Page 30 of The Scars I Bare
She looked up at me with a wry sense of curiosity, still trying to figure out why I was there in the first place.
Me, too, Cora. Me, too.
“It’s just that, before, you were—I mean, it was different,” I said, tripping all over my words as I tried to explain my meaning.
“Oh,” she said. “Um, Carpenter. It’s Carpenter, I guess.”
Smiling, I nodded in approval. “Okay, good. Well, I just came by to drop off a cup of coffee for Jake, but then I got highly distracted by your very charming daughter. By the way, did you know that hummingbirds can fly backward?”
A smile flashed across her face. “And sideways I’ve heard.”
Yep,I thought to myself.Just like her mom.
We hung in that moment, our mutual smiles reaching for each other like magnets.
“Um, Miss Cora?” old man Pond called out. “I’m ready.”
“Oh, right,” she said, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “I’d better get back to work.”
“Oh, right. Me, too. I mean, going. I should get going.”
I am a fucking idiot.
“Don’t go!” Lizzie protested, a little too loud for her mother’s liking.
“Shh!” she immediately scolded, holding her finger up to her lips.
God, those lips. What I wouldn’t do to—
I cleared my throat. “Why doesn’t she spend the day with me?”
Wait, what?
“What?” Cora echoed my internal thoughts.
Too late now. Can’t take it back.
Might as well go with it.
“Um, sure. I’m not doing anything, and clearly, you’re swamped. I could show her the birds we were talking about down at the docks and give her a tour of the town.”
“We already did a tour of the town,” she replied, her eyes dodging between me and Mr. Pond, who was currently standing next to her, holding his huge pile of books and magazines.
The whole thing was awkward.
There was no other way to describe it.
But then again, that was the definition of my interactions with Cora thus far.
Awkward.
Just all sorts of awkward.
“Please, Mommy?” Lizzie begged before amending her plea to something much quieter. “Please?” she nearly whispered.
Cora’s gaze alternated between me, her daughter, and Mr. Pond, who was now watching the entire interaction like a true townie—with enthused observation.
“No boats,” she said sternly.
