“Leif, I—"
“I guess I’d better go,” he says.
Before I could stop him, before I could say another word, he ended the call. I looked at the paperweight I kept on my desk. Smooth and hard, made of fossilized amber.
I resisted the powerful urge to chuck it at Meegan’s head as she stood triumphant in the doorway. She smirked at me as she closed the door again.
I started writing him a message explaining that there was a misunderstanding. That I had said we weren’t together, that it wasn’t true, but that it was only to get my sister off my back, and that I wanted to talk to him. To explain everything.
I read it over before deleting it. It was all accurate, but I didn’t want Leif to have to damage his pride by talking to someone he thought wasn’t into him.
“Liff?” Polly asked when I got her out of bed.
“Sorry, baby, Leif is gone.”
“Like dada?”
“No, not at all,” I said, trying not to cry.
“Mama sad?”
“I’ll be okay, baby. How about another walk?”
“Birdie?”
“We can only hope.”
I wanted to forget about Leif. I tried pushing him out of my head, but he wouldn’t budge. I needed him so much it hurt. I had to talk to him, but it would have to be face to face. It was the only way to express how things really were.
I returned to the park for the second time today, eagerly entering what looked like the scene of Genesis. Polly’s wish was granted, with several avian friends singing their sweet tunes. We sat beneath a tree, in the warm summer sun, and waited for a man who never came.
Chapter Six - Leif
Sleep was overrated. Sure, I was fairly certain that Odin was blessing me, but I got more work done in three days than I had in the last two months. I was taking the concept of a lockdown a bit more literally than even the leaders of our government probably meant. Anything to keep from thinking about Brigid, or what she apparently thought of me. If only that were possible.
Three days of nearly solid labor, sleeping only when exhaustion overtook me, subsisting only on things I could get out of a box or a can. So focused my vision was going blurry, but there she still was. In the back of my head. Beckoning me to her. I needed to take a different tack.
I had almost forgotten what the sun was like. My heavy sunglasses were more necessary than they ever had been before. Gaining my bearings, I got on my bike and headed for the range.
The air conditioner hit like an arctic gale, chilling my bones and relieving the heat in the same instant. It was very much a mixed bag.
“What’s new, Magog?”
“The usual, please.”
Turning over my ID so the authorities could trace me should I go off, I received my lethal weapons, ready to do some damage.
“You really should have booked ahead, but there’s no one else coming in, so I’ll make an exception,” Lucy reprimanded me.
“Thanks, pal.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“It’s nothing,” I said, strapping on my quiver.
“I know you, bud. This is not nothing. You have the same look you did before you took down that tree with the sword you made in metal shop.”
“It was a misunderstanding.”
“I’ve always wondered, what part of ‘name plaque’ sounded like ‘broadsword’ to you?”
“It was a creative interpretation,” I said, checking the balance of my string.
“That ended with two cabins being crushed by a maple?”
“No one was in them,” I reminded her.
“Which is why no charges were pressed.”
“I rebuilt them.”
“Which is why they allowed you back,” Lucy pointed out.
No matter what I tried, there was just no arguing with her. Lucy had the memory of a quiz champ.
“Remember the girl I told you about?”
“Brigid?”
“Yeah, it kind of went south.”
“You really liked her, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did. I’ll get over it eventually, I just need to shoot something and I’m not looking for a murder change.”
The thirtieth arrow punched into the poor, besieged target, marking the last of what would have been many death blows had the bullseye been sentient. I shook my head to try and clear away the blood I half-imagined I saw running down from the big red center circle.
It won’t get any better, you know.
The wise voice in my head that counseled me in my darkest moments had finally put in an appearance.
“I fucking know that.”
You have to talk to her, boy.
“You make it sound so easy.”
It is easy. Once you have accepted your fate.
Suddenly, I had an idea. I ran out of the range so fast I almost took my long brown bow and empty quiver with me. I had to come back to toss them to Lucy. That could have been interesting if I had encountered any police in my flight.
I looked like a madman trying to take off, without the aid of petty mechanical assistance.
I hurried to a store to buy what I needed, and then I headed to the park, where I knew I would find them.
“Balloooon,” Polly wondered, her eyes going wide.
“Did you mug a clown?” Brigid asked, trying not to laugh at my red face.
“No, but I can understand why you might ask. Here you go, little one.”
I handed the balloons to Polly, who started bouncing them happily. We three watched them twist and turn in the light breeze.
“I really missed you,” I told her.
“Me too! Missed you, I mean. Thank you for coming. I thought you’d never talk to me again and I wouldn’t blame you. I just can’t get you out of my head. It’s really weird.”
“Do you want to talk?”
“Sure. From six feet away, of course,” Brigid winced.
“Fair enough.”
“My sister is awful.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry to blurt it out like that. It just makes me so mad. I was in a pretty bad relationship before. With Polly’s dad. Meegan - that’s my sister - has never let me forget it. It doesn’t help that she’s older and Polly and I are living with her because we have no money.”
“I take it that was her on the video-call.”
“Yeah.”
“I misunderstood the situation when she said you weren’t interested?” I deduced.
“Yes. For sure. That wasn’t me talking. That was her.”
“Do you want to give it another go?”
“Absolutely.”
“I really want to kiss you right now,” I confessed.
“Me too! I mean, kiss you, of course.”
“Of course. I would also really like to see you again. On the bright side, they say we might be getting out of lockdown soon.”
“Then we can kiss all we want!”
“Wherever we want.”
She blushed adorably, and I knew things were at least getting back to how they had been a few days ago.
“Would you like to meet tonight?”
“Online?”
“Yeah, my sister will be working late. I’ll be wearing my robe.”
I could see her coming from a mile away. I had been around long enough to know when a kiss was inbound. Touching her gently on the shoulders, I pushed her back.