“So, you’re calling me out then? Which means I’ll have to give you proof of what I say to you and how I mean it.”
“Or just tell me your story,” Amelia said. “For my own mind. To keep me feeling more and more wordy.”
I pushed from the counter and walked around it to her. I had no problem putting a foot between us and standing there to give her a chance to be the one to make the decision this time. The decision to walk away. Run away. The decision to stay away.
Seconds ticked and like pulling the pin on a grenade, there was only so much time.
My right hand gently touched her face.
In my eyes and mind, she flashed back and forth from the young girl in dire need of love to the real woman in dire need of… me.
Maybe I was a little cocky, but I wasn’t afraid.
As my hand slipped through the thick and knotty curls of her hair, I pulled her in and met her halfway, kissing her like I knew she had never been kissed before.
The taste of her lips, familiar from the other night in the restaurant. The flicker of my tongue against those lips, a gentle yet commanding notice that we weren’t quite done yet.
As Amelia’s lips parted, she sighed with a relief I knew was coming.
Her hands touched my shirt.
She didn’t push me away.
She gripped my shirt.
My left hand touched the perfect curve of her waist and I turned her, her back facing the counter. Then in a quick move, I pressed my body against hers and grabbed the back of her leg and pulled. The kiss broke and she let out a breathless groan as I lifted her at the exact same moment she jumped.
Now she was on my counter.
I went in for another kiss, picking right up where we left off.
My mind counted the seconds, waiting…
One…
Two…
Three…
Her right hand slid up my body with speed and she pushed at my chest.
I backed off with one extra kiss.
“That’s how I mean what I fucking say,” I whispered to her. Her eyes melted into mine. “I had a decision to make, love. Run for good. Or stay and end up like the others. So I left. I bounced around, trying to find my way through it all. And just as I was on the edge of falling for good, I was pulled back. That woman I was at the restaurant with. I was slipping. I went from drinking to something else. She pulled me back. And the second I realized what was waiting on the other side, everything changed. I did what I wanted. And it worked.”
Amelia swallowed hard. “Was that woman your… anything?”
“Not what you’re thinking,” I whispered.
“You were right, Josh. I was jealous. And I still am.”
“Of what?”
“She’s been in here,” Amelia said. “I know it. And I’ve…”
“There’s a lot you don’t know, love,” I said. “The mystery of me. The truth. And if that’s the real story, then it’ll never be told.”
“Why? You show yourself in your paintings and pictures. But not in life.”
“You do the same.”
“No. Those are talking animals in a made-up kid’s book.”
“No, it’s not. It’s your comfort. From what happened. From what your father used to do. For the life you were forced to live.”
Amelia quickly shook her head. She swung her right foot and turned just enough to slide off the counter and get out of my reach.
“You’re looking too deep into it, Josh,” she said. She touched her lips. “We can’t do this kind of thing.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“Whatever this is. Trying to relive the past or whatever. You can’t just kiss me, thinking it’s okay because you did it once before.”
I laughed. “That’s what you think?”
“I don’t know, Josh.”
“You’re the one who came after me, love. You were sent to talk to me, remember? And you keep coming for more. What about my story is so important to you?”
Amelia didn’t answer. I watched her eyes move to her bag. She grabbed it in a hurry as though I was going to take it first and keep her hostage.
Before she said she had to leave, I walked to the door and opened it.
“I’m sorry for asking anything,” she said. “I didn’t know what would happen when I saw you again. That night… the chance to write again. Talk to you. Something I found… it’s a mess right now.”
I touched her hand as she walked out the door. “What did you find, love?”
She laughed. “Nothing. That’s the problem. I find nothing and turn it into something.”
“To protect yourself from the truth.”
She looked back at me. “You still know me all too well, Josh.”
“Is that a problem?”
“It was then. And I don’t want it to be now.”
“Why?”
Amelia turned her hand and interlocked her fingers with mine. Her fingers were short. Her nails all uneven. Not a hint of nail polish or anything like that.
She squeezed once and broke the hold.
I caught her blinking fast.
“Josh… I think I was in love with you back then.”
“You can always fly. You just have to close your eyes and think really hard about it.”
“But what if I fall?” the little pig asked its mother.
“What if you don’t?”
“You need wings to fly.”
“Look over your shoulder, precious.”
The little pig looked over her round shoulder and let out a yell.
There were wings! Real wings!
They were perfectly positioned and looked perfect. They were white, the edges thick with what looked like maybe feathers. And the little pig was suddenly able to move those wings. They weren’t there a moment ago! Now they were. And they were moving.
“How…?” the little pig asked.
“You’ve always had them,” the mother said to the little pig.
“I did?”
“Of course you did. You just have to believe you can fly and you will.”
The ground shook under them.
A heavy thud sounded.
They both knew what it was.
Who it was.
The monster. The dragon. The scary beast.
Big teeth. Bigger claws. Able to eat anything with one big gulp.
“You have to
