Title- Windows
Series- Coming Home # 1
By- Emily Minton
Genre- Contemporary Romance
Publication Date- September 25th, 2013
Blurb
Lucas Beck crawled through Melinda James’ window every
night. Each time, gaining a piece of her heart and leaving a bit of his behind.
Lucas was in love with the girl next door, but he ruined any
chance he had of making her his. So, he moved on without her.
Lindy gave her heart to the boy next door, but he left her
humiliated and heartbroken. So, she started a new life without him.
They both head off to college, leaving the other behind.
Lucas finds success then misery on the Football field. Lindy finds new love,
but it never feels quite right.
Years later, Lucas and Lindy find themselves back in their
hometown. Will Lindy open her window again and give Lucas another chance?
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Prologue Lindy’s POV
I feel uncomfortable, as soon as we walk
through the door. "Can you tell me
again, why we are here?" I ask Tara, as we make our way through the
party.
"Come on Lindy. It's our last night before we leave for
college. We need to have some fun."
She answers, knowing that this is in no way my idea of fun.
You could ask anyone here, and they would
tell you that Melinda James did not go to parties. Not only were parties just not my thing,
these kids didn't want me here either.
They all hated me; they always have.
I'm known as the weird girl from
Warrington High. I'm quiet, I like to
read and I'm really smart. I'm the one that all the teachers use as an
example.
"Melinda, will you come up here and
show the others how you completed problem twenty-six?"
"Melinda, can you please tell
everyone your answer for question nine?"
"I want you all to listen to
Melinda's essay. You should all strive
to write like this."
You can imagine how that affected my
social life. If that’s not bad
enough, I'm also fat. I'm not one of
those girls that just says she's fat, I really am. I'm only five foot three and weigh nearly two
hundred pounds. I also wear really thick
glasses. I've tried contacts. They just don't work for me. Add all that together and I don't have a
social life at all.
Tara and Lucas are my only friends. In fact, they are the only people that even
talk to me. Well, Lucas only talks to me
when we are at home. But, at least he
doesn't pick on me at school like everyone else does.
Lucas and I grew up together. We've lived
next door to each other, our entire life.
Our moms have been best friends, since before we were even born. Our dads were both cops and were partners for
years, but my dad was shot during a routine traffic stop. I was only nine at the time. The person who did
it still hasn’t been caught, but I know they are still looking. Lucas's dad, Paul, says a fellow officer’s death is
never forgotten. Since dad died, Paul
has stepped in as kind of a second dad.
I would love to have my father back, but Paul is the best substitute
father in the world.
After my father’s death,
Tara's dad became Paul's partner. Her
mom became friends with my mom and Lucas's mom, Wanda. So, us kids ended up
being stuck with each other all the time.
It didn’t take long for Lucas, Tara, and I became the best of
friends. We were always together. Our
moms even called us the three musketeers.
But, things changed as we got older.
Lucas is the most popular guy in
school. He is our school’s quarter
back, and he's headed to the University of Alabama on a full ride. Lucas is
also the most gorgeous boy that I have ever seen. His hair is nearly black and his eyes are so
blue that they remind me of the sky on a clear day. He has a body that drives
all the girls crazy.
Over the last few years, he has definitely
pulled away from Tara and me. He acts
like he doesn’t even know me at school, and if he sees me out somewhere he
never even says hi. Lucas may not talk to me around everyone else, but we still
spend a lot of time together, when we are both at home. He climbs through my window almost every
night. We talk about everything. Well, almost everything. He doesn't know that I am totally in love
with him.
Tara keeps saying that I should tell him,
before we leave for college. She says that if he knew how I felt, things might
be different. That is exactly what I am
afraid will happen. What if he laughs at
me or worse? He could quit being my
friend. I don't even want to think about
that happening.
Tara just does not understand. She is also popular. Not like Lucas, but in a geeky sort of
way. She’s smart, but not nerdy like me. Nope!
Tara is a band geek. She lives
and breathes band. She would probably be an outsider like me too, but she is absolutely
beautiful. She has long golden brown
hair, big hazel eyes, and is the perfect size six. So, she can get away with
being a geek.
Tara and I are leaving for Auburn
tomorrow. I chose Auburn, because they
offered me an academic scholarship. I
was ecstatic when I learned that Tara would be coming with me. They gave Tara a spot in their marching
band. So, she is as excited as I
am. The only bad part is that I won't
being seeing Lucas until Thanksgiving break.
I look around the party, and people are
everywhere. Their all drinking and being
loud. I start to feel even more
uncomfortable. My breath is coming fast, and I know that I am on the verge of
hyperventilating. I need to get out of
here for a minute.
"Where’s the bathroom?" I ask Tara.
"Up the stairs. It's on the right. I think it’s the second door."
She answers, shaking her head at me. She knows that I'm just making an
excuse to hide, but she doesn’t say anything.
I make my way up the stairs, but I'm
stopped by the queen of all bitches as soon as I get to the top. "Hey there piglet." She says
through a laugh. I ignore her and try to
walk past. “You shouldn't
be up here, you know. There's a lot of
people down stairs. You could send this
whole floor crashing in on them and kill everyone."
I pretend her words do not hurt and walk
on. I continue down the hall, trying not
to cry. But, the tears are falling by
the time I open the bathroom door. I
don't even look in. I just step inside
and lock the door. I slide to the floor
and pull my knees to my chest.
"What's wrong Lindy Lou?"
