Moment of Impact by Lisa Mondello Read Free Book Online Page A

paper plates and leftover food.
    “If they’re going all the way up to Boston for the day, it’s going to be a long day. No wonder they went to bed early,” Penny says. But then she winks at me and I know she doesn’t buy their early retreat to the bedroom to get sleep. “I’m headed up too. I want to get up early tomorrow to see them off and make sure they have my letters.”
    Odd that Penny would care that much about letters, but I let it go. Her retreat meant that I’d be alone with Gus.
    I grab the tray of condiments and glasses that we’d used during dinner off the picnic table and carry them into the house. Gus pulls the plastic tablecloth off the table and gives it a shake. It hadn’t been wiped down, but he folds it anyway and follows me inside. I don’t bother to tell him to wipe it down first. I’m just impressed that he’d take the initiative to fold it when I don’t think I’ve seen Heather do it even once.
    I open the fridge and put the condiments on the door shelf and then close the door. I grab the glasses from the tray and put them into the soapy water in a bowl Penny had filled in the sink and when I turn around, I see Gus standing by the back door.
    “I should go,” he says.
    “Why? The fire just started. I have some marshmallows. Pretty soon the fire will be good and hot.”
    “It’s not the only thing,” he says under breath. But I hear it and know what it means. I’ve seen it in him all night and felt it myself.
    “We don’t have to go out by the fire.”
    “It’s safer out there.”
    I walk up to him and touch his arm where he has tattoo of a sword that starts at his shoulder and cascades down to his elbow.
    “You don’t look the type of man to play it safe.”
    His drew in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “These days I am.”
    He pulls his arm out of my grip as if he’s untangling himself from me, leaving me cold. I hadn’t been holding his arm tight, but I feel the release of my fingers as if I’d been jettison free. I look into his face and try to read his expression. Blank. He doesn’t want to show me. He does this. It’s only when he’s caught off guard that Gus is here with me and he shows me who he is. I want him to come back so I reach for him, but he takes a long step back. Whatever courage I thought I had completely evaporates.
    # # #
     

Chapter Six
     
    Lily
     
    Embarrassment rises up my throat like bile. I swallow hard to keep my voice steady and not show him how confused I am.
    “Okay. I get it. You don’t want me. Would you like it better if I went a little further across the room?”
    “It’s not a matter of want. I don’t want to touch you,” he says. I squash down the pain that is suddenly filling the emptiness in my belly and lean against the counter.
    I shake my head slowly. “You could have fooled me.”
    His chest rises and falls as he takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly once again. His dark eyes never leave mine. His long brown hair is pushed forward, leaving a strand of hair hanging over one eye, making it hard to see how beautiful they are. But it’s in my memory. I’d looked at them all afternoon when we were out in the sun and his dark hair was slicked back from the ocean water.
    I suddenly feel if I’m going to get through this humiliation, I’m not going to let him win this. He’s used to controlling. I never have any and this breaking me down isn’t getting us where I want to be.
    There’s something there. Gus doesn’t show himself that often. He’s like a magician using tricks and mirrors. But I see it.
    “You’re right,” he says quietly. “I do want to touch you. I just can’t.” No one is around. No one would hear. But this is for me. I know it is.
    “Don’t you think that should be my decision?”
    “No. It’s not happening.”
    I feel like stomping my foot because he can be so infuriating. But I didn’t become the dancer I’d become without my own measure of stubbornness.
    “You always