Keeping Promise Rock Read Online Free PDF

other!”
    Deacon nodded, his face pensive and honestly sad. “We do,” he agreed, casting that sad expression behind them to where Amy waited patiently, arms crossed, small brown face tilted towards the sun. “We do—
    but she’s going off to be a lawyer, do big stuff.” He shrugged and blushed for no reason that Crick knew. “Be a political activist—that sort of thing.
    My heart’s here—you know that.”
    Deacon looked sideways at Jon, as though they’d talked about this before, and Jon passed the sideways look to Crick as though he should know what it was about. But Crick shrugged, because he was damned if he did, and Jon rolled his eyes and sighed.
    “Well,” Jon said slowly, with so much forced casualness it was a wonder the word didn’t break, “I wouldn’t mind, um, looking out for her while we’re down there, if that’s okay?”
    Crick blinked, and it was all he could do not to blurt, What about Becca? Becca Anderson had been Jon’s girlfriend as long as Amy had been Deacon’s. Crick hadn’t particularly cared for Becca—she had long gold hair and a pretty face that she was exquisitely vain about. She’d also been less than sly about letting Deacon know that she’d be willing to take Amy’s place on any given day, and that had been a shitty thing to do to Amy, Deacon, and the guy she was supposedly dating.
    Deacon smiled wisely at the boy who had been his best friend since kindergarten. “If you’d wait until you got down there before you made your move, I’d take that as a personal favor, okay?” Jon flushed and nodded gravely. He understood perfectly, and he seemed to be grateful for the honor.
    “Are you guys done yet?” Amy called out cheerfully. “You don’t finish soon, and all that’s going to be left of me is a puddle of sweat!”
    “I thought ladies perspired!” Jon called back, and Amy’s laughter was pretty enough to make even Crick’s heart break a little.
    “That’s sweet that you think I’m a lady, darlin’—you don’t get your asses in gear, and I’m gonna be a raging bitch!” Keeping Promise Rock

    Deacon threw back his head and laughed, and Crick found he had to love Jon and Amy because they loved Deacon, and how could you not love someone so goddamned beautiful that he stopped time itself?
    The day was golden—one of those days that locked itself into a kid’s heart and promised never to leave or even to fade. They swam and played.
    There was a tremendous water fight, pitting Crick and Jon against Deacon and Amy, which Crick managed to win by climbing up top of one of the boulders near the edge of the water and giving Deacon a full-out body tackle into the deepest part of the pool. Deacon came up sputtering and laughing, and Crick clung to those few brief seconds when their bodies had splayed together, muscle to muscle, Crick’s chest to Deacon’s waist, for long years before anything better came to take their place.
    At the end of it, they sat quietly on the rock, Amy leaning back into Deacon’s chest, all of them watching the sunset and talking quietly about the future.
    “So,” Jon murmured, drawing random patterns on Promise Rock with a stick, “EMT training first, animal husbandry second?” Deacon buried his nose in Amy’s hair for a moment and then looked up and nodded. “I think Parish is hoping that I’ll like doing something else somewhere else well enough to take one of those deferred scholarships and run with it.”
    Amy risked a glance back at him. “You sure it won’t happen, Deac?
    You can still….”
    Deacon shook his head and rubbed his temple with Amy’s. Even Crick recognized the gesture as the beginning of farewell. “No, baby. My heart is here at the horse ranch. I’m sorry.” He tilted his head for a moment and rested his cheek on her head while she leaned closer and closed her eyes.
    Jon tapped Crick’s leg and jerked his chin, and together the two of them quietly wandered off into the twilight.
    “He’s