Finding Kyle(20)

Why the fuck are they shiny?

“I made you lunch,” she says as she holds out a brown paper bag that’s neatly folded down at the top.

I blink at her a moment before my eyes drop to the bag. Just two days ago, that would also have annoyed the hell out of me, but for some reason, it fucking delights me.

Not going to let her know that, though, so I merely take it from her with a rough, “Thanks.”

I walk over to my pickup truck that I’d backed up to the edge of the fence nearest to Cranberry Lane, and she follows me there. I open the bag up, reaching in to find a neatly wrapped sandwich that looks to be thick and piled high with turkey, lettuce, and tomato. Tossing the bag onto my tailgate, I unwrap the sandwich as I ask her, “Any chance our work can be done in companionable silence if I let you help me?”

“As if,” she says with an exaggerated whine in her voice. I know she’s quoting a movie, but I have no clue which one. She adds on, “Clueless. 1995.”

“Never saw it,” I say before I take a bite of my sandwich, and damn… that’s good. Just a simple sandwich made for me, because she’s kind and thoughtful, and I’m pretty sure it might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted.

I wonder what she tastes like?

I give my head a hard shake and swallow. She looks at me curiously, but I’m pretty sure she has no clue what I was just thinking.

“I could be very cruel, you know,” she says with a sly grin as she hops up to sit on the edge of the tailgate, “and tell you that Clueless is a must-see movie for you.”

“What’s it about?” I ask before taking another bite, and well… sort of enjoying this conversation.

“Oh, trust me,” she says with a laugh and a shake of her head that makes her ponytail swing jauntily back and forth. “You’d hate it.”

I do nothing but grunt my acknowledgment and take another bite. I’m halfway through it and dying for another already.

I’m also strangely not put out by Jane’s presence. Ever since Mayhem’s Mission was taken down and I reentered the mainstream world, it’s been hard for me to connect with normal people. Conversation was hard. Listening was hard. Just being in the presence of other people and looking at how very different they were from me, not so much on the outside, but mostly on the inside, and it’s all sometimes too much to handle.

But with Jane… it’s easy.

Well, easier.

“Since you don’t seem to like to get into deep conversation, I thought I’d just entertain you while we paint with some random movie quotes. Really my favorite ones.”

“Why would you do that?” I ask her.

“Because I don’t think you can truly appreciate my talent based on the little interaction we’ve had. And since conversation with you isn’t the easiest, I’ll just toss some random ones out to you.”

“For entertainment purposes only?” I ask as my lips do this very weird motion where they curve upward rather than downward.

“Totally for entertainment purposes only,” she assures me.

“Okay,” I challenge her as I point my half-eaten sandwich her way. “Let me see what you got.”

Jane pinches her chin between her finger and thumb, and then looks upward in contemplation for a moment. Her eyes brighten, and she brings her gaze to mine. “Okay… this is seriously a good one.”

I wait and watch.

She jumps down from the tailgate and clears her throat. Turning, she paces a few steps away before spinning back to me and saying, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions…”

She turns, stalks back toward me, and in an imperious voice, continues, “…and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”

I smile in appreciation for her wit… her complete lack of fear in putting herself out there… for her absolutely nutty personality that got an honest-to-God smile out of me, and, trust me… those don’t come easy.

“Very good,” I praise her, and shit… I want to hear more. “Gladiator. Not sure what year.”

“2000,” she provides with a grin.

I nod my head to the back of my pickup truck. “How about you start to unload the paint materials while I finish this sandwich, and you can throw a few more movie lines at me if you want?”

“Sure,” she says merrily as she reaches into the truck to grab the first gallon of paint. “And there’s another sandwich in there too.”

This day was getting better and better.

?

The sun is hanging low on the western horizon, and it’s starting to cool off. We’re on our last section of fence. I’m on one side and Jane’s on the other. The sounds are relaxing. Brushes slapping against wood, seagulls crying, and the waves crashing against the jetty.

And Jane’s voice.

“Okay, here’s another one,” she says without preamble. “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

She does this in a singsong voice and sort of bounces up and down a little from her kneeling position on the other side of the fence. I try not to notice the way her breasts move under that t-shirt of hers.