Significance - Chapter Two

Copyright 2012  Shelly Crane                    All rights reserved

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Two

“It still boggles my mind how you can eat those things,” my dad said, as he’d said a hundred times before, but this time he sneered it instead of joking with me. “I mean, it’s pure sugar.  Sugar and starch and bad for you carbs.”

“Are you saying I need to lose some weight, Dad?”

We sat at the kitchen dinette. I say dinette because it barely fits two people. This was where we’d been ever since that ride home from graduation.  It was an utterly silent ride except for one ‘congratulations’ muttered from Dad, nothing more. I had been sitting there for almost an hour now, checking my phone and waiting for Kyle to text me. I never thought I’d ever be waiting for Kyle, but I would have done anything to get out of that house tonight.

I did, however, have a text from Bish.

Congrats, kid. I’m really sorry I couldn’t come, but the boss is on me and interns can’t really negotiate, you know. But I love you and can’t wait to see you. I’ll come home soon for a visit, I promise.

“No.” Dad cut through my moment of happiness with more grumbling. “I’m not saying that, stop being dramatic. I’m saying they’re not good for you.”

“Dad, I’ve eaten honey buns almost every day since birth, along with thousands of other Americans. I’m sure they’re not lethal.”

“Stop the sarcasm, Maggie. I’m just saying you could watch it to make sure your weight doesn’t get out of control one day. Your mother always said-”

“Ok, stop right there, please, Dad. I have no interest in what that woman thinks of me. She left, so she definitely doesn’t get a say so anymore. She doesn’t care.”

She was always on me about my weight. Of course, back then I just thought it was motherly protection, you know. Now, who knew what was going on in her head.

I’m kinda short, I guess; five-three. My mom has always said I should watch it and maybe start doing more activities, such as joining the cheerleading squad again. Iquit my sophomore year.I was already on the track team, but apparently, our running shorts weren’t cute enough for her.

I have always liked my body, always. I wasn’t fat. I wasn’t one of those girls that griped and complained and had conniptions every time I had to put on a bathing suit. And I’d never had any complaints from anyone else either. Especially not Chad, who constantly told me how he loved that I ate real food and looked normal and didn’t ask him if I looked fat every time I changed my clothes. No one except her ever had a problem with it or ever said anything to me about it. I refused to get a complex because of one high strung woman. And now Dad had to start this crap?

“She does care. We just didn’t do what we needed for her. We took advantage. She wouldn’t have left if we had been more...”

“More what, Dad? More perfect?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No. You don’t love people for what they can give you. You don’t love them because of what they do for you or how good you make them look. Love is blind, love does not boast, love is not vain. Remember, Dad?”

“I know what the bible says, Maggie, but since when do you care what God has to say about anything?” Ouch. True, we hadn’t been to church not one Sunday since my mom left. “Your mom loved us, we just didn’t show her enough love to keep her here. We failed her.”

I stood up, not caring that Kyle hadn’t texted me yet. I looked at the sad, mean, black haired, pale and thin man in front of me with his wrinkled navy blue shirt and his hair greased back, uncared for.

“Dad, I love you, but I’m not taking the blame for something she did. I’m going out with a friend. I won’t stay out too late.”

“Chad?”

“No, not Chad. Chad’s too busy trying to leave this town.”

“Well, good for him and you knew it was coming. You could learn a few things from that boy. He was a little out of your league anyway, I think. Probably why it didn’t work out. You’ve gotta be more realistic, Maggie. You expect too much from people,” he muttered.

“Ok, Dad. Bye.”

I left without another word from him or me. I grabbed my green cargo jacket from the hall coat rack and stuck my phone in my pocket. I looked at myself in the hall mirror. I remembered this mirror. It was bulky and huge, made from antique silver. Dad had to wrestle to get it in the car after mom found it at an old, out of the way antique shop. I looked in it and I saw my light brown hair with a little wave at the ends passed my shoulders. I saw my green eyes. I saw the freckles smattering my nose and cheeks on tan skin. I wasn’t gorgeous, but I still didn’t understand why I wasn’t good enough for anyone.

I searched through my backpack for the ten dollar bill I knew was there and stuffing it in my pocket with my phone, I headed out the door.

It was cold and humid. The air was thick with fog and moisture, making a glow around the street lights as I made my way down Broad Street. One street over was Main. I lived right smack in the middle of town my whole life. I didn’t have a car because I didn’t need one. I could walk anywhere I needed to go and the diner I worked in was only five blocks down and over.

But I wasn’t headed to the diner. I had no idea where I was going, but I just needed to get away. Dad had completely changed. We used to get along; play games, go to movies, cook together, rake leaves together. We were a typical uptown normal street family from Tennessee. But, when my mom left, my dad may as well have left too. He would never have said anything about my weight before, especially since there’s nothing wrong with it, and never ever would have just sat there while his only daughter graduated. He also wouldn’t have let me get a job just so I had money to buy things I needed because he was too buried in his grief to go to work anymore. He was not the same man and I missed him.

I also have an older brother, Bish, who was adopted, but he’d been out of the house for a long time now. My parents decided when I was eight to adopt a kid from the state. They got a boy, a sixteen year old kid who’d been pulled from a foster home. He’d apparently been in lots of them and was pretty happy to actually be adopted being so old.

I liked him right off and he liked me. He let me follow him around and pester him. He played games with me and took me shopping. I helped introduce him into the youth group at church because he’d never been to church before. But he left to go to art school on a scholarship and moved to New York to be an intern for some jerk at a law firm. I rarely saw him anymore. We text, but he was so busy and I couldn’t seem to find anything to talk about but how much life sucked here without him.

I made my way to the stop light and waited for it to turn red so I could cross. There was only one other person there, a guy with his back to me. He was wearing his earbuds and bobbing his head a little to whatever beat he was listening to with his hands in his pockets. He looked back, smiled slightly and nodded before facing forward again. I checked my phone again and saw that I still had no text. I wondered why I was so worried about it. I wasn’t even thrilled about going with Kyle in the first place, but now I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it.

I thought maybe I’d get a coffee while I waited. If Kyle didn’t text me, at least I could sit there. Maybe read a little from the Kindle app on my phone before heading home. I put my phone back in my pocket and looked up just in time. The light turned red, but the guy was already walking without looking to the side first and was crossing. I saw the red truck turning, the driver’s head turned left, but he was turning right.

It all happened so fast I didn’t even get a chance to think. I just reacted. I ran forward, grabbed the back of the guy’s jacket and pulled him backwards with all my strength just as the truck sped by in front of us. We tumbled back and he landed hard on top of me, his backpack banging against my face. My breath slammed into my chest painfully.

I heard a screech and looked to see the truck slam to a stop just a ways ahead of us. He yelled some obscenities out his window; something about stupid kids, but more colorful, and then sped away.

The guy immediately rolled off me, yanking the buds from his ears and looking at me with awe and concern.

“Are you ok?”

“Uh...yeah, I think so,” I groaned.

“I can’t believe I just did that. You- you saved my life.”

“It’s fine. It’s a good thing I was here, I guess.”

He scooted a little closer and winced as he brushed my hair back from my face. “You cut your head,” he said breathlessly and looked a little dazed.

“I did?” I felt it with my fingers and squinted as it stung. My fingers had a little blood on them, but nothing alarming. “I guess I did. It’s all right, really, just a bump.”

I tried to stand, but he held me down with a hand on my shoulder.

“Whoa. Wait, ok? Let me call an ambulance. If something happened to you after you saved me...”

“Really, that’s not necessary. I’m fine.”

He frowned and paused, screwing up his lips like he was debating it. I looked at him in the soft glow of the streetlights. He was tall, that I’d seen from before, and broad, but his hair was brown and shaggy, curling around his ears and forehead, and his eyes were light, blue maybe or hazel. His lips were fascinating as he sucked them in and out of his mouth in contemplation. He was wearing a gray hoodie that said ‘VOLS’ in big orange letters on the front. Great.

That was one of my biggest problems with Chad. He’d been so set to go to Florida to be a Gator when the University of Tennessee was right here. Right down the road. His dad went to UF, I get it, he wanted to follow his dad’s footsteps but it just felt like he wouldn’t compromise. I don’t know.

The guy’s eyes drifted to mine and we just sat there, eyes locked on one another’s. Then the corner of his mouth rose slightly. And it was unnerving.

“Please, let me take you to the hospital at least.” He brushed my hair back again and leaned closer to inspect. I heard my swift intake of breath at his closeness and he did, too. He looked down into my eyes again and watched me closely. “It doesn’t look too bad, but...let me call someone for you. I’d feel better,” he said softly.

“There’s no one to call,” I muttered, but wished I could take it back when I saw his face. “Really, I’m fine.”

“I’m so glad you were here. I can’t believe I did that. And I’m sorry you got hurt. I must have hit you with my book-bag when we went down. That’s a pretty good grip you got there,” he said and smiled and I had one of those moments where you stare and can’t look away.

He smiled wider when I didn’t say anything and chuckled right as I came back to myself.

“Uh, thanks. Are you all right?” I asked and he nodded.

“So. There’s no one to call? Your parents? A boyfriend?”

“My dad won’t come and my boyfriend and I- Well, we aren’t together anymore. I wouldn’t feel right about calling him now.”

“You don’t think he’d come?”

“Oh, he would. That’s why I don’t want to.”

He seemed confused and amused at the same time. “Ok. I’m gonna assume there’s a story there and you’re not just suffering from a head injury.”

I realized then that we were still sitting on the sidewalk next to each other, in the middle of town.

“No, I’m fine. Look, I’m sorry. I’m fine, I promise. I didn’t mean to hold you up,” I stammered and stuck my hair behind my ear.

“Are you kidding? You saved my life. The least I can do is make sure you get where you’re going. Here.” He grabbed my arm gently and helped me stand, keeping it there to make sure I was steady. “You good? No stars, no spots, no blurs?”

“I’m good.”

“Where you headed?”

“I have no idea. Nowhere. I’m just waiting for someone to call and needed to get out of the house.”

“Did you go to graduation?”

“Yeah, I graduated.”

“Really? You look too young to be graduating.”

“Seventeen. My birthday’s in a few weeks. I, uh, skipped a grade so I graduated early.”

“Aha. So, I was saved by a genius. This just keeps getting better,” he said grinning.

“I’m not a genius,” I laughed. “I just used to like school. I loved tests.” I saw his expression. “I know, I know. I’m a freak. But I liked it, for whatever reason.”

“Not anymore?”

“Long story. Bad year.”

He nodded and seemed to know to leave that one alone.

“You’re not a freak, by the way.” He leaned close and stage whispered to me. “I love to do geometry speed drills. Love it.”

I raised my eyebrows and dropped my jaw in mock shock.

“No way. That’s crazy.”

“I know.”

“Maybe you’re the freak.”

“Hey!” We both laughed and then smiled at each other. “So, where can I take you?”

“Really, I’m fine. Where were you headed?”

“Oh, my uncle’s house a couple streets over. My cousin graduated, too. My mom and dad are here with me, partying it up with the family. You know.”

“Yeah,” I said bleakly as I most certainly did not know. “Who’s your cousin?”

“Kyle Jacobson.”

My jaw dropped for real this time. “Kyle is your cousin?”

“Yeah, you know him? Oh, of course you do.”

“Yeah, I’ve been friends with Kyle since...forever. He’s actually the one I’m waiting on. I thought his party was from five to seven?”

“It is. I snuck out for a walk. I can’t handle so many Jacobsons in one room.” He put his hands back in his pockets and rolled his shoulders, looking a little uncomfortable. “So, you’re Kyle’s big date, huh? He kept talking about you earlier.”

“It’s not a date. Well...I guess it is. We’re just friends. He’s sweet.”

“Well, I’ll tell you, he definitely thinks this is a date and wants to be way more than friends, trust me.”

I bit my lip and he smiled sadly at me. “Really? I wasn’t trying to get his hopes up, I just wanted to do something and he’s asked me out a few times already. I just didn’t want to say no again. You know?”

He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. His hair fell across his forehead and I wanted to fix it for him. In fact, my fingers twitched with wanting to, but I clenched my fist and mentally shook myself. I was not one of those girls who got all swoony over a cute guy. I wasn’t about to start being one.

“Well, I can walk you there since that’s where I’m headed anyway. Kyle will be happy to see you.”

He looked as disappointed as I felt at that prospect. I’d never been attracted to anyone but Chad before. And I was definitely attracted to mister blue eyes.

“Ok, but we’re just friends. I’ve never even been to his house before. You don’t think he’ll mind my just showing up when he said he’d text me, do you?”

“Positive that he won’t.”

“Ok.”

We started walking in that direction. I knew where Kyle lived but it was nice to have someone to walk with in the dark. “So, what year are you?” I asked to fill the silence.

“Heading into Sophomore. I’m studying to be an architect.”

“Really? That’s neat. I guess that’s why you like geometry.”

He smiled and nodded. “What about you? Are you headed to school anywhere?”

“Uh.” I sighed. “To be honest, as lame as it sounds, I haven’t even thought about it. I kind of blew it this year with my grades and haven’t even applied to any colleges yet. I have no idea what I’m going to do. My dad, he…he kind of needs me right now. I work at the diner in town. I guess I’ll work there until I figure it all out.”

“Hey, taking care of family is just as important if not more than taking care of yourself. You’re doing a good thing, staying with your dad while he needs you.”

It was the first positive thing I’d heard someone say about anything I was doing all year.

“Thanks. Wow, I can’t believe how much I needed to hear someone say that,” I admitted and smiled bashfully.

He smiled back. Then he pulled me to a stop by a hand on my arm and pushed my hair back once more to inspect my head. I looked up to his face, refusing to look away no matter how much my cheeks wanted to flush. I refused to be swoony. He looked back down at me, his hand still in my hair, and I felt butterflies attack in my gut. He cocked his head to the side a little and seemed to inspect my reaction. I licked my lips nervously. His eyes flashed and he immediately looked away and dropped his hand.

“It looks better. I think you’ll be fine. Hey, Kyle, look who I found.”

I turned to see Kyle standing behind us. An irritated gaze latched onto his cousin. “I can see that. Do you two know each other?”

“Nope, but your friend here saved my life.” He looked back down at me and smiled. He looked back up to Kyle’s incredulous look. “Seriously, I almost got hit by a truck. She pulled me out of the way. I would be standing here dead, if not for her.”

Kyle looked at me with a new admiration. “Really? You did that?”

“Uh, yeah, it was nothing.” I waved off their flattery.

“Mags, I can’t believe you.” Kyle came and grabbed me in a hug that lifted my feet from the ground and I could tell he was just doing it because of what he saw between his cousin and me. His cousin could, too, from the way he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Come inside. Wait until I tell Aunt Rachel what you did.”

“No, please don’t take me in there. I’m not really in the mood for a crowd.”

“Ok,” he said reluctantly. “I was just about to text you anyway. Sorry, the party ran a little late. We were waiting on a certain someone,” he looked pointedly over his shoulder, “to come back so we could eat, but now I see he was preoccupied.”

“Well, late’s better than dead, right?” I spouted and then winced.

Kyle raised an eyebrow at me, but his cousin burst out laughing from behind him. “She’s got you there, cuz.” He slapped him on the back. “And I’m glad to see you’re so worried about me.”

“Whatever. Are you ready?” Kyle asked me and I wasn’t.

I so wasn’t ready to leave the stranger I’d saved, but saw no way to invite him to go with us when I could see there was clearly tension between them. I looked at him and he was looking at me. I could tell he didn’t want me to go either and it made the butterflies worse.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I muttered.

“Ok. I’ve already got the keys. Let’s get going.”

“Hold on.” I walked up to his cousin a few feet away. I looked up into his face, at least half a foot higher than mine, probably more. “I’m really glad I was there.”

“Me, too. Thank you. If you ever need anything; a new pair of rollerblades, a popsicle, a kidney, it’s yours.”

I laughed and tucked my hair behind my ear as he chuckled, too, and shuffled his feet. “Ok. I’m Maggie by the way.”

I stuck my hand out toward him and smiled.

“Maggie,” he repeated and I bit my lip at the sound of my name on his lips. “Caleb.” He took my hand and I felt an instant jolt go through my body that made me gasp.

Not like a girly wow-he’s-touching-me jolt. I mean an actual jolt. Like it felt as if fire was racing through my veins and I was standing in water with a blow dryer. My breaths ceased to exist and my blood felt cold in my hot skin. My eyes fluttered automatically at the pleasure pain of it. I saw images, flashes of things. Me on a porch with tan arms going around me from behind and a brown haired head sitting atop mine then leaning down, kissing my neck. Then that image vanished and a new one appeared.

Me running, someone chasing me, but I wasn’t scared, I was laughing. I looked back and a brown haired boy was hot on my tail, grabbing me and throwing me over his shoulder as I squealed in delight. Behind them was a house with a for-sale sign, but ‘SOLD’ was stamped over it, a moving truck parked beside it.

Then, a man and woman took a walk through a lot of white sand. The man pricked a finger on a cactus as he swung his arms. I kissed his finger and then pulled him back to the house, through big bay doors into a bedroom. He pushed me to the bed and followed me, kissing me senseless as we rolled around in the white sheets.

Then I saw me, right now, holding the hand of a tan, dark haired boy. The look of pleasure and confused delight on my face was also on his. His eyes opened and he smiled at me like he understood everything, like I was everything.

I was jolted back to the present when my eyes saw what was actually in front of me and not a strange vision of happy times. I was still looking at Caleb’s face. He was still looking at me, but just like in the vision, he was smiling, ecstatically.

“It’s you,” he whispered in wonder. “You’re the one.”

“What’s going on?” I heard Kyle behind me, but I couldn’t look away from the blue eyes looking at me with such want.

Caleb came closer to me, releasing my hand and framing my face with his hands and I felt a flood of calm and warmth.

“Breathe, Maggie.” I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath. I took a deep breath and felt the air rush in and out frantically as I blinked. My head cleared a little. He smiled. “Everything’s going to be ok. All right? Just don’t be upset. You don’t have to be scared.”

“What are you doing?” Kyle asked and pushed Caleb’s hands away. The second he did that, I felt cold and oddly desperate and heard myself gasp. “Dude, not cool. Look, I understand that she saved you and you feel - whatever -  but I told you about this girl. You can’t just-”

“She’s the one, Kyle,” Caleb interrupted, never taking his eyes from mine. It felt like an eternity had passed since he’d first taken my hand and I was still tingling in my veins from whatever had taken place. “It’s her.”

“What?” Kyle said loudly, almost angrily. “She can’t be. I mean you just...met.” He sighed harshly and ran his hands through his hair. “You gotta be frigging kidding me.”

“What’s going on?” I asked softly and finally pulled my eyes from Caleb to look between the two. Kyle looked pissed and angry. Caleb looked in awe and blissed out. He stepped closer to me, but didn’t touch me this time.

“Maggie, we have a lot to talk about.”

“Not tonight, Caleb,” Kyle said, coming to stand between us. “She has no idea what you’re talking about. You’re going to scare her.”

“I’m not going to scare her. She knows me, inside. She knows me, just like I do her, Kyle. It’s exactly like they always described it. I can feel her heart beating.”

Kyle cursed and shook his head. “This is bull. I can’t believe you did this. You knew how I felt and you still did this.”

“You know that’s not how it works. We don’t get to choose. I’m sorry, Kyle, I am.”

“Well, fat lot of good that does me.”

“Ok,” I stopped them both. “Please tell me what’s going on.” I felt a little light headed and blinked to clear my vision.

Caleb came around Kyle to grab my upper arms gently.

“Maggie, everything’s fine. Just wait. It’s new, it’ll calm down some. Just breathe.”

I felt something strange. It felt like an invader, a welcomed invader. Like something was pushing its way into my thoughts or my body somehow. I felt him. I gasped and looked up at him. He smiled, realizing what I felt.

“I can feel…your heart beating. I can feel your…happiness,” I admitted and had no idea how I knew these things, I just did.

I brought one of my hands to my heart to feel it under my fingers. I could feel each beat of his heart as if it was my own. I felt his concern over me, he was worried that I was going to run when he told me everything, he felt an intense sense of longing and protection for me, but more than anything, I felt his utter joy at what was happening between us, whatever that was.

“See,” he continued to explain to his cousin, but his eyes stayed on me, as did his hands. “She can feel me already.” He laughed a breathy chuckle and his next words were barely whispered. “Wow, I can’t believe this.”

“You’re too young,” Kyle countered. “And she’s only seventeen. You’re both too young.”

“Tell that to my imprint.”

“You know what? No.” Kyle once again came and got in between us and as soon as Caleb’s hands released me, his heartbeat went with him. I was beginning to be irked with Kyle but wasn’t sure why. “We have a date. And we’re going on it.”

“You want to take my significant on a date?” Caleb asked and cocked a brow at his cousin.

I couldn’t speak. I just stood there and let them fight.

“Yes, exactly. If she is your significant, she still will be when we get back, won’t she?”

“We have to talk about this, Kyle. We have to tell the family.”

“I know. But I’ve been waiting for this all year and I think you can spare her one night, since you’ll apparently be spending the rest of your life with her,” he said snidely.

“Kyle, don’t be like this.”

I finally found my voice. “Ok, ok, ok. I have no idea what’s going on. I feel strange. I feel...really strange. Why are you both talking like I’m not standing right here?”

“Maggie, I’m sorry.” Kyle turned to look at me. “I never wanted you to get mixed up in all this. I never would have thought that this could happen.”

“What? What could happen?” I said a little hysterically. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s some stuff we need to discuss, but first, let’s just go, ok? We can get away from here and I’ll explain when you have a clear head.”

“But…what are you...I mean…I don’t understand.”

Kyle grabbed my arms to steady me as I swayed. “Caleb. Tell her. Tell her it’ll be all right.”

I looked up and there he was as Kyle handed me over to him. He was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. How had I not noticed this before? He looked the same to me; same cute, sweet guy, but so different now. It was like a new light had been shone on him to illuminate all the perfections I’d been blind to before. My blood was singing in my veins at having him touch me. I wanted to touch him, too, hug him, pull him to me to see what his scruffy chin felt like on my jaw, anything.

He smiled and leaned close to whisper to me, “There will be plenty of time for that.” I gasped and blushed furiously as I realized he’d heard my thoughts. “It’s ok. Don’t worry.” His warm hands closed over my shoulders and his fingers brushed my neck sending another sense of warm calm through me, which I’d started to think wasn’t a coincidence. “It won’t always be like this. You’ll learn to control it, where I’ll only hear the thoughts you want me to hear. But for now, go ahead and go with Kyle. He’s right. You need to clear your head and I have to talk to my father and the family anyway, and it’d probably be better for you if you weren’t there the first time. They’re a little zealous.” He bent to look closely into my eyes. “Don’t be scared. You feel that I’d never hurt you, don’t you?”

I did, loud and clear. I nodded and said, “Why? Why do I feel that?”

“Because you are my significant, my soul mate, and I’m yours. We imprinted with each other. I guess because you saved me...I’m not sure. It usually doesn’t happen when we’re this young. And it hasn’t been happening at all with the families.”

“Imprinted?” I replied breathlessly.

“Imprinting is when we sort of…stamp a seal on each other. You’re imbedded in me and I in you. And it’s very rare to imprint with a human.”

I gasped again and he smiled sadly. “Human? If I’m human, what are you?”

“I’m human just not completely. We’re Virtuoso, or Charmed. We call ourselves Aces. We have abilities once we reach a certain age after we imprint.”

“What kind of abilities?” I asked dazedly.

“Lots.  Look, Maggie, I’m going to tell you everything, I promise. But first, I have to inform my father. He’s the champion of our clan, the leader. He has to know what happened and then we’ll talk, ok?”

“So, we imprinted,” I mused and thought about what that could mean. “Like werewolves or a vampire novel or something?” I asked and they both chuckled.

“Kind of. You read vampire novels?”

“Sometimes.”

“Me, too.” He smiled and then sighed. “Ok, Kyle, you know you have to be careful with her.” He looked at his cousin sternly. “Don’t bombard her with information, just wait, she’s very fragile. And don’t start your crap. It’s harder on humans-”

“I know all this. I grew up a Jacobson, too, you know.”

“Yes, I know. Sorry.”

“Whatever. Come on, Mags.”

I tried, but my legs wouldn’t go. “I can’t. I mean, I don’t want to,” I realized.

“That’s just the mojo working. Fight it, Maggie.”

“Hey,” Caleb said harshly. “That’s what I’m talking about, right there. If you’re going to take it out on her the whole time because you’re angry about this, then I won’t let you take her.”

Kyle nodded and sighed. “Ok. You’re right, I’m sorry. Help her so we can go.”

“Help me? What does that mean?” I asked.

“It’s so new,” Caleb explained. “It’s hard on us. Our imprints don’t want to be apart, but I can help you by telling you that I want you to go. Our bodies are in tune with each other. I have to take care of some things here so I want you to go with Kyle and know you’re safe, ok? I can feel you,” he palmed his chest, “in here, if you need me. You don’t have to worry about anything.” I needed him to touch me. It was like my veins were screaming for it. And he did. He cupped my face with his big tan hands and we both sighed at the contact. I heard Kyle muttering behind me, but couldn’t think to care right then. “I’ll come to you tomorrow. Ok? Everything will be fine and I’ll explain it all to you. Are you going to be all right?”

“Yes,” I said and I felt it. Whatever he was telling me, it was like it went straight to my brain, bypassing everything else. He said it was fine, so it was. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m not sure why I’m fine, but I am.”

He smiled beautifully. “Good girl.” He glanced over my shoulder. “I told you she’d be all right with this. You shouldn’t underestimate her.”

“Ok. Ready?” Kyle asked, still clearly exasperated, but willing to cooperate.

“You’ll come tomorrow?” I grabbed Caleb’s shirt front and felt strange for doing so, but I had to. “To see me?”

His thumbs caressed my cheeks, sending embarrassing shivers down my arms. “I’ll come get you tomorrow,” he corrected. “You are very special, Maggie. My family will be anxious to meet you.”

I nodded. “Ok.”

“Just remember, there is nothing to worry about.”

“Ok.”

He kissed my forehead and I closed my eyes at the pleasurable burn, feeling him. Letting his pride at how well I was taking everything wash over me in waves of warmth. “I’ll see you soon, Maggie.”

I nodded and bit my lip as Kyle grabbed my hand and towed me to his dad’s silver Audi. My body felt like it was being split. I didn’t want to go. I so didn’t want to go. But Caleb said I would be fine.

Kyle buckled me in and we started to back up down the driveway. The whole time, my significant’s eyes were locked on mine.