The Promise of Paradise - By Allie Boniface Page 0,2

he’s really young and single, why would he be living here?”

Jen turned to Ash, lips still but eyes sending the message.

“Yeah, I know.” Ash shrugged. “But I’m a special case. A nut case. I’m sure most people in this town aren’t from screwed up families like I am.”

“You never know.” Jen bounced off the bed and changed the subject. “Hey, let’s check out the porch roof. That’s the best part about this place. I saw it online, in the pictures. Come on.”

Ash followed Jen into the kitchen and leaned against the refrigerator. “It’s probably unsafe.”

Her friend tugged at the oversized window beside the sink. “It’s not unsafe. If it was, they couldn’t rent the house.” The window pulled free, and in another minute she had climbed through onto the second-floor rooftop that stretched across the front of the house.

“Be careful.” Ash edged closer and peeked outside.

“Oh, please. Stop being such a worrier. It’s safe.” Jen walked the perimeter of the roof and peered over to the street below. “This railing is brand new. Look.” She turned at Ash’s silence. “Get your ass out here right now and look at this view.”

Ash propped her elbows on the sill and shook her head. “I’m afraid of heights.”

“Not anymore you’re not. Not with this roof.” Jen slid to a seat and crossed her legs. “You could have one heck of a party out here.”

Ash stayed where she was. She wasn’t really afraid of heights. She was more afraid of not knowing what lay out there, of the too-wide sky that stung her eyes with its brightness and threatened to swallow her up. Right this moment, she didn’t feel like taking new steps anywhere, not even ten feet outside her kitchen window.

Jen began to drum her heels against the roof. Sighing, Ash pulled herself up and over the window sill. One deep breath. Then another. Okay. Not so bad after all. With careful steps, she walked from one end of the roof to the other. Beyond the back lawn of her rental house, the center of Paradise, New Hampshire, rose to greet her, a picturesque town with an old-fashioned Main Street and two stone churches squatting on the town green. To her left, Lycian Street meandered below. In the distance she could make out the tops of red brick buildings over at the town’s junior college. She took a deep breath and peeked over to the sidewalk.

“Wow.” From here she could see all the way to the street’s end in both directions. Maybe this hadn’t been the wrong decision after all. Standing close enough to reach the leaves that swayed above her, Ash felt peaceful for the first time in months. She closed her eyes and drew it all in, the quiet street, the sleepy town. Somehow, it felt right. It felt like a good place to spend a summer. It felt like a good place to escape the mudslinging, a good place to figure out how to tell her parents she wanted a different life than the one they’d sketched out for her from birth.

Most of all, it seemed like a good place to forget her heartache, to try and flee the ghosts of Colin and Callie that reappeared every time she turned a corner.

Ash slid to a seat beside her friend. “Okay, maybe you’re right. Might not be a bad place for a party.” If I’m ever in the partying mood again.

“Told you.” Jen glanced at her watch. “What else do you need me to do? I’m going down to visit the family this weekend. Gotta help my little brother mend a broken heart.”

“Lucas? What happened? ”

“Dumped his fiancée. He found her in bed with someone else.” Jen’s face went dark.

“Aw, poor guy. That stinks.” She'd always had a soft spot for Jen's little brother – not that little was the right word, since the guy towered over both of them. “When?”

“Last month.” Jen pulled her hair onto the top of her head before letting it fall again. “It's okay. He's better off without her.”

Ash rested one cheek in her hand. Looked as though it had been a rough spring for break-ups. Maybe Lucas needed to find a Paradise of his own to escape to for a little while.

“Anyway, I think the last train back to the city leaves in an hour or so,” Jen went on. “So you need anything? Want to make a run to the grocery store before I go?”

“Nah. I’ll find one tomorrow.”

“You sure? I can just hang