Between The Lines

Katie has struggled to keep her eyes open in her last class of the day. If asked she wouldn’t have retained any of the new materials. In between propping herself up now and then to avoid her sleepiness,she was jotting down little notes in the notebook she carried everywhere. They had nothing to do with her intro to psychology class however. She had deemed her notes to be part of a new song and was itching to get out of class to give it her full attention. She stared at the clock,ten minutes left. The instructors voice was drowned out by Katie’s thoughts and soon enough it was time to exit the class room and head over to Our County On Vinyl, the music and record store Katie worked at. It was a twenty minute drive,which felt like pure bliss,since that gave Katie more time to vocalize the song she was beginning to write. “If heartbreaks were horses—she’d be a millionaire,” Katie confidently sang the last half once she made the connection of words. Suddenly a baby blue F-150 pulled out in front of her,causing her to have to slam on the brakes,still managing to love tap the rear end the truck with her jeep. Her jaw fell open. She watched a tall,broad shouldered man get out of his truck and walk around to the tailgate. Katie’s front end had dented it. “Dammit!” He explained. Katie hung her head on the steering wheel. Soon there was a knock on the window,she looked up and rolled down the window to meet the man. “I don’t have insurance!” She said in a panic, “but I can pay for the tailgate.” She didn’t expect to be looking into baby blue eyes on suntanned features under the black cowboy hat. She quickly glanced away from the dreamy person she just rear-ended. “It’s just a little dent,already forty years old,” Mr. Dreamy said after a long pause. Katie sighed. “Since you don’t have insurance an’ all,why don’t we get out of the middle of the road,before the sheriff shows up. Katie nodded, “You’re right.” “Where you headed?” “Excuse me?” “I mean,can I meet you somewhere and we can settle up then?” Katie brushed off the fact that she only had a dollar to her name and said, “Yeah,sure. I’m going to the record store. You can follow me.” “Sounds fine,” Katie watched Mr. Dreamy walk back to his truck. As she slowly pulled off the road to turn around,he watched as she punched the side of her door a few times, “Dammit,dammit,dammit!” She was exclaiming. He chuckled to himself and turned the truck around to follow her. When they got to the record store,Katie waited in her car for him to approach her. She rolled down her window once again. She looked up,catching him gazing at her. “I—guess I should introduce myself,I’m Will Anderson,I just moved to the Iron J Ranch. My grandpa left it to me.” “Oh I’m sorry for your loss. I’m Katie Longfellow.” “I appreciate it.” Katie caught him looking at her for too long again before he changed the subject, “Reckon you still owe me a tailgate.” “Reckon so,but I’d have to make payments on it,I’m really sorry.” Katie said sheepishly. “I’d settle for a record. My grandpa had a real nice record player,I’d hate to let it go to waste. You ever been in here before?” “I work here.” “Oh,we’ll then you can help me pick one out.” Katie nodded, “Ok.” She walked in the store,still ten minutes early for her shift. “What kind of music do you like?” “Johnny Cash is pretty good and I like cowboy songs.” Katie made a swift circle around the record table, “Folsom Prison Blues or Coyotes,” Katie held up the individual records of Johnny Cash and Don Edwards. Will smiled, “Coyotes,” he said. As he started to look around Katie rushed to the counter. “Can I have in-store credit?” She whispered. “What? No,” the owner, Miss Lucy Smith replied. “Can you keep it down?” Katie whispered. “I just hit that man’s truck and all he wanted to pay for the damage is a record cuz I don’t got no money or insurance,” Katie quickly tried to explain before seeing Lucy’s signal that Will was right behind her. Katie turned around to see him hovering over her,proudly carrying the record she had picked out,ready to check out. “Maybe I could just take you out on a date instead?” He kindly suggested. “Oh I dunno—“ Katie stuttered. Miss Lucy presented a sign that read “No In-Store Credit,” and hung it up on the bulletin board next to Katie. “Sure.” Katie quickly decided. She quickly rang-up the record and took his money. As soon as the receipt printed she chicken scratched her phone number on it. “Here’s my number.” “Ok,great. Hopefully you don’t hit any more trucks now,I’d hate for someone else to get this lucky.” He said,walking out the door with a huge grin. “Lucy!” Katie exclaimed as she turned to her. Lucy laughed, “He’s adorable, I did you a favor,doll.” Katie grumbled, “What do you want me to work on?” “Maybe you can rear-end a few more trucks and bring me in some more business,” Lucy laughed. “It’s not funny!” Katie insisted,grabbing a dust rag and some cleaning spray so she could avoid Lucy and sulk. “Just make the best of it,he seems very nice,” Lucy said a little more gently. “Yeah,yeah,” Katie replied. Lucy had gone home a few hours later and Katie had the store to herself. There were little to no customers after six pm so she sat behind the counter with the Gibson she was always eyeing and her notebook laying out and began to work on a song. “…this record’s a little used and worn, but it’s still got a story to be told,so let’s glide over my sorrows,when there’s a storm,let’s find the the rainbow, and spin me around,get a new start,I’ll find the gold in your heart,right where the song starts…” Katie scratched out a few words after she was done singing and looked up to see Will Anderson’s smile. She jumped and quickly put the guitar down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya,you have a beautiful voice.” He said. “Uh—thank you,” Katie said. “I’ve never heard that song before,what’s it called?” “Don’t know yet.” “You mean you wrote that?” “Yes,” Katie replied with a timid smile. “It’s good,you’re really talented!” Will exclaimed. “Nooo,” Katie waved her hand at him. “I’m serious, I don’t say things I don’t mean,” He said intently. “Thank you,then,” Katie said. “What brings you back in?” She asked after a pause? “You—I mean, I seem to have some trouble reading this number,” he held out the receipt he had given her. “And I was already in town,picking up some feed,so I figured I’d see if you were still here.” “Oh,” Katie said. There was a long pause, “I could just put it in your phone?” “I’d like that,” he said,handing her his phone. “What the hell is this?” Katie remarked about his Motorola flip phone. “It still works good,so I don’t see a need for one of them fancy ones,” he replied with a chuckle. “Here,” he held out his hand and took it back. After a few seconds he handed it back to her, “Now you can just type in your number,that is if you want to?” “Sure,” she started typing. “I realize you sorta got pressured into this thing,and I don’t want the only reason I take you out on a date to be cuz you hit my tailgate.” “Well,we just met,so what other reason is there?” “Because I think you’re beautiful and I hope I can remind you of that more often after tonight.” Katie blushed, “Thank you,” she let him pry the phone out of her hand from the nervous death grip she had on it. Will glanced down to see that she had created a contact for herself. “Thank you,” he smiled at her. “Goodnight Katie.” “Goodnight,” she replied.