“What about you?”
“I have a deal with Ben if I go to college and get my business degree, I will be part owner of the shop.”
“Holy shit Jude that’s amazing! I always knew one day your drawings would be out for everyone to see. Well on walls not skin, but I guess on a person it’s like walls because skin is like...” He stopped my buzzed rambling with a kiss. He pulled back from me and took another swig.
“What was that for?”
“It’s called a kiss and I thought your rambling about skin walls or whatever that head of yours thinks up was cute.” He shrugged and continued to take another swig.
I felt my phone buzz again and when I went to check it, it was already five. “Shit we’re late!” I told my mama goodbye and we started walking towards the gate, but I had one last thing to do.
“Where is Mrs. Quinn’s grave?” I asked Jude.
He pointed to the second row back from the gate and said, “The black marble heart in that row.” I squeezed his hand and told him I’d be right back.
When I got over to her grave, sadness washed over me. I put my hand on her tombstone and kissed the top of it saying, “Thank you for saving him and bringing him back to me today. Goodbye Mrs. Quinn, I’ll forever miss you.” Call me crazy, but that gust of wind that brought me Jude’s beanie, I know in my heart was Mrs.Quinn bringing us back together. She always would give me a smile when she would see me and Jude together. I like to think she knew it too that we found our person.
I ran back over to Jude, but I must have drank more than I realized. I ended up tripping on a rock and falling to the ground scraping my knees and hands. Instead of yelling ow, I ended up rolling around laughing.
Jude seemed amused until he saw that I was bleeding. “Madison stop, you’re bleeding everywhere.” He picked me up and started carrying me out of the cemetery.
“I can walk you know.”
“Yeah I know, but how you walk you’ll end up hurting yourself even more. Where am I going?”
“Delilah’s house is a few houses over.”He nodded his head and it was pure silence for a few minutes.
He carried me the whole way, but a few houses down from Delilah’s my body grew rigid. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a car slowly following us. It was the same car from the when I was at the costume shop.
“What’s wrong? You’re all tense.” Jude asked and I motioned with my eyes the black car behind me. He turned his head slightly and I said, “I keep seeing that car. Last time it was when I was on my way to the costume shop and now they’re driving slow and following us.”
Jude stopped walking and turned all the way around to see who it was. They must have know we were catching on because they hit the gas turning on one of the side streets.
“Maybe I’m being paranoid.” I didn’t want to worry Jude, but he had the same look as when we were kids that he wasn’t buying it.
“Have you seen anyone following you besides the car or anything out of place at your house?” His light goofy mood shifted to serious and I knew he wasn’t taking this lightly.
“No everything seemed the same. Maybe I’m just over reacting.”
“Always trust your gut. If something feels off, call me and I’ll be there right away.” Him saying that reminded me of when we were kids and he always tried to keep me safe.
“Ok.” You can tell he was lost in thought and so was I because we passed Delilah’s off by two houses. “Right over there, the blue house, is Delilah’s.”
“Do you not remember where you live little bird?” He said amused.
“Oh shush now and onward!” He was still carrying me, but I was able to slap him on his ass.
“You are so lucky you’re cute!” He warned.
We finally walked into Delilah’s, but I wasn’t the only one who was clutsy. He ended up tripping over the rug and we both went crashing down. Maybe it was because he was the next one to fall or from all the wine we drank, but we were laughing like it was the funniest thing. We laughed so hard we didn’t realize the dining room full of people looking at us.
“Oh dear, are you two alright?” Delilah came over to help me up. My cheeks were burning red from all the questioning stares . The only two who didn’t seem surprised was Stella and Rem.
“Yeah sorry Delilah. Delilah this is Jude and Jude this is Delilah.” Delilah’s eyes widen and she mouthed to me, the Jude, in plain sight for him to see. Talk about embarrassing.
“Hello Delilah. I hope it’s ok I join you for Thanksgiving?”
“Of course dear any friend of Madison’s is a friend of mine. This Is Scott and everyone else I’m sure you know.” Delilah motioned to Doc and all our friends sitting at the table still staring at us. Knox looked the least happy out of everyone.
“Oh goodness Madison you’re bleeding. Go clean it up and I’ll have the food out and ready for when you come down.”
“Yes ma’am.” I headed upstairs to clean my cut out. I was only in the bathroom for a minute before someone came knocking on the door. I opened it and I wasn’t surprised to see Knox there. “Happy thanksgiving Knox.” I leaned in the door way so he couldn’t come inside.
“Happy thanksgiving Maddie. I have to say I’m surprised to see you come inside with Jude. I thought you two didn’t like each other?”
“We ran into each other and settled our differences.”
“Interesting.” And here we
