Looking out his window, his eyes focused on the mountains, rising and falling over the many grand peaks.“Yeah?”
“It’s gonna be okay.You got this.AndI’mhappy you’re home.You fit with me.”
ChapterSixteen
Dixon
Avery Jane Harlowewas an angel from Heaven above.
I followed and watched as she flitted and danced from room to room in the retirement part of Mountain Home, saying hello to the residents and passing out loose flowers to brighten their day.I felt uncomfortable and unwelcome in a place of healing, but that wasn’t a new feeling for me, and if AJ wanted to be here, there weren’t a lot of other places I’d want to be.
She pulled a thick pair of wool socks from her bag and handed them to an old woman who accepted AJ’s gift like the socks had been woven out of strands of gold.
“So your feet don’t get so cold and achy,” AJ said with a smile, and the woman looked like she might be holding back tears.
“Thank you, child.How thoughtful.”
A man interrupted us in the doorway to the TV room.
“Avery Jane?Who’s this?I thought you kicked your good-for-nothin’ boyfriend to the curb.”
AJ turned slowly, a mischievous grin growing on her lips.“Oh, you know I did, Callum.Why?You jealous?”
Callum blushed.“Well now, I’m just curious.You show up here with this man, and I gotta wonder.”
“This is my friend, Dixon.He grew up in Wisper and just moved back.Dixon, this is Callum Craig.He broke a hip last month, but you’d never know by lookin’ at him.”
Callum nodded and looked me over, head to toe.“What is your occupation, young man?”
“M-my occupation?”
“What do you do for a livin’?”
The old Dixon snapped back, “I knew what you meant, old timer.”Being hounded by old men tended to get my hackles up.
His only response was a lifted eyebrow and a pointed stare, but there was kindness in his eyes.He hadn’t meant anything by his question.
“I’ve had a lot of jobs.I’ve worked sheep and cattle.I fix stuff.But my last job was fellin’ lumber.”
“Ah, a lumberjack.”
Lumberjack didn’t exactly describe the job I’d worked in the Cascades, but it was close enough, and I didn’t imagine this man Callum actually cared about my job history.He just wanted to know if I was good enough, if I earned enough money to be good enough for AJ.
I wasn’t, and I didn’t.
“I’ve chopped down a few trees in my time,” he said.“It’s a good job.Satisfyin’.Why’d you quit?”
“Yes, sir, it is.I didn’t quit so much as I left the PNW to come home.”
“And why’d you come home?”
“Family.I-I have a son.He’s here.”
“Oh, well that’s nice.A son is a good thing to have.I have two, and four grandsons to boot.Would you like to see pictures?I’ve got a ton.”
“Sure,” I said after AJ nodded and urged me to go with Callum.
“Avery Jane is a special woman,” he said as we entered his room.There were pictures taped up all over the walls of people he wanted to be reminded of and drawings I imagined his grandsons had made for him with happy stick-figure families and dogs.“Have a seat.”
