Bourne DVD. I own all of them, so you can choose the one you like best.” She turned on the radio and found a country-music station. She imagined a dimly lit room. She and Luke would be sitting on the sofa. His arm would be around her, and maybe her head would rest on his shoulder.
“That sounds great. So we’ve been out on one date. I kiss you goodbye at the door and ask you out again. This time I suggest a picnic at a park and then watching the sunset as we talk well into the night,” he said.
“That sounds nice.” Her thoughts shifted from a romantic evening in the living room, maybe with snow falling outside, to a spring setting. A quilt spread out on the ground, the bubbling sound of a creek close by, the two of them lying side by side and talking about their hopes and dreams.
“Third-date time now, and you still haven’t asked me if I’m younger than you are, have you?”
She shook her head. “I’m having too much fun and wondering what you’re going to come up with next.”
“Then what the hell are we doing dancing around this birth-certificate crap?” he asked. “I’m attracted to you, and you kiss like you feel the same, so if I ask you out when we get back to Sugar Run, will you say yes?”
What he’d said made perfect sense, so she nodded in spite of her doubt. “Dinner and a movie at first, but no commitments. Deal?”
“Are you seeing other guys right now?” He made a turn to get on the highway going south to Clarksville.
“Nope. Are you seeing other women?” Diana held her breath, expecting him to hem and haw like other men she’d dated.
“Haven’t been in a real relationship in a decade. I’ve had a couple of short-term girlfriends, but right now I don’t have to break up with anyone, so I won’t feel guilty about dating you,” he said.
“You might change your mind when you get to know me. I’m Scottish, and I’ve got a temper. You might not even like me in a dating scenario,” she said.
“And I’m honest, so if I do, I’ll be up front with you, just like I’d expect the same from you. I just think it’s terrible to waste this attraction on something as trivial as age,” he said as they passed the WELCOME TO CLARKSVILLE sign.
It didn’t take long at the lumberyard to get the shingles and nails that he needed, and then they were off to the grocery store. That took more than an hour, with both of them taking a cart and filling half the list. Diana felt guilty when he whipped out a credit card to pay the bill, but Tootsie would have a hissy fit if they tried to sneak one past her.
They were on the way home and about to make the turn just before the Red River bridge to go back toward Scrap when Luke swerved to miss a cardboard box sitting right in the middle of the road. “Don’t like to run over things like that. Never know when a bunch of kids might have put it there with a chunk of concrete in it that will tear up the undercarriage of the truck.”
“Or else have filled it up with fresh cow crap so your truck will smell horrible for days. Whoa! Stop!” she squealed as she looked back in the side mirror.
He stomped the brakes and left a long line of black tire tracks as he came to a halt. “What is it?”
“I think there’s a baby in that box. I saw what looked like a little hand sticking out one of the holes in the side.” Diana opened the door and started running the city block back to the box.
Luke bailed out of his side, leaving the door wide open, and jogged after her, until he saw a car coming from the opposite direction. He stood in the middle of the road, waving both hands until it slowed down. Then he pointed at the box, and the car inched its way forward until the driver rolled down the window a little and came to a stop only a few yards from where Diana was kneeling.
“What’s going on? Y’all lose something from the back of the truck?”
“No, but someone left that box in the middle of the road, and there’s something alive in it,” he answered.
“Be careful. Someone put a skunk in a box, and my boyfriend stopped