Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“Are you serious? Yes. Since I was little girl. But”—she points to herself—“I got four brothers. It was never gonna happen.”
Now this makes me laugh. “Well, that’s funny, ya know? Because I have four sisters.”
“Oh, my God. You’ve been here before!”
I nod. “I have. We came here as a family once when Vangie turned nine. That’s all she wanted for her birthday since she was four years old and finally, she got her wish. So we all put the clothes on and came in for a Colonial dining experience. I was like seventeen, I think. So of course, I was all put out about this. But I still remember Vangie’s face. She was in heaven. Hell, even Angel enjoyed herself and she hates everything.”
Rosie smiles. “So that’s where you get it.”
“Get what?”
“That… charm or whatever. That… romantic side, I guess. Four sisters. It’s hard not to pick up on the ways of women when you’re surrounded on all sides.”
I point at her. “And that’s why you’re so damn easy to be around. It’s hard not to learn how to be one of the guys when you’ve spent your whole life being poked by them.”
“Oh, that’s true. You learn to let things slide off your back when you grow up packed between brothers like cheese in a boloney sandwich.”
I smile and lean back in my chair, fully satisfied with this date even though we just barely got started. “I like you, Rosie.”
“I like you too, Amon.” Rosie blushes and fans herself with her hand. Which is no doubt a habit she’s picked up from being in the Revival tent all these years and I find that adorable.
Me. With a Disciple girl. Not sure how I got here, but my arrival feels like fate.
We talk easily about everything after that. Like we’re old friends, which we kinda are, who are picking up where they left off, which we’re definitely not. But it’s all very familiar and casual. Lunch comes, we eat, and we laugh a little, talking about small things in our lives. She asks ’bout my dogs, which I talk about for far too long. And I ask about Cross. Because Cross is Rosie’s everything and once she starts in with him, she just keeps going.
She doesn’t mind that all I talk about is dogs, I don’t mind that all she talks about is Cross, and I can feel us fitting together like puzzle pieces.
After the meal is over and the easy conversation ends, we both sit back in our chairs, relaxing. Though how she relaxes in that tight dress is something I’ll never understand. This thought leads down a trail I didn’t expect to be traveling on the first date, but it shows up nonetheless. Because I find myself fantasizing about unlacing that corset and slipping that dress down her shoulders.
“I’ve had a nice time, Amon.”
I snap back from my fantasy and gaze into those gray eyes of hers. “I’m glad. I did too. What are you up to for the rest of the day?”
“Well, it’s a McBooms afternoon so I gotta go change and head back to Disciple. What are you doing?”
She’s smiling when she asks this. So naturally, I jump to conclusions. “I’m walking you home. Then…” I pause, pretending to think because she’s blushing a little. “Then I dunno. Depends, I guess.” Maybe I’ll follow you into that cottage of yours and carefully undress you, layer by layer, until you’re naked, and then make love to you on that lovely velvet chaise. But of course, I don’t say that last part out loud. “Shall we go?”
Rosie sucks in a deep breath, like maybe she heard my thoughts, and then I get up and grab her chair so she can stand.
Then I offer her my arm and she takes it. We leave the Ordinary like that. Like we’re a thing. Which we’re not, officially. Yet. But in Bishop, especially dressed as we are, what we’re doing is certainly sending all the signals.
Outside it’s hot, but the whole downtown is lined with old sugar maples that tower above us, providing a canopy of shade, so it’s a nice walk along the brick-paved sidewalks. Downtown is not too busy with tourists today. There are a few groups of schoolkids, but mostly it’s local people just going about their day.
The gravel alley where Rosie has her little cottage is bustling with backyard activity. There are pigs running around, and roosters hollering, and groups of women chatting across clotheslines. Their husbands go to work every day and do things like horseshoeing, and butchering, and woodworking. It’s weird to see this as normal in this modern era we all live in, but it’s kinda cool too.
We stop at her cottage and I’m just about to offer my services to help her take that dress off when Rosie says, “Thank you for a very nice time today, Amon.”