Sweetest Taboo Read Online Free PDF Page A

allowed it to air-dry after practice and it didn’t have any style of its own. I put my hand to my head self-consciously, thinking that it must look a mess.
    “Uh, sure, of course,” I replied, taking a step back to let him in.
    Mr. Stevens stepped into the living room, taking in the big screen TV, the set of olive green Italian leather couches, the issues of Architectural Digest stacked neatly on the oak coffee table. From the expression on his face, I could tell that he was surprised to see such expensive furniture and fittings inside a house in my immigrant neighborhood.
    Our terrier had darted from her cushion on the floor to greet the stranger, and he bent down to pat her. She pulled one of her favorite tricks and turned on her back to show him her belly.
    “What an adorable little thing you are,” he said, rubbing her smooth belly affectionately.
    “She’s a terrier mix,” I said, just to fill the void. “She was my fifteenth birthday present.”
    Mr. Stevens straightened and looked at me again, while Brownie continued to sniff his Birkenstocks. He nodded, but didn’t answer.
    I paused then plunged forward. “Uh, can I help you with something, Mr. Stevens?” I asked nervously. I had gone through the entire day in my head, but couldn’t find any reason for this surprise visit.
    He nodded suddenly, as if he’d just remembered. “Of course, how rude of me. You forgot your necklace and your watch at practice.” He reached into his pocket to pull them out. “I brought them for you. I didn’t want you to be worried.”
    He held his hand out, the silver necklace and pendant dangling from his fingers, and I realized that this was the first time that I had forgotten about my jewelry. I stared at the necklace and blinked a couple of times, feeling bad that I hadn’t even missed them until now, when Mr. Stevens was standing in my living room holding them in his hand.
    “I completely forgot about them,” I confessed. “Thanks so much for going out of your way to drop them off.”
    “It’s no trouble,” he replied. “I gave a few swimmers a ride home and one of them told me that you lived right down the road so I thought, why not? It’s on my way. I didn’t want you to panic thinking you had lost them.”
    As he spoke, he gently pressed the jewelry into my hand, lightly caressing my wrist as he released them. We locked eyes for a moment and I felt the instant heat of an all-too-familiar blush appear on my face. He must have noticed it too, because he looked away and added, “At least now you can rest well knowing that your grandmother’s necklace is safely back with you.”
    I frowned in confusion then remembered that I had told him that it was my grandmother’s necklace the first time I asked him to hold it for me. “Yes, I’m glad to have it back,” I answered quickly. “It’s really sweet of you to drop these off. I really appreciate it.”
    We walked to the door, and Mr. Stevens stepped out to the porch. He looked back at me before he walked away, paused, and then winked and said goodnight. I walked back inside, still stunned, my grandmother’s necklace clutched in my hand, and closed the door behind me. I was promptly pounced on by a very excited Liz, who had apparently been eavesdropping on my conversation with Mr. Stevens from the hallway.
    “Oh my God! I can’t believe it! Izzy, he is so into you!” she gushed. “Oh my God. Can’t you see? He drove out of his way to give you the jewelry, when he could have just given it to you tomorrow at school. Don’t you get it? He wanted to see you, that’s why he came to your house!” She bounced up and down, fizzing with excitement, and my lips turned up in a smile. I couldn’t believe that he had come to my house, and I certainly wasn’t going to guess at his intentions, but maybe she was right. Had he come all this way – even made up an excuse to do so – just to see me again, outside of school?
    Was this the start of more meetings?