Finding Home #SYTYCW15 #SpecialEdition

Finding Home Part 5

Andie tried to shower and get ready as fast as she could, but by the time she came back down the stairs the house was empty. The TV in the living room had been shut off, the pillows on the couch straightened. But Andie caught the fluorescent glow of Fruit Loops scattered under the coffee table and she smiled.

The sound of voices from the backyard drifted through the kitchen window. She leaned her elbows on the counter and peered down, watching Logan, Shawn and Conner toss a football back and forth. She laughed aloud as Conner gently tackled Logan, before pretending to hop on top of the boy and pin him. Shawn was laughing too, and shouting directions at Logan, which, as far as Andie could hear, seemed to be that he should, "squiggle and squirm!"

Andie checked her face in the reflection of the stainless steel toaster. She'd taken extra time to make herself look nice, scrunching her curls with gel and even swiping on mascara and lipstick. And she was wearing her favorite dress; a vintage, 1950's style with a sweetheart neckline, a full skirt and tiny black polka dots spreading across the deep blue fabric. She'd told herself that she was only dressing up for the party, but even as she tried to convince herself, she knew it wasn't true. All she had to do was look at Conner, to feel the odd little thread of warmth swirl through her chest, to know that she was lying.

***

Conner was smiling as he walked up the alley to the back door of his building, and it was all for one reason; Andie.

When he'd gone over there yesterday to apologize, he hadn't intended to stay for the party. Get in, say what he had to say, get out. But Andie had looked up at him with those big, golden eyes, pressed his fingers to her cheek and offered him comfort, something he hadn't experienced since his mom had died. He'd stayed, not willing to leave that feeling, to leave her, so soon.

He slid the key into the padlock on the back door and clicked it open. It only took him a few minutes to walk through the few large rooms on the lower floor, switching on the handful of lights that actually worked. He did it mechanically, his mind still on the day before.

Andie had been beautiful to him even in her old t-shirt, her face gleaming with perspiration after the hours she'd spent decorating, but when he'd looked up from the ground where he'd been wrestling with Logan and seen Andie coming down the deck stairs, he'd been stunned, frozen.

She'd done something different to her hair, the spiral of curls left loose in a riot around her face. Her lips gleamed, making them look like they'd be sweet to the taste if he laid his mouth against hers. And suddenly, he'd desperately wanted to.

He'd looked away, needing a moment to compose himself, to shove the feelings that were engulfing him aside. They'd been growing, slowly but steadily, but the strength of them had crashed over him like white-water, and it was all he could do to keep his head from going under. He wanted her, like he'd never wanted another woman before, even as he knew he couldn't, shouldn't, act on them.

So he'd watched her, made sure there was always a safe distance between them. But as twilight descended, he'd been drawn toward her. When someone switched on the stereo and soft music cascaded out of the speakers in the garden, when other couples swayed together in the fading light, Conner had no longer been able to resist her.

He'd found himself at her side. When he'd held out his arms in invitation, when she'd moved within them and linked her hands behind his head, when he'd finally held her warmth against him, he'd been swamped with emotions he didn't quite understand.

It was foolish, Conner knew it was, but damned if he could find the will to stop them. He'd lost that will somewhere in the deepening dusk, in the feel of her soft curves against him, in the soft brush of her hair. He wanted to be with her. And he would.