“Are you okay?” I ask, but I don’t pause as I raise my keys. We don’t need to stand on my porch a second longer.
“I’m fine,” she says. “But I remember.”
I open the door and usher her inside. Titus’s head pokes up from the couch. He lets out a pathetic half bark and runs over to greet us. Claudia steps half behind me. She drops the handle on her overnight bag.
“Is he friendly?”
“Very. Just hold out your hand,” I say but Titus is already busy sniffing her thigh. She drops her fingers down and gives his head a tentative scratch.
“Hey boy.” The scratch isn’t enough. He wiggles his head under her fingers and when that isn’t enough he sets about licking her whole hand.
I fight a smile and walk into the kitchen to find a blade and a mason jar for the flowers. “Make yourself at home,” I say.
“This is a huge dog.”
“Yeah. We call him the super mutt.”
“Makes sense though. I couldn’t see you with a small dog.”
“It’s not smart to have a pet that large birds can eat out here in the woods.”
“Ah, yeah. That makes way more sense. Not much of a guard dog though, are you?”
I take out my butcher knife and cut off the bulk of the stems. When I turn around, after they are settled in their makeshift vase, Claudia is squatting on the floor rubbing Titus’s face.
“You’re just a giant baby, aren’t you,” she says in pseudo baby talk.
I stand there and look at them for a minute, until Claudia realizes I’m watching her. She stands and clears her throat. “I didn’t think this through,” she says.
“Do you want me to take you back down? I’ll take you back.”
“No,” she says, like that’s a ridiculous idea. She sighs and looks up at the beams above our heads. “I know I mentioned this in the bar, but I still don’t know how to explain it without it sounding nuts.”
“I think we’re past that. How about you just be as honest with me as you can?”
“Deal. But it goes both ways.”
I think for a second before I agree. I know whatever I have to say will definitely cut our night short, but a deal is a deal. “Fine.”
“Your house is really nice.”
“I remodeled the whole interior with my neighbor a few years ago. Did their place too.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “You have neighbors?”
“They aren’t close. Maybe two miles away on the next rise. The road forks toward their place about halfway down the mountain.”
“Oh. Well you guys did a nice job. Not that I have any clue what it looked like before.” I head over to the mantle and grab the framed photo that’s been there for as long as I can remember. I walk over to Claudia.
“This is me and my grandfather. He was showing me how to clean the fireplace.” May-Bell had taken the picture while she was standing in the kitchen. She’d captured more of the great room in its original state.
“Cute kid.”
I put the picture back in its place. I turn around and she’s still standing by the door, still in her coat. “You were saying?”
“Right. Me and my mistakes. Do you ever feel like you’re looking at two shitty options?”
“Before I answer, are we staying for a little while at least? I’d love to offer you a drink. Have a seat or something,” I know my tone sounds dickish, but it’s getting hard to stand around looking at her with so many different variables undecided.
