Page 18 of Fragments of the Past

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I offer my sympathy.

Anson shrugs. I think he’s resigned, past the heartache, until his lips flatten and his chin pebbles.

“I’m sorry for Grant. Angeline was a great cop and a wonderful mom. I’ve done what I can so that the kid has a guy in his life. But Grant lost out on having an actual parent when his dad was convicted.”

“You think they could have co-parented, even with the domestic abuse?”

“I think… I think Grant deserves someone in his corner, and I try to be that person.”

“You want kids?”

“Not anymore. You?”

“Not really. Not if they have to go through what I do.”

“How did you find out you were like… this?” His palms open wide, hovering over the tabletop.

I lean back, sliding my hands between my knees. “I was four when I realized something was off. My nana couldn’t live alone after my papa died and moved in with my parents before I was born. She took care of me while they worked.”

“You must’ve been close.”

The uncontrolled huff, little laugh, and smile bubble up, ringing out from a place deep inside of me. “We were. She was frail, but still got on the floor to play. Nana had a cough she couldn’t shake, but no one seemed concerned. My parents went out for dinner. Nana baked me chicken nuggets and fries. After I finished eating, she’d told me to go color. I had a desk and a chair. It was about yay high.” I gesture, measuring the level. “Nana took the phone into her bedroom and came back out a few minutes later. She sat down in her recliner, watching me choose what crayon I’d color with next. She said that I was a good girl, that Mommy and Daddy would be home soon, and that I shouldn’t worry.”

I wasn’t afraid. Nana’s face had been pinched while she was scraping my plate. I thought she was angry with me for wasting so much ketchup. But then she was happy. Smiling. I stopped worrying that I’d done something naughty by squeezing the bottle too hard. I felt like she was proud of me for trying to be a big girl.”

“When my parents came home, my dad walked past Nana. My mom was hiding her panic—not very well. She asked where Nana was. But when I turned to say she was right there, Nana was gone. My dad found her in her bedroom, clutching the phone to her chest. She’d called them instead of 911.”

“Wow. I’m… Speechless. Did you have any other experiences as a kid?”

“All sorts. Everything from knowing bad things were about to happen to being approached by people others couldn’t see. Sometimes, friends would ask me why I was talking to myself. You can only find so many excuses before they label you and decide they don’t want to hang out with a weirdo anymore. I’m glad for the invent of wireless earphones.”

“Because now everyone looks like they are talking to themselves and everyone around them assumes they’re talking on the phone,” Anson supplies with a grin.

“You got it.”

Chapter Nine

________________

ANSON

“Hold on, you really had a boyfriend named Ben Dover?” I jog around the hood of my car to catch up to Rae Lee, who is standing on the lawn.

“Yes.” Rae Lee’s goofy grin breaks into a snort. “No. I had you going there.” She doubles over laughing as if we’ve had one too many at dinner.

I’m aware that’s not it. Rae Lee and I each had two beers and a full dinner. I’d stolen her fantastic fries, and we split dessert when she saw pineapple upside down cake on the menu. The classic taste is evocative, reminding me of Sunday family dinners when I was a kid. Rae Lee mentioned licking the spatula when her nana baked it in a blue cornflower Corningware dish was one of her earliest recollections.

Once you break past her outer shell, Rae is silly. She can say the absurd with a straight face, though it cracks as soon as she’s got your number. The silliness, merriment, and the way she relaxes when she delivers the punchline for a joke makes her light up.

“Okay. You got me.” The rumble of laughter that comes from deep within my belly takes me off guard. I hold my hands up in surrender. Neither of us are in control of our riotous smiles.

I should admit to Rae Lee that she has me entranced. No matter what I believed about her abilities before, I hadn’t gotten her out of my mind. Helping people is serious business. Her method is simply unconventional. But I sorta like that she can break free of it and not take herself too seriously.

We shut down Mark-39. It’s late and both of us have work tomorrow. Well, I do. Not that Rae Lee’s circumstances bug me now that she’s shared about her health issues. For the second time, we’ve had the kind of fun together that neither of us wants to end.

I grab her hand and pull her towards the back door that she used to enter the older house the first time I dropped her at home.

The night we met, I was attracted to a pretty woman, who simply wanted what I did—a good time. Raleigh was sexy and seductive. Rae Lee is beautiful and intelligent. She’s also mysterious. Yet something tells me I wouldn’t have to dig too much further to find out she has a heart of gold. It’s a stroke of luck that the two women I find so alluring are wrapped up in the same package.

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