Page 31 of Wildly Yours
"I like things to be tidy."
"There's tidy and then there's…" I sweep my hand toward the bookshelf. "Obsessive."
"I'm not obsessive, how dare you!"
"So I'll ask you again. What are you trying to control?"
"Thinking of changing careers and becoming a therapist?"
"No. I just recognize it when I see it. I've had my own battle with control. Or rather, a lack of it. I had a similar tick to try to diffuse my energy. To control what I was feeling."
"Okay, seriously Cody. I'm not interested in being psychoanalyzed by a park ranger."
"I'm not psychoanalyzing you. I'm asking as a friend."
"Is that what we are?"
"Let me wrap that foot. Do you have some pain medicine? I should have looked."
"It's in the box in the bathroom cabinet labeled medicine."
"How many people do you know label their boxes of bathroom items?"
She glares at me so I hop up and grab her some ibuprofen and a glass of water.
"Having things labeled keeps me efficient. I don't have to look for anything. I already know where it is."
"Okay, but you can't convince me that you do it because you like it. You haven't always been this way."
"What is the big deal, Cody? I'm clean. I'm organized. So what?"
"You also count things when you are stressed out."
"How do you know?"
"I saw you moving your lips when you were staring at the brooms in your shop after Blake left. And then you did it again when we were in the car."
"You saw that?"
"Yeah." I sit back down and start to untie the makeshift splint. "So what are you trying to control?"
"Quid pro quo."
My chest deflates. I don't want to do this. Not now. Not when I feel like we've broken through so many barriers without having to talk about that night. About what I did.
"You tell me what happened all those years ago, and I'll tell you why I count things. News flash, they're related."
It feels like sand is filling up my lungs. After all this time, her body is still responding to what I did. To the wound I caused.
"Let me wrap your ankle properly first."
"So you're going to tell me what happened?" Her eyes are bright and hopeful. There's no backing down now.
"Promise me that no matter what I say, we still work together to save the park."
"What? Are you—? Cody, I take my job as mayor seriously. I will always put the town of Owl Creek above my personal grievances."
"There's always a first time for everything."
