Page 4 of Flying

“Where are you?” he asks anxiously.

“Scene of the crime, technically,” I answer with an anxious giggle.

“Stay put, I’ll be right there,” he orders me. This is the most forceful I’ve ever heard him, so I do as he said. A few short minutes later, River jogs over in his usual jeans and bar tee. He pauses briefly before pulling me into a firm hug. The kind he hasn’t given me since Grant and I started to date.

“Is something wrong?” I ask, feeling him shaking slightly against me.

“Please. You need to pack up and go. I’m sorry, the town council is going to make your punishment sitting in the stocks. I was in and out of the room when it was suggested… so I’m missing some details but I do know your mom agreed to sit out the vote but did not seem too upset with their suggestion. You’ll have to do a day dressed up in the old timey garb with your ankles locked in the pillory stocks. You don’t deserve this, but they can’t get over it with the lawn still marked. Head out to Nessa or Stef’s dorm. Visit a college. Think about what you want for you. They’ll all calm down in a week or two. This won’t last forever.” Then he squeezes my arms before looking at me with the most pained expression behind his eyes. Unsure if he believes what he said, all I can do is I wrap my arms around his torso, bury my face against his chest, and let my tears fall.

“Thank you, I miss you,” I choke on a cry.

Today

Looking downat those same keys in my hand, I miss that feeling of closeness with River. Maybe I should have tried him earlier. We’ve reconnected from time to time, usually over a social media chat, only to have things fizzle out. One of us stops sending as many messages, days run into weeks. Once months have passed it takes a while to start the cycle over again. It’s not that I don’t care about him, just when someone is out of sight they can fall out of mind. Unless I’m obsessing. Instead, River is this comfortable middle ground. A consistently-inconsistent piece of my life.

Pulling away from the curb, curiosity gets the better of me and I start to head towards the square. I want to see for myself. Did the fire leave a mark still, ten years later? I head towards Main Street, parking on the far side away from those damn stocks and forgetting this placed me just outside the salon, Curl Up & Dye, and The Featherweight.

I glance clear across the square and the first thing to catch my eye is the glimmering golden peacock statue outside town hall, an ode to the town's name. The grassy town center is infamous for the peacock habitat. Thankfully, it looks like the birds are locked in the housing enclosure tonight. Most years they break out and start trouble.

Like a peacock's train, there are vibrant pops of gold everywhere. Buildings decorated in deep jewel tones boasting shades of blue, green, and purple. There is always some sort of party and some sort of scandal. It is fun here, so long as you are the main character.

Pete scratches at the door and whines, so I leash him to go walk and find a place for him to relieve himself. Of course the dog pulls me towards the vet’s office and bird habitat.

“Those damn stockyards are still in front of town hall,” I grumble to nobody in particular as we meander the diagonal paths that intersect by the bird enclosure. On the southside of the square sits the florist, Seth’s family bookstore, and the center of town gossip: the salon. Across the way on the northside are the library and a fitness studio where I took dance as a girl. Between the studio and the vet sits the condo, Grant’s condo. On the top of all of these businesses are apartments the Morgan family owns.

The entire west side of the square is taken up by River Hendrix’s family: The Featherweight bar & restaurant inside a giant Victorian home, a once abandoned back cottage, and lots of acreage leading to the river banks. This has been home to the town meeting point, bar, and much more for over two hundred years.

Lost in my own thoughts, I smack into something. Someone. Male. Very male. A wall of broad chest is directly in front of my eyes, with a dark T-shirt on it’s no wonder I missed him. Gazing down I see a pair of jeans and well worn work boots that do not help me identify who the first townie I’ll reconnect with is. I can feel his well defined pecs and arm muscles popping as he grabs my upper arms to steady me. Lifting my gaze I first notice a thick dusting of soft dark brown hair along his exposed forearms. Further up I can see the same color but much rougher hair scruffily dusts his chin and cheeks with a day old beard. There isn’t quite enough light to place him.

I glance back down to Pete who has wound himself around us at the ankles. Leash tethering this mystery man to me. I smell pine and leather. Something purely masculine. He guides me a step or two, slowly, with soft light steps like a dance, towards the lamp light.

I take in the blue-green eyes that have added more lines since the last time we stood here, embracing like this. “River?” I ask, breathing out a bit shaky, like he is the answer to a prayer.

five

River

“Lily?” I whisper-shout blinking repeatedly. Lily is home, walking a dog in the park, after midnight.

Reel it in, dude.I need to contain myself. I am thirty years old. Except I’m acting as giddy as I was at fourteen, when she first began watching me play hockey. Shaking my head it hits me, what Lee said earlier when picking up dinner and there being 70/30 odds.

I practically facepalm myself when I put it all together.Of course. Lily would never miss Lee proposing.Not after Stef took her in right away when she left Grant. Lily lived with Stef the first few months before heading to California. Then she was off the grid, the rumor was she worked on a pot farm as a trimmer. She showed back up online in full force one day, decked out in spandex and teaching yoga and fitness classes on lives. She built a following and started to travel as a fitness influencer—I remember her bringing the dog back from a trip to Japan a few years back.Even so, why is she out after midnight?

“Hi, old friend.” I smile down at her. My body is noticing things before my brain catches up. My hands are still on her, and I feel how close my chest is to hers. Her breath is softly skimming my shoulder, the light touch creating far more of a reaction than I could have ever imagined.

At the same time, by sniffing and walking, we get lucky that the dog is freeing us. I’m able to step one foot out, and she does the same.My right hand drops from Lily’s body, stepping back I offer my palm to the dog to sniff. The tension that was building over the longest sixty seconds of my life ends when she breaks into a giant smile followed by an exuberant giggle because her dog is now humping my calf. I’m trying to hold back my own laughter.

“River, meet Peter Pan, it looks like you have an admirer.” She giggles softly.

“I’m sorry, Lily, did you just say you are on an adventure with Peter Pan?” I choke out a guffaw. “Does that mean he’s asking me to be one of his lost boys?”

Shaking my leg away from the dog, I scoop her up into a hug, arching my back and her feet rise from the ground, and for one glorious moment, I think I’ve saved myself from my semi- becoming a full-on boner. Except I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong. When her soft curves press firmly against me, I inhale the scent of chamomile tea and lavender on her skin. She smells heavenly. Fuck, this is too much, so slowly I start to recite the lineup of the 1990 NY Giants roster hoping thoughts of Lawrence Taylor will kill any boners.

It is probably wishful thinking on my part, but I think I see a little bit of pink start to creep over her cheeks. Trying to reclaim the days of comfortable companionship, I extend my hand to her, before offering to give her the updated tour.

“Didn’t you hear? In the last few years, Mayor Jim Kelly has me taking the midnight shift to protect our town from former residents.” I’m leaning my shoulder into her, shoving like a little kid.

“Mayor Jim Kelly? As in…” Lily stammers.

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