Escaping the Past

“You can have it when I’m done with it.”

“Oh, come on. You’re not even reading the sports section.”

She growled beneath her breath. “Will you be quiet if I give it to you?”

“Try me and see.”

She begrudgingly handed over the sports section, and then raised the paper to block her view of him.

They ate quietly for a few minutes and finished their coffee, newspapers and cereal. Lou folded the newspaper back up and laid it on the table in front of her.

She filled her coffee cup back up and sat down.

“Have you been avoiding me?” Brody asked quietly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lou responded nervously as she rose to put her bowl in the sink.

She walked by him, heading for the stairs. He gently grabbed her hand as she walked by. “I won’t try to scare you into kissing me today. Promise.”

She tried to pull her hand from his grasp but he held on tightly. “Thank God,” she said sarcastically. “I have kissed you more in the past week than I have kissed anyone in years.” She pulled again. “Will you let me go?”

“You don’t have to avoid me. I promise I’ll try to keep my hands to myself.”

“You’re doing a great job of it right now,” she groaned, finally freeing her hand. “I haven’t been avoiding…”

“Yes, you have. Every time I walk in a room, you leave it.”

“That’s just a coincidence.”

“No, it’s not. I think you’re scared of me.”

“I’m not scared of anything,” she said flippantly as she turned and went upstairs.

“Tell that to those nightmares you’ve been having,” he said loudly to her retreating back. His last view of her was her curvy bottom going up the stairs. How in the world could a woman look so sexy in Pooh Bear bedroom slippers?

****

Lou held her breath as she marched up the stairs. She flopped on the bed gracelessly and squeezed her eyes shut.

That man could be insufferable. He looked so sweet, so innocent, and so inherently male. He had enough confidence for ten men. He made her shake with anger, quake with fear and shiver with anticipation, yet she had been stupid enough to go downstairs in Pooh slippers and her hair all mussed. A sex-kitten, she was not.

Lou gave up the pretense of going back to sleep and decided to shower, dress and curl up with a romance novel on the porch for a few hours.

She put on shorts and a lightweight tank top. She left her feet bare and her hair hanging loose, and went out to porch. She sat down in the creaky rocker and pulled her knees up to her chest. She turned sideways so her feet dangled over the arm of the chair. Cradling her book in her lap, she began to read. She was quickly taken in by the romance and lost track of time.

Brody coughed gently and caused her to jump out of her skin. “What are you doing, Lou?” he asked as he sat down beside her in the other rocker.

“What’s it look like?” she responded absently. She tugged at the length of her shorts, afraid she was showing too much leg.

“Looks like you are comfy with a book,” Brody stated. “What’s the name of it?”

“Does it matter?”

“Only if you are reading a steamy novel and don’t want me to know about it,” he chided.

Heat crept up her cheeks.

“I knew it!” he exploded. “You’re reading a trashy novel!” He laughed uproariously.