Page 3 of Jaxson

“And you’re a woman I don’t see around here very often. Is everything okay?”

She nodded and continued to stroke her dog’s back. “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. I mean, you’ve got to be, don’t you?” She shrugged.

Silence met her answer. She let out a sigh and didn’t want to look up at him. In that moment, she felt this huge wave of emotion that completely flooded her. She felt like she had been kicked in the gut.

Jaxson reached across the table and placed his hand on top of hers. “It’s okay,” he said. “You don’t have to talk.”

She didn’t even realize she had been crying. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

She let out a chuckle, but it was very much a forced sound. “I didn’t even realize how ... emotional I was feeling. I’m ... it’s my parents’ anniversary.”

“Of their death?” Jaxson asked.

“No, no, they died in March. June is the anniversary of their marriage, and every single year, without fail, they would come here, where they claimed to finally see each other for the first time.” She sighed. “I ... uh, it’s nothing. I was just a little taken aback as it was over thirty-five years ago.”

“You’re twenty-nine,” he said.

She laughed. “I know. I know. They actually grew up together. Hung around at high school, then they kind of drifted apart for like a year. When they were both nineteen, they came to this bar to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It brought them together, and five years later, I was born. In the five years between them meeting and me being born, they got married, bought a house, all of that.” She shrugged.

Jaxson lifted up his beer bottle. “To Mr. and Mrs. Short, wishing you both a happy anniversary.”

“Thank you,” Tillie said, lifted her glass of orange juice with a dash of lime, and took a drink.

He didn’t have to do that, but it was nice that he did.

“You’re not quite so rough around the edges, are you?” she asked.

He chuckled. “I’m being nice.”

“I appreciate it.”

Belle lifted her head and placed it on the table, looking across at Jaxson.

“She must like you,” she said. “She’s not usually a friendly dog.”

He reached across and stroked Belle’s head. Her dog didn’t grumble, just looked over at him, and she found it absolutely the cutest thing in the world.

Chapter Two

“All alone again?” Jaxson asked.

Tillie lifted her head up from her book, and at first she frowned, but then she saw it was him, and he watched her smile. “Jaxson, hi, and you should know by now, I am never alone.”

He looked down to see Belle under the table, on her lap.

“Does she not like to sit on the floor?” he asked.

“Not particularly, I have a feeling I’ve got a dog that doesn’t like to get dirty.”

He chuckled. “What’s your poison today?” he asked, pointing to her coffee cup.

“Oh, you don’t have to get me a coffee.”

“I insist, besides, it’s hot as fuck to sit indoors, and I’d love the company.”

“Then I’ll have a caramel mocha please, with cream.”