Of course, the bird flaps his wings and jumps away. Into my backyard.
A loud cursing on the other side of the fence makes me snort. The cursing stops.
“Nora?”
“Obviously.” I wish he could see my eyeroll. “And you just spooked him.”
“Is that your rooster?” he asks accusingly.
“Gosh, no,” I reply, searching around where he escaped. “He’s wild, I think. I see you, asshole!” I cry out after the rooster.
“What did I do?”
“Not you. C’mere, you soup package!” With a loud threat, I take off.
“Nora, what’s it doing?” he hisses loudly, but I’m already away, chasing the bird around my backyard.
“I’ll get you and make you into a soup!” I threaten as I run after him. “I will win this time.”
“Nora,” Jericho keeps calling out.
“Come here, you little cock-a-doodling dickwad!” I’m out of breath because the bird is surprisingly fast for having such short legs.
“Nora!”
I keep on ignoring the call because I’m so close to catching the bird and saving the whole neighborhood from the early awakenings.
“Damn it, Nora.” This one sounded different, so I come to a halt. Only to find Jericho leaping over the fence in one swift motion.Da-a-amn. He’s so graceful and fast that I forget about the rooster for a moment. A big mistake because the little creature hasn’t forgotten about me. A sudden sharp pain on my naked knee makes me let out a loud curse and look down. The rooster just pecked me! There’s a red spot where his beak touched my skin, and now the soup-on-legs is running away toward my peach trees.
“You little?—”
I take off after him, forgetting about the half-naked man running toward me.
“Come here! I’ll pull all your feathers out!” I yell as I spring across my yard. My hair flies behind my back. I feel like a fast, nimble lioness chasing its prey through the field. The reality doesn’t match my expectations unfortunately because I stumble over a garden tool I left out a couple weeks ago and fall forward in a pile of limbs.
“Damn, Nora, are you okay?” Jericho’s voice comes fromright behind me. “Are you hurt?” Closer this time, like he’s kneeling right next to me.
“Physically no,” I muffle into the grass without lifting my head up. “Emotionally though, I’m totally damaged.”
“Let me help you.”
Ignoring his helpful hand, I try to scoop myself up by all fours. It is at this moment a fresh Maine breeze rushes through the air, caressing my back. My naked back.
“Oh, shit,” Jericho exclaims. “You are—You know—Your?—”
I, unfortunately, know what he means because the breeze has lifted my shirt up, baring my ass, currently covered in goosebumps.
“You’ve seen it already,” I mutter, feeling the tips of my ears grow hot. I reach back and yank the shirt down to cover what little dignity I have left.
“Not this close,” he says, and his voice is strained in a way that makes my heart do something between a flutter and a stumble.
“I’m sure you’ve seen others this close,” I shoot back, a mix of self-consciousness and defiance that surprises even me.
“Not for a long time,” he rasps, almost too quiet to hear, but the words land like a punch to the guts. My head whips toward him, searching for some tell that he’s joking.
But he’s already reaching for me, grabbing my arms with careful hands and hoisting me to stand. He looks totally unbothered, like it’s nothing to him at all, so his last words might as well be the fruits of my imagination. He wouldn’t admit something so personal with such ease. Not him. Not to me, his annoying new neighbor he barely knows.
I’m still gaping at him when my balance wavers, and I’m forced to cling to his forearms to steady myself. I wonder if he notices the way my legs suddenly quiver beneath me or theway his words left me breathless. Probably not. He’s like a damn rock, more stoic than the fence he leaped over.
