Always Something There to Remind Me Read Free

warmer in there,” he said, like he understood. “That’s all.”
    She believed him and climbed onto the icy leather seat, then turned to watch him get in and close the door to the tundra outside.
    From there it got easy.
    They sat in the car and talked until the windows were fogged and neither one of them was wearing the coat anymore. They talked about everything, from what they liked to do in their free time to what they thought about President Reagan (though Erin didn’t really have a strong opinion about him) and everything in between. They agreed on just about everything. Sometimes when she was about to say something, he said the exact same thing, or vice versa.
    It was just like the way people talked about soul mates, people who were so much like you it was like you’d never been strangers. Not that she was going to start planning a wedding or anything, but he was so comfortable to be around that she didn’t want to stop even though it was getting later and later. She’d known him a couple of hours and already felt like she’d miss him when they went home for the night.
    They’d started on opposite sides of the back bench seat, then gradually had moved closer together, but Nate hadn’t tried a thing.
    She was starting to get frustrated with that.
    “So,” she said, deciding it was time to figure out where he stood. “You … don’t have a girlfriend?” Ugh. That was ballsy. What if he did? Then what would she do? Make up a boyfriend from another school? Go on and on about him like Jan Brady’s “George Glass”?
    “No.” He looked away for a moment and even though it was dark in the car she could tell from the gesture that he was nervous. “You don’t have a boyfriend?”
    “No.” Actually, she’d never had a boyfriend. He’d probably think she was a loser if she said that, though. Other kids had started “going out,” whatever that meant, in sixth grade.
    A tense moment passed between them.
    Then he moved closer and reached his hand behind her back to draw her closer to him.
    Finally .
    She closed her eyes and when his lips touched hers she melted against him. It wasn’t her first kiss now, they both knew that, but it was good. Really good. He moved his other hand firmly against her back, drawing her closer, making her feel warm and safe. And when his tongue touched hers, all of the muscles in her body tightened. Her pulse raced. Why hadn’t they been doing this the whole time?
    How long had they wasted the dwindling night, sitting here talking ?
    He smelled like winter air, leather, and soap. He tasted like … she didn’t even know what he tasted like, he just tasted good. Almost familiar. Whatever it was, she wanted more. She drank him in, not thinking about what would happen next. It was like there wasn’t even a question.
    She was with him now.
    Now he would always be part of her. She just didn’t know it yet.
    *   *   *
    The next day, Erin slept in, partly because the beer had gone to her throbbing head and made walking around difficult, and partly because it was more fun to roll over in bed and remember kissing Nate over and over again than it was to get out of bed and actually start a day in which she didn’t have any plans.
    Eventually, though, she’d had to. And, true to form, the moment she got out of bed, her mother heard her footsteps and asked her to take the trash out to the garage. So Erin hopped gingerly out in bare feet, opened the garage door, tossed the bag into the can, and closed the door, turning around just in time to see a guy walking past on the street, looking at the house.
    He had on a hat and winter coat, almost completely obscuring his face, but she’d know those eyes anywhere.
    Nate Lawson.
    Something inside of her thrummed to life and made the blood push through her veins like it was a race.
    Nate was walking past her house, either to catch a glimpse of her or at least to see where she lived.
    The uncertainty, the questions, the hope he would