DETOURS: A Tabor Heights, Ohio Novel from Michelle Levigne
A year in the life: Bekka, Kat and Amy share an apartment and each other's ups and downs, tragedies and dramas and dreams. Bekka doesn't envy her roommates' various romances, considering herself too busy with work, school, and writing for a relationship, but she can't help wishing when Shane shows up - to date Kat. Shane is busy with work and school and some relationship problems of his own. He can't seem to catch a break, or catch up with Bekka long enough to get to know her better. One way or another, he's going to ask her out, if she'll sit still long enough for him to ask her.
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EXCERPT
Amy and Kat went grocery shopping that evening, leaving Bekka totally alone in the apartment for the first time in what felt like days. She had just pulled out her cover slick and the letter from Chuck Winters, her first real chance to study the packet he had sent, when the doorbell rang. It was Shane.
"Kat's not here," slipped out before Bekka could really think.
"I know." He tipped back his Stetson off his forehead and lounged against the doorframe. "Where have you been hiding?"
"Me? Hiding?" Bekka blushed when her voice squeaked.
"Yeah. I never see you anywhere."
"I'm usually somewhere in Kat's shadow."
"Oh." Now it was his turn to color a little. "Sorry about that. Hey, I was thinking about you and those swords..." He looked over her shoulder into the apartment, but the piles of costumes and props had finally vanished after a long afternoon of sorting and folding and ridding. "A lot of things, actually. They're having a silent movie festival at the Cinematique at the Cleveland Institute of Art tonight. All the swashbucklers, mostly Fairbanks. Want to go?"
"What about parasailing at the islands?"
"Just said that to rile up Kat. You think I want to spend the day with some guy who wears a stupid pancake hat and uses a fake accent to pick up girls?"
"I wondered," she admitted, a tiny snort of laughter escaping her.
"So, what do you say?"
"Well... I'm tempted."
"Hey, don't ever let it be said I try to tempt girls... not that I mind." He grinned and leaned a little closer. Bekka felt something melt inside when she noticed the crystalline gray rings around his pupils. "So, what do you say?"
"I'm sorry. I'm probably going to kick myself in the morning, but I don't date guys on the rebound and I especially don't take my roommates' leavings. It's a stupid pride thing, I know, but that's the way I am."
"Not on the rebound." Shane straightened up. There was a definite hurt look in his eyes, but a moment later that sparkle of laughter returned. "Came back too quick, huh? Would you believe me when I said I'm not upset about Kat at all? I heard about her two-date rule and..." He sighed. "I actually was trying to talk to you for a long time, but with all the trouble over at Homespun and Mr. Randolph, and then everything else going on..." He tipped his Stetson back a little further on his head. "I kept calling here to talk to you, but somehow I kept ending up with Kat."
Bekka felt fluttery and hollow inside. Was Shane saying what she thought he was saying?
"Anyway, I was asking her what everybody was doing once the play was over, and she got all upset about canceling our date, and the next thing I knew, we were set for this morning." He grinned. "Can't tell you how relieved I was to see that bozo standing there, expecting to go on a date with her."
"Then why did you argue with him?" Bekka's mouth actually hurt from fighting not to grin. Her throat felt stiff with the effort of holding back her laughter.
"Total macho stupidity, y'know?" "Uh huh." She felt her self-control slipping, and that grin slipped out.
"Tell me something, would you?"
"Why does Kat only go on two dates?"
"Kat who?" Shane stretched out his arms, bracing himself in the doorframe instead of leaning against it.
Okay, she decided. That was exactly the right answer. She took a step backwards into the apartment, feeling her heart beating a little harder, a little faster, though she wasn't quite sure why.
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