I look back toward the RV, thinking about stripping to shift, but Sunny comes back out. “Don’t feel like you have to hang around, Titus.” It would sound rude, except she’s wearing one of her bright sunny expressions. She truly was aptly named.
Reluctantly, I walk back. “Yeah, okay. I’ll find out when your bus will be fixed. You need a ride out to the bridge tomorrow to sell your wares?”
“My stuff is in the bus. I wasn’t thinking when you let him take it.”
Shit. Now I feel like the biggest dick. And I sure as hell don’t trust those tweaker coyotes not to steal her stuff. And I’m affecting her ability to make a living.
“I’ll go by and hurry them up,” I tell her, even though it’s a long drive out there. “And I’ll let you know as soon as it’s done.”
She blinks those cat eyes at me. “Thank you, Titus.”
“You need anything else?”
She puts her good hand on her hip but she’s too nice to remind me that she already made it clear she needed nothing from me.
“Right. Okay. I’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks again!” She gives a cheerful wave.
I can’t stand feeling like she’s getting rid of me, but I know she is.
Damn.
I swing a leg over my bike and start it up. When I come back, I’m going to shift and follow those scents somehow.
SUNNY
“DARLING, I’m fine. Truly. Titus took good care of me.” I called Foxfire as soon as I got settled. My RV functions perfectly off the grid with solar generated electricity to charge my cell phone. I just have to haul in my own water if I want to shower more than once a week because Taos only gets twelve inches a year of precipitation.
This is the first chance I’ve had to actually speak with Foxfire, although we’ve texted all day.
“I still don’t understand why Titus was there. Are you two… a couple now or something?” She sounds slightly nauseated by the thought. But children never like to think of their parents as sexual beings. Even with the sex-positive upbringing I gave Foxfire, she’s squeamish about this.
“No!” My voice sounds too high-pitched. “He’s here on business. I ran into him at the gorge bridge. And then he came to yoga.”
Foxfire makes a spluttering sound like she just choked on a sip of water. “What? What?” She laughs. “Titus went to yoga?”
I chuckle too. “I know, darling. Ridiculous. See, there was this other man at the bridge and he said he was going-”
“Okay, stop. I’m not sure I want to know any of this.”
“Well, you did ask, darling. I’m just trying to explain.”
She makes a little discontented sound. “Does it involve you having sex with my husband’s dad? Because I definitely don’t want to hear about that.”
“Okay, then the topic is now closed.”
“Oh, Sunny! I didn’t need to know!” she wails. My daughter has always called me by my first name because I wanted to parent her in a way that gave her full autonomy. I believe children, like all of us, are infinite beings. They’re just trapped in tiny bodies and underestimated by the adults around them. I tried to function from the assumption that Foxfire had her full awareness and could make choices for herself, and I was just there to help and guide, when necessary.
I laugh. “Don’t worry. I sent him on his way. I’m back at my RV now, and I’m going to be fine as soon as I get my bus back. But enough about me. What’s the status of my grandchildren?”
“Ugh, Sunny! Please.”
“I want grandchildren, Foxfire. I sent you a little bag with moonstone and rose quartz to promote fertility.”
“OMG, Sunny no. We don’t need them.”
“Oh, are you already expecting?”
“Sunny!”
“If you’re having trouble, it might be Tank’s sperm count. You can get a test to make sure.”
“Do not mention my partner’s sperm count ever again.”
“Foxfire, you know how much I love babies.”
Foxfire sighs but her voice softens. “I do know, Sunny. We’re just not there yet.”
“Well, don’t wait too long, darling. I had such a hard time, you know. I just don’t want you to pass your prime and then have the problems I did.”
“Sunny. Don’t project your fears onto me.”
“You’re right, you’re right,” I say immediately. I definitely believe thoughts create reality, and I shouldn’t ever surround my daughter with my anxieties. “Surrounding you with unconditional love and the knowledge that you’re perfect just as you are.” This was the mantra I used to send her off to school with.
I hear the smile in Foxfire’s voice. “Thanks, Sunny. I love you, too.”
“Goodnight, darling. Give that man of yours a hug from me.”
“Will do. Bye, Sunny.”
Titus
I DON’T KNOW what in the fuck I’m doing. If I believed she was capable of it, I would say Sunny is truly a witch and she cast a spell on me.
But that’s obviously not her speed. She’s not looking to tangle anyone into her web.
Not intentionally, anyway.
Yet, tangled I am. That’s the only explanation I have for why I feel it’s necessary to drive her bus out to her with supplies in the back to make her flower boxes.
It’s stupid, really.
I should just be dropping the vehicle off and then slink off to shift and sniff around her place to see what I can find. I have a job to do for Alpha Green.
Instead I’m set on playing gardener to a woman who doesn’t want my help.
Fuck-nuts crazy.
And yet when Sunny bursts out the door in all her sunny glory when I pull up, I forget all my grudging reluctance. Her hair is pulled up on the top of her head in a messy bun that makes her look taller and more slender. The smile that stretches across her face could light a major city.