“That Lenny is a hoot,” she commented between sips of soup after I told her about the renewed request for a figure drawing class. “I’m sad I’ve hardly been able to help this week.”
“She is,” I agreed. “And I think Jillie is coming around to the idea of us painting a mural in the main hallway, so let’s look forward to that for when you’re feeling better.”
“That would be a great project. I have no doubt you’ll convince her. Now, tell me.” She set her spoon down with a clang and reached for her migraine medicine on the counter. “Are you going to ask that beautiful boy to model for the class?”
I folded my arms against the kitchen counter and leaned on them, smiling at her as I replied, “Aunt Ari, I’d ask Cody Desmond to have my babies if I thought he’d agree. But, to answer your question, yes. I was thinking of doing just that.”
She waved her fistful of pills in celebration before tossing them into her mouth and taking a long gulp of water. The kettle hissed as it reached temperature, so I moved over to turn it off and took it from the stove.
“Well then, the only question left, my Liem,” she told my back, “is what are you waiting for?”
I poured a bit of steaming water into her cup to warm it as the question crawled over my shoulder and slithered into my brain.
What was I waiting for?
I’d thought all day about how much I missed him, and he’d freely expressed the same to me when we messaged and talked on the phone. Why not invite him to Gulf Shores?
I wasn’t exactly worried that Cody would deny my request, but there was something there cautioning me, and I paid attention to it. It spoke from a place in a deep, dark, and rarely visited corner of my subconscious, whispering for me to swim against the current of my nature. To tread carefully.
But was I being too careful?
Cody Desmond was it for me.
I’d known it for a long time, and the potency of that knowledge had only grown since he’d come back into town. Since I’d seen his hazel eyes up close enough times to memorize their color.
When I heard every beat of his heart over the course of a night.
Since Dad had called me to tell me all about how “the kid” had a “real knack for making biscuits” and was “a natural.”
“Pining,” Aunt Ari sighed dreamily from beside me.
“Hmm?” I asked rather dumbly as I turned toward her.
She patted me on the shoulder and took the forgotten kettle from my hand. “That’s what I would title a portrait of you in this moment. If I’d the time to paint it.” She patted me again and then lightly pushed my shoulder. “Go call him, sweetie.”
I wordlessly excused myself to the balcony to do just that, any delay or other course of action seeming almost unbearable. Leaning against the railing, I pulled my phone out and threw a bit of caution to the Gulf wind.
“LL,” Cody’s deep drawl answered on the second ring. “Is everything okay with Ari?”
A pelican swooped by, and I might as well have tossed it my heart to be delivered to Bay Springs. “She is much better this afternoon, actually,” I replied, smiling at his concern. “I think I’ll be able to come home soon.”
“Thank God,” Cody groaned unabashedly, but then there was a pause before he added, “Ah, I mean, for both of those things. Just so we’re clear.”
There was a shuffling sound on his end followed by a loud thud, almost like a door closing, but not quite.
“Sorry about that,” he said but made no explanation for the sound. “So, you were saying about coming home?”
I turned and leaned my back against the rail and crossed my legs at the ankle. “Just that things are improving here. Uncle Gil should be home from the Locc soon, and Ari is….” I craned my head to peer through the sliding glass door and found Ari wiping down the counters. “Well, she’s well enough for domestics, so that tells me she’ll be back to normal by the evening.”
“That’s good news.” He sounded genuinely relieved, and I considered asking a pelican to flymeback to Bay Springs.
“What are you laughing about, LL?”
I hadn’t even realized I’d made a sound, but I’d give him the truth. “How it must’ve felt for Gandalf to fly on the eagles.”
He made a sound low in his throat. “Cher isn’t invited to our next movie night.”
Our.It really felt like I was floating, and I leaned into the feeling.
