Ember Skies

by Nicky Crawford

  We have two days left before we head back to Georgia on Sunday. I honestly dread leaving, but mostly I’m sick just thinking about having to tell Ember we are deploying. Ember’s voice broke my thoughts, “Dalton, Alex is going to keep Harlee tonight. I want to take you around the town.”

  “Are you asking me out on a date?”

  Laughing, she bumped her shoulder into mine, “Call it what you want, Dalton. I have a few places I want to show you.”

  “Well then, a date it is. I’ll go change.”

  Before we could head to town, we had to drop Harlee off at Alex’s house. We made small talk for a short time before Ember bent down to give Harlee a big hug.

  Then I knelt down to her level and she leapt into my arms. “Be good for Uncle Alex and Aunt Sidney, Moose. I want to hear good things when we pick you up in the morning.”

  Giggling, she gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek, “I’ll be so good, Peaches. Can we do fun things tomorrow?”

  Kissing the top of Harlee’s head I whispered, “We can do anything you want, Moose. It’s our last day in Alabama, so you think of something fun and we will do it.”

  After saying our good-byes, we head into town. No matter how many times I asked, Ember wouldn’t tell me where we were going; she just gave directions and I drove. In all honesty, we could spend hours parked in a corn field and I would be happy, because all I want to do is be near her.

  “You’re pretty amazing with Harlee, Dalton or should I say Peaches. She has really taken a liking to you.”

  “Hey now. I happen to love my nickname. She’s a great kid, Em. You’re doing an amazing job with her.” Looking at Ember I see a single tear fall down her cheek. Grabbing her hand I asked, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. It’s just really nice to hear that. I doubt myself sometimes.”

  “Babe, never, ever doubt your ability as a mother. You’re doing a great job, I mean it.” She gave me a genuine smile and pointed ahead, telling me where to turn.

  Parking the truck, I look over at Ember, “Paintballing? You are taking me paintballing…” Laughing, she jumped out of the truck.

  I haven’t been paintballing in years. My buddies and I use to go all the time growing up. Ember reaches in the back of the truck and pulls out a bag, “I packed us some thick clothes. Put these on.”

  Once we put on a few layers of clothes to help make the sting of getting shot a little more bearable, Ember pulls out three bottles of glow in dark paint.

  “What in the hell is the paint for?”

  She squirts paint all over my clothes and then hands me the bottles so I can do the same to her. “Are you ready for some glow in the dark paintball, Dalton?”

  Before I could respond, she took my hand and ran up the steps to the door. As we walk inside, a guy, probably in his late twenties, comes over to us from behind the counter, picks Ember up, and swings her around.

  I’m normally not the jealous type, most likely because I’ve never had someone I cared enough about, but seeing this dude embrace Ember, has me on edge. “Put me down Cliff. You’ll get paint all over you.”

  When he set her down, she linked her arm in mine and pulled me closer to him, “Dalton, this is Cliff. We’ve been friends since we were little. We use to build rafts to use in the pond and when his momma would hang clean clothes on the line outside, we would steal them to make a sail for our rafts. Boy would she get pissed.”

  Laughing, I extended my hand to shake his. “It’s nice to meet you, Dalton. I could tell you some stories about this one. Come on, my wife will be excited to see you.” A wife. Thank fuck. I shake off the jealousy and follow behind him.

  When we walked into his office, a pretty blonde woman ran toward Ember and wrapped her arms around her, “Good Lord, this is the best surprise ever. I heard about your daddy. I’m so glad he’s doing well.”

  “Magnolia! It is so good to see you. I had no idea you two were hitched. It’s like high school all over again. Thanks for thinking of us, we were worried about Daddy, but he is doing great.”

  “Oh honey, that’s wonderful news. I thought you heard we got married. Girl, it’s been too long since we’ve all connected. How long are you in town for?”

  Cliff walked up behind Magnolia and wrapped his arms around her waist. It’s nice to see two people so obviously in love.

  “We leave Sunday. Dalton, come over here.” Grabbing my hand she pulls me closer and introduces me.

  Smiling, I extend my hand toward Magnolia.

  “Oh honey, this is the south. I need a proper hug.” After hugging me, she turned to Ember, “Did you finally kick that son of a bitch to the curb?”

  “Magnolia Renee Anders, that is none of our concern.” Cliff said as he gave his wife a scolding look.

  Ember just smiled and hugged her again.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that he used her whole name, as if she were a child.

  “Oh hush, Cliff. I was just askin’. Don’t mind him. So, y’all need to come out with us tonight. There’s a live band playing at Bama Bar N Grill.”

  Ember gave me a questioning look.

  I couldn’t decide if she wanted me to make an excuse to get out of it, or if she was asking if I wanted to go. Leaning into Ember, I whisper, “I’m up for anything, babe. I just want to spend time with you.”

  Blushing, Ember turned to Magnolia, “Absolutely. Sounds fun! We’re going to go play for a while, so what time should we meet you there?”

  Magnolia told us when to meet them and we headed out to get our paintball guns and ammo. A group of about twelve were standing around the counter, many of whom knew Ember, and asked us to join their game.

  We played for a good two hours. By the time we were done, all of us were covered in welts and sore as shit. I forgot how much it stung like hell to get hit and all of us took a fair amount of hits. After saying good-bye to the group, we headed for the truck.

  “I am seriously hurting, but that was so much fun.”

  I was sore too, but I didn’t want to tell her that. Opening the door for Ember, I smiled, “You are definitely not like any woman I have ever met.”

  I meant it. Girls normally want me to take them to a fancy dinner and a movie, but not Ember. Unfortunately, I typically dated high maintenance women, not by choice of course, but I always figured it out after wasting my time on a date or two. Ember is just so different.

  “Is that a bad thing, Dalton?”

  Kissing her forehead, I reply, “Hell no it’s not.”

  As Ember directs me to our next location, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed with emotion. I have to tell Ember about the deployment and in a few days, I’ll have to drop her off at home, with him. The thought of doing either of those makes me damn near sick to my stomach. I quickly shake away my thoughts. I don’t want to worry Ember.

  “Where to next, babe?”

  We drove a little ways out of town before coming to a big gym, “Are we going to lift some weights?” Ember rolled her eyes at me and jumped out of the truck. “Alex comes here a lot. I haven’t been yet. They have a huge indoor rock climbing wall and indoor skydiving.” Just when I think Ember cannot get any more amazing, she does.

  We had the best time at the Alabama Thrill Center. They let us go in the skydiving tank together. It was pretty amazing. I also beat him up the climbing wall. He swears he wasn’t racing, but it was definitely a race. Driving down the road, I give Dalton directions to the Bama Bar N Grill.

  I honestly cannot remember the last time I had this much fun. Just being with Dalton is fun, even if we are doing nothing. I’m terrified to go back to reality in two days, and even more terrified that I’ll be going home to Austin, instead of Dalton.

  “Oh, turn here. It’s up the road a mile on the left.” Dalton smiled and drove where I told him too. He never questioned what we were doing and he seems to be having just as much fun as I am.

  As we head inside the bar, I see Magnolia waving to us from a corner booth. As we make
our way over to them, hand in hand, I hear someone yell from across the bar, “Hot damn boys, look what the cat drug in. Girl you lookin’ just as fine as you did the last time you rolled through town.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks. I knew who that voice belonged too and I also knew that wherever Charlie went, a wild time was sure to follow. After being bombarded with hugs, I introduced everyone to Dalton, “Guys, this is Dalton. Dalton, these assholes got me in more damn trouble when I was younger than you could ever imagine.”

  “Well shit honey, don’t lie to the boy. You got yourself in trouble more than we ever did.” Punching Charlie in the arm, I batted my eyelashes at Dalton, letting him know I was the innocent victim.

  We chatted with everyone for a while before Magnolia walked over and hooked her arm in mine, “I hate to spoil the family reunion boys, but this girl came here to see me and I’ll be taking her now.”

  Everyone laughed as Charlie turned to Magnolia, “You are still just as bossy as ever, ain’t that right Magnolia?” She rolled her eyes as Charlie turned to Dalton, “It was nice to meet you buddy. If you don’t mind, I’d like one dance with Ember later. For old times’ sake.”

  Dalton gave him a stern look before shaking his hand, then he laced his fingers through mine and we followed Magnolia to their table.

  “I swear Charlie will forever be a sixteen year-old boy in a man’s body.” Huffing, Magnolia held up her hand and smiled politely as she motioned our waitress over.

  “Hell has frozen over. It’s like I’m seeing a ghost. What brings you back to town, Ember?”

  You have got to be shitting me; Sadie Thompson. The girl in those high school movies who thinks she runs the entire town with her blonde hair and imported clothes, yup, that was Sadie.

  “Sadie, I thought you would have run off to Hollywood by now, but here you are, waiting tables.”

  Rolling her eyes, she put her hand on Dalton’s shoulder, “Who is this handsome man?” Leaning into Dalton with her breasts half out she said, “Hey you, I’m Sadie.” Before I could tell her to back the hell off, Magnolia smiled at Sadie and said, “Do you remember what happened last time you put your grubby hands where they don’t belong? You couldn’t find your ass if you had both hands in your back pocket, so why would you think he would be interested in you?”

  Standing up straight, Sadie scowled at Magnolia, “Glad to see you’re still just as bitchy as ever. I thought Cliff would have pulled that stick out of your ass by now.”

  Magnolia, the short tempered beauty that she is, stood up and started toward Sadie. Cliff grabbed her hand to stop her, but I intervened, “Let it go, Mag. We are here to have some fun. Let’s not give into high school bullshit, okay?”

  Magnolia sat back down and winked at me as Sadie vanished out of sight. A few minutes later, a man came over to take our orders. Once the drinks arrived, we shared story after story as we drank. Looking at Dalton, Cliff said, “Hey bud, I want you to meet a few people.” Dalton kissed my forehead as he and Cliff took off across the bar.

  “Magnolia, when did you and Cliff get back together?” They were high school sweethearts; hopelessly in love for years, but when she went off to college in California and Cliff stayed here to work on his Daddy’s farm, they drifted apart. Both of them ended up marrying the wrong people and after a few years, she made her way back to Alabama. I did know that much, but I had no idea she was with Cliff again.

  “When I moved back home, I saw him a few times here and there but we never said much. One night, I drove by the cornfield across from his parent’s home, and he was still out there on the tractor. I drove home and made him dinner and when I brought it to him, it was as if no time had passed. We have been inseparable ever since. We got married a few months back.”

  “I’m so happy for you. We really need to keep in touch more. I’m sorry I didn’t know any of that. I’ve been a terrible friend.”

  Putting her hand on mine, Magnolia smiled, “Please honey, we have lives and you have a beautiful little girl to keep you busy. You are far from a terrible friend. Now, tell me why you drove all the way to Alabama with a man who isn’t your husband.”

  I was waiting for this. I told her everything from when he started being abusive, to meeting Dalton at the cookout, and everything leading up to now. A couple tears slipped down my cheek and she reached across the table to brush them away with a napkin, “I’m going to tell you something I have never told anyone; Not my momma, not my other friends, and not even Cliff.”

  Giving her a questioning look, she got up and sat next to me in the booth, “When Jefferson and I met, he was fresh out of law school. He started working at a small firm right away. When we got married a year later, things were great for a while, until he was offered a job at a big firm in San Francisco. I didn’t see him much, but when I did he acted normal, just stressed.” Leaning closer she whispered, “When the stress started to overpower him and he was under a lot of pressure to take on and win big cases, he started taking his anger out on me.” After Magnolia looked around to make sure no one was listening, she continued, “He would say horrible things to me, Ember. It was only words at first, but when he started hitting me, I felt like I was trapped in a cage in hell. You need to run, honey. Run fast and never look back.”

  Magnolia met Austin a few years ago when we both happened to visit Alabama at the same time. Their personalities clashed and they were instant enemies. Come to think of it, he has never liked any of my friends.

  Before I could reply, I caught Dalton and Cliff out of the corner of my eye as they were walking back to the table. I wrapped my arms around Magnolia and she gave me a knowing look. I haven’t told many people about Austin, hell, the only person who knew until recently was Harper, but at least I had someone to confide in. It broke my heart to know that Magnolia had fought her battle alone.

  Dalton’s voice broke me from my thoughts. Extending his hand he said, “Ma’am, I would love to push you around the dance floor.”

  Placing my hand in his, I laughed, “You are such a dork.” We danced to slow songs, competed in a country line dance off, and drank beer while we talked to a ton of wonderful people from my past.

  A little bit before we left, we started drinking water and danced off our buzz. By the time we were ready to leave, we were completely sober. After making our way around the bar to say bye to everyone, we walked out to the truck.

  Turning to Magnolia and Cliff, I said, “I cannot tell you how amazing it was to spend time with you guys tonight.”

  Magnolia started crying, which made me start crying. Dalton hugged her while Cliff engulfed me in his arms. Once they released us, the guys bro hugged while Mag and I held each other tight, “You better keep in touch, Em. I’ll do the same. Now remember what I said, run girl, run far away.” I kissed her cheek and we went our separate ways.

  It was late, but I had one more place to take Dalton. Heading back toward the house, I had Dalton turn down an old two-track road. After a heavy rain, we would come down here and go muddin’ as teenagers. “Are you taking me out to the middle of nowhere to kill me, Ember?”

  Giving him my best evil laugh, I said, “Don’t be silly. I could find twenty different people who would dispose of your body for me, no questions asked. I wouldn’t have to take you way out here to get rid of you.”

  Two miles down, I had him pull off and park. Grabbing a blanket and a spotlight from his backseat, we walked a little ways down a trail until we came to a clearing. I could tell Dalton was confused as to why I would bring him all the way out to the middle of nowhere, but when the clearing lit up with thousands and thousands of lightning bugs, I saw his face light up like a kid on Christmas morning.

  Laying the blanket on the ground, we laid down, side by side. “I have never seen so many fireflies, Ember. This is amazing.”

  We stared up at the sky, completely entranced in the light show. “The first day we went to the hospital, did you hear me say, ‘Its LB daddy, I’m here’, when I bent down t
o talk to him?”

  Intertwining his hand with mine, he looked over at me, “I did, but I never had a chance to ask what LB stood for.”

  “When I was little, my Daddy would take us out here in the summer and Alex and I would run around and marvel at how beautiful it was. As I got older, I would come out here any time I needed to be alone. I’ve always loved lightning bugs, and after we came here for the first time, Daddy started calling me LB, short for lightning bug. It’s been his nickname for me for over twenty years.”

  Dalton sat up and pulled me to a sitting position with him. He put his hands on the side of my face and kissed my forehead. He pulled away slowly and as I smiled at him, his lips gently met mine. I returned the kiss with passion as his became hungry with need. His hand tangled in my hair, pulling me closer as I gripped his shirt and closed the gap between us.

  After many moments of being completely wrapped up in a mind-blowing kiss, he pulled away, “I’m sorry. I’ve wanted to kiss you so many times and I know it’s wrong, but…”

  Taking his hands in mine, I said, “It’s not your fault. I wanted to kiss you, too. I still want to kiss you, every damn minute I do, but if there is one thing I’m not, it’s a cheater. I know my marriage is pure shit, but regardless of how bad it is, I’m not ‘that girl’.”

  If I said I felt bad for kissing Dalton, I would be lying through my teeth, but no matter how badly I wanted to be with him, I just couldn’t. It wasn’t right. Not like this anyway.

  Dalton scooted behind me and wrapped his arms around me while I leaned back into his chest, “I’ve never been certain about a lot of things in my life, Ember, but one thing I know without a single doubt, is that I want you and Harlee in my life. I want to love, protect, and care for both of my girls. I know you’re not a cheater, baby. I respect the hell out of you for being faithful to someone who isn’t even worth a single moment of your time, but someday soon, I will make you mine. I will fight with everything I have to be with you and I won’t stop until I do. Or until you think I’m a stalker and tell me to fuck off. I never knew I was missing a part of me until I met you, Ember.”