Free Rotten by JL Brooks Page B

someone who cared about me within the short distance of a kiss. To feel the way their bodies trembled under my fingers. To know I could still do that. I traced his full pink lips with my index finger and felt his breathing grow shallow.
    “I love you, too, Toni.”
    “Please kiss me.” My voice was shaky and pleading, as if I needed this kiss to keep me among the living. I did.
    He tilted his head, and his mouth came down softly over my own. As he pressed gently, I started to melt. Shifting his weight more onto his elbows, he cradled my face as I began to cry hard. He didn’t stop; he knew he couldn’t. For my sake, I needed this moment of intimacy to feel not only feminine and human, but loved. The world stopped when his lips touched mine. The thrill I felt the first time he kissed me hummed sweetly in my veins. He broke our contact all too soon and placed one more feather-light kiss across my forehead. Standing up, he reached his hand down to me and pulled me close to him in the most protective embrace.
    “You’re not a fucking wreck. You are the strongest, most beautiful, foul-mouthed woman I know. Who you were on that phone is not you. You should never have to apologize for who you are. I thought you would know that by now. And I know God is in control, too.”
    I looked up at his strange admission. David was never religious, so him speaking of God definitely made my ears perk up.
    “And how do you know that,Yoda?”
    He paused for a moment, clenching his jaw, seemingly holding back tears of his own. His voice choked a little.
    “Because I have spent the better part of the last decade praying for the ability to make things right with you. Praying for you. Asking God to watch over you because I couldn’t. I know better than to question how he works. You being here is proof he hasn’t given up on my sorry ass.”
    I gave my biggest smile, thinking about the kind of conversations David Stark had with God in the wee hours of the night or on bathroom floors drunk or before games. There was no doubt He heard many of those, considering we were still better off than most people we knew. I just wish I felt a little more certain about what would happen even tomorrow. But that is life; we are never promised tomorrow.

 
     
    After the morning’s episode, we showered and headed over to the house. Today was going to be nice, because nearly the entire staff offered to come and help paint the walls to knock it out quickly. David and I stopped by the club and grabbed a few cases of beer to bring along. All of the plastic had been laid and the edges taped before we arrived. I couldn’t stop smiling at how it was coming together. Daddy was going to be blown away to see that people loved him, and that they just needed the opportunity to give back. I really wanted him to see this. It was cruel to think that the Almighty would orchestrate something so crazy for nothing.
    It was obvious I picked out the paint colors, because daddy would have looked at the samples and categorized them in primary tones. There would be no khaki, camel, or taupe. No, it would be all shades of brown. Nic had a sewing machine she let me borrow, and I dug out the scraps of fabric to show her.
    “You’re putting pleather curtains up? Really?” She smiled while holding the shiny black pieces.
    I pulled another burlap type of fabric out in a tan color. “It’s going to be two layers: this one to allow light in but still be shaded, the other to block out most of the light but still look manly. I am going to install rolling blackout shades just in case it doesn’t work like I hope.”
    Comparing the two against each other, she nodded approvingly. “I like it – definitely your dad.”
    Since the house was so small, the painting was done a few hours before dusk. I thanked everyone for helping. It was nice knowing that the club was closed and we had the evening free. David was putting things back in the car when I wandered into the garage and lifted