One More Dance by Roxanne Rustand (fun books to read for adults TXT) 📕

was darkening, and with another four inches starting to fall, the street outside was nearly deserted.

She turned back to Jared. “I appreciate the invitation to have Thanksgiving dinner with your family. Honestly, I do. But I need to stay here. I’ve got that parasitology paper due, and an exam on equine musculature Monday.”

“It’s not that far, and we’d come back in the evening. Wayzata’s an hour, tops. There won’t be any rush hour traffic on a holiday, and even with the snow—”

“I just can’t.” The weight on her heart made it seem harder to breathe. Why hadn’t she fessed up already? Told him the truth? Waiting had only made the issue loom larger, compounding her guilt and her sense of shame.

It would look all the worse when she finally got up her nerve to tell him.

He leaned back in his chair, studying her, his expression losing its warmth. “I don’t get it.”

She’d been falling deeper and deeper in love. An impossible relationship, because once she was honest with him, it would all be over. “I...haven’t exactly told you everything. About my family.”

“Easy guess. Single mom. Not exactly wealthy, right? A pretty tough childhood?” He raised his hands, palm up, his voice tinged with reproach. “None of that matters. I’m kind of disappointed that you think I’m that shallow.”

“But—”

He rocked forward in his chair, slanted a glance at the darkening twilight and grabbed his backpack from the floor as he rose. “Look, I’ll pick you up tomorrow. Say, eleven o’clock. We can go out to my mom’s for dinner, and I’ll have you back here by seven.” He pulled on his heavy jacket, swung his backpack over one shoulder and gave her a one-armed hug and a kiss. “It won’t seem like a holiday if you can’t be with me.”

She stood in the open doorway of the apartment and waved to him when he reached the stairway at the end of the hall.

Chicken, she muttered to herself. You are so gutless. You could have told him.

Still, she now had one more day. A chance to see his home and to meet his mother and younger sister. A chance to make some more memories. A chance to spend the whole day with him. And how perfect was that? She wanted to make every minute count.

THE TWIN CITIES WERE beautiful year-round to a girl from the far northern plains of the Dakotas.

At every turn, lakes were tucked like jewels in unexpected places, and during the warmer weather, the endless parks and tree-shaded streets beckoned to hikers and dog-walkers and families pushing strollers.  Now, the city lakes abounded with skating rinks and children dressed in bright colors skimming across the ice ,and cross country skiers glided along the park trails.

Jared had promised to take a "scenic route," and so they'd driven out to Excelsior, then followed Shoreline Drive along the edge of Lake Minnetonka towards Wayzata. The stunning, snow-frosted pines reminded Kate of her grandmother’s snow globe.

But with every passing mile, her initial uneasiness descended deeper into a serious case of nerves.

Lovely suburban homes had long since given way to what looked like million dollar lakeshore properties, followed by one gated estate after another.

Stone walls and dense stands of pine hid most of the homes, but here and there she glimpsed multiple chimneys signifying a palatial house, or caught a peek of a stone dwelling that could’ve been a British castle for all of its many turrets and massive scale.

“Tell me that we’ve got a long way to go to your mother’s home,” Kate whispered, staring at an ostentatious set of iron gates and pillars marking the driveway of yet another expensive property.

Jared glanced at her as he hit a remote button on his visor that made the gates swing open, then he flipped on the turn signal.

“Here? You live here?”

He shrugged. “My family does."

She swallowed hard.

"Nervous?”

“Um...a little.”

“Don’t be. It’s just a house.” He turned into a long lane flanked with white fencing that wound up a hill, past stands of pine and a forest of winter-bare oaks. At the top of the hill, the lane opened into a wide, circular drive that arced under the portico of a two-story redbrick home easily the size of her small-town high school.

Her mouth dropped open and she quickly snapped it shut, hoping he hadn’t noticed. “You...grew up here?” she managed to ask.

“From tenth grade on.” He lifted a shoulder. “My father inherited it from my grandmother.”

“I-it’s beautiful.” She stepped out of his car and turned around to find that the hill offered an impressive view of Lake Minnetonka. “You must love this place.”

“It’s nice, I guess, but it’s way too expensive for my mother to maintain. You wouldn’t believe how the real estate taxes, care of the grounds, and heating bills add up.”

She managed a polite nod, well aware that he was diplomatically minimizing the astounding family wealth that had to be behind a home like this, just to make her more comfortable. Jared didn’t flaunt his family’s money—he drove an older Mustang and mostly dressed like any other college guy.

But now she knew his Rolex was real, and if they’d just landed on Mars, she couldn’t have felt more out of place than she did arriving at his home.

“Come on, let’s go inside,” he said, taking her hand when she lingered by the car. “It’s cold out here, and I promise you that my mom doesn’t bite.”

“I’m sure she’s lovely.” Kate followed him up the broad front steps to the double doors, each set with mullioned windows. “Will this just be...um...the immediate family?”

“Just my sister, mom, and us. My uncle Dexter and his family are with his wife’s relatives in Chicago. You can call my mother by her first name, by the way. Sylvia.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Inside, the entry gave way to a two-story reception area flanked by a sweeping, curved staircase leading to the second floor. Jared took her jacket and his and tossed them on a velvet fainting couch set in front