Salem Falls - Jodi Piccoult

"I don't like Rachel Covington. You know, i mean, i like her... i just dont like her. I don't like any girl."

"They were teasing you about that?"

"All's i did was stick up for her because she was too scared to do it for herself."

"Then it's no wonder she's fallen for you, querido."

Jack leaned his cheek against his hand, heedless of the mark of flour he left behind. "Cora, what makes girls like that? What can't that just say thanks and get out of your hair?"

Corazon smiled at him. "You know how your mother keeps her Christmas card list? How she sends to people who send her one, and that list gets longer and loner every year?"

"Yeah," Jack muttered, "I have to lick the damn stamps."

"Watch your mouth," Cora reprimanded. "see, love's like that. One you give it, even by accident, you're on that list forever."

"What if i don't want to send Rachel a card back?"

The housekeeper laughed. "You never know. Maybe she'll keep them coming anyway. But maybe one day she'll go throught that list and cross you off."

"I don't want her to be in love with me," Jack muttered. "I'm gonna tell her to stop."

"You can tell her, but that doesn't mean it's gonna change anything."

Jack punched at the dough. "Why not?"

"Because it's her heart," she said, "and she gets to choose where it goes."

* * *

"Shh," Jack said. "It's just me."

That didn't seem to make it any better. Emma was dead silent, just as still.

"Can i sit down?"

She didn't answer, and with a slight pang in his stomach Jack realised that no one had ever asked for her permission. His weight tilted the mattress, and Emma rolled against his bent knee like a cylinder of wood. "I wantes to show you somehting," he whispered. "I wanted to show you that someone who loves you doesn't always have to hurt you." And taking a deep breath, he reached down and held her hand.

She froze. It ws the first time they had ever touched, beyond accidental brushing when they passed baseball cards back and forth. She was waiting for him to do somehting else, something disgusting Jack didn't really want to picture in his head. But he just sat there, his fingers tangles with hers, until Emma's other hand came up to cover his, until she crawled into his arms like the child she'd forgotten how to be.