The Carlton Club by Katherine Stone Read Free Book Online

He loved Lincoln.
    “You don’t? Why not?”
    Janet stopped when Mark stopped and looked up at him with her smoky eyes.
    “No cornfields,” she said. “I miss the cornfields.”
    “Lincoln is surrounded by cornfields!”
    “I miss our cornfield,” Janet replied simply.
    Within two months, Mark had retrieved his class pin from Sara, a smart pretty cheerleader, and was dating Janet. Mark couldn’t tell how Janet felt about him. He was used to girls flirting with him, teasing him and sending him clear, interpretable signals.
    Janet sent no signals; but she always said yes when he asked her out, and she always seemed happy when they were together. Janet spoke little, smiled a lot and listened attentively when Mark spoke.
    Being with Janet made Mark realize how hard he and his friends were trying. They were all trying to prove, beyond a doubt, that they were what they believed themselves to be: the best student, the best quarterback, the best actress, the best looking or the best personality.
    The Best.
    Janet didn’t try. She didn’t care about being the best. Janet was Janet. And Mark loved being with her.
    After a while he stopped trying to impress her. He didn’t need to. She knew who he was, and she liked him.
    Janet made things for him. He would find chocolate chip cookies in his locker. Or a handknit muffler. Or a handmade card, cleverly decorated, a thank you for a special date. Mark loved Janet’s presents. They were reminders of Janet, of the peace and happiness he felt when he was with her. That peace, the peacefulness of being with Janet, balanced the relentless pressure of the rest of his life.
    Pressure. Pressure to be the best. Pressure to be a doctor—to be the best doctor. Pressure not to disappoint anyone, especially his father, and pressure to live up to his magnificent potential.
    Janet’s life, briefly filled with an unfamiliar turmoil of its own when her family moved to Lincoln, became peaceful because of Mark. And because of her music. Janet discovered that although she no longer had her own private stage, her father’s cornfield, the big city offered intriguing new outlets for her singing.
    There were music classes. Janet took as many as her schedule would allow. And the choral groups. Janet joined them all. The music teachers instantly recognized her talent. Raw, untrained talent. They were intrigued by the pretty, blond girl with the lovely, haunting voice.
    The other girls in the school who sang and acted and vied for solos in the choral groups and for leads in the school musical productions promptly recognized Janet as a foe. She was another competitor in an already overcrowded, competitive group, a group in which everyone wanted to be the best.
    Janet didn’t want to compete, but she wanted to sing. She was unruffled by audiences and unflattered by the praises of the teachers.
    The strong loveliness of her voice—so rich, so sensuous, so moving—amazed Mark when he heard her sing, finally, in January. Always before, her singing engagements had conflicted with one of his many commitments.
    Mark kissed her after the performance that night. It was their first kiss although they had been dating for almost four months. When Mark kissed her, Janet put her arms around his neck, stretched her fingers into his dark brown hair and pulled his mouth deep into hers.
    After that they kissed often. Long, quiet, passionate kisses that filled Mark with great peace and made him forget, for a moment, the pressures of his life.
    Mark wanted Janet to sing for him when they were alone.
    “Find me a cornfield and I’ll sing for you anytime.”
    Mark found a cornfield for them five miles outside of Lincoln. They found a private distant corner where they could lie together, holding each other, kissing each other, and where she could sing just for him.
    Mark’s competitiveness, his need to be the best, was so inbred that he couldn’t stand to see anyone bypass a chance for success. A chance to be the best.