Sweet Reckoning(12)

“Ginger . . .” Man, she was prickly this morning.

“No, Anna. This is bloody serious, and you know it. She’s already talking about coming back to see him next week!”

Anxiety spread through me like nettles. This was the worst time for any of us to veer off our paths. The Dukes and whisperers would be watching. If she started making frequent trips to Atlanta, her father was likely to notice.

“You can use your persuasive ability thing,” Ginger said.

I shook my head. “It won’t work if they want to be together. They’ll fight it.”

Marna was desperate for love. And Jay was a relationship kind of guy, who was on the rebound with a girl he was wild about.

“I’ll talk to Jay,” I promised.

Ginger pulled out her phone and shoved it under my nose, asking, “By the way, have you seen this?”

I took the phone from her. It was an article from a Santa Barbara newspaper. The headline read LOCAL EXTREME sports star engaged. It had a picture of Blake and his girlfriend,

er . . . fiancée, Michelle, sitting on one of his motorbikes, beaming. They looked gorgeous. And in love.

“Oh no,” I whispered. I looked into Ginger’s broken face. “His father is making him.”

“Whatev.” She snatched the phone back and shoved it into her purse with a shaking hand.

“Ginger—”

“Gotta go. Take care.” She slung her purse over her shoulder and left.

I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t relax. Ginger and I weren’t exactly friends, but I still hated to see her upset. Marna and Blake were the only people she cared about.

At five I pushed myself out of bed. By seven I was parking outside of Jay’s house, greeted by the scent of wild honeysuckle bushes. His home was quiet, everyone sleeping in since it was a Saturday. I let myself in, like everyone did at Jay’s place. He was conked out on his rumpled bed, lying diagonal across it. I sat next to him and gave his shoulder a gentle shake.

“Jay,” I whispered.

He didn’t budge. I shook him harder and said his name louder. With his eyes closed, he grinned and flung a heavy arm over my lap.

“Jay, it’s me. Anna!”

His eyes cracked open and he pulled his arm away.

“Dude. Sorry.” His voice was groggy. “What time is it?”

“It’s seven. I need to talk to you.”

He sat up and scrubbed his eyes with the back of his wrists before giving me his sleepy attention.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to jump right into something with Marna.”

He blinked and scratched his short hair with both hands.

“It’s nothing to worry about. I can’t believe you came all the way out here to say that.”

“I’m serious, Jay. I love you both, and I don’t want to see either of you hurt. Plus, if Veronica found out . . .”

“She dumped me. I’m allowed to have a little fun, right?” Guilt spun around his chest. “We’re just hanging out.”

I gave him my “yeah, right” look, and he gave me a sheepish grin.

“You’re not gonna tell Roni, are you?” he asked.

“No way.” The breakup was mostly her doing, but she’d still go ballistic with jealousy if she found out he’d immediately moved on with her nemesis.

“Do you hate me?” he asked.

“Of course not.” I needed to talk sense into Jay, but I knew how it felt to fall for somebody. Nothing anyone said could stop it. “It’s just that Marna lives in England,” I explained. “And her dad is really controlling. He’d never let her move here.”

“Yeah, I know. But she’s a flight attendant, so she can come here on her days off and stuff.”

He sounded way too hopeful.

“That’s such a long trip, Jay. It’s going to get really tiring.”

“You’re the one with a boyfriend on the other side of the country, so you don’t have much room to talk.”

Hmph. Well, crap.

“Anna,” he said, searching for words. “There’s just something about Marna. I didn’t think we’d ever be able to be together, you know? But I’ve always thought about her. Probably too much. Roni used to test me. She’d ask stuff like, ‘What would you do if that British girl came back right now and tried to get you to break up with me?’ And I’d tell her she was crazy for asking, ’cause I knew that would never happen, but really . . .” He cleared his throat and dropped his eyes. “I knew what I’d do. As much as I loved Roni, I always thought about Marna. Everything feels different with her. Bigger. I can’t explain it. Like she’s my soul mate or something—and I don’t even believe in that crap.”