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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 4 2018, 09:12 PM (24 Views) | |
| Rosemary Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:12 PM Post #1 |
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The town was dying a slow and extended death. Rosemary's parents had started talking about leaving as if there were some place that wasn't going to be effected by...all of this. Rosemary may have been young and she may not have been the smartest girl in the world, but she knew that leaving here would fix nothing. She read the papers, every place in the country was suffering. Every place was looking at their people losing their jobs and starving on the streets. Maybe they could pack up and go some place where they could plant food, but how were they going to afford any seeds? If they couldn't afford to stay here, what was the point in going elsewhere? They should be grateful, her mother said, that they all had jobs. Everyone still needed police officers like her daddy. Everyone needed nurses like her momma. Everyone needed someone to wait on them and listen to their sob stories and try to get a free bit of something like Rosemary. If they packed up and left now, they were losing what they had made. They were losing the ground work they had placed down. They were risking never getting jobs again. Rosemary was smart enough to know that much. If they left, they were quitting here and going off for a chance to never have it again. Jobs were taken fast, she knew, by people who were more desperate than they were. Though her parents had offered something awfully tempting: moving out to California. All the way out there, it seemed like people were still able to live and breath. If she went out there, she'd be closer to the moving pictures and possibly being recognized as one who belonged there. Her daddy always said she was so beautiful she deserved to be on those screens and have the world find hope in her. Her momma had said that she could act to make anyone feel anything she wanted. That had been Rosemary's dream since she was a little baby. Be the center of attention, be acknowledged, be a shining pinnacle that all others looked to. She could see it, she really could. Get to California, get her big break and then she was starring in all sorts of pictures. People would give what little money they had to go see her and through her, they'd find hope and optimism and the will to go on. She wasn't sharing she'd change the economy around, but she might make things a little brighter. Her parents hadn't settled on that idea. It had been thrown out there when her daddy had demanded where exactly they would move to. Momma had listed a few little places they could go, California had been one of them, but they hadn't gone "yes let's pack things up". That was probably a good thing because if they had actually said "What if we moved to California", Rosemary would have let all the good sense the Lord gave her go for the chance. but maybe she should have been the one suggesting it. The town around them was dying, slowly but surely. It was trying to hold on but there wasn't much to hold onto. Businesses were shutting down and more and more people were going "please let me eat, I'll pay you when I can". They were going to meet that fate sooner or later. Everyone was. No one could keep a job, not even the fat cats that had more money than her little family did. What harm would it do to move out to California? But that was a selfish thought. She couldn't tell that to her parents. She couldn't say 'I know it's a risk, but let's do it' because they weren't desperate enough. Maybe if she went on her own...but she was just a young woman. A country girl. She wasn't dumb, but she wasn't the smartest either, she knew. If she went, it wouldn't be long before someone took advantage of her. It was bound to happen. People just loved taking advantage of pretty young girls like herself. If she went to California alone, some slick guy would come up to her and talk all fancy and talk circles around her until she didn't know what was what. Next thing she knew, she'd be one of those girls people were always hearing about; the ones that sold their bodies because they had no other means for money. Rosemary was never going to be that girl. Which just meant she couldn't go to California alone. It also meant that she probably would never go at all. She sighed to herself as she carried the clean plates out to the front of the diner, arranging them carefully on the shelf they belonged on under the counter. She was stuck in this town and she had to cope with that, but it was so dull. So lonely. She wanted...more in her life. A glamorous life would be nice, but she would take maybe a husband. A husband or another male companion – maybe even one of those sorts that were never a risk to girls, the kind that they never said anything, but you always had to wonder why their close roommates were always male. They seemed like they'd be nice people to spend time with and Rosemary could keep a secret. She wanted to have something to show for her life more than anything else. She wanted to have more than just being a waitress that could sometimes be convinced to give a free meal to someone because they caught her on the right day. Hell, today could be that day if someone just came in. She was getting more and more frustrated with these dry spells. The diner could go days without seeing anyone. Which was probably what the cook thought as well because he had said he was going out for a smoke and that had been at least fifteen minutes ago. Well, let him be gone. If someone did come in, she could cook just about anything and it would mean all the money for her. |
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| Clayton James Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:13 PM Post #2 |
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Life wasn't quite going the way he wanted it to. The world was going to hell and no one could convince him otherwise. Farms and homes were all dried up, abandoned, snatched away by the banks because people couldn't afford to pay on their loans and their rent. People lived wherever they could, ate whatever they could, did what they could to survive. And in all that, the laws and the bankers and the bigger people all treated the little ones like shit. Sleep on a park bench? How 'bout a ticket to jail for making the city look less clean and pristine? Steal a chicken and spend a few months in jail. Steal a car, steal something to help feed your family, sell a little booze or do anything that was remotely against the law and they hauled you in, treated you like you should be grateful to be starving and slowly dying without a home and told you what a terrible person you were. Then they treated you like even more shit in prison. If it wasn't the guards, it was the other inmates. He'd gotten into more fights (and more trouble because of those fights) in the time he was in prison than he ever had in his life. His temper had never been so bad as it had been. He had reason to be. They had no way to prove that car wasn't his, yet they'd just decided because of the way that he looked that he'd stolen it. Just because of his clothes, his features, the fact that he wasn't from a "proper" home and not some crowded little building, meant he was immediately guilty. They were so willing to blame him and that had just made him mad, angry, made that anger and hate smolder deep inside of him. That was why he'd busted out. He wasn't going to let them rule his life. He wasn't going to let them decide that just because he looked shady that they could tell him what to do. Okay, sure, he'd done shady things. Show him one man in this country nowadays that hadn't. You had to do it to survive. But he was wholly innocent of car theft. His older brother had given him that car. Maybe Dan hadn't been on the up and up - though he believed the world of his brother, so he probably was - but James had been innocent of that crime. Why should he have to serve two years for car theft when he hadn't stolen a damn thing? He wasn't going to waste his life rotting away in jail, listening to orders from others, constantly having fights picked with him. He was a man of his own will and his own mind. He was not going to let them tell him who and what he was. He was going to be the deciding factor in his life. No one else. To hell with them all. Maybe he'd start over somewhere else. Maybe he'd move to another state, another city, change his name. He knew he never would, though. His family was here. His brother was here. He couldn't leave them behind permanently. What he could do, though, was get some damn food. Breaking out of prison didn't exactly leave someone with many alternatives. There was no car to drive him, he'd had to run and walk on his own two feet. He'd had to filch some clothes from someone's laundry out on the wire, hoping that they would fit. He had almost no money in his pockets, just change he'd lifted off the ground or out of a pocket here or there. Nothing that was going to sustain him for any length of time. So he would just have to use it, get himself a hot meal and then keep on moving. He was bound to find some quick laborer's job to refill his pockets temporarily and then he could make his decisions on where to go and what to do. Maybe Dan would have some ideas or some leads somewhere. Maybe he could find someone to help him out. Hell, if they thought he was a god damn crook maybe he should be a god damn crook. He'd probably get more respect that way. To hell with the laws and the fact that they were probably looking for him. They weren't gonna be looking for him in a diner. He strode into the diner, feeling the dirt and the grime and the sweat on him more clearly for his being inside a building. He was ratty looking from walking the road, his stubble already starting to grow back, his shoes practically falling apart at this point. He was, in short, a mess. He'd be lucky if they didn't run him off before he could flash some cash to get their attention - not that a few cents was exactly a showstopper but it would at least get him something warm and filling. Then they'd probably run him out. He pulled the worn out newsboy cap off of his head, using it to rub away some of the worst dirt and sweat from his forehead. It took him a minute to realize how absolutely empty this place was. There were no patrons, no sounds of employees bustling about. Hell, had he just wandered into some closed down diner? But no, the lights were on, the sign on the door said 'open' and there was someone in here. He walked closer, tucking his hat into the back of his pants. When he drew up closer to the counter, he tripped over his own two feet for a second as he caught sight of the waitress. She was a dainty little thing, shorter than he was by quite a bit. She looked tired, a little worn down, but that was understandable. Everyone looked like that nowadays. What she looked like, mostly, was beautiful. He'd never seen a girl so damn attractive before. Everything from her body to her hair to her nose and the dimples on her cheeks, to those bright blue eyes; she was perfection. He slid on top of one of the stools at the counter, crossing his arms together and leaning on them as he stared at her intently. "Ain't you just the most beautiful thing I ever did see," he told her honestly, not in the least bit ashamed of his attraction or in announcing it directly to her. Confidence was always the name of the game in life. "How much for a man to get himself a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, sugar?" |
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| Rosemary Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:13 PM Post #3 |
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Her parents had been getting on Rosemary's case to look for a husband. When they had first started telling her that, she had sighed and rolled her eyes because she was too young, she had too many big dreams. A husband would expect her to stay at home or get a job like her momma had; certainly a husband wouldn't allow for her to outshine him. A man's ego was very fragile and that was something her daddy taught her. Add to it that anyone in this town just was not husband material. There were men that were "nice enough", she hate the dates she had done on with them, but she looked at them and she had thought 'no'. No she could not imagine her spending her entire life with them. She could not imagine these men being ones she was willing to give up her dream for. They were all rooted in this town, which meant she'd be stuck here. Despite her original complaints, Rosemary wondered if she shouldn't start shopping around. She knew she was attractive. Her momma had refused to let her grow up thinking she wasn't beautiful because that was how some men got their claws into girls. Tell them no one would find them pretty except them, tell the girls no one would find them beautiful. Rosemary knew she was pretty...and there was nothing really to say she couldn't use that as her own hook. If only the men here had better monetary options. Maybe it was worth taking some day trips to bigger cities. Her parents would like that, she was sure. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the door open and she quickly shook away any lingering amounts of daydreaming. She had always had her head in the clouds, her momma said, but her daddy had countered that she knew her situation. It was better to pay attention so you could keep the job that was fueling your dream. The man who entered sent off sudden alarm bells because well, he looked like he had been tumbling about with giant hill of dirt and the dirt had one. But the bells changed right quick, going from an alarming thing to something...gentler, sweeter. Yes this man looked like he had tousled with dirt, but it was not a bad look on him. There was a little bit of stubble on his chin, dirt on his cheek, and oh those green, green eyes like some kind of precious gem. His arm went up to take off his hair and oh...she could see those muscles working and that hair! That was some perfect hair. Her heart started beating faster in her chest as he came closer and distantly she thought she wouldn't have to go to no big city to find the perfect man because he had found her. Oh! He had found her. That was it perfectly. There was no other reason that he would come here at this time. Even when he tripped he was perfect. It must have been from working so hard. Man didn't look like that if he hadn't been working hard. She smiled as he slid on to the stool in front of the counter, resting his arms on the counter and just staring at her. And oh god that voice. Had she ever heard a voice that sounded so beautiful belonging to a man? Or would his voice be considered handsome? And the words. They made Rosemary giggle, lifting a finger to twirl around a strand of hair that had gotten loose from the way she had done it up this morning. "Oh stop," she reached out to swat lightly at his arm, "You think you're the first sweet talker to wander on through here?" Because plenty had, because men seemed to think she was swayed by pretty words. Then again, none of them had ever been as handsome as this stranger. None of them had been so...sure and confident in their words like this man. With anyone else who had wandered in and tried to use a line, she had been able to spot them a mile away. This man right here? This stranger? Oh she could tell he meant it. He meant it and it made her entire body warm to realize that he had found her beautiful. He spoke again and she felt even warmer. Especially when he called her sugar. It was a pretty normal pet name, she supposed, especially living in the area they did. Anyone could be a sugar or a honey or a doll depending on what had happened and what had been helped with. This one was special though. This one he meant, she knew it. Just like she knew he was suppose to walk through the door today. "Well, honey, depends on what you're lookin' for." She gave him her best smile, her most winning smile, the smile she thought all of America would fall in love with if she just got on the big screen. Of course, she didn't care about the rest of America if this man just fell in love with her. She moved away, standing just beside the board that had the list of what they could offer, gesturing to it. "I oughta warn you though that our cook just left and he didn't say when he might come back. You might have to put up with me cookin' for you, so we might be able to discuss the price some." She had been taught cooking, everything the diner had she could probably make...but it wasn't a cook's perfection, she was sure. She couldn't just tell this man that she would cook for him and that it would be fine because it might turn out awful. Then he would think she was a terrible cook and who wanted a wife who couldn't cook? |
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| Clayton James Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:13 PM Post #4 |
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What were the odds that there would be no one at all in this diner except the most beautiful woman he had ever seen? That there would be no diners, no other waitresses? Was this some sort of sign? He'd busted out of jail. He was worn and tired and angry with the world for doing him wrong... yet he'd walked in here and been presented with what was practically a gift. Maybe God hadn't abandoned him yet. Maybe this was what he was waiting for. Maybe He'd seen what had happened to him and had decided he deserved something for the shit that James had been forced to go through that wasn't even his fault. Maybe. He didn't know, but he was grateful. God, was he grateful. When she giggled, when she twirled her hair around her finger before she reached out to swat playfully at his arm. He shifted just a tiny bit, only pulling back from the hit. "That ain't fair," he complained. "That is not fair at all, sugar. You think I'm sweet talkin' you? I am tellin' you the truth. I ain't never seen someone half as beautiful as you. That's all." And he wanted her. He wasn't going to deny that, but God just looking at her was almost enough for him. At least so long as she kept smiling and laughing at him. He could live with that. He could happily live with that. God, that smile. It would be the end of him. He would do anything if she would smile like that at him always. Anything. He felt like he might even willingly walk back into custody and offer himself up for a lifetime sentence if it meant he just got to see her smiling at him. He tried to discreetly shake his head, tried to dismiss those thoughts. He wasn't ever doing that. No. No, not even for the most beautiful woman in the world. "Well, sugar, a man has an awful lot of things he's lookin' for," he told her, quirking one eyebrow up slightly. He was hungry. He did want food - real food. He was starving, if he were honest with himself. But he had other hungers, too. It'd been awhile since he'd been with a woman and he wanted this one. God, he wanted her. He felt like he would forgo food just for that. He wondered if she was like some of the girls that got desperate enough to do this for a living - or at least a side track. He hoped not. Selfishly he wanted to know he wouldn't share her with anyone else ever. Selfishly he wanted to be able to say she was his and his alone. He watched almost wistfully as she moved away to gesture to the board full of the menu, the price and daily specials. He dug into his pockets and pulled out the tiny bit of change he had. Most of it wouldn't cover much he was sure. That was fine. Even just a damn coffee so he could sit here longer and watch her. He slapped a couple dimes on the counter before he crossed his arms again and rested his weight back on them. "Just get me a cup of coffee and a slice of pie, sugar. That'll keep me goin' for a little bit." He should be eating a real meal because he didn't know when he'd get another one. Yet he'd always had a fondness for desserts and he knew a real meal was going to cost him more than that. "Wouldn't mind ya cooking for me, of course. But I'd rather have ya right here talkin' to me, too." Cup of coffee and a slice of pie she could just pour and cut and be back here in a second. Cooking meant she had to go back to the kitchen and that wasn't what he wanted in the least. He wanted to keep watching her and talking to her, wanted to hear her voice and her laugh and see that smile. He watched her intently as she went about getting him the pie, pouring him some coffee. "So what's your name, sugar? Somethin' gorgeous, no doubt. Somethin' to fit that beautiful face of yours, right?" That part probably was flattery, but then again it was also true. She was gorgeous. She was bound to have a gorgeous name. When she set the coffee down in front of him he reached out and took it, blowing just a little over the cup, not even bothering to put any cream or sugar in. He liked his coffee black. Besides, this meant he didn't have to take his gaze away from her. "I'm Clayton James. James is what I go by." He wondered where he'd been all this time to have never met this girl. He wasn't too far from home after all. The prison had been a ways away, of course, but he was just outside of Tulia now. How could he have never run into this gorgeous woman on his forays out into other cities? He was gonna have to come back here, wasn't he? He was gonna have to come back here and marry this girl. And then... what? He was a fugitive now. What did he have to offer her but more work in a dying restaurant and his trying to make ends meet his own way. |
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| Rosemary Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:13 PM Post #5 |
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She was selfishly glad that the cook had left. She was selfishly glad all the other waitresses had decided they didn't want this lone shift all by themselves. She was selfishly glad no one had any money to come wandering in here and interrupting them. Even as she said it, she felt bad. At least for the last one. Everything else was pretty much none of her concern, but that last one...that one was just spitefully selfish and she couldn't really feel as bad as she should. She sent a quick apology up to God, she was sorry, she was but this man...this man must have been meant for her. Especially when he said it wasn't fair, asking if she thought he was sweet talking her. "'Course you are," she teased lightly, "A handsome man like you must know what all the ladies wanna hear." And what she wanted to hear was exactly what he was saying. A handsome man who knew all the right words. "Oh go on!" she laughed lightly as he said he hadn't seen anyone one half as beautiful. She lifted a hand to hair, trying to smooth the strands that had gotten loose back into place. It was a nice thing to hear, of course. And coming from him was utter perfection. She could get use to hearing it. She wanted to get use to hearing it. More than that, she wanted to say the same back to him every day. But Lord, he may be the death of her. A very sweet and alluring death at that, one she wouldn't mind giving herself over to. Watching the way he quirked an eyebrow and those words..."Well, this place only can satisfy a few things, so we can narrow it down." Her parents like to think she was an innocent little flower and for them, she would be. She would pretend to not understand what men meant when they said the things they did or just how bad the outside world could get. She was pretty sure they knew by now that she was old enough to know better, but they were all a bunch of actors, they were. But she wasn't so innocent that she could pretend she didn't want to hear an invitation in those words. She should be ashamed of herself, just absolutely ashamed and beg for forgiveness...but what was the sin if she knew this was her man? God had a plan for everyone, right? Everyone had their partner planned out for them. It was only a sin to think those things of someone who wasn't yours, right? This man was hers, she knew it. Everything that she did with him would be acceptable in the eyes of God Himself and He would be proud that one of His pairings was so perfect. There was a part of her that thought she should be disappointed when he only put down two dimes on the counter. In her daydreams, the man who had come for her had been rich enough to fuel everything she ever wanted. Instead of being disappointed, though, she felt a small thrill go through her as he put it down so confidentially as if it were a ten dollar bill and told her to get him a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. "Oh, so I do get to cook for you after all, huh?" She smiled more as she went over to the small display where the pie was resting, took the glass covering off. "Our cook – he can't bake to save his life. Me on the other hand...well, momma said the first thing I needed to learn was to bake. It was only proper." She had said specifically Rosemary needed to learn to sweeten up her beaus and what better way than a pie or something like it? It was also because it was something nice to bring to church or to little meet and greets. She brought the slice over to him, setting it down before she turned his coffee cup over and grabbed the pot of coffee that had been going to waste. "It also means that I can say it's on the house." She pushed the dimes back closer to him as she topped off his cup. She smiled again as he asked her name, saying it must fit her beautiful face. "I'm Rosemary," she said it demurely. "Rosemary Annalise Lee." It was the name of a movie star, she always thought. She watched him take the coffee up, start blowing on it...but more than that, he didn't look away from her face for one second. "Clayton James," she repeated thoughtfully. "Well, you kinda look like a Clayton..." She paused, moving a way again so she could wet one of the napkins nearby. Without even thinking, she moved back to Mister Clayton James and gently wiped at his cheek, wiped away the dirt that had been collected there. She did it to the other cheek, just as a gentle. "Oh, there we are. Now you look like a right proper James after all. I knew someone utterly gorgeous was hidin' under some of that handsome." He looked like he cleaned up nice. He looked like the type of man if he shaved off the stubble and put on a proper suit the ladies would come begging him for attention. Not that he needed to clean up much at all. He was utterly, heartrendingly handsome as it was. It was a wonder she was able to keep any of her wits about her with those brilliant eyes trained on her. |
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| Clayton James Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:13 PM Post #6 |
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He made a small noise at the girl's teasing that he was sweet talking, that he knew what all the ladies wanted to hear. "What ladies, sugar? Only lady I ever seen is you. Everyone else I ever seen is just a girl." It was true, he realized. He'd only been with girls, young women, who weren't mature ladies. That was what she was, though. He could tell just by looking at her. He smiled lightly as the girl laughed, as she primped at her hair and seemed to be all too pleased at the words that he had told her. "It's the truth, sugar," he told her. He leaned back in his chair a little as if he was leaning back to get a better view of her fully. He was, in a way. He wanted to see her full figure and he wanted to see her up close. He wanted to see her in any way that he could possibly see her. It was something he'd never experienced before, but he was glad he had with her. It had to be her. Only her. "Ain't never seen someone as pretty as you. Ain't never seen someone half, a quarter, as pretty as you are. You are just... you are just perfect, sugar." James shifted his arms and then brought one up to rest his cheek in his hand, tilting his head to the side a tiny bit as he gave her a slow, cocky smile. "Well, sugar, there's a few things on that list but I think this place can satisfy most of 'em." He paused for a moment, rolling his tongue around his mouth some, catching it on his teeth and just eying her up and down for a moment in an almost blatantly obvious way. "Leastwise I'm pretty sure you can help me with most of 'em. Though I guess maybe I outta start with one hunger first." He wasn't quite sure which he wanted more. And he might be barking up the wrong tree. He could be reading her wrong and she might get incredibly offended at his insinuations. He hoped not, because he thought he might very well be able to satisfy a lot of things with her. Not just the physical, either, although should he really be thinking that? They'd only just met, after all. He blinked slightly as she told him that she got to cook for him after all. He wasn't quite sure what she meant - the pie was right there and obviously didn't need to be baked at all. But then she cut a slice off of it and continued talking, saying that she was the one that had baked the pie. He brightened up at that. He was always pleased at having dessert presented to him, but it seemed ten times more appetizing now that he knew that she had been the one to bake it. "You baked that?" he asked as she set it down in front of him and went to fetch his coffee cup. He picked up the fork that was at his right and brought it to the pie, cutting himself a slice and then bringing the bite up to his mouth. And for a second he forgot everything; the fact that he was a fugitive, the fact that she was the most beautiful woman in the world and he wanted her, the fact of everything. Because that pie just tasted so damn good. "I'm gonna steal you away, sugar, and make you bake for me all day. I could eat that whole damn pie." He brought another bite up to his mouth as he opened his eyes just in time to catch sight of her sliding the dimes back towards him and poured him his coffee. "Aw, sugar, no, I can't not pay you for this. This is a masterpiece of bakin'. I gotta give you somethin'." He felt rather strongly about it, never mind that he actually needed to accept that charity if he wanted to eat later on down the line. He set his fork down, reaching out to take her hand as she introduced herself. "Well, that is a fancy name and one of the most beautiful ones I ever did hear. You sound like a movie star, darlin'." She looked like one, too. She was so far out of his league he shouldn't even bother trying. He reluctantly released her hand after a moment, wrapping it around his coffee mug so he wouldn't be tempted again. "Yes, ma'am. Clayton James Taylor." Maybe he should be giving her a fake name, considering he was on the run right now. But he didn't want to. He wanted her to know who he was. He wanted her to know his name, not some fake name that she would remember him by. If he left - which he found he didn't want to - he wanted her to always remember that Clayton James Taylor was the man that had stolen her heart. He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose slightly as she said he looked like a Clayton. He hated that name, honestly. He'd never liked being called by it, although he found it didn't seem to matter all that much when the name fell from her lips. Still, he would prefer to be called James. He blinked somewhat as she moved away and then came back with a damp napkin, wiping at the dirt and grim and sweat on his face gently, in such an intimate way he didn't know where he should be looking right at this moment. He moved a hand up to rub at the back of his head, ruffling up his hair somewhat as she said she'd wiped away the handsome to find a gorgeous man. And when he looked at her again, he could only feel his features softening somewhat and when he spoke his voice was soft, full of more love and longing than he knew it could ever contain, "Oh, Rosie." He reached across the counter to rest his hand against her cheek and then in her hair, pulling her forward enough so that he could stand up and lean across the counter and press his lips firmly against her own. It was wrong of him, but it felt so right. So good. So perfect to be standing here, kissing her like it was the end of the world and she was his only rope left, like he was a man in the desert and she was the only bit of water left. |
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| Rosemary Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:14 PM Post #7 |
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This man was going to be so dangerous. This was the kind of man her daddy thought hid around every corner trying to lure innocent young girls astray. But Rosemary was a smart one, she had known that for years. She was smart enough to see past the tricks...and this man was not like all the others. "Well ain't that somethin'," she murmured, "'Cause I think you may have been the first gentleman to ever walk through those doors, honey." She didn't think she couldn't the people who were as old as her parents in that; the men that were her father's age...they didn't count. They had been raised differently from the rest of the world, so it wasn't such a special thing that they knew how to be polite. All the other men though? The men that had come through and stared at her and thought their poor attempts at flirting were somehow worth her doing anything for them. She watched him lean back in his chair, as he just seemed to stare right into her very being. No, he wasn't at all like any other man in this town and she was pretty sure he wasn't like anyone else in this entire country. Maybe even the world. No, her man was unique, special, perfect. "Then we must be a match, baby, 'cause from where I'm standin', you're quite the handsome picture yourself." He was perfect too and distantly, she heard a voice like her momma's wondering what was wrong with him. No man was perfect; that was part of being in love, you had to accept everything and know they weren't perfect. But him? He was different. That smile made her a little weak in the knees. It was so confident, so sure. None of the other men in this town could pull that smile off without looking like arrogant bastards. "Sounds like you're a man of simple needs. Nothin' too complicated for you, I suppose." That was good, she imagined. No good from complicated partners. Though it was always confusing as to what counted as "complicated". According to her daddy, essentially who Rosemary was was too complicated to be seen as a good partner. He always said that no, no, she was perfect, but it was those girls with big ideas and who spent all their time in front of their mirrors and never focusing on the here and now. A man who was complicated? She wasn't sure what that entailed but it didn't seem like he was going to be it. If he were, she imagined he would have come in here making all sorts of demands and acting like he owned the place and owned her without even bothering to chat her up about it first. "Don't you worry, baby, you came to the right place. I'll take care of you." In all ways. Her daddy would be scandalized and her momma would probably faint from shock, but...this was her man. She knew it. She knew it without him even asking or saying the words. She knew they were meant to be and if that were the case, what was the problem with a little fun? There was only each other in their lives now. She was ridiculously pleased that she was able to actually get to cook for him in some fashion. It was a small, simple thing but it was something. Almost as if it were some kind of test. A test to show how capable she was. Yes she was able to cook. All future wives should know how to cook. See, she could provide for him after he worked a long hard day. "I sure did," she responded to his question, so happy that he seemed excited. No one before had ever seemed to really care who baked the pie when they ordered it. The owner of the diner was grateful, sure, but none of the people that ever got a slice ever went on about how amazing it was. No one ever seemed excited about getting it. It was just something to fill the stomach so it wasn't so empty. She laughed as he said he was going to steal her away and make her bake for him. "Oh stop," she waved her hand, "Besides there wouldn't be any reason to make me do anything I ain't happy to do." She would do whatever he wanted, just to see his smile, just to see him look so happy. "It's fine, baby, don't you worry about payin' me. Odds were good that pie was just gonna go to waste anyway. Not many people are comin' around these days." Not many could afford to come to a diner, not many people were looking at pie over real food. Granted, she doubted in these days that the owner of the place would throw out any food, but there was only a certain time before that pie just wouldn't be able to be sold anymore. She beamed as he took her hand, which only got brighter as he said her name was fancy and beautiful and more than that: he said she sounded like a movie star. "You really mean that?" her voice was breathless. "'Cause I mean...that's what I'm aimin' to do. Not sound like a movie star but actually be one." She didn't mean to gush. Her daddy said that men didn't like girls that went on about themselves too much, but she couldn't help it. Being in movies was her dream, any acknowledgment of that could set her off, and this handsome, stunning man said she sounded like a movie star. By all the angels in heaven, this man – this Clayton James Taylor – was the most handsome thing she had ever seen. And how perfect would Rosemary Annalise Taylor sound? That sounded even better than Lee, Taylor would be the kind of name people remembered from films. It was enough to make her smile a little more dreamy as she gently got the dirt away from his cheeks. They'd be an amazing pair in California, wouldn't they? Every where else may have been struggling, but if the two of them got out there together...there wasn't anything that could stand in their way. They'd be the talk of the town – the country, she could just see it now. She watched him as he lifted a hand to ruffle at the hair on the back of his head and then – her breath stopped when he looked at her. She had liked the looks he had been giving her before but this? This was soft, this was...this was love. His voice was filled with that same love in his eyes so when he reached over the counter to touch her cheek, she leaned into it until that hand moved to her hair. Then she didn't have any more time to breath because he was leaning in, pressing his lips to hers and Rosemary told herself it wasn't a sin to go kissing people. She moved her hands up, moved to place them against his cheeks as if he might try to pull away and she just couldn't bear the idea of that. "James," she whispered against his lips. Whispered because that felt right. Everything about this felt right. |
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| Clayton James Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:14 PM Post #8 |
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"Well, that's a right shame, ain't it? People these days." James shook his head slightly. He might be a fugitive, he might be a bit rough around the edges, but he always treated ladies with respect. And he could never imagine not treating this woman with the utmost respect. Though it was a pretty generic nickname he couldn't help but to feel warmed by it nonetheless. She had called him honey. She hadn't called him sir or any generic name that you might call a customer. He felt even more warmed when she said that they were a match, when she called him baby. She was perfect, wasn't she? The perfect woman in this whole damn world. He'd never met one like her and he doubted that he ever would. "Well, I reckon we must be. Two good lookin' people meetin' like this in the middle of nowhere gotta be quite the match, right?" He had to believe this was some kind of fate. He'd busted out of prison, but what did he have going for him? What was there to look forward to? He figured a good, hot meal would be his one reward for all he'd had to deal with and that would be that. Then he walks into this diner and no one, not even the damn cook, is there except for this one beautiful, perfect girl. That was fate. You couldn't escape that and he sure as hell didn't want to try. He kept smiling at her and he gave a small laugh. "No, sugar, ain't nothin' much I want in this world that's complicated." And it was true. A hot meal, a place to sleep, a good car and a gorgeous little woman at his side - the one right in front of him, really. And money, of course. But he was certainly not alone in most of those wants. That was what most men - and women - wanted. Food, shelter, money and someone to share it with. He just wanted... more. He wanted a girl at his side and a big house. He wanted a pretty number dressed in the best clothes sitting next to him in the best car while he wore the best suits, wanted to pull out a handful of bills and throw them around without a care in the world. He wanted to be rich. He wanted to be something. He had a thought that she wouldn't complain about it much. She would probably love sitting in a fancy car with a fancy dress and he wanted that for her so badly right now it startled him. His thoughts and dreams about the future had always been for himself first, his family second. No one else had ever intruded into them until now. His smile widened a little, losing some of its cockiness in favor of real cheer and even a slight hint of shyness that he actually did feel. She made him feel things he'd never felt before. "That so, sugar? I gotta say, I wouldn't mind seein' how you'd take care of me. And I'd like to show you just how I'd take care of you." Because oh, would he ever. Anything she wanted. All day, all week, all of their lives. "Well, this is the best damn pie I have ever eaten in my life." He'd had plenty from his mama and here and there, although he hadn't had any in over a year. That didn't matter. This was the best pie he'd ever eaten and he was so glad she was the one that had made it. He shifted a little on the seat, resting most of his weight on his left arm as he just smiled at her. "That so? Reckon I better steal you outta here and down to the courthouse today and marry you up 'fore someone else realizes what they're missin' out on." He felt strongly that he should do that. Hell, he knew she was perfect for him. There was no doubt in his mind. And the very real fear that someone would stroll in and steal her away from him wormed its way through him. He couldn't let that happen. This was fate. This was meant to be. He had to grasp her and hold to her lest he allow her to slip through his fingers. He took another bite of the pie to squash down some of the roiling feelings. She wasn't going to appreciate his suddenly getting sullen about something that hadn't happened. She might not appreciate his getting jealous over the same thing, either. He just couldn't bear the thought of another man coming in here, getting that same smile, holding her. That was meant for him, for the two of them. No one else. "Well, I'll find a way to pay you back, sugar. Good work like this deserves its rewards, don't it?" That was what the Bible always said. You did your hard work and the laborer earned their rewards. She had done the hard work, so she deserved a reward for it. When he held her hand and she beamed at him he thought his heart might stop. God, she was so beautiful. And even more so when she was excited about something, passionate about it. She went on to say she was going to be a movie star and he wanted that. Oh, he wanted that. He could just imagine her up there on the screen, acting her heart out. Without thinking he brought her hand across the counter and placed a kiss against her knuckles. "Ain't no one will overlook you, sugar. Ain't no one will ever forget you. You are gonna be famous, baby. I can see it right now." God, he wanted her. But he wanted more than that. He wanted her. He wanted to hold her in his arms in a bed for just the two of them, listening to rain pinging off of the roof. He wanted to carry her over the threshold of their home. He wanted to take a long drive on a Sunday and park somewhere for an impromptu picnic. He wanted to take her all the way out to California and shove her through the gates of movie studios and yell for them to look at her, to take her and make her dream real because the rest of the world needed to see her. He wanted to beam with pride at the sight of her winning award after award. He wanted to feel the incredible joy of holding the first baby that came from the both of their bodies and knowing this was his son or daughter, knowing this was their family. He loved her. He hadn't known her before this day, but he loved her. When he kissed her, the world felt right. The world felt like it was an okay place, all things considered. It felt even more right when her hands moved up to his cheeks and held him there into the kiss. He drew it out a good, long while before he pulled back just a tiny bit. It was enough to feel her whisper his name against his lips. He reached his other hand up to take hers away from his cheek just long enough to turn his head and pepper kisses over the still smooth skin of her hand. "Rosie. Rosie. I can't believe... I ain't... I'm so glad. I coulda walked past this place. I was meant to find you." |
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| Rosemary Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:14 PM Post #9 |
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Ain't no one got time to be polite, sugar, you know that." One would have thought they had all the time in the world these days, but while people weren't busy working, they were fretting over how much they didn't have. It was easy to forget niceties when you were sitting at rock bottom...but something was breaking away at the rocks and there was a bigger ways to fall, it felt like. It was too hard to hand out kindness when no one had been showing you any, or you didn't have time to respond to what little you got. Still, despite that understanding, she was glad the man before her had been polite. Oh, he was handsome enough and she would have been interested regardless...but the fact that he was polite on top of everything else. It was a winning combination if anyone asked her. "You just have all the right words, don't you?" she laughed slightly, "How much trouble has that silver tongue gotten you into?" There was a voice telling her that she had better watch herself. Boys with all the right words knew how to catch girls when they least expected it. A girl could be smart and clever, but give her a boy who knew just what to say...that was how trouble started. But surely he meant them for her. Surely he wouldn't say things he didn't mean with her. No matter how much that little voice told her to be careful, she found herself pushing on ahead. "And you ain't been snatched up yet? A girl would love to have an uncomplicated man." Or at least that was what it had seemed like. These days, all the girls seemed interested in was a man who had a job. Preferably a good job that kept them floating for months, if not years. They wanted a man with simple needs because that meant that they could keep a hold of their man longer, simple needs were easy to meet. For Rosemary, she wanted to be in love. She didn't care if a man was impossible or overly simple. She wanted to love him. All the men that her mama and daddy tried to introduce her to were just...they weren't for her. There was no spark, there was no need. Maybe she wasn't suppose to be thinking about such things, but if she were planning to live the rest of her life with them, she wanted to feel something for them. Would she like a rich husband? Yes. Would she like a husband who could give her whatever she wanted? Absolutely. But if she had the choice of a man who was rich and could throw it around like no tomorrow and a man who didn't have a job but made her heart sing, she would pick the man that had nothing. And she had a man she was in love with in front of her right now, she knew it. Especially when he smiled the way he did. "Careful what you say, sugar, someone is likely to take you seriously." She wanted to, she wanted to just fall into his arms and let him carry her away to their new life together. "Sounds like someone is just fishin' to get more of it." She was still so horribly and wonderfully pleased that he had said it. It made her heart flip in a way as if he were talking just about her and not about the pie itself. It felt good to hear the words because sometimes people didn't think to say anything about how something tasted. Food was food and these days if you were eating at all, you were lucky. You didn't linger on how it tasted. "Don't say things you don't mean, sugar." Because...oh god, she would go with him. She would go and let herself be married away to him because they were meant to be. She wanted to be married to him so no one could take him away from her; no other woman could sneak in, the law wouldn't be able to break the bond they had. Only death would be able to part them and she knew that God wouldn't even keep them apart for long. She offered him a small smile as he said he'd find a way to pay her back. "You're sittin' here and bein' sweet to me, what more of a reward can a girl ask for?" A handsome man to pay her compliments, to say such sweet things...a man who looked at her and she could only see love and affection there. She didn't need much more of a reward than that. Short of running off to that courthouse he was thinking of. She wouldn't even need a ring on her finger, just knowing that they were together would be enough. She squeezed his hand a little, holding onto it as if he might slip away. But he didn't. Instead he pulled her hand closer, kissed the knuckles of it. "Oh, baby!" she bounced a little in place, "You knew just what to say! If I'm gonna go be a star, you hafta be at my side! I just can't do it without you!" That she knew. She would die without him. She would never be able to make it all the way out there and into the center stage unless he was there with her. She felt lost in the kiss, pressing into it and feeling James' heat. In that kiss, in that warmth that was better than any Texas heat, she felt like nothing would ever go wrong. He would take care of everything, he would take care of her. She would take care of him, but she would be blessed to be at his side. She didn't want to spend her life with anyone but him. She could see it all now. The two of them, getting married so fast, and then they would would move all the way out to California, leave this dead town behind. She would be a star and James would find his own job; they would become richer, more successful than anyone else in that country, the world. And when they got comfortable, when they had had their fill of each other – never, never would be able to have her fill – they might start a family. Rosemary had always thought having a daughter would be nice, but she wouldn't mind a son that took after James. Maybe both. James took her hand, turned his head so he could press light, quick kiss there. She let her free hand move up into James' hair, carding through the strands. "You were meant to come here, baby, and I was meant to be waitin' for you. I am so grateful you listened to whatever voice was tellin' you to come in here. If you hadn't, we might not of..." she didn't even want to think about not meeting James, seeing James. |
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| Clayton James Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:15 PM Post #10 |
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"I don't know, my mama always said if people ain't makin' room for politeness then the world ain't gonna get no better." Of course, his mama had said a lot of things, too. He loved her. He loved his whole family. But maybe she was a bit idealistic about that. It wasn't so much that there was no time for people to be polite as there was no room for it. The polite, quiet, good people, what did they get? Hard work and nothing more than a couple nickles and dimes to feed a whole family. It seemed like the only people who got anywhere were the ones who forgot a little of themselves. The ones who were ruder. The ones who weren't afraid to step out of line, who weren't afraid to push past the boundaries and barriers that they would never have crossed before in their lives. Still, he supposed he could see his mother's point, too. The world didn't get any better if people didn't try to change it. He gave a laugh of his own. "Ain't nothin' silver about it. I think I get into plenty of trouble I ain't never been able to talk my way out of." His features darkened just a tiny bit at his own words. He certainly hadn't been able to talk his way out of jail, had he? No one had believed a word he said, no matter how truthful it was, no matter how glib his tongue might be. He caught himself practically scowling - not at her, but just off at the wall itself - before he finally gave himself a brisk shake. "But if I can get you into some trouble with me with it, well, maybe I'll start to call it silver after all." He let his eyebrows quirk up at her just slightly with a grin. He crossed his arms in front of him as he looked at her again. "But I ain't lookin' for no girl, sugar. I'm lookin' for a woman." In truth, he hadn't been looking at all. He'd had a few girlfriends here and there but he'd been mostly interested in just... surviving. He'd never been looking for anything more permanent than the usual small relationships that people his age always had. It had never been anything serious. It had never... felt anything like this. Even with the girls he'd been with for longer than just a few weeks it had never felt like this. He had never felt so in love with any of them, never felt like he would do just about anything to be with them. He'd never once thought about marrying any girl before and now it was practically all that he could think of. It seemed like a wonderful, promising prospect when he looked at Rosemary and thought of having her by his side for the rest of his life. Sure, he was a jailbreaker with no prospects and she was a waitress in an empty diner in a dying town but... that didn't matter. What mattered was her. "Well, is that someone you? If it is, I don't think I gotta be careful. Don't think I'd mind you takin' me serious." "I am not fishin', sugar! This is the best damn pie I ever did eat! I promise. Cross my heart and everythin'." He leaned back in his seat to cross a finger over his heart for a moment before he gave her a boyish grin. "Wouldn't say no to more, of course. I could probably eat the whole thing myself." If given the chance, he would. He enjoyed desserts but what he was really enjoying here was the fact that she had cooked it. Not only was it delicious but she had made it. It was almost like she had made it for him - which was silly, of course she hadn't. It felt like that, though. He set the fork down when she spoke again, however. "Who said I don't mean it? I meant every word of it, sugar. Every word." Because he would. He would drag her to the nearest courthouse this very minute and marry her. He would make her Mrs. Taylor in a second if she agreed. "Oh, I reckon a girl can ask for a load of things that she might like for a reward, don't you think?" he offered her up another grin at that. There wasn't much subtlety left in their conversation, but he was fine with that. He squeezed his hand around Rosemary's when he felt her squeeze his own. He watched for a moment as Rosemary bounced in place and he gave her a smile. "I will be, sugar. I will make sure you get to be a star, come hell or high water. I will make sure they notice you, baby." They had to. Just look at her. She was made to be up on the screen, made to be seen by the whole world. It felt like nothing could ever go wrong when he was right here. He had some doubts about his life. He had broken out of jail. He was a criminal in the eyes of the law. Jobs were hard to keep, to hold, and even if you had one you could work until you dropped for no money at all. Yet none of that seemed to matter here and now. All that mattered was this utterly gorgeous woman in his arms, this utterly gorgeous woman who was kissing him back and who was everything he could have ever wanted. "I am too, baby. We were meant to meet, we were meant to be." He almost hadn't come in but his stomach had driven him through the doors. He had never been so thankful for being hungry before. "And now we ain't never gonna be apart again, Rosie. I promise that. It'll be you an' me together for the rest of our lives." He moved both of his hands to cup her cheeks and kiss her again, long and slow. "I mean it, Rosie. I'm gonna marry you up, make you my wife and we'll be together." The rest of it all didn't matter. He could find a job, even if he had to dig ditches or start a farm or whatever. He would live his life with her until the day that he died. |
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| Rosemary Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:15 PM Post #11 |
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"Well you can rest assured you're one of the good ones, honey." Rosemary had understood, though. It was hard being nice a polite when you were feeling bitter and upset. She didn't want to tell this man that the world probably wasn't going to get better. The way her daddy talked, it was only going to get worse. No jobs, all these terrible weather conditions that ruined crops, all these people coming out of the woodwork to start causing problems...Rosemary honestly tried to ignore her daddy like her mama told her to do. She didn't want to admit it upset her, but it did. If the world wasn't going to get better, what would they do? Right now they were getting by, they were lucky, but everyone had been lucky before, right up until they weren't anymore. If things didn't get better, what would anyone do? She couldn't imagine living in a place like this where they struggled to make ends meet, that people could just wander away from their jobs because it wasn't like anyone was coming in anyway. "Well, you got some sweet words, if it ain't silver. Just as well, I would imagine silver would be awful cold. Who'd wanna kiss a man with a cold mouth?" she teased, if only to clear away the slightly stormy look in his face. She didn't like it. Maybe to someone else it might look frightening, intimidating, but to her, it just looked wrong. A face that handsome shouldn't have been scowling. "Oh you better stop," she laughed in a way she knew said she thought he shouldn't stop. She liked the way he talked; it felt like it had been a long time since anyone had ever treated her like this, like she was special and unique. And that only increased when he said he wasn't looking for a girl, but a woman. Again, that warmth of thinking she was special in this man's eyes spread through her. "I imagine that's much harder to find?" she raised an eyebrow at him. Then again, she had had trouble finding a decent man. She had always been on the look out; she didn't mind working but...but there was something to be said about a man who could take care of you, who wanted to take care of you and cherish you. She had wanted a man who wasn't interested in settling for 'good enough', who would take any job that was thrown at his feet. She had wanted a man who wouldn't woo her and then cast her aside because they were attached and that somehow meant he could do whatever he wanted. She had wanted a man who looked at her when she said she dreamed of being an actress and thought she could do it. All the men in her life had laughed or just shaking their heads as if she was being silly. The ones who thought that had more of a say in what she did said that was all fine and good but until she managed to be a starlet, then she had best get to making dinner because that was her job now. Or would all those 'men' count as boys? The way her man in front of her was saying it between women and girls, that's what it sounded like. "So," she moved to rest her elbows on the counter, pillowing her chin in her hands, "if I were to say that someone is me and I'm takin' you awful seriously, what would you do?" She told herself to prepare for him to back off, to laugh like it was all a joke and she had been playing along, but she knew her heart was hoping he would follow through. She couldn't stop her laugh as he said he wasn't fishing, that he crossed his heart over it and everything. "Mmhmm," she used the same tone her mama used when daddy was buttering her up, the tone that she knew exactly what he was doing but she liked it anyway. "What's a girl to do with a promise like that? Just gonna have to believe it, I suppose." It was very flattering at least. She had never considered herself a good cook. She was...passable, that was fair to say. Neither good nor bad, but hearing him go on about it made her heart go high. "People don't just marry each other over pie, baby," she pointed out. At the same time, she realized it wasn't just pie. There was something there from the moment James had walked in that door. Why else would he come in right at that moment when the cook had left and no customers were there? Why else would she feel something stirring in her gut, her heart? She knew she and James were suppose to be together. "I hope you ain't all talk, sugar," she moved her free hand to press lightly against his nose. Because that sounded like an awful big promise, a promise of a reward she would enjoy immensely. It wouldn't do for him to be teasing her or meaning something else entirely. But with the way he squeezed her hand, the way he grinned at her, oh she knew he meant what she thought. "Oh James," she sighed his name out. "Oh James, baby, you are just absolutely perfect." And in that moment, she knew that she couldn't not be his wife. If she wasn't his wife, then...well, then there really was no hope of the world getting better and she might as well just lay down and die. Her heart swelled and she didn't resist the urge to hop up onto that counter and twist herself around so she could press herself flush against James, her man. God, putting her hands to his chest she could feel those muscles that were there. "You understand, baby," she breathed it out. Of course he did, she knew he did, but it was good to hear him say what she felt, what she knew. When he cupped her face after saying they were never going to be apart, she leaned into the kiss he gave her, fisting her hands in his shirt. It was just as good as the first. "For the rest of our lives," she repeated, letting the words be sealed between them by being so close. "I'm holdin' you to that, James. I wanna be your wife, for better or for worse, 'til death do us part. You're my man, baby, and I can't let you be away from me for a second. We ain't gonna make it through this world without each other." She was surprised they had both survived this long. They had been lost without each other, she knew that but now they were found and nothing was ever going to take him away from her. She would fight tooth and nail for him and protect him from anything and everything. |
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| Clayton James Taylor | Jan 4 2018, 09:15 PM Post #12 |
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"You think so, sugar? I sure hope so." He had never actively set out to be a bad person. After all, he had always been pretty good. Sure, he stole a chicken or two. Sure, he might have swiped a piece of candy. Everyone did that nowadays. Sometimes it was the only way a family could eat. Sometimes it was the only way you were getting yourself a new pair of socks or a hat. When you couldn't put food on the table and you couldn't have your socks darned anymore because the thread was too worn and frayed what was a man supposed to do? It was do something about it or suffer and he had spent so much time suffering. Even then, though, he hadn't done it often. Just when they were desperate. He had done his best to just work, to keep his head down and keep his family good and fed. The world was a terrible place and there wasn't any changing that, no matter how much it bothered him. So it only figured that because he had tried to be good, he had been punished for something he hadn't even done. There was no reason to be polite and good and kind when all it got you was arrested just because you were poor. He shook his head a little to dismiss the tiny bit of gloom and he gave her a smile. "Probably no one, darlin'. I imagine a lotta people would wanna kiss someone with a sweet mouth, though. From where I'm sittin' I reckon you got a pretty sweet mouth, too." It was a bit cheeky and daring, but he had never lacked for self-confidence in his life. Besides, her voice was sweet, her words were sweet, and even the shape of her lips was a sweet thing. It wasn't like he was lying. "You really want me to stop, sugar?" He gave her a grin at that, a grin that said he knew quite well that she didn't want him to stop flattering and teasing her in the least. James shifted his weight on his arms, leaning somewhat so he could bring one hand up to rest his cheek against it, giving her another boyish grin for a moment. "I reckon I just wasn't lookin' in the right places is all." None of the girls back home had interested him much. He'd dated a few, but they hadn't lasted. Some of it had been two personality types that didn't click but, mostly, he had just wanted something else and he hadn't known what he wanted. Not until he had met her, anyways. Everything seemed to just take a backseat when he looked at her. Even survival, which had been the biggest deterrent to his really looking for a woman in his life, felt like it could go take leave of things that he focused on in the face of her. It felt like he would do anything, give up anything, just for a chance with her. He watched as she rested her elbows on the counter, placing her chin in both her hands as her beautiful blue eyes seemed to practically bore into him. He didn't immediately answer her when she asked her question. Instead, he just shifted his cheek out of his hand and folded his arms against the counter again, leaning forward until their faces were even in height, their noses practically touching. "Well, sugar, I'd say that maybe we're gonna need us some privacy at some point this fine afternoon, aren't we?" God, her laugh was a beautiful, musical, wonderful thing. He practically reveled in it. "I am not fishin'," he repeated himself again, almost pouting in the way that he said it. He watched her for a moment, just listened to her words as he scraped his fork a tiny bit against the empty plate, just filling the moment with something for his hands to do as he thought. "It ain't just the pie, sugar, you know that." He probably didn't need to tell her that. Rosie was smart. He knew she was smart, probably smarter than he was. It was likely that she felt the same thing that he did. It was just... it was meant to be. He had come in here when no one else did, when no one else was around. He had been on the run and had taken a chance and here she was. No one here but the two of them, no interruptions, no one to draw their attention away. He had never felt anything for any person in the entire world like this. "You deserve all the rewards in the world, sugar. That's the truth." This time, he didn't mean it in the way that he had been hinting. He meant it fully. She deserved everything that he could ever give her. She deserved money, diamonds, fur coats, the prettiest shoes and dresses, a house that you could sigh happily over, a house full of their beautiful children. He would give it all to her somehow. He knew he would. He brought her hand up to kiss lightly against the back of it. "From where I'm sittin' it looks like you're the perfect one, Rosie darlin'." James straightened up and leaned back a tiny bit, but it was just to allow Rosie the room to maneuver as she hopped up onto the counter and half-crawled and half-slid over it to the other side. Then he moved back in as she pressed her own body up close against his own. His arms wrapped tightly around her as she placed her hands to his chest. "Course I understand, baby. I feel it, too." Why else should he have come to this town in the middle of nowhere? Why else should he have come to this restaurant where no custom was really coming through, popped in to find that it wasn't closed but that there were no other customers? Why should the cook have left for an extended absence and Rosie be the one still there waiting for someone to come through the door? It was fate. They were meant to be together as simple as that. Nothing and no one would ever convince him otherwise. He made a small, pleased little sound as Rosie kissed him back, as her hands fisted in his shirt. This was just perfect, in his opinion. He couldn't ever imagine wanting anyone or anything else. "For the rest of our lives," he repeated the words back to her again, kissing her yet again. "I can't live without you either, baby. I ain't foolin'. All you gotta do is turn me in the right direction and I'm gonna take you down to that courthouse today. Ain't no one ever gonna keep us apart ever again, baby." He pressed another kiss to her lips, then to her forehead gently. "I don't think I can live without you in my life no more, Rosie." It would feel too empty. It would feel like a part of him was missing. He drew her closer against his body for the moment before he hesitated. Could he really marry this girl? To be official, it had to be his name. To use his name... didn't that mean someone could find him? But he wanted to marry her even at risk to being dragged back to jail again. "Sugar.... sugar, there's somethin' you gotta know about me. I've been on the run, baby. I busted outta jail. They lied, they said I stole a car my brother gave me and they didn't give me no chance to defend myself and they didn't care what I said. They locked me up for no reason and I couldn't stand it no more so I busted out. And... and I made my way here. I swear I didn't though. They just wouldn't believe me." It was important that she know. Ashamed though he might be to admit it all, he couldn't let her find out just because a couple of cops showed up one day and tried to drag him back to jail. |
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8:53 AM Jul 11