I'm Your Girl. J.J. Murray

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СКАЧАТЬ shut the book. So far, I have a love-hate relationship with this novel. I like Psyche because she has a soul, even though she’s far too pretty to be believable. Q has no soul, Venus sounds as if she’s out to take Psyche’s soul, and…and what else? Yes, it has my attention, but…

      I pick up Thicker Than Blood. “Grandpa Joe-Joe, here I come.”

      8

      Jack

      After making three trips to the Salvation Army with Noël and Stevie’s clothes, many of them tear-stained, I had made the world’s worst-looking snowman in the backyard.

      You’ve made worse.

      The sticks I had used for arms were bigger than the snowman’s body, the eyes were two mismatched wood chips, and the hat was an upside-down bird’s nest.

      At least it doesn’t have crushed beer cans for ears like last year.

      I had tried rolling the snow into balls, but it wouldn’t stick together until I added some dead grass, old clover, and dirt. It sure was colorful.

      I know Stevie is up there giggling about it.

      And Noël is, too.

      “It’s a nice snowman, Jack. And thanks for skipping the beer ears this year,” she’s saying.

      Beer ears this year. Yeah, that’s something she would say. She was always better at rhyming than I was.

      I had sat on the big swing for the longest time, gently gliding back and forth, as more snow floated down. It was…peaceful. It was as if Nature was covering up my world with a fresh, clean blanket.

      Until the snowman had decided to fall. I had to prop him up with a couple of bricks.

      So, now he’s a snowman with red feet.

      That point out behind him?

      So, he’s forever walking backward, like you.

      I’m making progress.

      You could be making more.

      I’m inside the kitchen warming up and staring at a Russell Stover candy box sitting on the table. I’m afraid to open it, though it still has its plastic wrapper, because it has to be at least six or seven months old. It was a “just because” gift to Noël; I forget what for. Just one of those loony romantic things I used to do “just because” right before…

      Don’t think about it.

      It was the last gift I ever gave her.

      I’ll bet they still taste good.

      I’m not hungry.

      A little chocolate never hurt anybody, and you need to gain some weight.

      I won’t eat the ones with the nuts. Noël loved the ones with nuts.

      Because she said she married one.

      I’m not that nutty.

      Yes, you are.

      If I keep talking to myself, maybe I will be.

      No. It’s good therapy.

      While I eat only the nougats, I look around the kitchen. I should have carpeted the floor. It’s so cold. Oh, and that border still looks so good! I thought it would come out crooked, but Noël was there to help me. I should remove all the latches on the cabinets that kept Stevie from messing around. But…maybe the next family will need them.

      You can’t stay here much longer.

      I know.

      I can’t stay in a four-bedroom house alone. It’s a waste of space. I haven’t been downstairs except to throw dirty clothes into the laundry room, and some of the crumbs in this kitchen are starting to move. Most of the crumbs are at Stevie’s place—

      Don’t go there.

      I can’t help it.

      Get out of the kitchen, then.

      I wander down to Stevie’s—my—room and jiggle the top bunk. I’m sure it will come off the other one. Maybe I can set them up side by side and put Noël’s king-sized mattress over top of them. That would save me a daily bump on the head anyway.

      Good thinking.

      Thank you.

      Though your daily bump knocks some sense into you.

      I grip one end of the top bunk and lift, and the entire bunk bed comes off the floor. Is that supposed to happen?

      Evidently.

      There must be some trick to this. Hmm. I should take off the mattresses first, maybe put the entire bunk bed on its side…What’s this?

      Sticking out from under the top bunk mattress is a picture book about planes, trains, and automobiles. As I slide it out, I see two more books wedged underneath, each of them a picture book about animals. How did Stevie get up here? And why did he hide them? And where and when did he get them?

      I see a bar code on the back of the first book, “Roanoke Public Library” in bold letters underneath the dark lines and numbers. Noël used to take him nearly every Saturday morning to the library for story time. It gave me most of the morning to write since they would often go to a park or a museum afterward.

      I guess I should return these.

      Tomorrow.

      Yeah, I guess tomorrow is as good a day as any. I have lots of nothing to do tomorrow, all day as a matter of fact.

      Nothing to do and all day to do it.

      Is “nothing” something to do?

      Sure. And you’re good at doing it.

      The phone rings, and I answer without checking the Caller ID. “Hello?”

      “Is Thomas Mann there?”

      We used to get Mr. Mann’s mail when we first moved in, and we—I—still get phone calls for him. “Thomas Mann hasn’t lived here in six years. Please put me on your do-not-call list.”

      “Are you the new home owner?”

      “Yes, but—”

      “And is there still a VA loan on this property?”

      “That’s none of your business. Now please put me on your do-not-call list.”

      “Is your current loan at seven percent or higher?”

      Pushy bastard.

      “It’s none of your business. Now please, put—”

      “We here at the Financial СКАЧАТЬ