“I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone now. I know I can be a bit much. Yell if you need anything. My name’s Skye.” She walks away, and I immediately feel bad. She’s Ava’s mother. But yes, sheisa bit much. I should thank her, though. Or something.
I pull out a couple T-shirts, guessing at the size and fit. I’m going to buy something and leave and never come back. I loop afinger around the hanger for the sundress, to put it aside, then decide that I actually like it. And it’s my size. And it would be nice to have a sundress, even if I just sat on my front porch and wore it. Plus, all my shortsaregetting snug.
“I’ll try it on,” I tell her, joining her at the register, and she beams and walks me to one of the fitting rooms. While I’m pulling off my shirt, she sticks a pair of strappy sandals under the door. “You’ll probably want these too. Size seven?”
I snort out a laugh. “Yes, thank you.”
“I’ll hang some other clothes in your size, from the section you were looking, in case you’d like to try those on as well. I’m having a buy one, get two free in that particular section. And the sandals are half off today.” She clicks away, and I tug on the sundress.
I love it. I mean, I absolutelyadorethe sundress on me—the fit with the slight flare of the skirt and how it doesn’t squeeze my stomach. It fits perfectly, while still allowing for an expanding belly. The soft blue color is delicious with my now-golden complexion.
I peek out at the other clothes she’s hung, and I pull them into the fitting room. After trying them all on, I decide that I want most of them, but I didn’t bring enough cash. And I do have to be careful. I search for the tags to check the prices, but none of them have tags.
When I take everything to the front, Ava’s at the register.
“Hi,” she says, her grin wide. “I found a big dog to lie on my legs.”
I stare blankly at her for a second before I remember what we were talking about in John’s pickup. “You found a willing, furry participant? That’s wonderful!”
She nods, pulling the clothes toward her and stuffing them all into a bag in one fell swoop. “Mom already rung all these up,including that pair of sandals.” She hands me the bag and tells me the total.
“She rang themallup?”
“Yeah.”
“That can’t be the total for everything in the bag.”
“It is.”
I frown at her, and she shrugs. “She said that was the price.”
“But how could she have known what I was going to buy?”
“She’s a real good guesser.”
I blink down at my toes, willing away the tears prickling at my eyes because of Skye’s sincere compassion and generosity toward a woman she believes has no money to spend. In part, she’s right—I don’t have a lot of available cash, and I have to spend carefully. But if I had access to my checking account, I could buy everything in this store.
12
FOX
The sun risesover the strangler figs bordering my property while I pry off and replace the broken boards on the dock. I started work on my property early this morning—after Angelita came to Mom’s house for the early day shift, and I could slip away from Mom.
Although I didn’t mention it to Wren, I saw the sketch of my pond on her coffee table. I don’t want her to think she can’t visit and have the privacy she’s probably seeking, but I want her to be safe if she visits again.
I haven’t been back to my property in months. Maybe closer to a whole year. I’d been thinking about selling it after I finished expanding the spring-fed creek into a pond, building it out by hand, and then landscaping around it. The property wasn’t just for me. It was for my family. My wife, me, maybe a few kids. Or—since I’m not getting any younger—me, my wife, a passel of dogs and a house cat.
Selling the parcel of land would give me a pretty penny even without further repairs or renovations. And anything around here that isn’t marsh land is snapped up quickly. I get offers all the time. I don’t need the money, though. I simply decided I needed to set the dream aside—the wife, the family, the passelof dogs and the house cat. The wife was the only part of the equation, besides me, that was necessary to make a move from May Ranch. And it was looking like the wife wasn’t happening. But then I met Wren, and although it’s only been two days, and I’m not a fool, I’ve been feeling like I might want to wait to sell the land after all.
Maybe I am a fool. But I’m not going to let her slip away before I give us a solid chance to get to know each other. If I haven’t blown it.
After I run home for a quick shower, I follow the same route back to town that Wren would take on her bike. I’m running later than I wanted, but I was hoping to pretend like I just happened to be passing by, so I could cajole her into riding into town with me.
I’ve been kicking myself on not telling Wren that “my date” was with Mom—a last-minute emergency because Carmel’s daughter went into labor. And even worse than not making it clear that I was spending the night with a woman but it was my mom, I blew my chances even more when I stood there like an idiot after she told me she danced professionally. I want to tell her I don’t care if she was a stripper or not. It caught me off guard, and I just didn’t know how to respond. I want to get to know Wren better. I like being with her. And I haven’t felt this way about anyone for a long time.
I’m too out of practice.
Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t stand a chance with her even if I did everything right.
