A Notion of Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

better than to ask.

Chapter Three
    April, 1985
    â€œI’m so glad it’s not raining yet,” Jo said, her golden-green eyes scanning the sky. We’d spent over two hours getting ready for prom, crammed into our tiny bathroom while bruise-colored clouds amassed on the western horizon. The air was still and carried a sharp scent of moisture; a fine mist hovered just over Flickertail, beautiful and ghost-like. The birds were singing madly in anticipation of the storm. Fine for them, but I would be pissed as hell if a downpour ruined my hair before Chris saw it. I smiled again at my reflection and the song on the radio switched from “White Wedding” to “Open Arms.” Later we would be dancing to this very song at our first prom; last year, as sophomores, we hadn’t been allowed to go.
    Minnie, as promised, had pinned and twisted my hair into what she called a chignon, with small trailing curls picked out to hang along my temples. Jo helped me with my make-up after applying her own, and I’d zipped into my dress with a sense of giddy delight. Again I stroked the shiny magenta material over my hips, imagining Chris’s hands doing the same thing, and then spent a moment admiring my sister, who looked amazing, as usual. Her long, blond hair was silken-straight, smoothed to a gloss over her bare shoulders. She’d vamped up her eyeliner more than usual and Ellen had helped her with the false eyelashes that no one but Jo could have pulled off. Her dress was just bordering on slutty, but I would never dream of telling her so, because she looked fantastic and part of me was proud to have a sister who looked so sexy. She sat on the edge of the tub to twine the straps of her shoes around her ankles before fastening them.
    â€œYou look so pretty, Jilly Bean,” she said.
    â€œYou, too,” I said, and she gave me her sauciest grin.
    â€œâ€˜Pretty’ wasn’t exactly the look I was going for,” she teased. “But thanks.”
    â€œGirls, your fellas are here!” Minnie was leaning around the stairwell to inform us.
    My heart tripped and then took up a pulsing beat.
    â€œCome on, let’s go have fun,” Joelle said, giving herself one last look in the mirror.
    ***
    After a thousand pictures and hugs and admonishments to be careful and responsible, the four of us hurried through the parking lot to the guys’ respective vehicles. Jackie had borrowed his dad’s black Buick instead of making Jo ride to the dance in his dirty old truck. We agreed to grab a bite to eat at Landon’s only other sit-down restaurant, which was located in the Angler’s Inn. It featured fish, just like Shore Leave, but was a step above in atmosphere; most of our classmates would also be dining there this evening, unless they ventured over to Bemidji, the closest big town. Although in this case, ‘big’ was a relative term.
    â€œWe’ll catch up with you two after we stop for pictures at Jackie’s,” Jo said as we parted ways in the parking lot.
    Jackie came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and lightly bit the side of her neck. He murmured, “Damn, you look fucking good.”
    â€œStop it, you’ll mess up my hair,” she complained to him. Chris squeezed my hand extra tight, letting me know without words that he would have expressed the same sentiment but was far too much of a gentleman to put it like that. Jackie had zero manners, but Jo never seemed to truly mind.
    â€œWe’ve gotta stop by my folks’ too,” Chris explained.
    â€œSee ya!” they called, scampering into Jackie’s dad’s car like puppies.
    Chris opened the door for me and then hurried around the front of the car. Once inside he grinned over at me, his beautiful eyes sparkling with all of the colors that flashed beneath the surface, like a woodland pond in the afternoon sun. He looked so good in his rented tuxedo that my breath