Wishes in Her Eyes Read Free Page A

you would have heard words that would make you blush.”
    “I heard them. Quite impressive.”
    “Lovely,” I say hoping the ground will open up and swallow me whole.
    “So you let a few curse words fly. I’m not a prude. I’ve heard worse.”
    “Uh, okay. Can we take up my use of harsh language at another time? I’m freezing, I’m kinda getting waterlogged here and I still need to find a tire somewhere.”
    “Jesus, I’m sorry. Let’s get out of the rain.”
    We run back to the store and I call AAA. Fifteen minutes later, I snap my cell phone closed and sigh in defeat. “Two hours. It’s gonna take them two hours to get to me. Apparently everybody’s cars within a fifty-mile radius have decided to have a flat.”
    “No problem. I’ll take you home.”
    We head toward the door as a soggy man runs past us to escape the monsoon. “Hey, if you’re headed north, you can forget it. There are trees and power lines down everywhere.”
    Watching me as I hang my head, almost in tears, Stone says, “I take it you live north.”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, you’ll come home with me.”
    Snapping out of my misery, I say, “What?!”
    “You’ll come home with me.”
    “Uh, that’s not necessary. I’ll just call Darry to come get me.”
    There’s no way I can go home with him. I don’t trust myself not to do something embarrassing, like roll around on his bed and sniff the pillows.
    “It’s Friday night; Darry is probably in bed, in the arms of some happy man.”
    He’s right. Darry is probably in the middle of a man sandwich. He’ll kill me if I call and interrupt him. Oh, he’ll come and get me, but I’ll never hear the end of it.
    “Probably. Plus he lives up north too.”
    “Perfect. Let’s go.”
    It could be my imagination, but Stone seems to be happy about our little impromptu sleepover.
    As he heads toward the door, I remember what brought me to the store. “Wait! I forgot. I have food in my car.”
    “I’ll go get it. Give me your keys.”
    He runs to my car, gets the food and runs back. At the door, Stone yells above the thunder, “Let’s go!”
    As we run, I slip in a puddle of water, right on my ass. Mortified, I scramble to get up and fall back in the hole.
This just keeps getting better,
I think to myself. Stone hauls me up and carries me to his car.
    “Put me down! I don’t wanna be responsible for you getting a hernia.”
    “Don’t make me laugh or I’ll drop you. I’ve carried ammo that’s heavier than you.”
    What?!
Carried ammo that’s heavier than you.
Concern begins to creep into me. Do I want to go home with a man that is clearly touched in the head? But it doesn’t seem that I have a choice.
    Once at his car, he lets me down, unlocks and opens the door for me. He even reaches in and straps my seat belt for me.
Disturbing
. This man can’t be real.
    Stone gets in and cranks the heat up. Soothing music drifts from his stereo. Warmth, intoxicating tunes and an airtight interior make me feel like I’m in a cocoon... with Stone. Not safe. Not safe at all.
    “Harper,” Stone pauses as he appeared to let my name marinate in his mouth. “That’s a unique name for a woman.”
    “Yeah. I’m named after
To Kill a Mockingbird
author Harper Lee
.
My mom loves the book, but my dad wasn’t all that into the name at the time. He wanted to name me Sojourner after Sojourner Truth because he taught black history in the Army, but my mom thought that was too much so she came up with Quincy after Quincy Jones, but my dad didn’t like that either so mom picked Myles for Myles Davis, but dad didn’t like that so then....”
    Realizing I’m rambling, I tend to do that when I nervous, I stop. Stone saves me from having to explain any more and just laughs.
    After driving a few miles, he asks me if I’m warm. “Yes, I’m good, thank you. But I’m getting your seat wet.”
    Stone shrugs and says, “It’ll dry. I just wanna make sure you’re okay.”
Incredible.

    A few minutes more