Find Wonder in All Things - By Karen M. Cox Page 0,34
over me.”
“What?”
“It’s not your fault. It’s because of what happened the night you left.”
He sat straight up. “What happened?” Surely, she didn’t tell her that we . . .
“I was late coming in as you might remember. She was waiting up, and she was upset with me for missing my curfew.”
“What did she say?”
“She was worried, and I guess she overreacted. She said I was wasting my time with you because you were leaving the next day and I’d never see you again.”
He caressed her jaw and turned her face toward him. “I guess I proved her wrong then, didn’t I?”
She held up her arms and drew him close once again. “I guess you did.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I can be charming when I want to. We’ll convince them that we’re good together.”
“Maybe we will but not until we’ve got some kind of realistic plan. So let’s not test the waters just yet, okay?”
He paused, holding her close, and a niggling sense of foreboding stole across his mind. He pushed it away and answered her in a soothing voice. “Whatever you say, Laurel. They’re your parents, and you know them better than I do. We’ll do this your way.”
Chapter 10
Nashville, TN
“Come on, come on! Pick up, will ya?” James cradled the receiver against his shoulder and blew on his chilled fingers. Sleet pelted against the glass of the phone booth, and the early March cold made him irritable and impatient. It was Tuesday night, and he always called Laurel on Tuesday nights. Why wasn’t she waiting for him? He wished one of those co-eds whose room was near the only phone would hurry up and answer. He had places to go and people to see, and he was freezing his ass off!
“Hello?”
Finally! “Hey, yeah, can I talk to Laurel please?”
Although she covered the phone with her hand, the girl screeched loud enough that he had to hold the phone away from his ear.
“Hey, Elliot! Your Tuesday night guy is on the phone.” She took her hand off the mouthpiece. “She said she’ll be down in a second.”
“I’d better be her guy every other night too.”
The girl just laughed.
“What was your name again?”
“Adrienne.”
“Yeah, Adrienne. Look, I hate to bother you, but I’m kind of in a rush right now. Do you think you could ask her if she’s going to be a while? Or does she want me to call her back?”
Her voice carried again. “He says to hurry up!”
He grimaced. That wasn’t what I said. He couldn’t be too upset though because he had the supreme pleasure of hearing his girl on the phone a few seconds later.
“Hey, Jim Dandy. Sorry it took so long. I was studying for a sociology test in the lounge at the other end of the hall.”
He felt his pulse slow. Laurel’s voice always had that effect on him. Like the smoothest bourbon, she relaxed him, and whatever was wrong faded into thin air.
“Hello, Beautiful,” he crooned. He swore he could hear her blush over the line, and he smiled.
“What are you up to?”
“Nothing much. Just on the way to meet some guys who are looking for a temporary bass player.”
“Oh, that’s cool. I didn’t know you played bass.”
“I’ve been trying my hand at it lately. How are you, sweetheart?”
“I’m okay, I guess.”
“Just okay? That’s good,” he joked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I wouldn’t want you to be deliriously happy without me.”
She laughed, but then her voice grew soft. “I do miss you a lot.”
“I miss you too.”
“How are things in Nashville?”
“Going pretty well. Lots of stuff going on right now.”
“Did you write any music this week?”
“Like I told you the other day, I haven’t had much time for writing lately. Got a couple more pick-up gigs though.”
“That’s good. Have you made it to the Bluebird Café yet?”
He grinned. “Not yet, but I’m still holding out hope for a lucky break. Good news on another front though. I got that job at the Coke bottling plant. I just started yesterday. It’s pretty boring, but it’s a steady paycheck. Now I can pay the rent and still have evenings to play music — not like when I was waiting tables and couldn’t get gigs because I had to work.”
“Sounds like a good plan. How’s the new place?”
“It’s great! Just two rooms, but there’s a kitchen corner, a bedroom with a door, and I finally got a bed to go in it. I bummed the one from my mother’s guest room. Susan and her husband brought it over in