Chapter 12
Izzy woke up on Monday morning feeling energized from the weekend for once. He’d gotten rest on Sunday and boy had he needed it after Wyatt’s visit the previous day.
Izzy stretched in bed and smiled. They’d had sex—because Izzy thought anything including one’s genitals definitely counted as sex—and it had been so fucking good. Maybe he’d just never met a Wyatt before? Maybe that had been his problem with sex? All it seemed to take was meeting the right person, clichéd as it sounded.
Maybe he needed to research that too, once he paid off his debt to Vinny and managed to save enough for a secondhand laptop. He really wanted to be able to browse the internet, because all the trailers had a joined wi-fi and that was a luxury for sure.
Sam had come home late Sunday night and crashed immediately. Izzy wasn’t at all surprised that he could use the bathroom in peace and got the coffee running before Sam trudged to the bathroom, grunting something monosyllabic when he saw Izzy.
Izzy got dressed and made a few sandwiches.
“What’s with you?” Sam asked, peering at him over the rim of his coffee mug when he finally made it to the kitchen.
“Why?”
“You’re all, I don’t know…smiley.”
Izzy pushed over one of his sandwiches and shrugged. “Had a nice weekend, I guess. How was yours?”
“Family. My sister’s pregnant again. Third time in five years, I think. Uncle’s second wife got hammered at the party.”
“What was the party about again?” Izzy asked, before biting into his sandwich.
“Sister’s anniversary. They’ve been married for ten years now. Anyway, nothing too exciting, basically all sorts of small scale family drama you’d expect.”
Izzy nodded, even though he didn’t really know. If people weren’t screaming at one another or someone wasn’t hitting someone else, Izzy didn’t have a clue, personally.
“I’m gonna go help Patty with setting up the booth. Talk to you later,” Izzy said finally, once he felt caffeinated enough and Sam too was starting to seem cognizant.
“Yeah, I’ll be at the hydroponic greenhouses today. Checking with Justin that everything is running smoothly.”
* * * *
Patty was cheerful as ever, especially when Izzy offered to do all the heavy lifting for her.
“Thank you, my angel. How was your weekend?” she asked, making sure all the signs were put in the right spots for every crate Izzy lifted onto the sales table.
“Really good, actually. I enjoy living here a lot.”
“Mm, falling in love would do that to one,” she said in her usual tone, and he glanced at her quickly.
Then, before he could prevent himself, he asked, “How do you know that?”
She seemed about to answer, but then closed her mouth as though she was lost in thought for a moment. Part of him hoped that she’d take the easier way, that she’d answer the question how she knew he was falling in love. But sharp and shrewd as she was, she hummed thoughtfully instead.
“They become the center of your universe, slowly but surely. Every time something nice happens or you experience one of those a-ha moments and feel happy, you want to tell them immediately.” She checked the cash box and counted the money in it as she continued. “Sometimes you know that person for years before you realize they’ve become something more. It can be a friend or a neighbor or a coworker. Someone you see a lot maybe, and then one day you look at them and go ‘oh wow’ and that’s it.”
“That happen to you?” Izzy asked, then went to get the last box of peppers from the truck bed they used to lug stuff around the property.
“Oh yes, twice in my life. Married one of those guys, actually.” She grinned. “But it can also happen another way. You can meet someone new, and it’s instant. In those cases I’d say it’s the essence of that person that calls to you somehow. As if your soul, or whatever you believe makes us who we are, recognizes something in them before your conscious brain gets on with the program.”
“Has that happened to anyone you know?”
“Several people, myself included. My second husband.” She winked and giggled with delight. “I felt like I belonged with him. Like he was home. And the sex, it wasamazing.” She let out another girly giggle and wiggled her eyebrows.
Izzy rolled his eyes and closed the tailgate of the truck. “But how do you know it’s real?”
She looked at him with gentle expression and smiled like Izzy thought a real mother would. “You don’t. You hope and you dream and you leap.”
