I lovedthe way the sun shone down on her hair.
It picked out the lighter parts.
Her hair was platinum blonde so how I saw anything lighter was a mystery, but then I’d always been able to see things like that.
Attention to detail. That was me.
The essence of me. I paid attention and took note. Took note of what things looked like and things I used to call details, things like emotions. Normally I’d be trying to assess someone’s emotion or guess what they were up to. Bad guys, criminals, and those who helped further their pursuits.
Attention to detail. I was so good at it and it had taken me this long to realize I hadn’t just taken up some obsessive habit over this woman. I loved her.
I loved her…
I truly loved her, and this was goodbye. Except I wouldn’t say it.
I wasn’t going to say goodbye and that wouldn’t break the promise I made her because I’d seen her first.
There was yesterday, although it started out badly and I very nearly killed Armand. And, there was today.
Right now. This morning. It was all I could spare. Two more hours then Frankie would take over and I’d meet Wes at my apartment to set this plan in motion. From there I’d head to the secret chamber, get the blueprints and make way for the coast of Mexico.
I had it all planned out, all of it, that was my way.
Right now though, and for the next few hours, I was spending it with her in every essence of the word.
We sat in the diner she said served up the best food and I had to agree with her. We’d been here for the last hour talking it up like we were a regular couple.
We’d found one thing we really liked and that was music. Miss Jia liked old forties classics just as much as me. Her mother loved them and she fell in love with them too.
For me it was Jack. He played it all the time at home. All the time every day. It played in the background like it was part of the furniture. He’d said he’d gotten into it during the Gulf war and it helped him. That was his explanation. He didn’t explain how it helped him but he didn’t have to. I understood. He’d told enough war stories for me to get it.
It did the same for me.
“Billie Holiday. I love her,” Jia bubbled. We’d been listing our favorite artists and bands.
I nodded and smiled. “Absolutely baby, you can’t talk blues or jazz without mentioning her. Not one damn bit.”
“No, you can’t. One of my favorite,favoritemovies isForever Young,with Mel Gibson. Did you see it?” Her eyes sparkled with pure excitement. I loved seeing this side of her.
I saw that movie probably a hundred times, again with Jack. Jack and Claire though. Both of them loved that film. To answer her question I reached for the salt shaker, made a show of spilling a little on the table then did exactly as Mel Gibson’s character, Captain Daniel McCormick did when I dashed a pinch in my hand and tossed it over my left shoulder.
She smiled and brought her dainty hands together. I figured if it was one of her favorite,favoritemovies, she’d get what I was doing. She did.
“Oh my gosh you saw it. I love that. Then you know too that there was a lot of Billie Holiday in the film.”
“There was heaps of Billie Holiday in the film. Sometimes I wonder if I watched it because of that. It just had a feel to it that made you wish it wouldn’t end.”
“Yeah, exactly.” She beamed but then something dimmed in her eyes.
It happened earlier when we woke up and she thought I’d left.
I’d left her side only to sit by the window and brainstorm as I watched the sunrise spill all over her.
When she saw that I was still there with her, the happiness was evident in her beautiful face. It even masked the bruise Armand had given her cheek. It helped me look past it and tamp down the rage that roiled within me because someone put their hands on her again.
The dimness came back to her eyes now, probably because of the feeling of not wanting this to end.
The time was also creeping up on us, two hours could go by in a flash.
