“Well I love sleep.If I could sleep twenty hours a day, I would.”
“So then, why the midnight walkabouts?”
She sighed, and her shoulders dropped what seemed like twelve inches.
“What’s wrong?”I asked as I stepped off the porch and joined her on the sidewalk.“Somethin’ to do with the flower shop?”
“No.It’s not that.It’s a… a guy.”
“Oh.”I hadn’t expected that answer.I didn’tlikethat answer.
“It’s not a big deal.He’s just a little persistent, and I’m kinda fed up.”
It had been a million years, but the old urges I’d had when I’d seen her at school or around town when we were teenagers came back.We didn’t speak more than a word or two in passing back then; our happy childhood had faded with the years.My anger at my family, my mother, the world, had washed them away, but I still noticed AJ.She grew taller, curvier, and she’d always been so smart.
Maybe I was creepy because I couldn’t stop noticing now how her hips swelled and dipped in around her waist.Her thick hair fell behind her slim shoulders.It dusted her shoulder blades and shone under the moon.And her lips?Full, pink, and perfect.And God, those freckles on her nose— I wanted to kiss each one.She wasn’t much taller than five-five, and if I held her, she would’ve fit in my embrace like she was made to.
Holding her hand like I had when we were kids, the touch of her skin on mine felt magnetic.I wrapped my fingers around hers, took a tentative step down the sidewalk, and she followed.We walked together slowly, and it felt so much like old times and peaceful, it almost scared me.
“He live around here?”I asked, thinking if he did, I’d be glad to go this jackoff’s house and have aconversation.
“No.He lives east of Jackson, but he keeps callin’ me.”
“Can’t you block his number?”
“I have many times.”
Stopping and turning toward her, I asked, “Don’t you only have to do that once?I admit, I’m no cell phone expert.I don’t own one, but I thought that was a one-and-done kinda thing.”
“You don’t have a phone?”
“Not anymore.”
“How do you talk to your son?”
“I… I don’t.”
ChapterNine
Avery Jane
Jesus,Avery Jane!How many times are you gonna remind this man of all the wrong he’s done?Pretty sure he’s quite aware.
“Sorry,” I said, pulling on his hand and dragging him with me as I continued walking.
“You know about Stu?”he asked.
“’Course I do.I’ve met him a few times.”
Dixon pulled my hand this time and turned me.There was so much hope in his eyes.“You have?What’s he like?”
“He’s… delightful.Funny and caring.He and his mom came into the shop once when I was teeterin’ on a ladder and hangin’ up my strands of flowers on the back wall.I dropped my hammer and a box of nails, and Stu crouched down and picked up every last one.
“Sometimes I see them all walkin’ downtown, and he always waves to me and smiles.”
The matching smile dawning on Dixon’s face was so beautiful that I wanted to reach up and touch my fingers to his lips so I could feel his happiness.
Looking up at him, I said, “He’s a storyteller, like you.”
