Page 99 of All Autumn
At hearing the opening bars of “When a Man Loves a Woman,” I smiled at Mary, who gave me a satisfied nod. I handed my jar of moonshine to Adam.
“That’s mine. No sneaking any.” Then I took Autumn’s hand and led her to the dance floor. For Autumn I could ignore a little pain in my ankle. I’d danced with her before at high school dances, two friends just having fun. But we’d never slow danced together. I slipped my arm around her back and pulled her close. “Hello, beautiful,” I whispered into her ear.
“Hello, handsome,” she whispered back. She slid her hands to the back of my neck and rested her face on my chest.
How had I not recognized this woman as my soul mate the first time I saw her? Well, maybe not in first grade, but long before now. It seemed like we’d wasted too much time getting to where we were tonight. But that just meant we had a lot to make up for, and we were going to have fun doing that, starting right now.
“How soon can we blow this joint?” Autumn said.
I laughed. My girl was on the same page as me. At hearing a whine, we both looked down to see Beau grinning up at us.
“Ready to go home, Beau?” He barked twice. I reached down and picked up the leash trailing behind him. “Lead the way then.”
Autumn grabbed my hand. “Wait.” She pulled me to the kitchen, coming to a stop at a large chocolate sheet cake. Decorating the top were thirteen shirtless male figures, representing those of us in Mary’s calendar, I supposed.
“Which one is you?” Autumn said. She studied the figures, then grabbed the knife next to the cake. “This one.” She cut a large square out of the cake with one bare-chested man on it, then looked up at me with Autumn mischief in her blue eyes. “I’m going to eat you.”
I grinned at her. “I’m so on board with that.” This woman was going to be the death of me, but I would go out with laughter on my lips.
