My Lucky Days: A Novel

by S. D. Hendrickson

  I burst out laughing. “Is that true? You get nervous up there?”

  He shrugged.

  I studied the sincerity on his face. The noise in the room amplified as I considered actually going with him. The thought alone shocked me. What if I did leave with him? How bad could it really be?

  “Come on, Katie. I’m harmless. I promise. It’s just dinner, or you can even order breakfast if that makes you feel better.”

  I eyed him for a second, trying to hold back a smile. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t as harmless as he insisted. But the longer I stood there, feeling his hand around mine, the more I wanted to leave with him. I told myself it would be fine. He was just a normal guy.

  “Okay.” It came out as a whisper and I knew he couldn’t hear me over the girl laughing behind us.

  But he smiled anyway. Lucky leaned in closer, talking next to my ear. “Good. I’ll meet you at the front. I need to go get my guitar.”

  I got a stronger whiff of his scent. My mind stored the leather and oranges away with this moment. I always remembered the smells. Even in my scattered thoughts, when I couldn’t remember much else about a place, I always remembered the smells.

  I left out the front door with Lucky. He carried his guitar case in one hand and his car keys in the other. Wrapping my arms around my body, I shivered as we walked down the sidewalk.

  “You cold?”

  “Just a little.” I nodded. And I had my own set of butterflies in my stomach, but I didn’t tell him that part.

  “I’m not parked very far away.”

  “Okay.” I walked beside him toward the back of the building. It was darker in that area without the parking lot lights. I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He seemed bigger out here without the crowd around us. Broader shoulders.

  Lucky glanced over at me and smiled. “Is your car here, or did you walk?”

  “Walked.”

  “Okay. Just seeing if we need to come back for it later.”

  “No,” I muttered, looking out into the darkness, feeling the uncertainty surface again. Lucky would have to take me home after we ate.

  He stopped on the passenger’s side of an old, blue, single-cab truck. Putting the key in the door, he unlocked it. I reached for the handle as he shot me an amused glance. Moving my hand back to my side, I allowed him to open the door for me.

  I felt his fingers on the back of my waist. “Can you make the step up?”

  “Yeah.” I climbed inside, trying to keep my short dress down. I gave him a nervous smile. “Thank you.”

  He shut the door and went around to the driver’s side. He placed his guitar in the middle between us, but it kept tipping over.

  “I can hold it.” I pulled the handle part down across my legs, trying to be useful.

  “You sure?”

  “As long as you don’t mind me touching it.”

  “You can touch the case. The rest, well, I don’t know yet. We just met.” He gave me a fake innocent look with his veiled double meaning.

  I laughed, feeling my shoulders relax a little as I leaned back in the seat. I had to admit—he kept making me laugh, which made things just a little bit easier.

  Lucky fired up the truck. It sounded a little rough as he shifted it into gear. This thing must really be old. He followed my gaze. “You know how to drive a stick?”

  “No.”

  “Figures. Girls never know how to drive a standard.”

  I laughed again. “That’s a very guy thing to say.”

  “Well, I haven’t met a girl who could yet.” He shrugged.

  “Okay, fine. I’ll let that one slide. So where are we going?”

  “Shortcakes. Have you ever been there?”

  I shook my head. “No? I don’t think so.”

  “You’d know.”

  We drove the short distance across town to an old diner set back off the road. The seating capacity on the inside was practically nonexistent. It was pretty full with only one open spot. We slid into the orange booth with a colorful stained-glass light dangling over the table. Looking around the room, I saw a hodgepodge of people, but I still felt self-conscious in my stupid costume.

  People were looking at me. I felt their eyes. But maybe they were looking at him. The guy stood out. He was cute, but his smile made you not look away.

  A waitress appeared beside the table, getting our drink orders. She returned quickly, setting the cups down in front of us with two menus.

  I looked over the list of hamburgers and chicken-fried steaks.

  “So who is Katie?”

  I glanced up at his question. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “I feel like you know more about me than I do you.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t really think that was true, but maybe he felt that way since I saw him play tonight.

  “I assume you’re in school. So start with that.”

  “I am.” I felt the urge to tease him since he was the jokester. Flashing an innocent smile, I made him hang on a bit, until he gestured with his hands for me to continue. “Okay. Okay. I’m in elementary education. I want to be a kindergarten teacher.”

  His easy grin appeared. “I like that.”

  “You like that I’m going to be a teacher?”

  “No. I mean, yes. But I also like that you want to teach the little ones.”

  “Well, they still love their teacher when they’re five.” I took a drink of my Coke. “What about you? Is being a country star your only gig?”

  “For the record, I’m not a country star. And I’ve worked for my brother Colt since high school. He builds houses. Like custom stuff. I’m pretty good with a saw.”

  I studied him for a moment, thinking about the new information. Something that made him seem normal. “I like that.”

  “You like that I’m good with a saw?” He laughed.

  “No, I like that you are more than the guy I saw on stage.”

  “I see.” He eyed me seriously as he contemplated my answer.

  The waitress came over to take our order. “Y’all ready?”

  Lucky motioned for me to go first.

  “I’ll have a hamburger with bacon and some fries.”

  I glanced across the table to Lucky. He grinned at me instead of looking at her. “Change her fries to tots with a side of ranch. And I’ll have the same.”

  She took our menus and disappeared over to the grill. “So why do I need tater tots and ranch?”

  “The tots are better here.”

  “So you dip your tots in ranch instead of ketchup?”

  He leaned back against the orange seat with a smirk. “Doesn’t everyone?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “It’s just plain wrong to put them in ketchup. Would you ever put ketchup on mashed potatoes? No. Why would you do that to fries and tots? It’s a bloody massacre. Now ranch? That goes with everything.”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “I guess you have a valid point.”

  “I’ve been putting ranch on everything since I was a kid. My brother thinks I’m crazy.”

  “Well, I haven’t decided if you’re crazy or not yet.”

  “Then I guess that’s progress.” His eyes held mine for a moment.

  I suddenly looked at his lips as the warm feeling spread up my neck into my cheeks. I swear he just got five times cuter in the last five minutes. I diverted my gaze back to my hands as they rested on the table.

  “So back to finding out more about Katie.”

  “Okay?” I glanced back up to see him watching me with an amused grin.

  “You want to be a teacher. You’ve never had tots with ranch. And you can’t drive a stick. So where are you from exactly?”

  “Everywhere, I guess. My dad got transferred around for work pretty often. Corporate life, you know. Lots of different cities.”

  “How in the hell did you end up here?”

  “Legacy. My dad got a degree from here.”

  He nodded. “So where do your parents live
now?”

  “Um, Florida. But I’m sure they’ll move again soon. On to somewhere new as usual.” I glanced over to my cup as I fiddled with my straw. They would always keep going on the never-ending carousel of new places. “I’m glad to be here instead.”

  “At Shortcakes on a date with me?”

  “No. Yes.” I let out a nervous laugh as I got flustered. “I mean this town. It’s felt more like home than most places I’ve lived. I might even stay here when I graduate. I feel like I’ve finally got roots.” I shrugged. “Strange, I know.”

  “No, not really. I get it actually.”

  I felt his eyes on me. As I looked up again, I saw a softness to his gaze. And something about it felt oddly comforting, which made me keep talking. “People always think that it was this big adventure, you know. All the different places I’ve lived. The constant change of things. But it wasn’t something that I ever enjoyed. It’s not that fun as a kid.”

  “It sucked?”

  “Like hell.” I let out a deep breath.

  Lucky laughed. “So the kitten cusses.”

  “Sometimes.”

  He smiled from across the booth. “You have really pretty eyes, Katie.”

  “I um, thanks?”

  “I’m serious. I think they change colors. Like dark green and then bright green.”

  The butterflies got stirred up in my stomach again, and I needed a few minutes to gather my thoughts. “Hey, I’m just going to run to the restroom.”

  I got up from the little table and made my way down the aisle and shut the door behind me. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  Looking in the mirror, I saw the painted whiskers were slightly smeared on my cheeks. I cringed, realizing this guy was spending the entire night talking to me with this crap on my face. Yet, he thought my eyes were pretty. I smiled slowly.

  I used the bathroom and washed my hands. When I returned to the table, our food was already there. I scooted back on my side of the booth. I could tell that he hadn’t touched a single tot while I was gone. Lucky had waited on me even though I knew he was starving.

  “What are you waiting for?”

  He did a slight head nod toward me. “I want to see you try them. They make their own ranch here too.”

  His smile caught me again. So open and genuine. I had to make myself not stare at him. Glancing away, I dipped the first tater tot down in the ranch, taking a large clump and shoving it in my mouth. It melted against my tongue. “Oh, that’s like, wow.”

  “You’ll never go back to ketchup again. You can thank me later.” Lucky picked up one of his, slathering it in the white dip before shoving it into his mouth.

  Over the next ten minutes, I watched him inhale his food, almost forgetting to even eat mine. There was just something about him. The longer I spent with Lucky, the more we fell into this comfortable pattern, making my reservations slowly disappear. Maybe it was stupid. But I wanted this whole sweet act of his to be real.

  As I chewed on a piece of bacon, my eyes drifted to the open buttons of his shirt and then to his chest. He had the kind of chest that made you want to rest your head ahead against it. To bury your face in it. To run your fingers down it.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  I realized he had caught me staring at him again. The heat flushed my cheeks as I struggled to swallow a mouthful of bacon without choking. “Yeah. I was um, just thinking. You’re not how I thought you would be.”

  “Is that a good thing?”

  “Well, at first you were some cocky guy who bought me a drink because I was in this dress and now you’re . . . I don’t know. You’re different than him.”

  “The dress did get my attention. But that’s not what made me buy you a drink.”

  “No?”

  “You just seemed a little lost, sitting up on that giant saddle all alone. Out of place, maybe. Lonely? I don’t know. I wanted to find out why this hot girl was sitting there by herself, watching the party instead of being in it.”

  Lucky held my gaze and then smiled. “And maybe flirt a little. I mean sometimes it gets a little confusing. Flirting. Talking. It’s all the same, right?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at the innocent look he tried to give me. “Are you always like this?”

  “Most of the time. But I like talking to you so it gets a little stronger.”

  And then I looked him straight in the eye. “Tell me the truth. Do you take girls to dinner after every show?”

  “No.” His tone was serious, which made me stare at him a second. And then I reached for my Coke, almost knocking it over. He had me flustered again.

  The room was getting louder around us as more of the bar crowd poured into the diner. I glanced back over in his direction. “So, your mom was at the show tonight? Where does she live?”

  “She and my brother live here. Colt’s married to Callie. They’ve got a couple of kids. Mia and Zach. Cute little suckers.” Lucky’s eyes lit up as he talked about his family. And then he let out a deep laugh. “I live in their pool house. So I see them a lot.”

  “You live in a pool house?”

  “Colt built it so it’s not your average pool house.”

  “Hmmm. Okay. So what about your dad?”

  “It’s just Mama, Colt, and me. Colt’s dad left her when he was just a baby, and we don’t know who mine is.”

  My face must have clenched when he said it.

  “It’s not like that. Actually, it’s um . . .” He looked away for a second, letting out a deep breath. “Okay. I want to be honest. And I don’t know how to just say part of this. So here’s the deal. I was left at a church when I was two.”

  I couldn’t hide the surprise that radiated through my thoughts—and I’m sure across my entire face. “You were left alone there? Like, someone just dropped you off and didn’t come back?”

  “Yeah, something like that. Colleen was cleaning it for extra money. And she found me. Called the police, but they couldn’t come up with anything on who had left me. No cameras or anything. So they let her take me home. She’d been approved to be a foster parent just a few months earlier. She said finding me was divine intervention. Which is why Mama called me Lucky. They searched for my parents. But nothing ever came of it. When the court decided that she could start the adoption process, she said I needed a real name. So that’s when I became Landon Evans. I used it in school and on all the important stuff.”

  “But she still called you Lucky,” I whispered.

  “Yeah.” We both had stopped eating as his heavy words hung in the air. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually share all of that on a first date. But well, you asked and I didn’t know how to explain it without telling you the truth.”

  As I looked at this guy, I pictured the boy from the story. I bet he was adorable at two. How could someone do that to him? To a little boy. It made me sick. And it made me like his mama without ever speaking a word to her.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. In the end, I had a good life with people who wanted me.” His eyes flickered with emotion for a second before he cut it off with a grin. But something about that smile was different than his others. A little sad, maybe.

  His hair fell across his forehead. I wanted to reach up and touch those messy strands to see if they felt soft between my fingers. And for a second, I was afraid that I might actually do it.

  Instead, Lucky reached across the table, taking my hand. His thumb had a cut right above the nail and his knuckles had a few scabs across the top. And underneath, I felt calluses rubbing against my skin.

  Complete imperfection that felt like perfection as he held my hand.

  The waitress came over, clearing the table next to us. And a loud group of people walked in the front door. But I didn’t look in their direction.

  Instead, I was drawn into the bubble that was slowly starting to surround us as our eyes met again. It turned into one of those strange moments that I’d seen happen with Skylar and Dylan, where t
hey stared at each other without speaking while lost in the mere presence of the other person.

  “So I didn’t realize we were on a date.”

  “Well, I’m not buying tots and ranch for someone and not calling it a date.”

  “Fine. It’s a date.” I laughed, trying to shake the feeling that had settled in my chest. I liked the fact that Lucky considered this an actual date.

  After we left the restaurant, I directed him to my house. The lights were off as he pulled the old truck in the driveway.

  He was out of the driver’s side before I could say anything. I opened my door to find him standing next to it. I wasn’t sure what he assumed was going to happen, but I was not letting him come inside the house. “So um . . .”

  “I’m walking you to your door.”

  “Oh.” We continued down the sidewalk, stopping next to the three steps leading up to the house.

  We stared at each other for a moment before he grinned. “So what are you doing tomorrow?”

  “Well, since it’s already three in the morning, I’m probably going to sleep till noon and then work on some homework.”

  “The sleeping till noon part sounds nice. I’m working for Colt tomorrow.”

  “Do you normally do that after a show?”

  “I try to do what I can when I’m here. It makes up for the time when I’m playing out of town. But he likes to start early, which makes it rough.”

  “You should probably get home then.”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “So can I call you or something?”

  I looked into his brown eyes, full of sincerity. And something about that look made me do something crazy and impulsive. The nervous energy coursed through me like a lightning bolt as I stuck my fingers down into his front pocket.

  “Whoa!” He jumped. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

  I grinned, pulling out his phone. “I know. Just trying to keep Mr. Self-Assured on his toes.”