While I Was Away(64)

They all started breaking away from each other – River heading back towards his work truck and August looking around for a cab. Ocean planned on just strolling around for a while, trying to clear his head, but then August called out to them all.

“Just so you know!”

His brothers both turned around to face him.

“I don't think Adele's crazy,” he assured them. “I never did. Not once.”

“Good,” River nodded.

“And Ocean?”

“Yeah?”

“Zoey's awesome. In a more-than-just-sex way. In a I-like-her-better-than-any-other-chick-you've-ever-dated way. Don't let her go, okay?”

His brothers were just on a roll. Ocean hated it when they made him feel small, like he was the little brother.

Hate it ... but it also makes me so damn proud of them.

“Thanks, Auggie.”

“Enough with the mush!” August yelled when a cab finally pulled up. “No more! From now on, only beers and broads and brothers! Manly shit and all that jazz!”

They all laughed and waved goodbye to each other, then Ocean continued on his walk.

Zoey is awesome, and definitely means more to me than just sex, but what could she see in me? Some jaded thirty-six year old? She's young and beautiful and amazing and ...

Ocean realized he was smiling. Grinning, even. There was almost a skip in his step. All because he was thinking about Zoey Blanke and how incredible she was.

What's the world coming to?





31




The next day was so wonderful, Adele was afraid to close her eyes. She might open them and discover she was dreaming again.

They awoke tangled up together in the bed, and she'd been afraid he would freak out again. But Jones had just stretched out, rubbed her back, then gone off to take a shower.

The temptation to join him had been strong – her skin was dry from her night time swim in the lake. Not to mention him being naked and just a couple feet away had been a strong compeller. But since it would probably undo all the progress they'd made the night before, she'd decided to busy herself with tidying things up.

Then they'd switched places in the shower, and when she'd finally emerged – regretfully wearing her own clothing again – he'd been making them breakfast. They'd sat at the small table together, a shaft of brilliant sunlight spilling across them, and had talked their way through bacon and eggs.

And talked through a morning walk along the lake side. And talked while she'd brought in her overnight bag, and talked some more while he'd posted up at his easel. Only he didn't return to his window painting – he'd put that canvas aside. He'd also turned the easel so its back faced the room, then he'd taken his seat and started moving his brush across the canvas.

“What's it going to be?” Adele asked, trying to peek around the canvas frame.

“Mmmph!” he grunted, a paintbrush clamped between his teeth. He finished what he was doing with the brush in his hand, then spit out the one in his mouth. “You can't see it. Not yet. Maybe never, I don't know.”

“Never?”

“I'm not a great painter. Mediocre at best,” he laughed. “And painting from ... memory was never my strong suit, so this may turn out shit. If I think it's good, I'll share it, okay?”

“You're gonna share it no matter what,” she countered.

“It's my art, you can't argue with me about it,” he said.

“It's for me, isn't it?”

He hadn't ever said so, but she knew it anyway.

“It's for you if I like it, and if I finish it,” Jones clarified.

“Pffft, that's ridiculous,” she snorted, then she started towards the painting.

“Whoa whoa whoa! You can't just look at an artist's work!” he said, standing up and blocking her path.

“You can't just deny the giftee access to it,” she replied, trying to step around him.

“Yes, I can.”

He blocked every step she made, and when she tried to circle around him, Jones simply grabbed her around the waist and picked her up. She let out a startled shriek, then laughed as he carried her out the front door and onto the small porch.

“I promise,” he assured her. “I'll let you see it when it's finished, no matter what.”

“You will?”

“Yes. But until then,” he said, his arms falling away as he stepped back from her. “You get to wait out here.”

By the time she'd whirled around, he'd shut the door in her face. She could hear him laughing his way across the cabin.

Adele playfully pouted for a bit, whining at the door, but when it was obvious it wouldn't work (of course it wouldn't, this was Jones she was talking to), she left the porch. She slowly circled the cabin, reveling in the sunny day. There were dense bushes and forest behind the building, and wildly overgrown grass and flowers alongside it. She wandered around for a long time, touching the petals.

In a way, being there was almost as surreal as her dream world. She almost expected a faceless person to wander out of the brush, or for Jones to appear out of thin air. She stared at the blank back wall of the cabin, wondering if this was all really real. Praying it was all really real.