The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum Read Free Book Online Page B

cab to the point where I could take off my gloves. The porch light hinted at a glint of gold around my wrist. I had truly been surprised at the gold watch my parents had given me and I hadn’t taken it off all evening.
    Jason reached into the backseat where he had stored the box of my other presents. He fished out a small, square gift from between the sweater from Aunt Marge and the illustrated edition of Jane Eyre. He gave it to me with hands that shook a little.
    Some of my exhaustion vanished at the sight of Jason’s trembling hands; I was flattered that he would be nervous.
    I felt a swell of affection for him. Jason was a good guy—a good boyfriend. Valerie was wrong. Jason did make me happy. This kiss would be something special, something I would remember forever. It had to be.
    Smiling, my heart warm in my chest, I slid my finger under the envelope flap and pulled out the card. A pastel sunset covered the top half of the card. Soft waves lapped at a golden beach. Written in raised, flowing script were the words “Happy Birthday.” I opened the card and read the message inside: “May all your birthday wishes come true.” No inscription. No personalized note. Just Jason’s signature at the bottom.
    I quickly unwrapped the present. A journal and a pen.
    I felt my smile freeze on my face and my heart sink a little.
    “Do you like it?” Jason rubbed the back of his arm with his hand.
    “Y-yes,” I stammered. “It’s great. Thank you.”
    “I know I got you one last year, but I figured by now you’d have filled it up and might need a new one.”
    “It’s really nice. Thanks,” I said again, trying to inject some brightness into my voice. Didn’t Jason know by now that I liked to keep my journal electronically instead of handwriting it in a book?
    I coughed and swallowed hard. “I have something for you, too.” I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a slim CD jewel case. “I hope you like it.” I had drawn “XVII 4 XVII” on the cover in dark blue ink and then written underneath it in block letters: “Seventeen for Seventeen.”
    Jason flipped the case over to read the playlist. He frowned and immediately flipped it back to the front. He popped it open and looked at the unlabeled CD. “What’s on it?”
    “That’s the surprise,” I said smiling. “You’ll have to listen to it first. That way each song is like a mini-present you can unwrap . . .” My voice trailed off at the slightly panicked look on Jason’s face. “I’ll e-mail you the set list,” I sighed.
    “Thanks,” Jason said, his smile sincere. He popped out the CD from his truck’s player and slipped in the one I’d made for him. “What’s the first song?”
    “It’s a cover of ‘Time after Time’ by a singer named J. J. O’Hare. She’s from Ireland and has this great jazzy-bluesy voice. Valerie downloaded a bunch of her songs for me, and when I heard this cover I thought of you.”
    “Leave it to Valerie to find the weirdest music on the Web.”
    “It’s not weird,” I protested, stung. I didn’t mention that I had been the one to introduce Valerie to J. J. O’Hare’s music.
    “Hey, listen, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”
    “It’s okay,” I said, looking out the window. A swirling snow had started to fall, soft and silent. The heat in the cab was stifling. I wanted to open the door and lie on my back in the dark and let the snow fall onto my face, but the clock on the dashboard warned me that it was almost midnight and I knew Jason had other plans. I knew he was going to kiss me before midnight no matter what.
    Sure enough, I heard Jason gently whisper my name. I felt his thumb stroking the back of my hand until I turned to look at him.
    His nervousness was back. So was my annoyance. This was so obviously not the right time for a kiss. He had missed the perfect opportunity yesterday—twice!—waiting for this moment and now it was all wrong. The mood was all wrong— my mood was all