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Ashley’s best friend and as much as I would like to, I can’t forget how young you are. I made a mistake. I should not have kissed you.”
    It felt as if the pit of her stomach began to twist up. Tracy pulled her hand from his. JD could see the shell that had disappeared for a few days return almost instantly. Tracy clasped her hands behind her back. “I’m sorry you feel that way. Shall we go back inside?” It was as if the past few moments had not happened and they were only acquaintances having a general conversation. JD stepped aside as she walked past. He wanted to say something, but thought better of it.
    “Hey,” Ashley said as they approached the table, “you two finish dancing for the night?”
    “I think so,” Tracy replied as she looked away.
    Just then Vanessa, JD’s most recent lover, walked up. He was actually relieved to see her. He needed a little distance between him and Tracy.
    “JD, are you enjoying yourself?” Vanessa asked sarcastically.
    He glanced at Tracy. I did the right thing , he told himself. He took Vanessa’s hand. “Come dance with me,” he said with a smile and walked away. That was the last Tracy saw of him for the rest of the night.
     
    ♥
     
    JD came in around four in the morning. When he walked through the door, the telephone rang. “Yes, Vanessa,” he answered angrily. “It’s four in the morning. I don’t want or need the drama again.”
    “You do realize she is a teenager and you are a grown ass man. Isn’t that contributing to the delinquency of a minor or something?” Vanessa questioned with a warning.
    “I’m a district attorney and you presume to tell me the law. By the way, she’s nineteen, over the age of consent, if there was anything to consent too!”
    “JD, I’m not trying to tell you the law. But you fail to see what it looks like. I don’t care how old she is. She is too young for you to be involved with. What is it you always say to me—it’s the appearance of it.”
    “Don’t talk to me about appearances. Nothing is happening here, Vanessa. For goodness sakes, you’re jealous of a nineteen-year-old girl,” JD yelled into the phone.
    “She may be, but I’m not blind,” Vanessa replied curtly. “I know what I saw. And you are lying to me and yourself if you say I’m wrong.”
    “I’m done, Vanessa. I’m not dealing with this anymore tonight.” He hung up the telephone and went to bed.
    JD did not notice the balcony door was cracked. Tracy sat there with her book in her lap. She overheard his side of the conversation. I’m just a teenage girl to him, she thought. She dropped her head down. What in the hell would make me think it was anything else? Stupid; stupid; stupid. You set yourself up for that . She laughed to herself. She really liked being around JD and thought maybe…. “But it will not happen again,” she said to herself.
    In bed, JD lay awake wondering how in the hell he could convince Vanessa nothing was there with this girl when he wasn’t sure himself. Something stirred in him every time he was around Tracy. She was young, but that wasn’t really the problem. There was only a five-year difference in their age. With the career he planned, the appearance of him with someone so young could be damaging. Vanessa was right and he knew it. Besides, he did not have time for drama or issues in his life. Dealing with someone so young would bring drama. From that night, in his mind, Tracy Washington was off limits.
     
    ♥
     
    The next day Ashley and Tracy were loading up the car to return to Harmon as JD and Calvin helped. Other than the normal niceties, Tracy was very quiet.
    “You two have everything?” JD asked.
    “Sure do,” Ashley replied.
    Ashley jumped on JD’s back as if taking a piggyback ride, kissed him on the cheek and hugged him. “Thanks, big brother, for letting us stay with you. I’m going to miss you.”
    He pulled her around his waist and carried her with one arm at his side.
    “Don’t you