Fireworks (True North, #6)

by Sarina Bowen

The only man I’ve ever really loved is sitting beside me on the bed. No wonder Vermont still has such a hold on my soul.

It’s on. I want this. I grip his rock-hard body and try to catalogue every new sensation.

Benito sheds his T-shirt and then scans my body with hungry eyes. I always wanted him to look at me like that—like I was sexy and exciting, and not just a scared waif who often needed his help.

The heat in her eyes? I put it there. She’s like a gift that was never mine to unwrap. But now she’s looking up at me like I hung the moon and stars. I can’t stop.

I’d introduce you to Audrey Shipley, but she’s on maternity leave.” “Shipley,” I repeat slowly. “I don’t remember an Audrey.” Zara’s smile turns wry. “Nope. She’s a flatlander. Showed up here three years ago to fall madly in love with Griffin.” “Oh.” It used to be Zara who was madly in love with Griffin.

If you have any questions about my place, ask Zara. She lived there last summer.” “Thank you. I will.” It’s a lie, though. If I was drowning I wouldn’t ask Zara for a lifeboat. She’d probably run me over with it.

“I know you’re probably wondering why I’m just sitting here like a lump,” she says. “But we’re all terribly curious.” “Curious? About me?” She grins. “Of course! You disappeared completely. You didn’t even come to the last week of school. And Benito was heartbroken. He didn’t come to a single bonfire that summer. He just mowed lawns and waited to ship out for basic training.

The girl’s unrequited eagerness reminds Skye of her own crush on Benito. Skye hides hers, though, whereas Jill is willing to position herself in front of Benito at every opportunity. If Jill’s strategy actually works, Skye will be crushed.

This is going to be awkward. “Oh, thank you, baby Jesus!” Mom skids to a stop in front of Skylar. “Honey. I can’t believe my eyes! You are six inches taller and twice as beautiful as you were at sixteen. And you were already a very pretty, very tall girl then.” She claps a hand to her heart.

“Maybe loosen your grip a little? There’s a fine line between welcoming and psychotic.”

Skye says sweetly. “What can I bring?” “You don’t have to bring a thing! Just your beautiful self. You know, Benny has been moping around here for more than a decade wondering what became of you.” Just shoot me already. It’s obvious that Skye has no clue what to say. “How about I bring dessert? Do you like tiramisu?” “I love tiramisu!” my mother gasps. But what she really means is, How many grandchildren will you give me?

“He’s seven weeks,” Audrey says. “He’s August Griffin Shipley the fourth.” “That’s a lot of names for one little cub,” Skye says, rocking him as lovingly as if he were the Christ child. As I’ve said before, love at first sight is totally real. And I think Skye just fell head over heels for an infant in a bear suit. “We call him Gus,” Audrey explains.

He tries to talk Zara into enlisting, too, because that would solve at least one problem. “You’re already a badass,” he reasons. “This would just make it official.” “Are you high? I fucking hate authority,” is Zara’s quick response. Well, there’s that.

“Fuck, Skye,” he whispers. “I’ve been waiting for you. For this.” “Me too,” I confess, although neither of us means it literally. But my heart has been waiting to feel like this—breathless and beautiful.

I loved you from the first day I met you. That’s never going away.”

And I’ve almost relaxed when a door opens from the back, and Jill Sullivan steps out not ten feet away from Skye. Oh my fucking God.

When I think about the two of them together, I actually want to throw up. Handcuffs? I’ll bet she never flinches if he calls her a dirty girl. I’ll bet she never flinches at all.

I feel cold inside when I read these words. Maybe another girl would understand. But I might be too broken inside to believe that the way he feels about me is different from the way he feels about Jill. It was just sex, he says.

Somewhere along the way I told myself I could get closure with Benito. And I guess I have. Today we came full circle. He doesn’t belong to me, and he never did.

I’ve been waiting for you, Skye. It makes me cringe to remember how those words had made me feel. Elated. Special. But everything he’d said sounds different to me now. He’d probably said all the same things to Jill Sullivan.

To her it was a big deal. She’s probably speed-eating a tub of Phish Food ice cream right now, because you just made it abundantly clear that she’ll never be your first choice.” My groan is loud. “I never would have made my little offer if I thought this would happen.”

I’m glad he can’t see inside my head right now, because it’s full of ugly, jealous thoughts. Maybe other women aren’t quite this crazy. It’s not like I assumed Benito was a virgin. But why did it have to be her? I thought I was so much older and wiser than my sixteen-year-old self. But how many times can I repeat the same mistakes?