Page 58 of Feels Like Falling
“Donotfinish that sentence.” Jensen shudders and I bark out a laugh as Bodhi’s mouth falls open, and Mason giggles like it’s the best thing he’s ever heard. “It still gives me nightmares.”
“And they say nothin’ happens in a small town,” I tease, and he glares at me because we both know Miss Thelma is hell on wheels on a good day. The spitfire of a woman dedicated her time—and wardrobe—to her cat, Louise, after her husband passed away. Now there isn’t a shirt, skirt, or legging that doesn’t have her beloved cat’s face on it.
It was honestly impressive, and if that wasn’t enough, she also made a county-famous Moscow Mule that could knock a grown man on his ass. I’d often wondered if there would ever be a spark between her and Grandad, but so far I hadn’t flexed my geriatric matchmaking muscles.
Also, I wasn’t entirely ready to accidentally walk in on Grandad gettin’ busy. I wish I could say it had never happened, but that’d be a lie. No grandchild should ever be subjected to that kind of encounter. But he and Nan had been happy and I was happy for him for still bein’ able to get it up.
But Lord have mercy I didn’t need to bear witness to it.
Or hear it.
“Why are you makin’ that face?” Jensen asks, but I shake my head.
“You don’t want to know.”
I’m not lying—but at the same time, I want what they had. To be old and wrinkly and still chasing her around the house, grabbing her ass and kissin’ her breathless.
We have forever to get living and she needs to catch up.
“You’ll have to let me know what that’s like,” Mason says quietly, his gaze fixed on the fire.
“What?”
“Getting to love someone your whole life.”
You’ll find it. The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow them down because I don’t know. I have no idea what he’s been through and if his past will ever truly allow for a future.
But I can pray—and I do—for him and Bodhi to find peace and love and sanctuary in Blackstone Falls. It’s beenalmost two yearssince they landed here, but I still wouldn’t be surprised to find they’d fled in the middle of the night.
Mason gives me a boyish, aw-shucks grin and he looks every bit his twenty-three years. “Don’t worry. It’ll happen for me—for us,” he says motioning to Bodhi. “We’re just picking up somewhere in the middle, and I think it’s nice knowing that people can love each other through all the stages of life.”
Well shit.
Holding my beer out to him, his bottle clinks against mine, and he nods before turning back to the fire. His words resonate deep within me—the rightness so obvious now that they’ve been spoken by someone else.
Finishing my beer, I let the bottle drop into the grass below and look up at the stars.
I’ve loved Ellison my whole life, but I can’t help thinking it’s about time I let myself fall for her too.
27
ELLISON
Isnuck out of the house before my father woke, desperately needing space and praying for some sort of clarity. The entire situation has left me unsettled both with my father and Montana, not to mention the texts from my mother. Exhaustion seeped from my pores as I shuffled around the kitchen before deciding I needed to get away.
Making sure to start the coffee pot, I text Cal, my first ever 9-1-1 friend text, and smile uncontrollably as he sends me several expletive responses one right after the other before asking what time we are meeting.
Apparently, he had no idea just how much fun being my friend would be.
With less growling, we agree on the Kettle and Kiln, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I pull into a spot at the front of the shop. The coffee shop hadn’t been here when I was growing up, but I liked it immediately the first time I’d driven by.
Normally, I’d wait in my car, but my nervous energy has me pulling open the pressed-tin door before I can second-guess it.
The inside is bright and airy—inviting—and the sign behind the counter readsYou make’em. We bake’emwhere a woman sporting a long braid smiles at me while stocking the front case with muffins.
“Morning!” she chirps, her blonde hair and pale skin at odds with the sun in Tennessee. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Nicolette,” she says, her stunning teal eyes sparkling as she offers me her hand.
“Ellison. It’s nice to meet you,” I say automatically as we shake. It’s unusual; I can’t think of another time outside of Blackstone Falls that anyone wanted to get to know me simply because I walked in the door.
