Chapter Nine #2
“But what if it all means I’m supposed to get hit by a bus tomorrow and never kiss another man in my life?”
“You got a man you wanna be kissing?”
Anna slunk back in her seat. “I don’t want to get married again.”
“Kissing isn’t marrying.”
“This is hardly appropriate. Look what happened to the last guy who tried.”
Kaci clucked her tongue. “You’re sitting here telling me a man who loved women wouldn’t want us talking about you and men?
Those uptight sensibilities of yours are about as right as a rainbow without the rain.
You still got some time on this here earth.
You gonna live it, or you gonna let it live you? ”
“I need to finish my classes and get my degree so I—”
“Pshaw. You keep putting off living a full life during your todays, you won’t know fun tomorrows if they smacked you in the butt and called you honey-pie.”
“English?” Anna sputtered.
“Gotta find your balance.” Kaci slid an envelope across the table then plunked a small gold box of Godiva on top of it. That sly sparkle was back. “Speaking of, somebody thinks I’m nothing but your messenger girl.”
Anna’s heart pittered in an unsteady rhythm. Bold, masculine handwriting spelled out Anna Grace on the back of the envelope.
Kaci reached for her coffee mug. “What I hear, he ain’t so big on getting married either,” she said over-innocently.
Anna fingered the ivory envelope. It was thick and soft. High quality. The pen marks were clear, no streaks or smudges. No obvious indents in the letters either.
These days when Anna scribbled her name, she nearly went through the whole paper.
“You gonna open that?”
“What’s it say?”
Kaci’s eyes went big, and she clasped a hand over her heart. “That there’s your mail.”
“What’s it say?” she repeated with a smile at her friend’s feigned innocence.
Kaci took a sip of coffee. “Can’t do your living for you. ’Sides, Lance wouldn’t let me have it till I left to come up here to meet you, and that didn’t leave any time to steam it open. Couldn’t tell you if I wanted to.”
“I’ll look at it when I get home.”
She moved to slide the note and the box into her purse, but Kaci dropped her coffee and lunged across the table. “Now that’s no fun. How’m I supposed to giggle over it with you if you’re not gonna open it with me?”
Anna wasn’t sure there would be any giggling. But she slid a finger under the envelope flap anyway.
The note was written in the same bold handwriting on a linen note card. Not what she expected of a guy whose hand mixer had only one beater. His momma must’ve kept him stocked in stationery.
But she was pretty sure his momma wouldn’t have approved of the message.
Anna Grace,
Thanks for making my kitchen right nice-looking. Next time you come over, you bring a pie, and I’ll play you for my living room. Might even toss in another box of chocolates if you throw one of those smiles my way.
Your friend,
Jackson
P.S. Radish says Hi.
Kaci smacked Anna in the arm. “You cleaned his kitchen?”
“I lost the bet.”
“Sugar, that heat fried your brain. Ain’t a Southern gentleman in the world who would’ve expected you to pay up on that.” Kaci fluffed her hair. “Lord-a-mercy, girl, still so much to teach you.”
And that’s exactly why Anna hadn’t told her she’d done it. She gestured to the note. “Okay, then, oh wise one, what am I supposed to do about this?”
Kaci stopped mid-fluff and eyed Anna as if she’d stolen the answer key for a test. “You like him?”
“He’s not my type,” she said, but she could feel her cheeks betraying her.
Kaci gave her eyebrows a waggle. “Thinking of trying on an old redneck for size?”
“He doesn’t like me.”
“Lordy, there’s not enough coffee in the world for this tonight.
” Kaci sucked in what Anna assumed to be a Southern woman’s fortifying breath.
“He likes you. He hasn’t come to terms with it yet, but you mark my words, he knows that note to you is the same as talking dirty to other women.
Sorta like you like him but you’re not sure about letting a military man back in your life. ”
Anna shook her head. “Not in the plan.”
Kaci gave her a knowing smile. “You’d do him if he was just a dumb old redneck.”
“Not the point.”
“You got some practicing to do before you settle, and he’s a good one to practice with. Good Southern gentleman. Might show you how a man’s supposed to treat a woman.”
“And that’s good why?” Sounded like an excellent way to get started on the L-word.
“Shoot, dating the military’s exactly what you need. Got an expiration date. Perfect for a woman not looking to settle down, don’t you think?”
“An expiration date?” Yeah, her last date had an expiration date too. It was with an IED in Afghanistan, and he didn’t live to tell about it.
Kaci flitted a hand. “That didn’t come out right. Let’s get back to the living part. You like him, he likes you, you two should have some fun.” She winked. “Call it stress relief.”
“Your brand of stress relief is going to give me a heart attack,” Anna said. She stared at the uneven mosaic tiles, and her fingers itched to rub them.
Kaci gripped Anna’s cold fingers in her warm ones. “Lots of stress relief in keeping them girly bits as fine-tuned as that brain.”
Their favorite male barista suddenly had a coughing fit behind the counter.
“My girly bits are fine,” Anna hissed, but she suspected Kaci would believe her cheeks over her words.
“Of course they are.” Kaci’s wicked grin lingered. “But you ask yourself, what’s the last thing you want touching your girly bits before you get hit by that bus, and I got a feeling that good ol’ military redneck won’t look so bad after all.”
Later that night, Anna tossed and turned in her bed. In the midst of trying to forget thermo and Rodney and work, she acknowledged to herself Kaci had a point.
Anna sighed and flopped over, then reached for the light. She crept out into her living room, whispered, “It’s okay, Walker, go back to sleep,” to her betta fish, and pulled a piece of paper and an envelope out of her desk.
She tapped a pen against her lip for a minute, and started writing.
Then she shredded it and started again.
Fifteen minutes and eight sheets of paper later, she was pleased with the result.
Jackson,
The kitchen was my pleasure. Especially since I got to meet Enrique. I hope he’s enjoying his new home and that he gives you your other beater back soon. I’ve never met a more well-behaved armadillo.
As for our rematch, when I win, I’d like to borrow your pole and go fishing. The pie will depend on how gentlemanly you are about losing.
Cordially,
Anna
P.S. Please give my condolences to Radish on her name.
And when she went back to bed, she slept like a baby.