2. Chapter One #2
“I didn’t ask. She volunteered the history of the artwork and, after some cajoling on my behalf, imparted the news of her talent.
I promised to take photographs of all the works and have them framed in a collage for her to keep at the nursing home.
I offered to bring them to her in a rotation, but she felt her work was too dignified for that.
” I leaned in closer, as if sharing some great secret.
“I believe she’s embarrassed for people to know her talent. ”
“Exactly how long were you talking to her?”
“Three hours.”
He blinked. “When was this?”
“The night you watched the Titans game. Well, you attempted to watch the game. You were quite fatigued, and when I returned to our room, you were fast asleep.”
With great care, I’d covered him with a blanket—then I’d lain awake on my bed and just watched him for more than an hour. Longing had gripped me, as it so often did. I’d never tell him, of course, how I felt. Plus, he always broke up with his boyfriends, and I didn’t want to lose our friendship .
Or so you tell yourself. Secretly, you wish he’d pick you, and that you’d settle down, marry, raise dogs, and be together forever.
All that was true. But I lived in the real world—not the world of fairy tales.
“I believe the kitchen is this way.” I gestured toward the back of the house.
Noah went first, pushing swinging doors into a cavernous room which contained both the family room and the kitchen.
I examined the floor. “Oh, these used to be two different rooms with a wall between them. I wondered at this very modern design of one large space.” I did some mental calculations.
“The kitchen would have been quite cramped.” I pointed.
“They removed the wall and added this center island. Quite clever.”
“Hopefully they didn’t remove a retaining wall.” Noah pointed to the television. “Okay, that’s got to go.”
I squinted. “Is it even color? I believe that is a cathode-ray-tube television.”
“Fucking hell.” He slashed the air.
“What?”
“I should’ve stolen Leroy’s television. Ninety-eight-inch, ultra-high-def, 4k…” He rubbed his hands against his face.
“I believe the key word in that sentence was stolen . You already liberated him of his treasured baseball card collection—”
“Nothing of value in there.”
“Isn’t value in the eye of the beholder?”
He lowered his hand from his face. “That’s beauty.”
“Well, he didn’t behold that either.” I sniffed. “Still, stealing is beneath you. We shall purchase a new television. I didn’t see an electronics store in town, but surely there must be a larger location where we can pick up a few things. ”
“We can’t just blow several thousand dollars on a television.” He approached the tiny one on the overly large stand. “I can’t even plug in my gaming system.”
That he hadn’t stolen. He’d simply, since it was his, added it to his rather pathetic stash of belongings. He wasn’t an accumulator or collector of things. No, his gift was with interpersonal relationships.
Or so I told myself.
“Look, I have a laptop. Sheriff West said the internet is still connected. Miss Esmeralda had little time for television, but she loved reading books on her tablet.” The sheriff had nicely collected that for her along with a few other essentials.
I’d asked if she needed anything else, and she replied that once I visited her in the nursing home and she got my measure that she’d decide.
For my part, I anticipated with great joy meeting this…
quirky…lady. “We can connect my laptop and order whatever we need. Surely there’s a company that delivers this far.
We aren’t a million miles from civilization. ”
“Given the circumference of the earth is just forty-thousand miles? Yes, no one is a million miles from civilization.” Noah ran his finger along the top of the television. “I had other plans for your laptop.”
I blinked. “You’re not watching porn on my—”
He burst out laughing. “Uh, no.” He closed his left eye. “I can do that on my phone.”
“Oh.”
“I was hoping…” He twisted his fingers together.
“Yes…?”
“That you might help me design a website. I need to start finding clients right away. I mean, might as well put all those training classes to use. ”
When Noah hadn’t been working as a bank teller, or sleeping with the wrong men, he’d been an assistant trainer at a pet store. He’d been in line for a promotion to head trainer—and an ability to quit his day job and live his dream—when Leroy the scumbag had cheated.
“I will be most pleased to assist you in setting up your website. Let’s unpack our vehicles, shower, eat dinner at that lovely diner we saw, and then come back to commence work. By bedtime, we’ll have the best website possible. You have custody of the photographs?”
“Yep. Thanks for reminding me to do that.”
The pet store had a large collection of photographs of Noah with the different pets he’d trained.
I’d advised him to get digital copies along with a legal release so he could use them for his own purposes.
The trainer he worked with adored him and so had cajoled the store owners into providing everything we needed.
Since Noah wasn’t competing for business, they were also willing to provide references.
Several of Noah’s clients had provided testimonials.
I had everything I needed. The mandatory marketing class I’d attended, along with the elective on website design, would come in handy. “All good.”
His eyes softened. “What would I do without you?”
“You need never find out. I’ll always have your back.”
“As I’ll always have yours.” He said the words reflexively—likely with little thought to them. We’d been sharing them back and forth for nearly twenty years.
But I wanted so very much more.
“Does this place meet your standards? Are you ready to unpack?”
He grinned. “I can’t wait to start our new lives.”
Oh, I really hope so.