Page 169 of Web of Dreams (Casteel 5)
beautiful and nice as you, Leigh," he said. We were
holding hands again. For a moment I couldn't speak.
Even though we were i the tent and surrounded by
hundreds and hundreds of people, I again felt as though there was no one around us, before I knew what was happening, he leaned forward and kissed me
quickly on the lips.
"Sorry," he said. "I got so excited, I . . I . .
couldn't help myself," he stuttered.
"It's all right." I turned back to the show, but
my heart was pounding so hard, I thought it could be
heard above the laughter and clamor around us. Luke
said nothing, but every once in a while, we looked at
each other and smiled.
It wasn't until after the final act of this show
ended that I thought about the time. I looked at my
watch and screamed.
"Luke, look at the time! I'm going to miss my
train!"
"Don't worry," he said, but his face was twisted
with concern. We tried making our way out quickly,
but the crowd was large and people were bunched up
at all the exits. Frustrated, we waited our turn. As
soon as we emerged, we hurried across the grounds to
the work tent. Luke shot in and out with my suitcase
and teddy bear in hand. Then we got into his pickup
truck.
It didn't start. He tried it again and again. He
pounded the dashboard angrily and got out to lift the hood and fiddle with the engine. It took a while, but finally, he got it started and we were off to the station. Neither of us spoke very much; we were both thinking too hard about the time and the ride. Because the show had broken at the circus, there was a lot of traffic and quite a backup on the highway. Luke was constantly losing his temper and then apologizing. I tried calming him down. He did his best to weave in and out of lanes, but it took us nearly twice as long to
return to the station as it had to come from it. When we pulled into the parking lot, I had less
than five minutes. Luke couldn't find a place to park;
all the spaces seemed taken. Finally, he just stopped
