ARIA
Brodie Campbell kissed me.And I let him.
I sit on my bed with the curtains open, and I watch Brodie leave. Before he goes, he stands with his hands on his hips, staring at the front door. Debating apologizing? Probably just a fantasy on my end.
What am I doing?
I stare blankly into the woods from my bed for hours until the sky starts to dim.
Richard brings me a bowl of soup on a tray at dinnertime.
“Richard, your cane!” I scold him. “I could’ve gotten it.”
“Eh,” he scoffs. “Gotta push myself sometimes. I take it the date was tough.”
I nod and he studies me.
“I hated when he broke your heart the last time, and I hate that he’s done it again.”
I shrug one shoulder. “It’s nothing new. He just never apologized. He’s going on like we’re fine. I like to think he’s a better person now?—”
“But a better person would apologize,” Richard interrupts.
“Yeah, I think that’s it.”
“For what it’s worth, he’s probably ashamed of himself. He’s done so much for this town. We both know he was always a different boy in the woods than everywhere else. Ever since he finished school and came home, he’s been more of the woods boy.” He knocks on my doorframe on his way back out. “Don’t stay up too late partying. If Myrna were here, she’d tell you that men aren’t worth shit.”
He laughs, dry and crackly as he shuffles away. He occasionally drops memories of his late wife like this, and I love when he talks about her. She passed before I was alive, but Richard still talks about her like she just left last week.
That’s the love worth waiting for.
“Richard!” I call, standing from the bed and following him out to the living room.
“Yeah, hon?”
“What would Myrna think of you and Granny?”
He sighs and turns back to me, putting his hands on the back of his favorite recliner. “When she was sick, she told me it was okay to move on. I just haven’t been ready until now. Waiting for the right person, I guess.”
I smirk. “Waiting on my Gramps to die?”
He tips his head. “Well, that had to happen too. I couldn’t just steal her out from under him.” He looks at me. “I know you’d rather he still be here.”
I puff out my lip and cross the room to hug him. We don’t touch often, and I notice how bony he’s become in his old age. “You know, you can’t change time and you can’t fight fate. It was his time. And now it’s your time to have some fun.”
Did I just give Richard the blessing to date Granny? Probably. Did he need it? No. So I’d better add some humor to make sure he doesn’t think I’m going squishy on him.
“Unless she’s too mean to you. Then I give you permission to break her heart,” I add.
He blows a raspberry. “I can handle your granny.”
I wiggle his arm. “That’s because you’re worth shit.”
And again, that dry, crackly laugh sounds.
TWELVE
BRODIE
