Southern Hearts by Katie P. Moore Read Free Book Online Page B

nodded, raising my eyebrows in agreement.
    “It’s nice to be home again.”
    “Oh, are you from here? My mom gave me the impression that you weren’t familiar with Louisiana.”
    “I was born here, but I spent a lot of time in California when I was young. So I guess technically I’m not that familiar.” She stared at me for a long moment, then looked out the window.
    “Oh, your family moved around a lot, huh?”
    “Not my family, just me.”
    “Does your dad live in California or something?” It quickly dawned on me that I was prying, asking questions that really were more meddlesome than informal.
    “I don’t have any family anywhere but in the South.”
    I was more than a bit perplexed, but I knew that had she wanted to talk about it, her answers would have been more forthright. I took the hint and let the topic drop.
    We sat quietly for what seemed liked several long minutes. Here we had just begun the day, and already we had exhausted all forms of conversation and allowed the heat to pull us into an almost comatose state. I thought that perhaps I had upset her, taken my line of questioning too far and made her uptight.
    “I know this isn’t exactly how you wanted to spend your vacation,” she paused, “baby-sitting your mother’s friend’s needy daughter.”
    “Baby-sit?” I blinked. “I never thought of it that way.” The words clogged in my throat like hair wedged in a drainpipe. If I were to be truthful about it, I had seen it that way. I had felt lured into her entertaining her to appease my mother and her unyielding pressure. “I don’t mind, really.” I could only hope that my expression would remain neutral and not reveal the lie I had just blurted out without thought.
    “It’s okay. You don’t have to be nice about it.” Lani continued, her tone low and unconvincing. “I know how my mother and yours can be. We will just have to make the best of it, I suppose.”
    I took my eyes from the road and looked at her. She was a strong, healthy woman but I couldn’t help but notice there was something meek about her mannerisms.
    “I can see by your expression that you agree.”
    “I just have other things on my mind, that’s all. It’s not you, really.”
    “And she goes for the slam-dunk.” Lani swept her hands into a dunking motion in front of her.
    My head twitched slightly. “I think we have really gotten off to a bad start here.” I was amused by her animation, though I tried to conceal it. She had hit it directly dead center, though; I didn’t want to be here. My thoughts were on Regee, our afternoon, the boat, and, of course, the sex.
    “What’s her name?” Lani asked coyly.
    “Who?” I was failing miserably at sheltering my feelings and thoughts from her; she had homed in on them as if they were blinking above my head like a beacon.
    “I may not be very interesting, but I’m not stupid. It is so obvious you’re thinking of someone else. The character lines on your face clearly dictate it. So, what’s her name?” she asked, enunciating every letter of every word.
    “How did you know?” I felt as if I were preparing for a shamanic journey or draped in beads and tea leaves, awaiting my tarot card reading. I was ready to search under the seats for her crystal ball or lift her shirt and reveal the Ouija board I was sure I would find tattooed there. She had used the word her twice now, so whatever I had felt I was disguising might as well have been written in permanent marker on my forehead; apparently it was that visible.
    The edges of her lips arched thinly. “I didn’t until right now. Your face and your expressions are very revealing; it’s just a matter of looking. Which I guess is true about most things.”
    My thoughts abandoned me. I tried to rummage around in my head for words that wouldn’t further reveal me, but I couldn’t find any. Short of mixing up the letters or transforming them into Braille, my arsenal was all but empty. Even my family and people