Written on My Heart by Morgan Callan Rogers

Author:Morgan Callan Rogers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

25

The girl I had once been expected to greet an eager, restless boy with an electric smile and soft, beautiful eyes that had never been afraid to hold my gaze. But time had transformed both of us. I now stood in front of him as a mother and a wife. The boy I had known had changed too, leaving a thin, hesitant man in his place. Andy’s dark eyes darted here and there, looking at me and then shifting away. A nervous smile quickened on his ragged face as the November wind tousled his dirty-blond hair, which was two or three inches shorter than it had been a few years back. The tips of his ears were red.

“You need a hat,” I said.

He reached for me and, before I could think, I reached back and we held on to each other for about ten seconds. “It’s so good to see you,” he whispered. “Oh my god, it’s so good to see you.”

My nose took in stale cigarettes and old pot. He squeezed me tighter.

“It’s good to see you too,” I said.

“Oh my god,” he said into my hair. His voice trembled.

“That’s enough!” I laughed.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes.” He finally let me go, but his eyes continued to trip over my face. “You are just as beautiful as ever,” he said. “Life agrees with you.”

“Better than it did the last time we saw each other,” I said. “Neither of us was in any shape to agree to anything.”

“I know,” Andy said. “Oh god. I run that night over in my head all the time. Fuck me. I could have killed you.” His eyes filled with tears and I didn’t know what to do. Our past and our accident all seemed so dreamlike. I decided to move things along.

“Well,” I said, “we’re okay, after all. It’s nice to see you up and walking.”

“Got the limp,” he said. “Always will. Messed myself up good.”

“We’re here,” I said. “And that counts for something. I’m a mama. And a wife.”

“I heard,” Andy said. “I’m so glad. My god, I’d forgotten how beautiful you are,” he said again, in case I hadn’t heard him before.

“I have a girl, Arlee, almost two and a half, and a boy, Travis, almost seven months.”

Andy whistled. “Wow. You’ve been busy.”

I changed the subject. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, taking a break,” he said. “The family is here for Thanksgiving.”

“All of them?”

He laughed. “Mother is here. And Edward.” He winced when he mentioned his father’s name.

“Speaking of Edward, the last time we talked, you were in military school.”

“I stayed about six months. They tried to march the limp out of me, and when they couldn’t, Edward let me go somewhere else. I finished up high school with tutors and, somehow, Edward got me into UMass, but that didn’t work out. So, I’m thinking about the next step.”

“Oh,” I said. “Dottie graduates from college this spring.”

“No shit. I’ve seen the other guy. The big guy. Glen? I’ve run into him a few times, around here.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.