Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
She reaches for the instruction booklet, bifocals perched on the end of her nose. “Do you want to tell me why you’ve been moping around lately?”
“I’m looking for D3. It connects to E3. Do you have that piece?” I ask, instead of answering her. I should have known she would have picked up on my mood by now. There’s not much that gets by Ma.
“Got it.” She goes to hand the white shelf to me. But when I reach for it, she pulls it back. “You talk as you drill. That’s the deal.”
I take the piece from her, slipping the screws into place as I explain, “Met a girl. Liked her. She lives far away. The end. Now you know everything.”
“Is that all?” She clucks her tongue.
I finish drilling the first set of screws into the wood, angry at myself for letting her get away. Should never have gone out to cut that damn firewood. “Half my heart is missing, but yeah, that’s all.”
“Then move. Go wherever your girl is. You can do your work from anywhere, but love is precious. It’s worth changing your whole life for.”
Of all the things I’ve considered over the last five weeks, moving wasn’t one of them. It never occurred to me that I could. Courage County has been my home for so long that I guess I’d forgotten I could live outside of it. “But what about…?”
She shakes her head. “Don’t you finish that sentence by asking about me. If my Donny were alive, I’d move heaven and earth to be with that man again. You go find your love.”
I swallow hard, feeling guilty that I’m not more grateful for it. “I already got my miracle.”
She passes another board when I gesture for it. “What are you talking about?”
“In the hospital, when I was young, one of the nurses told me every person gets one miracle in their life.” I pat my leg, knowing that I survived when others in the ward didn’t. “I got mine.”
The look she gives me is a mixture of compassion and sorrow. “Oh, sweet boy. There’s not a limit on miracles. You’re given them every day.”
I frown and ask, “It’s that simple?”
She nods. “Yes, but it’s up to you to recognize a miracle crossed your path and appreciate it.”
For the first time in five weeks, it feels like the sun is shining. Maybe it’s that simple. Maybe I leave behind everything and show up in Nashville. It’s not much of a plan, but at least, I’ll be in the same city as Thea. That’s a start. “I think I’m moving this month. I have a miracle to appreciate.”
She grins. “Good. Finish my bookshelves first.”
The next two hours with Ma pass easily despite the convoluted assembly instructions. When the bookshelves are finally in place and she’s beaming at me, I leave for my cabin.
I feel lighter than I have in months. I’m almost whistling as I head to my truck. But something stops me. There’s a shadow in the grove of trees in the corner of Ma’s front yard. It takes my brain a few seconds to register it’s a person. A grown man.
Oh, hell no. I stomp toward the figure, booming out authoritatively, “Who the fuck are you? And what are you doing here?”
The man in a faded flannel shirt steps forward. He keeps his head ducked, not meeting my eyes. But I recognize him. “Whiskey, where have you been?”
He’s one of hers, Emma May’s foster boys. I didn’t know him very well. I only met him a few times before he shipped out with the military. He was medically discharged a few years ago, and no one has heard from him since. Ma still prays for him every day. She says he’ll come home one day. Looks like that day is today.
“Around,” he finally answers, still not meeting my gaze.
Then it makes sense. The sidewalks that are salted and the gutters that are cleaned. He’s been watching over Ma from a distance. “She’d want to see you. She’d be happy too. I can walk in with you—"
He shakes his head. “Don’t tell her you saw me around. It’d break her heart.”
Then, before I can answer, he’s fading into the grove of trees, disappearing deep into the forest. I’m torn between telling Ma and letting Whiskey go. He must have been through hell on earth and if he’s not ready to face all of his demons yet, then it doesn’t seem like it’s my place to make him.
One week later, the phone call comes in as I’m boxing up more art supplies in my sketching room. I got the apartment rental I applied for. It seems a place came available in Thea’s building, as if someone up there is confirming Ma’s idea that I should move to Nashville. I’ve already paid the deposit.