Page 74 of Peaches

He swings forward fast, and I stumble back on my ass. What the hell was that? His fist? His elbow? Well, damn, I guess I screwed this up already.

But then he leans forward again and motions for me to move closer. I look up at Grace who’s smiling like this is the best damn thing she’s ever seen, and from where she’s standing, I can’t say I wouldn’t agree with her.

Cautiously, I lean forward, but keep my distance at the same time. His eyes glance all around, except to fall on mine, and he smiles like Heath fucking Ledger as he says,“You got a little fight in you. I like that.”

The joker?

Holy hell, that was spot on!

Grace walks over to the T.V. across the room and flips on the exact movie he just recited and all of a sudden, he’s captivated by the screen and I’m quickly aware that we’re done here. He rocks back and forth, clutching his Green Arrow tight, as I rise to my feet and back away slightly.

Trudy goes about making sure he is completely comfortable, fluffing a pillow and setting it behind his head, picking up the remote and putting it right where I am assuming he wants it. She picks through a cabinet and produces a blanket she had to literally dig for, I’m guessing because it’s his favorite, and then wraps it around his legs as he focuses solely on the screen.

“Why Batman if he loves Green Arrow?” I whisper, as Grace and I begin to back out of the room. Suddenly, I feel like I’m stupid as shit and I should know the answer so I don’t have to bother her with silly questions, but she gives me no inclination that I’ve asked something idiotic and just smiles at her brother from across the room.

“Today it’s Batman,” she explains with a shrug. “Arrow is his favorite, but he loves all DC comics. He communicates with us that way. Through his favorite lines depending on whatever kind of mood he is in. As you heard, the hospital was Gotham City. Too horrible a place to be one he loves, like Star City, even if they are both considered desolate waste lands.”

“What was up with the swing,” I ask, because, let’s face it, even if the guy is quickly becoming someone I can’t wait to get to know better, so I can live out every boy’s comic book dream through him, I kinda want to know if I need to be afraid he’d try it again.

She shrugs once more as we make our way back out into the hallway and stop, glancing briefly behind us into the front living room as I watch her mother busy herself with still tending to her son.

“Autism affects social skills,” she says, and I silently punch myself for still not being able to understand. Lack of focus, especially when I’m anxious and a little nervous. Another thing I can thank my slight disability for.

“Archie’s not normally aggressive, although it does sometimes come with the territory. I think mostly he was testing you. You were in his space. You disrupted his routine.”

She turns to me just as her mother makes her way back towards us. “Even so, he obviously didn’t feel threatened, otherwise he’d have made contact.”

I know that’s supposed to put my mind at ease, but it doesn’t. I’m not comfortable, yet. But I’m going to try to get there. For Grace. For Trudy. Speaking of…

“Alright,” Grace’s mother says, as she claps her hands together once she comes to standing with us in the hallway. “Let’s get you settled.”

She reaches for my bag, but I snatch it quickly because my mother and Grams raised me right.

“Just point me in the direction, and I can take care of it,” I say, and then glance at Grace and watch as her arms cross over her chest and a comical smile plays at her lips.

“Well, I’d like to Brett, but the thing is,” all of a sudden, I get the feeling I am not going to likethe thingin question as I glance back at Grace’s mother and force a smile to keep my worries at bay. “The door to the barn is tricky and I’m really the only one who knows how to get it open.”

Did she just say…

Trudy moves past me and my eyes fall angrily on Grace’s as she saunters past as well and quickly follows after her mother.

“Barn?” I ask, trying to hide my edgy confusion and not insult Mrs. Presley and her generous offer to put me up. That is, until I have Grace alone later and I give her a mouth full of just how much putting me up is also putting me out. Quite literally.

“Don’t worry,” Grace attempts to comfort me as I reluctantly begin to follow the two women toward the back of the house. “Momma re-did the loft. It’s actually more like an apartment. Of course, the horses are still below, but,” she sings, as we make it to the back door and her mother scurries off before us. She backs up to the door frame and waits for me to meet her toe to toe. “It’s private. Isolated. Intimate.”

My ears beg to hear more as I’m suddenly more than okay at sleeping in - the barn. Well, at least it’s not the doghouse. I let out a slight laugh because there is no way in hell I would’ve ever guessed something like this would happen to me twenty-four hours ago.

I drop my suitcase at our feet and cock an eyebrow at her, my hands itch to touch her, to hold her like I did last night, but I glance to my side and see her mother watching a few hundred yards away at the barn’s entrance and decide against it.

I’m not sure what Grace has told her about us, and even though I couldn’t keep my hands to myself earlier in the church parking lot,forgive me fatherfor that, I don’t want to tempt fate because it’s obvious her mother doesn’t want us sleeping in the same room let alone sleeping under the same roof.

“Is that right, Peaches,” I whisper. “Too bad it sounds like once I’m locked in for the night, that’s it. Your mother seems to want me hidden away, under lock and key, only her own special twist of the wrist to let me out again come morning.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she says, pushing off the wall and motioning for me to follow. “You forget this is the house that built me, that is, after I made it mine first. The lock sticks only when I make it. A warning for those above that would rather be left undisturbed. A trick I left behind when I stayed up there for a while before moving to Savannah. And you do want me to make it stick, right,Brettly?”

Hells, yes, I want you to, Peaches!

I look behind me and hear Archie’s voice coming from down the hallway. He’s reciting lines better than the hired actors who play their parts and it hits me that it’s a fucking gift I’ll forever be in awe of. Glancing back at Grace, I see her smile as the late afternoon sun light shines down on her and suddenly feel oddly like I belong here. Like I belong with her.

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