Drifting into Darkness (26 page)

The rest of the meal went on with light conversation. The big stuff was out of the way so we caught up on other things like how his new position was going and how I was doing at the farm.

By the time we got home, I was extremely tired. I gave dad a big hug, telling him that I loved him, and then went upstairs to my apartment. I stripped off my clothes and put on a t-shirt, forgoing washing my face, and dived head first into bed.

I still had what Shannon had said to me on my mind, but after hearing everything Dad had said, it gave me hope. And worrying about it would only cause me to lose more sleep.

Seventeen

“Can you meet me back here around five?” Landon asked. He sat at his desk in the stables as I stood in the doorway.

“Sure,” I said, looking down at my boots. I’d gotten horse poo on them and was still trying to get it off. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to cleaning it off later.

The day had gone by fast considering the problems we had at the start of the day. After giving Landon a small kiss this morning, Lisa and I headed off to do what we normally did every day. Except the conveyer belt decided this day would be the day it stopped functioning properly.

Landon and Mr. Johnson came in to look at it, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Since it wasn’t getting fixed right away, we’d just spread beans out one batch at a time and picked through what we could see. It was a slower process, but at least we got bags done for the markets. Especially since they got some new clients to sell their produce. And since the morning put us behind on bagging the corn, we didn’t take a full hour for lunch so we could get more done.

The excitement and heat had worn me to the point I’d almost forgotten I was supposed to meet Landon after work. I wanted to tell him to forget his plans and have us lay out on some rafts in the pool instead.

And as the sweat ran down my back, the idea was sounding more and more appealing.

I heard the chair squeak, as it usually did when Landon got out of it. I looked up to see him standing directly in front of me. He lifted my chin up higher and captured my lips with his. I could taste the saltiness from his sweat and fruitiness from his Gatorade as he deepened the kiss, running his hands down my side.

I knew I had to be a big sweaty mess, but I loved the fact that he could see it, and still smile at me like I was the hottest thing he’d ever seen.

He pulled back from the kiss and I opened my eyes to look at him.

“I know it’s been a really long day, so if you want us to do something else or take a rain check, just let me know.”

I shook my head. “No, we don’t have to do that. I want to go. No let me rephrase that,” I smiled, “I
need
to go.”

“Ah,” he drawled. “Someone is anxious to know what I’ve been keeping a secret,” he teased.

I shrugged, hiding my smile. “Maybe.”

“Just so you know, this isn’t anything spectacular or anything. I don’t want you to be disappointed when we get where we’re going,” he said as he rubbed his hand up and down my back.

I smiled. “I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.” I tilted my head up, kissing him softly on the lips and backed out of his hold. “I better get going. I need a shower in the worst way. I’m sure I stink.”

He smirked. “Don’t worry about it. I like your stink.”

I laughed out loud and shook my head, scrunching up my nose. “That’s just gross.”

He laughed and turned, walking out of the office. Every day I looked the same and every day I probably stunk, but he was always trying to be near me or touch me. Maybe he really didn’t mind the smell. Although he’d smelled the farm for so long, he probably couldn’t tell the difference between the farm smell and my smell. I laughed at the thought.

Rounding the corner, I hopped on to the four-wheeler I had driven over here earlier. Landon had told me at lunch today that he had a lot of phone calls to make for his dad, so I told him I’d just take one of the four-wheelers to the stables instead of having him drive me. That way, I wouldn’t interrupt him to have to drive me back to the office.

I raced down the dirt path and loved the feeling of the wind blowing in my face. It had only been a month and a half, but I loved being out in the country. I couldn’t see myself going back to the city. Not unless I was able to study art and get a job, but that seemed unlikely to happen more and more every day.

I had brought it up with my dad in light conversation on the way home from the restaurant, but it just seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Maybe Landon was right. I needed to show them my art. Show them why I loved it so much. Dad loved his job, so he’d have to understand why I didn’t want to do something I wouldn’t love doing. If he wasn’t able to be a doctor and had to work in some boring corporate office, he’d be miserable.

Pulling up to the office, I wiped all thoughts of art school out of my head and headed toward the bean house. I was excited about meeting up with Landon tonight so I needed to keep my mind busy and help the rest of the time go by faster.

~*~

When I arrived home a little while later, I took a quick shower and put on a cute flowing sundress. I wasn’t sure what we were going to be doing, but I hoped I was dressed appropriately. I put on a little bit of makeup, slipped on my flip-flops and then I was ready to go.

I drove to the Johnson’s house feeling a little nervous about the evening. I planned on telling him that we needed to talk, and I knew that once I said those four little words, the night might be ruined. But it needed to be done. Even though I really liked Landon, I didn’t want to continue, whatever it is that we were, until we got some things settled.

Walking up to the door, it flew open before I was even able to knock. Landon smiled while he looked me over. “Hey,” he said as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

“Hey,” I smiled and bit my lip. He looked overly delicious with his grey t-shirt and dark khaki cargo shorts. But the way he was looking at me from under his baseball cap had me blushing. It was crazy how he could look at me a certain way and make my panties want to fly off at his feet. “You ready to go?” I asked him as we stood, smiling at each other.

He walked up to me, bringing his hands up to grip my face and lowered his lips to mine in a soft kiss. I closed my eyes and brought my hands up to his hair, thinking he might take the kiss deeper. But he pulled back with a smile and grabbed my hand. “I’m ready now.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. That was so sweet. “Okay, so where are you taking me?” He walked me around the side of his truck and opened the door.

“You’ll find out in about five minutes,” he said before closing the door.

I looked at him confused when he hopped up into his seat and closed his door. “Five minutes?” He just smiled as he started the truck and backed out of the driveway. “Are you taking me for a ride around the farm or something?”

He smirked at me, but didn’t say a word.

Knowing I wouldn’t get anything out of him, I sat back in the seat and watched rows of corn go by until he finally made a turn. That’s when I noticed the older looking house.

“Where are we?” I asked, looking around.

He looked at me with a smile. “Nan’s.”

He brought me to Nan’s house?

I thought it was strange he would bring me to his grandma’s house, but then he passed it and kept going to a huge building in the back. It looked like an oversized shed, shaped like a rectangle. There was a door on the far side, but a huge door you could slide open right in the middle.

Landon pulled the truck to a stop right outside the small door and cut the engine. He opened his door and got out, so I did the same, wondering if we were really staying here. “Is this where you were taking me?” I asked, confused.

He reached into the bed of his truck and pulled out a blanket and a Wal-Mart bag. “Yes, ma’am, it is,” he said with a smirk.

I followed him to the door expecting him to open it, but he turned to me instead. “Before we go in, I want you to know why I brought you here.” He took a deep breath. “That night you showed me your drawings…I know it took a lot for you to share them with me. So this…this is me reciprocating.”

He opened the door and flipped on a switch. My mouth gaped and my eyes widened. There were cars everywhere. I looked from left to right and counted eleven of them and they all looked brand new. “Oh, wow,” I said, surprised. “This…is amazing.” I walked in past an older style Mustang convertible. It had to be from the fifties, but it looked brand new, like it had never been driven. These things were buffed and shined to a pristine finish. All the cars looked that way. It was a car dealer’s fantasy come true. “Where did all these cars come from?” I finally turned to him and he had the biggest smile on his face. He looked so young and carefree. I could soak in his happiness.

“These are the cars I was telling you about that night.” He looked around at the cars as he spoke. You could see how much he loved it. His body virtually vibrated with raw excitement and happiness. This was a look I could definitely get used to. It drew me to him even more. His honesty, his smiling eyes, everything about him in this moment was completely Landon. The
real
Landon. “I helped Pa work on most of these.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Wow, really?” I looked around at the cars again. “That’s so cool.”

“Yeah,” he said, still smiling.

I walked in further and started looking over some of the other cars. “Do you mind if I just take a look around?”

“Sure,” he said enthusiastically. “I’m just going to set this up,” he stated as he lifted up his arms with the blanket and bag.

I smiled at him and then turned to the cars. I was overwhelmed with joy at his gesture of showing me something I knew he held dear to his heart and it made me like him that much more.

Looking around, I had no idea what some of the cars were, but I noticed the classics right away. There was a bright yellow Mustang that was probably from the seventies. Then, to the right of that was what looked like the same car from that movie
Dukes of Hazard
. I had no idea what type of car it was, but I recognized it.

Looking back to the middle of the room, I saw Landon pulling out sandwiches from the Wal-Mart bag. “Whatcha got over here?” I asked, walking up to his makeshift picnic.

He stood up with a smile and gestured dramatically. “M’lady, your dinner awaits,” he said in a horrible English accent making me laugh.

“Well, thank you, kind sir,” I said, playing along. “Where ever did you get these delicious looking sandwiches?” My accent was horrible too and I couldn’t help but giggle at myself.

He sat back down and handed me a wrapped sandwich. “I asked Mom to make us something, and since you love her club sandwiches, I had her make those.”

“Aw, thanks so much,” I beamed. “That was really sweet of you,” I said as I unwrapped the sandwich. The first thing I smelled was the bread and it was heavenly. “Seriously, your mom could make a killing baking her own bread.”

He laughed. “You’re probably right. If we didn’t work as hard as we do every day, I’m sure we’d be way overweight.”

“I bet you would.”

Looking around at the cars as I chewed, I thought about what Landon had said before we walked in. I had showed him my drawings. The one thing I was passionate about. And here he was, showing me the one thing he was passionate about…his cars. I looked at him and smiled. I knew there was so much more to him than what most people knew, but I needed to get under the tainted layers. The layers that Shannon suggested he had.

After eating half of my sandwich, I set it down and drank from the water bottle he’d given me. After setting the bottle down, I stared down at the blanket, lost in thought.
How do I bring up this conversation?
I was nervous and I didn’t want it to ruin the day we’d had so far. Although I’d known him for over a month, I didn’t know how he’d react.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concerned.

I looked up to see he was no longer eating; instead, he was looking at me with a frown on his face.

It was now or never.

Setting the water bottle down, I took a deep breath and looked at him. “I need to ask you about something.”

I could tell his interest was piqued by the lifting of his eyebrow at my statement. “Okay,” he drawled.

Biting my lip, I contemplated the best way to ask him about it without sounding like I was being nosey. Even though, in a way, I was.

Clearing my throat, I went for it. “Can I ask you what your relationship with Shannon is?”

He looked at me confused. “Uh…relationship?”

I nodded. “Yeah, you know, your status.”

“Sadie,” he laughed, “we don’t have a status. She was just someone I hung out with on occasion.”

I knew what he meant by that, but I wasn’t about to ask him to elaborate. “Okay, well, she seems to think that you’ll be knocking on her door soon.”

He reached over and took my hand. “Sadie, I told you. When I’m in, I’m in.”

I gave him a small smile and then looked at our entwined fingers. There was only one more thing to say. “She said one other thing,” I said softly and then looked at him.

“Yeah, and what’s that,” he interjected. He almost sounded annoyed. But I guessed it was because of Shannon and not at me.

I licked my lips and bit down on them. I had a feeling the evening was about to go downhill. “She told me to ask you about Kelly.”

As soon as the name left my lips, he dropped my hand and stood.

He started to pace and roughly ran his hands through his hair. “Bitch.” I heard him mumble. Then he turned and looked at me, clearly pissed off. I had a feeling he might act this way, but I was still taken aback by the expression he was aiming toward me.

“When did you talk to her?” he asked in an agitated tone.

My eyes widened. “I didn’t talk to her. She approached me on Tuesday when I went to the store.”