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Their breasts were engorged with milk. Aussie’s absence made it hard to keep up with the supply, being that it wasn’t in high demand anymore. Just like she loved eggs, milk was her favorite beverage.
With two buckets full of milk and a pouch full of eggs, I began my journey to the house to store everything properly. The sound of a door slamming against the frame caused me to stop, taking a look over by the carport. As suspected, Aeir had returned. My brows crinkled on my face as I squinted to get a better look at her from so far away.
Minding her own business without a care in the world, she rounded the truck. The sight before me made me stumble backward a bit. Something had changed. It wasn’t a small change, but a notable one that left me dumbfounded.
Aeir wore a classic pair of khakis, just like the ones I loved to see Anna in, a cream, silky blouse that stopped above her waist, a small purse, and a new haircut. Gone were the long, wavy strands I’d wrapped my fingers around as I stroked her from the back. They’d been chopped by too many inches, way too many inches. Her hair, now, stopped right above her shoulders and was even all the way around.
Just like Anna.
The one thing that set them apart, she’d managed to obliterate, leaving me weakened. I was depleted of my strength. She’d sucked it right out of me like a vampire after blood. I heard the buckets in my hands hit the ground first. I followed, feeling everything around me blacken.
“Malachi! Malachi.”Softly, my name was repeated, stirring me awake.
I felt a hand on my chest, nudging me to consciousness. When I opened my eyes, there she was. But, it wasn’t her. Not quite. Not exactly. Not really. It wasn’t my Anna, but it sure as fuck felt like an equal contender, and not in a competitive way.
They were both uniquely different while somehow being exactly the same. All the things I loved about Anna, Aeir possessed. All the things I was beginning to obsess over about Aeir, Anna possessed. It was as if God had looked out for a nigga twice. I could only wonder what I’d done to be so blessed.
“Malachi,” she said, again, rubbing the side of my face.
My eyes were playing tricks on me. It was hard to focus as the tears blurred my vision. The beaming sunlight didn’t make it much better, either.
Anna, please, my love,I thought, pleading for my sanity because I was on the brink of losing my shit.
“Should I call Dr. Yurin? Have you been taking your blood pressure medicine? My God, Malachi. You scared me.”
There were only three people, other than the medical staff at my doctor’s office, who knew I had high blood pressure and had my doctor on speed dial. That was Willie, myself, and my Anna. Things were becoming more and more apparent to me, but I was far from ready or willing to accept them.
“Anna,” I muttered. “Why the fuck are you doing this to me, my love?”
I choked out the words that had lodged themselves in my throat. Rapidly, I pushed out and pulled in air, over and over, trying to catch a steady flow. I failed miserably, hyperventilating and depriving myself of more oxygen by the second. It felt like the end for me as I lie on my back, right outside the barn. Tears slid down the sides of my face, colliding with the grass underneath me.
“Malachi.” Aeir’s sympathy resonated in her tone. She leaned over me, blocking the sun and forcing me to face reality.
Anna wasn’t coming, no matter how much I summoned her. She wouldn’t be coming to save me. She’d sent someone who could. And, as kind of her as it was, I found it difficult to accept.
“Give me space, Aeir.”
“I will, Malachi. That’s no problem, but let me help you up.”
Knowing she wouldn’t take no for an answer, I agreed with a nod. On the count of three, we both utilized our combined strength to get me off the ground. The eggs I’d collected were all broken and the milk had spilled. I left everything where it was, promising to clean it up after I got myself together.
Aeir took off in the opposite direction. Though she’d tried to hide her moist cheeks, I’d seen the tears that fell down her face and onto her shirt. I was giving her the blues and she kept returning for more. I watched her up the road, wanting to go after her and apologize for all I was putting her through physically, mentally, and emotionally, but I couldn’t.
First, I had to deal with my own shit and then I’d try my hardest to right my wrongs with her. If we were going to live and work among one another, it was the least I could do. When Aussie returned, I didn’t want the tension as thick as it was. If possible, it needed to be dissolved.
I made it into the house and to my recliner. The call she’d advised me to make, I finally made. When my grandfather answered the phone, every pent-up emotion that existed within me rushed out as my walls came crashing down.
He remained silent, his breathing being the only thing that assured me he was still on the line. It was thirty minutes later when I finally pulled it together.
“Malachi.”
“Yeah, Pops?”
“I’m on my way, son.”
The call ended and the peace I felt at the moment was peace I hadn’t felt in a very long time. My grandfather had raised me from a boy to a man. He’d always been my rock and continued as we both aged. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for either of us. He’d showed us that time and time again. If he said he was coming, then he was coming. I cleared my face with my shirt and waited to hear his car pull up to the house.
* * *
