Page 94 of Secondhand Smoke
He wasn’t even making the music himself, but Nell could sense that spark in him.
He oozed passion.
It wasn’t magnetic anymore.
It was gravitational.
“Right here,” he said.
Nell didn’t try to hide the fact that she was staring when he opened his eyes.
He caught her eye, held up a finger, and on the right beat tapped it into the air as the second guitar solo started. “Magic.”
Magic.
The real magic was that shefeltit. Maybe his passion had rubbed off on her. Maybe it was his eyes that held in her place. Shefeltthat emotion he’d talked about.
Goosebumps ran up her arms as the solo dragged its fingers over her skin, and Barrett’s stare abandoned her eyes to look at her lips.
Nell breathed in slowly, the music flowing hot in her veins. “Magic.”
She stole his mouth, and he was ready for it.
He kissed her back to the comfortable rhythm, the headphones still spilling the song into their ears as her empty hand rested on his jaw.
They kissed through the end of the track, and straight into the next. And the next.
38 - Nell
Barrett had a similar effect on her that alcohol did, Nell realized: he calmed her, slowed things down, and made her forget.
She needed assistance when she was away from him on the weekends, but during the week, when she knew he was within reach whenever she needed, an easiness settled her anxious nerves and shaky hands. Her mood improved. She didn’t burn through alcohol and weed the same way.
Her parents noticed too. After their walk last week, her mother started coming into her room often again, checking on her. She’d stopped doing it when half the time all Nell did was lie in bed and hide under her covers. Nell still did that, but at least she responded when she’d ask how she was doing and even accepted a book her mom thought she would like.
Tonight, they were going to dinner.
It’d been ages since they went out to eat as a family. Nell had refused to get in the car for so long that it didn’t seem possible. But, for the first time, she’d agreed to ride her bike and meet her parents at a nice place in the center of town.
At her mother’s insistence, she even braided her hair down her back, teased what was left of her muddy grown-out bangs, spread some light eye shadow on her lids, and put on a nice dress.
On a weekend, she wouldn’t have managed all that, but on a Tuesday, when she knew Barrett would be working at the music shop just a few blocks over, it wasn’t so bad.
She parked her bike right outside the restaurant and fluffed her crinkled dress before her parents arrived. She played with her overgrown bangs and tucked stray strands behind her ears.
They pulled up, and her mother grinned when she got out of the car. Nell’s mood wasn’t the only one that had improved lately. Her mother donned a smile that helped hide some of the newer wrinkles on her face.
“Janelle, you look so beautiful.” Her mother ran her hands over Nell’s head and held her face with her hands, leaning forward to press an affectionate kiss on her cheek. “Thank you for coming.”
They entered the restaurant together. The hostess took multiple takes at them before she collected herself enough to greet them. Well, greeted her father while throwing sideways glances at Nell from the corners of her eyes.
Aside from church, it had been a long time since they’d shown up as a family in public. Long enough that it was noticeable.
“This way, Pastor.” The girl, who Nell thought she might or might not recognize from high school, led them to a table under a dim hanging light, with a few candles in the middle. Her parents had certainly turned this into an occasion. Nell sat across from them, and the hostess set three cups of water down. “Your server will be out shortly.”
Her mother and father thanked her, but right before she turned away, Nell made eye contact with her for a split second. As short as it was, it was long enough to catch the look in her eyes that wasn’t entirely hatred. No, there was something that resembled a sour apprehension.
Nell frowned, the look lingering in her mind even as the hostess turned away. She glanced at her parents, wondering if they had noticed it as well, but both seemed too interested in their menus to have caught it.
