“That’s absurd, and a long walk for that matter.”
She nods while picking up various pieces of metal and looking at me confused. “What is all this?”
I stand and take the metal from her. “Why did you not bring your car?”
She shrugs. “I had a warranty issue on it, recalled filter or something. I took it to Doug’s Auto a few miles from here. I asked Lex to drop me off here so we could talk.”
I nod in understanding. Going to Doug’s is close enough to play the whole, ‘I was in the area’ scenario. I hold up the metal. “This is a part to a chandelier I am building.”
I see the look of understanding click. “That’s right, Lex said you were fabricating some metal and steel in your new place.”
I set it down and reach for the water again. “Yeah, taking a breather from the needle and trying to get my feet on stable ground again.”
She stares at me, the silence tense. “So? We gonna cut the shit and talk or are you here to kill time?”
I know I sound like a dick, but I am close to snapping from the tension.
“I think I owe you an apology.” She speaks softly, not looking at me.
“I don’t need your pity apology. You know where I stand Mya.” I chuck the bottle and leave her sitting there in my garage as my unimpressed-self heads inside.
She follows me like I knew she would. I have never played the game with Mya. We have always had a connection, something real and alive. Playing games and beating around the bush is beneath us.
“It isn’t pity, Sully.”
I cringe hearing her call me Sully. She loved being in my head and my world where I was Sam. She loves Sam. “What is it then, Amyah?”
She glares at me for calling her that. Tit for tat.
“I’ve been selfish. I have only been looking at my side of things.” She shrugs, not out of indifference, but out of accountability, maybe?
“Well, apology accepted. Not like I don’t deserve your anger.”
“I’m not angry. I’m sad and confused and I feel like I got that letter yesterday because it is all still fresh.”
I grab a beer for us both, ignoring the Patron that defines us. “It is for me too, but there was so much going on in my head. I wish you could understand.”
“Help me understand then?” She says and though I hate to rehash anything… for her I will explain it all.
Mya
I know he doesn’t want to explain, but I know he will for me. I need the answers only he can give me.
“Is this for closure? That it?” He asks with a disgusted tone. The girl’s words earlier ring through my head.
“Maybe, maybe it will enlighten me or give me reason to move on. Neither one can happen without this conversation Sul.”
He is breathing heavy and I know that all I am doing is pissing him off. How we went from something so intense and wonderful to this… is hard to believe.
“I killed a man Mya. I spent ten years holding out hope my kid would be back. I spent two years in prison and in all of it? All I saw was that I now I’m a fucking felon. It is humiliating Mya.”
I nod, totally understanding his point, needing him to see mine. “I didn’t care about the record shit. I was there from the minute she was found until they cuffed you right there in the court room. I watched what effect it all had on you. I don’t blame you for killing him I never did.”
He nods rolling his eyes making me feel like my position on it means nothing. It is infuriating. “Maybe that’s true, but you aren’t the typical girlfriend Mya. Your brother and Lex, the PIT? All those things made it a media frenzy. I saw the headlines before they came; I know how twisted they would get. I wasn’t about to bring this shit storm down on you and your new business while I sat rotting in a cell and had no power to stop it.”
“So what? ‘Poor little young naïve Mya couldn’t handle it, so I’ll dump her?” I used a mocking tone while rolling my eyes.
“Mature, Pet.”
