"Remind me not to get on your bad side."
Lucy gave him a teasing smile and then looked down at the open book in front of her. "You know, now that I'm saying it out loud, it sounds really morbid."
"Yep."
"The first time I heard of it was in high school, crazy enough. Don't know why they let teenagers read it."
She heard a chuckle and turned to see Ryan giving her a little smirk. "Is that what they made all the smart kids read?"
"Maybe," she said. "You never read stuff like this in high school?"
He shrugged, his smile faltering. "I took the easy classes so I could focus on hockey."
"You make it sound like that's a bad thing."
"It is right now. Don't have anything to think about except hockey."
Ryan turned and looked out over the water again as he drank more coffee. It was obvious he was trying to wordlessly tell her that he didn't want to talk about that anymore. Hockey was just a subject that was still too raw for him.
"Well, uh, if you want something to read, there are plenty of books in the living room. You're welcome to any of them."
"Thanks," he said quietly.
He started to play with the handle of his almost empty cup, although Lucy wasn't sure if he even noticed. It was almost like watching someone who was so in tune with their body that they just moved instinctively and not with any real sense of what they were doing. But as he stared out at the water, his hands almost working on their own, she wondered what was going on in his head, if he was still thinking about the hockey season.
Then he snapped out of the moment, his fingers stilling before he gulped down the rest of his coffee.
"Thanks again for this."
"No problem," she replied.
He stood up from his chair and looked out over the lake. "Do you think you have something on your bookshelves that won't make me think about hockey?"
"Yeah, of course." She smiled up at him and his broad shoulders. "Let me show you where they are."
Lucy headed for the sliding door and opened it, then waited for him to follow. The wall of books was on the far end of the living room by the kitchen, and Lucy gently grabbed the empty Batman cup from his hand and took their mugs back to the kitchen.
"Most of those are from the local used book store so feel free to just take whatever you want."
He stared at the shelves in front of him, looking a little lost at all of the titles. "Any recommendations?"
She walked over, her eyes scanning the shelf of new acquisitions her dad had picked up, but every book didn't seem right for a young hockey player like Ryan.Scarlet Letter? No.Macbeth? Not really.The Grapes of Wrath? Definitely not.
"What was that?"
She turned to see him staring at her. "What was what?"
"That look," he said. "It was like a 'This boy is too stupid to read that book,' look."
"That's not what that look was." She pointed to the spine of the offending book. "For some reason, we still haveGrapes of Wrathhere. I hate that book."
"So are you daring me to read it?"
"Oh, definitely not. I like you. I would never suggest you read that."
He finally gave her a small smile. "You like me?"
Lucy just rolled her eyes at him. "I like you in the sense that while I know it's a classic and people talk about how great it is, it's stillGrapes of Wrathand I would not suggest you read it. I don't even read it."
