Backpacks and Bra Straps by Savannah Grace Read Free Book Online Page B

clean as she did.
    Welcoming her warmly and thanking her for meeting us, Ammon went off with her to buy train tickets. Her blue eyes looked him over approvingly as she helped him translate. We three waited patiently off to the side. I almost felt bad for spying on them, but we began nudging each other like restless squirrels when we spotted her subtly petting his arm, standing closer than necessary, and smiling up at him.
    “Ammon. You tiger, you!” Bree joked, making us giggle even more.
    When they returned from the ticket window, Ammon said, “The good news is, there’s a direct train to Almaty from here. The bad news is, we might not be able to get tickets for the next one, which leaves in half an hour. The only option after that is leaving in three days.”
    “Well, we don’t mind staying,” Mom said. “I mean, we’ve been travelling non-stop for quite a while. It might even be nice to have a few days to recover.”
    “Yeah,” Bree and I agreed with suggestive smiles. When they returned the second time with tickets in hand, I could practically hear the wedding bells ringing. They were both tall and slender, and they actually would’ve made quite an attractive couple. I smiled as Ammon approached, already anticipating his next words.
    “C’mon, get your stuff. The train leaves in fifteen minutes,” he said as he handed us our tickets.
    “What?!” All three of us gasped in unison.
    “We’re catching the next train out of here. We got the last tickets.”
    “But, but, but…” I reached down to gather my pack and hoist it onto my back, his obvious insanity spinning in my head. No! There just isn’t enough time for love. My heart sank. We had barely enough time to buy noodles for our twenty-four-hour journey to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s previous capital.
    I had liked the excitement and fairy-tale sound of having a gorgeous, half-Kazakh woman for a sister-in-law, so this turn of events was quite disappointing. I believed in love at first sight and in the idea of soul mates, though I knew that arranged marriages could also work; if people applied themselves with an open mind, they could learn to love anybody.
    “I was so sure he was going to stay the extra couple days.” Mom was frowning.
    “And you guys say I’m stupid.” Bree shook her head in disgust.

    Sorcha stood on the platform, daintily waving goodbye. Her hair blew across her face like embers that occasionally sparked into flames, visually echoing the fire erupting in Ammon’s chest. I turned to see his face, but his expression was impassive. He didn’t give me a chance to search closer, instead quickening his pace to charge ahead toward the next challenge. It was as if the whole experience was nothing more than one of his many fantasies.
    “Why on earth are we leaving?” Bree asked.
    “Ammon, what exactly were you thinking? And right after you told us about making the same mistake the last time you were in Russia,” I said.
    “I know, I know… I don’t know what I was thinking.”
    “Aiyyaiyai! Bro---ther,” Bree cried hopelessly. The metal doors shut almost immediately as the conductor jumped in directly behind us.
    “For such a smart guy, you can be downright idiotic sometimes,” I said.
    “I know,” he said, looking back for the last time. He let out a long sigh when she was out of sight, as if he had just barely escaped the enchanting songs of deadly sirens. I thought he was only out to get us, but he apparently likes to torture himself, too. What a masochist.
    “So, tell us. What happened? What did she say? I still can’t believe you left.”
    “Well, I basically asked her to marry me.”
    “You what?!”
    “I asked her to marry me,” he said. “I’m not crazy. I didn’t get down on one knee or anything. But I was basically like, ‘Yeah, what the hell, why not? I want a wife, and you want to get out of the country.’ ”
    “So let me get this straight,” I said. “You pretty much proposed to a girl you met