A Breath Until Forever (18 page)

Joshua closed the curtains up quickly. A whisking sound entered the air as he did.

“She can't know you are here.” Joshua said. He touched Meredith lightly on her shoulder, and began to lightly escort her away from the window. “Do you mind hiding out in the hall?

Meredith was hesitant about this, and felt that she shouldn't, but out of respect for Joshua, and slightly understanding as to why Joshua would want to hide her, she agreed to it. “Okay.” Meredith made her way down the hall, where she waited behind around the corner, patiently waiting, until she would get the green light from Joshua to come out of hiding.

Joshua opened up the front door. Laura was in front of him, pie in her hands. She had her hair up in a neat little bun, and she wore a two piece capri outfit with big bright blue flowers. She wore a pair of flip flops on his feet.

“Hi Joshua!” Laura helped herself inside, pie still in hand. She looked around the living room. Right away, she knew something wasn't right. She smelled the scent of a woman. That flowery scent, that was also fruity and robust.

“Is someone here?”

The lie was an easy one as Joshua didn't want anyone to know that Meredith was here. “No, no. No one at all.”

Laura stood by a tall table, which had pictures on it and a lamp. Meredith was within distance.

“You sure?” Laura's instincts were kicking in. A woman always knows when something just isn't right. Joshua's nervousness and the quietness of the moment just weren't adding up.

“No, no, just me and Izzy.” Joshua answered even more nervously now, feeling as if he could be caught at any minute. Meredith looked over at Izzy, who was on the couch sleeping, snoring away. Joshua didn't want Laura to know that Meredith was there. If Laura knew, all hell would break loose, and everyone in town would have a witch hunt for him. It was too soon, too quick after Adrienne's death to have moved onto someone else.

Izzy suddenly woke up from her spell of slumber, jumped off the couch, and trotted toward the hallway. Izzy had heard Meredith move slightly and had nudged a glass bowl to almost fall on the floor. Luckily, she had caught it just on time. Because dog's hearing is much better than the untrained human ear, Izzy had paid attention to this noise and had got up to go investigate. Izzy began sniffing Meredith, sticking her nose up Meredith's dress, her wet nose tickling Meredith's leg as it did.

“Shoo! Go away!” Meredith whispered as she gave Izzy a little nudge, trying to push her away from her. “Go away!” Izzy wouldn't leave, but she did take her nose out of the bottom openness of Meredith's dress. Izzy behaved herself, and sat loyally by Meredith. Meredith calmed her by kneeling down so she was at her level, and patted her on the top of her head. “Be quiet now. Be a good girl.”

Meanwhile, out in the living room, Laura handed her pie to Joshua. “Here you go. Take it.”

“Thank you.” Joshua had gratitude, but he wanted Laura the hell out of there. Meredith was more important, more special, than a pie.

“You know, you don't have to bring around pie anymore. I'm feeling much better now.” Joshua tried  without offending her.

Laura flashed him a look of spite.

“Well, I'm tied up here at the moment, I just got a call from the steel plant telling me that the line of steel came in from Colorado, and they need my help ? . I'm going to have to go and get that done.”

“Is that so, Joshua.” She flashed him a “I don't believe you” look. “Word around town is that you haven't been in work lately.”

Joshua had to hustle. Too much was at stake. His reputation. His ranch. “You know with the ranch, been spending more time here, trying to get stuff done.” He continued his lie, feeling guilty about it, but knowing that it had to be said. “Yeah, so I took a few days off so I can catch up on things.”

Mrs. Piccleby grew even more suspicious. She had known Joshua for a long time, and she knew when something just wasn't right.  She was concerned. “Are you okay?” Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned in a little closer.

“Yeah I am.” Replied Joshua nervously, his voice heightening higher with every lie that he verbalized. “Why shouldn't I be?”

Meredith stood far back know, really make a conscious effort as to not make any noise that may cause Mrs. Piccleby to look down the hallway, which was in her direction. She stood like a statue, her heart beating fast, paralyzed completely, frozen, not wanting to even breathe, so that she wouldn't be caught hiding out. She didn't want to jeopardize being discovered. The risk was too great. Too big.

Mrs. Piccleby, unfortunately, kept talking, but had now switched her concern, to how her cafe was going, even sharing some of the town's gossip that Mrs. Piccleby thought that Joshua would be interested in, but wasn't. Joshua was a nice guy and just kept nodding her head, as if he was listening to her, even though his thoughts were on Meredith, and how she was making out hiding out down the hall. Finally, Joshua had had enough. He reached for the side of the door, and began to shut it, with Mrs. Piccleby still standing within the door frame.

“I really need to get going.” Said Joshua. “I do gotta run.” He began to push the door in a bit further and with it, Mrs. Piccleby began to step back. “So I'll be in touch, okay? I'll talk to you soon. Goodbye.” Joshua shut the rest of the door completely, the door now being in Mrs. Piccleby's face. Mrs. Piccleby was angry at this and stood at the door, quite stunned and shocked about Joshua's rude manners, but she took the hint and began her way back to her car. She got in her car and drove off. As Joshua watched through the window Mrs. Piccleby drive down the road, Joshua motioned Meredith to come out of hiding.

“Okay, it's safe now.” Joshua exclaimed.

Meredith came walking down the hallway. She breathed out a big sigh of relief. “Whew, close call, huh?”

Joshua who was still holding the sweet potato pie, held it up into the air as if it were a trophy of some kind. “But at least we got pie, right?” He set the pie down on the coffee table, and as he did, the both of them laughed, feeling the moment now as funny, instead of something scary.

Meredith flirted a smile to Joshua. “I think she has a crush on you!”

Joshua laughed. “Nah, just a nice lady who cares.” He smiled. 

Meredith helped herself to some pie. She dug a little finger in it, then licked it off. “Good pie.” She said. “I don't understand though, I'm not doing anything wrong. Why did I have to hide?”

Joshua reached over, and touched her back, feeling the strength of her kind of femininity, a woman who has labored out in the real world, through the one muscle that ran wide and thick among her shoulder blade. His touch trailed upward, until it hunted to comfort Meredith's uneasiness by placing warmth on her shoulder, giving her the amenity of content that she needed.

“These people in town, well, ever since Adrienne, they have become overly protective of me. You gotta understand, they aren't just living in town, they are family. They basically either grew up with me, or raised me. They see you as a threat. Adrienne was well liked around here, and well, they are just looking out for my best interest.” Joshua tried to explain his sensitive situation as best as he could, without reservations, without fabrications, just the honesty that he felt that needed to be told.

Meredith lay quietly still, not quite knowing what to say. Perhaps she shouldn't have stayed so long, or perhaps she shouldn't have befriended a widowed young rancher whose heart wasn't completely healed yet.

Meredith look up towards Joshua. He was such a handsome man with bright blue eyes and a smile to die for. He had such nice thick hair too, neatly parted, and drifted dirty blonde with golden highlights, with not a single gray hair threading through. She, on the other hand, had a few gray hairs that had been consistently showing up throughout this trip. In the mirror at the motel, she had noticed that they had stuck up like wire, bending peculiarly very much in the same crookedness of her TV antenna, and she had plucked her gray hairs out, one by one, getting angry that the older she was getting, the grayer she was getting too. She definitely was going to have to get a dye job when she went back to Seattle. Go back to her salon hairstylist, Raul, and tell him that she needed the works. She remembered him telling her that she shouldn't feel ashamed of her gray hairs, that woman of her age get them, and that she should sport a few grays as a physical reminder that the gray hair were badges of courage, and symbols of her maturity and living through hard times. Meredith, on the other hand, linked the gray hairs to getting old, and that she was just one gray hair away of living in a retirement home. Perhaps this is why she liked Joshua so much. He made her forget about her gray hairs, her maturity, her chronological age of 40, and made her feel young and juvenile again. Not once had he mentioned her age, and she liked that, and not once had she mentioned his age. It was as if both of them had a mutual respect for each other that was stronger than talking about age, because to both of them, age didn't really matter much when you found a strong connection.

Joshua held his touch on her shoulder, their gazes locked tightly, and Meredith felt his warmth move up to her arm and spread throughout her weakening body. She had no control when it came to Joshua to feel anything but the temperature of heat, and she felt that it was a symbol of how deeply she felt in her soul.

“What we have is harmless enough.” Said Meredith. It was her turn to comfort him.

Joshua suddenly felt silly. He and Meredith had been too serious lately, too contemplative, and it was time to let their guard down, and have a little fun. “Is this harmless?” Asked Joshua playfully as he began to tickle her on her side, just underneath her ribcage, and near her right breast.

Meredith instantly giggled, as she was super ticklish, and she ran away from him, as if an adolescent teenager again, looking back at him every now and then to see how close he was catching up to her. He did finally catch up with her and when he did he grabbed her, swung her around, and then stopped, holding her in his arms. He momentarily looked into the depths of her beautiful eyes, feeling as if the sun was rising within her honey colored irises, and felt the warmth of new beginnings.

Meredith broke the spell. “What would Miss Piccleby think of us now, if she had caught us like this?” Teased Meredith, raising her left eyebrow to give off an inquiring look of impishness.

Meredith made a break for it, and began to run off again, but slow now, in tortoise like motion, purposely so, teasing Joshua to catch up with her again, but in a mischievous manner as if they were children in a schoolyard playing a friendly cat and mouse.

“Where are you going?” Asked Joshua, chasing her madly, as she ran through the house, knocking over a picture frame of him and Adrienne over as she did, and almost running into the coffee table as she ran.

Meredith was feeling completely playful now, and she wanted to let loose. Forget all about the outside world, and only focus on fun and childlike leisure. She wanted to regress to her girlhood now, where she could feel completely free of rules and regulations, and wanted to feel the liking of a boy that was unadulterated and fun.

“I want to listen to music.” Meredith said as she continued to run, her sprint much more equal to a gallop, then a stride. She was happy, and she felt the joy run through her body like electricity. She ran into the kitchen, and straight to an old radio that was sitting on the kitchen counter. She had noticed the radio there many times there before, as she had shared shots of whiskey and conversation, but not once had the radio ever been turned on. Now was the time, if ever, to click it on and listen to music that would make her even happier than she ever possibly was now. The radio was at least five years old, and stained with greasy fingers. It was a KHL Model Twenty one. The cabinet was walnut, with a black fiberboard back. It had a wheat colored mesh front to serve as its speakers. The knobs were cream colored plastic and simple, an electrical mechanism to tune in its musical chastity. Meredith couldn't help that the reason the radio was set up in the kitchen and not in any other room of the house was because the kitchen was where Joshua usually had his shots of whiskey. Whiskey always needed company like misery, which Joshua could more than provide, however, Joshua wanted more and so Joshua would often turn on the radio before having a few drinks, and listen to the legendary ballads of Johnny Cash and others in his likeness and feel comfort between the two bedfellows of desperation.