Signs

Untitled Part 25

Chapter 25.

Davis had got home late in the afternoon and Renny was waiting with gloves on, waving at him.

She was genuinely excited about the tree, and had the perfect place for it, in the backyard just outside the kitchen window, where she would be able to see it.

She had spent the last hour digging and fertilizing the soil in a nice round little bed, waiting.

He couldn't help but laugh when he saw her, the gloves were floral and bright pink on the palms

"Look at you," he said through his window.

"I have the spot for it" she clapped her hands and folded them at her chin its all ready and waiting

It was a nice warm evening, and after putting the tree securely in the ground, Davis and Renny sat next to it.

It was short and mostly leafless, but Renny seemed enamored with it.

"You said something today, you started to anyway" he said gently "Alex?"

"He was my ex". She just talked "I was different then"

"I loved him. I think I did and I did everything around him, you know? Like, I like to be able to wear shoes in a house, I'm from the south for god's sake" She looked at him knowing he knew exactly what she meant. He remembered running straight in the house after swimming in the creek "but he, well, we decided no shoes. Even my mother had to take her shoes off, can you imagine?"

"No i honestly can't" he chuckled, plucking at the grass

"Well, everything was meticulous. Have you ever seen that movie with Julia Roberts, and she had to turn all the cans to the front, the towels level... well that was Alex, without the violence" she assured "But i did it all. Whatever he wanted, because he provided a good life for me. I asked for nothing, and i had the garden of my dreams and i wanted a peach tree, but Alex had told me, that it was messy and brought bugs, and he hated fruit trees, he much preferred my skills concentrated on those topiaries and vine training" Renny remembered "I thought my home, would have a peach tree"

Davis just sat, nothing to say or ask which made her keep going, a load coming off her soul as each word was released

"But it wasn't my home. He left me for his secretary. How cliche. She was perfectly manicured, from New York. Style, skinny as a rail" she accentuated in more southern, that seemed to be creeping out more as she went deeper into the memories "they looked perfect together"

"Is that why you came here?"

"Sort of, I guess. News spread around town like wildfire, you know, and everywhere i went people would give me that 'oh i'm so sorry, plenty of fish in the sea' look, and it was driving me crazy. So, me and mom decided to leave, come here and make a go at a cafe. As far as i know theyre expecting a baby any day now and the garden looks like shit" she grinned

"Well, looks like you got your peach tree"

"Guess so" she bumped into his shoulder "thanks Davis"

She had to go, she Brody was supposed to be coming over for dinner, at Carole's insistence, which then turned into a small dinner party with Melody too.

"Hey, why don't you come over for dinner tonight, Brody and Melody are coming, a little celebration for the first sale. My mom is making her lasagne"

For the first time she felt a change in Davis, nothing she could read, it was his face, his eyes.

He was taken back a little. Brody? He loved Miss Carole's lasagna but at what cost? At least Melody would be there, he pondered "Ok, sure yeah thanks"