“Hey!”
I held it out of arm’s reach and laughed as he tried to grab it. “You’re going to have to come get it from me.”
“I have no problem with that,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “Just make sure you put it someplace fun.”
“What’s with this hat anyway?”
He shrugged. “I just like it. I’ve been wearing it for so long that I feel naked without it.”
“You wash it, right?”
He snatched it back and tugged it back on his head. “Of course I do.”
“Is your head always cold or something?”
“No, I just like it.”
“Because you kind of look like a hipster.”
“Well, I kind of am a hipster. And you’re probably a few years younger than me. You can’t tell me that you’ve never seen people do this before.”
“Oh, I’ve seen it,” I laughed. “I just didn’t realize they were still doing it.”
“You’re really funny,” he said sarcastically.
I did my best not to laugh and changed the subject. “So, what was it like growing up around here?”
He shrugged. “You know, small town and not a lot to do. My brothers and I got into a lot of trouble.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “You’re from a small town, right?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, West Virginia is full of them. It must have been cool living out there.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, if you didn’t mind being poor.”
“Did you ever try and leave? Find someplace else to go?”
“We couldn’t. We owed too much on the house. There weren’t any good job opportunities nearby, so it’s just kind of how the whole town lived.”
“How did your mom die?”
I flinched, not wanting to talk about it. It was bad enough that we lost everything we had, but to lose her was the hardest part of everything.
“She died in her sleep.”
“How? She must have been young.”
I shrugged, even though I knew. It was best if I didn’t say too much. “They said she passed peacefully.”
“But weren’t you curious?”
“Of course, but we didn’t have the money for an autopsy. We barely had enough money to cover the costs of her funeral.”
“How old were you when she died?”
“Thirteen.”
By that point, people were being laid off left and right. My father had lost his job the year before and we were already struggling.
“After she died, my dad just went into this downward spiral. I would find odd jobs or anything I could to help out, and then I would come home and find that he had spent what I had brought in.”
“That’s really shitty.”
“Not as shitty as how violent he became,” I whispered.
I remembered all the nights that I snuck out of the house to go see Matthew. I didn’t want him to know what was going on. I didn’t want anyone to know. And when he found out, everything took a turn for the worse. He had been my only friend and he was dead now because of me.
“How did you get away?”
I sighed and rolled away. I didn’t want to talk about any of this. It was dangerous territory, but I also felt for some reason that I could trust Andrew. But I wasn’t stupid enough to open my mouth just because we had fucked.
“I saved up for as long as I could and then I just left. I found a job as a secretary. It didn’t pay a lot, but it was enough, more than I’d had in a long time.”
Surprisingly, I felt him wrap his arm around my waist and pull me in closer. I smiled to myself because I had been successful. He was coming around to my side. It wasn’t at all that I liked his touch, I lied to myself.
“So, what do you think about going on a date with me?”
I snorted and craned my neck to look at him. “A date? Don’t you think we’re doing this a little backwards? Besides, you hate me.”
“Hate is a very strong word. I don’t hate you, I just don’t know you.”
I pulled the blanket up higher to ward off the chill and spun to face him. “You sure sounded like you hated me when you came here.”
He smirked slightly. “You frustrate me. I don’t understand you and that irritates me. I’m not used to women being a mystery to me.”
“And I’m a mystery?” I asked, wondering where he was going with this.
“You wouldn’t be so interesting if you were easy to figure out.”
With the guys working downstairs and nothing to do at the moment, I decided to go upstairs to the attic and pull out my paints. My mother had been a great painter, and she taught me everything she knew. I didn’t get to paint often as of late. My plans had gotten in the way of me having any relaxation time. When I pulled out the canvas and set up my paints right in front of the window, I finally felt some of the stress of the past year fade away.
I rolled my shoulders, really allowing the muscles to loosen in my neck and across my back. The snow had just started falling, and it looked like there would be an early winter. At least, that’s what everyone around town was saying. I was still making trips into town as much as possible, wanting to get to know as many people as possible while I had the time. I needed to establish myself here, just in case the worst happened.
With the morning light, I had a beautiful landscape to paint and I spent the next few hours getting lost in my work. There was a very small pond out back, just before the tree line, and with the snow falling, it made a beautiful picture. I imagined what it would be like when the water froze over. Maybe Andrew would come out here with me and skate on the ice.
I smiled to myself, but when my phone rang and I saw who was calling, I reminded myself that my plans with Andrew were for a reason, and I needed to
