Free A Moment of Weakness by Karen Kingsbury Page B

down at her, and for an instant his eyes darted along the length of her. Then just as quickly they connected with her eyes again. What was that look on his face? Almost as if she could see a piece of his soul, a piece she couldn’t quite read. Was he nervous? Afraid of saying something wrong? Whatever it was, he was trying to hide it.
    “Of course she would. You’re a familiar face from the old neighborhood. She’ll be thrilled that we ran into each other again after all these years.”
    Jade imagined dinner with a cultured woman like Doris Eastman. She was proper, a regular churchgoer—and Jade was terrified at the thought of trying to meet the woman’s approval.
    But it might be nice … spending a day at church with Tanner, then the two of us being with his mother.…
    Tanner was waiting for her answer. “Do it, Jade. It’ll be great. I know this amazing church ten minutes from my mom’s house. Crossroads. Lots of people, great music, incredible preaching. You’ll love it.”
    Jade drew a deep breath. “Promise she’ll like me?”
    He laughed. “My mother? Be serious. What in the world’s not to like?”
    “Okay. Want the truth?”
    Tanner nodded.
    “The church thing has me interested.”
    “Good.” He broke into a grin. “I’ll call Mom tomorrow and let her know.”
    Jade stood and moved closer to him. “I should get going. I’ve got to be at the hospital early—”
    She paused when he shifted away from her. Confused, she looked at him—and frowned. There it was again. The strange fear thing in his eyes. Like she’d caught him thinking something he wasn’t supposed to be thinking. He moved away abruptly and crossed the room to get a drink of water. When she followed, he moved with his glass to a lone chair in the corner of the room.
    Stopping in her tracks, Jade planted her hands on her hips and shook her head at him. “Are you trying to avoid me?” She was teasing, not sure what to make of his nervous behavior.
    For a moment, Tanner opened his mouth but no words came out. Then he smiled the smile that Jade was sure would one day win him thousands of votes in public office. “Yes, in fact I am.” He waved his hand near his face and wrinkled his nose. “Onion breath. I don’t want to knock you over. I should have known better than to order onions on the subs.”
    Jade laughed and collected her purse and car keys. “Mine can’t be much better. Hey, thanks again for dinner.” She grinned, still caught up in the laughter. “Especially the onions.”
    Tanner walked her to the door and watched her go. When she was halfway down the sidewalk he yelled out to her, “Talk to you tomorrow.”
    Her car was parked just outside his front door, and he watched her until she had climbed inside and drove off. As she made her way through town toward the city dump, she had the unusual feeling that all was right with her world. She had laughed more that night than the past five years combined.
    It was Tanner, of course. He made her heart feel light as the summer breeze dancing over the Cowlitz River, as though she were normal for the first time in her life. As though she didn’t have a mother who’d abandoned her and an alcoholic father at home.
    As though the only friend she had in the world weren’t only passing through her life for one golden summer.
    Tanner watched her drive away. Then he closed the door, sank against it, and blew out the air that had been collecting in his lungs all night. His voice was a frustrated moan. “Jade. You’re killing me.”
    Onion breath. That was believable enough. He sure couldn’t tell her the truth: that every time she got close, his flesh was being assaulted by incredible feelings he’d never imagined existed. He could hardly tell her that after the movie, with the two of them so close on the sofa, all he’d wanted to do was take her in his arms and … and …
    He closed his eyes.
Lord, I’m struggling here. Why does she make me feel this way? I can’t