My Lucky Days: A Novel Read Online Free Page A

take more than a drink and a few songs for me to go home with you.”
    “I’m sorry. I wasn’t very clear. Let me try this again.” He cleared his throat. “I’m starving ’cause I don’t eat before I sing—well, not since that disastrous show down in Austin when I threw up on stage. I get butterflies in my stomach and they don’t like food in there with them. So I usually eat after the show. Like greasy shit.”
    I burst out laughing. “Is that true? You get nervous up there?”
    He shrugged.
    I studied the sincerity on his face. The noise in the room amplified as I considered actually going with him. The thought alone shocked me. What if I did leave with him? How bad could it really be?
    “Come on, Katie. I’m harmless. I promise. It’s just dinner, or you can even order breakfast if that makes you feel better.”
    I eyed him for a second, trying to hold back a smile. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t as harmless as he insisted. But the longer I stood there, feeling his hand around mine, the more I wanted to leave with him. I told myself it would be fine. He was just a normal guy.
    “Okay.” It came out as a whisper and I knew he couldn’t hear me over the girl laughing behind us.
    But he smiled anyway. Lucky leaned in closer, talking next to my ear. “Good. I’ll meet you at the front. I need to go get my guitar.”
    I got a stronger whiff of his scent. My mind stored the leather and oranges away with this moment. I always remembered the smells. Even in my scattered thoughts, when I couldn’t remember much else about a place, I always remembered the smells.

 
    I left out the front door with Lucky. He carried his guitar case in one hand and his car keys in the other. Wrapping my arms around my body, I shivered as we walked down the sidewalk.
    “You cold?”
    “Just a little.” I nodded. And I had my own set of butterflies in my stomach, but I didn’t tell him that part.
    “I’m not parked very far away.”
    “Okay.” I walked beside him toward the back of the building. It was darker in that area without the parking lot lights. I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He seemed bigger out here without the crowd around us. Broader shoulders.
    Lucky glanced over at me and smiled. “Is your car here, or did you walk?”
    “Walked.”
    “Okay. Just seeing if we need to come back for it later.”
    “No,” I muttered, looking out into the darkness, feeling the uncertainty surface again. Lucky would have to take me home after we ate.
    He stopped on the passenger’s side of an old, blue, single-cab truck. Putting the key in the door, he unlocked it. I reached for the handle as he shot me an amused glance. Moving my hand back to my side, I allowed him to open the door for me.
    I felt his fingers on the back of my waist. “Can you make the step up?”
    “Yeah.” I climbed inside, trying to keep my short dress down. I gave him a nervous smile. “Thank you.”
    He shut the door and went around to the driver’s side. He placed his guitar in the middle between us, but it kept tipping over.
    “I can hold it.” I pulled the handle part down across my legs, trying to be useful.
    “You sure?”
    “As long as you don’t mind me touching it.”
    “You can touch the case. The rest, well, I don’t know yet. We just met.” He gave me a fake innocent look with his veiled double meaning.
    I laughed, feeling my shoulders relax a little as I leaned back in the seat. I had to admit—he kept making me laugh, which made things just a little bit easier.
    Lucky fired up the truck. It sounded a little rough as he shifted it into gear. This thing must really be old. He followed my gaze. “You know how to drive a stick?”
    “No.”
    “Figures. Girls never know how to drive a standard.”
    I laughed again. “That’s a very guy thing to say.”
    “Well, I haven’t met a girl who could yet.” He shrugged.
    “Okay, fine. I’ll let that one slide. So where are we going?”
    “Shortcakes. Have you ever been