Lost Soul by Steele Carter

Author:Steele, Carter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-19T16:00:00+00:00

4

Caroline

Landon gave something of a nervous laugh, as if he didn’t quite know how to handle what I had said to him. He didn’t seem bothered by what I had said—in fact, it was the opposite. He seemed delighted by what I had said, he just didn’t expect it.

But then, as if unsure if he wanted to move into a flirtatious dance or not, he seemed to pull back, both physically and in connectivity, and cleared his throat.

“Yeah, always good to see an old friend,” he said. “What have you been up to?”

“You may not realize this,” I said playfully. “But being a CPA and an accountant is not exactly a glamorous lifestyle.”

“Whaaaaaat?” he said in mock surprise.

It was tough to get a read on if he was flirting with me or trying to keep his distance. It seemed like he wanted to be flirtatious and involved with me, but every time he got too close, he suddenly took five steps back. I would have loved to know what was going on in his mind, but it seemed like pushing for that would wind up shoving him out of my reach.

“Exactly,” I said, trying to keep my mind under control. “So I have mostly been up to my eyeballs with numbers, tax breaks, and everything in between.”

I playfully elbowed him. He seemed to respond favorably to it.

“Not quite as adventurous as your life.”

“Ah, well, I don’t think my life is actually adventurous at all. I think you have by far the more interesting life.”

Hmm. This might be something we could dive into.

“What makes you say that?” I said.

Landon shrugged.

“You’ve traveled so much. You have a good job. You own your own place. Me? I’m just a dopey mechanic in a small California town who likes to ride motorcycles. I’d like to do what you do, but life hasn’t really let me do that. At least, until recently.”

He almost said the last words as an afterthought, like he couldn’t say what he had without adding that at the end. I was tempted to press him on that, but with the thought of not scaring him off still in my mind, I remained silent.

Even still, I couldn’t help but realize just how much more of a man he was than “just a King.” He wasn’t “one of those King boys” as my father had said, although that was certainly one side of him. But that was the key—it was just one side.

This Landon that I had before me wanted what I had. He wanted to consider viewpoints besides his own. He wanted to understand the world outside the dozen or so streets of Romara. That was extraordinarily rare in this small town.

“Well, thank you,” I said. “You have the right mentality for it, though. You’d be surprised how many people don’t think like you do. Most people just want to go about their lives, never leave this town, and stay in place.”

“I couldn’t imagine,” he said with a visible shudder. “They’d never get to meet people like you!”

I blushed and felt my stomach grow hot.

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