Somewhere Over the Freaking Rainbow - By L.L. Muir Page 0,74
fact that he couldn’t just turn around and talk to his granddad lying behind him in a dapper dress kilt.
His mom squeezed his hand when she realized what had caught his attention.
“Any friend of Kenneth Jamison’s is a friend of yours, right?” she whispered in his ear.
He laughed. His mom was great. She only asked about Skye when it was obvious he was thinking about her, but she never pried.
Finally the figure in white edged closer. Trying not to stare, so everyone in the room wouldn’t guess how badly he needed to look at her, Jamison tried to concentrate on the people talking to his mother. From the corner of his eye, however, he saw a dark figure coming right at him.
Black-clad arms flew around him and held him immobilized.
“Jamison, dude!”
Suddenly released, he fell back a step. Ray? In a suit?
“Ray?”
“Yeah, man. Ray Peters. Remembered me, huh?”
Jamison grabbed his friend again, hiding his face, absolutely unable to speak, for so many reasons. How much would Ray remember? Did he even remember that first day, the day Jamison had arrived? It was impossible now to tell which was real memory and what he’d memorized from the recording he’d made.
“Yeah, I remember you.”
He glanced over at Skye to find the “I-told-you-so” look he expected.
“I see that clubhouse every time I come past your grandpa’s place, bro. Makes me want to make paper airplanes.”
“Me too. You’ll have to come over and we’ll paper the cornfield.”
“Yeah, well, don’t look now, but one of those neighbors is listening.” Ray spoke from the side of his mouth, then laughed and put his arm around Skye.
Suddenly Jamison wasn’t so fond of the guy.
“Skye says you two are good friends now.”
“Yeah?” Jamison could feel heat radiating away from his face. “That’s all, huh? Well, I guess I’d better refresh her memory.” He took a quick step and wrapped an arm around her waist, his splayed hand pulled her to him. She’d had no time to prepare, to resist. His mouth came down on hers and he could all but hear his granddad cheering from the casket behind him.
He let her catch a breath, but didn’t release her. He looked deep into her eyes, to give her a message, not to read one.
The room had gone silent except for his mom’s “Awww.” Lucas and Jonathan were standing near the exit sign smiling, thank goodness. He really didn’t care. He was no longer the type to sit by and let misunderstandings complicate his life.
Skye wasn’t pushing him away with any real conviction so he took advantage.
“And this one’s for my granddad.” He kissed her again. Hard, short and sweet.
She held onto the back of her head like it was a hat that might fall off. Once she pushed out of his arms and got her balance she put her hands on her hips, sputtered for a minute, then ended up dropping her hands to her sides.
“You’re right. He would have liked that. And maybe even this.” She stepped up to Jamison and grabbed his tie, pulling his head down to her level. “You’re going to pay for that, Jamison Shaw,” she whispered, then kissed him back, but the kiss was damned short. He guessed that was the punishment.
“I hate to break this up, Skye, but you’re holding up the line.” Ray nudged them apart. “Burke, shake his hand and let’s get out of here.”
Burke, whom Jamison barely remembered from a couple of elementary school classes, held out his hand awkwardly. “Sorry about your grandpa, man. He was cool.”
Jamison couldn’t help it. He grabbed Burke and hugged him, so glad the guy had never been blown to smithereens as feared. He set him down quickly and knocked him on the shoulder.
“Thanks man. Glad to see you’re...you—glad to see you.”
Burke looked confused, but smiled and gave a little wave as he walked away with Ray.
Jamison grabbed Skye and pushed her behind his back. “Stay.”
She gave a small giggle and it raced up his spine and pinged him on the back of his head like a hammer game at the fair.
The rest of the line moved quickly with folks peeking at Skye, mumbling their condolences and hurrying on. Every now and then his mom would say something to Skye and the two would laugh. Besides appreciating that combination of music, Jamison was glad Skye was in a good mood. It would give him a little bit of a head start for the conversation he had planned...