I Swear

by Sable Hunter

  “Who wants you to?” He couldn’t imagine such a thing.

  Before I start listing things, let me say one more thing though. I want you to know this exercise has more than succeeded. The more I read, the better I know you. I feel like we’ve been on a dozen dates. You are becoming familiar to me. A comforting presence. I guess we’re proving that communication is key. Now, we can look forward to the next step.

  “Oh, hell yeah. The next step. I’m ready.”

  Okay, more secrets. I feel like I’m running out of things to tell you. I’m really not that interesting. But – here goes:

  I do NOT like to horde those extra little packets of condiments they give you at restaurants – like ketchup, mayo, or relish. Once my mother put several in my purse and the mustard broke and ruined my stuff. Just a pet peeve.

  I don’t like to fly in a plane or go on a ship. I prefer to keep my feet on solid ground.

  (I’m hiding my face as I admit this.) I fantasize a lot. And when I fantasize, I…do other things that I won’t put down on paper. I’m sure you can figure out what I mean. P. S. I’ve done this an extra huge amount since meeting you.

  “Oh, dang. Dang. Dang. How in the hell am I supposed to get any work done now.” Jonah reached down to adjust himself in his jeans, then continued to read.

  As for more things I’d like for us to do together…

  I hate to dwell on the massage I offered, but I can’t wait to touch you. I want you to lie on the bed and let me straddle your hips. I don’t think I’m too heavy. In that position, I can touch you all I want.

  After reading this, Jonah just left the stool and laid down on the floor, his forearm covering his eyes. “You’re slaying me, girl. Slaying me dead.” He was still for a few minutes, catching his breath before he sat up to finish reading what Delaney had to say.

  I know we’ve shared a lot of secrets but there’s some things only time will make possible to tell. When those are ready to be told, I want to sit in the dark with you, hold hands and whisper.

  If/when we go to bed together, I want you to be on top. I’m not just talking about having sex, I want you to rest on me, press me down into the mattress with your weight. I want to hold you like that. I think I would feel safer than I’ve ever felt before. I hope you don’t think that’s silly.

  “Ah no, baby. That’s not silly. That’s the sexiest, sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  Jonah, I don’t know how long we’ll do this note writing thing, but I have to tell you that its so freeing in a way. Here, I feel like I can say anything to you. I hope you feel the same way. It would just kill me if I’m getting into this and you’re laughing at me. I trust that isn’t true. Of course, I don’t know what the day will bring but I’m hoping we will have some time later to be together.

  Love, Delaney

  After he finished, Jonah just held the letter for a few seconds, his eyes scanning the words on the paper. Her handwriting was delicate, not fancy or feathery – sort of rounded. It looked soft and feminine to him – like Delaney. Hell, he couldn’t wait for the day to be over.

  Pulling to his feet, he folded the letter and put it back in his pocket. “Time to get to work. Come on lunch!”

  * * *

  Working diligently, Delaney was able to finish most everything on her list by eleven o’clock. She swept and mopped all the floors, dusted the furniture, and changed sheets on the beds. Thankfully, John cooperated by watching a Bonanza marathon on the Western Channel.

  “Hey, good-looking, want to come into the kitchen with me? I thought we’d make some corned beef and potatoes? Sound good?”

  John rose to accompany her. “With lots of good onion.”

  “Fine with me. Does Jonah eat onion?”

  “Oh, yea. He’s not persnickety. He likes everything.”

  “Good to know.” She poured them some tea, then set to peeling potatoes and onions. Soon, the kitchen was full of a good smell she always associated with fall. “While I’m at it, I’ll put on supper. Any requests? I put out some chicken to thaw this morning.”

  “Uh…” John gave the matter some thought. “Can you make chicken and dumplings?”

  “I can. Every good country girl has a tried and true recipe. I make the puffy dumplings instead of the rolled ones. What’s your preference?”

  “My chuckwagon cook could only make the rolled dumplings.” He patted his belly. “I think I’d like to try the puffy ones.”

  “Good enough.” She continued to work, keeping one ear open to the door in case Jonah decided to join them.

  When he didn’t show up right at noon, her feelings fell flat. She’d been so looking forward to seeing him. Who knows? Maybe he got busy. “Can you wait a few more minutes for Jonah or are you starving to death?”

  “I’m hungry. Dish me up some of that grub.”

  Delaney did so and by the time she’d placed a heaping helping in front of John’s plate, she heard welcome footsteps on the porch. “He’s here!” She didn’t wait for him to appear, she went ahead and fixed both of their plates and the drinks. By the time he joined them, everything was ready and waiting.

  “Hey.” He spoke in general, but his attention was directed at Delaney. “Had a good day so far?”

  “The best. How about you?”

  “Oh, fine. Keeping my attention on my work has been difficult.”

  “Oh?” Delaney thought she knew what he meant. “Something distracting you?”

  “You and that letter. I read it and completely lost my bearings.” He took a bite, then quickly took another one. “This is so good. You should own a restaurant.”

  His praise made her feel fantastic. “Oh, no. My cooking is plain and simple.”

  “Nothing plain or simple about this.” He ate a few more bites, then waved his fork at John. “Cletus bought himself a travel trailer. He came by to get it inspected today.”

  “And he didn’t come in to see me?” John looked offended.

  “He was in a hurry,” Jonah explained.

  “What kind did he get?” Delaney asked, remembering the one the big man had described.

  “Well, it’s not a pop-up, but its not much bigger. He has to turn sideways to get inside of it.”

  “I bet I’ll fit just fine,” John ate the last potato on his plate.

  “You probably would,” Jonah agreed. Checking the clock on the stove, he ate a little faster. “I got somebody coming in for an oil change.” After a couple more bites, he stood with his plate, still eating as he turned to put the plate in the sink. “You wanna walk me out?” he asked Delaney.

  “Oh, sure.” She patted John on the shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he cautioned them with a deadpan face.

  “We’ll try, Dad.” Jonah gestured for Delaney to precede him.

  When they were near the door, he didn’t say a word, he just took both of her hands in his and walked her backward until she was leaning against the wall. Holding her hands up on either side of her head, he showered her face with kisses. Delaney began to tremble as the cleft between her legs began to dew with excitement. Leaning over her, he drank from her lips, then scorched her neck with hot wet kisses. By the time he paused for breath, she was almost too weak to stand on her own.

  “Thanks for lunch. Think about me while I’m gone.”

  “I think you’ve made sure of that.” She turned to watch him go.

  When he reached the ground, he turned around to give her a wink and a smile. “How about a picnic tonight?”

  “Okay. I have a chicken on roasting to make dumplings, but that can wait.”

  “Can you use it to make chicken salad?”

  “I can.” She loved seeing him look so happy. “And we have plenty of cookies left.”

  “I’ll find Dad’s fishing pole. He needs something to occupy himself while I occupy you.”

  “Sounds perfect.” Delaney clung to
the door jamb to keep from sinking to her knees. She could think of nothing better than being the focus of his complete attention. “Hurry back,” she whipered even though he was too far away to hear her.

  * * *

  By midafternoon, Delaney was spinning in circles. In spite of being in such a good mood, things seemed to be conspiring against her. After making the chicken salad, she discovered they were out of bread. By the time she managed to get John ready to go to the store with her, he decided he wasn’t going.

  “I’ll stay here and watch television.”

  “No. You have to go with me.”

  Her insistence angered him. “I’m a grown-ass man, Missy. If I want to stay here, I’ll damn well stay here.”

  “John. No. Something might happen.”

  “Nothing’s gonna happen. Jonah’s right here. I can go stay with him at the shop.”

  “Jonah’s working, he’s busy.”

  “Too busy for me?” John asked.

  “No, of course not – but it would make his job harder. Is that what you want?” She didn’t know if appealing to his better nature would work.

  “No.” He crossed his arms over his chest as she stood by with her purse in hand. “Unless…” John gave her a sly wink. “We can go to Cletus’s house and dig for worms.”

  “What? Why in the world would we want to do that?”

  “You said I was gonna fish in the creek tonight. I need bait.”

  “Well, come on. I’m sure there’s a live bait store in Comfort.” Surely, there was. Back home, there was one in every filling station or convenience store.

  “No, there ain’t one.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Don’t you think I’d know. I’ve lived here most of my life. Besides, Cletus has these big, fat earthworms behind his trailer. He feeds em good. There’s so many of them that we’ll probably get all we need in one shovelful.”

  Delaney wrinkled her nose. “Fine. All right.”

  John jumped up, rarin to go. “I want to see Cletus’s travel trailer anyway.”

  “We can’t stay long. I have to get ready.” She herded him out the door. Sometimes, John acted so normal, she could swear the older man was playing them both.

  “Ready for what? If you’re planning on catching the stagecoach, it doesn’t come till Saturday.”

  And then there were the times when he was clearly confused. “I want to get ready for our picnic.”

  “You don’t dress up for a picnic,” he declared as they made their way to the Camry.

  “I just want to look nice.” She didn’t know why she was trying to explain herself. As she helped him into the car, she glanced over at Jonah’s shop but he was nowhere to be seen.

  “You always do.”

  His unexpected compliment made her smile. “Thank you, kind sir.” She started the car and soon they were on the way. “Want some music?”

  “Oh, yea. Sing me a song, Miss Margaret.”

  She glanced at him, he hadn’t called her by that name in a while. “Oh, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. How about the radio?”

  When she flipped it on, his eyes got big. He bent over and stared at the dash as if to see where the music was coming out. “What will they come up with next?”

  Delaney glanced over at him. “John, you listen to the radio all the time.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He seemed to get agitated, shifting in his seat, even feeling for the doorhandle.

  “Hey, it’s all right.” She turned off the radio, then placed a comforting hand on his knee. “We can just talk.”

  “About what?”

  “Oh, anything. Tell me about Jonah when he was little.” As soon as she got the words of her mouth, she pressed her lips together, afraid he’d react badly in the effort to bring forth a memory from the past.

  “Oh, he was a character. I can remember teaching how to fish on the creek behind the house. He and I liked to bank fish. One time, he caught a blue catfish. A monster!” He spread out his arms wide. “Boy, that rascal fought. I tried to help him, but before I could get there – the sucker pulled him into the water.” John started laughing. “Jonah was a hollering, he thought that old catfish was gonna eat him alive.”

  Delaney laughed with him, unable to picture her big, capable Jonah ever being intimidated by anything – much less a fish. “I bet you two had fun.” She was so relieved to see John smile.

  “Oh, we did. We did.” He took off his cowboy hat and felt of the brim. “Those were the good old days.”

  “Oh, we’ve got plenty more good days ahead,” she told him. “We’re going to have a fine time tonight.”

  …With John in tow, it didn’t take long for Delaney to run into the neighborhood grocery after bread. With fall setting in, the outdoor nursery was full of mums and marigolds. As they walked across the parking lot, she couldn’t help but stop to look at the beautiful flowers. She was particularly drawn to the deep orange marigolds. “Aren’t these pretty?” she touched one of the blossoms with the tip of one finger.

  “Buy them,” John encouraged.

  “I can’t today.” On the way over, Delaney had realized she was almost down to her last dollar. In her excitement, she’d forgotten how broke she was. Before going any further, she dug into her coin purse to make sure there was enough to make the purchase.

  Upon returning to the Camry with the loaf of bread, Delaney was shocked to see a six pack of the marigolds sitting on the hood of her car. “Where did these come from?”

  “Those are the ones you looked at,” John noted, standing next to the fender.

  “Yea, they are.” She picked them up and headed over to the checkout area in the nursery section. “Excuse me, someone left these on my car. Do you remember who purchased them? It had to’ve been just a minute or so ago.”

  The harried young man stared at the flowers for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “Yea, these two dudes bought them. They walked away from here and took them straight to that blue Camry. I saw them set the marigolds on the hood…then I looked away to take care of another customer.”

  “Two guys? What did they look like?”

  The clerk shrugged. “I don’t know. Twenties. White. Sunglasses. Jeans.”

  “What were they driving?” she asked with a ripple of uncertainty traveling down her spine.

  “I thought they were driving the Camry.”

  Seeing the young guy couldn’t help, she tried to give the marigolds back. “They aren’t mine, it must be a mistake.”

  He held his hands up. “I can’t take them back. Assume they’re a gift.”

  “I don’t understand it,” she muttered as she turned away to walk with John back to her car. “And I don’t like it.”

  Once John was settled, she put the mysterious flowers in the floorboard of the back seat and they were on their way to visit Cletus. “I didn’t get a shovel. Will he have one?”

  “Oh, yea. He has one.”

  Delaney could see her passenger had perked up at the prospect of seeing his friend. Knowing what to expect, she made the trip to the trailer a bit quicker than the last time. When they arrived, John leapt out of the car, making his way up the rugged drive in record time. Delaney wasn’t as quick. She took her time, watching her step.

  “Cletus! Cletus!”

  By the time, she joined the two men, John was already armed with a bucket and a shovel.

  “Afternoon, Ms. Delaney,” Cletus spoke, tipping the brim of his cap in greeting. “I hear you’ve come for fishing worms.”

  “Yes, I hope you can spare a few.”

  “Ah, I’m sure I can rustle John up a good mess.” With a paper bag in one hand, he pointed to the rear of the trailer with the other. “We’re going around to the back where it’s a little marshy. You’d best stay here and wait.” He glanced down at her shoes. “Wouldn’t want to ruin those white tennies or risk picking up a tick or chiggers.”

&
nbsp; “No, indeed.” She sat down on the door steps. “I shall take your suggestion and stay right here.” Raising her hand, she waved them on. Delaney didn’t really want to think about what might make this dry hilly ground a little marshy behind his trailer. She didn’t think there were any natural springs close by.

  Leaning back on her elbows, she watched a few clouds drift across the sky. Suddenly, the sound of an engine revving caused her to look up. Glancing down the road, she noticed a dark colored car now stopped with its engine idling. Staring at it for a few seconds, she held a hand over her eyes and squinted to get a better look. The glare of the afternoon sun made it hard to tell anything other than it was dark. Why didn’t it come closer? Of course the road was rough, they might’ve changed their mind or made a wrong turn. Still, the longer she watched it, the more she began to wonder. This combined with the marigold incident made her suspicious.

  “Oh, stop it. You’re getting paranoid,” she murmured, turning her attention elsewhere. Today wasn’t the day she wanted to dwell on anything negative. Looking forward to the picnic with Jonah was much more fun.

  The sound of footfalls drew her attention.

  “Well, that should catch you all the fish you can say grace over, John-boy.”

  “These are some big ole wrigglers. I think the fish will like them just fine.”

  Delaney stood, anxious to be on her way. “Just know I’m not baiting your hook for you, cowboy.”

  John gave her a look. “Watch it. Don’t forget who you’re talking to, girly.”

  “Ready?” she asked, thinking she would have time to wash her hair, paint her nails, and such.

  “Not quite. Give me a chance to look at Cletus’s trailer first.” Not giving Delaney a chance to argue, the two men took off down the drive, leaving her standing there with a look of consternation on her face.

  As they trudged along, she noticed their destination. Sure enough, she could see a small travel trailer parked on the far end of the property. It looked to be about fourteen feet long, a little bigger than Cletus led them to believe – but considering his extra large size, it was small enough. To her dismay, they entered the trailer as she sat impatiently tapping her toes. Letting out a long breath, she thought about looking down the road to see if the car was still there. It wasn’t. Delaney was relieved. There was no telling who they’d been. Probably someone just hunting a way to get to the banks of the Guadalupe. She had to admit the poor condition of the road probably kept trespassers away.