My Lucky Days: A Novel Read Online Free Page B

there?”
    I shook my head. “No? I don’t think so.”
    “You’d know.”
    We drove the short distance across town to an old diner set back off the road. The seating capacity on the inside was practically nonexistent. It was pretty full with only one open spot. We slid into the orange booth with a colorful stained-glass light dangling over the table. Looking around the room, I saw a hodgepodge of people, but I still felt self-conscious in my stupid costume.
    People were looking at me. I felt their eyes. But maybe they were looking at him. The guy stood out. He was cute, but his smile made you not look away.
    A waitress appeared beside the table, getting our drink orders. She returned quickly, setting the cups down in front of us with two menus.
    I looked over the list of hamburgers and chicken-fried steaks.
    “So who is Katie?”
    I glanced up at his question. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “I feel like you know more about me than I do you.”
    “Oh.” I didn’t really think that was true, but maybe he felt that way since I saw him play tonight.
    “I assume you’re in school. So start with that.”
    “I am.” I felt the urge to tease him since he was the jokester. Flashing an innocent smile, I made him hang on a bit, until he gestured with his hands for me to continue. “Okay. Okay. I’m in elementary education. I want to be a kindergarten teacher.”
    His easy grin appeared. “I like that.”
    “You like that I’m going to be a teacher?”
    “No. I mean, yes. But I also like that you want to teach the little ones.”
    “Well, they still love their teacher when they’re five.” I took a drink of my Coke. “What about you? Is being a country star your only gig?”
    “For the record, I’m not a country star. And I’ve worked for my brother Colt since high school. He builds houses. Like custom stuff. I’m pretty good with a saw.”
    I studied him for a moment, thinking about the new information. Something that made him seem normal. “I like that.”
    “You like that I’m good with a saw?” He laughed.
    “No, I like that you are more than the guy I saw on stage.”
    “I see.” He eyed me seriously as he contemplated my answer.
    The waitress came over to take our order. “Y’all ready?”
    Lucky motioned for me to go first.
    “I’ll have a hamburger with bacon and some fries.”
    I glanced across the table to Lucky. He grinned at me instead of looking at her. “Change her fries to tots with a side of ranch. And I’ll have the same.”
    She took our menus and disappeared over to the grill. “So why do I need tater tots and ranch?”
    “The tots are better here.”
    “So you dip your tots in ranch instead of ketchup?”
    He leaned back against the orange seat with a smirk. “Doesn’t everyone?”
    “Are you serious?”
    “It’s just plain wrong to put them in ketchup. Would you ever put ketchup on mashed potatoes? No. Why would you do that to fries and tots? It’s a bloody massacre. Now ranch? That goes with everything.”
    I laughed, shaking my head. “I guess you have a valid point.”
    “I’ve been putting ranch on everything since I was a kid. My brother thinks I’m crazy.”
    “Well, I haven’t decided if you’re crazy or not yet.”
    “Then I guess that’s progress.” His eyes held mine for a moment.
    I suddenly looked at his lips as the warm feeling spread up my neck into my cheeks. I swear he just got five times cuter in the last five minutes. I diverted my gaze back to my hands as they rested on the table.
    “So back to finding out more about Katie.”
    “Okay?” I glanced back up to see him watching me with an amused grin.
    “You want to be a teacher. You’ve never had tots with ranch. And you can’t drive a stick. So where are you from exactly?”
    “Everywhere, I guess. My dad got transferred around for work pretty often. Corporate life, you know. Lots of different cities.”
    “How in the hell did you end up here?”
    “Legacy. My dad got a