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I nodded slowly. “That’s exactly right.”
“I love that philosophy too,” she said, leaning a bit closer. Her sapphire eyes sparked. “Go on.”
God, she was so fucking beautiful. So incredibly attractive, inside and out. As a woman, she was everything I could physically hope for; long-haired, curvy, absolutely gorgeous. But as a person…
As a person she was even more wonderful. I’d admired Madison from the beginning, even before her uncle got sick. She was strong and independent, almost to the point of fearlessness. Best of all, she wasn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty.
When Travis got sick, she took care of him — dedicated every last ounce of her time to him. She did it lovingly, too, and without expectation. She took the whole sad ride with nothing but her uncle’s own love and gratitude in reciprocation.
It was a ride I knew well. One that was both beautiful and painful to watch.
“When I was just a teenager, my father got abruptly sick,” I said. “Cancer. Stage four. It happened within weeks, not years. A nightmare whirlwind of hospital visits and failing treatments, and then he was gone.”
Her beautiful face went white with sorrow. Genuine sorrow too, coming from someone who understood.
“Oh Julian… I’m so, so sorry.”
“I know you are,” I said simply. “Of all people, you’re one who could actually understand.” I reached out and set my bottle down, empty. “That’s why I just told you.”
She was smart enough to stay quiet. To let me continue, rather than take the opportunity to talk.
“We had so many fun times as a family,” I said, looking down at my tattoo. “But after he was gone, it all fell apart. Everything decayed, even the house. I watched it all go to shit, despite trying my best to keep up with it.”
Madison was staring at me, glassy-eyed and sniffling. Fighting back tears of sympathy that I usually despised, yet somehow, not from her.
“When my father died, my mother was a zombie. She went blank for a while, and I had to take over.”
“How old were you?”
“Fourteen,” I said.
“My God, Julian.”
“Yeah.”
I saw her dab at her temples with a tissue. Rub gently at the edges of her beautiful eyes. I didn’t want her to cry, though. That wasn’t the reason for this.
“Anyway, I became man of the house,” I said. “I took good care of my younger siblings, but when it came to everything else I couldn’t keep up. I saw the backyard we played in so often go to total shit. The pool we had so much fun swimming around in, depressingly empty, the liner all shredded. A foot of green, scummy water, lying at the bottom…”
I winced a little at the memory, but caught myself quickly. Leaning the chair back to the floor, I sat up straight again.
“Anyway, I got caught digging up rocks from a nearby wooded property,” I said, “while trying to fix our retaining wall. The guy followed me back to my house. He admired my work, but told me I had shit technique. Then he took the wall back apart, and showed me how to put it together correctly.”
“Let me guess,” said Madison. “He was a stonemason?”
“Sure was.”
She reached across the table and laid her hands over mine. It was a sweet gesture.
“And so I’m guessing he taught you?”
“He apprenticed me, first,” I said. “It wasn’t until after half a dozen jobs that he actually started paying me. I took my first paycheck and bought a new pool liner.” I couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll never forget my little sisters’ faces when they caught me filling it up. How happy and excited they were, to see that crystal clear water again.”
The memories flooded back, all at once. The pride. The happiness. The thrill at finally going forward, and not back.
But also… the anger. The resentment I had for my mother, who’d done nothing but grieve, in all this time.
“Soon they were diving in,” I went on. “Swimming around, splashing each other. I got the yard looking good again, like it did when my father was alive. My mother even came to sit outside sometimes…” I frowned. “While still drinking her face off, of course.”
