Laney Read Online Free PDF Page B

couple of very bushy-tailed grey squirrels scamper by, searching for food, and my eyes followed them as they chased each other up an enormous oak tree and out of sight. With lots of trees came lots of squirrels. I leaned back against my tree and got out my lunch—okay, it was just a granola bar—and my astronomy book and started to munch a bit while I flipped through the pages. My mind was elsewhere and Oliver was the star of my thoughts. I hadn’t been there long, but long enough to get lost in my Oliver fantasy, when a shadow loomed over me. I looked up and that magnificent Knight with his shiny white teeth, sporting a pair of very dark sunglasses, was standing before me, smiling down at me. My heart sped up at the sight of him.

    “May I join you?” he asked. I felt butterflies in my stomach.

    “Of course.” I might have answered a little too quickly, but I really didn’t care.

    He sat down beside me and he too took out his astronomy book along with a stainless steel water bottle. “It’s my break time, too,” he said, smiling. I seriously thought my heart might give out from all his smiling.

    I flipped through my astronomy book, pretending I was reading, but my gaze kept drifting to Oliver. He’d glance at me and smile and, every time, I would blush. My heart would race and I’d quickly look back to the book. I really wasn’t going to learn anything at that pace. Finally, I took a deep breath and asked, in what I hoped was a steady voice, “So, where did you move here from?” It wasn’t as steady as I had hoped.

    He looked at me through those dark glasses and smiled—again, my heart skipped a beat and I had butterflies in my tummy. This crush stuff was really hard on the body. “Reno,” he replied. “You?”

    “Me? I’ve always lived here; I grew up just outside of town.” He stared at me—well, it looked like he was. I couldn’t tell with the dark glasses. I wished I could see his beautiful eyes, which were hiding behind those shades. Of course, he was smiling—just that gorgeous hint of a smile that made me want to... Whoa! I rubbed my forehead and shook my head a little, trying to keep it together. “Do you like it here?” I managed to say in a normal tone—no quavering this time.

    “I’ve only been here a couple days, but, yeah; so far I do. You?”

    “Oh, well…I don’t know any different, so I have nothing to compare it to,” I answered. And I didn’t have anything to compare it to. I wasn’t born here, but it’s where my dad set Lilly and me up when he left me with her. Since that time, I had never been out of the area. Whenever I became restless and mentioned to Lilly about getting out of town and exploring the world, she would always find something to occupy me locally, and there was plenty to do here. She never ran out of options. Our little tree-filled town was off the beaten path, a couple of hours from anything good, and, really, the only reason to come here was the college. Even that was mostly full of the locals and a few people from the small, surrounding towns.

    We didn’t have anything too fancy or anything that other towns didn’t have. We just had the norm—a mall with the essential places, a Starbucks and a Taco Bell on every corner that would hold one (too many in my personal opinion), several other fast food joints, a Pancake House, and a great burger and milkshake place called “Shakes”—I know, really original. There were the regular shopping places, like Target, Wal-Mart, and Ross. We also had a big candy store downtown, several bars—most of which had an “Eighteen and Over Night” once a week—and one that featured topless dancers, or so it claimed (that one was on the edge of town), and, of course, a few grocery stores, including Kiera’s favorite, Trader Joe’s. Oh, and you couldn’t forget the fancy new theater. We didn’t have one for a while; the old one was condemned—something about mold issues. It was just enough to make you