Read Online Complicated Matters by Unknown - Free Book Online Page B

“Smartass.” 
       There were other couples on the dance floor. Some of them formed a line dance. Farrah and Taylor decided to join in for a few fast songs. 
       Farrah turned to go back to the table when the music slowed down.
       Taylor touched her hand. “What’s wrong?” 
       Her left hand was quivering. “Slow songs aren’t my thing.” 
       Taylor wondered what her real reason was. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”  He slipped his hand high around her waist.
       She stared at the promise ring on her left hand. She didn’t have to say a word. Her expression told him everything.
       He let her go and stepped back. “Message received.” 
       Once the bill was paid he escorted her back to his car.
       Her whole body stiffened as he reached around her to open the door. “I’m not trying anything. This is how I was brought up.”
       She sat down and buckled up. “It’s not you.” 
       He rounded the other side and sat down next to her. “What is it then?” 
       “I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I’m sure a man like you is used to making girls nervous.”
       He found it peculiar that she would refer to him as a man and herself as a girl. “Not as many as you give me credit for.” Should I tell her she’s the first person I’ve gone out with since Lianna died? He dismissed the idea. Better keep my emotional distance.
       “What’s it like in Miami?” Her voice was almost childlike.
       He pulled out of the parking lot and headed down the main road. “Why would you care about a place like that?” 
       “When you’ve been nowhere, I guess anywhere sounds interesting.” The wind blew her hair forcing her to capture it with an elastic band she wore on her right wrist.
       “It’s like many different countries all jammed into once place.”
       “And what about you?”
       “I was just a little Irish-Mexican boy trying to find a place to fit in.”
       “How could you not fit in?” 
       “I was too dark for the whites, and too white for the darks.” He stared straight at the road ahead. “Kind of like mixed laundry.”
       “You sound as though you hate part of yourself.” 
       “Hate is a little strong.” He turned off the main road and onto Old Rocky Ford Road. “You might say I was a little mixed up for a long time.” 
       Farrah propped her feet upon the dashboard. “I don’t see you being mixed up about much of anything.”
       “You’d be surprised.” He bit his bottom lip. “I don’t guess you know what it’s like to be different.” 
       “Hello.” She waved her hands at him. “I’m right at six feet tall. That doesn’t strike you as freaky?”
       “Not really.” He glanced her way. “I’m a little above six feet. It’s nice to be with a woman I don’t have to hunch over to dance with.”
         “But I did get the feeling some of the people in Hank’s were staring at us,” he teased. “I thought they disapproved of me. But maybe it was you.”
       About a mile down the road, asphalt turned to gravel. Taylor slowed down.
       Farrah unbuckled her seatbelt.
       “Put that back on. We might get pulled over.”
       “I’ll just tell them the sheriff says we’re on stakeout. “You guys don’t wear seatbelts then, right?”
       “I can’t reveal trade secrets,” he laughed.
       “Do you mind pulling over?”
       He looked around surveying the landscape. There were too many shadows and unfamiliar movements. He didn’t like it. “What’s wrong?”
       “Nothing. Lighten up a little.” She moved closer to him and whipped out her camera phone. With arms outstretched, she said, “Smile.” Her camera clicked.
       Taylor stared at the picture of them.
       She gave him a playful little shove. “Did it occur to you, if people were staring, it was because we’re just so darn cute together?” 
       “Is there a way I can get a copy of that? You