Page 39 of The History in Us

“Don’t let me keep you,” she huffed, teasingly, evidently hearing my belly. She turned away again to reach for her bag on an orange cushion. When she bent at the waist, I got a full shot of her heart-shaped ass and my body woke at the curve of perfection facing me.

“What do you do here?” I asked, ignoring her brush off. To solidify my question, I sat in a plush chair. For a moment, I felt like a student—Katie the teacher—and my heart sensed there were things I could learn from her.

“I teach ASL—American sign language. I work with some of the team members to practice and perfect their vocabulary.” I stared at her in wonder. How the hell did she know these things, and better question, why? As if reading my mind, she continued.

“I learned it when I was a child. When my family thought I wouldn’t ever speak again. I told you…” Her words drifted and she looked over my head at the door. Her bag rested on her shoulder and she clenched a fist around the strap. “Anyway, it’s good for me to keep up the skill, as well.”

I continued to stare at her, wondering about her life. She’d told me about her mother leaving her and her silence. She’d been brave, though she took it as weakness. It’s hard to hold my tongue when I have things that need to be said. It made me argumentative at times, belligerent at others, like with Wayne and him pestering me to come to the gym. It also resulted in a couple scuffles with my father until my older brother, Trent, stepped in. The thought of Trent brought me full circle. Elk Rapids seeped through my mind, like a whisper in one ear, slithering to escape the other. Standing before me, I realized Katie Carter might have her own whispering demons from our home town.

“This is why you said you could help me.” I watched her face fall. Her shoulder shrugged.

“Among other things, yes.” I wanted to ask for explanation of those other reasons, but I didn’t and the silence swirled around us like her moving fingers in the gym door. She stepped forward. “I need to—“

“Today’s the first time I’ve come here.” I interrupted her movement, standing quickly. “Wayne’s been asking me for over a year to give it a try, but I didn’t really want to. I’m sort of stubborn like that. Always thinking I don’t need help, need others.” I shook my leg from where it stretched away from me. Katie’s eyes drifted to the metal apparatus.

“Want to tell me what happened?”

“Not really.” It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to know the details. The long and short was I lost my leg below my knee. The real issue was I didn’t want to turn the moment into a pity party of memory. Her chin tipped as her eyes remained on my leg.

“Is it related to what happened the other day?” She didn’t need to clarify. She meant my drunken stupor in my apartment. The day I allowed myself to let the survivor’s guilt consume me and drown in excessive alcohol to rid the remembrance of living. I nodded once.

“Want to tell me about that?”

“Not really,” I said again with a weak smile. Her face fell again and she shifted the strap of her bag.

“Well, this is a great place to hang. Full of some awesome people who can help you.”

“You think I need help?” I snapped, sharper than I intended and I scratched at the scruff under my chin.

“I didn’t say that.” She sighed. “I meant this is a good place to find whatever you’re looking for.” She exhaled and took a step toward me, but her intention was the door. I shuffled left to block her exit.

“I think you might be right.” My eyes roamed over her body, hoping she’d take my hint. Innocent blue eyes blinked up at me as I stood inches taller than her. “This place might have just what I’m looking for.” My eyes didn’t leave hers while her lip twisted and she bit the corner. My thumb rose and tugged on her chin to loosen that tender lip from the hard grasp of her teeth. My head came forward, my mouth drawn to hers, and her breath hitched. A hand on my chest and the sound of my name in echo stopped me. Katie’s sweet sound mixed with a male voice behind me.

“Professor Erickson?” Katie stepped back, now hostage in the room she tried to escape.

“Hello, Ms. Carter.” Wayne’s dark eyes smiled at her behind his glasses. A momentary flash of Katie pressed against Wayne crossed my vision and I swore softly. Katie’s saucer-sized stare turned on me and she took another step back, misunderstanding my meaning.

“Levi, you almost ready to leave? Jayne has AJ.” Wayne’s adult daughter said she’d babysit for me, so I could come to the gym today. Wayne’s wife had died years ago, and his thirty-three year old daughter lived nearby. Wayne tried to set us up once, but I turned him down, saying I didn’t want to mix my academics with the professor’s daughter. He thought that was funny.

“I’ll be there in a second.” I heard Wayne walk away behind me. Katie hadn’t spoken again. Her face flushed that sweet pink color, and her eyes dropped submissively. A smile curled my lips.

“So you came by the gym today,” I prompted. “Do you watch the games often?”

“Nope, but Carmela wanted to show me something.”

“Really?” My eyebrow rose. “Did you like what you saw?”

She shook her head and chuckled. “I’ll let you know when I do.” She moved to step around me, but I stepped wide to block her again. I wasn’t going to touch her. That would only lead to my mouth wanting to kiss her, which I almost did. I don’t know what came over me. The way she looked at me—hopeful and promising, it made me feel funny inside. Not ha-ha, but like my stomach rumbling with hunger, only deeper. I was starving for that look and it made my lips want to devour her.

“Katie?” I paused, more nervous than I’d ever been. “Would you like to go out with me?”

Her expression fell completely. Her eyes lowered, but not in that seductive, submission stance, more like shock. This wasn’t the reaction I expected.

“I’d like to take you out,” I rephrased.

“Like to dinner?”

“Sure. Or anywhere. Just out. On a date.”

“A date.” Her head came forward, a hard nod emphasizing the question in her voice. What was happening here? Did I misread the signs? I’d been known to do that, just look at Alicia and me. I mean, Katie and I had kissed. We had chemistry. Slowly, it dawned on me. Usually, kissing came after the date, in Katie Carter’s romantic world philosophy. Passionate kissing clandestinely in the basement of a museum wasn’t a date, nor was the groping I gave her in my apartment. Katie needed something a little more solid. A little more involved. A little more romantic, and I had just the idea.

“Yes, a date. Tonight.”