Free Just a Little Promise by Tracie Puckett

Chapter One
    Friday December 14
    “I’m not a villain,” Charlie grumbled, throwing his coffee mug into the sink a little too hard. He turned to my cousin for confirmation. “Right?”
    “Leave me outta this, Dad,” Matt said, snapp ing the lid on a piece of Tupperware . He secured our leftovers in the refrigerator and turned back to the counter, never once looking at me or Charlie.
    I sat at the table, pushing my asparagus around with the fork. Charlie, who’d cleaned his plate nearly fifteen minutes ago, was now leaning agai nst the counter.
    “Julie,” Charlie said, dropping his head. “I’m sorry, but the answer is no.”
    “But—”
    “No,” he said, refusing to hear my argume nt before I had time to make it .
    “Why?” I asked, prompting him to give me an explanation (though I already knew exactly why).
    He didn’t think I was privy to the conversation he’d had with Luke last month, but because of my super ability to eavesdrop at any given moment , I knew all I needed to. And Charlie had been bending over backward to keep me from leaving the house alone. He wouldn’t let me step foot near the police station. I was on an imaginary leash—and he refused to tell me why.
    If I hadn’t heard the conversation with my own two ears—if I didn’t know what Luke had admitted to my uncle—I’d be irate by Charlie’s overbearing behavior . But, in a way—a very little way—I found some humor in it. Charlie didn’t want me within a one-mile radius of Luke… and he made sure he did everything he had to do to keep us apart.
    “Because I said so, that’s why—”
    “It’s coffee!” I yelled, throwing my arms in the air. “O ne cup of coffee with a friend—”
    “Who?” he asked, convinced he already knew the answer.
    “Does it matter ? ”
    “It does if you want to leave this house,” he said. “ Who ?” I crossed my arms and slumped further in the chair. “ Is it a friend from school?”
    “ Ugh! What’s going on here?” I asked. “ You’ve been keeping me under a microscope for weeks ! You don’t have to know every minute detail of what’s going on in my life.” I looked at my cousin. “Why don’t you hound Matt every time he asks to go out ?”
    “Because I t rust Matt —”
    “You don’t trust me?” I asked, straightening back up. I threaded my fingers together and rested my elbows on the table. “Charlie, I’ve never given you a reason to think I can’t be trusted. When I first moved here, you let me do anything and everything I wanted to do—no questions asked. What’s changed?”
    He knitted his eyebrows together . He knew I was right; I hadn’t done anything—not once—to make him think I was untrustworthy. But the fear of me sneaking away to see Luke was more than he could swallow .
    “For one,” he said, combing his fingers through his mustache , “y ou never used to keep secrets.”
    “I’m not keeping secrets now .”
    “Who are you having coffee with?”
    “Grace Reibeck,” I said, seeing Matt perk up with sudden interest in the direction the conversation had taken . He knew as well as I did that mentioning the name Reibeck meant I was dancing on dangerous ground .
    “What business do you have with Grace?” Charlie asked, folding his arms across his chest.
    “It’s two-fold, really,” I said, working out my explanation just as I’d rehearsed it earlier in my room. “One, she and Lonnie own the only flower shop in town.”
    “And that’s important because….?”
    “I joined the Oakland Celebration Committee last month,” I said. “After designing the Fall Ball, I realized I have a bit of a knack for party planning and party execution. With some time, a budget, and a place to work, I can come up with just about anything for any occasion.”
    “Not following, Julie,” Charlie said. “Narrow your scope .”
    “I wanted to get involved,” I said. “You’re always preaching about how important it is for kids to stay active in the