Page 22 of Liberty
Liberty
I watched the woman stalk away and released a long breath of frustration.
“You do know why you are having such a hard time with this girl, right?”
I turned around to stare at my father. “Yeah, I know exactly why. She’s what they call a complicated and difficult babe, Dad.
“You have never met your match. That is what’s happening here.”
“Oh, no. She is not my match, no way.”
He smirked at me. “I’ve seen you with women, Liberty. Back home at any event, you had girls hanging off your arm on a constant basis. I mean blondes were clinging to you like baby apes, climbing a tree.”
I stared at him and laughed. “Gee Dad. Baby apes? I don’t remember dating one of those.”
“You know what I mean.” He snorted. “So why is it that you can’t seem to charm this Belle?”
“We are polar opposites. We don’t seem to have a whole lot in common. And… Apparently, I just keepsteppin-in-it.”
Staring at me, he tilted his head back to laugh. Then he said, “You’ve been talking to Bea.”
“Yeah, Ma said I had a bad case of that going on. But one of the problems is that Belle doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor.” I paused and remembered her teasing me in the kitchen when I was cutting up onions. “Well, most of the time anyway.But you know me, I'm constantly joking. I mean it’s just the way I am. Then she gets offended by most of my humor.”
“Look son, up until now you’ve had it easy with women. Hell, you’re a Walker and that alone makes it easy.”
I shook my head. “I got in trouble today for saying that same exact thing actually.”
He reached out to pat my shoulder. “When you meet THE girl, it can sometimes be a challenge.”
I stared at him and repeated, “Thegirl?”
He laughed. “Yes. Like I said. The woman for you.”
I blinked at him then burst into laughter.
He chuckled.
I kept laughing until I had tears in my eyes and was holding my aching gut. “Y-you think…” I again fell into more laughter as I could barely speak. “T-that Belle is my like…f-forever woman?”
My father crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a serious look. “Yeah, that is what I’m saying.”
“S-so you came over here to give me advice?” I asked him as I swiped tears from my cheeks.
“I am your father, ya know?”
I shook my head. “Dad, Belle is notmyanything. Hell, I can’t even seem to cultivate a dang friendship with her. Let alone what you’re talking about. Whatever gave you the idea that she is the woman for me? I’m Wesson oil and she’s Fiji water, so you could not have chosen a worse candidate for me to be in love with.”
“I just know, alright?” he argued. “Ask yourself this. Why can’t you seem to get along with her? When was the last time you clashed with a girl like this?”
I paused to think about it. “Um, never? Well, in the first grade maybe.” I chuckled.
“Exactly.” He nodded.
I slowly shook my head. “Whatever you say, Dad.”
“Go ahead and deny it. Patronize me if ya want to, but you got a surprise comin’, boy. A hugesmack you in the face, gut-clutching, stupefyingsurprise.”
“You talkin’ about Belle and him?”
