Page 7 of Something to Talk About

“I’ll see you later this week. Let me know if you need anything for Briar girl,” Trent offers.

“Will do.” We hang up as I pull into the parking lot of Oak & Main Barber. Whispering Oaks has a small downtown area. I’m talking three blocks long by three blocks wide. It’s not too much—a couple of restaurants, some coffee shops with a bakery, boutiques, a theatre, hair salon, barber, and a few other places. Once a month, they close the streets down, and the locals plus out-of-towners come in and do a sidewalk-type deal where they offer samples of what they’re selling. Nine times out of ten when I come down here with Mom, Kenny, and Briar, we leave with more than the three of us can carry. The only one who can get away with buying stuff for Kennedy and Briar without a backwards glance is Mom. If only she’d let me slide money to her to give to Kenny, it’d be a hell of a lot easier.

I find parallel parking near the place I’m headed and get on with my day. The hours will fly by, and it’ll be time for me to head to the elementary school, fight with the car rider lane, and then do our thing all before Kennedy comes over.

--

“Uncle Ash?” Briar grabs my attention. She’s sitting in the back, buckled and in her booster seat. She absolutely hates the damn thing with a passion. Except she’s fucking tiny, always has been, and her weight and height make it to where it’s a necessity. I’ve seen too many accidents with kids not safely secured in a vehicle, and I’ll be damned if my niece becomes part of a statistic.

“Yeah.” I look from the road to the rearview mirror for a moment. We’re about to turn into my neighborhood. True to my word, when she hopped in the truck from school, we went to the store for her to pick out something to work on after homework. We’re making bracelets today, and I’m sure she’ll squeeze in swimming in order to prolong the process of her going home with Kennedy. Maybe I’ll shoot my sister a text and let her know Bri can spend the night. It’ll give Kennedy a moment to herself at the very least.

“How come you don’t have a girlfriend? Mommy says you don’t date, and she does.” I cough to cover up my choking at her question. Jesus, kids ask the darndest things. I’m also going to strangle my sister, the turd. She could have given me a warning that Briar would be asking questions. Since when the fuck has my sister started dating? Who’s watching the pipsqueak? And who the hell is she dating? I’m about to call Trent back to tell him the latest gossip Briar is giving me, but then she’ll turn around and tell her mom. I’ll have to do that later because confronting Kennedy will only shut her down.

“I haven’t met the right person yet. Been kind of busy lately,” I answer as I swing the truck into my driveway.

“Hmmm, but you’re not too busy for me.” She gives me a big grin, toothless and all. This year, it seems like one tooth after the other is wiggling, and Briar will mess with it until she’s able to put it beneath her pillow to earn a couple of bucks.

“Never, not for my best girl. You ready to help lug everything in the house? We’re going to have our work cut out for us.” We put a dent in the grocery shopping department. We’re both hungry, and the amount of food we picked up should have us stocked for a good week or two.

“If I must.” She slaps her hand to her forehead, throws her head back, and puts a flare of drama into it.

“The faster we work together, the faster we can have a snack, get homework done, and then the rest of the afternoon is yours to spend however you want.” Briar’s personality is exactly like Kennedy’s; she’s also her spitting image.

“Fine, fine,” she replies. I put the truck inPark.We go through the motions of climbing out of the vehicle, then grabbing a couple of bags in each arm. I’ll no doubt lose my helper once she’s inside. Briar will start rifling through the bags, her attention will be grabbed by one thing or the other, and then I’m on my own.

“You remember the code?” I ask as we start to make our way up the walkway with our arms full, me more than the pipsqueak. She does have her backpack on, one hand has her loot, and the other has a grocery bag with the cookies, juice, and what she picked up at the deli. Today’s choice is a cobb salad. The girl might like her snacks, but she enjoys her meals even more.

“Yep.” She nods, then stops suddenly. “Who’s that?” Briar looks to her left, glancing at who I now know is Lennon.

“My new neighbor.” I nod her way. She’s sitting on her knees in front of the garden bed, and her head turns this way.

“Well, she’s pretty,” Briar states the obvious. Lennon’s lips tilt upwards, clearly hearing my niece.

“Yeah, she sure is, pipsqueak,” I agree.

“You should introduce yourself. You know, Mommy says you have to be nice.” She signals, telling me exactly what I already know I should be doing. I’ve been waiting until Lennon doesn’t have company, and from the looks of it, she still does.

“I will, promise.” I give a slight tilt of my head to Lennon, acknowledging her, since my hands are full. I’m greeted with similar from her, and soon, I’ll be seeing her.

6

LENNIE

Well, that settles it. The guy next door is off-limits. Completely and totally, which is fine with me. It’s fine. Everything is fine. Really, it is. I’m trying to convince myself more than I realistically should, but whatever. My choices in the past regarding a man still make my skin crawl. I got back to digging and pulling at the weeds, disregarding the need for garden gloves. The prickly weeds are currently tearing up my hands and wrists, but I refuse to get up from my perch. I’ve come to realize I enjoy working in the yard more than I thought I would. There’s a slight breeze, the sun is shining, and I can just let my thoughts carry me away.

“Lennon, you want to come in and check on the progress?” Momma Catherine comes out to the porch to ask. After I cleaned up earlier, we took two vehicles to the thrift store. Poppa Russell in a truck, us girls in my car, Samantha. Which much to Minnie’s dismay is running even though she doesn’t look that great anymore. When it was suggested totake two cars, I looked back and forth between them in confusion. I should have known better, though. Shanghaied. That’s the term I heard Trey use, and he’s absolutely right where his mom is concerned. We went to the hardware store, where they bought all the paint and supplies, Russell slipping his credit card into the slot before I could. He’s as bad as his wife.

We then looked at the furniture sets. It took a solid twenty minutes until I finally relented, allowing them to buy way more than we originally spoke about. It seems to be a common recurrence since they came down here in the first place. From there, Russell came home while we went grocery shopping. Where once again, Catherine paid for everything. I felt bad, still do, realistically, but every time I’d insist that I could float the bill, they only shook their heads.

“Sure thing.” I drop the weed into the pile beside my hip, stand up, and wipe my dirty hands together to shake off the dirt. I’m going to need another shower after working in the yard twice today. I wipe the sweat off my brow with my forearm and head up the stairs.

“I want to make sure you like the colors before we get started.” When we got back, they shooed me outside, telling me that three people in my small master bedroom was one too many. I didn’t think they’d get started on it today. I figured they’d tape it off and clear the area. I guess I figured wrong.

“Momma Catherine,” I say with exasperation.

“Hush, we’re not old and feeble. Once we make sure you like the color, we’ll work on your bedroom, so once it’s dry, your room will be done.” I look over my shoulder beforeheading inside, catching my neighbor’s attention again. He’s carrying another armful of bags inside the house. Clearly, we both had the same agenda today, judging by the grocery store’s name emblazoned on the bag.

This time, he sends a smile my way, and I’m stunned for a moment. I give him one in return, though I’m sure it’s awkward.

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