All Chapters of Whispers of the Heart: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

“Sit back down! I am not finished talking to you!”My teeth rattled from the sudden impact of my butt being slammed onto the chair as Phil grabbed my arm and yanked me down. It took a few seconds for my brain to catch up to what happened but when it did, all thoughts of being diplomatic flew out the window as I jerked my arm away, shooting daggers at him. He hadn’t hurt me but the audacity would not be ignored.“What is your damn problem, Phil!? I was getting a bottle of water!”He slammed his hand down on the table and pointed his finger at me. “Don’t cuss me, Aurora! You will respect me in my own house!”“News flash! Respect is earned and right now, I am having a hard time respecting you! What is going on right now? You’re blowing up at me and I don’t have the first idea why?”“Why? You wanna know why? Maybe because the woman I am wanting is letting strange men bring her home!”“That wasn’t a strange man, Phil! That was a classmate.”“That wasn’t just a classmate, Aurora. That was O

He grinned as he answered with a wink. “Neither am I. Don’t get me wrong. I plan to go to college but my dreams are different than theirs. I want a good steady job that allows me to have more time with my family. I want several kids and the house with the big back yard. Barbecues on the weekends. Coaching my sons teams along the way.”I couldn’t help but smile wider as he talked about it. At least it sounded like he had his plans and that they could possibly include me down the road. I wasn’t so naive to think that Owen being the first crush I had ever had that he would be my happily ever after but it does happen. At least, I would stop stressing so much about our social differences. It sounded like the life he had lived would have been very lonely if it hadn’t been for his Nonna. I felt it was her raising him that shaped how he feels about family and having one.“Aurora, my parents have high expectations of me. I do my best to try to honor them but I decided last year that I could onl

As I opened my door again, I could already smell coffee brewing. When I entered the kitchen, Phil was getting up to rinse his plate and cup. Sherry wasn’t anywhere to be seen so I knew she had left, probably to go to her own house for a shower and change of clothes before school.“You’ve already ate?” I asked him, already knowing the answer.“Yeah, I just fried a couple pieces of bologna with a couple scrambled eggs and toast. I’m gonna head in early since I left early yesterday.”“Okay, I will pack your lunch pail. It’ll just take a minute.”“No need. I am going to get lunch out with the guys today.”“Oh, okay. What about this afternoon? Me wanting to stay after class for the Yearbook Committee?”“Yeah, go ahead and stay. I will take my usual early day today since I am making up this morning for yesterday. Do you need me to pick you up?”“No, I’m catching a ride. All four of us involved with the history project due Friday are going to meet at the diner to work out all the details befo

I helped Nate get his teeth brushed. I was happy for the distraction from what I would rather be doing, which was the wickedly inappropriate images that were running through my head after what Owen had just whispered to me. If just words could affect me so profoundly, I had to keep my brain on high alert or just as he promised, he would have me come completely undone.If he was serious about us dating, and it seemed that he was, then he needed to know how important it was to me to really know and trust him before I allowed myself to cross any blurred lines that I could not step back from. After everything I had seen, witnessed and experienced my mother go through, the last thing I wanted was to give myself to someone that I was not in love with and could not completely trust with my heart.Maybe it was the fact that I was so desperate to not be like her. Maybe it was my thoughts of how important that part of myself was. Maybe it was my perverse way of thinking that was the only part of

“Does he?” Owen asked, his eyes hopeful. It made my heart happy to see him so excited about Nate liking him.“Oh, yeah. That hug this morning confirmed your status on his favorite people list. He is also much quieter if he doesn’t know or trust a person and he hasn’t had a quiet moment since meeting you yesterday afternoon!”He actually look relieved, like maybe he wasn’t sure until I confirmed it with him.“Well, I know the two of you are a package deal so it would really suck for me if he didn’t like me, wouldn’t it?”“Not gonna lie, it would suck, indeed. Good thing you don’t have to worry about that then, huh?” I answered as I gave him another shy smile and squeezed our hands together.A dimpled smirk was his answer as we drove out of the school zone and increased speed, driving toward the high school.“Will you be at the JV practice this afternoon?”“Not usually. I can if I need to, though. Why?”“I’m staying after to get practice pictures for the Yearbook committee. Phil leaves w