Chapter 16
In The Clouds
? Landslide - Haley Klinkhammer
Griffin
One Year Ago
Two distinct voices drift on the breeze, reaching me from somewhere nearby. The first one is soft and sweet, the other burns through me like a raging wildfire. She’s always had that effect on me.
I step out of Misty’s stall, securing it behind me before taking up residence in the open doorway, my arms crossed over my chest as I take in the view.
Angelina and Emmy Lou are lying on one of Mama’s quilts, staring up at the sky just south of the fence line.
Emmy points one small finger at a cloud. “That one looks like a duck.”
“You’re so right,” Angie replies, a serene smile gracing her lips. “What else do you see?”
Emmy tilts her head one way, then the other, eyes squinting as she assesses the blue sky above. “A feather!”
“That’s a good one.” Angie presses her cheek to the top of Emmy’s head. “Look at that! The space between those clouds looks like a heart.”
It takes a moment, but Emmy’s face lights up when she finally spots it. “Wow.”
A quiet descends between them with only the distant sounds of home to fill the gap. Wind rustling in the trees, a quiet but far-off whinny, stomping hooves, and chickens pecking the ground. I’ll never grow tired of the Whispering Oaks soundtrack.
“Sometimes Daddy talks to the sky,” Emmy says. “He tells me he’s talking to Mama Jessie. Do you know Mama Jessie?”
There’s a shift in the air—subtle but unmistakable. Angelina’s expression goes from wonder to melancholy. You wouldn’t notice it unless you’d studied her.
“I do. She’s my best friend. I like to talk to her sometimes, too.”
“What do you tell her?” Emmy’s little voice lights up with curiosity.
“I tell her how much I love and miss her. Sometimes I tell her exciting news or stories about my life. And sometimes I tell her about you, Emmy Lou. About how much you’ve grown, and how kind and beautiful and smart you are.” Angie swipes at her cheek, so fast that if you blink, you’d miss it.
“Could I talk to her?” Emmy asks.
“Of course you can. What would you tell her?”
Emmy rolls onto her belly and plucks a daisy out of the grass. “Dunno. Maybe about Sissy and Mama.” She starts plucking one petal at a time.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Angelina chokes out.
My eyes turn misty, and I cough to clear the sudden tightness in my throat. The sound draws their attention, two sets of beautiful eyes staring back at me from a distance.
“Uncle Griff!”
Emmy squeals and darts toward me. I bend and catch her, tossing her into the air as she lets out a high-pitched giggle.
When she comes back down, she grabs my cheeks between her hands and rubs her nose against mine. “Wanna come look at clouds with Auntie Lina and me?”
I chance a look over at the woman in question.
She’s propped on her elbows, her brown eyes sparkling in the midday sun.
Angie is gorgeous in a way that punches you in the gut and forces you to take notice.
She’s also my best friend’s fiancée now, and I shouldn’t be noticing her at all, even if she belonged to me for a fleeting moment in time.
My thoughts drift back to a series of images from the weekend we spent together.
It wasn’t just a joining of our bodies like I intended at first. I bared my soul and made so many promises back then—promises of a future that would never come to be.
Emmy’s quiet voice brings me back onto solid ground. “Uncle Griff?”
“Sorry, Em. I would love to.”
I carry Emmy back to the quilt and set her in the middle, then I take the open spot next to her and fix my gaze on the sky instead of on the intoxicating woman on the other side of the blanket.
“See the duck, Uncle Griff?”
I grin and search the sky for a cloud that even remotely looks like a duck, but nothing catches my attention. I meet Angie’s gaze over Emmy’s blonde locks. She holds her index finger over her mouth and gives a subtle shake of her head.
I widen my eyes and exaggerate my excitement. “Wow! That’s so cool, Em.”
Angie rolls her lips together like she’s doing her best not to laugh.
We lie like that for half an hour, maybe longer, finding shapes in the clouds—and not finding them. Emmy grows quiet after a while, and I glance down to see her asleep against Angelina’s shoulder, her tiny hand wrapped around my thumb.
“Do you think she knows?” Angelina asks.
“Jess?”
“Yeah.”
My fingers twitch with the need to reach for her, but I hold back. “I’d like to think so. It’s comforting to think she’s watching everything. That she gets to see Emmy grow up.”
“I miss her,” Angie whispers the quiet confession, and a single tear falls down the side of her face, disappearing into her dark hair fanned out on the blanket. “I can’t imagine having a little girl of my own and not being able to see her grow up.”
“Do you want kids?” I stupidly ask.
We talked about it years ago—about our hopes and dreams for the future—but a lot has changed since then. All but this incessant ache to be near her.
A soft smile tugs at her lips. “Yeah. I do.”
My stomach sinks at the thought of her having Tyler’s baby, and a pang of guilt comes soon after, like the roll of thunder following a lightning strike.
Will this longing ever go away? Or am I doomed to watch from the sidelines as my best friend overlooks what’s right in front of him?
If I were lucky enough to call her mine, I’d never take her for granted.
Never.
“What about you?” she asks. “Do you want kids?”
I look back at the sky, ignoring the way my chest squeezes at the mere thought of her pregnant with my child instead of his. “Yeah. I’d like to be a dad someday.”
“You’d be great at it. I see the way you are with Emmy and Gracie. They’re lucky to have you.”
“Not as lucky as I am to have them.” I clear the lump that’s lodged in my throat and stand, dusting off my jeans. “I should get back to work. Do you want me to take her up to the big house?”
She runs her hand through Emmy’s blonde hair. “No. I think I’ll stay here a while longer.”
“Ok. See you, Angie.”
She waves. “Bye, Griff.”