Begin Again 2: RESET || Nate Maloley

{ one }

We were somewhere near the Nebraska state line. Farm and land for miles as far as the eye could see. For the past couple of days we had been staying at my Aunt Greta's house. She's not really my Aunt but she's been a friend of the family's for a while and the only thing close to family that I have living in the same state. By this point, we figured if we were about to put our lives in danger, we might as well enjoy our lives up until then.

Aunt Greta had gone to church which meant she would be there all day. We basically had her historically-aged secluded house to ourselves. The next house wasn't for at least about a mile. I'm pretty sure this house has been around for a while. Enduring two World Wars and then some. The wooden panels were a faded white and covered in whatever nature threw at it between old darkened cobwebs, vines, and branches. She had a porch swing that looked out at the swaying wheat field and I loved sitting out there while Nate slept. But now we were both out here enjoying the quiet with the exception of the creaky swing porch. He was resting his head in my lap and I hummed a children's song because it was the first thing that came to mind.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow...

He grinned with his eyes closed. "You know what that song makes me think of, right?"

"Yeah." I leaned down to give him a little kiss. "One step ahead of you."

I lit up the blunt that was next to my leg and took in a long first draw, passing it down to Nate.

"Mmm," he hummed. "Mary, Mary, Mary."

"I'm jealous," I joked. "You love Mary more than you love me."

"Not possible," he smiled and took another hit, passing it back.

The weather was perfect today. 77 degrees with a nice breeze. I thought to myself as I took a couple more hits, letting the high set in; wondering if the sounds of nature I heard were actually happening. I wondered how far my imagination could go when I'm like this.

Nate brought me back down to Earth when he started caressing my thigh with his fingertips. Instead of it startling me, it was giving me pure bliss.

"What do you think is gonna happen when we get to Cali?" I asked.

"We're gonna get the stuff, give it to Foosh and Evan, then we're gonna go about our business," he answered.

"But what about this King Bach guy? Is he dangerous?"

"I don't know, baby." He took a deep breath and sat up to look out at the fields too. He never let go of my hand. "Can you promise me something, though?"

"Anything."

"Promise me we'll live in the moment from here on out," he said. "You all I've got."

"I promise."

He stood up and fixed his jeans, holding his hand out to me. I take it and he whisks me up into his arms, quickly picking me up.

"What are you doing," I giggled.

He kissed me and carried me inside. The wooden floor panels creaked and the front screen door slammed shut behind us. Our cups of tea and half-eaten pieces of buttered bread still sat on the table we passed by. We got to the guest bedroom and he put me down on the bed before going to lock the front door and then our room door.

"Take me to church, I'll worship like a dog," he mumbled the song lyrics while taking his watch off.

I pushed myself back further onto the bed, playing with the bottom hem of my white ribbed tank. The warm breeze blew through the half-opened window. I could stay here forever with him.