Free All The Stars In Heaven by Michele Paige Holmes

to look at the photography exhibit. Unless you want to eat now.”
    She followed him into the hall. “You really don’t date much?” she blurted when they were outside the gallery.
    “Almost never. Guess I’m too busy reading history books,” he teased.
    She looked down at the floor. “I never go out either— never. ”
    Thanks to your obsessive dad, Jay could have added, but he didn’t want to start down that path again. “Maybe we should both try it more often, with each other of course. I’m enjoying this.”
    “Me too.” She spoke so quietly he almost missed it.
    “So . . . do we eat or stroll some more?” he asked, still trying to cajole her out of her serious mood.
    Sarah looked up at him. “I don’t think I’d better do either. I’d love to stay, but if Carl comes to pick me up early, and I’m not there . . .”
    “Say no more.” The last thing Jay wanted to do was turn her over to her cousin, but he could tell she was starting to worry, and he didn’t want that either. “One more quick stop, then we’ll go.” He led her downstairs to the gift shop where he made his way to the packages of small prints. It took less than a minute to find what he wanted, and he took it to the cash register. Sarah lingered by the books.
    Jay paid for his purchase and met her by the door. He walked her to the museum entrance. “I’m not going to go outside with you—on the off chance that we’d run into Carl on the way to the library.”
    Unmistakable relief crossed Sarah’s face. “Thank you for understanding. And thank you for bringing me here. It was—”
    “A date.” Jay grinned. “Now you can’t say never. ”
    She looked down at the floor again.
    “Sarah?” He stepped closer and held the bag from the gift shop in her line of vision. “These are for you, so you can remember your first trip to the museum and our first official date.”
    “I can’t—”
    “If your father asks, tell him you got them free on campus—it’s the truth.” He pressed the sack into her hands. “And whether or not he asks, enjoy them.” Jay noticed her fingers shook slightly as she opened the bag and removed the package of Gilbert Stuart prints. She stared down at George Washington for several seconds.
    “I—I don’t know what to say,” she stammered.
    “Say I can meet you at the library again sometime.”
    She finally looked up at him. “I’d love to, Jay, but if my father found out . . .”
    “He doesn’t want you to have friends?”
    “He wants me to do well in school—wants to see that it’s worth what he’s paying.”
    “A good education is about more than acing tests and writing papers.” Jay didn’t want to argue with her, but he was having a hard time understanding how her father wouldn’t want his daughter to enjoy all that Harvard had to offer. “It’s about experiencing new things— all kinds of things —music, art, drama, politics. There’s so much more than classes.”
    “I know.” She turned away. “Good-bye, and thank you again.” She walked across the foyer and out the door. He watched her until she’d gone down the steps and disappeared from view. Jay stuffed his now-empty hands in his pockets and walked toward the gallery that held the American exhibit. He needed to look at those paintings again and feel of the greatness of those men. Somehow they’d discovered a way to liberate the colonies and found a nation.
    Surely then, he could find a way to liberate a girl and build a friendship.

Chapter Nine
    “Point and shoot,” Grant ordered.
    From the corner of her eye, Sarah could see her father’s lips moving. Though the earmuffs muted the sound, she’d heard these same instructions so often that she was even in sync with the timing of his words.
    With her feet planted the standard eighteen inches apart, she attempted to hold her hands steady as she took aim and fired the 9mm Glock at the target seventy-five feet away.
    “No— no! ” Grant shouted. “You’re still