Page 20 of Reckoning

Briar was still glaring at her mother when she answered him. “Well…that would be because your wife forced me to start taking them when I was barely thirteen years old. She thinks because Tate and I are friends that I am now living in sin. I’m not and we aren’t, but that’s what she thinks, which has always made me wonder what the hell she must have been like as a teenager. But don’t worry. She doesn’t really care about my welfare. This is just part of her lifelong quest to make sure no child of Tate’s will ever call her grandma.”

Roger’s face turned a deep shade of red. Part of him was ashamed to admit he felt the same, but as always, his wife was still failing her motherhood role. He looked at her with a whole new level of disgust.

“Mariah! For the love of God!”

Mariah was shocked that Briar had called her out in front of Roger. And alluding to Mariah’s teenage escapades had surely just been a cheap shot. No one from here had known her at that age. Not even Roger.

Briar walked out, leaving them to their usual daily brawl, and headed for the park. As expected, people were already gathering, kids were lining up for rides, and she could already smell the popcorn.

As she began passing through the park, she saw other girls from school walking in groups, flirting with boys they saw every day at school as if they’d suddenly become a hot commodity when they hadn’t given the time of day before.

Puberty did amazing things for some, while all it gave others was a serious case of acne. Boys had long since quit trying to make time with Briar Lowe. Everybody knew she and Tate were a given. Girls were insanely jealous that Briar had Tate’s full attention. Briar was aware of all their drama, but ignored it and kept an eye out for Tate.

When she finally emerged into the open, she saw him at the end of the park, waiting on their bench. He was leaning over with his elbows on his knees, staring at the ground, obviously in deep thought. Her heart thumped, as she lengthened her stride. He was so beautiful in her eyes, but he had a man’s face now. I should say handsome, not beautiful. But the word was never quite enough.

It was the sharp cut to his jaw and the high cheekbones. A near-perfect nose. Black eyebrows arched just enough to frame his chocolate-brown eyes, with lashes long and thick, like tiny feathers. But what she loved most was that the tiny gold sparkles in his eyes were most prevalent when he laughed.

For the past year, every time they were together, she got a funny ache in the pit of her stomach. He was as familiar to her as her own reflection, but the boy had turned into a man, and it was harder to be herself with him now.

She was just a short distance away now and started to call out, when she wondered if she thought his name instead, would he sense her presence anyway? Smiling to herself, she tried it, thinking his name in her head as if she was shouting it.

TATE.

To her surprise, he shot up from the bench and began looking around, and when he saw her, he started toward her.

“You look beautiful!”

She was laughing. “Did you hear me saying your name?”

“Yes! Why?”

“Oh wow…it worked. I knew we had this great connection, but I didn’t know it worked like this.”

He was grinning, but still confused. “What do you mean?”

“I didn’t actually say your name aloud. I just thought it and you shot up from that bench like you’d been ejected. You are freaking magic.”

He grinned. “What can I say. When you breathe, I exhale. Let’s get out of this sun. I’ve been saving us some shade.”

Briar was still processing the breathing and exhaling comment when he said he was saving shade. Sometimes what he said to her sounded more like poetry than conversation. God, how she loved him.

As soon as they got back to the tree, Tate turned to her—looking into those beautiful violet eyes and trying not to panic.

Briar saw that look and read the expression before he ever opened his mouth. She started smiling, then put her hands on his cheeks.

“You finally figured it out, didn’t you, Tate Bandy? You love me, don’t you? As much as I love you.”

He sighed. “What are you now…a fortune teller? You have seen into my deepest thoughts? Lord yes, girl…to the point of no return,” he said, then slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her to him.

There was one moment in time when they were body to body and motionless—as close as they’d ever been. Then he lowered his head and kissed her. And then kissed her again, and again until Tate finally remembered where they were, and stopped.

He sat down on the bench and pulled her down beside him.

“That was a long time coming,” he said, then saw tears in her eyes. “Don’t cry, Briar. You are everything to me. I’m here for you always.”

She shivered. “These aren’t sad tears. I’m just so full of emotions I never felt before that I don’t actually know what to do with them.”

He sighed. “Right now, we don’t go beyond what is. Don’t ask me why. I just know we should not. It’s not time.”