Truth Is Like the Sun

Chapter 8

Somehow it only took a few days to establish some sort of routine, a routine that would today be disturbed by the arrival of one Lisa Marie Presley. And in a way Carol Ann felt like a horrible person for thinking that way.

She wasn't proud of it but not too long ago she had resented Lisa Marie because everything she had, from her inheritance to her father's unconditional love, her son deserved too. As though she had been at fault. A little girl of four years, too young to understand why her family had been ripped apart and her mother was now seeing another man.

Carol Ann took a shower, the warm rain of water feeling like fingertips on her skin, reminding her of how Elvis had once caressed her body in a shower such as this. Would she ever be able to take a shower again without Elvis hanging in the back of her mind the entire time? Part of her wanted to stay there for hours while another part wanted to never take another shower again as long as she lived.

As of late, the complex web of her thoughts and feelings wasn't something Carol Ann could make sense of. She didn't know where they were going from here, though the taste of him still lingered on her lips. No decisions would be made until she was back home, away from his strong gravitational pull.

She got herself dressed and ready, then took a deep breath before plunging forward to face what may come.

Elvis, it turned out, was wide awake and telling AJ about his endeavors in karate. AJ seemed suitably impressed, making her wonder with trepidation if he would now want to take karate lessons.

"Mama!" AJ spotted her before she had a chance to greet them. "Elvis has a black belt in karate. Did ya know that?"

"Yes, son, I sure did know that."

"I don't know how to do any karate." AJ turned to Elvis. "Can you show me how to do karate?"

"Maybe a little bit," Elvis said, "My daughter is gonna be comin' today, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Right."

Carol Ann couldn't quite read his tone or features, which was a rarity and therefore made her quite nervous. He'd said 'Oh, yeah. Right' the same way he would say something to that effect when she reminded him of something that slipped his mind. It didn't sound as though he was particularly dreading it and Carol Ann deduced that maybe he was taking this easier than she was.

"We still ride, right?" AJ asked, elbows sprawled across the table.

"You bet," Elvis responded without missing a beat. How they would make that work short of Lisa Marie being able to ride well enough to keep up with them or Elvis putting her in front of him on the horse, Carol Ann didn't know.

"We're gonna do the barbecue you wanted tonight," Carol Ann told them.

AJ's face broke into a huge grin. "It's about time."

"Boy did muck out the stables and brush his horse this mornin' already," Elvis said.

Carol Ann turned a gentle smile toward AJ in response. "You did, didn't ya? Why you're startin' to be real responsible lil man."

"Lil man?" AJ repeated in outrage. "Since when am I little?" He spat out the word little like an insult. "I'm taller than most of the kids in my class." He directed this toward Elvis, whom he glanced over at as he spoke.

"I was too. You might just grow to be my size."

"That would be real groovy."

"Groovy?" Elvis tried to force down the chuckle trying to escape, but didn't quite manage. "Don't you get ahead of yourself talking like half a man when you're still a little boy."