LONDON LOOKED HERSELF over in her bedroom mirror, retucking a lock of hair in her updo and fussing with the strapless bodice of her prom dress. Though she’d danced the night away, the gown still looked perfect.
There’d been quite a lot of “discussion” around the Jennings dinner table about what was appropriate for an eighteen-year-old to wear to a dance just weeks before high school graduation. Her father had some ridiculous notion involving sleeves and high necklines. Shay had talked him around.
London figured he’d actually given in because she was not going with a date, but with a group of her girlfriends. They were in her room, too, now, chattering and checking on their own dresses and makeup. The limo had dropped them off not more than ten minutes before and at any second their guests would arrive for the postprom party.
Shay had suggested they volunteer to host that bash, that way avoiding her dad objecting to London going to an all-night event. Sure, now he was complaining about having to chaperone until morning, but he liked to pretend he was grumpy.
Since marrying Shay, he was really quite malleable.
In the distance, the doorbell rang. “People are here!” London said to her posse. Since the other four were still fussing with their lipstick, she went downstairs by herself. Glancing in the kitchen as she passed, she saw her father and stepmother in a lip-lock. No wonder they hadn’t heard the bell.
They were even more crazy about each other—if that was humanly possible—now that Shay was a week shy of her due date. London was getting a little brother and a little sister. She’d decided on a college down the mountain but close by in the LA area, just so she wouldn’t be too far from taking part in the raising of the new members of her family.
Wearing a smile, she turned the knob.
Her fingers strangled it when she saw who was standing on the front step. Colton Halliday.
Yes, it was his rangy figure, his tousled sandy hair, his half smile. Though she’d seen him on occasion—Amy was one of her closest friends—they’d both taken great pains to avoid each other.
It hadn’t been that hard over the past three years since he’d been going to college in Colorado.
But she was almost a college girl herself, not some gauche, freaky fifteen-year-old, so she should be able to handle this moment with a modicum of sophistication. “Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” he replied. “Did you have fun tonight?”
“Sure. Because it was, well, prom.”
He nodded. “Yeah, prom.”
She remembered his senior year he’d gone with his girlfriend, the one who had been studying abroad when she first met him. They’d broken up before college, however. His love life was a mystery to London now.
As was why he was here. Surely he wasn’t one of those college guys that showed up at high school parties, she thought with an inner grimace. That would be such a disappointment.
“Um, would you like to come in?” she asked, because she figured she must.
“No, no.” He held up a small duffel bag that was in one hand. “Ames left her overnight stuff at home. I volunteered to bring it over.”
“Oh!” She was glad they were both spared the embarrassment of an unexpected, older party guest. “I’ll take it.”
The transfer went off without a hitch.
Colton Halliday remained on her doorstep.
She raised a brow. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes,” he said, stepping forward. He cupped her face with one big hand, bent his head and kissed her.
It wasn’t the first time she’d ever been kissed, but after a second she couldn’t remember any of those that came previous. When he moved back, she gripped the door to avoid toppling over.
He was grinning at her.
She was just happy to realize she was still breathing.
“Are you going to be around this summer, England?” he asked.
England. A nod was the best she could do.
“Me, too. Want to go to the movies next Saturday night?”
Another nod.
He continued to grin. “It’s a date.”
Then he jogged down the steps and disappeared just as a gaggle of classmates came pressing through the still-open door. One girl, who’d been new this year and Amy’s senior project, looked over her shoulder then at London. “Who was that?”
Her past? Her future? London smiled at her friend. “Just some guy I know.”
She pulled the other girl toward the kitchen where food and drink awaited. Her dad looked up as the crowd surged into the room. “Everything okay?” he asked, smiling as he walked to London.
“Everything’s fabulous,” she answered, going on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. It was prom night and college was coming in September and possibilities were opening up all over as she took these first real steps into her own life—the life in which her dad and Shay would always have her back.
Master of her fate, captain of her soul, certainly. But never alone and never lonely. “Love you, Dad,” she whispered, and he drew her close.
“Love you, too,” he said, his voice gruff. “Love you always.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from TAKE MY BREATH AWAY by Christie Ridgway.