Back to the Garden by Clara Hume

Author:Clara Hume [Hume, Clara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781927685310
Publisher: Dragonfly Publishing
Published: 2018-10-15T23:00:00+00:00

Joe—Chapter 14

One line that always stood out to me in great fiction was Gabriel Garcia Márquez's "The scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love."

For so long I had wished for a scent to romanticize my love for Maisie, but I never found it. I didn't fall in love with her out of the womb; the love came later, but the adoration started soon enough. I don't remember when I first laid eyes on her, but I do recall very early memories of when I had a little red wagon and Mother let me take it when we would visit the Segals, who had just moved into the area. I remember little Maisie learning to walk, and the way her golden-auburn curls bounced in the wind as I toted her along in the wagon. I remember the look she gave me, at age 10, when she admired my riding skill on a mustang I had to break: her eyes filled with wonder and amazement, and though I didn't know love yet, it felt good that someone, especially a girl, had a high opinion of my skill.

It wasn't until she was sixteen that I fell in love with her, and I remember the night perfectly. It was a decade and a half ago on a June evening when the Segals had a party for all the nearby ranchers, where Maisie's mom Katherine had made hurricanes and mint juleps, and all kinds of southern food, along with the special acorn bread my mother had taught her.

Maisie was glowing that night and wore a simple cream-colored cotton dress. Her hair glimmered beneath the moon; her eyes were lavender and shining, like a starlet of old. She had been slinking about the party, stealing champagne and leftover drinks, and later I caught her on the back deck involved in one of her paintings; by that time, I'd had a few beers, being 18 and a man.

I said in the best husky voice I could muster, "Evening, Maisie."

She turned around quickly, her dress twirling behind her, and said, "Shit, Joe! You scared the hell out of me." She was so annoyed, I sunk inside of myself.

I came back down to Earth and said, "Sorry."

There was no scent that stood out that night or any other time I caught myself falling for her. Every time I tried to love her, she pushed me away.

Things have changed. The last several years of strife and hardship have taken away our parents and had caused us to wither. I still cared about her, but now thought, "Fuck it." Especially now when I saw the way she and Caine looked at each other. Those long days and nights on the road, I realized how much of my time had been wasted in loving her. There never had been a special scent anyway, just an illusion on my part.

I thought back on how my life would have been if I had given half an eye to a few ladies who had appealed to me, and shook my head.

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.