Page 59 of Commanding Flame and Shield
There was the bang of a door being thrown open, and the yip of small dogs erupted in the downstairs foyer. August flew away from me like a piece of shrapnel, a blush coloring his cheeks. I drew a heavy breath and smiled as his eyes scoured my face.
“August?” The old woman’s voice warbled with excitement.
“Up here Auntie!” He shouted back.
“By George, you’re really here!” She croaked. August pushed his fingers through his hair again with an exasperated huff. But his eyes were a smile before the smirk played on his lips. Two eager Yorkies came bounding down the hallway, yipping excitedly. Their entire bodies wagged with their anticipation of some affection. He scooped them both up and offered me one. The little brown dog turned, trying to lick my face, drawing a laugh across my lips.
“That’s Mindy, she prefers other girls.” He chuckled, our laughter mingling.
“Okay,” the word came out all wrong. My voice was all breathy, but his smile broadened as I spoke. It had been a few lifetimes since I’d felt out of control this way. “Hi, Mindy!” A small scratch behind the ear had Mindy’s tail frantic. I forced in the deepest breath I could.
“Who’s with you?” Estelle’s voice was closer.
“I brought a friend, Auntie. She’s a collector too.” His voice was a smile as he said it. Aunt Estelle came around the corner, and I recognized her from some of the picture frames I’d seen downstairs. She had been absolutely beautiful in her youth, but there was something so hypnotizing about her fully mature. Her silver hair was in kinky waves on either side of her face, a pair of pink half-moon spectacles sat on her nose, in front of Yale blue eyes, framed by deep laugh lines. She surveyed me intently through them.
“Alvara, meet Aunt Estelle. Auntie, meet Alvara.” August motioned between us, and I stretched out my hand.
“Nice to meet you.” I smiled as she accepted the gesture. I watched her life unroll in my mind, fast, beautiful and tragic. A rollercoaster of the highest of highs, and lowest of lows. Estelle’s late husband was a dream of a man. He’d been killed by a drunk driver some years ago.
“Dear Lord, boy! Get your girl a sweater. She’s freezing.”
“Oh, I’m fine!” I laughed. Her voice had cut the visions off short, but I released her hand gratefully.
“Nonsense. You’re cold as ice.”
August rolled his eyes, smirk still wide as he stared at me in that depth-of-my-soul-surveying way of his. Estelle narrowed her eyes at him accusingly.
“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, boy. I’m old, not blind. So,” she turned her attention up to me, “you’re the broad that scooped him off the face of the planet.”
He did as he was told, and stripped the hoodie tied at his waist, to wrap it around my shoulders. Involuntarily, my breathing hitched as he set it against my skin, the world growing hazy between visions of football games, Layla stealing it to dodge the rain, laughter encircled bonfires, bouldering with Sam and James…and these long days with me...
I waved my hand in front of me in defense, and shook my head, right as August chortled and said, “Oh Estelle, it’s not like that, and you know it.” But his eyes stayed on me, a knowing amusement tugging at the corner of his lips as he saw the visions that went through me—the stories hidden in that harmless hoodie.
Estelle raised her eyebrows insinuatingly. She lowered her spectacles down the bridge of her nose to look at me without them. Entirely unabashed, she eyed me slowly, from top to bottom, in a way that left me feeling oddly naked. I yearned again for my black t-shirt and high-top jeans, but gratefully pulled August’s sweater around my bare shoulders.
“Why not?” She demanded. “Long drink of water like that—must have had something to do with me being un-invited to a wedding I’ve looked forward to for years.”
I felt my face flush, and looked to August for help, guilt washing over me. She wasn’t wrong. But she wasn’t right, either. I didn’t pick August; he just was what he was.
“I’ve lost weight! And I bought a dress for the occasion. You better have an explanation, boy.”
“I’ll pay you back for the dress.”
She clucked her tongue. “Oh, it’s not about the damn dress.”
August’s explanation was short and to the point and pretty much summed up with the words, “We’ve just grown to be very different people.”
Estelle guffawed but seemed satisfied. She uncrossed her arms, demanded to put some meat on my bones, and led us to the living room, which was open to the kitchen. She motioned for us to sit on a large purple sofa that flooded my mind immediately. August grinned, knowing the sensation running through me as my eyes fluttered. I could feel his stare as I processed its history, and heard the click-clacking of Estelle’s pointed steps into her cozy kitchen.
Putting on a kettle for tea, she asked, “Earl Grey?”
We both nodded our ascent, and as she turned her back to fetch the bags, August shot me an internal,I’m sorry.
I smiled and shook my head. This was the most entertainment I’d had in several very long weeks.
* * *
I fiddledwith the radio knob as the jeep bounced down the washboard dirt road. Most of the stations were country, and while I could enjoy them in the right mood, it just wasn’t the day.
