Page 94 of Dirty

“You’re just…” I shook my head and stepped to his side. “It’s easy to admire you.”

“Admire me? Shit. I’m just a man trying to save a little money.”

He took a long breath through his nose, held it for a few seconds, and then exhaled through his mouth.

“Kind of hard to believe all those things actually happened,” he said, still staring across the street. “Then, I move wrong and my leg reminds me it was real.”

“The doctor told you to wear shorts. And, I really wish you’d take the pain pills he gave you.”

“I’ll take ‘em if I need ‘em,” he said.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

He nodded. “Hurts like a motherfucker, but not enough for me to take a pill to try and fix it. I’m fine for now. And I ain’t wearing fucking shorts.”

“Want to go inside for a while?”

He tilted his head back and stared up at the sky. “Nope.”

“Sit on the porch, maybe? Take some weight off your foot?”

He grinned. “Nope.”

I pushed my hands into my pockets and sighed. “What do you want to do?”

He tugged against the bill of his hat, and then turned toward me. His eyes were glassy and wet.

“I uhhm. When they were uhhm. They had. He had a hammer, and he was going to smash my toes with it. I can’t. I can’t even tell you what I was thinking. But he. I mean, at that time, I’d already been there two days. He uhhm.”

He pursed his lips, gazed down at his feet, and made a motion with his hand as if he were swinging a hammer. The reenactment seemed to resurrect memories, and it appeared they were draining the life from him right then and there.

So far, his discussions about the events had been laced with laughter. The stories he told in the hospital were loud, bold, and emotionless.

Seeing him try to talk seriously about what happened was ripping my heart out.

He looked up, but didn’t speak.

I draped my arm over his shoulder and nestled against him.

“After he smashed the second one. I kind of gave up. I was done, Alexandra. They uhhm. They broke my spirit.”

His gaze fell to the driveway and he reached for his hat. He rubbed the brim between his thumb and forefinger, let out a sigh, and then continued.

“I kind of made amends with God. Or something. We had a talk, anyway.”

He looked at me with worried eyes. “I’m falling in love with you, and if that’s not what you want or what you’re looking for, I’ll understand. I really like you, and if you don’t want to give it a try, I’ll respect that. I won’t like it, but I’ll--”

“I’m falling in love with you, too,” I said. “Now, please stop talking, and kiss me.”

THIRTY-THREE

Cholo

As I limped up the steps, the front door opened, and a man stepped onto the massive porch. He was wearing a dark blue suit jacket and slacks.

“Let me assist you, Mr. Downey,” he said.

“It’ll take me a minute, but I’ll get there,” I said. “Thank you.”