“Ready?” I asked him just as he finished velcroing his shoe.
“Ready!”
Our neighborhood, as rundown and poverty-stricken as it was, was nestled at the border of town next to wide-open country. Having positioned itself on the other side of the railroad tracks from the town proper, there wasn’t any civilization interested in building around us.
We were boxed in by gravel roads and corn fields and if there was anything redeeming about living in a trailer park, this was it.
Max and I walked along the gravel road that led toward the highway, noticing the grasshoppers that caused my mom to cuss, along with butterflies, dragonflies and mosquitoes and all the other forms of creepy crawlies that populated the planet. We’d stop every once in a while, so I could help him mark things down on his homework sheet. He was getting better at writing and spelling, but he still needed my help to make it make sense.
When we were about twenty minutes from home, we’d covered the homework front and back and had a great time together.
“Okay, should we head back and start thinking about supper?”
“No!” he said adamantly. “I like this walk.”
“Me too.” I plopped my hands on my hips and turned in a circle. “We could go this way for a bit. Go all the way around the block.”
“What’s a block?”
I blinked at him. I guess we didn’t really have that concept in our neighborhood. “Um, well…” Before I could answer, a runner turned the corner up ahead of us in the direction I’d told Max we could go. His shirtless body moved with athletic expertise, his long legs stretching out before him, eating up the road between us. His muscular arms pumping and pushing him to work harder, he would be in our space in seconds if I didn’t think fast.
I blinked at him, trying to make him make sense here, in my part of the world. Why was he running these roads? As far as I knew, people around town used the high school track or the treadmills in their basements. Or just didn’t run.
There were a lot of people in this town that did not run.
I was proudly one of them.
Apparently, Levi Cole was too good for any of those options. Apparently, hewasstalking me.For the love.
“Like a building block?” Max was asking.
I grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. “No,” I answered absently. “Let’s go… this way.” I practically threw him in the opposite direction of Levi. Grabbing his hand, I hurriedly tugged him after me.
“I thought you said we could go around the block?” he asked as I tugged him after me. “Whatever that is. Is this the block?”
“We’re going to find a different block. Any other block.” I glanced at the tall stalks of corn to my left. They would be plowed soon, but right now they would make excellent cover.
Heavy footsteps pounded behind me. He was getting closer. Making a squeaking sound I wasn’t proud of, I quickly turned Max and I down a dirt inlet that led to the corn. “I think I see a toad, Max. We haven’t marked that down yet.”
“We saw a frog,” he grumbled. “Mommy, where are we going?”
“Where are you going?” Levi called from the road.
I straightened from my ridiculously bent over posture as I pretended to scan the dirt for toads. Slowly turning around, I gathered the tattered shreds of my dignity and faced a shirtless Levi.
“I know you!” Max declared. “You were at Mommy’s restaurant.”
Levi focused on Max, offering a kind smile. “That’s right. I was there. You were too.” Max grinned at him.
“Because he’s stalking us, Max. He’s a big weirdo.”
Levi focused on me and his smile stretched. “Hi.”
Unnerved by the gentle greeting, I shifted back and forth on my feet and thrust my hand out in an awkward wave. “Hi.”
Struggling to swallow around the toad-size lump in my throat, I willed my eyes not to look at the rest of him. He was ridiculous like this, completely shameless. But did my eyes listen? Pfft. No. No, they did not. And why would they? A body like that shouldn’t be ignored.
It wasn’t that I was objectifying him… I was just… appreciating God’s creation. In the male form.
