Calico Cross by DeAnna Kinney Read Free Book Online

hard to control myself around her. When I saw her disappear into the deli with that loser, I thought I was going to lose my mind, but when I saw him with his hand on hers, that almost broke me. And yet I wasn’t quite sure why I felt this way. I mean she and I had not had many nice or even calm moments since we met. I knew it was mostly my fault. I had purposed to be rude and nasty, but it still felt wrong—all wrong.
    I could tell that this girl was more than meets the eye. There was something really special about her. It was more than her beauty or even her soft heart. She didn’t show it to me, but I saw it. I saw it in the way she handled the young couple with the new baby. She spoke to them as if they were family. She had softness toward my cat, thinking she was in trouble. She was even giving this Blake dude a chance even though he didn’t deserve it. This I planned to see come to an end. This guy would only bring harm to Calico. And I would die before I would let that happen. The girl with the green eyes and who always smelled like candy deserved happiness. That I knew for sure.
     
    * * * * * *
     
Calico’s POV
     
    It was Sunday and we decided to visit the local church, Appleville Baptist. As children, our parents had always taken us to church, but since their deaths we had stayed away. Now we were starting a new life, and we felt that included going back to church.
    When we arrived, the parking lot was already full. I was nervous as we entered the traditional white church. We took our seats on the very back pew. I scanned the building. It was beautiful, with stained glass windows in every window and a pretty green carpet everywhere, even the pew benches were green.
    As we gazed around, there were people from town we recognized. All the workers from the deli, the bakery, and the barbershop were there. Celia waved at me from the front row, and I recognized Dominique, the nice young cashier at the Appleville Drug Store. Did all the businesses around here close for church services?
    The only friends that were not there were our little ghost friends. However, if it weren’t for them, we would have overslept and missed church. They had actually pushed me out of bed and onto the floor. I was puzzled as to why our ghost friends would want us to go to church anyway. This was something we may never know…and then the pastor came onto the stage and made an announcement, and then I understood completely.
    “Good morning, everyone,” the pastor began. “It’s so nice to see you all here on this lovely first day of fall. It’s taken a long time, but I am proud to announce that our very own Dane Savage has finally agreed to lead us in worship.”
    I froze. The girls all turned and glared at me, their eyes wide as plates. I’m sure mine matched theirs. And did he say Dane Savage?
    The girls mouthed the words ‘Dane Savage’ and will all burst into a whispered laughter. How is it that I had been calling him ‘the savage’ all that time and his last name turned out to be Savage? I’m not sure how it happened, but it struck all four of us as hilarious, and we struggled to tame our laughter. I was thankful we were on the back row and mostly out of sight with all our heads bent to our knees and hands over our mouths.
    And then he began to sing.
    My laughter stopped abruptly as I sat up straight and stared at the lovely man with the amazing voice. He was so handsome and it struck me breathless. He was wearing a black suit with a blue tie, and his hair was combed neat and off of his face. He was singing Amazing Grace, and I was captivated. I quickly glanced around and noticed that I was not the only one. Once he began singing there was no noise to be heard. The entire congregation went silent and still. We were supposed to be singing along with him but no one did, and he continued to sing, with eyes closed, as if no one but God could hear him. I knew right then and there that I was a goner. It wasn’t until the very