Free Rising Tide: Dark Innocence (The Maura DeLuca Trilogy Book 1) by Claudette Melanson Page B

were
red around the edges, and I knew for certain she had been crying.  To my
surprise, she set a cup in front of me too.  Hot chocolate.  With
marshmallows even.  Ron must have worked some kind of miracle.
    I looked up at her questioningly.
    “I found out what happened.” 
Her voice started to tremble and I saw the tears well up in her eyes.  It
seemed like she was taking this even harder than I was.  She struggled to
compose herself, “But that still doesn’t let you off the hook completely.”
    I’d been afraid of that, but it was
only fair.  I’d been, atrociously, not myself lately.  Lying, cutting
class, going places I know my mother wouldn’t approve of.  I hung my head,
“Yea, I didn’t expect it to.” 
    I caught Ron glancing at me on my
right.  He looked surprised, like he’d expected me to put up more of a
fight. 
    “Well, I hate to do this, but
you’re grounded until the move.”
    Ron looked a little more now like
someone had punched him in the stomach.  Had he been planning things to do
with me ?  I still couldn’t believe the attention he’d paid me thus
far.  He was too beautiful to be with me. And didn’t he have a someone to
give a certain expensive birthday present to?   His eyes reflected my
own face back to me.  I saw that I looked disappointed.  I wasn’t the
only one.
    Caelyn cleared her throat
loudly.  She might be Ron’s biggest fan after finding out he’d saved me,
but that still wouldn’t be enough for her to approve of my having a
relationship at my age.  Much less, falling head over heels, only to leave
him behind and make myself miserable for months…and probably calling up
unpleasant memories of loss for her, too.
    “Maybe it’s about time you got to
bed, Maura?  I’d say you’ve had a pretty full day.”  I knew then,
that for the moment, Mom wasn’t going to say anything about what had happened
tonight. 
    “Sure.”  I wasn’t going to
push my luck.  Well…not too much, “Can I say goodbye to them?”
    She looked at me questioningly, but
answered, “Sure, go ahead.”
    “Mom…Alone?”  When she looked
irritated, I added, “Please just for a minute?”  I leaned closer to her. 
“I really need to thank him for…what he did.”
    She didn’t look happy about it, but
left us to go into the kitchen.  The three of us got up and walked to the
door. 
    I turned to Shane first. 
“Thanks, Shane.  It was really great of you to interrupt your camping trip
and drive me home like that.  Thank you, so much.”  My face was
already burning, because I knew what I’d have to say next.
    “Hey, it’s no big deal,” Shane
grinned his irresistible grin, “besides it was worth it to see your bunny
jammies!”  He laughed loudly as he walked out the door.  “See ya in
the car, Ron.”
    “Geez…that guy,” Ron shook his
head.
    “Shane’s great.  Ya gotta love
him.” I said, stalling.  My eyes focused on the blue stripes in my fuzzy
socks.  “Ron…”
    “Don’t worry about it.  You
don’t have to say anything.”  That made me look up to face him.  His
smile was soft and full of warmth.
    “Yes I do!” I protested vehemently,
“if it weren’t for you…” I thought about that for a minute.  “I would have
drowned.” 
    Even though I’d known that, it felt
strange to say it out loud.  It made me go icy inside and out all over
again.
    He looked angry again for a minute,
but fought to control his expression, make it soft again.  “I couldn’t
stand it if anything had happened to you, Maura.  And I wasn’t spying on
you, I swear!  It’s just when you told me you were going swimming with
those sharks I got this really bad feeling.  I couldn’t shake it, you
know?  I just felt like I really needed to be there to look out for you,
to protect you.”
    “Really?  You wanted to
protect me?”
    “Of course, Maura, you don’t know…”
he broke off there and I could tell he changed what he was originally going