9. Aurora and the local library
Chapter nine
Aurora and the local library
A re you ready for Yuri to come find you?
I stared at the open app, considering the heart shaped button beneath the pop up. My left leg twitched anxiously in the passenger seat as I waited for my mother to climb back inside. We headed into town for adult chores. However, as per usual, someone’s calf sneezed green goop. We stopped by their farm, but this time, I stayed in the SUV.
Are you ready for Yuri to come and find you?
I had no idea this app would give me the chance to see him again. Do I see if he’ll come? What was the harm? Hadn’t that been the thought that got me into this problem in the first place? Shouldn’t I work on me first?
It had been two days since he dropped me off at home. That first night, my mom didn’t ask a single thing, only sobbing and clutching me like I was some toddler who wondered off in a theme park. I let her snuggle me on the couch and watch some murder mystery. I could see the way she wanted to ask me what happened, but someone came in with a gaggle of geese that all had wounds from an unfortunate coyote getting in their enclosure the next day. We were hands deep in angry murder birds all day, and by the time we tossed a frozen pizza in the oven, there were no questions. Then, yesterday, I was avoiding my phone that kept ringing from Virginia phone numbers, and I became a cornered cat. Hair raised, claws exposed, teeth barred, I was feral and vicious and decided to seclude myself from everyone.
I should work on me... And yet, my thumb hovered over the button. Shouldn’t I indulge in someone who makes me feel good? Feel alive? I locked my screen and stuffed my phone into my pocket. My mother waved goodbye to the farmer and walked back to the car. She stuffed herself into the driver’s seat, closed the door, then groaned, “That baby sneezed out wads of grass that got stuck in its nose.”
“Ooof,” I snorted.
“Justine’s nice, but she’s got marbles for brains, I swear.” My mother cranked on the vehicle, shaking her head in disbelief. “Her husband’s even worse. I can hear the rattle when he walks. When her momma let her have the farm, she really should have hired a babysitter for just the two of them. They can take care of animals, but the second one of them cows snorts a blade of grass, the sky falls. They’re cows!”
I snickered to myself, watching the road as my mother ranted then complimented Justine and her husband. It started with they were both foolish and ended with her raving about Justine’s pie crust and how perfect it was every time. I soaked in the warmth of being home. The windows rolled down as autumn breeze rolled through the cab. Hay, mountainous air, dew covered trees, and a hint of horse filled my lungs. I let my hand jump the waves of air like a dolphin in the window.
“So...” My mother trailed off, turning down the already-low volume radio.
Oh no... There was a plethora of things she could ask. I glanced over my shoulder at her as she rolled to a stop at a stop sign.
“You met Yuri?” She peeked at me before leaning over the steering wheel to watch for cars coming down the main highway into town.
“More like I stumbled into his yard without shoes on and promptly stepped on glass,” I snorted.
“Yuri’s a nice guy,” my mom murmured.
I rolled my eyes . Here we go. “Very nice. Very strong.”
“He is! I heard once he picked up a whole bull out of a road when its hoof got stuck in a pothole or somethin’. Really nice guy.” She tapped at the steering wheel, pulling out onto the road and flooring it toward town. “You know, even with the… Uh...”
“The scales?” I cocked a brow.
“I was gonna comment on the eyes. Scales and fangs don’t bother me none. I enjoy a good bite, but, uh, not going to lie, hunny, those eyes are a wee-bit unsettling. It’s why you almost never catch him without sunglasses. Well, if I’m being honest, you never really catch him. He’s like mothman or the jersey devil; only one or two people have actually seen him, and everyone’s got a different opinion of him.”
I squinted at her, trying to figure out where the conversation was going. “I guess so.”
“What I’m getting' at, hunny, is that he’s a nice guy, even with them gator eyes. And he really likes his privacy, so we don’t really talk about him with anyone else. He’s one of us, you know, here in the town, and so we just kinda...”
“Oh! My! God!” I ripped up in my seat. “You think I would blather about him to someone else? Or that I was judging him for being part gator or something?”
“I don’t know, hunny. You spent the last five years in the city with that horrid man and clearly shitty friends. I just wanted to make sure you were still the baby girl I raised to be kind to people. Yuri’s not been handed the nicest hand in life, and he deserves the respect of any other person in this town.” She slowed to a stop at the only blinking light on the whole highway. Unfortunately, Grandpa Gardener had a massive farm to the right. He paid for the whole light post to be built there on the road and to install the only speed limit sign for a hundred miles. After a few lost goats to speeding trucks, everyone got used to slowing down at the light, looking both ways, then rushing off.
I stared at my mother, mouth dropped open. “Mom! ”
“What?” she squawked, shrugging.
“I would never,” I gasped for air, sinking back in the chair.
“I’m just worried about you, Aurora. You know that out of everyone, I know what love can do to your brain. One moment, you’re a sensible person, just doing your best. The next, you’re married to some jackwagon who convinced you that stealing your boss’ credit card is the only way to make them happy.”
I blinked slowly, staring directly out at the road. Town began to form on the horizon, small buildings all smooshed together. One grocery store, and it wasn’t even a part of a chain. Two gas stations, but only one carried booze, and a liquor store that the same family ran since before mom moved here. I could see the barbeque food truck from the edge of town, and it wasn’t even a food truck. It was someone’s pick-up with a massive smoker hitched on a trailer.
“Mom, no one can ruin me. I’m still the girl you raised,” I confessed on a wounded breath.
She spared a hand to my shoulder, squeezing it tenderly. “I know you are at your core. I just wanted to make sure. I’ve been in your shoes and don’t blame you for needing time to find yourself. I just worry.”
“I know,” I sighed. My fingers fidgeted with my sundress. The soft cream fabric was covered in little red flowers. I’d gone for my only dress with sleeves. One suitcase did not mean I had much in the ways of fashion. I had a sweater dress in there, but it stopped at mid-thigh.
The bruise on my thigh was still too fresh to show off. It was a good sting when I wore jeans yesterday, but a sting, nonetheless. Yuri was right that I’d be sore. He didn’t know how good it felt to be sore, to still feel giddy and happy about it even days later. I went to bed last night blushing over the bruise on the side of my leg.
“Hunny?”
I peeked up from my lap. “I wish we moved to this town... I wish I had met him before I met Anthony.”
“Why?” She cocked her head to the side, slowing down to twenty-five as we reached the only stop light in town. The courthouse was to the right, the library to the left. She pulled into the post office parking lot. I didn’t answer, instead staring at the library. My mother shook her head, chuckling. “You wanna get a fresh library card?”
I looked down at my driver’s license, my married name still on it.
“I want something without his name on it,” I murmured. A card with my name on it, free of him. Not claimed by my ex-husband.
“ I think that’s a great idea.” She offered me her library card. “Let Dorris know you’re my kid; she’ll put my last name on the card for you. ”
“Thanks, Mom.” I squeezed her arm, wiggling out of the car. The thought of having something that was mine, something he’d never touched, filled me with giddy nerves. My skin prickled as I flew across the cracked asphalt. The town library was built out of an old catholic church that the community ran out of town. A two story, red brick, stained glass behemoth loomed over the town. Where the cross used to hang was now a rainbow painted book with a goofy looking dog sitting on a page. It made me smile.
The doors creaked with old hinges and heavy wood as I pushed my way inside. A round desk made of glazed oak greeted me. Dorris, an elderly woman knitting a massive blanket behind the counter, peeked up at me. “Welcome in, sweetie! How can I help you?”
“I need a library card.” I stepped up to the desk, my heart fluttering.
“Amazing! Let me get that started for you. What’s your name, sweetie?”
I swallowed down the automatic answer. Instead, I offered her my mother’s library card. “I’m Aurora Murphy, Lannie’s kid.”
“Oh! The big city kiddo! Heard you were a bookworm. So glad you’re back to our little corner of the world. How long are you gonna be here?”
Suddenly, my phone and that app weighed a thousand pounds. Yuri asked me that question too. How long are you planning to stay here? I’d come here in a panic with nowhere else to go. I grinned, leaning against the counter. “I’m back home for good, I’d say.”
“Lovely.” She winked at me, sliding my mother’s library card back. Dorris raised a polaroid camera up and aimed it at me. “Say cheese!”
I stepped out the backdoor of the library toward the park of the town. Park was a loose term, as it was mostly a graveyard they’d turned into a playground, ignoring the handful of gravestones to the left corner. The park had massive weeping willows, a couple benches, and a hard metal swing set. I hugged the three books I’d checked out to my chest, stepping out into the sunlight. My mom texted me and said she was stuck at the bank and still had a few more stops. I considered going to the coffee shop to sit and read but the park called me. Picking up my skirt with one hand, the books held in the other arm, I descended the stone steps into the soft grassy field.
“Aurora?”
I looked up from my feet to the husky sounds of the man who filled my dreams. “Yuri?”
He stepped out from under the shadow of a weeping willow, hands tucked in his jean pockets. I caught his tail flopping against the thick roots of the tree .
“Found you,” He breathed. I blinked with confusion, scrambling to pull my phone out of the deep, but finicky pockets of my dress. Glancing down at my phone, I realized the app was open. A huge heart pulsed at me with Yuri’s name in the center. I closed the app and peeked up at him sheepishly.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize I’d pressed the button.” I brushed a loose strand of hair from my face behind my ear, trying not to shrink under his intense stare. He was wearing sunglasses like my mother said he would, and it was strange not to see his yellow orbs without hinderance. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, I stepped across the spongey grass into the shadow of a willow tree. He brushed aside the dangling branches for me, enclosing us in their embrace. “Hi.”
“Hi, Dollface. How’s the foot?” He glanced down at my toes.
“It’s fine. I feel all patched up.” I poked it out from under the hem of my sundress, showing off my sandals. As he studied my foot, I reached up between us. He let me pluck the sunglasses off his face. Those golden yellow eyes with sharp slits peeked up at me before he slowly straightened. I folded the sunglasses and tucked them into the front pocket of his plaid shirt. “Thanks to you.”
He rolled his eyes, eyeing me with playful disbelief. “So you’re not still sore?”
I let out a nervous giggle. “I didn’t say that. ”
“That’s what I thought. Don’t thank me for patching you up when I did more damage than I healed.” He brushed the other side of my hair back with the backside of a claw, tucking it behind my ear.
“Can I thank you for a good time, then?” I teased, closing the little space between us.
“Absolutely,” he snickered, pinching my chin between his thumb and a finger. “I hope you don’t mind if I skip acting like I’m not completely feral for you, Dollface. I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”
My heart skipped a beat as I melted into his touch. A strong arm wrapped around my back, holding me and the three books pressed against his chest. My veins were live wires, sparking and fraying as I tried to swallow over my tongue. His gaze roamed my face before locking with mine.
“I’m... I’m not...” My voice trembled. “I’m not sure what I’m doing with myself. I just got a library card with my own name on it, and I still panic when someone from Virginia calls, thinking it might be him. I’m still a mess. You might have bathed and patched up my foot, but I’m still a mess.”
He cocked a brow, smirking at me smugly. “Aurora, I’m not asking you to drop every inch of freedom you’ve just created for yourself. I just... When I dropped you off at home that day, I knew I’d regret if I never saw you again. ”
I sighed with relief, sinking into his arms like a deflated balloon. “I really like you, and this is the first time in ages I’ve felt sexy. I don’t want to stop, but I need to work on me too.”
Yuri leaned into me, our lips brushing for a moment before he stole a kiss. “I’m not going anywhere, Dollface. Take all the time you need.”
I dropped the books, grabbing up his face. He scooped up my hair and tangled it in his claws. I inhaled sharply through my nose, sucking down his earthy scent. Familiar notes of a forest after a heavy rain and aged wood pushed the oxygen out of my lungs, letting me drown in him. I kissed him feverishly, desperate for more. His hand at the small of my back roamed down across my right cheek and squeezed it hard. I groaned into his mouth.
Yuri pulled away, kissing from my cheek to my throat. My pulse raced, feeling his face nuzzling my jugular. He sighed dreamily in my ear. “How long are you in town?”
“For the foreseeable future,” I confessed.
“I meant today,” he teased, nipping my lobe tenderly, careful of his razor teeth.
“Oh!” I forced space between us so I could clear the haze in my mind. “Uh, probably a few hours. Mom’s at the bank and has a few other stops.”
“Then you’re not about to rush off somewhere?” He plucked his claws out of my hair and brushed it back from my cheeks. I shivered as he stole one last kiss before glancing down between us. “You could probably read me one of those books you checked out. What kind of books did you get? Nothing boring, I hope. I hate non-fiction.”
I stumbled back a step as he let go of me slowly. He crouched to pick up the discarded books. Thankfully, they fell on top of the roots, safe from the soggy ground. He brushed off the covers and handed them back to me. I took them hesitantly, eyeing him with confusion. “You want me to read to you?”
“Well, we could go pick a comfier tree? I’ve got a blanket in the truck, so we could sit in the shade, and you could read... I might be a rusty dinosaur, but it sounded good to me.” He poked his hands back in his jean pockets.
Beaming, I nodded vigorously. “I’d love that!”
Yuri brushed aside the willow branches, motioning for me to lead the way. I frolicked out of the tree, whirling around to face him as he stepped out of the willow. “I grabbed some new thrillers. Well, this one’s a paranormal horror, but the author writes them like mysteries where you don’t know what the ghost is doing until it’s doin’ it!”
He snorted, eyebrows furrowed. “You read horror?”
“Yeah, I love it. Thriller and horror are my favorite genres. I have a soft spot for young adult fantasy, though, because the adventure is always so fun. Generally, I’m a horror girl; I love when it’s a ghost or poltergeist the most. The grudge is my favorite film,” I babbled, cheeks burning with a fresh blush as we walked through the park. Yuri genuinely listened. I could see it in how he peeked at me every once in a while and shook his head with a soft chuckle as I talked. Oh, I talked, letting years of pent-up conversations about my favorite things explode out of my chest. It started with books, then music and movies, then somehow, I wound my way into food.
Before I knew it, we’d collected his blanket from his truck. He plucked me from the ground and carried me on his hip while I continued to talk his ear off about the difference between the trees around us. I only stopped as he sat down in-between two massive roots, me carefully plopped in his lap.
He cocked his head, eyeing me. “What’s wrong?”
I blurted out, “What do you like to read?”
“Uh.” He grimaced, glaring out into the tree branches. The cogs physically turned before my eyes before his face softened. “Anything with magic right now is not a friend, but that’s a personal slight. I wish I read more to have a better answer for you, doll, but I don’t. Might have to get myself a library card to keep up with you, though.”
“That’s okay; you don’t have to be a big reader or a reader at all. What about movies?” I settled down into his arms, twisting enough to be able to see him. He curled his arm around my back.
“Not exactly tail room in theaters these days,” he grumbled.
“Not even DVDs?” I pouted; not even movies ?
“There’s a DVD player in the cabin, I just… I just don’t get into town enough to peruse the local shelves.” He shrugged nonchalantly, stroking the side of my torso subconsciously.
“Why don’t I bring some over? Bring you up to speed. We’ve got plenty .” I cracked open one of the books I’d grabbed.
“I’d like that.”