Five
Trace
It took me a minute to realize whose house I was pulling up to. The address was an easy one to find with Maple not being a huge town and all, but when I pulled up to Mr. Hopkin’s house, the owner of Russell’s hardware store, shit started to click. What didn’t click was that Dove was his daughter until I really looked at him and his wife, Harmony.
“You must think I’m the biggest idiot in all of Texas,” I tell Dove now that we’re sitting at a table at the steakhouse. She’s sipping on some kind of fruity drink with coconut rum and fruit juice, and I’m peeling the label off my beer bottle.
“To be fair, I’m a few years younger than you, and the few times we've actually talked, you were being nice to get a few of the mean girls away from me.” She shrugs her shoulders like it’s not important.
“Still doesn’t make up for me not realizing who you are.” It’s burning a hole in my gut just the same.
“Getting rid of the braces, the lack of glasses, and growing up helped, not that it didn’t suck to be a late bloomer.” I watch as she takes another sip of her drink while we wait for our order.
“Was it really that bad in high school?” I only happened upon her a few times, one of those when the more popular girls had her crowded in a circle. It didn’t take them long to scurry along when they saw me walking towards Dove, not that I knew her name then, I was just doing the right thing. Another time was when she kneeled on the ground, papers scattered every which way. Now that I’m putting the pieces of the puzzle together, I’m guessing she was bullied and nothing was ever done about it.
“Let’s just say the second I didn’t have to ever go back to that school, I was more than relieved. Afterwards, it was college, and my parents came to visit me mostly as a way for vacationing, so it’s not like you’ve seen me since I was fifteen.” She moves back from the table as the waitress sets down our meals.
“I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you need anything else.” Dove’s eyes are as big as saucers as she’s taking in the ribeye steak, mashed potatoes, and asparagus that are crowding her plate.
“Thank you,” I respond to the waitress and then look at my own food. My own steak is medium rare, accompanied by a baked potato with everything on it—butter, sour cream, bacon crumbles, and chives—along with a Caesar salad.
“Trace?” she asks as I’m cutting into my steak, not really knowing how to take that she’s been away from home for well over six years because of a bunch of asshole kids.
“You okay?” I look up at her. Dove has this wistful look on her face.
“Never better. Let it go, though, okay? The way you were sawing at your steak, it was like you we’re avenging my teenage years, and those are better left where they belong—in the past.” My eyes move from hers to my steak, and sure enough, I didn’t even realize what I was doing.
“Alright, doesn’t mean I have to like it though.” Her hand covers mine. This is the first time she’s touched me on her own, and I gotta say, that feeling of her smooth hand against mine, yep, I’m thinking she’s feeling the same way I am.
“You don’t have to, but I promise I’m stronger than ever and I won’t allow what they did to me dictate my future.” She takes her hand away, and we both dive back into our food, taking bites and talking in between. How she doesn’t know what she’ll do once her mom is back on her feet, if they’ll even need her anymore, and how she has a useless college degree.
“Have you thought of maybe changing directions? I know you love literature. Maybe you can write instead?” I offer as an idea.
“To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it. I need to though. Maybe I’ll do some soul searching this week. Apparently, Mom is putting her foot down and coming to the hardware store to look at the books and at least run the cash register, so I’ll have some time off.” A look of contemplation crosses her face.
“I have an idea. Come out to the ranch when you’re off. No better way to think things through than on the back of a horse.” Her smile lights up the dimly lit restaurant.
“You’d let me do that?” Her voice is full of glee.
“Sugar, I want you as much as I can have you. Didn’t you realize that with the way I made sure my ass was at the store even when I didn’t need anything?” She’s got to know the other two times I was in there this week and only purchased a couple of small items, that I was there for her.