Page 37 of Stone Blind

“I don’t know,” he said solemnly. “In some ways, I’m flattered you want to spend the time with me, but on the other hand, I’m concerned about your reasons.”

Helen returned to the couch, folding her legs under her body. She considered what she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it.

“I didn’t want to go home and be alone,” she said softly. “I mean, technically, I wouldn’t have been alone. What I would have been was a fifth wheel on the pregnancy train, sitting on the sidelines with my cousin and your brother working entirely too hard to include me in their family events. I didn’t want that, so I guessed, or hoped, we could be lonely together.”

He smirked a little at her assumption. “You assume I’m lonely.”

“Jay, when I was at my lowest, scarred inside and out, I asked for help in guiding me back to the light,” she said. “I wasn’t healed, still aren't for that matter, and I was hurting and hating myself as this ugly, cut up, useless thing another man used and tossed aside. My self-esteem had been shattered into a million pieces. I asked you to make love to me to and make feel wanted and you did.”

He said nothing as he listened to her speak an unspoken truth about her life, but she wasn’t mentioning why it related to him. He’d been down this road one time too many with women who had planned a life with him, but didn’t plan for him to have a life outside of fathering the kids they wanted and putting a roofover their heads. That, he wouldn’t do for any woman, even for a spark like Helen. He still listened to what she was saying.

“Slow said you come home to Kentucky twice a year, and once a year they come to you; however, outside of those three instances, you’re walking this path alone. I’m here to let you know you have a friend in me, and I want to see this life you’ve built and how you live. I came so you can show me your world, Jay.”

He was on his feet and held out his arms. Helen rose from the couch, walking into the embrace.

“That is quite possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me to get my dick,” he said laughing.

“Well, a chick did fly to the other side of the country to get it. I mean, I have to lay it on thick so you can continue to put out. You know, like you’re doing me a favor for coming so far,” she said, leaning back to look directly him in the eyes. The twinkle was back in the way she looked at him, making his body react.

“You are kind of unsettling; has anyone ever told you that? Your mind works like a mad machine in one of those weirdo science labs, and I am here for it.”

“And I’m here for you,” she said. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure...”

“When you saw me at the traffic stop, I saw your mind toying with the idea of me being here for two weeks. May I ask what immediately came to mind for you to teach or show me first from the world of The Mustang?”

“Canoeing,” he said, without hesitating. “Then I want us to make you some simple nightstands for your bedroom where I can put my phones and charge up my watch and place my cup of ice water at night.”

“So, you’re planning to come home to Kentucky and stay with me? I hear you and I like the idea of those projects we can dotogether,” she said. “Just so you know, I can now use a power drill and a leveler, so I can help make those items.”

“Good to know,” he said, yawning. “Tomorrow, I have an early shift, but I finish at two.”

“Good, I want to sleep in tomorrow, maybe do some laundry, read a book, paint my toenails, and then find those bitches who are making sex romper rooms for perverts,” she said, squeezing him about the waist.

“You are very disquieting, but I dig it. The man in me responds and comes alive to everything about you,” he said. “Let’s call it a night.”

“Nice to know because the woman in me was given two weeks of freedom, and the only place I could think to spend it was with you,” she said. “I’m tired as well. Dishes, then bed?”

“Yeah,” he said, yawning as if it were a pattern they did every night. She was wearing on him, and he liked the tread. He liked it a hell of a lot.

MUSTANG ROSE FROM THEbed, peeling Helen from around him. She slept coiled under him like a little puppy not wanting to lose its Mommy’s warmth. Normally, he didn’t go for such things, but she had a calming effect on him, which he did go for. Lately, he’d been feeling unsettled himself, to the point of almost being uncomfortable with the job, as if he could feel this ominous thing coming to upchuck his existence. His instincts kept him on high alert, and the stop he had made on the side of the road with Helen behind the wheel had the hairs standing up on the back of his neck.

He might bring it up and run a few ideas by her to see what she thought, but right now, he needed to get to work. Mustang showered and removed the last clean uniform from the closet that held his work items. He took his boots, socks, andunderpants into the other room to dress, frowning at having to alter his morning routine. Altering the routine would mean forgetting something, and he couldn’t afford to do that, not at this point.

In the kitchen, he arrived with clothes in hand to find Helen. She must have gotten up when he went into the bathroom. He didn’t even notice the bed was empty when he came out of the shower since the room was dark, and he’d assumed she was still sleeping. On the table, she had Canadian bacon, eggs, and well toasted English muffins.

“Good morning,” he said, “and what is all of this?”

“Breakfast to start your day the right way,” she said, grabbing the first mug in the dish drainer, which she assumed he used each morning. Helen poured him a cup of coffee, but not one for herself.

He watched her reach for the lunch pail he’d brought in the door with him yesterday coming in from work. Last night, when they washed dishes, Helen had paid attention to the remnants inside of it. She poured the freshly brewed coffee into the thermos, sealed it, and placed it in the curved lid of the lunch pail. What little coffee remained − she poured into her own mug.

Mustang ate the breakfast she had prepared as Helen made two sandwiches, both with mayonnaise, and a bit of the spicy mustard from the nearly empty jar she spotted in the fridge, and wrapped each sandwich individually. She grabbed an apple, quartered it, and covered it as a whole apple in plastic wrap. From the pantry, she grabbed a bag of nuts and a bottle of water, adding both to the lunch pail.

“I don’t know what time you have lunch even though it is an early day,” she said, closing the pail. She pushed the lunch box toward him, leaned down, and provided a slight kiss to his lips. Helen leaned against the kitchen counter, finishing the sip ofcoffee. “Have an amazing day, and I will see you back here after two.”

“Just like that, you’re going back to bed?”

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