Page 21 of Secondhand Smoke
She stared. “And you never once wanted to try it?”
“Hell no.” He shook his head, sending his hair shuffling from side to side. “Stuff like that makes people choose between things they shouldn’t have to. Leave the things they love behind and make bad choices. I’m not trying to become a person like that.”
One corner of her mouth lifted in a loopy grin. “That sounds exactly like something my dad would say.”
He cringed, baring his teeth in a grimace at being compared to the pastor. “Then I guess that is the only thing your father and I will ever agree on.”
She laughed, throwing her head back, and fell into the cushions of the sofa. He would forgive that offensive comparison.
“But I still don’t get it,” she said.
“What?”
“If you hate it so much, why do you sell it to others?”
His smile fell. “It’s money.”
She nodded slowly, like she understood, but he couldn’t help and wonder if she really did. Everyone knew that even though her dad held the title of pastor, their name held more dollar signs than was appropriate for a “humble” leader to have in his pockets.
As sweet as Janelle was, she couldn’t know the first thing about what it meant to do what you needed for money.
But she must know a bit about desperation. She wouldn’t be here sitting high on the floor next to him otherwise.
“Does this stuff normally make you tired?”
“Oh yeah. It’ll knock you out eventually.” As he said it, the realization hit him that she wouldactuallybe knocked out eventually, and she was high out of her mind. And she’d ridden her bicycle. “Do you need me to take you home?”
“My parents think I’m in my bedroom. I snuck out the window. They won’t know I’m gone.” She lifted her hands over her head and stared at them with an amazed expression.
Meanwhile, Barrett’s breath caught in his throat, and his blood stilled before rushing back faster than before.
God, what had his life become in the past couple of days? Was this really happening?
Janelle Duncan was about to spend the night in his house.
He was lucky she wasn’t paying attention to him because he needed a moment to take a deep breath and make sure his face wasn’t too hot to the touch.
“I’m sleepy,” she said.
He cleared his throat. “Just close your eyes. It’s better if you let it happen.”
There was a big sigh, and Barrett glanced over to see she had done as told. Her eyes were closed, her lashes resting gently against her under eyes.
He could stare more openly when she wasn’t looking.
After that point, their conversation tapered off into quiet. The record continued to spin with no music coming out.
“Thank you, Barrett.”
After sitting in the still room, her voice startled him.
“I haven’t felt this good in forever.”
Barrett huffed a small laugh. “Anytime, Duncan.”
God, wasn’t he glad he would remember this in the morning.
9 - Nell
