High-Risk Homecoming. Alison Stone

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      “Dad’s been gone three years.” The back of her nose prickled. “Good thing, too, because if he saw you standing in his driveway, he’d come out here and knock you into next week.” She laughed at the memory of her high-spirited father cursing Johnny Rock up and down for tricking his son into this “whole drug business” as he’d called it.

      “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” There was something about his deep voice, his offer of sympathy in the cover of darkness, that felt more personal than it was. She didn’t know Johnny. Not really.

      How could someone make a living pretending he was something he wasn’t and in the process mess up an innocent boy’s future? Johnny should have been more careful with his accusations.

      “I’m sure he would be proud of you,” Johnny added.

      Ellie shifted her stance. “I like to think so, but sometimes I don’t know. I used to say I wanted to go to college to study art. He’d tell me to be an art teacher. He was always practical. Not sure he’d like the idea of a gift shop.”

      “Did you study art in college?”

      Ellie’s stomach dropped at the mention of college.

      A fat raindrop landed on her cheek and she wiped it away. “After my parents paid for my brother’s high-priced lawyer, there was no money left for college. For either of us.”

      “I’m sorry things worked out that way.”

      A few more drops plopped onto her head and shoulders and sounded loudly on the metal trash cans near the garage.

      “But you’re not sorry for having my brother arrested?”

      “We could go round and round about this until we’re both soaking wet.” Johnny squinted up at the sky.

      She shook her head. “I better get inside.” Another drop fell, then another and another.

       Oh, just great.

      Ellie grabbed Johnny’s arm and pulled him toward her mother’s front porch. She wasn’t about to invite him into her apartment. “Wait out the storm. You’ll get soaked.”

      The porch light flipped on and her mother appeared in the doorway.

       Even greater.

      Inwardly, Ellie rolled her eyes. Her mother was going to blow a gasket when she saw Johnny Rock standing on her porch with her daughter.

      Nancy Winters squinted and tented a hand over her eyes to shield them from the bare bulb on the overhang of the front porch. “Hello, Ellie. Who do you have there?” A hint of accusation laced her mother’s tone. The screen door creaked as her mother pushed it open with an outstretched arm.

      Before she had a chance to answer, Johnny smiled and extended his hand. “Hello, Mrs. Winters. It’s Johnny...Johnny Rock. It’s nice to see you.”

      An expression Ellie had seen a million times settled on her mother’s features. The I’m-angry-but-it-will-have-to-wait look. The look her mother whipped out in the presence of company. “Hello, Johnny.” Her brow furrowed. “Is everything okay?”

      “Johnny ran into me on Main Street. He offered to walk me home.” The words tumbled out of Ellie’s mouth.

      Her mother glanced at the overhang as the rain poured down. “Come in out of the weather. The rain will still get you if the wind starts up.”

      Johnny raised his hand, about to protest. Ellie shook her head slightly. “You might as well come in. My mom won’t take no for an answer.”

      He shrugged and smiled. He had grown more handsome in the ten years since she had seen him. His brown hair was cut close on the sides and a little longer on top. Hair a girl could run her fingers through.

       Where did that come from?

      A smile curved his mouth and heat warmed her cheeks. Good thing he couldn’t read minds.

      “I suppose I’ll come in,” he said, “until the rain lets up.”

      Ellie held the door and Johnny brushed past her. His clean scent tickled her nose and a fondness coiled around her heart. Oh, she didn’t need this complication in her life.

      Johnny glanced down at her and she smiled tightly at him, dismissing her feelings as remnants of a silly schoolgirl crush.

      “Have a seat,” Ellie said, holding her hand out toward the small kitchen table in front of the windows. Johnny did as she said. Ellie took the chair across from him, fully aware of his masculine presence in the small space.

       Why couldn’t the rain have held off for five more minutes?

      “So, what brings you here, Johnny?” Her mother busied herself filling the teakettle at the kitchen sink.

      Ellie shot Johnny a don’t-mention-the-intruder look.

      “My grandfather is selling the house on Treehaven Road. I’m giving him a hand organizing and packing. That sort of thing.”

      Nancy set the kettle on the stove with a deliberate clunk. She turned the back burner to high and set about the business of getting out three teacups and the tea bags before bothering to ask if they wanted any tea. A rainy evening called for tea, whether they agreed or not.

      “And you’re able to get away from your job?” Her mother crossed her arms and glared at him; a searing look that would have had the teenage Ellie confessing to sins she hadn’t committed.

      “I’ll be following up on some work-related things while I’m here. I work for the FBI.” Johnny hooked his arm around the back of the chair, oblivious to the tension hovering in the air. Ellie imagined FBI agents didn’t spook easily.

      “You’re with the FBI now, huh?” Her mother seemed to be considering something as she tore the paper away from the tea bag.

      “Yes, ma’am. In Buffalo.”

      Nancy’s features softened as if she had come to some conclusion. “Johnny, did you hear Greg has a good job working for the town? He’s in maintenance. Makes good money working overtime. Good benefits.”

      “Good to hear.”

      “And Ellie is opening a shop in town—but you probably know that, too.” Her mother stood tall, like a proud mama bear ready to swipe at anyone who dared hurt her cubs.

      “Mom...” Ellie hated how her tone made her sound juvenile. Far younger than her twenty-four years.

      Ellie swallowed the bile rising in her throat. She wondered why God would send rain when she was seconds away from getting rid of Johnny and her mother being none the wiser.

      “How did you run into Ellie tonight?”

      Ellie shot Johnny a sideways glance that didn’t go unnoticed by her mother.

      “What? What are you hiding from me?”

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