Free Just a Little Promise by Tracie Puckett Page B

.”
    “Did I?” I asked, looking innocently between Matt and Charlie. “Silly me. I meant Derek .” I slapped myself on the forehead. “I guess with all this G rand M arshal business I’ve j ust had Luke on the brain 24/7. ”
    Charlie groaned as I turned out .
    I felt borderline evil mess ing with Charlie, but I couldn’t help it ; a ny chance to see him squirm. I was tired of his new approach to parenting. I wanted off the leash . I planned to keep applying pressur e; I’d make him squeal eventually. He was going to tell me why he was so hell-bent on keeping me away from Luke.

Chapter T wo
    Friday December 14
    “Can I see the sketches you came up with?”
    Derek passed a small black folder across the bed. He was sitting with his bac k against my headboard, his long legs st retched out in front of him. I rested on my belly—head at the foot of the bed—kicking my feet back and forth as we traded visions for the parade. Like he’ d helped execute the Fall Ball, Derek was lending a helping hand with the parade. He and I shared a passion for finer details and organization. When it came to bringing a vision to life, we were two peas in a pod.
    “Nice work, Julie ,” he said, reading over the list of sponsors I’d composed. “ It looks like we’re working with quite a hefty budget .”
    “And this,” I said, holding up a sketch he’d drawn to detail the parade line-up . “It’s beautiful. I love it.”
    I turned to smile. H is strawberry-blonde hair was mussed, and his face looked a few days unshaven. He lifted his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose and then nodded. “Thanks.”
    “You okay?”
    “Yeah, why?” he asked, looking back down at the list I’d given him.
    “You seem stressed.”
    “Just tired,” he said. “ A l ot of sleepless nights lately , that’s all .”
    He managed a half-hearted smile, but I couldn’t find anything but sadness and remorse lingering in his stare .
    Hannah’s trial was coming up. In fact, it was just around the corner—January 2 nd — as long as it didn’t get pushed back for a second time. Despite his anger over the crime his sister committed , Derek still found it difficult to watch as Hannah helplessly wandered down the same path her father had taken.
    “It’s going to be okay,” I said, pulling myself up. I leaned my back against the headboard next to him, resting my head on his shoulder. “Hannah has to live with her decisio ns, Derek. But you don’t .”
    “I feel responsible —”
    “You shouldn’t. You couldn’t have known what she was going to do —”
    “I should ’ve seen it, though,” he said. “She was so insistent on coming here . When I suggested we leave West Bridge and start over, she lobbied for Oakland like it was the answer to all of our prayers. Her behavior was so erratic, but I wanted to believe she just needed a change of scenery. I thought starting over would be the best thing for her… for both of us, really. But look where that got us. She sealed her fate with a single bullet.”
    “You couldn’t have stopped her,” I said. “Hannah was n’t going to stop until she got what she came here for—”
    “And I should’ ve recognized that,” he argued. “If I’d only stopped and paid more attention…. But I was enamored by you, by our friendship. When we first arrived, all I wanted was to keep building on this bond we ’d created. I stopped focusing on my family and started focusing on myself.”
    “That’s okay, though —”
    “And the moment I took my eyes of f of Hannah, she nearly killed your boyfriend —”
    “Luke’s not my boyfriend,” I said, unable to stop the words before they fell off my lips. But it was too late. The mood shifted, and all it took was four little words.
    Derek seemed to forget about his worry, and immediately shut down. His eyes glossed over as he stared straightforward. I lifted my head from his shoulder and stared at him.
    “Derek, I’m so—”
    “It’s okay,”