Read Online First Time: Ian's Story (First Time (Ian) Book 1) by Abigail Barnette - Free Book Online Page A

atheist kissing the Pope’s ring to be polite.
    “ Look, I ruined our picnic—”
she began.
    “ They ruined our picnic,” I
interrupted. “And it’s not ruined. We can still have a good time
here.”
    “ Yeah, we could do that,”
she agreed. She tilted her head to one side, as if she were
considering other options. “Or…we could go to my place and do that
make-out thing I just mentioned.”
    Oh, fuck
me . I wanted to. I wanted to so badly my
teeth ached. And my testicles, but that wasn’t likely to change
with more kissing. “What happened to going slow?”
    “ I didn’t say you were going
to get to round all the bases.” She arched a brow.
    I couldn’t do it. There was real potential
for us, no matter how improbable that seemed to me when I took the
thirty years between us into account. And I’d done what Danny had
suggested I do and prayed about things. It seemed strange to me
that Penny and I would ever end up meeting in the first place, so
clearly I was supposed to have met her for a reason. While God’s
intended plan very well could be for Penny and me to be together in
a long-term situation, that could also be why she’d wanted to go
slow. Every other relationship I’d been in had moved fast, and I
was single in my fifties. This could be a sign I was meant to try
something new.
    Turning her down without hurting her
feelings, now, that would be the trick. “I’m tempted. I’m sorely
tempted. But you said you wanted to go slow. And I want to respect
that.” I glanced up. The teenagers drawing at the edge of the water
gave me a flash of inspiration. “I’ve got an idea. I’ll be right
back.”
    I headed toward the pair. They were dressed
like they’d wandered in from nineteen ninety-four with their
flannel shirts, stocking caps, and ripped backpacks.
    Every time I realized I had lived to see
another returning trend, I wanted to jump off a fucking bridge.
    “ Hello there,” I called as I
approached, hoping they were the well-mannered mature kind of
teenagers everyone liked and the not some wretched little arseholes
who’d grown up with a nanny who never told them no. They looked up
with interest, and they didn’t tell me to piss off, so I took that
as encouragement. I gestured to the sketchbook in the hands of the
kid on the left—she had a lip ring, freckles, and short ginger
hair. “I couldn’t help but notice you were drawing. It’s very good,
by the way. Are you in art school?”
    “ Thanks. Yeah, I go to
Pratt.” She tilted the wire-bound sketchpad so I could look at it.
I wasn’t interested in drawing buildings in my downtime, but this
girl was quite good.
    “ I studied fine art at
Exeter, in Oxford.” For a time. The unpleasant hollowness that came
with that memory was easier now, years away. My name is Ian, by the
way.”
    “ Lexi,” the girl said. “And
that’s Nate.”
    “ Lexi. Nate. Nice to meet
you.” I gestured over my shoulder. “Do you see that girl behind
me?”
    The boy on the other side of me glanced
behind him quickly. He had a goatee and sandy blond hair that
dipped into his eyes. “Yeah?”
    “ Well, I’m on a date with
her, and I’d really like to impress her. I was wondering if I could
buy your notebook.” The girl’s posture stiffened, and I added, “Not
the pages you’ve already done. Just the paper and a pencil. I’ll
give you…” I reached for my wallet and opened it. I had one bill.
Damn it. “Look, I have a hundred dollars—”
    The girl snatched the bill from my hand.
“Sold.”
    “ Thanks, I appreciate it.” I
waited as she carefully tore a handful of pages free then handed
the blank tablet to me.
    The other kid fished a pencil from behind
his ear. As I took it, he said, “Good luck. Girls like it when you
draw them.”
    “ Yeah, they do,” the other
one agreed.
    “ Yes, and good luck to you,
with school.” I shook their hands and stood. I turned to see Penny
standing at the edge of our picnic blanket, watching me with