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“Good, then we’ll see you in a few hours.” I held up Biscuit to his face. Her tail wagged as she stuck out her tongue at him. “Do you want to give her a kiss goodbye?”
“No, not her,” he said, putting his hand on my arm. He leaned down and kissed my cheek. His lips lingered on my cheek for a moment, then he slowly pulled away. I resisted the urge to drag him into my office for a welcome home fuck. There would be time for that later, if that’s what he wanted.
“Sir, did you want to pay your bill?” Wendy was behind the counter, watching us, grinning. It thrilled her to interrupt our moment. I guess she had never seen me drool over a man before.
“Oh, yes,” Shane said, reaching around for his wallet. He stepped to the counter and handed her his credit card. “Here you go.”
“Okay, then,” I said. “We’ll see you around seven-thirty.” I held Biscuit close to my cheek and started toward my office. I paused before going through the door and turned back to look at him.
“Something else?” he asked, his dark eyebrows arched.
“Biscuit says we’ll be hungry,” I said, smiling. “Wanna order us a pizza?”
He smiled back and arched his dark eyebrows. “Thin crust, meat lovers, extra cheese?”
“Good memory,” I said with a wink. “See you soon, Shane. We’re glad you’re home.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “Me, too.”
12
Shane
Annabel Lee was always at the back of mind, regardless of where I was or what I was doing or who I was doing it with. She was always sixteen in my mind’s eye because that was my last point of reference; a skinny girl with promising boobs, Indian skin and cheekbones, long black hair, and dark brown eyes. I often tried to imagine how she would look now, all grown up, a woman, no longer a girl. I knew she would be beautiful, even more beautiful than when she was a gangly kid, but I had no idea just how beautiful she really would be until I turned and saw her staring at me from across the lobby of her office.
My heart literally missed a beat when I saw her standing there. It was like seeing an angel waiting to usher you into Heaven. At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, like I was seeing a ghost or letting my imagination replace my reality. Only when she smiled and came at me with her arms out did I start to believe it was real. Then she wrapped her arms around my waist and melted into me, her head on my chest, my nose in her hair, the smell of her shampoo, the sound of her breathing. It was real. After all these years Annabel Lee was back in my arms where she belonged.
As I left her office my feet were barely touching the ground. I could not remember the last time I had felt so… so… fuck… what was I feeling? I thought I might even be smiling. I was warm all over and I knew it wasn’t just from the sun beating down on me as I climbed into the rental car and drove away. Then the radio was on. I was humming. What the fuck? I don’t hum…
Her smile lingered in my mind. Her words tickled my ears like feathers.
“See you soon, Shane,” she’d said. “We’re glad you’re home.”
“She’s glad I’m home,” I said, smiling at the man staring back at me in the rearview mirror. “She’s glad I’m home.”
I shook my head and chuckled out loud, then took a last-minute turn into the Food King parking lot to pick up a few groceries for the week. It looked like I might be sticking around for more than a few days after all.
I couldn’t tell you the last time I’d pushed a shopping cart around a grocery store. I ate in the mess hall when I was on base. I ate rations in the field and fast food when I could get it. I never shopped for groceries because I didn’t cook. Hell, I didn’t even buy beer or liquor from a store. I had witnessed what booze did to my old man. I’d never touched a drop of the stuff and I never would. When I was carousing the bars with my pals I drank Coke or Ginger Ale. My SEAL buddies never failed to give me a ton of shit for it, but I was usually the sober one leaving with the best-looking woman at the end of the night.
The Navy had spoiled me to my own detriment. I hadn’t had to fend a meal for myself in years and the contents of my buggy proved that fact. Since I had no clue what to buy, I decided a good strategy would be to fill up the buggy with the crap I recognized that I used to eat as a kid.
So far, I had four boxes of Pop Tarts (one cherry, one strawberry, and two brown sugar cinnamon), three giant bags of chips (Ruffles, barbecue, and sour cream and onion), a stick of bologna and a pack of hot dogs, a box of crackers and a loaf of bread, a bottle of ketchup, and three 64-ounce bottles of Mountain Dew and one Coke. I also had two boxes of Lucky Charms and a gallon of whole milk, and six microwave burritos that had a picture of a jackass wearing a sombrero on the side. I hoped that wasn’t indicative of how they would taste.
I was standing in the produce department wondering how you could tell if a watermelon was ripe when I saw her. A pretty blonde with big hair and big tits and a big smile, all of it heading my way. I tried to place her. When I glanced into her eyes her name came to me, as did the memory of her lips on my cock and the feel of her round ass cheeks in my hands. It was Juju. Juju Wheeler. The girl who cost me Annabel Lee. No, that’s bullshit. What Juju and I did was my choice. It was my fault. I couldn’t lay one ounce of blame on her, no matter how hard I had tried over the years.
“Oh my god,” she squealed as she rolled her buggy up next to mine. “Shane Mavic? Is that you?”
“It’s me,” I said, feeling my face flush for some reason. She had her arms out, wiggling her fingers at me.
“Well give me a hug,” she said, her Texas twang in full bloom. I leaned down so she could hug my neck. I put my hands on her waist rather than around it. She pulled back and held my face between her hands. “I swear to the good lord above, it is so good to see you. How long has it been?”
“Eleven years,” I said with a nod. I resisted the urge to spell it out in the precise number of days, minutes, and seconds. “How are you?”
“Well, I’m just as fine as I can be,” she said, taking a step back and looking me up and down. “Look at you. All grown up. And, oh my lord, would you look at those muscles?” She gave my right bicep a squeeze. “Hard as a rock is what you are.”
“Well…” I didn’t quite know what to say. I hadn’t spoken to Juju since the night Annabel caught her blowing me in the back of my mom’s car. I saw her at school after that, but always managed to avoid talking to her. It was probably a shit move on my part, but I was trying to convince Annabel to take
me back and I knew associating with Juju wasn’t going to help matters. I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the buggy and mustered a smile.
