My Hope Next Door Read online

  “Why, thank you, sir.” Her voice was just airy enough to make him believe their hug hadn’t tilted his world. “You are such a gentleman.”

  “Nah, I’m just trying to impress the girl next door.”

  Her gaze pulsed with emotion. “Don’t worry. You’ve already done that. Many, many times.”

  Katie fought with herself all the way to the theater. She shouldn’t have hugged him. Shouldn’t have allowed her guard to be so completely annihilated. Whatever she thought she was feeling, it had to stop.

  Asher paid the attendant through his window and chatted with him for a few moments before driving up to screen number four. He maneuvered a three-point turn and backed into an empty slot with speakers on each side. Only one car stood between them and the massive movie screen.

  “Now it gets fun.” He opened his door and hopped out of the SUV. The theater’s radio station played filler music while he lifted the tailgate and adjusted blankets over the lowered backseats.

  “Can I help you with something?”

  “Nope. It’s all ready.” He climbed into the back and motioned for her to join him.

  She crawled through the seats and past the cooler he’d brought. Two big bags of red licorice sat on top.

  He was already seated, legs crossed, eager and excited as a seven-year-old. It was endearing, the way he wanted to share his joy for this dilapidated spot in the country. As if he didn’t even notice the speakers were rusty or the screen was slightly torn on the right side.

  He popped open the lid to his cooler. “Thirsty?”

  “Always.” She sat opposite him and matched his pretzeled position.

  The ice swooshed when he pulled out two twenty-ounce plastic bottles . . . of soda. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. Katie Stone at the drive-in, sober.

  “What?” Of course he noticed her amusement. He noticed everything.

  “Nothing. How did you know I’m a sucker for licorice?”

  “I assumed you had good taste.” He pulled the candy bag open, tearing it at the seam, and offered her one. She took two.

  “So, what’s your all-time favorite movie?” She swung her licorice in a circle before biting into it.

  “The Lord of the Rings movies, but the Star Wars series is a close second.”

  Katie lowered her head into her palms and shook it back and forth. “Oh no. You’re one of those.”

  “Come on, those are epic movies.”

  “Yes, but totally unoriginal. Ask a hundred people on the street, and I guarantee at least forty percent will pick one of those.”

  “Different doesn’t always make things better,” he said.

  “Whatever you say . . .”

  “Okay, Miss Judgment, what’s yours?” His smile was back. The one that pushed the storms from his eyes and made their banter easy.

  “Good Will Hunting.”

  “Interesting. What makes it rise to the top?”

  She shrugged even though she knew exactly why. In the movie, Will had overcome injustice, chosen love, escaped his ghosts. Everything Katie was still afraid to do. “Robin Williams, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  She brushed off her hands, grabbed another twisted vine. “Favorite food combination, and don’t say something easy like hot dogs and mac and cheese.”

  “Gross. Who likes that?”

  Katie slapped his knee. “I was practically raised on hot dogs and mac and cheese. Sheesh.”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to offend.” Asher lifted his hands in mock surrender.

  She waved an imaginary wand, tapped it twice. “You’re exonerated. Now go.”

  “I’m not so sure I want to after you dismissed my movie. Besides, I plan to introduce you to it firsthand, after the first feature is over.”

  “No, you can’t hold out on me. I’ll never enjoy the show. I hate, hate, hate waiting.”

  “Really? I can’t tell.” He laughed, and she felt the sound move through her.

  She leaned over and tickled his side. “Come on. Tell me.”

  “It’s a secret.” He pushed her hand away, and the tingling contact with his fingers was enough to make her pause for a second to make sure he wasn’t going to fall back into awkwardness.

  His piercing smile said no, so she relaxed.

  “I can make you talk. I have many, many ways.”

  “That may be true, but I’m stubborn.”

  “Not as stubborn as I am. In fact, no one is as stubborn as I am.” She said it proudly, although that trait had been a thorn to her many times before.

  He lazily shrugged one shoulder. “We’ll see. Ah, look, the previews are about to start.”

  She swiped his licorice right before he was about to take a bite. “Come on. Just tell me.”

  “Fine. I’ll tell you when you answer my earlier question.” His hand captured her wrist, and the sudden seriousness in his gaze made her wonder if he hadn’t been working her this whole time.

  She tugged her hand free. “Why do you care what I did in high school?”

  “I just do.”

  He wasn’t asking for a lot. Not even a sliver of what his friendship had already given her.

  She watched the preview flashing on the screen and tried not to show the sacrifice it took to answer his question. “When we weren’t driving to the beach or trying to get into a nightclub somewhere, we’d go to this place we found. The Point. We’d get someone to buy us a six-pack, and we’d talk and drink and sometimes even dream.”

  His warm hand curled around hers. It was strong, rough with callouses but comforting. It was a hand she knew would never ball into a fist or threaten her.

  “What did you dream about?”

  “What do you think? Leaving Fairfield. That was all any of us dreamed about.” They’d been so young, only teenagers, and yet they’d had it all figured out, down to their neighboring homes with white picket fences. Chad and Laila would get married, and Katie would live a blissful single life with oodles of men falling at her feet.

  The air turned heavy. Asher’s hometown had been her prison. His positive childhood memories, her nightmares. Of course he didn’t understand her need to forget the past. He’d had a beautiful one.

  “Popcorn and Hot Tamales.” His hand slid away, and his voice shed the counselor’s purr it’d contained minutes before.

  “What?”

  “My favorite food combination. You mix popcorn and Hot Tamales together.”

  “And you said mine was gross?” She faked a gag.

  “See, this is why I couldn’t tell you. Now I have to go get some and prove I’m right.”

  “But the movie’s about to start.”

  He jumped out of the back of the car. “I’ll be quick.”

  Katie let out a long breath as she watched him walk across the dimly lit parking area to the concession stand. He’d somehow guessed she needed a moment alone to push away the sadness.

  She slid from the back of the SUV and walked around it. Leaning against the side, she tried to imagine what it would have been like to spend her weekends here instead of drowning in whatever substance she and her friends could get their hands on. Wondered what it would’ve been like to date Asher back in high school, before her sins had become too numerous to escape.

  She would have been happy. That much she knew, without question.

  A sleek black Jaguar crossed in front of her, bouncing as it navigated the potholed gravel. An elbow hung out of the open window, and Katie immediately recognized the snake tattoo an inch above it. Her eyes followed the line of the man’s bicep past his shoulder and up to a profile she could still draw in her sleep.

  Slim.

  A man in jeans and an army-green T-shirt approached the driver’s side, bent down to the window, and blocked Katie’s view. Seconds later, he walked away.

  An exchange. Quick. Stealthy. Dirty.

  Katie knew the drill. She knew it so well, her mouth went dry and her stomach knotted until she felt the need to bend ov
er and dry heave.

  “Cash only,” Slim said.

  “It’s worth way more than what you’re giving me. Come on. I need this.” She shoved the ring back in his face.

  His gaze slithered down her front. “There are other trades that can be made.”

  “You know I don’t play that game.”

  “And I take cash only.”

  “I’m one of your biggest customers. Do you want me to find someone else?”

  His eyes became thin slits. “Okay, fine, I’ll take it, but you gotta do something for me now too.”

  That night. That stupid, stupid night. And for what? A quick high. A fool’s escape. A twist of reality that could never, ever be sustained.

  She forced herself to stand and wiped sweat from her brow. The car had circled around and out of sight. Gone, but never far enough away to stop haunting her.

  Katie’s throat constricted, but she refused to cry. Asher had said she needed to feel, but he was wrong. Emotions were fleeting, uncontrolled, and dangerous. But at the same time, it was becoming impossible to tuck away the past. Everywhere she turned, there were reminders.

  Maybe she’d been doing everything wrong. Maybe God hadn’t just brought her back to Fairfield to help her parents. Maybe it was to give her a chance to fix her biggest regret. To go back to the beginning of the end and make restitution.

  That one tiny piece of jewelry had set off an unstoppable chain reaction. If she could find it, if she could right that one wrong, then maybe the reaction would work in reverse.

  Maybe then she could find a way to heal.

  CHAPTER 15

  Asher tapped on the glass counter as he waited for the popcorn to pop. The kid working concessions was new, and it took three tries before he could get the kernels spinning. The movie had started five minutes ago, but Asher was actually relieved to have a second to breathe. He’d broken through Katie’s thick shield. Only a little, but enough to know he wanted more.

  Chatter surrounded him, as did the steady ping of the arcade games in the corner. A little girl with pigtails begged her dad for chocolate, and Asher chuckled to himself as the man melted in her chubby little hands.

  Finally, the popcorn and box of candy appeared in front of him. He handed the teenager a ten and waited for change. The scent of salt and butter swirled in the air and he inhaled, feeling comfort that for the first time in a very long while, that smell didn’t bring regret.

  He slipped his change into the pocket of his shorts and walked out, balancing his loot.

  A familiar giggle raised the hair on his forearm. He shouldn’t have looked, but it was instinctual. Platinum-blonde hair, blue eyes, a purse ten times bigger than she needed. All three blurred in front of him. He hadn’t seen Jillian in six months. But there she stood, only ten feet away, purring while she kissed a man who must be the new boyfriend his mom had mentioned.

  The two were oblivious to everything but each other, while Asher remained rooted to the concrete. He’d been on guard every other time he’d been at the drive-in, but not tonight. Being with Katie made him forget that demons lurked in the night.

  The happy couple turned in his direction, their fingers interlaced, but Asher quickly walked the opposite way before he ended up face-to-face with the woman who made Jezebel look like a saint. The paper bag of popcorn shook in his hands, and heat engulfed his neck and cheeks. He wanted to curse. Or find something to hammer. Maybe he’d go ahead and tear out that tile in his bathroom tonight after the movie. Anything to make the hole in his chest close back up.

  His quick steps brought him back to his car faster than he’d intended. Katie stood at the side of it, leaning with her head tilted toward the sky. She could be a model in a photo shoot, the way the residual movie lights reflected off her skin.

  The sight of her was a balm to his ache. Jillian had dimmed something inside him, but Katie brought a hope that he could once again be whole.

  She must have heard him approach, because her head dipped and she flashed a smile that continued to ease his pulsing anger.

  “I didn’t want to watch the movie without you.” She eyed his tight posture and the death grip he had on the bag. “Everything okay?”

  “Uh, yeah. Sorry I took so long.” His voice sounded strangled.

  She hesitated but didn’t press. “No problem. I think all we missed were a few explosions anyway.”

  Asher attempted a weak smile, but he suddenly forgot how to pretend.

  “And maybe a meteor attack, although it was hard to tell because the chick was in black spandex and her hair was way too perfect for an apocalypse.”

  Funny. Yet he couldn’t laugh. Not yet. He climbed into the back of his SUV and helped Katie in over the bumper. She’d stopped talking and was watching him as if he, too, was about to explode. He wasn’t, but his pulse still hadn’t settled yet either.

  A quick stretch over the seats to turn up the radio, and his speakers boomed with shrieks and feet pounding. They matched the turmoil in his head.

  He wouldn’t do this, let Jillian spoil another night. She’d already stolen so much; he refused to let his time with Katie be another casualty.

  Asher poured some popcorn into a paper bowl and mixed in the Hot Tamales. “Okay, now this is how you should eat popcorn.” He held up a finger when she appeared ready to protest. “Nope. No judgment until you try it.”

  The bridge of her nose wrinkled in the cutest way, and he felt himself relax.

  She reached out and grabbed a handful of kernels and candy. With her nose still scrunched, she dropped the mess into her mouth and cautiously chewed. Quickly, her expression shifted from dread to surprise “Oh my gosh, that’s so good.”

  Asher’s tension uncoiled even more as he took his own handful. “Never doubt my knowledge when it comes to food.”

  “Noted.”

  She snuck more out of the bowl, and they watched the movie in silence until the acting got so bad that Asher couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “This movie is terrible,” he said.

  She burst out laughing. “The absolute worst.” Her expression shifted to feigned panic. “Oh, Hansel, what will we do? New York is destroyed. I will never wear Jimmy Choo again!”

  He lowered his voice to a deep bass. “Not to worry, my pet. I have fifty-inch biceps, so I can save the world when I flex.”

  “Oh, my hero.” She drew her hands to her chest. “Let me kiss you with music in the background while two cars explode right next to us.”

  He shook his head and crawled to the front to turn off the stereo. “How in the world did this film get production dollars?”

  “Hot girls in spandex. Equally hot guys in spandex.” She leaned back on her elbows and stretched out her legs. “I remember now why I never go to the movies.”

  Asher laughed, and the act finally felt genuine. A breeze whistled through the back of the car as they both watched the screen in silence. A nice silence. One that wasn’t awkward or forced.

  She shifted her attention to him. “You don’t have to talk about it if don’t want to. But you seemed really upset when you came back from the concession stand.”

  He still hadn’t adjusted to Katie’s bold honesty. Jillian would have ignored the two-ton elephant and pretended they were having a wonderful time. That was the church way, right? Put on the smile, the mask; tell everyone you’re fine when really you’re dying inside.

  He didn’t want to be that person anymore.

  “I ran into my ex.” Even with effort, he couldn’t keep the disgust from his voice. “Our breakup wasn’t under the best of circumstances.”

  Katie sat up and faced him. “Who did the breaking up?”

  “I did.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But she certainly did the most damage.”

  “I really hate when people pry, but if you want to talk about it, I’m a good listener.” She played with a dangling bracelet on her right wrist. “Although my past relationships don’t exactly give me any authority on the subject.”
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  “Why’s that?” He welcomed the shift in conversation. Focusing on her was easier.

  She pulled her dress farther down over her crossed legs. “I have a bad habit of picking men who aren’t good to me. It’s a character flaw. Really. It’s like I know going in: this guy is cruel, selfish, and stubborn. Yet that’s always who I end up with.”

  Asher scooted toward her until their knees almost touched. There was something about Katie when she let down her defenses that wrenched his insides. Made him want to hold her. Comfort her. “Maybe you were trying to punish yourself by being with them.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe. I think it’s more habit. There’s a draw to the familiar, even when it’s no good.”

  Knots tightened in his stomach. Jillian had been familiar. Perfect on paper. Her father was a deacon, her parents close friends of his own. They had the same social circles, the same taste in movies and music, the same value system. Maybe that was why he’d felt so trapped. Heck, he used to get asked weekly when they were getting married.

  “Do you regret the split?” Katie’s blue eyes flickered over his face.

  “No. I regret what happened before the split.”

  “What happened?”

  “Things got complicated. Lines got crossed. Mistakes were made. The usual.” He’d moved closer than he realized, and at some point his hand landed on her knee. The dress underneath his palm was stiff, but also soft.

  She inhaled. “But you still care about her?”

  “No. Trust me. The only thing I feel for Jillian is relief that she’s out of my life.”

  Katie smiled then, and he liked that his words were the cause of that smile. She was so beautiful and real and unlike anyone he’d ever known.

  She carefully laid her hand over his, and when she lifted her forehead, he was startlingly close to her face. Close enough to see a scattering of freckles by her nose, the small ball of silver in her earlobe, the quick way she swallowed when their eyes met.

  Her fingers trailed a line down his forearm, exploring, inviting.

  He shouldn’t do this. It was too soon for both of them. But her breath touched his chin, and soon all rational thought disappeared.