Until Next Time (The Shooting Stars Series) by Michelle Maness Page B

presence.
    “You really do look beautiful,” he told her.
    “Thank you. You should dress nice more often yourself,” she teased.
    “I feel funny. If some of my friends could see me now, they would never let me live it down.”
    “You look wonderful,” she assured him.
    They arrived at the prom after dinner to find things already in full swing. Since the senior class tended to be large, the prom was held at the civic center and tonight was no exception. It took them a full five minutes to find their friends among the crowd within the room.
    “Hey, Kattie,” Tess smiled.
    “Hi Tess, hi Jason,” she greeted. Several others joined them and they talked for a while, until couples began to drift onto the dance floor together.              
    “I’m not much of a dancer, but I do believe I could manage a slow dance,” Adam suggested when a slow song began to play. Katherine smiled and took his hand to follow him onto the dance floor. He slipped his arms around her waist and she slid her arms around his neck.
    “So, do you regret coming?” she asked with her head tilted back to look up at him.
    He smiled, “Not in the least. You?”
    “No. I’ve enjoyed myself.”
    “So have I, Kaitlyn. I’m going to miss you when you leave for college.”
    “You wouldn’t if you would quit being stubborn and apply. You’d do well.”
    “Nice try,” he smiled.
    “I’ll miss you too, Adam,” her smile was gone.
    “Hey now, none of that. We’re supposed to be having fun,” he told her as he pulled her closer.
    Katherine laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Life was going to pull them in two different directions. She knew this without being told and if she were honest with herself she had known this from the moment she had met him. So why had she allowed herself to get close to him? Had she been able to read Adam’s thoughts she would have found them to be running along similar lines.
    ***
    Katherine dashed through the rain to a pavilion where Adam was waiting for her. Graduation was over and summer had begun. Adam had called early that morning and said he had to see her. She had arranged to meet him at the park and it had started raining on her way there.
    “It would rain,” she commented as she climbed onto the picnic table to sit beside him.
    “Of course.”
    “What’s up?”
    “My uncle, my real uncle, a man I barely remember meeting, has arranged for me to have a job in the plant where he works.”
    “Where?”
    “Detroit.”
    “Are you coming back?” Katherine felt her heart fall.
    “I don’t know. I agreed to take the job for the summer and then I’ll go from there.”
    “What about college?”
    “I’m thinking about it.”
    “I’ll miss you,” she couldn’t meet his gaze.
    “Not as much as I’ll miss you. You’ll still have your friends here.”
    “It won’t be the same without you,” she looked up into his face. She felt as though her heart had taken up residence in her throat.
    “How did we end up together?”
    “We just hit it off,” she shrugged.
    “We’re as different as day and night.”
    “Maybe that’s it; we balance each other.”
    “Maybe. I’m going to miss this place, out of all the places we’ve lived, I think this one will always be home,” he said thoughtfully. “The irony is that when I arrived here I was certain I couldn’t put Tennessee behind me fast enough. I hated it and I hadn’t even really seen it or experienced it yet.”
    Katherine laid her head on his shoulder and listened to the rhythm of the rain as it pounded on the roof of the pavilion and on the sidewalk in front of them. An ambulance raced up the drive from the nearby hospital, its wailing sirens breaking the moment. Katherine sighed and sat up.
    “So what do we do now?” Katherine asked him.
    “I’ll write and call every day,” he promised her.
    “We’re going to try this across the country?” her eyes were miserable when they met his.
    He pulled her close