Free Best for the Baby by Ann Evans

spent the rest of the day in sulky silence. Maggie and Sandy were mortified by their stubborn behavior, by this blip that seemed to destroy the complete harmony the four of them hadalways shared. They’d all cringed when Zack’s mother had hustled them to line up for pictures, and his father, manning the camera, had insisted they link arms.
    His poor, clueless parents. Hadn’t they noticed the way Zack and Alaina eyed each other with mutual disgust? As Zack watched that old footage now, his mother straightened his tie, then admonished him to smile. He remembered that he couldn’t wait to be out of her sight so he could rip off that stupid tie and throw it into the lake. He couldn’t have given her a more frosty response if he’d been frozen solid, but she didn’t seem to notice.
    Alaina hadn’t behaved much better. As he watched the video, she acknowledged his mother’s compliment about her party dress. But she was so quiet and listless, she might as well have been wearing a burlap sack.
    Zack remembered that dress vividly. All lavender and blue, with wispy sleeves that made Alaina look like an exotic princess. Later, she had come to him in tears, showing him where Whit had ripped one of those sleeves when he’d clumsily tried to seduce her.
    Zach had been clutching a piece of that material in his fist when it eventually connected with Russell’s jaw.
    It had been a messy, ungraceful fight in one of the boathouses, but there had been no way to keep it from happening. Whit had ended up with two black eyes—the one Alaina had already landed, and the one Zack had added for good measure—and two loose teeth. Whit’s version of the story had, of course, conveniently omitted his caveman antics, and Zack ended up grounded by his horrified parents. Unpleasantness all around.
    But in the end, Zack and Alaina had reconciled, and at the time, that was all that mattered.
    He shook his head now as he watched his younger self on the screen. A guy could twist himself up pretty good over a girl. Had he really been that foolish?
    Yes. Because that girl had been Alaina Tillman, and for so long, he had loved her.
    His gaze slid from the television to the floor as Alaina moved, unwinding her legs and drawing them up to her chest. He heard her sigh heavily. She dropped her chin to her knees and wrapped her arms around them. The droop of her shoulders spoke volumes.
    Without warning, she snatched up the remote control and killed the sound. The figures on the television marched silently to the front of the cottage, where his mother herded them to sit on the porch steps while the camera rolled. The four kids in that film had never looked so miserable.
    The cottage was old, constantly settling into the red Georgia earth. Tiny creaks were common, or maybe Zack made some small sound. Whatever the reason, Alaina turned her head to look over her shoulder. Right at him.
    Her face, bathed in the light of the television, seemed etched in silver, but he saw the faint trace of tears on her cheeks. He felt his breath catch in his throat.
    “You were always there for me, weren’t you?” she said simply, a soft, choked sound that cut through the silent room. “Even when I didn’t deserve you.”
    He knew she was remembering that day, too. The way it had started off badly between them, ending with anger and fists, and Alaina weeping in the circle of his arms while fireworks exploded over their heads. That night he had kissed her gently on the mouth, even though his lips stung from where Whit had managed to get in one weak blow.
    After that, things were different between them. They’d gone home from that vacation thoroughly in love, and that’s the way it had stayed. At least until the end of high school, when it had come time to finalize decisions about college. By the time they’d both turned twenty, a thousand miles separated them, and any ridiculous ideas they’d entertained about building a life together had evaporated like morning