Blue Ribbon Summer (The Baltimore Banners Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

picked up on that pretty quickly when she had made the comment about him getting dirty.
    He glanced over at her, noticed how relaxed and at-ease she seemed, and he wondered if she had forgotten about him sitting here. That thought made him uncomfortable and irritated enough that he leaned over and turned the radio down once more, which earned him another slightly amused look from Kayli.
    "Did I do something for you not to like me, or do you just not like me on general principle?"
    Kayli raised one perfect eyebrow at him then turned her attention back to the winding road. "I never said I didn't like you."
    "Not in so many words, no."
    "Not in any words."
    He opened his mouth to say something, then quickly shut it when he realized he had nothing to say back. How was he supposed to reply to that without sounding like an idiot--again? Well, no, you didn't say it, but I have this feeling you don't like me.
    Yeah, that would work real well--if he was thirteen-year-old girl.
    Ian turned to look back out the window and noticed they were entering a quaint little neighborhood. Or maybe it was a village. Whatever it was called, it looked like something straight out of a fifties television sitcom, provided someone had forgotten to give the set a fresh coat of paint. His teeth jarred when the truck bounced into a rutted lot and came to a stop in front of a rundown building with a dusty loading dock off to one side. Kayli turned the truck around then backed it up to the dock in an expertly smooth move that actually impressed him. He was going to compliment her on her driving skills but she opened the door and jumped down so quickly that he barely heard her muttered command, "Stay here."
    And he did. For about thirty seconds before he realized what he was doing. Ian shook his head, not believing he had just been ordered to stay put, then climbed out of the truck and walked toward the door he had seen Kayli disappear into.
    The inside of the shop wasn't much better than the outside. The front room was maybe eight feet wide, and five feet deep. A long counter ran along the back, and two glass-front refrigerators stood side-by-side along the outside wall. Racks with chips and jerky and who knew what else hung along the inside wall, and a bulletin board overflowing with notices and fliers of all kinds took up the back wall behind the counter.
    Kayli was leaning against the counter, talking to an older man and smiling at something he said. Ian's gaze dipped appreciatively to take in her denim-clad bottom, until he noticed the odd silence surrounding him. His gaze jerked back up and he saw that both Kayli and the older man were staring at him. From the look on the older man's weathered face, Ian knew he had been caught--and found guilty of an unforgivable crime.
    Ian cleared his throat and was getting ready to apologize when Kayli turned back around, effectively dismissing him. She was rattling off a verbal list that made no sense to him, but apparently did to the older man because he nodded and made some kind of marks on a worn sheet of paper. Ian watched as the man tallied everything up then wrote up a bill of sale and passed it to Kayli. She glanced at it, scrawled her name on the bottom, then took the copy the man had given her.
    "I'll have Billy start pulling it for you."
    "Thanks Mr. Johnson." Kayli folded the sheet of paper and tucked it into her back pocket, then turned and walked past Ian without so much as a glance. He stayed where he was, momentarily rooted to the spot, then quickly turned and walked out.
    Kayli was already back at the truck, and he watched as she lowered the tailgate then climbed in with a small bounce and jump. She continued ignoring him, so he walked over just as some guy wheeled a pallet of large bags out onto the dock. The guy looked at him with the same expression as the old man had, and Ian wondered what was so wrong with him that everyone glared at him with distrust in their eyes.
    "Hey Kayli, how's it