Page 3 of The Wayward Son

He kept a bottle of bourbon in the cabinet above the stove. It was there for medicinal purposes. After a fight, if things didn’t go well, his go-to home pain reliever was a couple shots of bourbon and a beer. He’d add some prescribed pain killers to the mix if he was in really bad shape. It’d knock him out, and he’d sleep through the worst of it.

He set the bourbon on the table in the corner. Like the kitchen, it was small, with just two chairs. He got two beers from the refrigerator and then took a glass from the cupboard. It wasn’t a shot glass. And he usually drank orange juice from it. But it was the smallest glass he had.

He sat at the table and waited for Jade to emerge. He could hear the shower running and she was singing. She had a good voice and when he knew her, it was her dream to be in a band someday. He assumed that dream never came true.

“How did you get from that girl to the woman in my shower?” He tried to remember the last time he had a woman in his shower. “Um…never.”

When Jade walked into the kitchen, Sawyer was shocked. He hadn’t noticed her hair with so much else going on. But now, dressed in a pair of his pajama pants, cinched at the waist, and rolled up at the ankle, a t-shirt which seemed to fit her quite nicely, and her hair down, he could tell it was red. Even wet, he could see the color in the ends of her hair that fell well below her shoulders. And her make-up free face, was beautiful.

She cocked her head at him. “What?”

“Is that your natural hair color?”

“Do you think I’d chose to color it this color?”

“It was black the last time I saw you. I like it.” Suddenly, her fair skin and freckles made sense. She’d always avoided the sun, and he figured it was to add to her look. But it was probablybecause she burned easily. He was glad to see, that under all the makeup she’d had on, the freckles were still there, sprinkled across her nose and along her cheekbones.

She opened the bottle of bourbon and poured herself a healthy shot. “Speaking of hair. You haven’t outgrown your look, I see.”

He ran a hand through his hair, which touched the top of his shoulders. “Yeah, well, at least it’s the same color.”

She drank her shot in a few swallows. Then drank some beer. She leaned back in her chair. “So, this t-shirt obviously isn’t yours. Girlfriend?”

“No. It’s probably Sage’s. She was going to school here and spent a fair amount of time visiting. Actually annoying the crap out of me.”

“How is Sage?”

“She’s great. She’s living in my great-grandparents' house.”

“The forbidden house?”

“Yeah. Not so forbidden anymore.”

“I remember the time we snuck in there. You were so afraid your granddad was going to catch us.”

“He would not have been happy. That’s for sure.”

“And how’s your dad?” Sawyer hadn’t yet met Jade when his mother got sick. But she was there when she died. She’d helped him through it.

“He’s married, actually.”

“Really? That’s great.” She raised an eyebrow. “Right?”

“Yes. Ember is great. They’re actually expecting a child.”

Jade opened her mouth, then closed it. “Is she younger than him? Not that a woman can’t have a child in her forties.”

“She’s quite a bit younger than him.”

Jade leaned forward on the table. “Like how much?”

“Seventeen years.”

“Whoa. Interesting.” She poured herself another shot, then Sawyer stood and took the bottle from her.

“Let’s put this away.”

“Why aren’t you drinking?”

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