The scars she’d said she didn’t care about, and the new ones probably forming on my face from last night, felt less glaring than they had yesterday.
I touched my cheek, expecting to find scabs or tears in the skin from having it shoved into gravel, but there was nothing.Just a little puffiness.
Rising from the bed carefully, I searched the room for some kind of reflective surface and found a vintage cheval mirror in the corner.That had to be Devo’s style.My sister had always been a ten-dollar-Walmart-mirror kind of girl.
Stepping closer, I squinted, trying to see new imperfections, but all I could find were two thin, tiny scratches over my cheek bone.And the old scars on my face and arms seemed duller and less pronounced.Maybe AJ was right, and my scars had already started to forget me.
At first, I thought,It has to be a trick of the light,but as I inspected myself,my eyes following the story of addiction written in lines, mars, and marks on my skin, and the two slices from a boot knife I’d received as payment for stealing someone else’s dope, I realized they’d faded over time, and they seemed to fade even more right before my eyes because I wasn’t letting them lead.
The angry, sorrowful, shamed part of my life was over.I could hold my head high.I could allow myself to want good things, maybe even expect?—
Abey’s front door closed in the living room, and I heard Bax’s voice and then Stu’s.
“He awake yet?”Bax said.
“Where’s Deedee?”
“They’re still sleepin’,” Abey whispered.“Shh.Give him a few more minutes, okay, Stu?Deedee’s tired this mornin’.”
“Okay,” my son whispered back to his aunt, but then Devo broke the hush.
The door slammed closed this time.“Babe!Wait till you see the monster tomatoes I just harvested for breakfast.They’re huge!And we’ve got cucumbers and green peppers.I picked spinach, too, for Roxi’s frittatas.She and Brand just got here.They’re outside, talkin’ to Merv.”
“Devo!”Abey yelled in a whisper.“Dixon and Avery Jane are still asleep.Can you talk a little louder?”
“Oh shit.Sorry.”
“Aunt Devo said ‘shit,’” Stu informed everyone, and then the door opened and closed again, and Athena chimed in.
“Y’all got orange juice?I need vitamin C.Shaylene says it’s good for my skin.”
Good things.
Yeah, maybe I could get used to them.
“In the fridge,” Abey replied.
The bedcovers rustled, and then AJ’s voice washed over me like a caress.
“Whatcha doin’?”she asked, and I turned to see her sleepy hazel eyes focused on me.
“Nothin’.Just wakin’ up.”I stepped back to the bed and slid in beside her.I pulled her close, loving how strands of her hair tickled my chest when she rested her head there.
“Sounds like your entire family’s out there.”
Suddenly, the low boom of Rye’s voice could be heard louder than all the rest.
“I get this is a family thing,” he said, “but can a cowboy snag a few pieces of that bacon before a long day?”
“Youarefamily, dumbass,” Bax replied, and as expected, Stu reported the curse.
“Daddy said ‘ass.’”
“You up for it?”I asked AJ.
Looking up at me, love and loyalty shining in her eyes, she vowed, “Name the place and time, Tweedledum, and I got your back.”
“I think we need new nicknames.”
