentions Prom just once, I swear I’ll punch him,” she said in a firm voice.

Chuckling, he reached for her hand across the table. “I know slugger. That’s what I’m worried about.”

She slid her hand out of his and flipped open her notebook. “Well, I need to keep the conversation away from that.” She turned businesslike as she gazed at Josh's face. “Keep the questions impersonal.”

Josh sat back and rubbed his chin. “You can’t do that, Taylor. Your edge is going to be that you know him. You have to use that to your advantage.”

Her eyes grew as something sharp skewered her heart. “You know what he did. I don’t want to dig up that whole sad, sorry memory. It needs to stay dead and buried.”

“
Sweetie, it’s going to be there and you know it. Even if he doesn’t want to bring it up, it’s going to be there between you two.” He eyed her carefully, watching her digest this latest bit of information.

She sat back and folded her arms across her chest, determination filling her gut. “Well, I won’t let it control me or the interview. I’m better than that.”

His eyes sparkled as an amused grin slid across his face. “That’s my girl!” He bent over the table and pushed her note pad at her. “Now come on. Let’s go over these questions and when the interview’s finished, you can come over and get smashed with me and Lacy.”

***

That evening she sat on her sofa with the remote in her hand, not really watching the game. She tucked her legs underneath her as she tried to concentrate on the player currently digging his cleats into the dirt of the batter’s box. Her eyes glazed as the memories took over her mind.

She fiddled nervously with her dress as her father greeted Brady at the door. Her dad had given her his credit card and she had shopped alone, hoping to find something perfect.

She had chosen a white dress made of some soft, silky material she couldn’t identify; she was hardly an expert on fashion. It clung to her tiny waist and attached behind her neck, leaving her back bare while the skirt flowed well below her knees. She loved the ‘swooshing’ sound it made as it wrapped around her legs when she walked.

Her father surprised her when he handed her a beautiful knit shawl to cover her shoulders. He grinned sheepishly as he told her it had belonged to her mother and he wanted her to wear it that night to keep the February chill away.

Brady kept his arrogance in check when meeting her father and brother, but she could see the cockiness in his eyes as they swept over her body. He presented her with a beautiful white rose wrist corsage which he slipped on confidently and escorted her out the door to his waiting car.

The dance itself was nothing short of spectacular. The smelly gym had been transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with sparkling snowflakes dangling from the ceiling and fluffy, cotton snow banks dotting the hardwood floor.

White and gold lights twinkled overhead like stars in a cloudless sky. The ambiance enchanted and delighted her so much that she clutched Brady’s arm tightly as she oohed and aahed over each detail.