Sitting back, I moved so she wouldn’t gain the opportunity, but I lifted my fingers enough so she could see.
“This is beautiful,” she said, smile moving wide across her full lips. She had some of the fullest, a gloss there I was close enough to see now. She bit her lip. “More than just dabbling here and there.”
“Not much more,” I told her, my fingers lifting higher. She could see the full house now. My jaw moved. “They’re things I made or want to make.”
“Wait. You make these things?”
I had her attention now and I knew it the moment she moved closer, her wide array of exuberant curls just inches from me. I thought about things that probably weren’t proper as some of them reached out and wafted the smell of sweet shampoos and other stuff girls added to their hair to make it soft-looking and bouncy. I envisioned things like touching those curls and watching my fingers disappear in the thickness.
“Not this in particular,” I said swallowing back the urge. I faced the sketch. “This is one I want to make, but these I have made.”
Since she seemed interested I showed her, starting with the matching rocking chairs I constructed for the reverend and his wife. I’d made several of these, each different with subtle elements I thought of on the fly.
Ann’s hand lifted with the pages, like each one flipped she wanted to reach out and touch. She did touch one, my best work I considered.
The pulpit I got to see every Sunday at church, the entire congregation around it and settling pride in my chest each service I witnessed it.
“These are your dreams,” Ann said and like something she’d spoken before I thought not meant for me. It’d been so light when she spoke the word and had I not guessed she’d been from the city I would have known right there. She spoke of dreams.
She spoke of accomplishments outside of this place.
I could say nothing more than, “I guess,” I felt my default. It was easy to “guess” or “suppose.” It was simpler.
Ann dampened her soft lips, something I surmised about them. They had to be soft, so full and puckered.
“I had a notebook like this once,” she admitted sitting back, but then went shy again. “But it was nothing like yours inside. I put stupid things in it. Things like eat an entire bowl of ice cream with as many flavors as I could think of or just have the best day ever whatever that means.”
Her head shook as she thought of that last one.
She grinned. “I even wanted to shout as loud and as obnoxious as I could from the top of the Empire State Building. I put that in there too. Like I said, stupid things.”
They didn’t sound stupid. If anything they sounded freeing, liberating.
Playing with the edge of my notebook, I looked up at her.
“Why the Empire State Building?” I questioned, then felt as if I was kind of getting in her business again. I shook my hair out. “You don’t have to tell me or anything. I just wondered.”
She actually looked grateful that I wasn’t finding this whole topic of conversation weird or anything, indulging me when she pushed her hands on the table.
“Because it’s possible,” she said simply. “Because it’s there and I’m sure a lot of people haven’t done it. It also happened to be the highest place I could think of at the time. It just made sense.”
It did make sense and like I said, sounded incredibly freeing.
Ann’s expression changed as she looked at me, her big curls pushing across her high cheekbones, she fell back in the booth.
“Let’s talk about something else, please,” she said, the tops of her shoulders bouncing a little with her laugh. “You’re probably regretting letting me sit here.”
In fact, quite the opposite. Though, I didn’t share that with her or anything. I actually liked sitting with her. I liked talking with her about nothing, about everything.
My hand moved on my notebook and her chin tipped out in its direction.
“But those are beautiful,” she said. “It’d be amazing if I could do something like that.”
“But then you wouldn’t find it so cool,” I said. “And I wouldn’t be able to impress you.”
I had no idea why I said it and immediately looked away after. I found myself saying things… sharing things like my designs with her when I normally wouldn’t with anyone. I had no reason to. Just my hobby and not really concerning anyone else.
Her lips moved and I found myself watching them, attracting my way to them like a honeybee to a fragrant flower. Ann might have said something in that moment. I wanted her to, but Maybelle came with her bill.
The city girl thanked her, paying her right then and there and the tip must have been gracious because Maybelle thanked her profusely with a blush on her big cheeks.
Ann simply lifted a hand. I guess this was all second nature to her. I wondered where she came from, not where she lived but where she came from and who she was. We didn’t have a lot of time today, the limits of the time apparent when she sat up, reaching an arm toward her bag.
“Well, I hope it wasn’t the worst,” she said dragging the thing over a little. “Sitting with me. You looked like you were on your lunch break.”
It’d been a break that long ended shortly after her arrival. I should have clocked back in a while ago and I knew my boss would make me use my sick or vacation time to cover it. That was all right though. I never did stuff like that, so it was all right.
“Not a big deal,” I told her wishing I really could express myself more. Sitting with her wasn’t a big deal. In fact, it’d been great. “I liked sitting with you.”
I had at least gotten that out and her large smile and the light that pushed into her big brown eyes made me grateful I had.
She stood and I did the same. I guess more of that properness my momma taught me.
Getting her bag adjusted, she faced me, tilting her head.
“I enjoyed sitting with you too, Blake,” she said, her fingers curling on her bag strap after she got it on. Her grin was full. “In fact, I enjoyed it very much.”
Surprised by how that made me feel, I faced away from her, pushing my hands into my pockets to keep from fiddling with them and anything else. She started to roll her bag away and I made a path so she could, the place still busy.
She thanked me with one of her grins and as I needed to head out too, I grabbed my notebook and hat, tossing some extra cash on the table for Maybelle. I had already paid her and tipped her but I figured you could never do too much.
I guess I was taking the example of the girl I had lunch with.
I let her know I wasn’t just following her, that I needed to get back to the rock quarry and she merely laughed as I flanked her, telling me that was quite all right.
“If you’re looking for a motel there’s one yonder,” I told her pushing my chin in the direction of the Hen’s Inn just down the street. It wouldn’t be far for her to walk but with her bag I suddenly wished I had my truck with me. I’d take her but I left it at the quarry since the diner was within walking distance.
Dang, why didn’t I bring that thing?
Lifting my eyes up to the sky, she followed the direction of my gaze, taking a few steps in the direction of the inn. The sign was big enough and I could tell she’d seen it right away, her hand framing her eyes from the high sun.
“I suppose that’ll do,” she said, placing her hands on the handle of her bag and facing me. “And thank you. That makes things a little easier for me.”
“No problem,” I said, kicking a little dirt with my dusty boots. “You can rest up real good then. It’s a nice place.”
I’d never stayed obviously but I’d been to a few parties after some school dances. I also had some buddies that rented rooms out to be with their girls. They bragged on the space and everything.
I hoped those thoughts hadn’t materialized on my face and as I’d been known to chase a flush sometimes I scratched the back of my neck.
“Anyway, you should be happy there,�
�� I said. “And I hope you have a safe trip when you head back on the road. You here long?”
“Not terribly. Just for the weekend,” she told me, spinning around. Her curls caught in the wind. “Long enough where I’ll have to find something to do. They got TV and everything? I’m a junky for that.” Her face lit up by the prospect and I couldn’t help smiling because of it.
“Um, yeah,” I said, scratching my neck again. “They got all that for sure.”
Her hair fanned on the wind again and in her current, it washed over my face in a way that had me wishing for more time again, more time with her, getting to know her, and seeing what she was about.
I knew, in the end, there really wasn’t a point to all that. She wasn’t from here and therefore prolonging anything really wouldn’t make sense.
But that didn’t stop me from wanting it.
My hand moved out of my pocket as she started to walk away, her pretty brown boots getting caught up with the dust on the actual gravel roads we had here.
“I’m happy I got to meet you,” she said. “Eat lunch with you.”
She went bashful again, shaking her head.
She lifted it. “But yes, it was fun. I enjoyed it and appreciate you letting me sit.”
“It wasn’t a problem,” I told her, wishing I could emphasize that more. I smiled when I lifted my notebook. “You let me humor you for a little while.”
My poke at myself had her eyes doing that hard and soft crinkle again.
“You underestimate yourself, Blake,” she said taking a step away again. “Your dreams.”
She chewed on her lips and I watched as her steps created more space between us, more distance, and soon that turned into time flashing before my eyes. I saw an hourglass separating the pair of us, the sand almost gone. Only a few granules left, I stepped up to her, watching as she stopped completely and let me get ahead.
“If you’re in town for a little while,” I said, my jaw moving. “You’ll need coffee in the morning?”
Everyone needed that, even a city girl and this Texas boy.
The expression started small, but as I watched that smile spread across her face I knew she’d say yes to my mumbled invitation for coffee in the morning and with her nod, I watched that hourglass fill up just a little. We had more time.
We had more sand.
Ann
On my tiptoes, my hands cupped the window of the diner but I fell back to the soles of my tennis shoes at the sight of an empty building. The sun was terribly high again and I failed to bring one of the many hats packed in my bag.
I didn’t want to seem as if I was trying…
Which I was despite myself. Yesterday, Blake had caught me off guard. I’d been sweaty and flushed when I first met him, that sticky train getting to me.
I didn’t want to appear that way now, but I had tried, my stretch pants and off-the-shoulder top—pretty but not over the top. It was also a lot cooler than the blouse and boots I wore yesterday and I had no idea if we’d be outside today. The diner was warm and I at least figured my outfit would be good for that.
I popped up on my tennis shoes again, trying to get a peek inside behind the gold lettering on the glass, but the result was just the same. No one was in there on this early Saturday morning, the closed sign up, and that’s exactly when Blake said he wanted to meet for coffee.
He may have stood you up.
Though, he hadn’t seemed like the type to be that way. He’d been nice, sweet even.
Biting my lip, I couldn’t help the reality of my position, though. I was here on a street corner with the front of what was, yesterday, the busiest diner known to man. That diner and street were now empty.
I was here by myself.
Stepping back, my shoes hit the gravel road, my high pink socks keeping the dust from hitting my exposed ankles. Spinning around, I figured the motel television was my next venture until I heard my name.
It took another rotation, to my left and slightly ahead but I saw him clearly, his massive form striking in the harsh light.
Blake seemed different today. He looked different. His faded jeans belted at the waist, he wore a plaid button-up, which seams hit every hard surface of his broad shoulders and overall burly frame. Sitting across from him, I’d been in the wake of his shadow, the man large and no doubt from working. He was in a uniform yesterday, on his lunch break.
He also seemed to bring a peace offering.
The lidded Styrofoam cups in his hand indicated coffee and I grinned, unable to help myself.
I didn’t know if it was me or just the fact that I’d noticed him, but his grin rang too though not as full as mine. His lips twitched with it, a splash of red I’d seen before creeping up the side of his neck. With as big as he was he had a bit of shyness to him and reminded me of someone I read in a novel called Of Mice and Men, the character Lenny all-encompassing with his size but the insides not so much matching. Blake had that too and he held the cup out toward me, only a few steps between us.
“I thought I’d be here by myself today,” I admitted, kind of feeling bad now. Like I said before, he didn’t seem like the type to do that.
His head shook every which way as he passed off the coffee, the strong aroma breezing in the already thick wind despite being so early.
“I didn’t mean to be late,” he said, pushing all that dirty-blond hair out of his face. It looked as if he’d tried to put something in it to keep it back but it had a mind of its own, sitting just past his ears on one side and pushing back behind on the other. The unruly side cut across a set of the palest blue eyes I’d ever seen on someone, enrapturing in a way I had to make sure they were really blue. They looked nearly clear and I properly stared into them for longer than I should have.
Blake hadn’t made that easy. His constant gaze aversion possibly stronger than yesterday and him doing that at all hadn’t surprised me. A stranger had asked to sit at his table then proceeded to stare at him the whole meal.
“Had to get the coffee,” he said raising his arm cloaked in the same blond hair. “Passed by a gas station and picked it up.”
Wondering about that, I turned around and faced the diner. His grin had my insides dancing.
“Small town,” he told me, stepping over to the diner in his big brown boots. He faced me. “Nothing’s open super early on the weekends. Folks are sleeping and everything.”
“Folks are sleeping and everything.”
I knew I had to have reacted to his accent yesterday, lazy and warm like the thickest, most sweetest honey.
I had to have sounded different to him too and I had no idea yesterday I’d been stopping at all in Texas. The train had malfunctioned and I’d be stuck for nearly two full days, leaving early tomorrow morning.
Maybe that turned out all right in the end.
In that moment, I’d been happy the darkness of my skin didn’t visibly flush more than the areas beyond my neck and chest. If so, I’d be fire hot.
Bringing an arm around, Blake guided me. The pair of us probably looked quite different. I wasn’t short or anything, an average five foot five but he had more than a head on me.
He lifted his chin, chiseled-cut and strong.
“I figured we’d take a walk,” he drawled, looking at me a little bit before choosing the road in the end. I chose it too. He smiled. “I figured better than TV for a little while?”
His question on the end had me smiling too.
I nodded. This was much, much better than TV.
We circulated the area of the small shops and local businesses, all of them closed but some of them with the owners inside and preparing for the day. Blake got a wave from them, tossing a thick hand and getting a friendly smile each time. Everyone seemed really pleasant here, which was nice.
“Yesterday, um… you said you just graduated?”
I had to read between the lines with him sometimes. He spoke low, deep, and I put on my listening ears to take him in. I found that okay for the most part.
It just meant I really had to pay attention, which I didn’t mind.
I smiled, nodding after taking a sip of my coffee. “Yeah, I got my bachelor’s degree.”
His pale blue eyes widened like that was really a feat for him to hear and, perhaps, maybe it was. I often overlooked my opportunities for an education which some didn’t have.
Playing with my purse strap across my chest, I tossed my chin at him.
“Did you go to school? College?” I didn’t want to assume he hadn’t.
His eyes pinched away and I wished I hadn’t asked.
“Nah. Never had a reason to. I went to work right after high school.”
I wondered when that was, well how much older than me he was. We could have easily been the same age, myself twenty-two.
He didn’t dwell on what he said, but hadn’t sounded sad about not wanting to go to college. Perhaps, he wasn’t. Maybe school just wasn’t something he desired. He had such talent in other ways.
“Did you bring your notebook with you?” I dared to ask him. He looked up and I surprised myself when I bounced on the soles of my shoes a little. “I’d love to see more of them. Your designs I mean?”
His handsome grin filled me up as if I’d been asked to show something so special about myself. I could get drunk off the feeling he emitted, a just overall good feeling.
“I figured you might,” he said, then stopped in front of a shop window. Tossing his head of dirty blond, he pointed to the window. “How about I show you in there?”
Confused, I came around. I believed most of the shops were closed, but I guess this one wasn’t.
I knew because of the large bowl of ice cream sitting in the middle of an empty table.
It sat there, high as a mile and waiting for someone to come inside and do something with it. There were all kinds of ice cream in there, many different kinds of various colors and tones. Awed, I stepped to it and turned to find that flush on Blake’s neck again.
Blake (Found by You Book 6) Page 2