True Love (2 page)

Julie shot Luke a look that said,
Let me go see what I can do
, and headed for the rest rooms. She found Solena inside, dabbing her eyes with a paper towel. “Now what’s wrong?”
Julie asked, none too patiently. She’d been looking forward to an evening of fun, not of refereeing her friends’ spats.

“I caught Frank talking to Melanie Hawkins.”

“It’s not a federal offense.”

Solena threw down the wadded towel. “It might not seem like any big deal to you—you’ve got Luke, who’s never even so much as looked at another girl since he fell for you in fifth grade. But out here in the
real
world, it’s pretty grim. Girls are always coming on to Frank. And he likes it!”

“Frank likes you, Solena. How many times do I have to tell you? And I know girls are waiting to snake away guys like Frank and Luke, but give your guy some credit. If he wants to date Melanie, he’ll tell you.”

“Oh, you just don’t understand!” Solena stamped her foot.

Julie was trying to be sympathetic, but it was difficult. It was true that Luke had hung around her since he was ten. Of course, then, she couldn’t see him for dust. In fact, she’d found it annoying to have some skinny, scrappy kid with shaggy black hair following her everywhere. But when he was twelve, he joined one of the football teams sponsored by
the YMCA that her father coached and she learned more about him.

She learned that Luke’s father had died in a steel mill accident when Luke was only eight and that his mother was struggling to raise him alone. She learned that he was always in trouble and solving his problems with his fists. Football and her father’s belief in Luke as a player had saved him from growing up in the juvenile detention center.

On her fourteenth birthday, Luke had shown up on Julie’s porch holding a fistful of flowers, and when she’d taken them and looked into his dark brown eyes and seen absolute adoration for her, something inside her had melted. They’d been dating steadily for the past three years and everyone knew that Julie and Luke went together like ice cream and cake, sunlight and summer.

“We’re going bowling,” Julie told Solena firmly. “And if you don’t join us, Melanie really
will
have an opening. Is that what you want?”

Once she’d coaxed Solena out of the bathroom and they’d found Luke and Frank setting up in one of the lanes, Julie felt better. Solena sulked for a while longer, but soon she seemed like her old self. Julie sat nestled
against Luke’s side while Solena and Frank took their turn at the pins.

“Glad you could soften her up,” Luke said, tugging playfully on Julie’s blond hair.

“I wasn’t about to let Solena ruin our evening. Besides, I have plans for you later, buster.” She pressed her lips against his neck.

“What plans?” he asked, a smile in his voice.

She pulled back, looking puzzled. She reached up and pressed her fingers along the side of his jaw. “Luke,” she said. “What’s this lump?”

L
uke pulled away, his expression self-conscious. “Swollen gland, that’s all.”

“Did your doctor see it?”

“Julie, it’s nothing. When a person gets the flu, glands swell.”

She frowned. “Is the one on the other side swollen too?”

Luke stood and picked up his bowling ball. “Are you going to hang out your shingle?” He held up an imaginary sign. “ ‘Julie Ellis: Medicine Woman.’ Come on, it’s our turn. Bet you a buck you can’t make a strike.”

She leaped to her feet. “You’re on, buster.”

The rest of the evening passed quickly, and by the time Luke drove her home, Julie was feeling content. She hooked her arm through Luke’s once he stopped his car in front of her
house, then leaned her head against his broad shoulder. “I had fun,” she said.

“Me too. But then I always have fun when I’m with you.”

She felt a tingling sensation along her skin. Luke said romantic things without calculation. Which was one of the reasons she cared for him so much. “I think you should sleep in tomorrow,” she told him. “You need a chance to recuperate.”

He didn’t argue. “I am feeling pretty lousy. Maybe some extra sleep will help. I’ll call you after you get home from church.”

She raised her face and received his long, lingering kiss, then got out of the car. “I can make it up the walk by myself. Go home and get to bed.”

He smiled, but even in the faint glow of the lights from his dashboard, she thought he looked weary and pale. She squeezed his hand through the open passenger window and dashed up the sidewalk and into her house.

“Is that you, Julie?” she heard her mother call.

“No, Mom. It’s a burglar.”

Her mother came into the foyer, her terrycloth robe wrapped around her slim figure.
“Cute,” she said, without humor. “Come sit down and visit with me.”

“I’m tired. Can we talk tomorrow?” Julie was certain she knew what her mother was going to say, and she wasn’t in the mood to hear it. Especially after the good time she’d had with Luke and her friends.

“You’ll be too busy tomorrow.” Her mother led her into the living room, sat, and patted the sofa cushion beside her. “Come on. It won’t take long.”

Julie sighed and scrunched herself into the corner of the plush rose-colored sofa. She hugged a throw pillow to her chest. “So, what can’t wait until tomorrow?”

“Julie, I’m concerned that you’re not sending out applications for college.”

“Oh, Mom—not this again.” Julie groaned.

“Listen to me. I’m a guidance counselor, for heaven’s sake. I know what I’m talking about. The freshman classes for all the really top colleges fill up fast and you’re too bright, your grades are too good, for you not to get into any college you apply to. I’ve already talked to dozens of kids in your junior class, and they’re sending off forms right and left. You should be too.”

“Mom, I’ve got tons of time to think about
college. I won’t even take the SAT exam until next fall, and those scores are what colleges really consider.”

“Naturally the SATs are important, but you won’t have any trouble with them. You should start applying now to the colleges you’re truly interested in.”

Julie struggled to keep from losing her temper. She knew her mother was trying to be helpful, but all Julie felt was unnecessary pressure. “Can’t I just enjoy high school? Good grief, it’s not even Christmas yet! I don’t want to deal with college now—especially when I have over a year of high school left.” She got up from the sofa.

“It’s because of Luke, isn’t it?” Her mother’s voice was low, but it stopped Julie in her tracks.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re so busy thinking about Luke that you don’t think about yourself. You spend more time with him than with anything else.”

Julie clenched her teeth, hating that her mother was partly right, yet not wanting to admit it. “Of course I like Luke. But I do plenty of things with my friends. And I’ve never once let my grades drop, have I?”

“Julie, I’m not trying to be a nag. It’s just that I want so much more for you.”

Julie spun and peered down at her mother on the sofa. “More of
what
? Why shouldn’t I have a boyfriend and have fun with him? What have you got against Luke?”

“I haven’t got anything against him. He’s a nice boy. But I want to see you go to college. I want you to get out of this smelly little steel town. Have a career. See the world.”

Julie rolled her eyes.
The same old argument
. “Mom, just because you hate Waterton doesn’t mean I do. Daddy and I both love it here.” By bringing her father into the discussion, Julie felt a sense of leverage. It was true that her dad liked the small steel town where he’d grown up and where he now held the job of athletic director and football coach for northwest Indiana’s top-rated high school.

“And don’t forget,” she added hastily, before her mother could react. “Luke’s going to get a football scholarship and be out of here in two years. So, based on your logic, why would I even want to stay if he’s gone?”

Her mother’s hands, folded in her lap, appeared rigid, as if she were gripping something so tightly that she couldn’t let go. “I wasn’t
badgering you, Julie. I only want you to think about
your
future. Not Luke’s.”

“I do think about my future. I’ll go to college, Mom. And I won’t end up at any ‘Podunk University,’ either.” She bent and kissed her mother quickly on the forehead. “Now, I’ve got to get to bed. It’s late and I promised Mrs. Poston I’d help her with Sunday school class in the morning.”

Julie breezed from the room and up the stairs without giving her mother a chance to stop her. And once safely in her room, she flopped on the bed and exhaled deeply. She’d heard her father say many times, “
The best offense is a good defense
.” And that was what she’d offered her mother tonight—a great defense.

Julie wasn’t fibbing when she’d said she wanted to go away to college. But what she hadn’t said was that she wasn’t about to choose a college until she knew where Luke was going to attend. Hadn’t her father said that college coaches were already lining up to offer Luke athletic scholarships? Well, once Luke got down to serious negotiations, Julie would begin to apply to those colleges.

She knew her mother wouldn’t like her plans, but right now, Julie didn’t care. She
wasn’t about to spend four years apart from Luke Muldenhower. Besides, her mother was right about one thing: Julie Ellis was smart, and as long as she kept her grades up, she figured she could get into most any college she wanted.

And Solena was right about something too: the world was full of girls waiting to steal a guy like Luke. “I won’t let that happen,” Julie said out loud. “Not in a million years.”

She loved Luke with all her heart. And she wasn’t about to let him get away.

“I think you have a fever, Luke.” Julie pressed her hand on his cheek as she spoke. Automatically, she moved her hand to the side of his neck, to where she’d first felt the swollen gland the night before. “And your gland doesn’t seem any smaller.”

It was Sunday afternoon and he’d come over to study with her. Their books were strewn across the dining room table, but Luke had spent most of the past hour resting his head on the book in front of him.

“I’m fine,” he said, not too kindly. “You’re not my mother, Julie—get off my case.”

“Well, excuse me for being concerned.” Julie shoved her chair backward and stood up.

“Wait a minute. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I didn’t sleep good last night, and today I’ve got a pounding headache.”

Instantly, she was sorry for being cross with him. “Why don’t you go back to your doctor?”

He shrugged. “I just don’t want to. What’s he going to do? Give me another prescription for antibiotics? The last prescription didn’t help.”

“Then that’s all the more reason to go.”

Pale November sun shone through the window and shimmered in waves across the table. “Office visits and prescriptions cost money,” he said. “Things are tight with Mom this month. She doesn’t need any extra expense.”

Julie knew it was hard for Luke to talk to her about his poverty. Ever since his father’s death, his mother had worked full-time and he had worked summer jobs, but there still never seemed to be enough money to go around. “She has health insurance from her job at the mill,” Julie said. “She’ll get reimbursed.”

“Yeah, but she has to pay up front, then wait for the insurance company to reimburse her.”

“So what’s your point?” Julie crossed her arms, refusing to back down.

Luke tossed his pencil on the table. “My point is that I don’t want Mom to spend the money for some stupid flu bug that will eventually run its course.”

“That is
so
dumb, Luke Muldenhower. Tell my dad and he’ll see to it that you get to the doctor. And it won’t cost you a thing!”

He shoved away from the table and stood. “I don’t need charity, Julie. It’s my flu, you know. And I don’t want your daddy to foot my bills.”

“That’s the
dumbest—
”

She got no further. Luke stepped around her and headed out the door. She called for him to return, but all she heard was the slamming of the front door behind him.