by D. Duquette
“Oh right, you don’t care. You just up and leave. You don’t leave your address or any way to reach you.”
“Really, Caroline, because I could say the same thing about you.”
I stood there staring at him. I guess he was right.
“You know, you could have just asked my sister for my number, instead of my address.”
“She called you, that…”
“Watch what you say about my sister. She got you here, didn’t she? Now what do you want, Caroline?”
I shook my head at him. It was a mistake coming here. I turned to leave and my right heel dug into the dirt. Corey laughed at my struggle and that was my undoing. I picked up both my heels and flung them at his head. He put his arms up in defense before both shoes hit him.
“I see you still have a good arm. That make you feel better?”
“No!” I yelled, walking past him to retrieve my shoes. I walked barefoot heading towards my car and boy did I want to scream at the top of my lungs. Corey grabbed both my arms abruptly and pulled me back until I crashed into his chest.
“Now hold on a minute. Don’t leave in a huff and a puff. You drove all this way,” he said in my ear. The close proximity was intoxicating.
“Why do you have to be so mean?” I snapped, looking at the ground. I tried to pretend I was still angry, but just with his touch, the fury disintegrated.
“I knew it’d be an argument, so I figured I would cut right to the chase and get it out of your system.”
“That’s not funny. I came here to see how you are,” I said, breaking from his grip and turning to face him.
“I’m okay.”
He wouldn’t make eye contact. I was anything but convinced he was okay.
“How about you? Are you happy?” he asked.
“It pays the bills.”
“Look at you. I almost didn’t recognize you. Guess you moved on this time, huh?”
We just stood there staring at each other, two total strangers who shared so much history.
“Can I show you something?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“First, I have to blindfold you with my hands,” he said, walking behind me. He grabbed my shoes and wound up to throw one into the woods. I watched, completely speechless. “Get these things out of here. This is not you.” Did he just throw my shoe? He wound up and threw the other one.
“Have you gone mental?” I asked. Damn, those were my most comfortable pair.
He didn’t answer me. He stood behind me, wrapping his hands around my eyes and we walked forward. I licked his finger.
“Did you just lick me?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you untouchable too?”
“There you go again,” he said, taking his hands off my eyes and spinning me around. “I am so tired of hearing that,” he said, grabbing my face with both his hands and drawing me to him, kissing me. He broke our kiss and held my head so we were forehead to forehead. “Of course you’re touchable. I just want to be the only guy who’s doing the touching,” he replied, grinning from ear to ear.
My gaze met his. I was completely speechless and I felt a tear fall from my eye.
“I’ve thought about you every day. I hate what I said to you. I loved you then. My head always saw you as a friend, but my heart wanted so much more. The most fulfilling feeling I have ever felt is you and me, knowing everything about one another and loving each other anyway,” he said, just louder than a whisper.
I closed my eyes and the tears ran down.
“Say something,” he said. I shook my head no. I didn’t want to say anything that would ruin the moment. Everything he just told me was what I had been wanting to hear all along.
“I’m too late?” he asked. “You found someone, haven’t you?”
“No,” I said, starting to laugh.
“What could possibly be so funny right now?”
“You realize we argue all the time, don’t you? Tomorrow we will argue, probably the next day and every day next week.”
“No way. We haven’t talked for what, six months? We’ll have to do two to three arguments a day just to catch up for lost times.”
I leapt at him, catching him off guard and finding my lips on his. I wanted him so badly, in the most unfriendly kind of way.
“You ready yet? I was trying to show you something.”
“I just can’t get enough of this,” I said kissing him again. “We might have to take this inside.”
“Down, girl. I’ve been working on something for you.”
“For me?”
“I figured you’d show, eventually. Well, not really, but I knew if and when you did, I would apologize and try to kidnap you.”
“I have to go back to Boston, Corey.”
“I know you, Caroline. It is not you!” He emphasized every word he spoke.
“I just sat for the Massachusetts bar and I’m awaiting my results.”
“You’ll do fine, I’m sure.”
“That’s not the point. If I stay here with you, then all of it was for nothing.”
“If you don’t stay, then all of this was for nothing,” he said tugging at my arm. I followed him. We turned the corner of the house where I saw a field of chickens roaming the back yard. He turned to me. I was smiling foolishly at him.
“Now that all white one there is Sally. She’s my favorite,” he said, letting go of my hand and walking about through the backyard. I followed him. “This one here is Claw because look at her toe, it’s deformed and looks like a claw. That over there is Red Eye because she has a red circle around her left eye.” He started pointing his finger again. “That’s Speckles, the rooster is Storm and oh, the biggest one is her over there. I named her Mother.”
“You have names for all of them?”
“Hell no, there’s thirty of them, but that’s a start. They haven’t started laying eggs yet, but pretty soon. Over there I tried to replicate our treehouse and below is our dance floor. I cut down all those logs from this lot. Eleven acres of nothing but pure beauty.”
I put my hand up to my mouth in awe. I couldn’t believe he had done all this for me.
“Check out that view, huh?”
Corey’s neighbor was right. The view was spectacular; you could see for miles.
“And down here is our garden, I got all the boxes set up and the fence built. I just planted the lettuce since they’re a cool weather crop and these trellises will be for the beans to shade all the lettuce when it gets hotter.”
I looked at him completely dumbfounded.
“I thought you didn’t have a green thumb.”
“For you, I do. I checked some gardening books out from the amazing library they have here. If you ever wanted to go there, I’ll take you, but it’s kind of far. Anyway, I did something every single day for you. If I didn’t, I would have gone mental. I guess in a way it made me feel closer to you.”
“I guess I did something like that too. I brought a coffee to a homeless vet every morning. He has a prosthetic leg like you. He was like my Corey, only you aren’t homeless, very much the opposite apparently.”
“Yeah, I want to live here. This is me, away from all the noise, where I can work with my hands like my father. I’m surrounded by the beautiful nature every day. What more could I ask for?”
I nodded my head.
“Say you’ll stay here with me, that this is your dream too.”
Wow!
“I don’t know. I’ll need to find a job. I need money. I don’t want to end up like my parents.”
“You use your tin can money?”
“Never touched it. I sold my car and put that money in there too.”
“You’re all set then, for a while anyway. Please, do you trust me?”
“Of course I do.”
I went to h
im and kissed him again, pulling at his shirt and lifting it up over his head.
“Do you trust me?” I whispered smiling at him.
“Depends on what I need to trust you with.”
“The most important part of your body,” I said seductively. I unbuttoned his pants.
“My heart?” he asked sarcastically.
“Very funny,” I replied. I stripped down to my bra and underwear.
“Here?” he asked.
“There’s no one in sight.”
He brought me towards the house, kissing my neck. “I don’t want the chickens to watch.” We made our way inside and made love. After we both climaxed and laid there staring at each other panting, we made love again.
I was punch drunk in love. I kept looking at him, wondering if this was real and then I’d wind up smiling and looking silly. I didn’t even have to give it a second thought; of course I was going to give my two weeks’ notice and move here with him. It was a no brainer. If there was anything I knew to be true, you didn’t close the door on happiness.
“I have to return this rental by tomorrow and grab my stuff. I’ll give my two weeks’ notice on Monday and I’ll be back after that.”
“A couple of weeks? I can’t wait that long.”
“We’ve been apart for months. I’m sure you can wait two weeks.”
“I barely made that. I’ve literally been going out of my mind,” he said.
“You’re the one that pushed me away, remember?”
“I wanted you to go make something of yourself. If I hadn’t, you would have stayed where you were and settled. You weren’t happy.”
“So, you had this twisted plan all along?”
“No, hell no. I thought to go after you a thousand times that night. I paced back and forth like a complete idiot. I never wasted so much time thinking about someone. That’s how I knew I loved you. I just wanted you to prove to yourself that you could make it on your own. You had to see for yourself that you are not a failure. You are not a disappointment.”
I stood there just looking at him.
“If I came after you, you wouldn’t have moved to Boston. I would have begged you to stay,” he said.
“I still have so much more room to grow. I hardly know how to cook, not to mention my short temper. I swear I don’t get physical with anyone else but you.”
“Your short temper is my favorite thing about you, Caroline.”
“What? Why?”
“You’re so cute when you’re pissed off. Like a tiny ball of fire and I have no idea which way you’re going to throw your flames.”
I shook my head at him. He sounded ridiculous.
“I still have some growing up to do, too, but I know I want to do it with you.”
****
We drove back to Boston the next morning. I returned my car and then he took me to my apartment.
“Park right there,” I said. I could see my apartment building and Earl sitting in his usual spot. I was happy the weather was warming up for him.
“I can only park here for fifteen minutes? What kind of place is this?”
“A city with lots of vehicles.”
“You have fifteen minutes to pack,” he said.
“Corey…”
“I’m not leaving here without you. You want to go two weeks without seeing me?”
“No.”
“Fourteen minutes,” he said, smiling.
I growled, jumping out of his truck.
“Earl, you want a cup of coffee?” I yelled to Earl down the street.
“Hi, Caroline,” he said, waving when he saw it was me. “Only if you’re making it already, no need to put on a pot for me.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“That’s the guy? Me?” Corey whispered to me as we walked to my apartment.
“I didn’t say he looked like you, I said he’s a veteran with a prosthetic leg like you. Count your blessings.”
“One,” he said looking at me.
“Cute, real cute.” We made our way up the stairs. I unlocked my door and we stepped in. I probably had ten minutes now. Shoot! What can I pack in ten minutes?
“You make some coffee for Earl,” I said to Corey when we stepped into my apartment. “Five of those scoops for three cups and I’ll pack.” I pointed in the direction of the coffee pot.
“How much did you say you pay for this shoebox every month?” he asked, looking around displeasingly.
“Coffee, focus!” I replied.
I found all my bags at the top of the closet in my bedroom. I pulled them down, opening each one up and shoved as much as I could into them. I started piling the bags at the door.
“I’ll take these down.”
“No way, they’ll get stolen. I’ll help you when we’re done.”
“Thank God I’m rescuing you from this place.”
That’s a little dramatic!
I just shook my head, I wasn’t going to argue with him. Boston was a fine city to live in, but just not for me. I’d trade in the sound of sirens for birds chirping and coyotes howling any day.
“Time’s up,” he said, smiling like the brat that he was.
“Done. I don’t care about the furniture. The landlord can keep my deposit to dispose of it.”
“You’re amazing,” he said.
“This is crazy. This might be the craziest thing I have ever done.”
I went to him, throwing my arms up around his neck and squeezing as tight as I could.
“I love you, Caroline.”
I broke from our embrace and looked up at him. Just his words gave me the butterflies. “I love you too.”
We brought my bags down the stairs and carried them to Corey’s truck.
“I’ll call my boss on Monday.”
“You’ll have to drive into town to do that. There’s no cellphone reception where we live.”
We live. I loved hearing those two words.
“Okay, I’ll do an e-mail on our ride home.”
I took Earl’s coffee to him.
“So, I have some bad news, Earl.”
“You’re leaving me.”
“I am. That guy over there, he’s the one.”
“I’m happy for you. You deserve all the happiness in this world.”
“Thanks, Earl. I’ll see you around.”
“Bye, Caroline.”
I hopped into the truck and then felt this pang in my heart for Earl.
“Can I just have one more minute? I promise it’ll be quick.”
“Sure,” Corey replied.
I jumped out and walked back to Earl “Earl, take this and open it when I leave, okay?”
“What is it?” Earl asked, confused.
“Something that might help you. When I leave, okay?”
“Okay. Bless your heart dear, bless your heart.”
I turned and left. I felt the urge to hug him, but he really was pretty nasty. He literally looked like he had just crawled out of a dumpster. I opened the truck door and hopped back in.
“Did you just give that guy your tin can money?” Corey asked.
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because he fought for our country. I don’t know, because I felt compelled to. It’s not like he’s asking for alcohol like some of them do. He’s just looking for food.”
“You know they pay you in the military. You don’t just come home with an empty bank account. He probably made some bad choices that led him to be homeless.”
“And sometimes really shitty things happen to wonderful people.”
THE END
Special thanks to all those who have served in our military, who sacrificed both big and small and to those who were sacrificed. You are all the definition of a true hero.
* * *
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born on October 1, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts, I grew up in Plymouth
where I was encouraged to write in my very first diary given to me by my mother at age nine. It was then I found my love for writing.
I still reside on the east coast with my husband, three children and several farm animals. When I’m not typing away on my keyboard, you can find me in the kitchen cooking up something delicious! I also love crafting, gardening, reading, spending time with my family, venturing outdoors and camping.
I love to hear from readers via comments or emails. I answer personally at this e-mail address:
[email protected]
You can also add me on Facebook, @AuthorD.Duquette
