He chuckled. “No, the farm doesn’t make any money off the horses, but we used to back when my Pa was alive. My dad took care of the farm and my Pa bred the horses. I was the one who helped with them, so it’s always been my job. That’s why you won’t see me doing a lot of the farm work, even though my dad wishes different.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked. Wondering if this was the reason for their constant disagreements.
He picked at the fuzz on my couch and had his eyes downcast. “He wants me to eventually take over the business when he retires, but I don’t want to. Derek would be so much better at it…shit he wants to do it. Dad’s insistent though. It’s what I went to school for, business. It’s what I should want to do. My heart just isn’t in it anymore.”
I frowned. “What changed?”
“Did you know I got the love for cars from my Pa?” He smiled at me, ignoring my question. “I helped him build a sixty-seven Mustang. It was the greatest experience I ever had. We would work on that thing every chance we got. I was never the kid begging my parents to put me in sports because every weekend I’d be preoccupied helping Pa. As soon as one project was done, he’d have another one ready and waiting.”
“Why did you go to school for something you didn’t want to do?” I asked, changing the subject back. I was asking a question I already knew the answer to. I was doing the same thing, just like Lisa had said.
“I did what was expected of me. There were a lot of factors that came into play, but the main one was I did what my dad wanted me to do. I’m just not happy doing it anymore.”
That was exactly what I was afraid of. Majoring in something I had no interest in, and then regretting it for the rest of my life. “Could you go back to school? Get a degree in something else.”
“I’ve thought about it so many times, but it always comes back to not wanting to let my parents down.” He gave me a half smile and ran his hand through his hair again. I felt bad for him because I knew exactly how he felt.
“What about you? You’re a sophomore, aren’t you?” I nodded. “What’re you going to be when you grow up?” he asked with a smile as he rested his head on the back of the couch.
I laughed. “Honestly, I don’t know,” I answered. “I’d say I’m in the same boat you are. I don’t have a lot of options unless I pay for school myself, though.”
He frowned. “What do you want to study?”
I replied without hesitation. “Art.”
“Art? What’re you looking to do with an art degree?”
“I’ve always wanted to work in museums. There are a lot of museums in Chicago and it just fascinated me when I was little. Ever since then, it’s been an obsession of mine.”
“Why is this something you can’t do?”
I sighed. “My parents don’t think it’s an appropriate career choice. My father would jump up and down if I decided I wanted to be a doctor though. It’s really very stressful, not having a clue what it is I want to do. I don’t want to be one of those students who stays in college for over seven years trying to figure out what degree they want.” I shrugged, feeling defeated talking about it. “I could always just skip college all together and get a full time job. Nowadays, you don’t even have to have a degree; just your experience alone can be the equivalent of a degree.” I huffed. “But art has always been something I wanted to study.”
“Are you an artist or just love art?” he asked curiously.
That made me blush. I rarely talked to anyone about my hobby and no one ever asked me about it. “I wouldn’t call myself an artist, but I do like to draw.”
He smiled. “Can I see?” he asked, perking up.
I laughed. “No way.”
“What? You’re going to sit here and tell me you can draw and you’re not even going to show me anything. Come on! That’s just wrong.”
I chewed on my lip. “I never show anyone my drawings. Not even my parents.”
“Maybe you should. They’d see how passionate you are about it.” He smiled. “Maybe I want to see how passionate you are.” He nudged me with his elbow. “You’re not embarrassed to show me, are you?”
My cheeks flamed and I looked away. “No,” I lied. There was no way I was showing him.
“I bet if you got me a piece of paper and asked me to draw something, I’d make you feel so much better about sharing. I’m not gonna lie. I can’t even draw good stick figures. So anything you can do, I’m sure would be impressive.”
He had a point. I didn’t have anything to be embarrassed about. I wasn’t perfect, but I knew my drawings were good.
“Okay, but just a few of them,” I said, giving in. I smiled and stood from the couch.
I walked into my room and headed straight for my side table where I kept my sketchpads. I’d been drawing since I was a little girl. It was always just a hobby, and although I loved art and wanted to study it, I never thought of it as being something I could make a career out of. Mostly, I drew when my emotions were at an extreme high. It brought me a sense of calm. All my emotions get sucked out of me and onto the paper. That was one of the reasons I loved art so much. You could see the artist’s emotions in any artistic piece.
Pulling my drawer open, I grabbed the top sketchpad. It was a new one so it only had about five or six drawings in it. I was sure that he would appreciate this one more than the others too because of the drawings I had in it.
I walked back to the couch and Landon smiled at me as I sat down, handing him the pad.
“Are you sure you don’t mind? You really don’t have to show me if you feel uncomfortable.”
“No, really,” I assured him. “It’s fine.”
He continued to smile as he looked down and slowly opened the pad. I knew what the first picture would be so I watched his expression as it came into view.
“Oh, wow,” he exclaimed softly. “You drew this.” He looked up at me with an awed expression.
I giggled and nodded.
“This is great,” he stated as he ran his fingers over the clean lines of his favorite horse, Charlie.
The week after Landon apologized for his behavior, I learned that one of the horses in the stables belonged to Landon. I mean, they all belonged to the farm, but this one chocolate brown horse was bought for Landon from his Pa. Charlie was about ten years old and Landon rode him every day.
A few weeks ago, on a Tuesday, the weather called for rain later in the day so I was told to clean up the stables first thing instead of helping with the corn and beans. That way it would be done before the storm rolled in. When I was on my way to the stables, I saw him sitting astride Charlie. He was beautiful on his horse, cowboy hat and all. He rode out of the stables with him and came back an hour later without him, having left him in the pasture. I asked Landon about the horse after that and he told me all about how his Pa surprised him for his birthday when he was twelve.
He turned the page and looked over a picture I drew of the stables. “Wow, these are really good,” he said as he flipped to the next one that was a picture of one of the crop tractors.
“Thanks.” I didn’t think all of the pictures looked like the real thing, but that was because I was doing it all from memory.
“Do you sketch people?” he asked, looking up at me.
“I’m not Jack Dawson from Titanic, if that’s what you’re asking,” I laughed.
He frowned. “Who?”
I hung my head and laughed. “Are you serious? You don’t know who I’m talking about? Have you not watched that movie?” I asked, looking back up at him.
“Uh, is it a chick flick?”
“Yes.”
“Then the answer is no.”
“I can’t believe you haven’t seen it.” I stated, astonished. “It’s one of my top ten movies.”
“What’s number one?”
“My number one movie?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed, as he closed the sketchpad.
I smiled. “Pride and Prejudice, the one with Keira K
nightly.”
He shook his head. “Never heard of it.”
“What?”
He laughed. “I don’t do chick flicks.”
“I’m going to have to change this. You have to at least see the classics. I know you wouldn’t be able to sit through Gone with the Wind, but Titanic? It’s a must see.”
“Oh, really now,” he challenged. “What if I wanted to make you sit through some of my favorite movies, huh?”
“And what, pray tell, are your favorite movies?”
“Anything with Adam Sandler in it.”
I scrunched my nose. I wasn’t a big fan. “Adam Sandler?”
He smiled. “Billy Madison is probably my all-time favorite.”
I kept my nose scrunched up. Out of all the movies that Adam Sandler was in, that had to be the one I didn’t like the most. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I’ll sit through Billy Madison if you sit through Titanic.”
“And when would this movie marathon start?”
“I’m free tomorrow night, if you’re game,” I suggested.
He smirked. “I think I can take some time out of my schedule.”
I laughed. “If you have something else to do, we don’t have—”
“No, I want to. Tomorrow night is great,” he said, cutting me off. “What time would you like me to come over?”
I had to think about that for a minute. I was pretty sure his movie would be around two hours and I knew mine was over three. “How about six? I’ll order pizza and we can eat while watching the movies.”
“That sounds good, but I’ll pick up the pizza on my way over.”
I smiled. “That sounds great.”
“Okay,” he said, as he ran his hands on his shorts and then stood up. I stood up with him and looked over at the clock on my TV stand. It was already past ten. “I should go,” he said looking at the same clock. “It’s getting late and I still need to clean up the garage.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said, biting my lip. My stomach erupted in nervous bubbles as I walked him to the door. I didn’t know what to expect. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” I smiled when he turned to me.
“Can I get your number?” he asked, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his phone.
“Of course.” I took the phone from his hands and added my number to his contacts. “Here you go,” I smiled and handed the phone back to him.
He shoved the phone into his front pocket and looked at me with a smirk. “Thanks for hanging out with me tonight,” he said softly as he lifted a hand to run against my cheek. My breath hitched and my body flushed yet again as I stared into his eyes. He leaned in slowly and softly kissed the side of my mouth causing my eyes to close at his tenderness. I was disappointed that he didn’t grab the back of my neck and ravage my mouth, but that was probably the sweetest kiss I’d ever received. “I had a really great time,” he said, as he pulled away with a smile.
I smiled back at him and bit at my lip. “I did too.”
Reaching for the doorknob, he opened the door and stepped outside. “I’ll see ya tomorrow, city girl,” he said with a mischievous grin. He knew I couldn’t stand it when he called me that and I’d made it perfectly clear when we met. But now it was kind of cute.
“See you tomorrow, country boy,” I retorted as he started down the stairs.
He smiled back at me and I slowly closed the door.
I pressed my back against the door as soon as it was closed. What the hell just happened? I felt like I needed to pinch myself. I knew that once I started seeing other guys and dating it would be different from what I had with Jason. Jason was familiar; we grew up together over the years. We were young and everything was new to us. But this…this was different. I felt so comfortable with Landon. Yes, he made my blood boil, my heart race, and he caused my nether regions to clench with need, but this was different than anything I’d ever had with Jason. Once we started to actually talk to each other, we just clicked. I smiled to myself but shook my head at the thought. I didn’t need to read too much into anything.
I walked to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I walked to my room and riffled through my draw for a t-shirt and some sleep shorts.
Slipping under the sheets, I sighed as my head hit the pillow. I knew it would be awhile before I’d be able to go to sleep. Everything that happened over the past five hours would replay in my head. I had a feeling the Saturday would go by very slowly as I anticipated our movie marathon.
I heard a ‘ding’ off in the distance that sounded like my phone.
Getting out from under the covers, I made my way to my purse and pulled out my phone. I brought it back to bed with me, opening up the text message I received as I went back underneath the covers.
I smiled at the message realizing Landon had sent it.
Landon: Is it too soon to say I’m excited to see you tomorrow?
Me: No. Would it be too straight forward of me to say I’m excited too?
Landon: lol not at all.
Landon: Would it be too straight forward of me to tell you that I can’t wait to say goodnight to you again tomorrow night?
I frowned at his message not understanding what he was trying to say.
Me: Why can’t you wait to say goodbye to me again???
I waited for a minute for him to reply.
Landon: So I can kiss those gorgeous lips again. :)
My mouth hung open when I read his reply. Then I giggled. Oh. My. God. What do I say to that? Maybe he was regretting not attacking my mouth like I was hoping he would have.
Me: Who said you had to wait to say goodbye to kiss me again?
I was being bold with my reply, but I didn’t care. I was being flirty and it was something I hadn’t done in a long time.
Landon: If you don’t want me to be a gentleman, city girl, all you have to do is tell me. :)
I laughed out loud. Oh, boy. I better stop this now or I’d never get any sleep.
Me: Don’t you have a garage to clean up?
Landon: Yes, I do. I’m staring at it, but don’t feel like doing it. I’d rather keep texting you.
I smiled and got that girly tingly feeling in my stomach. I’d rather keep texting him too.
Me: I would too, but I need sleep. ttyt
Landon: ttyt :)
I set my phone down on my side table and snuggled down into my covers with a smile. I really did like him a lot. I still had that warning in the back of my mind that men couldn’t be trusted, but I knew I couldn’t live that way. There was that saying, ‘Live in the now.’ I needed to live by it. I couldn’t dictate my future and I couldn’t change my past, but I could live in the present. That’s all that mattered at that moment anyway. If I dwelled too much on what happened or what could happen, then I’d never be happy.
Thirteen
The next morning, I woke up drowsy. It took forever to drift off to sleep after texting back and forth with Landon, but I wouldn’t let my drowsiness get me in a bad mood. Changing out of my sleep clothes, I put on some shorts and a tank top and slid into a pair of flip-flops. I was hungry, and seeing as though I had no food in my place, I planned on looking through the pantry at the main house.
“Good morning, hun,” my mom greeted me when I walked into the kitchen.
“Good morning.” I smiled as I opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice. “Is Dad at work?” I asked, pouring a glass.
“Nope, I’m here,” my dad stated as he entered the kitchen with his coffee cup. “I don’t have a case until later today.”
My eyebrows shot up at my mom at this proclamation. He never stayed at home when he had cases during the day, even if they weren’t until hours later. This was definitely new and my mom only smiled.
I walked to the pantry to pull out a box of cereal and retrieved a bowl and spoon from the cupboard and drawer.
“How was your night last night?” My mom asked. She was sitting a
t the island eating a grapefruit and drinking coffee.
I placed the bowl on the counter, opposite her, and poured the cereal. I looked up at her and couldn’t contain my smile. Was I really going to smile every time I thought about Landon now? “It was great.”
I put the cereal back in the pantry and went to the fridge to get the milk.
“Did you go bowling with Lisa?”
I walked back to the island, poured milk into my bowl, and took a seat. She was looking at me with a raised eyebrow and I frowned at her expression.
“No, actually, I didn’t. I met up with a different friend instead.”
My dad sat at the island next to my mom after making another cup of coffee.
“Is that the same friend who was parked in the driveway last night,” she asked in a calm tone.
When I moved in above the garage, nothing was ever said about having people over. I was almost twenty-one, so I wouldn’t think this would bother her, but I might be wrong. It wasn’t like he spent the night.
“Yes,” I mumbled with a mouth full of cereal. She looked at me as she chewed a piece of grapefruit. I knew that look. She was going to look at me until I spilled the details. She didn’t know who I had over, but it was like she could read my mind. “Am I not allowed to have people over?” I asked defensively.
She looked down at her grapefruit and scooped another piece onto her spoon. Dad just sat there and messed with the iPad he had in front of him, pretending like he wasn’t listening to our conversation.
“As long as there aren’t any sleep overs without me knowing about it, I’m fine with you having people over. I know we haven’t really set any rules for you since we moved, but the only thing I ask is for you to be respectful and no parties.” She picked up her coffee and took a sip.
I shook my head. “I don’t have that many friends, Mom, plus I wouldn’t have a party up there. There isn’t even enough room,” I stated sarcastically. My dad looked up from his iPad with a small smirk on his face. This was the kind of behavior I was used to. He never really got into any of the conversations Mom and I had. She was the disciplinarian and he usually went along with whatever rules she set for me.
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