Read Online One Track Mind by Bethany Campbell - Free Book Online Page B

literature. I don’t think I competed very well with video games or the Internet.”
    “I doubt that.”
    She shrugged and they were both silent a moment. She sipped her tea. He still hadn’t touched his glass.
    He sat back farther in his seat. “Your marriage to the boy hero didn’t work out.”
    So he knew that, too. He must have stayed in touch with somebody in Halesboro, after all. Scott, the “boy hero” had been the homecoming king the year that Kane dropped out. She shook her head sadly. “No. It didn’t work out.”
    “You had no kids.” Again, he said it, didn’t ask it.
    “No children. It wasn’t meant to be. Probably just as well.” She ran her hand through her hair. “Let’s talk about something else.”
    “What?” he asked, leaning his crossed arms on the table in front of him.
    “Why you came here,” she said, raising her chin. “Business. I can believe you studied contract law, all right. Your offer’s a good one. I’ll sign it. The speedway will be yours. And it stays a speedway.”
    “I agreed to it. It’s in writing.”
    She smiled at him in sad puzzlement. “That means you’ll try to save it. And, frankly, I’m not sure it can be saved. I need to tell you that. To be honest.”
    “Maybe you underestimate me,” he said.
    “Or maybe the time’s come round for the phoenixes to rise out of their ashes,” she said, almost flippantly. “The speedway. McCorkle Castle. It finally sold. Or have you heard that, too?”
    “I’ve heard,” he said. “Do you know who bought it?”
    “Nobody seems to know.” She looked at him, feeling a sudden chill of apprehension. “I hope it wasn’t you. ”
    He laughed. “What in hell would I do with a castle?”
    “Sell tickets for people to see it?” she suggested. “So Halesboro has a tourist attraction besides the track?”
    “Sorry,” he said, “I’ve only got one small fortune to gamble. No castle.”
    Clara set his plate in front of him. The air was suddenly fragrant with the sizzling beef and the tang of onions and friedpotatoes. Kane looked at Lori. “I wish you’d eat. I invited you here to eat.”
    “I’m not hungry,” she said. Or if she was, she couldn’t feel it. Perhaps the day’s events had overloaded her brain, and her sensory system was out of whack. Except concerning Kane. Somehow, she was very aware of Kane, in a sensory and sensuous way.
    He still looked good in a T-shirt and jeans. He looked marvelous. All right, he looked sexy. And his voice, after all these years, still did things to her. And so did the way he could look at her.
    “You know what?” he said after half a dozen bites. “I’m not hungry, either. Let’s go somewhere more private. You’re right. It’s like being on display here.”
    She’d only been half aware of it, but the café had filled up, mostly with people sipping their coffee or tea or soft drink. Most of them furtively watched her and Kane. They recognized him, but he was the other. The one who didn’t belong. They were wary, suspicious. That was the curse of a small town for you.
    “More private?” she asked doubtfully. “Where?”
    “Let’s go up to your Uncle June’s,” he said.
    “The castle? We can’t. I told you, it’s been sold.”
    “We’ll sneak onto the grounds like we used to. By the carriage house. Like old times.”
    No, no, no, her mind warned. “These are new times,” she said. “The old times are over.”
    “I’m not so sure about that,” he said.
     

    H E LEFT ENOUGH MONEY on the table to pay the bill and leave a flamboyantly large tip. He knew he was showing off. But if people wanted to stare at him, he’d give them something to see.
    Once outside the door, he thought of taking Lori’s arm to guide her to his car, but her body language told him not to touch her. He understood why.
    Once in the sports car, she said, “I’m not going on thecastle grounds. For one thing, they’re posted. The place is under renovation. There’s probably