Page 58 of Catch My Fall
“Inadvertently, I suppose.”
“Well, however you both came to be here, I couldn’t be happier. You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this moment, Al. Too damn long.”
“Me too,” I say.
“Come on in,” he ushers us inside as he nudges a dog out of the way gently with his leg. “Don’t mind Gus, he’s blind as a bat, the old boy.”
As we step inside, I’m invaded by memories, some I thought I’d forgotten as a feeling of nostalgia settles over me like a blanket. I remember the many hours me and my cousin would chase and play around this house, when I was little.
Sierra bends beside me to pet the dog who laps up the attention, rubbing himself against her leg.
“Place hasn’t really changed since you were last here, Al,” Ray says.
Everything is as I remember it, all the furniture in the same place as it always has been. Every wall covered with photographs from over the years, some all the way back to when Ray and my dad we’re kids.
“Would you like anything to drink? Coffee? Beer? Water?”
“I’ll take a beer, thanks, Ray.”
“Make that two,” Sierra adds.
“A girl after my own heart, keep this one close, Al.” Ray smiles, giving her a wink before turning for the kitchen at the end of the hall.
My eyes find hers. “Oh, I intend to.”
∞∞∞
The sound of Sierra’s laughter rings in my ears as I watch her from the kitchen doorway as she laughs with my uncle. She insisted she repay his hospitality by helping cook dinner for all of us and not wanting to argue, he agreed. I don’t think any man would find it easy to say no to a woman like her.
Her eyes find me over her shoulder and she smiles.
“My ears are burning, which I can only assume means that I’m the subject of your jokes,” I say, letting my hand drift over Sierra’s back as I come to stand beside her and I don’t miss how she leans into my touch.
“Ray was just telling me what you used to get up to when you were little.”
My eyes roll. “Oh, boy…”
“It’s all good stuff, I promise,” she says.
“If you want me to crack open the embarrassing stuff, I got a stack of photo albums from when he was a kid just waiting to see the light of day,” Ray tells her.
“Yes! Now those I have to see!” Si laughs, clutching to my shirt as she doubles over.
“Oh, you really don’t.”
“Nope, I really think I should. I could do with a good laugh.”
“Oh, you’ll get that alright,” Ray adds.
“I’m just going to use the bathroom, I won’t be long.” Sierra excuses herself from the room, her footsteps receding as she makes her way upstairs.
“She’s wonderful, Al. You got a good’n there,” Ray says, stirring the pot of stew that bubbles on the stove.
“She’s not mine,” I admit.
He shoots me a knowing look. “But you want her to be.”
“It’s complicated.”