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“Come in here Jesse boy!” She laughed and hugged him fiercely.
“Hi Shelby,” he said in his best Eddie Haskell voice.
“I’ve missed you boy!” She said. She sobered, bringing her fists to her hips, “Why haven’t you been to church lately?”
He shifted from foot to foot, “Well, you know.....”. He rubbed the back of his neck, exposing his tattoo.
“Land alive!” My mom said forgetting her question. “What is that foolish thing on your neck Jesse Thomas!” She gasped. “Does your mama know about that?”
I sat up a little.
“I got a tattoo. You don’t like it?” He asked, sheepishly.
She grabbed his chin and turned his head this way, then that way, examining it from all sides.
“Hmm, I guess it ain’t that bad,” she lied.
“What are you cooking there?” He asked her, desperate to change the subject..
“I’m not cooking baby. I’m baking. A pie. Blueberry. Want some? It’s almost done baking. I’ve got vanilla ice cream to go with it.”
“Heck yeah, I do!”
I sat in my chair and bristled while my mom showed Jesse some new kitchen contraption that he could probably have cared less about. Jules came and sat on my knee.
“Hi,” she whispered in my ear.
“Hi,” I said, trying very hard not to smile.
“Feel like explaining your kiss to me? Or maybe the slap on my bum?”
“No,” I said, defiantly. “It felt like the right thing to do. That’s all.”
“Mmm, hmm.”
She kissed my neck softly and let me know what she was thinking. Disappointed with a twinge of satisfaction.
“Liked it, did you?”
“Didn’t you catch the main feeling?”
“Yeah, but that’s not the one I’m most interested in.”
“You’re incorrigible,” she laughed.
“Well, I’m gonna’ head out,” Jesse said suddenly.
“Not staying for pie?” My mom asked.
“Nah, I’ve got a friend I’d told I’d meet and I don’t want to keep them waiting.”
“Okay, if you have to, son. It was good to see you. Don’t be such a stranger!”
He nodded then turned to Jules.
“Julia, it was fun. We should do it again sometime.”
“Of course,” she said, tossing her head toward me, “but next time I think we should bring a certain someone with us.”
