Magnet & Steele Read Free Page B

next
time?” He said, placing a kiss on the front of her knuckles. Their
eyes lock and hold and Nancy nearly expired at that moment by his
simple touch on her hand.
     
    A few seconds later and out of
breath once again, Nancy ran back through her front door to find
Stephen Steele with Daffodil’s in one hand and a box of chocolate
in the other waiting for her in the foyer. He stood up immediately
upon seeing her entrance.
     
    “I’m sorry Stephen; I’ll only be a
minute,” she said, leaving him alone.
     
    Inside her bedroom, Nancy changed in
a hurry. Not dressing up, she opted towards a romper with a
scarf.
     
    A few moments later, Nancy blinked
out of another day-dream to find herself inside Stephen’s car.
Stephen was talking to her, but she wasn’t listening. She asked him
to repeat his question.
     
    “How many times do we have to sit
through that tired ole story of how our father’s met?” Stephen
asked again, checking himself out in the rear-view mirror as he
drove along the highway in his Cadillac convertible.
     
    Unimpressed with his wealth, Nancy
solemnly looked out her side of the car. The top was down and she
rolled her eyes, “About a million times until they’re so old they
start to forget.”
     
    Stephen took a peek at her sitting
in his passenger’s side; her long hair flew romantically in the
wind. Clearing his throat first, he asked, “And how many times do
we have to continue to hear how our parents want us to get
married?”
     
    Nancy let go a chuckle. “Until we
see a man on the moon,” she conveyed, tilting her head up to gaze
at the stars and next the crescent moon.
     
    Stephen looked back into the mirror
again and checked out his own hair. “You know Nancy; I hate all
this as much as you do.”
     
    Nancy continued to gawk up at the
sky, “What do you mean?”
     
    “What I mean is—I’m not interested
in you as much as you’re not interested in me.”
     
    Nancy now looked over at Stephen. He
was a fancy dresser, more so for a normal teenager of the day; with
brown slacks that matched the color of his shirt, his tie and tweed
sport coat were coordinated as well with stripes that accentuated
his dark auburn hair. His face was just ordinary to her, with
pleasant facial features and blue eyes to equal the sky at
summertime. Nancy guessed he was attractive in some sort of way;
all her friends thought Stephen Steele was the cat’s meow…but to
Nancy he was just an obstacle she had to get rid of so that she
could be free and clear to marry anybody else. “Then why don’t we
just make the best of it and have some fun?” Nancy expressed,
watching Stephen sit up straight by her uncomfortable
inspection.
     
    Stephen let go a wicked smile, “I’m
with you. What do you want to do?”
     
    Nancy whipped her arms out into the
air like she was worshipping the sky. “I don’t know
anything!”
     
    Stephen perked up, “OK, where do you
want to go? Hartford? I heard they have some swingin’ places in
Hartford.
     
    “Yes! Hartford, what kind of
swingin’ places?”
     
    “How about Maxine’s? It’s a swingin’
joint.”
     
    “Maxine’s? Yeah, that sounds like a
swell idea.”
     
    Stephen made an abrupt U-turn in the
middle of the street. “Maxine’s here we come!”
     
    Nancy leaned her body back into the
seat. Looking up at the sky again she watched the black roll over
and over her as Stephen sped up to make due time.
     
    Half an hour later, they pulled into
the parking lot and Nancy doesn’t wait for Stephen to open up her
car door and let herself out.
     
    They walk in together, but were a
few feet apart; Nancy holding onto her pocketbook, Stephen jingling
his keys. Nancy gazed over casually at some girlfriends she knew
from school and hoped they didn’t see her. She tried to hide her
face with her handbag as the maître d' escorted the couple over to
a table up front by the band. They ordered something to drink from
the waiter and then Nancy looked around