Page 1 of To Love Jason Thorn

Chapter One

Olive

Up to the day I met Jason Thorn, my dreamswere made of fluffy white clouds, pretty pink dresses, tasty apple pies, and ofcourse, our neighbor Kara’s big brother.

“I don’t want to hear another word aboutthis, Jason. You are always welcome to stay here, sweetheart.”

I was about to go down to help my mom setthe table when their voices carried up to me and I stopped.

“See, I told you it would be okay. Come on,let’s go up to my room.”

“Hold on, Dylan. Not so fast.”

I heard mom’s coffee cup softly clink onthe kitchen counter a few seconds before I heard her speak again.

“Jason, are you sure you don’t want us tocall anyone? Maybe they should check on your mom and make sure everything isokay, or we can call your father and let him know that you are spending thenight with us. I bet he would be worried if he called your house and couldn’treach either one of you.”

My mom was a soft, compassionate woman—softas in she carried a heart that was purely made of shiny liquid gold. I’d heardmy grandpa tell her so countless times for putting up with my father, so as achild I knew it had to be true. There was also a side of her that could be seenas vicious at times, as she was fiercely protective of the ones she counted asher family.

Other than that, she was a sweetheart, asmy father liked to call her. She had this secret way of making anyone smile,even when they were sad about something. I knew that because she always made melaugh when we were at the dentist, which was a big scary place for a six-year-old(almost seven!). If she was in the room, chances were she’d have you beaming upat her in no time.

It wasn’t just me and my brother; she hadthe same effect on my friends too. Whenever it was her turn to pick us up fromschool, they all looked up at her with these big, silly smiles stretched acrosstheir faces. Actually, now that I think about it, they reminded me of Buzz, thepuppy Kara had gotten a few weeks before. Oh, how much I loved watching Kara’sbrother Noah play with that puppy; I’d always thought we could buy a few puppiesfor ourselves after he asked me to marry him.

Sigh…

Anyway, I hadn’t been allowed to have thepuppy in the house, and of course I would never ever sneak him in whenever mymom was out—sshh, don’t tell anyone—but I did see the faces the littleguy made when he wanted something from Kara.

All in all, back then, I believed it wastough to be a kid, but having a mom like mine made everything a bit easier.That’s why I’d always wanted to be like her. I’d wanted to make people happy,make them forget about their worries for a while, be their sunshine, as she wasours.

There had been only one teeny-tiny issue…theblaring fact that I didn’t have a golden heart because I was never good atbeing peaceful or graceful, where my mom, on the other hand, was the epitome ofthose traits.

It wasn’t my fault though; it was alwaysDylan who made me angry. If blame were to be assigned, it would fall squarelyon Dylan’s shoulders, not mine.

Dylan was my big brother, the one who keptruining everything for me, probably since the day I was born. Unfortunately, Ididn’t remember those early years of my existence, but I was pretty sure that he’dbeen messing with me back then, too. According to my mom and dad, a few daysafter they brought me home from the hospital, he told them they should take meback to where they’d found me—next to the garbage cans.

Can you believe the audacity? My loving bigbrother.

It didn’t even end with a cleverly veiledthreat either. I remembered myself that he would steal my stroller and runaround with me in the park. Why, he was probably trying to kill me with sheerexcitement!

At an early age, I’d come to the conclusionthat I would get to have my own golden heart when Dylan wouldn’t be around tothrow me off of my game. Whenever he was around, chances were he’d do somethingand I’d lose my cool, which would lead to us getting into a screaming match.

There was nothing graceful about screamingyour little heart out at someone because they wouldn’t play My Little Pony withyou.

Jason’s carefully chosen words brought meback to the present where I was plastered to the wall just to the left of thestaircase, listening in on them.

“Thank you, Mrs. Taylor, but I don’t thinkmy father cares about where I’m spending the night. And…um…my mom will probablybe okay in the morning. I’m sure she just fell asleep. It’s my fault really; Ishould’ve checked the time and made sure I was home before six.”

“We were playing catch on the street,Jason. Like, right in front of your house. I don’t think you are the one to blamehere. And who goes to sleep at six, Mom? Even Olive stays up later than that.”

“Dylan,” my mom said in a low voice beforesighing.

I grinned, feeling proud. I could stay uppretty late. Sometimes I could even go until nine.

There was complete silence for a fewmoments, and then the feet of the chair scraped the floor as someone got upfrom the table.

“Okay, Jason.” I heard mom’s strained voicebreaking the thick silence. Who was this boy they kept calling Jason? Maybe hewas part of the family that had moved in across the street a few houses down afew days ago?

How come Dylan hadn’t introduced me to hisnew friend?

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