Kiss Me if You Can

A few peaceful but boring days just passed by. In the meantime, Josh spent his time fixing the roof of the house, planting the saplings his mother had chosen in the garden, cleaning the small pool that hadn’t been filled with water in over ten years, and chasing away the occasional coyote. The old house had many repairs to make, but Josh had plenty of time.

That day, too, he had been digging up one side of the garden early because an old water pipe was causing trouble. While Pete, who had woken up late, wandered around the garden chasing rabbits, he checked the leaks and measured the size of the pipes that needed to be replaced.

“Take a rest.”

His mother, who had just brought him some lemonade, spoke. Josh, who had come out of the hole and roughly wiped his muddy face and hands with a towel, followed his mother to the tea table. Pete, who had been guarding the rabbit hole, also hurried to his seat for a snack.

The mother, who had been watching Pete drinking lemonade, turned her gaze to Josh. Josh felt like he knew what she was trying to say.

“Does Pete know?”

The mother evasively mumbled the name, careful not to arouse the child’s curiosity. As expected, Pete was busy picking up the cookie and putting it in his mouth, completely unaware that it was about him. Josh, who had been watching him blankly, pushed the bowl of cookies in front of the child and opened his mouth.

“I don’t know yet.”

“Yeah… … .”

The mother trailed off as if she was thinking about something. After hearing Josh’s confession, she must have been thinking a lot about this and that, so she continued speaking carefully with a serious expression.

“You’ll have a lot to do in the future. You’ll take care of everything, but… … .”

The mother added quietly.

“I think it’s better to be careful when you first start than to get a divorce later on, Josh.”

Josh looked at his mother with a bewildered expression.

“Emma, ​​even if that’s true, you don’t trust me even with your mother?”

“No, that’s not it. I trust everything else.”

You’re saying you don’t trust women.

Josh was dumbfounded. Chase is a man, or that I’ve already thought about it, or that I’m thinking about marriage, so how could you just say that? Many things came to mind, but all the will to say them disappeared. Instead, Josh concluded firmly.

“Then trust me again.”

“Okay… … .”

His mother closed her mouth, as if she had nothing more to say. An awkward silence fell between them as they drank their lemonade in the calm afternoon sunlight. Josh, who had downed the rest of his drink in one gulp, stood up.

“I’ll go buy a pipe.”

“Oh, Josh. Do you want to buy a mailbox too? It’s old, so I think it needs to be replaced.”

His mother followed suit and stood up. Josh nodded, saying, “Yes,” and then picked up Pete, who was already eating his third cookie.

“Pete, do you want to go with Daddy?”

He asked, stealing the cookie and placing it on a plate. Pete’s interest quickly changed and he hugged Josh’s neck. His mother came out to the front of the house to see him off as he got into the car, but she didn’t talk about marriage anymore.

Josh drove leisurely down the quiet street with Pete in the baby seat in the back seat. There were few cars on the street and almost no people. Josh felt a strange feeling of familiarity and unfamiliarity at the completely different scenery from the East.

Oh.

Suddenly, he saw a road in his sight and impulsively turned the steering wheel. After driving a little further, he came across his high school. There were no children coming or going, as if it was a class. Josh stopped the car for a moment and stood there, but before the school security officer noticed something suspicious and approached, he started the car again.

Thinking about it, it had been a long time since I had seen my old school friends. Did they still have their contact information? Josh thought as he drove. If not now, there would be no chance to meet them.

He felt like he would go crazy if he didn’t do something. Just spending each day blankly was not in his nature. He praised himself for the good idea and picked up the pace.

“Hey, you’re alive? How long has it been!”