All Chapters of Whispers of the Heart: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Danny took his cell phone out of his pocket, held up his finger to let me know he heard me but needed a minute and sent a text before he put it back and looked back at me with a smile. That smile that said he was smitten so I didn’t even have to guess the recipient of that text.“Bell is getting ready to ring. Just sent my girl a text to let her know where we are. She’ll be up here with Bethany in just a couple minutes.”My heart thumped hard in my chest and I was nervous again. That girl was intimidating! Even though I now had a little better understanding of Vanessa, I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to see her but what choice did I have?“To answer your question, I can’t speak for how he sees you or how he feels about you but yes, you can trust Owen. He’s a solid guy and honestly, I’ve never really seen him give many girls the time of day. Trust me, being a football player around here is like being royalty so being the quarterback is like being a king. Owen’s past and all those detai

Mrs. Laughlin was cool and had a laid back personality. She treated us more like equals than students, something we all appreciated. She was in her mid-thirties with blond hair styled in a pixie cut. She wore black framed glasses and had a real ‘soccer mom’ vibe to her, which made sense when she informed us that she was a mom to three little boys ages eight, four and two.She dove straight in with assignments as she said we were only two weeks away from the first football game of the season. She had us all write down on an index card our availability after school and on weekends. Since the class was generally reserved for seniors only, there were only fifteen people signed up total. That number included Owen, who missed the class serving his afternoon detention.“Aurora!” She called as she looked up at me, waving my index card in her hand. “I am assigning you to cover the football games. You have availability on Friday nights, according to your card. Home and away games. For all away

Owen pushed the ignition button to start the Yukon and backed out of his parking space. The engine was so quiet that you couldn’t even really hear it. As we circled the lot to get in line, I tried not to let my lingering bad thoughts ruin this time we had together.“Wanna play twenty questions?” Owen asked as he looked over at me with a smile.“Yes or no questions or open ended?”“Open ended, of course.”“Sure. Best way to get to know one another. If something is too much or too personal, we just say ‘next’ for now.”“Got it. How old is your little brother?” He asked me.The wait to get on the road would not be a short one so we would have some time to talk. Each time the light changed, it let fifteen to twenty cars out before cycling back to the traffic on the main stretch of road. I wasn’t worried about getting there on time but as I looked off in the distance, back toward home, I could see what looked like storm clouds rolling in.“He’s four. He just started preschool. He won’t turn

As that look of worry transformed over into happiness after he spotted me, it felt like my heart was being squeezed. Seeing that worry, that uncertainty on his little face, in his eyes; that was something I had worked so hard to prevent him from experiencing. I was not naive enough to think I could and would protect him from ever being hurt or feeling disappointment or heartache but I would be damned sure it wasn’t ever because of me or my actions.I walked up, meeting the teacher halfway up the sidewalk and took Nate’s hand, thanking her as he waved and told her goodbye. He suddenly stopped, seeing the vehicle for the first time. Where the windows were tinted dark, he couldn’t see Owen yet.“Whoa, Rory! Where’d you get this car? It’s so cool looking!”“It belongs to a friend. He is taking us home cause it was raining and he didn’t want us to get rained on. Isn’t that nice?”“Yep.” We stopped beside the passenger door while I removed his backpack. He was so excited that he was hopping

“Nate has that blank wall in his bedroom. What if we get one of those cork boards to hang up in there. I can hang his art work and schoolwork on it, create like a display that I change every couple weeks or something. What do you think about that?”“If that’s what you want.”“Yeah, it is. I would like that and I think he would, too. Can we get one ordered or possibly stop by the office supply store and see how much one would cost.”“We will stop and get one maybe sometime this weekend.”I clapped my hands together, playing up the excitement and my gratitude. “Thank you! What can I help you with?”“You have that package of ground beef in there. I didn’t know if you were planning tacos, burgers or what but I figured baked potatoes would go with either.”“I had planned taco salads so the baked potatoes will work well. That way we can use the cheese and sour cream for both.”As Phil left the sink area with the potatoes to prep them for the microwave, I stepped in and washed my hands. I ope