Read Online Finding Parker by Scott Hildreth, SD Hildreth - Free Book Online Page A

noticed the frame of the front door open and close against the glass storefront, I allowed my eyes to become focused again. Quite some time had passed since Katelyn and I had begun our conversation, and it appeared several people had joined us on the upper platform of the bookstore.
    And, seated at the table beside the stairs, where I had stationed myself a few days before, was Victoria – the girl who reportedly doesn’t like people – and talks to no one. Sitting there, amongst an equally tall pile of magazines and a few books, she looked the same as she did the first day I saw her.
    Beautiful.
    Yet.
    Her physical beauty wasn’t her most attractive quality, at least not at this point. Something about her being a bit of a recluse, not talking to anyone, and not liking people made her very interesting to me. It wasn’t that these things made her more attractive , because they really didn’t. They did, however, create wonder on my part. Not knowing who she was and why she chose to be alone made her far more intriguing of a person. This intrigue caused me to stare.
    The stare allowed me to become mentally lost in wonder.
    And, as I become mentally lost, I began to relax.
    Lost in thoughts of Victoria and now in a blissful state of relaxation, I felt something heavy slipping from my right hand. 
    “Oh shit!” I howled as the coffee cup fell from my hand and bounced on the table top.
    As fate would have it, the cup bounced, landing on its side. As it landed, the lid snapped from the top. Immediately, I found out how much of a mess a few ounces of coffee make on a clean table. Frantic, I scanned the upper floor, unsuccessfully, for a condiment bar. With all eyes trained on me – no doubt from my choice to scream expletives in a quiet bookstore – I cupped my hands around the edge of the spill.  Looking down at the caramel colored ocean, I took a deep breath and looked up slowly.
    Victoria.
    “Here, let me help,” she smiled as she dropped a handful of paper napkins into the middle of the spill.
    “Thank you,” I sighed.
    Sweeping the napkins in a circular motion, I quickly cleaned the mess from the table. Victoria followed behind me as I picked the pile of wet napkins up, wiping the table further with a rag.
    “I didn’t see a condiment station up here,” I said as I stood from my chair.
    “There isn’t one. I ran downstairs and got these. What happened?” she asked.
    “I knocked my cup of coffee over. Not paying attention, I guess,” I shook my head slightly from side to side and stepped toward the trash can.
    “It looked to me like you just dropped it,” she chuckled.
    “Pardon me?” I said over my shoulder as I released the napkins into the trash.
    “Dropped it. As in dropped. You were holding it,” she said, her hand held at arm’s length, cupping her palm into a circle.
    “You looked like you were in a daze. Maybe you were in shock from the girl that just dumped you, I don’t know. But the cup just fell out of your hand. I watched it happen. It was in slow mo,” she said jokingly, acting as if she were dropping a cup from her hand as she spoke.
    “She didn’t dump me,” I responded as I walked her direction.
    “Sure looked to me like it,” she raised her eyebrows as if in wait for an explanation.
    “I don’t believe it’s fair to her if I discuss the conversation’s intricacies with you, so I’ll hit he highlights. We went to dinner. She had hopes it would turn into a more in depth relationship. I, on the other hand, had no intention of pursuing anything romantic with her. She explained her hopes. I explained, or at least attempted to explain, my lack of desire,” I smiled, satisfied at having explained the situation delicately.
    “Wow. You make it sound like a business transaction,” she said as she placed her hands on her waist.
    “Not at all. Or at least it’s not my intent. She was sweet, just not what I desire in a mate. There was no value in continuing. It would not have