Catching Moondrops Read Online Free Page B

“It’s only Luke, Jessie. Ain’t like he’s a stranger now. Don’t get so riled up. You look right nice.”
    â€œI ain’t seen him in two months,” I managed to murmur even though my voice gave out halfway through. “Leastways, he ain’t seen me in two months neither. What if he don’t think I’m much to look at?”
    â€œWhat d’you think’s changed so much in two months? You stopped growin’ two years ago, you ain’t changed your weight none, and your hair’s still long and golden brown like ever.”
    â€œBut I’m wearin’ it different.” I lifted one finger and ran it across my forehead. “I added five more freckles, too. Before you know it, I’ll be nothin’ but freckles.”
    â€œAge sure has made you vain.”
    â€œI got to worry about my looks now. I’m runnin’ out of time to make Luke notice.”
    â€œYou’re not even nineteen years old, Jessie Lassiter. Time ain’t runnin’ out for nothin’.”
    â€œAnd Luke’s twenty-five. How much longer you think I got before some city girl snags him up?” The whistling got louder, but I could barely hear it over my heartbeat. “Luke’s gone off all the time, now he’s all famous and whatnot. For all I know he’s got a sweetheart in every town.”
    â€œLuke’s a carpenter. He ain’t Valentino.”
    â€œEverybody within a hundred miles of Calloway knows Luke Talley’s furniture,” I argued. “Ain’t no one works wood better in this whole state.”
    â€œI didn’t say there was.” Gemma looked up the road behind me and reached out to pinch my cheeks twice.
    â€œOuch!”
    â€œYou’re pale as a ghost. And he’s just about to turn up the walk, so you best get that silly, sour look off your face and put a smile on.”
    The stupid grin I manufactured was enough to make Gemma have to bite her lip to avoid a laugh, but it was all I could manage without having my mouth quiver.
    Gemma gave me a shove and then stepped back into the shadow of the doorway, leaving me and Luke alone and chaperoned all at once.
    Luke stopped whistling and walking the minute I managed to make it off the porch and step into the sunshine. There was a good early summer breeze, and it picked his golden hair up and skimmed it across his forehead. He was dressed up like it was a church day, a new hat gripped in his hands. I watched his eyes for any sign of affection; it was all I could do to keep from running down to toss my arms around his neck. I reminded myself that only happened in my daydreams and stood my ground, waiting for him to make up his mind what to do.
    He strolled slowly up the walk, a smile building with each step, and when he came within two feet of me, he stopped. “Jessilyn, you’re a sight for sore eyes.” Then he tossed his hat on the porch step behind me and pulled me close.
    Even though his arms didn’t embrace me in the kind of way I wished for, there was no better place to be in all the world, and I wanted to stay there for the rest of my life. Even at five feet seven and in my pretty new shoes, I had to stand on tiptoe to reach his neck.
    â€œIt’s been two long months,” I whispered in his ear.
    He pulled away from me to look at my face, and for one flickering moment I saw the brotherly smile slip from his eyes to be replaced by something far more to my liking. “Two days is too long.”
    Ten seconds of bliss dissolved the minute the clomp of my daddy’s shoes rang off the new boards he’d nailed into the porch floor last week, and Luke let me go like I’d burnt his fingertips.
    â€œYou plannin’ on keepin’ the boy to yourself, Jessilyn?” Daddy asked, a glint of protectiveness brightening his eyes. He took Luke by the arm and nearly dragged him up the steps. “Come on in the house, son.