Larger Than Life by Alison Kent (bill gates books recommendations .TXT) 📗

smile of a friend. Almost like one from a boy who thought she was cute . . .

Did Holden Wagner think she was cute? Oh, my god, no way! She turned back to stare out the front window at the road ahead. She would just die if he thought she was cute, especially since all the girls at school talked about him like he was as yummy as Brad Pitt.

"Liberty, let me ask you something."

"Sure," she said, feeling all bouncy and giddy but forcing herself to sit still and straight. She wasn't so immature that she didn't know what it would mean for a man this powerful to like her, to take her side. If she played things right, he could be her ticket out of town.

"Do you like nice things? You talked about wanting a phone and not having a car. I just wondered if those things mean a lot to you."

She gave a soft huff. "They obviously don't mean too much since I'm existing without them."

He waited a minute—she couldn't even hear the road as they drove, not like in her dad's truck—then said, "Existing. That's an interesting choice of words to describe your life."

"I suppose. But sometimes it seems like that's all I'm doing. Or all I'll ever be able to do." And now that she'd run off, no telling what sort of punishment she was in for. "Are my folks pretty mad?"

"Hmm. Worried, yes. But I'm not sure I'd say mad. More like .. . concerned."

"Concerned about what? That I'll remember how great life was in California before we moved to Earnestine?" She crossed her arms over her chest, flopped back in the cushy seat. "Trust me. I've never forgotten and I never will."

"I think their concern is for your safety and welfare. For your future. That you'll make bad choices."

"Bad choices? You mean the way I'd choose to get an education if they'd let me? That I'd want a career and a life of my own?"

"Concerned about you being able to look out for yourself, care for yourself. Provide for yourself."

It was the way he added that last part, the tone of his voice. The way he paused. Dread skittered over her skin and settled in her belly. She shivered, and even her nipples got hard. "Oh, no. Don't even tell me they're going to do that. That they're going to try to make me get married."

"You don't want to get married?"

"In the future, sure. Once my life isn't such a screwed-up mess, and to a guy I like. One who likes me. Not some old desperate coot wanting babies, or trying to buy eternal life by stocking up on wives." God, this could not be happening. This entire last week, since that night with Jase, everything had gone so wrong.

"Liberty, be honest with me. Weren't you and Jase running away to be together?"

"Yes, okay. We were. But not to get married. We hadn't even talked about where we were going. Just away. Maybe to Mexico," she finally added, thinking about Jase saying they'd make a run for the border.

Holden remained silent for probably five or six miles at least. Or so it seemed to Liberty. Not that she knew anything about the driving distance between Pit Stop and Earnestine. But she did know how to read the mile markers on the road.

And she knew they were going to be back at her parents' house, that they were going to be home a whole lot sooner than she was ready for. "Could you stop the car? Pull over or something?"

"Are you going to be sick?"

More like she didn't want to break down and cry. Not in front of him. She waved her hands. "I just need some air. I'm sorry. I don't mean to act like a baby."

"I don't think you're acting like a baby," he said, easing the sporty luxury car over to the shoulder of the road. "This news would be a shock to anyone who wasn't expecting it."

"That's the thing. I should've expected it. Sooner or later. I mean, why move to Earnestine if they weren't going to do like the natives do?" She shoved open the car door and nearly tumbled out, she was in such a hurry.

She trudged through the ankle-high grass and weeds, all of it brown and stabbing at her legs like sticks, to the fence separating the pasture from the road. It wasn't what she'd always thought of as a pasture. It wasn't green and dotted with spotted dairy cows. It was dry and rocky with tufts of yellowed wheat-looking plants.

Just like she'd tripped over that night when running across Jase's ranch. Tears were wetting her cheeks when she sensed Holden at her side. "Do you know who they want to marry me off to?"

Holden nodded. "Cal Able. He works the hardware store with his father. And right now he only has one wife."

"Oh, like that's supposed to make me feel better." She didn't think she could feel any worse. "I suppose Cal will think it's his duty to beat me if I don't pluck my own chickens, wear sackcloth and ashes, and wipe his feet with my hair."

Holden didn't respond except to rest his hand on her shoulder for a moment and squeeze before walking back to the car. After a few minutes, she followed, surprised to find him leaning against the side and waiting patiently beside her open door.

His arms were crossed over his chest, his legs crossed at the ankles. The setting sun made his hair look like thick corn silk, almost like Brad Pitt's, like all the girls said. His eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses, but he really was pretty cute.

"So, what do I do now?" A stupid question, but she really didn't want to go home. If she did, she'd probably never see the light of day again, much less the iridescent coral nail polish she missed so much.

She supposed she could truly run away, but it was a long way