Birdeater

Chapter 9

Jackie Candy prided herself in keeping a clean house. She had always been a homemaker. Amos had already spent his youth working hard side-by-side with his first wife. When he married again after her death, he wanted a woman he could spoil. A woman who could turn their house into a home. She had spent years adding small touches to the house to create a place of their own.

They had never had children, so there were no grandchildren to inherit the place. Their dog Blue had died a year before. It was truly just her and Amos, now.

Amos was getting up there in years. He would be retiring, soon.

There was a knock at the front door. Jackie had left it open but kept the screen shut to keep out bugs. She wanted to air out the house a little. She finished cutting down the middle of a white onion and set the knife down. She wiped her hands off on a dish towel as she moved to answer.

"You can just come on in!" She shouted before she even knew who it was.

A young man stood in the door and for a minute, she didn't recognize him. Her heart stopped at the idea of a stranger just appearing when Amos wasn't home. The man gave her a beautiful smile. He lifted a bottle of wine as a peace offering.

"Moscato is your favorite, isn't it?" He asked through the screen.

Jackie put her hand over her heart. "Florence Hill! Have mercy. You scared me half to death." Now she knew him. She hadn't seen him in nearly half a decade. He left town to care for Sabrina. Jackie had been too sick to make her funeral. "I suppose I'll let you in. You got handsome on me."

"How very kind of you." He stepped in as soon as she unlocked the screen door. "Everything got smaller, didn't it?"

"You got taller." She swatted at his side and opened her arms for a hug. He had to stoop to get his arms around her. "I told you not to do anymore growing."

"I have never been very good at listening."

He was being cheeky. Florence had been one of the best kids she had ever known. One of the few she could stand. Jackie would hazard that she had been a better mother-figure to him than Sabrina had ever. It hadn't hurt her to miss Sabrina's funeral – not like it would have Amos if he stayed behind. But she always regretted not being there for that boy.

Though, not much of a boy anymore.

"Will you have some wine?" She started walking towards the kitchen. "If not I have lemonade or sweet tea."

"Lemonade. Please." He followed her in and set the bottle down on the counter. She picked it up.

"You really didn't have to." She said.

"My peace offering." He laughed. "Because I haven't been home all this time."

"What's kept you?" She started pulling glasses down from the cabinet. "Lemonade is in the fridge. Help yourself." She pulled out her corkscrew from a drawer. "Have you found some work you like doing?"

"I've finally finished cleaning out the last of our storage units." Florence said. He grabbed the pitcher of lemonade from inside the refrigerator and poured himself a glass. "Sold mother's grand piano."

"Well it was the only thing she had worth anything, wasn't it?"

"And not much at that. I kept the baby grand."

"Something to appease her soul?" Jackie sniffed the wine and gave it a sip. "This is excellent."

"I'm glad you like it." He leaned against the counter.

"What else do you do?" She pressed.

"A little freelancing here and there. I'd like to find something steadier."