Meadow didn’t plan to spend her day walking around the land with Zaire, but that was how life went…she planned, and something bigger rerouted everything.
It started with her trying to escape him. Zaire was resilient though. He was on their land without much to do so he helped even though she kept telling him not to.
She’d finished dragging a crate toward the shed when she felt him watching. He wasn’t loud about it, but his energy carried weight, pulling on her nerves in a way she’d been avoiding since the moment he stepped foot on her porch.
“I’m finna take a break,” she called over her shoulder, pretending she wasn’t out of breath.
Zaire lifted his chin from the far bay. “You should.”
“You should mind your business.”
“You keep sayin’ that,” he said, grabbing his towel, “and I keep not listenin’.”
She stomped off because that was the only defense she had left. She hated how he smirked every time she walked away.
Ray had gone to town, as usual, probably chopping it up with his old buddies. Magnolia was inside resting with Rena. The land was quiet. The kind of quiet that let feelings breathe when they really needed to mind their damn business.
Meadow made it to the porch and started peeling foil back on one of the plates Ray had left behind. Zaire trailed behind her.
“You don’t gotta follow me,” she snapped.
“I don’t,” he agreed, leaning against the post, chest glistening, towel over his shoulder. “I’m just walkin’ in the same direction as you.”
“Mmhmm.”
They stood there for a second - her trying not to look at him, him looking without shame.
Finally, he nodded at the untouched plate. “You gonna eat out here?”
“This is where I always eat my lunch.”
“That’s why you got them little bites all over your thighs…these bugs ain’t no joke,” he said, straight-faced.
She rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her mouth. “Please don’t start with me today.”
“I like ’em though,” he countered, trying to smooth out his words.
Her face scrunched. “The marks on my legs?”
“Your thighs.”
She almost choked on the small sip of water she’d tipped down her tired throat. This was why she avoided him. Zaire was all-consuming and she couldn’t resist being consumed.
“You wanna sit somewhere nicer?”
“Nicer?”
“Ain’t that what I just said?”
Meadow put her hand on her hip. “You don’t even know this land.”
He shrugged. “Then show me.”
Meadow was flustered. “Why?”
He scratched his jaw, looking away for a quick second before his eyes came back to her.
“Might be good for you to walk without working for once. Plus, I need to see something other than you huffing and puffing all day and this grass.”
