Sentimental Journey Read Online Free Page B

Jordanna hastened to assure him.
    "If it isn't where I live or what you think I am, would you mind telling me why you keep turning me down?" A thread of cynicism had been sown through his voice, skeptical and taunting.
    "Because—" Jordanna paused for a fraction of a second before completing her answer "—I'm not interested in seeing you. There's someone else…that I like."
    "Radford," Brodie Hayes concluded. "Your parents would approve of him. But they would never welcome me into their home, would they?"
    "I wouldn't know." Her sister's voice contained a faintly haughty air. "The question has never arisen."
    "Probably because everyone knows the answer."
    "That isn't fair," Jordanna protested.
    "Fair?" Brodie Hayes repeated in a laughing sound. "At least I know where I stand with you…and why," he added in a voice that indicated he'd drawn his own conclusion. "Would you like to know where you stand with me?"
    That apprehensive note made Jessica peep around the wall. Her eyes rounded in fear when she saw her sister flattened against the wall, Brodie's arms on either side, caging her there. Afraid of what he might be planning to do to Jordanna, she rose to clutch the banister. He leaned intimidatingly close, all but blocking her sister from Jessica's view.
    "Brodie, please—" he had made a harsh mockery out of her words. "Please, what? Please, get lost?" Jordanna made no response, holding her ground and meeting his look. "Okay, if that's what you want." He pushed away from the wall. "I guess I just stepped out of my class, didn't I?" Jordanna opened her mouth to say something. "Don't bother, I can show myself out. Unless you would prefer that I leave by the back door."
    "No, I—"
    But Brodie didn't give her sister a chance to complete the sentence, turning and walking to the front door with swift yet unhurried strides.
    When the door closed, Jessica sped down the stairs, racing toward her sister. "Are you all right, Jordanna? I was so scared!"
    "Jessica!" Her sister caught her by the shoulders and looked at her in surprise. "I thought you were in your room."
    "I waited at the top of the stairs," she admitted. "I didn't think you'd be able to send him away. I thought he might hurt you."
    "You have much too vivid an imagination," Jordanna sighed.  
    "I saw him," Jessica protested. "He'd backed you up to the wall. I just know he was going to do something."
    "He was just trying to scare me a little because I hurt his pride by refusing to go out with him. But he didn't do anything, Jessica. You see, I'm all right." Jordanna smiled brightly, "Now go on upstairs and change out of your swimsuit. Mom would have fits if she caught you around the house in that wet thing."
    Jessica obeyed, but she wasn't convinced that her fears for her older sister had been groundless. She had never forgotten the scene nor the sense of peril she had experienced licking through her veins.
    Three weeks later she had seen Brodie Hayes for the third time, and the last time until today. As before, the doorbell had rung and Jessica had raced to answer it. Part of it was almost a replay of the previous time. She had stopped short at the sight of Brodie Hayes.
    "Is your sister home?" he asked.
    Robbed of speech by the memory of the other scene, Jessica shook her head. Jordanna had gone out with some friends for the afternoon.
    "Do you know when she'll be back?"
    Again her head moved swiftly from side to side. If she had known, she would never have told him. As it was, she didn't have to lie.
    "Would you give her a message?"
    This time her head bobbed in agreement.
    His mouth quirked at the action. "Can't you talk, kid?"
    The taunt stung Jessica into speech. "I can talk."
    "So that's your problem, a mouthful of metal." As soon as he spoke, Jessica pressed her lips tightly together to hide the braces he had seen, "Tell Jordanna that I stopped to tell her goodbye. I'm leaving town." Jessica nodded and Brodie Hayes started to turn away. Then he hesitated, his