Sidecar Crush

“Sure do.”

“That’s amazing,” she said. “Do you have a specialty?”

“Metal sculptures. I have a workshop at home.”

“Wow,” she said. “I’d love to see some of your pieces.”

Although I didn’t keep people out of my workshop on purpose, I didn’t invite people in very often, either. But I liked the idea of showing her around.

“Well, if you have time before you go, maybe you could come out to my place and have a look.”

“That would be fun,” she said. “I’m not sure if I’ll have time before we leave. We have to drive to Pittsburgh tomorrow afternoon. Can I text you?”

I smiled at her. Smiling around Leah Mae was awfully easy. “Yeah, of course you can. Anytime.”

She smiled back, her green eyes sparkling. “I’m sorry if I keep staring. It’s just so good to see you again. Kind of feels like those summers when I’d come back and find you sitting on the porch steps. I always imagined you were sitting there waiting for me.”

“I was.”

“Really?”

“Course. I’d sit out there every day from the last day of school until you’d show up in town.” I glanced away, embarrassed. I couldn’t believe I’d just said that to her.

“That’s really sweet.”

We ate our lunch and caught up on our lives a bit. She talked about some of her experiences as a model. Sounded to me like she’d worked hard, but hadn’t had much time to enjoy it. She wanted to hear all about me, but there wasn’t a lot to tell. I didn’t think so, anyway.

The afternoon wore on, but I barely noticed the time passing. We just kept right on talking. I could have sat there with her forever, but eventually she said she needed to get back. She said she’d call Kelvin for a ride, but I insisted on driving her back to their cabin. Wasn’t far, and I didn’t mind.

It had nothing to do with getting a few extra minutes with her.

I didn’t walk her to the door—seemed a bit much, what with her being engaged to someone else—but I did wait until she’d gone inside before I drove off. She waved to me before closing the door. I waved back, my heart feeling heavy. We’d promised each other we’d keep in touch, and I meant to.

But I missed her already.

7

LEAH MAE

“What are you wearing?” Kelvin asked.

I glanced down. I’d put on a loose turquoise shirt that I’d modified from an old dress, and my favorite pair of skinny jeans. On a whim, I’d bought a pair of cowboy boots yesterday, and they complemented my outfit perfectly.

“I appear to be wearing clothes.”

“Cowboy boots?” he asked. “Please tell me you’re leaving those here.”

“No way. These boots are fabulous.”

He shook his head and grabbed the keys. “I guess we’re going out. In boots.”

“You want to wear boring shoes, be my guest. I, for one, am going to have some fun in my cute new boots.”

We went out to the car, the evening air fresh and cool. After Jameson had dropped me off, Kelvin had tried to pick a fight. He’d said he’d planned to pick me up. I’d said Jameson had offered, and it was a nice thing for him to do. It was silly of him to be angry.

I couldn’t understand why Kelvin had made such a big deal out of me seeing Jameson today. He’d been working until I’d told him I was meeting an old friend for lunch. Suddenly he’d been very interested in what I was doing. When I’d said it was Jameson Bodine, he’d practically flown out of his chair. He’d insisted on driving me into town, even though five minutes earlier, he’d been griping about being busy.

The whole thing was ridiculous. I was around other men all the time. Men who undressed me, down to nothing, and dressed me up again. Men who waxed my body hair, for Pete’s sake—everywhere. Of course, most of the men in fashion were gay. But still. Kelvin had never been like this.

He’d been grumpy all through dinner, so I’d decided to go out—with or without him. When I’d told him I was heading to the Lookout to have a drink, he’d said he’d go, as if he were doing me a favor.