Free One Little Thing by Kimberly Lang Page A

under the circumstances.
    Alyse, bless her, was quick on the uptake. “Oh, good. That’s a relief. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
    â€œYeah.” She forced herself to smile. “I’ll let y’all get back to your conversation now. Sorry for interrupting.” It took a lot of self-control to even squeeze out a short “Amy Lee” acknowledgement in her general direction before she left.
    She made a beeline to the refreshment table, accepted a cup of unnaturally pink punch from a teenage girl in a “MBHSHospitality Team” polo shirt, and took it over near the bleachers to take deep breaths and pull herself together.
    She hadn’t been quite ready to actually face someone like Amy Lee. She definitely hadn’t been prepared for the anger that boiled up in her throat, making her want to lash out at narrow-minded, small-town bigots who’d gone after not only her father and David, but her and her mother, too, when they were the innocent and wronged parties. Her contact with the residents of Magnolia Beach had been pretty contained to the unwitting and not-responsible bystanders—until today.
    At least she’d handled it well—or well enough. She hadn’t made a scene, at least. And she now knew she wasn’t
quite
as over it as she’d been telling herself and everyone else. She needed to be better prepared for next time. Because there
would
be a next time, and how she handled it would set a standard going forward.
    Looking around, she saw Quinn under the basketball net, his camera held casually by his side. He was officially working this event on behalf of the
Clarion
, so she wasn’t going to go hang on his coattails while he tried to do his job.
    Hell, everyone in town knew they were seeing each other. She didn’t need to prove it or feed the rumor mill by attaching herself to his side like an emotionally needy—or worse, possessive—burr.
    It was tempting, though. Quinn was quite the catch, and she couldn’t help but notice the attention he seemed to garner from the unmarried female population of Magnolia Beach. She might not want to
act
all possessive and clingy, but the desire to mark Quinn as taken was strong. That came as a surprise to her, as she’d never considered herself the jealous type before, but the feeling was easily identifiable. She wasn’t proud of it, but there it was. And it was weird; even as shaky and edgy as she’d felt tonight, looking over to see Quinn made her feel better.
    Rising up on her tiptoes, she looked over the crowd for a face she knew, not just faces she recognized, but it seemed no one she would want to talk to right now was here—barring Alyse, but she still seemed to be with Amy Lee.
    She couldn’t bring herself to drink that nasty-looking punch, either, even just to kill time, so she went looking for a place to throw it away. She’d come to see Mrs. Kenna, and with that mission accomplished, she could head home and text Quinn to meet her there later when he was done.
    Spying a trash can over near the visitors’ locker room, she made her way along the side of the crowd to it. Placing it carefully in the can so it didn’t splash back up on her, she backed up, treading heavily on the foot of someone behind her.
    â€œSo sorry,” she said, turning around quickly. Then she froze.
    Mr. Shipp.
    All the air felt sucked out of her.
    It had only been ten years, but Mr. Shipp had aged greatly in that time. He’d seemed so formidable when she was seventeen and full of impotent rage and hate for this man who was destroying her life. Now, though, the salt-and-pepper hair was fully white, and he seemed smaller and more frail.
    Normally, the mere thought of Mr. Shipp brought a rise of righteous and indignant anger, but seeing him now . . . She didn’t know what she felt.
    â€œCareful there, dear.” Mr. Shipp gave her a friendly smile that left her blinking