The Boys Down South by Abbi Glines

30

asher

“That fucking quick?” Steel asked as he continued glaring at me like he hated the sight of me. I wanted to see if Dixie was gone, but I knew not to look in her direction. Steel would go crazy and I didn’t want him doing that here.

“Not what you think it is,” I told him.

“She just came by needing help with some flowers for the salon. I had Asher show her the newest stock out back that we haven’t displayed yet. That’s all, Steel,” Hannah offered cheerfully. She was a good actress, her easy-going tone convincing and confident, and the way she stayed attached to my arm suggested that something was happening between us.

Steel looked at Hannah, then back to me. “You fucking her?” he asked. I wasn’t sure if he meant Hannah or Dixie.

“Steel,” I started to correct him, because Mr. Horn, the nearly eighty-year-old pastor at the Baptist church, had just heard him cuss while he shopped for gardening gloves for his wife. But Hannah interrupted me.

“Our sex life isn’t your business, Steel. Never will be, either.”

Hannah and I would never have a sex life. I didn’t correct her, though. I’d do that later after Steel had left. If this was just a grand act to appease him, then I was thankful for it. But if she thought it was the beginning of anything more between us, I needed to clarify to her that it wasn’t.

He continued to study us.

“You been home? Momma is worried.”

He shrugged. “She’s pissed as hell. Not worried.”

“That, too,” I agreed.

More silence filled the space between us.

“She only loved you. Never loved me,” he said before walking away. He sounded defeated. I wanted to tell him that he meant something to her. That he’d been important to her. Instead, I just let him go, hating myself for putting that pain in his eyes.

“She’s really messed with his head,” Hannah said in a whisper.

If the past wasn’t what it was, if things hadn’t happened the way they did, if a lie hadn’t kept us apart, I’d agree with her. But Dixie was as much a victim as he was. We all were.

“She never meant to,” I told her.

“You sure?” Hannah asked.

I moved away from her and was tempted to just walk back to my truck and drive off, away from the questions. Back to the lake where nothing mattered but me and Dixie. But I couldn’t do that.

“There is more to the story than you know.”

She frowned. “Then tell me.”

“It’s not something I can share,” I replied and walked away from more questions. Hannah had helped me. I appreciated it. But that didn’t give her access to my personal life, past or present.

I forgot about lunch and went to hauling the ten-pound bags of fertilizer from the trailer to the display area. The heat and sweat quickly replaced my thoughts of Dixie and Steel.

It was ten minutes before quitting time when Hannah walked back to my truck. Her sunglasses were perched on the top of her head and her purse was slung over her shoulder. She was leaving.

“You don’t realize what you’re missing being hung up on the past,” she said. It sounded like she’d been working on that line for hours.

I pulled my work gloves off and then lifted my hat from my head to let the breeze hit my forehead, before I responded. “Until you know what Dixie and I have, don’t jump to conclusions, Hannah.”

She thought about that for a moment. Hannah didn’t annoy me too much. I even liked her at times. But at this moment, I was ready to snap at her. Her tendency to judge without knowing all the facts was beginning to wear on my nerves.

“You’ll crush Steel,” she said matter-of-factly.

It was none of her business, but I had to defend Dixie. “He didn’t consider me when he decided to date her.”

“But you broke up with her.”

I was done having this conversation with Hannah. My patience had worn thin.

“Again, you don’t know the whole story so please stay out of it. Now, excuse me, but it’s time for me to leave.”

I didn’t give her time to shoot more questions my way or say anything else. I didn’t want to see her face again today. As much as she’d saved things earlier, she’d ruined it all by sticking her nose where it didn’t belong, trying to hurt the one I loved.

While walking to my truck, Hannah called out to me, “I’m here when this blows up in your face.”

I didn’t need or want her to be there. But I held my anger in check and just kept walking.

When I was finally inside my truck and away from Hannah, I breathed a sigh of relief. Tonight, I would see Dixie again. We’d meet at the lake and she would be mine there. There would be no hiding. No secrets. Just us. I could get through anything knowing that was coming. Even a dinner with my brothers and a very pissed-off Steel.

He’d calm down eventually and see this was best for him. I knew I should just admit my feeling for Dixie and face the consequences, but I couldn’t. Not yet. He needed some time first.

Dixie didn’t deserve to be anyone’s dirty little secret and not even protecting Steel justified her becoming one. For now, we had our lake. I had Dixie. And my thoughts were no longer just memories of better times that kept slicing me open.

Dixie Monroe had always been meant to be mine. Our connection didn’t dwindle even when everything had been thrown at us to keep us apart. We’d have our future one day. I had to believe that.