Winter Howl (Sanctuary) Read Free

him and Main Street behind. She breathed a sigh of relief and felt a muscle in her body unwind for every second she headed out of Antoine.

    * * * *

    In spite of the fact that Renee had always thought Josh looked down on her, she had been surprised when he’d asked her to the winter dance, a gathering between the two Antoine high schools—East and West—Barrington High School and Lex High School. At first, she’d been convinced that it was a Carrie -like joke, but by the third time he’d asked, she had discovered that in spite of the shiftiness of his glance when he’d asked her, he’d been serious. And she’d had no idea why. Why he would want a girl who seemed afraid of her own shadow— seemed , not was . Why he would want a girl who rarely talked and generally avoided his crowd—or any crowd, for that matter. Why he would want a girl who never stopped to give him a second glance, other than to get out of his way.
    The third time she’d tried to walk past him in an effort to ignore what she thought was mockery, Josh had touched her cheek to stop her. And it had worked, because she hadn’t been used to other people touching her at all. The next thing she’d known, he’d been kissing her. His lips had been soft and a little sloppy, but it hadn’t been as bad as she had thought kissing might be. In spite of her nerves singing to get away from him, there’d been a strange warmth running from her lips down her spine to pool low in her belly. It hadn’t quite been arousal, as she had discovered later, but it had been interest, new and a little exciting. Her panic had only magnified the feeling, as it magnified everything.
    In spite of herself, in spite of the nervousness that Renee had taken for granted most of her life as just a part of her, she’d felt herself lean closer. The kiss had been nothing special. But they’d only been sixteen, and it was her first. Her fingertips had brushed against his neck. She’d felt the warm velvet of his tongue on her lips, and that was when she’d jerked back. It hadn’t been that she didn’t like it, but she had reached her quota for closeness. Her nerves had reached a screaming pitch.
    Renee had not given him an answer, and while her father had bought her a dress for the dance, she hadn’t gone. She’d sat at home in her dark blue, silky dress with the thin straps, corset-tie back and sparkles, and watched Prom Night and Ever After, in that order. She’d regretted not going to the dance, but she had known she would not be able to handle it, no matter what her father had said about it. The next school day, Renee had learned that Josh had gone with Kristin Fontaine. And she’d been just fine with that, although the touch of his lips had haunted her for months as she’d hidden under her covers and tried to sleep. After a while, the memory had faded. She hadn’t even missed it.
    She still did not miss it. Josh might have been more interested in her than any of her other classmates had been, but that did not mean she was interested back. It did not mean that Josh was anything good for her—he was quite innocently misogynistic, intentionally anti-intellectual, although Renee remembered he had been good at math. A lowest common denominator. Her father had told her to never settle, and she intended to keep to that advice. Not to mention that she was not nearly as lonely as Josh thought she was.

    * * * *

    After an hour of driving through the Northern Highland region, alternating between radio stations and a Celtic album and memories, she felt at peace with herself. Most of the forest was state and national parks, but her land was nestled just on the edge of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
    Britt became restless the closer they got to her land, and at the first sight of the massive wrought-iron gate protected by electronic security, she gave a high whine.
    “Almost there,” Renee said. “Bought sirloin steak for tonight. Looking forward to that.”
    She