Inside Out Read Online Free PDF Page B

that strong of a Southern accent, and neither do my parents.” No need to tell him about Mama’s family and how status-conscious they’d been for more than a century. Speech lessons had come so early Tracey didn’t remember a time before she had them.
    He hesitated. “I like the way you talk.”
    â€œThank you. I like the way you talk.”
    He studied the wall. Tracey thought maybe she’d embarrassed him. “I been drivin’ around since I left the bar, bored out of my mind.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t drink and drive.”
    â€œI know, but… I know.”
    What she felt looking at him, all good looks and charm, and also conflict and sadness, was an instant, deep, and undeniable connection to him. Tracey needed a diversion. “I should tell you I’ve had extensive contact with alcoholics, and I know that sometimes when one has had too much to drink, it leads to a kind of philosophical degeneration. What I mean is, being drunk leads one to believe he or she is being deeply philosophical sometimes, whereas one is really only being drunk.”
    â€œThank you for understandin’,” he quipped. “ Extensive contact with alcoholics?”
    Tracey started laughing and he did, too. “By the way, I was not being hostile. I was being offended.”
    â€œI never meant to offend you,” he told her with a quick sobriety that bore believing.
    â€œI understand that.”
    â€œGood,” he chirped. “But I’m pretty sure you’ve been tryin’ to offend me. Man, I can’t say anything to you.”
    â€œI don’t think I’ve been particularly nasty to you, but if I have, I’m sorry.” They were silent for a moment, then—Tracey didn’t know what got into her—she asked, “Why didn’t you go find your girlfriend?” His lion eyes flared for a moment. “I mean, you said you couldn’t talk to your family or friends, but I’m sure you have a girlfriend, if not a wife.” Smooth, Tracey, very smooth.
    All he said was “Yeah.” Then he shook his head and looked down into his lapis-colored coffee mug. Finally, he slid down further into her chair and offered, “I need some perspective.”
    â€œThat’s what shrinks are for,” she muttered before she could stop herself.
    â€œSee what I’m sayin’.” He raised a wry eyebrow.
    Tracey opened her mouth to naysay him, only to shut it again. She was only digging a deeper hole, which seemed to delight him. She didn’t want him delighted. “Then why pick me to be your sympathetic ear? Okay! Okay! I’m sorry. I’m listening! One hundred percent focused on you.” He clasped his hands over his heart and fluttered his eyelashes. She laughed and he beamed a smile back. She said to him, “You know, you’ve really got a beautiful smile.” His cheeks were flushed as he thanked her. “Don’t thank me, it’s true. So, what exactly do you need perspective on?”
    â€œDo I just spill it? Just tell you what’s been on my mind here lately?”
    â€œI’m not a professional, but I think that’s how it’s done. Yeah.”
    â€œJust like that, huh?”
    Tracey nodded.
    He took a sip of his coffee. “It’s my girlfriend,” he started. “Okay, if you were a girl in college—” She raised her brow and began to stir her coffee. “I mean, would you quit school right now to start havin’ babies?” Her answer was no.
    They spent that night getting drunk and getting sober and getting drunk again. He told her everything from the huge amount of student loans he was amassing to pay for law school to how his girlfriend wanted to drop out, get married, and start breeding as soon as possible. Babies . The word made her shudder. Tracey wanted to ask how he’d gotten mixed up with her. But she already knew. The marriage virus had hit