The Touch (Healer Series) (19 page)

  
“Sure thing,” he replied. This meant more
bedtime stories, he was sure. The fear of those fairy-tale moments seemed to have
lifted. He liked being needed.

  
“I owe you.”

  
“Just promise you won’t cook us anything,” he
laughed, taking a step away from the truck.

  
“Night boys,” she said sarcastically. “You
want a ride back?”

  
“Nah,” AJ said, looking over at Max and
answering before Max could. He wanted to walk.

  
“Have it your way. Rose is home tonight
before heading to Gram’s for the week. If you want, come on by. She’s
gonna
drive me nuts asking about you.”

  
“Will do.”
His
trademark smile filled her rearview mirror as the truck pulled away.

  
“Why are you making me
walk
again?” Max asked, smacking his friend on the back.

  
“It will do you good. You’re
gonna
need it, eating all the food Helen cooks.”

  
Max smiled at the simple truth.

  
“How can you touch people all the time?” AJ
asked when they were a safe distance from prying ears. If there was one thing
AJ did know about small towns, it was the intensity and frequency of gossip.
“Don’t you get tired of the visions?
The feelings?”

  
“You forget I’ve been doing this a long time.
You’ll be the same someday. You’ll learn to control it like I can.”

  
“You can actually shut it down?”

  
“Yeah.
Took a long time to learn how to do it.
Makes
it easier to live among people without suspicion.”

  
“Can every Healer learn it?” AJ asked,
somewhat looking forward for the first time in years to being a Healer long
down the road.

  
“And every Grim, too,” Max nodded.

  
“Well shit, that figures,” AJ laughed. “How
about the one that passed through town?”

  
“Probably.
His presence
felt really strong. He almost certainly has a few years on him. Close to me,
I’d imagine. And brazen, if he acts the way he did around you. I wouldn’t be
surprised if he descended from the clan of
Grims
that
caused the first war. They usually have a more…fierce manner.”

  
AJ was glad the Grim had departed Lee. He
hadn’t felt anything except for peace now that the stomach-churning had ended.

**************************************************

  
They reached the B&B and saw Rose sitting
on the steps across the yard on her porch, decked out in her pajamas.

  
“AJ!” she yelled, jumping up and bounding
across the grass. “Who’s your friend?”

  
“This is Max,” he said, as Max kneeled down
to be on her level.

  
“I’m Max and you must be Rose,” he said
softly.

  
“Yep!”

  
“Well, AJ has told me lots about you.
Says he told you a story the other night.”

  
“Yep!
AJ, can you
tell me another one tonight?”

  
AJ glanced at Max, knowing he’d have to give
in. He didn’t want to disappoint her, even though he just wanted to go on
inside and shower.

  
Max cut him off before he could speak. “Can I
tell you a story tonight?”

  
Rose thought about it a second, her pointer
finger raised to her lips and her eyes squinting as if she were really thinking
about whether or not to let him.

  
“Sure!” she squealed, grabbing Max’s hand and
leading him to the big swing on the front porch. Rose liked having people at
her beck and call. Max smiled back at AJ, who had walked back up onto the porch
at the B&B and plopped into a chair.

  
Addie smiled from the kitchen window. Her
daughter sure inherited her charms. She could get just about anyone to do
anything – cute now, and definitely terrifying as Rose became a teenager, she
thought.

  
Rose settled in next to Max as if she’d known
him forever. She had never taken this easily to strangers. Max seemed so
different that she didn’t fear him at all, and that fact that he was AJ’s best
friend made him okay in the little girl’s eyes.

  
“I heard AJ told you a story about special
people,” Max said, glancing down at this little sweetheart next to him.

  
“Yep.
About a girl
named Rose who could fix people,” she said. “Do you think
there’s
really special people
out there?”

  
“I do,” Max replied.

  
“Do you think I could be one of them?”

  
“I think on earth, anything is possible,” he
replied, looking out at the sun as it began to set.

10
One Dance

Addie
hadn’t been kidding when she said she’d be out of touch. It had been three
weeks and AJ hadn’t seen even a peek of her. He’d look out his window in the
evening and see her lights on. There was never even a glimpse of her shadow and
he found himself missing her.

  
Max on the other hand had been keeping
himself busy chatting up all the folks in town, including Helen and Matthew.
He’d also been helping out on the farm, fixing things up for them while AJ was
at work.
Neither Healer had felt a thing more from a Grim and
it looked as though they might be able to settle into a normal routine in Lee.
Max even considered staying awhile, enjoying the reconnection he felt with
people after years of missing out on human interaction.

  
Whereas AJ hadn’t touched anyone in weeks,
Max had already healed two people from town – one from a minor stroke and
another who had a hairline fracture. Neither knew why they had a sudden
turnaround, never attributing it to the fact that they had merely shaken hands
with Max. That was a blessing of their gift – being able to change lives with a
single touch, one so simple that no one thought of it as anything other than a
handshake.

  
The crops were growing, creating a patchwork
of color throughout town. It was beautiful alone; combined with the sunrise or
sunset – which AJ was seeing much more of on his runs – they were more
picturesque than a watercolor painting.

  
AJ also began to see how different he and Max
were. While he used to be so outgoing, he became more withdrawn again. He lived
to see Addie, to take in just the sight of her. It was enough for him in that
moment to just know she was okay and happy. He thought about the future, and
how in 10 or so years he’d have to move on to another place. How would he let
go of seeing her? She wouldn’t understand why he still looked so young. It
broke his heart all over again to envision a day without the view of her face.

  
He or Max went every few nights to visit Rose
and add onto their stories. AJ found it wasn’t hard to tell stories when he
could use his life story as the premise. It was evident she missed her mother,
and they assured her that in no time at all everything would be back to normal
and she’d be back across town at her house, playing with the town dogs that
were always milling in her yard because they knew they’d be offered something
good to eat.

  
It was a Friday night, the sun fading in the
distance, when he heard the soft knock at the door. He’d heard it only a few
times but knew it by heart. Helen’s knock was louder, more forceful, probably
because she was always so excited about whatever she was coming to talk to him
about. He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Helen, talking to her and Matthew
over dinner. It felt like a family and while he still missed his mother, he
found a level of comfort in having someone take care of him again.

  
He walked towards the door and gathered
himself. Just her perfume through the door was enough to make his heart race.
The longer he went without seeing her, the more he knew how much he cared for
her. With one hand on the door knob and the other resting on the door, he
leaned forward, his forehead touching the cool wood.

  
Taking a deep breath he pulled it open, looking
around the edge.

  
“Hi.”

  
“Hi,” she answered, her hair curled. He’d
never seen it like that. In fact, he’d never seen it anything except long and
straight or pulled into a messy ponytail.

  
They stood there for a moment until he moved
backwards, opening the door a little.

  
“Come in,” he said, allowing her room to walk
through.

  
She looked around. It definitely wasn’t the
room of a typical man. It was clean, everything in place.

  
“It’s really organized in here,” she
commented, almost sarcastically.

  
Her skin was tanner, undoubtedly from long
hours spent in the sun, working to make a living. Her muscles were apparent as
well. She wasn’t taking part in easy work and knowing her demeanor, she most
likely wanted to do everything exactly as the boys would with no help and no
pity. Her body reflected it.

  
“It’s the least I can do, considering I’m
living in someone else’s home,” he replied, sitting down on the edge of the
bed.

  
Helen didn’t have air conditioning in the
B&B and having the windows didn’t help when it was so humid and hot
outside. He was shirtless, his skin still gleaming in the light of the room
from a thin layer of sweat.

  
“What are you doing tonight?” she asked. “Max
around?”

  
“He’s out doing something with a guy he met
at the diner.
Some gathering at the barn or something in
town.”

  
He noticed the leather strand around her
neck, a shiny rock hanging from the center right above the neckline of her
shirt. The turquoise was bright against her bronzed skin.

  
“It’s a dance. I actually came to see if you
wanted to go. Rose is at Gram’s tonight. I needed a night out.”

  
“I don’t know,” AJ said, turning to look at
her with a smirk. “The last party you brought me to
was
moderately depressing. You’re pretty much zero for one in the fun department.”

  
She smiled coyly back, looking down at her
knees as she sat down on the bed next to him. All he could smell was her
perfume. Lilac, his favorite scent, reminded him of the dawning of spring when
the lilacs bloom and the air is filled with the scent of hope for something
new, something better. Just like her.

  
“Well, you have me there,” she replied. “But
this is just a plain old, normal, everyday party. Not for anyone or because of
anyone.
Just a party.”

  
He thought about it. How would he go and keep
his hands off her?

  
“Just as friends,” she said, reading his
mind. “Friends are supposed to spend time with friends on their birthday.”

  
Her birthday, he thought.
Rose’s
gift.
The necklace around Addie’s throat should have given it away. He’d
forgotten.

  
“
Aww
Addie, I forgot.
I’m so sorry – I should have remembered, after Rose…”

  
“Then come dancing with me, and we’ll call it
even. Come on. No one else in town will dance with me. I’m the girl who got
knocked up at 17. I basically have a scarlet letter, the plague and every STD
known to man, according to everyone in town.”

  
He hesitated and she cocked her head to the
side as if willing him to answer
yes
.

  
“If it helps, I have paperwork that says all
those things got cleared up. Amazing what penicillin does. Come on…”

  
He loved her sense of humor.

  
She smiled, standing up in front of him to
reach down and pick up one of his giant hands. They were rough from working on
transmissions and the like all day. She pulled, half-helping him stand up from
the bed. The shock that went through both of them was intense. AJ let it
happen, preventing his body from pulling away. He was beginning to wonder if
the sensations were from his touch at all, or if they were based in the
feelings between
he
and Addie. The stir was becoming a
new normal and somewhat an expectation rather than surprise.

  
“Please? You owe me.
A lot.
Come on!”

  
He couldn’t say no to her, not now. Not
knowing it was her birthday.

  
“Sure,” he said, hands resting on his hips.
“Just give me a minute to get dressed.”

  
She clapped, almost skipping towards the
door. “I’ll wait downstairs with Helen!”

  
As she was about to shut it, he called out to
her.

  
“What do I wear to a dance? Held in a barn?
When it’s a thousand degrees out?”

  
“Whatever the hell you want,” she yelled
back, grinning. In a pair of cut off shorts and a plaid shirt tied at the waist
over a white tank top, she was casual and cute. He figured his white sleeveless
t-shirt and cargos would be considered dressed up enough.

  
As he got to the bottom of the stairs he found
Helen and Addie in the kitchen, Addie leaning over the counter. Her butt looked
good in those shorts, he thought.

  
“AJ!”
Helen said,
smiling. “It’s about time you get out there and have some fun.”

  
“Living with you
is
fun, Helen,” he replied, leaning over to plant a kiss on her
cheek. He had gotten really close to her and found he loved her similar to the
way he loved his mother.

  
“Let me get a picture of you two,” she said,
grabbing the old 35 millimeter camera off the counter. He figured she had been
waiting for him all night to get down there and go out. It was exactly like a
moment years ago when his mom had done the same as he and his date were heading
out to the prom.

  
“Helen!” he laughed, raising an eyebrow as if
to say
no way
, even though he had
every intention of doing whatever she asked. He hadn’t said no his mother and
he wouldn’t say no to Helen either.

  
“It’s my birthday. Everyone should want a
picture with the birthday girl,” Addie added, scooting over towards him and
throwing an arm around his waist. The warmth surged through them again.
 
He placed his hand along her back. He was so
much taller than her and felt even larger standing next to her.

  
“Fine,” AJ replied.
“Only
if you take one with me too, Helen.”

  
“Deal.
Smile!”
Helen called, the camera clicking with the brightest
flash AJ had ever seen.

  
“Give me the camera now,” Addie said,
switching places with Helen as AJ wiped at his eyes. Helen wrapped her arm
tightly around her tenant as his arm draped around her shoulders. She smiled ear
to ear. His hugs always sent a little tingle through her.

  
“Cheese!”
The camera
flashed, and AJ felt blinded.

  
“Well Helen, it was nice seeing you. And when
that flash dies down in my vision in twenty years, it will be nice seeing you
again. Remind me to get you a good camera for Christmas,” he laughed.

  
“Oh shush. It’s just fine.
You
city boys and your need for new toys.”

  
“Thanks Helen,” Addie whispered, pulling AJ
towards the door. Hopping into his car for once, she let him drive over to
town. She thought she was doing pretty
good
at being
just friends. Her acting wasn’t half bad, she told herself.

**************************************************

  
Max was already at the shindig, chatting away
with a group in the corner, all of them laughing and smiling. He had captured
the hearts of everyone in town – man, woman, child, old, young, didn’t matter.
They all seemed captivated by him and his tall tales, which they didn’t know
really weren’t so tall.

  
She led AJ right onto the dance floor, no
hesitation. Everyone was doing a line dance that he’d never actually seen and
he looked around awkwardly as Addie joined in with the crowd. He was skeptical
that he could pull this off.

  
He watched for a minute, at first shaking his
head at her before realizing any attempt to shy away from this was futile. He
was trying his best to memorize what they were doing before joining in to the
best of his ability. It made Addie laugh and that alone was worth the
humiliation, he thought.
 
Luckily, the
song was near its end when they had walked through the doors and he was saved
from further embarrassment as Max made his way over. As AJ started to walk off
the floor, a slow song started and he felt her tug his hand to stay. His whole
body reacted to her touch.

  
“It’s my birthday. You have to dance,” she
said. She wasn’t sure why she kept pestering him. Perhaps it was to make him
jealous, or to make him suddenly comprehend he felt something for her. Maybe it
was just to be close to him, in whatever way possible. Whatever way he would
let her.

  
He slowly walked back to her, wrapping an arm
around her waist, his hand resting gently on her lower back. He took her other
hand in his and she inched her way closer on her own. Her hand felt smooth in
his. He focused, finding himself able to stop the visions from coming and
instead focusing on controlling the warmth passed between him. Initially it was
an attempt to learn more about controlling his gift; it slowly faded into
simply attempting to control his feelings towards her. He stared straight
ahead, trying with every inch of his soul to ignore her smell, ignore the
feeling he experienced when their skin touched. She smiled up at him.