Catch by Michelle D. Argyle Page A

was pointless. But it turns out it wasn’t pointless, so I
guess the joke was on her in the end.”
    He smiled. “So she dialed and you took the
phone?”
    “Yep. I had a mini heart attack when you
answered.”
    “I almost didn’t answer.”
    “Oh?” That was a surprise. He had sounded so
confident when he had answered.
    He poked at his stack of cards, making them
fall sideways. “Yeah, but I was looking at your driver’s license
when your phone rang and you looked so … so nice … and pretty … and
you’d chased after me. I wanted to know what kind of a person would
be brave enough to do that. So I answered.”
    He thought she was pretty? She tried to
control the blush she knew must be all over her face, and then
realized they were answering each other’s questions outside of the
game rules.
    Ollie must have realized it too. He
straightened his cards and cleared his throat. “Despite the risk of
you thinking I’m a little stalker-ish for staring at your driver’s
license, let’s, uh, move on.”
    “All right.”
    They slapped down some more cards. Ollie’s
pile was growing dangerously large. She wondered what would happen
if she ended up with nothing and the game was officially over.
Would the questions stop? Would Ollie feel relieved because he
wouldn’t have to spill more information?
    She won the next round, which increased her
pile of cards just a bit. She repeated her last question as she
straightened her stack. “So, what about me? What did you mean, I
‘happened’?”
    Chewing on his bottom lip, he folded his arms
and leaned back in his chair. She liked the way his hat shaded his
eyes. They were light and dark at the same time as he looked at
her. “You called your phone. I heard your voice. I realized what
I’d been doing to other people by stealing their stuff—how wrong it
really was, even if it felt like the easiest option. I knew I
couldn’t keep doing it.” His eyes found hers, and she stared into
the light gray pools and then down to his lips.
    “What are you going to do?” she
whispered.
    “I’m going to apologize to my father and get
my life back.”
    “But you said you wouldn’t have a life if you
do that. What kind of life is that—living under someone’s
thumb?”
    He shook his head. “You’re tricky, Miranda …
sneaking in all these questions when I’m feeling so
vulnerable.”
    Another hot blush blossomed on her cheeks. “I
don’t mean to, I’m sorry.”
    “It’s all right. Let’s keep going.” He turned
over his next card, and she followed right after him. It was
another pair. She won the round again, and it looked as if their
piles were equal now. This game could go on for hours.
    Before she could even repeat her last
question, Ollie leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.
“I’ll find a way to make it work with my father,” he said. “He’s
the only family I have that cares I exist.”
    Miranda looked down as he reached forward and
traced a finger up her arm. Since when had they become this
intimate? Since, like, three seconds ago, apparently. She didn’t
mind. He seemed so alone, so sad. What would it be like to live
without her family? It was a foreign concept to her. Here she was,
perfectly fine in her life. Loved, taken care of, but given her
freedom at the same time. That was … well, it was something she
would never take for granted again. What made her more depressed
than anything else was wondering if Ollie would give up any chance
of such a thing if he gave in to his dad.
    “I don’t think you should,” she said softly.
“I think it would be a mistake to throw yourself into that life if
you know it’s not going to make you happy.”
    He smirked. “Who says it won’t make me
happy?”
    She realized she didn’t know Ollie at all,
and it made her sad. She wanted to know everything about him. She
wanted to hold him and press her lips against that soft spot on his
neck, right there above the collar of his T-shirt. Time seemed