Brother Willy's Traveling Salvation Show (21 page)

Scott
was not going to leave her comment unchallenged. He slowly walked around the table and placed his hands on her waist. Once again, you might want to be careful with your words because when you say I can play with you, we might be talking about two different things.”

Beth
’s sunburn meant Scott was unable to see the slight flushing in her face and upper body that Beth could so quickly feel as Scott’s hands held her. However, this was a game of words and she held her ground. “I do pick my words carefully.”

Having made the decision to play
, he rubbed chalk on the tip of his stick and proceeded to send the cue ball crashing into the other balls, yet none made it to the pockets. Beth took another cue stick from the wall rack before she approached the table to take her shot. Scott noticed how methodical she was in her shots. She would look at the table, bend over and sight the cue ball, straighten up and look at the table again before bending down to take her shot. Whatever he might think of her process, it worked for her as she made the first shot having put the 7 ball in a side pocket.

Letting the cue stick rest on the floor,
Beth posed her first question. “I love my brother, but I’m not in love with him. Do you love Michelle, or are you in love with Michelle? And before you say anything, there is a difference.”

With no hesitation,
Scott gave his answer. “I am very much in love with Michelle. That was easy.”

Beth
slowly shook her head. “It was too easy. You didn’t give my question any thought whatsoever. You gave me the answer you wanted to give rather than any real indication that would show you actually thought about it. I suspect that you and Michelle will both be thinking a lot about that question over the next few weeks. Anyway, it’s your turn.”

Scott
had an easy shot and he took it with none of the precision that Beth had used. As the ball rolled into the pocket, Scott stood up and turned to face Beth. “How do you explain telling me about the ghost experience only hours before it happened?”

“I
’ve thought about that ever since you and I talked. I think that when I suggested it, I was having a premonition just like what Michelle and I experienced. If a premonition is not the explanation, then I don’t know how to explain it.” She replied.

Beth
went through her usual process as she took her next shot. She then asked her question, which caught Scott’s attention for several reasons. “You didn’t see the line dance on the canoe trip this year. Still, I have a very strong feeling you remember me from the previous year. Care to comment?”

When
Beth said the words “strong feeling” Scott was astonished that she would have that experience without some reason to explain her “feeling”. More to the point, she was right.

Scott
looked at her for several minutes trying to understand how it was possible she would have such a feeling. “Before Amie came to our place this morning, I took out my laptop and looked at the pictures I had taken on the canoe trip last year. You were in the pictures doing the line dance. Several of my pictures were zoom shots of just you standing in the line. In fact, you were the only girl I took a picture of standing alone. All the other pictures were group shots. That makes this pretty strange.”

Beth
spoke as Scott prepared to take his shot. “So I guess that means you have captured my moment of indiscretion and preserved it for historical reasons.”

Scott
smiled. “I don’t think historical preservation is what I had in mind when I took the pictures.”

Beth
knew she was drawing Scott to the point where she wanted him, be it a slow progression. “If not for historical preservation, why did you take my picture?

He was interested in how she would react
to his explanation. “You were the most attractive girl in the line. You looked shy to the point that you almost looked out of place. You didn’t appear to be very comfortable with what you were doing. You caught my attention.”

Scott
had managed to allow Beth to feel a sense of being special. “Did I catch your attention or did my boobs catch your attention?”

Scott
let his cue stick rest on the floor as he tried to recall his motivation. “Actually it was your face that I noticed first because I was watching you long before you took your shirt off. After that, I took a nice long look at your boobs and then I looked at you as a package.”

Beth
’s interest was clearly growing. “How long had you been watching me before I let it all hang out?”

“I
started watching you before you even stood up in front of the crowd. A group of us were sitting around the fire drinking and talking, and I kept watching you while you were sitting with a different group of people.”

Beth
continued to gather information. “You must have liked what you were seeing.”

Scott
picked up his cue stick. “I still do.”

With little preparation,
Scott took another easy shot, which allowed him to ask his question. “Jenifer said she recognized me on the beach, yet I had on sunglasses and a baseball hat. She didn’t just run into me by accident because we barely even knew each other. In fact, I didn’t recognize her.”

Beth
let out a long sigh. “I hate this game. No, it wasn’t an accident. Jenifer and Carlie made a plan to stop by your house in New Bern and make you look like a dog in front of your parents. Carlie had to cancel her beach trip so Jenifer said she would do the plan without Carlie. Jenifer called your house on Thursday morning and your sister told Jenifer you were here at the beach. Your sister also thought she was talking to an old friend. Jenifer decided it would be more fun to trash you in front of your girlfriend.”

“So you went along with the plan?”
Scott asked.

Beth
downplayed her involvement. “I didn’t want anything to do with any of it. Jenifer kept telling me how badly you had treated me until I finally agreed to go along with her, but I really didn’t want any part of it.”

Beth
walked around the table as she tried to make her decision of which shot to take. After a few moments of preparation, she took one of the more difficult shots and made it. Scott watched closely before he asked why she had taken the most difficult shot.

The
answer came easy for her. “If I take a hard shot, then I feel entitled to ask a harder question. Why did it take you ten years to go to bed with Michelle?”

Scott
looked around the room as he considered his answer. “Michelle and I had this discussion and I don’t think either of us knows. I’m not avoiding your question, but I really can’t answer it.”

Beth
’s response was one Scott found interesting. “Don’t worry. I think both of you will understand things better once you’ve spent a little more time together exploring your relationship.”

Beth
had once again left Scott an easy shot, which he quickly took. His question was also harder for Beth to answer. “You told me that you have not been to bed with a guy in over a year. I’m sure you have had the opportunity to attract some nice guys. What’s going on with you?”

Beth
leaned against the pool table before she responded. “I don’t trust men any more. The last guy I was serious about turned out to be a total jerk. I was in an abusive relationship that may leave me scarred for life. I’m not going to share the details right now, but take my word for it. It changed my life.”

Seeing the expression on
Beth’s face, Scott placed his stick down before he put his arms around her. They held each other for at least five minutes before Beth spoke. “It’s my turn.”

To his surprise, she took an easy shot after sighting the cue ball longer than normal. Once she straightened up, she turned her attention to
Scott while displaying a noticeable grin. This time, she was going to put Scott on the spot with no place to run. “Do you plan to look down my bathing suit top at my cleavage every time I bend over to make a shot?”

Giving her an indirect answer,
Scott was also grinning at her. “Why did you waste your opportunity with a question that has such an obvious answer? To answer your question lets just say I never let an opportunity go to waste, although I guess I could show some restraint if it bothers you.”

“It doesn’t bother me and it’
s nice to know I can still get your attention. After all, you said you have pictures of me in the line dance, so I don’t guess you are seeing anything you haven’t seen before. It’s your turn.”

Beth
was standing behind Scott as he leaned over to make his shot. Before he pulled the cue stick back, he felt her slip her hand in his pocket. She then spoke in a soft, but breathy tone before he could say anything. “Sometimes, I like to feel the cue stick sliding through my hands just before it makes contact with the balls.”

Still bending down to take his shot,
Scott looked over his shoulder at Beth only seconds before she burst out laughing. Scott stood up straight and turned to look at her as she pulled her hand from his pocket. “Are you trying out for a porn flick or something?”

Still laughing, she moved to the other side of the table. “I was just trying to distract you like you have been doing to me.”

Scott once again got ready to take his shot while Beth stood across the table from him. Just as he pulled the cue stick back, she pulled both sides of her top far apart. “Can you tell if I got any sun today?”

Scott
started laughing, but looked at her for almost a minute before he answered. “Yes, I think you got some today and I’m glad you brought that to my attention.”

Scott
pulled back on his cue stick and made the hardest bank shot on the table. “You don’t trust men, but you seem to trust me. I don’t understand the obvious conflict in your two statements.”

She laid her cue stick on the table before walking to the
barstool to sit down. After a few moments, Scott walked across the room and joined her as she began to answer his question. “There is no question but that Michelle has full trust in you and right now, your anchor is tied to Michelle with an unbreakable chain. I can tease you, flirt with you, and I can be sexy with you and still know I’m safe with you. I know you won’t hurt me. It’s been a long time since I could feel that way around a guy.”

Scott
leaned back and looked at the ceiling. “You seem to forget that I have a few dents in my armor.”

Beth
shook her head. “There is not a dent in your armor that would let you hurt me. Besides, I like the way you look at me. I also like the way you hold me when you think I need to be held.”

Scott
glanced over his shoulder at Beth. “You are attractive and desirable. Even though I have only known you for twenty-eight hours, I think that in another time and place, things might have been different for us.”

Beth
stood up and walked to the window in order to avoid talking about what might have been. She was far more interested in what would happen today. “I am absolutely terrified of storms. Thank you for letting me come stay with you and Michelle.

“Well, bring
your pajamas because I think the storms are going to last through the night.”

She
wanted to appear somewhat frustrated, which was obvious in her voice. In her mind, she was very satisfied to be staying with them. “I feel so bad messing up your evening with Michelle because I know the two of you didn’t plan on having me around all the time. At the same time, I just can’t stand to be here alone, especially with the storm coming.”

Scott
looked at his watch as he stood up to leave. We’ll pick you up around six o’clock and then we can all have a nice dinner.”

Beth
walked with him to the bottom of their stairs before she put her hand on his back to stop him, now making up her plan as she went along. “Can you take one minute and let me show you something before you go?”

Scott
agreed and followed her down the short hallway until they turned and entered her bedroom. He stood in the doorway leaning against the doorjamb as she stood next to her bed. They looked at each other without speaking and with neither of them having a clear sense of their direction. Beth felt a sense of security as she held onto the tall bedpost and she felt a sense of anxious anticipation as she looked at Scott.

Scott
began to notice what he thought was a genuine, sweet, and relaxed smile come to her face. “What are you grinning about?”

She continued to hold on
to the bedpost with both hands as her smile became even more noticeable. After almost another minute of silence she looked away for a moment and then back at Scott. “I’m alone in the house, wearing almost nothing, while standing in my bedroom with a man I have known for less than two days. I know your eyes are touching me and that your hands want to caress me.”

Scott
assumed he was missing something in the conversation. “Does that make you nervous?”

The smile never left her face and her feelings
of confidence only grew stronger. She finally tried to explain her relief to Scott. “I’m not afraid right now. You are bigger and stronger than I am and you could take advantage of me. Even if I screamed for help, no one would hear me. If you were lying on top of me, I could not make you get off me. I know all the risks I’m taking, but I know you won’t take advantage of me. I’m not afraid Scott. I’m not afraid. I’m not even a little bit nervous.”