Page 15 of Tempting Sebastian

“One! Shoot, I’ve got three or four of them things. Don’t ask me where I picked ‘em up or where the others are. Alina came home with one once and then I found the others along the way here and there.”

Turning to him, I asked, “What would you like for this one?”

Mr. Talbot pulled his glasses out of the front pocket of his coveralls and then reached for the lantern. As he turned it and inspected it, he began telling a story. “It was winter, and Alina wasn’t home yet. I was startin’ to get worried. She didn’t do well driving at night, ya know. She had gone out to the stores to get some tomato soup; she loved tomato soup and fresh baked bread. It started to snow, and I sat by the window watching, waiting to see the headlights of the car coming down the driveway there. We’ve lived here for a long time now. I satin the rocking chair, the one you saw me sitting in on the porch when you arrived. I sat in that chair, by the window, rocked and waited. The snow was coming down hard. Finally. Finally, I could see her lights through the heavy snow. I hopped up, opened the front door, and ran down the porch steps. I helped her out of her car, and she told me to just grab the bags in the backseat. She held what was in the front seat. When we got into the house, she looked at me with such a big smile and said she found the one.” Mr. Talbot turned the lantern to look at the bottom of it. “See here. She marked it with a little scratch. So miniscule, but just enough that we would always tell this one apart from the others.”

I said, “She bought you this one.”

He nodded, “She did. Said she went around to five different antique stores that day and the final one was two towns over. Then she had to stop for groceries. She drove back from two towns over in the snow all so she could get this lantern.”

My heart was aching, listening to his story. As much as I wanted that lantern, I didn’t want to take it from him. “Well, Mr. Talbot. It’s not time for me to have that lantern. I’ll find a lantern someday but that one… that one stays with you. That was such a beautiful story. Hold onto it. In fact, you should take it inside with you. You can put it on the shelf where the train was.”

“Hey, now that’s a good idea. Well, if I ever decide to get rid of it, I got your information, right?”

“You bet, Mr. Talbot. We appreciate you calling us, sharing your home and stories with us. Thank you for telling us about Alina. She sounds like she was a wonderful woman.”

“She was the best. Stories preserve time. Once the people we love are gone, all we have left are stories and if people are willing to listen, then our loved ones live on forever. I hope you think of my Alina Sue the next time you eat Tomato Soup.” I felt myself choking up, so I cleared my throat as we shook hands. Heturned and shook Jackson’s hand, saying, “It was good to meet y’all. Drive safe now.”

Chapter 12

Jackson

The trip to the country was perfect. I absolutely loved what we bought. There’s so much history sitting out there, and memories. We get to hear them all as long as we’re willing to listen.

Back in the Blazer, Sebastian was quiet again. I turned to Sebastian and said, “What an amazing guy, and I wish we could’ve met Alina. It sounded like she was a wonderful woman.”

He didn’t say much. Just, “Yeah.”

I was determined to get him to talk to me because the car ride from Mr. Talbot’s was long and boring without the conversation. On the way there, I did most of the talking, and it was mostly about work. “Are you happy with the train?” I asked.

He nodded but didn’t look away from the road. “I am.”

“I thought it was really sweet that you didn’t offer him anything for the lantern.”

He cleared his throat. “Sweet? I’m not sure I would call it sweet. You could tell he wasn’t ready to part with it.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t push it. It was just a really nice moment. Seems like they were a beautiful couple. Makes you believe in love.” I was saying too much, but I was nervous and wanted Sebastian to talk, but why on earth was I mentioning believing in love. I had never been in love a day in my life. I wouldn’t know it if it smacked me in the face.

More silence. We continued the ride that way until an alarm and warning light went off on Sebastian’s dashboard.

“Fuck!” He said, catching me off guard.

I felt myself straighten up and asked, “What? What’s wrong?”

Sebastian just grumbled. “Fucking piece of shit.”

“Sebastian…” I tried to calm him down and ask another question, but he cut me off.

He snapped, “I clearly don’t know what’s wrong. Please let me think.”

The hood started smoking so he pulled over. When I tried to peek at the dash, I could see that the check engine light was on. The smoke was white, which led me to believe we were burning off coolant. That could be from a blown head gasket or a cracked engine block. Neither of which I was an expert in, but I thought maybe I knew enough about cars to give Sebastian an idea. He popped the hood and got out of the car. I got out and went around to the front.

“Please get back in the car.” Sebastian didn’t even look at me when he said it.

I was done listening to his shit. I rolled my eyes and said, “It’s white smoke.”

“What?”

I repeated, “It’s white smoke. We probably have a blown head gasket or cracked engine block. We’re likely burningcoolant which is causing the white smoke.” Sebastian looked at me, folded his arms across his chest, and he opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. “Either way, we’re stuck here for the night until we can get it towed back home. We just passed a hotel. We can probably get a taxi and then work on calling the tow truck company and see what their schedule is like.”

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