8
" I mean … why are you kissing me at all?” She can’t believe those words came out of her mouth. His kiss has obviously opened the door between her thoughts and her lips, letting anything just spill out.
“Because you’re cute. Because I want to. Do I need another reason?”
She backs up, pulling her broken arm off him. Coldness is entering her heart and shutting down the warmth that had started to build. “That’s a lie.”
“What’s a lie? That I want to kiss you?”
“No, that I’m cute. Maybe that other part too.”
Brian very carefully picks up her broken arm and puts it back where it was, all the while staring into her eyes. “You listen to me, you stubborn little thing … you can’t tell me what I think about you, okay? That’s for me to decide.”
“There’s no way you could think I’m cute. Not unless you’re blind. And you drove a car, so I know you’re not.”
“I have twenty-twenty vision, thank you very much, and I can too think you’re cute. You’re funny, smart, wicked terrible at cards even though you refuse to admit it, and you have a nice ass. I add that all up and it equals cute to me.”
“I think I will take that job you offered me earlier,” she says, happiness filling her heart and making her feel like she can fly.
“Oh yeah? Why the change of heart now?”
“Because. You obviously can’t add. I can’t imagine how much money you’ve lost over the years doing your own billing. "
― Elle Casey , Don't Make Me Beautiful
15
" It’s so pretty up here,” she says, sighing with what sounds like contentment.
“Yep. I love coming here to decompress. I do it several times a year, but usually not in winter.”
“I like the river,” says Liam, looking up from his coloring. “It’s cold but I still swim in it. Daddy says I have merman jeans. But he’s silly cuz mermans don’t wear pants. They have fish tails so they have scales.”
“Not jeans. Gene. Like in your DNA.”
“I know. That’s what I said. But I don’t wear my jeans in the water, cuz that would make them all wet, and I don’t like to have wet pants or wet underwear.”
Nicole laughs softly, turning to look in the back seat. “Are you going to show me how you swim in the river, Liam?”
“Yep.”
Brian looks in his rearview mirror at his son again. “We need to show this girl how to fish, Li-Li. She’s never fished before.”
Liam keeps coloring. “I’ll show her how. But she has to bait her own hook. That’s the rule.”
Nicole faces Brian. “What do you fish with?”
“Worms.”
She grimaces. “No, thank you. I’ll just watch.”
Brian smiles, knowing he’ll be able to convince her to try. He’ll bait her hook as long as she needs him to, rules be damned. He just has to explain to Liam that it’s okay to bait hooks for girls and that it’s not sexist to want to spare them the ickiness of it. The kid probably won’t understand though; he thinks squirmy worms are fun to play with. Brian’s had to dissuade him from putting worms in his pockets for years. "
― Elle Casey , Don't Make Me Beautiful
16
" That’s nice.” Nicole’s hands are trembling. She grips her coffee mug hard to make them stop. “That they’d do that for strangers.”
“Yes. Maybe. I mean, I don’t see it as people helping strangers.”
“What do you see it as?”
“I see it as people helping people who can’t help themselves at a particular moment in their lives. We all have times that we fall down and hit the dirt. Sometimes it’s just harder to get up than others. That’s where they come in. Helping hands I guess you could call it.”
Nicole nods, thinking about that. Agnes makes it sound so normal, to check out of life and give up, to stay in John’s house and suffer the abuse for another week, another month, another year. Just like falling down and having a hard time getting up. Yeah, right. Wouldn’t you like to believe that.
Nicole snorts in disgust at herself.
“What? You don’t agree?” Agnes turns to face her.
“No.” Nicole stares into her cup. “It’s one thing to fall down in the dirt. It’s another to lie down in it and refuse to get up.”
“The point is, you do get up. You got up. You’re up.” She smiles and nudges Nicole’s leg. “Right?”
Nicole wants to smile. She really does. But her face will only twitch. “I got up because someone picked me up, not because I did it on my own.”
“Pish posh. Up is up. Doesn’t matter how you got there. Besides, doesn’t it feel glorious to know that someone cares enough to do the heavy lifting?” She sighs loudly and dramatically. “Oh to be young again and have a strong, handsome Galahad to come by and sweep me off my feet.” She looks at Nicole and smiles. “You’re such a lucky girl.”
Lucky is the very last word in the English language Nicole would have used to describe herself a month ago, but now that Agnes mentions it, it’s impossible to deny how much it applies today. “Are you talking about Brian?”
“Of course I’m talking about Brian. Do you see any other Galahads around these parts?” She sweeps her arm out towards the yard.
The smile won’t stay away now. Nicole feels her face turning pink with it. “It’s not like that with him.”
“Fiddlesticks. That boy is ripe for the picking. What’s stopping you?”
Nicole’s smile fades. “I would think that’s fairly obvious.”
Agnes stands. “You know, there’s a reason why certain expressions never go away and endure the test of time. It’s because they’re as real today as they were a hundred years ago.”
“What expressions?” Nicole asks, confused.
“Love is blind.” Agnes reaches out a hand and strokes Nicole’s cheek. “Love sees inside the person. It doesn’t stop at the surface. That stuff is all just window dressing, anyway. It says nothing about what you’re really getting. If a man loves you when you look your worst, you know he’s a keeper. They’re a rare breed, too, so I don’t recommend walking away from it easily.” "
― Elle Casey , Don't Make Me Beautiful
