My Little Shadow

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Flying

The next hour of two was filled with silence. May had stared out the window, and I honestly thought we were just enjoying the peacefulness of it all.

Her pale blue gaze studied the trees flying by her, they casting green reflections in them, giving her the appearance of having hazel eyes.

She was so beautiful it hurt. That may sound dramatic, but that was the only way I could explain it. She was so glorious that it caused my jaw to clench with the need to just be surrounded by her.

I had never felt that feeling before, and I wasn't sure what word to use for it.

I wanted her to consume whatever little part of me she didn't already occupy.

"This is nice." She says before looking at me, a small smile gracing her unique face, causing a dimple on her left cheek to make an appearance.

"It is. Peaceful." Just me and her, nothing in the way. No moving boxes, work, family drama.

"It's the first time that's it been quite since I was at Mary Hill." She admits sheepishly. "I miss it and hate it at the same time."

I think back to that white room where I torn myself down and rebuilt myself back up. I think breifly of the man in the mirror. "I know exactly how you feel."

"When all of this is over, we need to go see Augie." She says, sadness pulling her eyebrows together. I never forgot about him, I remember my promise, but life has been so chaotic lately, which is no excuse.

"Yes, we do."

I reach over the center on my truck and rest my palm against her upper thigh. She sucks in a faltering breath before turning her worried gaze my way. "Is this okay?"

I didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but I wanted my hands on her. This may seem mild considering I've held her in my arms while she's slept before but what we did the other night opened a door for her, one that was new territory and I didn't want to jeopardize any part of that.

"Yes." It was a whisper, but enough confirmation for me to leave my hand there. My thumb stroking tender circles on the inside of her leg.

"We haven't had time to talk about it, but I want you to know that everything your father said was bullshit." I say through gritted teeth. How he had tried to manipulate her into thinking that the only reason i had anything to do with her was because of her relationship to him.

I could care less that she was his daughter. At first, it bothered me, but it didn't take long for me to realize our story had the same vilian in it.

"I know. He was just saying it to try and get me to come back home. I'll never forget your face when you found out who my father was." I wish I could change how I reacted, but then I didn't realize just how big of an impact May would make in my life. I thought she wasn't deep enough under my skin then, I thought I could pry her out while I still had a chance, but I had been wrong.

I was glad that I was, too.

"We're not our fathers." I tell her with confidence because it seemed like the right thing to say at the time.

"That's all I've ever been my whole life, was Matinez's girl. Daniel's daughter." I squeezed her thigh in comfort, and she scooted closer to me.

"I've always ever been a Thatcher. One of those trouble making Thatcher boys. That doesn't mean that's who we are." She rested her head against my shoulder, and I relished in the feel of her warmth seeping into me, setting my heart ablaze with that overwhelming feeling I didn't have a name for.

"I don't think you're a trouble making Thatcher, I think your just a Thatcher that trouble follows." I scoff, but she wasn't wrong trouble did have a way of finding me making this road trip all the more needed.