Read Love Lift Me for Free Online

and now they’re the proud owners of a little
townhouse in Florida.” He stuffed a fry in the paper container of ketchup and swirled
it around before holding it up. “So what kind of stuff does your family grow on
this farm? Potatoes?”
    “They
do, actually, but they also grow corn, soybeans, cotton, even broccoli,” I
answered. Shane turned up his nose at the last one. “Not a broccoli fan, huh? Daddy
changes it around just about every year. Keeps the soil rich.”
    When
I discovered he shared my quirky habit of putting the fries on the hamburger
and making it all into one big sandwich, I couldn’t help being a bit enamored
by the coincidence. I’d never met anyone else that liked to do the same. Most
people thought it was kind of weird, stuffing your palate with everything at
once like that. Shane seemed even more surprised about it than I was.
    “Are
you copying me?” He asked, watching as I laid out a neat row of fries across
the bun and smothered them with ketchup.
    “Nuh-uh.”
    He
titled his head as if to be sure I wasn’t pulling his leg and asked, “Really?”
    “Yeah,”
I said, and felt the blush run to my cheeks again as a smile spread. “This is
the best way. I’ve always liked mine like this. You do yours too?”
    “Definitely.”
he looked down at his burger and mashed it all together, with the edges of
nearly a dozen shoestring fries hanging out both sides. “What a coincidence,
huh? I’ve traveled over ten thousand miles and have the points on my credit
card to prove it, but I’ve never met a girl that liked stacking fries on a
greasy ol’ burger like I do.”
    “It
must be fate,” I joked and raised my sandwich, tipping it towards his like I
was giving a toast. “Here’s to high cholesterol, then.”
    “Hear,
hear.”
    We
continued talking about small things as we ate; the weather, the food, things
like that. It was pleasant and altogether comforting to have a person to talk
to that I could say I knew, even if he was just an acquaintance. Sitting alone
would have been boring and I’m sure the food wouldn’t have been half as good. Shane
just seemed to make everything better.
    As
he become more serious and began discussing the court case he was facing in
Wilmington, I found my gaze meeting his soulful, mesmerizing eyes again and
again. Before long, I was lost in them as he spoke. Shane could have been
telling me about quantum physics and it wouldn’t have mattered.
    “…so
they called me down to the coast. The field office I’m usually at is in Ohio,
so it was a bit of a drive,” Shane said as I drifted along in his presence.
When he crunched up the wrapper to his burger and tossed it in the empty bag on
the table, I think I finally blinked. “And then the darn car broke down on me.
Next time, I’m getting a Beamer.”
    Just
as I finished the last sip of soda in my cup, the PA system blared out the
announcement that our bus was boarding.
    “Was
that us?” Shane said hurriedly, and emptied his tray into the trash.
    “I
think so.”
    We
started off, walking so closely together because of the crowd that I found
myself longing to hold his hand or attach myself to his arm as we went. I
barely knew him, yet there was something that seemed to call me to him. Normally,
had I been alone in such a new place, I would have been uncomfortable. With
Shane there, it wasn’t like that at all. He made me feel confident, safe. My
heart beat faster in his presence, and in a very, very good sort of way.
We’d made it through to the end of the food court when the PA barked out the
final call for our bus.
    “That
was fast, Kat. Don’t they know how packed this place is?”
    “It’s
like trying to walk through a stampede.”
    “We’d
better hurry.”
    “No
kidding. The food was good, but I’d hate to be stranded here,” I said.
    Shane
looked down at me then and said something I hadn’t quite expected him to say.
His eyes were sincere and his smiled reflected truth as the words left