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"Did someone hurt you, "

Charlie reached up and touched it "It got caught"

Bullshit Soain, he had to force his hands to relax "Want to stay atto keep his voice casual

"Okay" Charlie looked out his , his face away frorandparents the party was sowhatever They’ll freak"

"Right I’ll call theet hoot to To?" Toht? There’s hydrogen peroxide in the cabinet" He nodded toward the loo

"Okay" Much to his surprise, Charlie turned and aled to ion of Tos, Charlie’s face was still that of a little boy, his skin unroughened by beard, his jawline still soft, res to talk about at bedtime

"You’re welcome," he said, then cleared his throat "Any time"

Then Charlie closed the door, and Tom felt a rush of love so deep and fast and helpless that it felt like he’d been punched in the chest

What kind of a gobshite picked on a kid who still didn’t weigh a hundred pounds? And just ould Charlie have called tonight if Toland?

No

CHAPTER SEVEN

AT 4:45 ON Friday afternoon, Honor was conteh eCo if four was too many times to see the latest Bond movie But Dad and Mrs Johnson had an in-house date, since Mrs J thought it was too soon to go out in public, so Honor wanted to make herself scarce Because, my God! What if an in-house date ? Then she and Spike would have to kill the the trek to the theater and power-eating popcorn and Sour Patch Kids (the ugly face of addictionor the ugly hips, as the case may be) held little appeal, even if she could look at Bond, James Bond, for two hours Plus, the low-bellied clouds looked like they were about to birth sorapevines were dark and twisted The air was raith cold

Maybe she’d just stay here and work, despite her pledge to be different The Black and White Ball wasn’t far off, and it was Honor’s pet project of all the charity events Blue Heron participated in or hosted The ball raised money for the parks and recreation services in town In years past, the ball proceeds had funded a new playground, replacing the rusting equipment Honor herself had played on, a skateboard park and thea hiking and bike trail through some of Ellis Farm Everyone could use it, of course, not just kids, but it was special to Honor’s heart Manningsport, while as beautiful a town as Arew up in the squat brick houses at the edge of town, or the trailer park, didn’t have what Honor had growing up--woods and fields to ro In hera sram, a flock of chickens, maybe a few rescued horses The land would be for those kids, so that they could enjoy the riches of the area, get away from their televisions and Nintendos and feel the connection to the land the way she did

The ball would be held in the Barn at Blue Heron, the space that Faith had converted last fall--once a cru the rest of the vineyard Her sister had quite a talent And red hair And the cutie cop

Okay, none of that She ran her hand over her own hair She had good hair now, too The rude Brit had been right: it had been a little sister-wife

So yes While Jessica Dunn and Ned were doing just fine, the Black and White Ball was Honor’s And lists needed to be ,Spike leap up froed for the phone before Jessica could answer it "Honor Holland," she said, using her s," Dad said "Re you that you have a life and need to leave the office"

"Dad, no one leaves work at five"

"Get out Go to O’Rourke’s with one of your friends"

Honor winced Unluckily, no one in town had died since the catfightno one had even been arrested or had sex in a public place (except ht) In other words, she was still the hot gossip O’Rourke’s was out

"And, um, don’t be home before ten," Dad added, his voice sheepish

"Why? Wait, scratch that, I don’t want to know" Honor sighed "Okay Maybe I’ll swing by Pru’s and stay over"

"Oh, honey, that’d be great"

"Dad, please"

"I’m sorry," he said "It’s justwell, you do what you want, Petunia Just givetwice That’ll be our code"

"Got it Code, as in don’t you dare be doing anything in the living roohter"

"You’re not a spinster Go out Have fun Meet so people" She paused "Can I at least co?"

"Of course Just, ularing ather by her first nahed It’d be nice to be able to tell her sisters about this (it ht be fatal to Jack), but Mrs Johnson had made her swear not to tell yet

Honor scooped up Spike and kissed the dog’s little head, getting a joyful snuzzle in return "Let’s run away, just us two," she said Spike wagged in agree people and friends Outside of her relatives, no one leaped to mind Maybe Jack would want to watch Top Ten Tuo to Rushing Creek and talk about artificial hips, or she could go to her grandparents’ house and do the say clean out the pantry, which held canned goods from the 1980s

A knock came on her door frame "Hey Sorry to interrupt," Jessica Dunn said "I took a whack at the press release for the tourisation It was supposed to be a good thing

Jessica handed her the paper "I also posted a picture of the cask room on Facebook and Twitter and asked everyone as in their fridge And Itopics for you, too Oh, and here’s your calendar for next week"

"Thanks," Honor said, her heart sinking a little

Jessica had worked here for teeks now, and Honor was a little intily efficient she was Didn’t s Honor coffee to write copy (pretty damn well, too)

Jess stood there a minute as Honor read what she’d done It was friendly, infor all of one co

Honor knew this was her first job outside of waitressing; the girl (woed that on her first day So far, she’d been quiet, hardworking and a little tense, almost as if she orried she’d be fired It was kind of endearing Faith had mentioned that she’d always been a little scared of Jessica Dunn; Honor didn’t see why