Shoe Strings

he’d discovered earlier in her hair.   “I find it fascinating that people pay
money to risk their life.”
    Jesse turned to face her.   “They pay money for a good time.   It’s a rush.   You should try it.”
    “I’ve driven my car over that river enough times to know I
don’t want to raft in it.”
    He couldn’t understand her hesitation.   Was it him or was she afraid of the
water?   “What do you do for fun?”
    “I…” she stopped and furrowed her brow.   “I can’t remember doing anything just
for fun.   Shop, I guess.”
    “Shop?   C’mon,
Angelita.   Let me take you down the
river.   I’ll start you off real
slow, class one.”
    “Why do you want to get me in the water so badly?”
    Honestly, he didn’t know.   Did he want her to experience the joy he
found in surrendering to the wild rush of the water?   Or did he want to share another
afternoon with her?   She was
teetering, he could see it as her teeth dug into her bottom lip, and those eyes
of hers were killing him.   He’d do
anything to get her defenses down and see her enjoy herself for the pure hell
of it in a raft.   “Because it’ll be
one of the most exhilarating experiences of your life.   It’s just you and the water, man against
beast, and with you, conquering your fear.   There’s nothing more empowering.”
    “I’m not afraid.”
    “Then let me take you.”   He stepped closer, faced her, and lightly grasped her shoulders.   “Please?”
    “Jesse…”   She
cocked her head, bit her lip.   “I’ll
think about it.”
    The breathy way she said his name, the warm feel of her skin
beneath his fingers made him wonder what she would be thinking about.   “Okay.”   He let his hands run down her arms and
clasped her hands in his.   “Thank
you for dinner.”
    She was looking up at him, her chocolate eyes a little bit
wary.   “You’re welcome.”
    His desire to kiss her almost overwhelmed his common
sense.   He wanted to kiss her, she
was expecting him to, he could see by the look on her face.   But the last thing he wanted to do was
what she expected.   He leaned in and
gently pressed his lips to her forehead.   “Good night, Angelita.”
    He had the door open when he heard her call his name.  
    “Lita,” she said.   “My friends call me Lita.”
    He turned back and looked her in the eye.   “I like your name, the way it sounds,
the way it rolls off my tongue.”   Her body straightened as he spoke, as if to brace herself for what she
knew what he was going to say.   “And
because I intend for us to be more than friends, I’ll call you Angelita.”

 

 
    Chapter 8
    Kerri Ann wandered into the general store and absently
sniffed a candle she’d picked up from the display by the dressing room.   By the deep green color, she wasn’t
surprised it carried the scent of pine.   She considered getting it for Ty’s room, where the stench of dirty
clothes and puberty created an overwhelmingly noxious odor.
    Mrs. Collins interrupted her thoughts with a hacking cough
that thirty years of smoking hadn’t helped.   “You okay, Min?” Kerri Ann asked.
    Minnie Collins gave a final bark and popped a cherry lozenge
in her throat.   “Oh, it’s these darn
allergies.   They get worse every
year.”
    Allergies my ass, thought Kerri Ann with a sympathetic
grin.   “‘Tis the season.”   She meandered around and had to think
about why she’d come by in the first place.   She’d been restless after picking up
some supplies at the hardware store and thought maybe an impulse purchase would
lift her spirits.   But other than
the candle, nothing had sparked her attention.  
    She’d turned around at the back of the store and was heading
past the wall of fishing lures when she saw the woman Bryce had lunched with
saunter in, her gorgeous hair bouncing in unison with the sway of her
hips.   Kerri Ann glanced down at her
own boyishly narrow figure in the faded jeans she wore at least twice a week
and felt an instant dislike for the woman.  
    Her clothes were outrageous: skin-tight cropped pants paired
with a silk cami barely encasing her buoyant breasts.   It was all covered with a bright orange
trench jacket.   Her earrings, huge
matching tangerine hoops, and high wooden-heeled slides completed the most
fashionable outfit Kerri Ann had ever seen in person.   It only grated on her nerves that she’d
envied a nearly identical ensemble in the pages of In
Style magazine at