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Later, Carl had gently taken me by the arm and walked me out back, sitting on a milk crate.
“You can’t make those signs anymore, kiddo.”
My face flushed.
“Davis is an oddball, and he doesn’t like to be noticed. So things like that, they make him uncomfortable.”
Nodding, I kept my eyes down, still too embarrassed to look my father’s friend in the eye.
I asked, “Can you keep this between us?”
He stood, let out a sigh, and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Honey, he’s five years older than you…a crush is harmless, but I need to know you understand that he’s too old for you. But yes, I’ll keep it between us.”
I smiled, my face turning a horrible shade of pink. I was going to die of embarrassment.
“I know he—”
“That means he’s twenty-one, Rae. He can drink, and you can’t even drive yet, baby girl. Let the crush go.”
I had just turned sixteen…I didn’t have my license yet, but it wasn’t too far-fetched to imagine myself with Davis. Carl was acting like I was in middle school or something.
Placating the man whom I knew more as an uncle than a boss, I gave him a firm nod and stayed outside for a while longer after he went back inside.
I understood the age difference, I did. I just also knew that soul mates wouldn’t care about a thing like age. Davis was my soul mate. There was no one on this planet that could tell me any different, and I’d wait as long as I had to for him to see that.
7
DAVIS
The pressureunder my ax felt good as I split another massive log. The crack in the air was my only soundtrack as I worked out my aggression from the previous night’s dinner. I was angry, but mostly at myself, because over the past few years, as Roger and Millie had talked up their daughter, I had actually looked forward to meeting her. I wouldn’t call it a crush, so to speak, but I wanted to meet the daughter of my two favorite people.
Shit, maybe itwasa crush.
Regardless, the notion of wanting to meet her was stupid.
I had known back then that this amazing woman, living in New York, following her passions and dreams, would likely never settle down again in Macon, and if she did, she’d never be interested meeting the likes of me. Not a broken, antisocial recluse that would rather be alone and miserable than surrounded by people.
Humiliation spurred me on, lining up log after log. Each hit landed harder and harder until my hairline was soaked, my shirt too. I thought over the words I said to Rae, and how I had envisioned our first meeting going so many times that it was pathetic.
When the Jacksons had first requested that I come to dinner, I was so nervous that I had turned Roger down. I wasn’t ready to meet Rae, not after I had pictured what it would be like so many goddamn times.
But then he had mentioned that she was having a hard time adjusting—that her time in New York hadn’t been easy on her. He hadn’t really expanded too much, but I knew by his tone that he was worried about his daughter. I also knew that it was only a matter of time before our worlds connected due to how close I had become to her parents. So, I agreed.
I had even bought flowers but left them in my truck at the last second because I didn’t want to seem like a complete idiot. Thank fuck for that.
Still, I hadn’t been prepared for her ire toward me. She detested me, and wasn’t that just sobering as hell?
The girl I had been secretly somewhat crushing on for years hated me and wanted her parents to have nothing to do with me. Not only that, but she also thought I was pathetic.
I turned to grab another log, swiping at my forehead when my dogs started barking. Turning, I watched as Roger Jackson made his way toward me in his truck, stopping just short of the woodpile.
Tossing the ax, and calming Duke and Dove, I waited for him to exit the car.
Roger Jackson was like a human pillar: strong, stoic, and always thoroughly thought through his questions before he asked them. He wore pleated pants, loafers, and sweater vests, but he didn’t have a judgmental bone in his body. He gave more than he had of his time, money, and resources, to everyone he knew. I constantly felt honored that he’d drive all the way up here to see me; that he laughed at my jokes and he took interest in my life.
Best of all, my past didn’t scare him.
So Little Miss Sunshine had another thing coming if she thought she could scare me off.
