Complicated

by Kristen Ashley

He’d taken his time. And he took them both where he’d been with only one woman in his life. His wife. And it had been better than it had ever been with Hope. Far better. Beyond anything he knew could happen. He knew why too. Because Greta with the great voice, great hair, beautiful face and ample curves knew what she liked too. But what she liked wasn’t about getting what she wanted. It was about giving. And Hix had never had that.

“That’s it,” Joyce stated. “She strolls in here and does any of that, it’s gonna be me goin’ to your momma’s house and dragging her out to take her to one of Pastor Keller’s revivals. He’ll dip her in the river and hold her down until she sees Jesus. And if she doesn’t, he’ll hold her down until she sees Jesus.”

“Hixon Drake never struck me as stupid. In fact, the opposite. And everybody knows, good drops itself in your lap you don’t shove it off and say, ‘Now’s not the right time. I’m dealin’ with the fact my addled wife didn’t see the good thing resting his head on the pillow beside hers.’ No. You snatch up that good and hold it close and process all that dealin’ while life reminds you, you survive the bad, good always comes slidin’ back in right after it.”

I just know he walked in somehow knowing the time you were on today and arriving at that time so he was the first person you saw, besides me. And he did all that with one thing on his mind.” She leaned into me again. “You. That doesn’t say one-night stand. That says protect your woman.”

“Night before last you told me you liked me, and I didn’t share you got the same. But I’ll share more. It’s about pancakes. It’s about the way you sing. It’s about how amazingly beautiful you are, so beautiful, sometimes, if I don’t brace myself, it blinds me. It’s about you knowin’ I really need another bourbon and gettin’ me one when I’m tryin’ to do the right thing. It’s about you knowin’ better what the right thing needs to be. It’s about how hot it is when you fuck yourself on my cock. And it’s about how gorgeous you look when you come. It’s about stud muffins and gum drops. It’s about a lot of things, Greta.”

“Greta, you’re the finest woman I’ve ever met. We work together. We fit together. I know you feel it the same as me. And we’d be fools not to see where that would lead, and I don’t give a shit all that’s swirling around me, or you. If we can make it through what I did to you, I can earn your trust again, and we can get beyond all that’s happening now, I got a strong feeling where it would lead.”

“Why did you ask about the Avenger movies?” He smiled at me. And I wished he hadn’t done it. “Because my daughter says boys are stupid. They talk about themselves all the time, don’t ask girls questions, don’t let them talk, don’t listen. And I’ve unfortunately proved grown men who should know better do that too.”

“This is my county. And I’ll share with you right now that in my county men don’t shoot young fathers on the side of the road and they also don’t attack women in their kitchens. If they do, the message will be relayed with a clarity that cannot be missed that they should not.”

I’m getting how folks look down on small towns, and maybe in my way, I did that too. How they think the people in them are hicks. How nothing much happens in a small town so folks think the people in them don’t know much about life. But it isn’t that. They just get more of the good without the shit leaking in.

There’s pictures of random hot guys. Women are taking that action back. Men have spent years ogling calendars and magazines, objectifying women, reducing them to a pretty face, a head of hair and a hot bod. With social media, there’s probably more pictures of shirtless hot guys with six-packs wearing cowboy hats or shrugging off police shirts than there are oiled-up hot chicks rolling around on Ferraris.” She pulled back and finished with sham seriousness. “Of course, I frown on that entirely. Turnaround, in my book, is not fair play.” She was totally lying.

“And there is the aforementioned fact that you’re hot. But I failed to note that I’m somewhat enamored with your creative uses of my headboard.”

“She either believes in you and your dreams or she doesn’t. If she doesn’t, Shaw, honey, she’s not the one. She can be seventeen or she can be thirty-five. The woman you pick has to understand what you want out of life and she has to support that one hundred percent. It’s your job to give that back. What is not your job is to settle for anything less. You don’t make a man what he’s not. You find the man you want and stand beside him no matter what.”