Page 7 of See Her

“Yeah, sure,” I say, nodding. “When?”

“Would Sunday be alright?” he asks. His eyes are hopeful, and it sends a zing through my chest.

I don’t want to seem overeager. I’ve had too many guys get excited about me, get me excited aboutthem, and then turn around, freak out, and say things have moved too fast and they’re spooked, even when they were the ones to set the pace. I remind myself to just take it for what it is.

“I can do Sunday,” I nod. “You feel like getting writer’s block on that day?” I joke.

He laughs. “No. Hopefully I’ll come up with something more fun than that.”

And then he winks at the same time his dimple appears. Talk about a one-two punch.

“Where do you want to go?” I ask as an annoying text alert goes off on my phone. I pull it out to silence the alarm, reminding me to send in the work project I already submitted in the café.

“I’m not sure.” He grins sheepishly, running a hand through that sexy hair again. “But like I said, I’ll come up with something. Can I put my number in your phone?” He reaches out for it and I hand it to him, trying not to pass out at the feeling of our fingers touching again. He’s got strong hands with calloused fingers that I’m already yearning to feel on more of my skin.

Down, girl.

“Sounds great,” I answer, and take my phone back after hetexts himself from it so he has my number. We stand awkwardly for a minute, and I decide to be the one to walk away first.

“Well then, bye,” I say, bringing my teeth down on my lip with a nervous smile.

“Bye,” he says, still standing for a few beats as I start walking away. I wave over my shoulder as I glance to see him start walking away too.I head to my car and home, where I try to put him out of my mind.

Ha!

3

JACK

“Holy shit,” I say to myself as I get out of my truck and make my way up the path to my sister’s pool house… that I live in.

I’m inspired, for the first time in months. I need to get in the zone immediately. No distractions.Break through.

“Holy shit,” I say again.I open the door and am immediately assaulted by Trooper, my German Shepherd.He jumps up from his cushion in the corner and comes bounding over to me. His paws are on my stomach and he’s nudging me to death with his big schnoz. He’s letting out a high-pitched whine, doing the best he can not to bark with excitement that I’m home.

Holy hell, I was only gone for two hours.

“Okay, okay,” I say, trying to get him back down on the floor while scratching his ears. “DOWN!” I say, when he doesn’t cooperate.He listens, and sits with his tail thumping like a mallet on the wood floor.“Okay, good boy, that’s it.Calm the hell down and then I can give you attention, see how that works?”

He finally chills out after another couple of minutes. I give him one last pat on the head and head to my desk that sits in the corner of the kitchen, rifling through it for my notebook.I called my sister, Sarah, on my way home and asked where it was,stating that I needed to write in it, ASAP. She practically cackled with delight at the notion she was right, that I’d find something to write about if I got out of the house.She confiscated it as an intervention when I wouldn’t quit brooding over the damn writer’s block and forced me to go out into theworldand find inspiration elsewhere. She has no idea that I did indeed.

I find it in the top side drawer where she said she left it, flip it open, and grab a pen as I sit down.

I need to write. Now.I feel like a dark cloud has evaporated from my brain, and who knows when it will come back.

Break through.Something happened when she said that. Mayzie.Why, I don’t know. People use those words all the time. Every day. But for some reason, her saying it at that moment, in that place, at that time…. It’s like the planets in my universe aligned. I don’t care about the logistics right now. I need to let the words come, no matter how crazy.There has to be something that makes sense mixed in there somewhere, I can feel it.

I write the wordsbreak throughdown in the middle of the page.I stay calm and stare at them for a minute, letting whatever thoughts come.The ones that make no sense and don’t flow, I acknowledge and dismiss them.I’ve heard that this is what meditation is like.Break through, break through…. I write words likewallsandpoundingaround the two words in the middle of the page until realization hits me deep in my gut.It’s quick and fleeting, but I get the message.Up in the corner of the page, I start to write:

You’ve got your walls up, but I can see through,

See through

To everything I want.

I’ll give it everything I’ve got

To break through,

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