“I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable. Why would compliments that are true make you uncomfortable? You are sexy, beautiful, smart, funny.”
“Thank you. Unlock the front door and charm the little girls and leave the old ladies alone.”
“I can’t charm everybody?” Jason walked to the front door and unlocked the door.
“It sure seems that way.”
“Well, what about if I just charm you.”
“Your charm doesn’t work on me.” I twisted my lips.
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true.”
“That kind of truth hurts my feelings. Look at my face.” Jason walked up to the countertop. He pushed my bottle of Windex to the side and leaned over to peer at me.
“I’m looking at your face.” I could stare too. There was no way I was going to back down. He did this all the time. He was trying to rattle me. This kid who couldn’t even buy alcohol wouldn’t get me frazzled.
“What do you see when you look into my eyes?” He asked.
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
“You want me to tell you what you’re supposed to see, when you look at me?”
“Yes, Jason. Jesus. Tell me now before another gray hair springs from my scalp.” He was frustrating.
“Okay, you ready?”
“I was ready back in nineteen-eighty-five.” When Ronald Reagan was president.
“You have such nice lips.”
I rolled my eyes. “Jason, stop giving me the dreamy eyes. They’re a waste of time.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Stop staring at my lips.”
“They’re so tasty.”
“And you should’ve never tasted them.” I snapped. This boy was too much.
“Why not?”
“You know why?”
“Are you still hung up on the age thing? I thought you were over that.”
“Why would you think that?”
“You know that I’m a talented kisser. I’m well-traveled. I know more Stevie Wonder songs than you do and can play them on the guitar.”
“Those are all lovely qualities that a beautiful nineteen-year-old girl would be very impressed with.”
“Fuck them. I want to impress you. Tell me, boss lady. What are you looking for in a man?”
“First, I’m not looking for a man. Second just gone right back to the first.” I shook my head no.
“Don’t be difficult. You know what I mean.”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes Kat, I really want to know before I’m old enough to grow a full beard.”
Jason walked around the counter and took the highchair behind me. I turned to face him so he wouldn’t have a direct line to stare at my ass. He did that quite often but he wasn’t going to do it now. I wasn’t having it.
I leaned back on the glass. “If I were looking for a man he would be around my age, maybe a year or so older. So we could talk about things that happened in our lives that we were both around for because we were both born more than two decades ago.”
“So basically things that could be read in a history book.” He brushed his hair back and his muscle popped out but he didn’t see me notice. “What else?”
“Tall, dark, handsome. He doesn’t have to have a perfect body. He can have a few pounds on him.”
“I’m tall and handsome and I can get a spray tan. I’m not risking skin cancer for anybody. I’m joking. I don’t fear skin cancer. What else?”
“I prefer a man without tattoos. I don’t have anything against tattoos but I find them distracting. You have two tattoos.”
Jason looked down at his inner wrist tattoo. “I have more than two tats.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I would have to be naked for you to see all of them.”
“Well, that’s not necessary. I’m not into tattoos.” I grimaced.
“So you don’t have any?”
“No, I do not.” I couldn’t help the sass in my voice.
“Religious reasons?”
“No.”
“Why do you hate tats?”
“I don’t hate tats. People get them and they have no meaning. They just get random things on their bodies forever. Or worse they make up these reasons for the tattoos that are just shallow and lame.”
“You are certainly judgy this morning Ms. Sweet.”
“Okay, tell me. Why do you have that heart with a V on the inside of your wrist?”
Jason rubbed the red heart with the letter V inside the heart.
“This was the last tattoo I got. I got it on my mum, I mean my mother’s birthday. She’s been dead for a very long time. Recently, I was being a really bad person. She’d be very disappointed. She raised me up to be a better person. I thought that if I inked her heart somewhere I could see it all the time it would remind me to be a good boy.”
I felt like shit way deep down in my gut. I only knew very little about Jason. I never really pried. This story was a lot to take in. It made me think about my mother and how I couldn’t live life without her smile, her laugh, and her wisdom.
Jason was very still and looking down at his heart tattoo. He wasn’t moving and it even looked like he wasn’t breathing. I’d really stuck my foot in it.
When he finally looked up at me there were tears in his eyes. If he blinked they might fall out but he wasn’t blinking. His face was stoic, still and hurt.
Shit! Shit! Shit! I didn’t mean anything. I was just playing around. I should’ve shut my big mouth. Here he was only twenty years old without a mother. He looked so gloomy. It was like he wasn’t even inside his body.
It took three steps to be right in front of him.
“Oh God, Jason, I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t kill her.”
What the fuck? Did someone kill her? Huh? “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m not upset.”
“Would a hug make you feel better?”
“I think so.” He rubbed the wetness from his eyes and raised his arms out to me.
I inched forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me in tightly and I smiled to myself. He snuggled into my
