At Peace Read Online Free PDF Page B

black mini-skirt and a jeans
jacket. She had loads of long, wavy blonde hair and she was petite
but wearing a pair of high-heeled, black boots. She was trotting
after him on a half-run with such grace it was like she’d been born
in high-heeled, black boots. She was still laughing and I stood in
my open door, one arm on the hood of my Mustang, watching as she
caught his hand and skidded on her heels, pulling his hand to her.
He turned, she tipped her head back and she must have said
something, something I didn’t hear, something she thought was funny
for she laughed again.
    But I could swear, even with the distance,
I saw the white flash of Joe’s grin. I didn’t know him very well
but, if asked, I would have said it wasn’t physically possible for
Joe to grin.
    Then he folded her in his arms, enveloping
her with his large body and his head came down, hers tilted back
and they started making out.
    A sharp pain gripped my heart.
    It hurt to watch. It hurt a lot and yet I
couldn’t tear my eyes away.
    There was something about his big body in his
dark clothes, his powerful arms around her, holding her close to
his long frame, enfolding her in a way that was about sex (or
leading up to it, probably) but looked like more. Maybe safety,
protection, his dark head bent to her blonde one, all of this, for
some reason, cutting me clean to the bone.
    I wanted that for me. I missed that, God, did
I miss it and I wanted it back and it felt, in that moment, I’d
never have it again.
    And that fucking hurt.
    I tore my eyes away and as silently as I could so Joe wouldn’t
hear, I closed the door to my car and walked to the side kitchen
door. I was about to insert my key when the door was thrown open
from the inside, the light switched on, Keira and Kate stood in the
frame and they shouted, “Surprise!” at the same time I felt a
strong arm curl around my belly from behind. I was lifted clean off
my feet and whirled in the air.
    I screamed, loud and piercing, my knees going
up, my fingers curling around the arm at my waist as I was whirled
yet again by whoever had me. Kate and Keira ran out of the house
and jumped around us in dual teenage girl excited tizzies as we
twirled.
    We stopped moving and my feet were planted on
the ground when I heard my brother Sam say softly in my ear. “How’s
my big sister?”
    When I heard his voice, I screamed again,
this time loud and joyous, turning in his arm and throwing my arms
around his neck. I held on, kissing his cheek, his jaw, his neck,
jumping up and down while I did this as Kate and Keira, their arms
around both of us, jumped up and down too, also screaming loud,
ear-splitting, teenage girl squeals of delight.
    Sam stopped hugging me so he could wrap
all of us in his arms and his head tipped back so he could shout,
“These are my girls!”
    I looked up at my brother, his beautiful
face; his warm, brown eyes; his light brown hair (that needed a
cut, I noted) and my hands slid from his neck to wrap around his
waist, I planted my face in his chest and held on tight.
    “Most beautiful girls in the world!” Sam kept
shouting. “That’s right! Drink it in! Sheer gorgeousness!”
    I tilted my head back because he seemed to be
talking to someone instead of shouting at no one and I saw his head
turned to the left, toward Joe’s house.
    My head turned that way too.
    Joe and his woman, not locked in a make out
session but instead simply standing close to each other, were
looking our way.
    “No female on earth prettier than this pack!”
Sam declared. “You hear what I’m sayin’?”
    I looked toward Sam. “Honey –”
    He ignored me, still addressing Joe and his
companion who were still watching Sam’s show. She was smiling, I
could tell. Joe was not.
    “ You’re fine, must admit,” Sam tipped his
head to Joe’s female friend, “but nothin’s finer than my
girls!”
    Keira giggled. Kate got up on her toes to
kiss his cheek. I started pressing my huddle toward the kitchen
door.