Weeds - Joy Barnes (good books to read for adults txt) 📗

/> “What're we having.” I ask, and he jumps. Apparently he didn't hear me coming.
“Don't do that!” He exclaims, placing a hand over his heart. “..we're having spaghetti. Want to help me make it?” I grin and nod my head. I really want to learn how to cook. He gestures for me to join him in the kitchen.
He shows me how to dice tomatoes and hands me the knife. He watches me intently, then, deciding I'm not going to cut myself, hands me a few more veggies to dice and heads over to the stove. I dice them carefully. When I'm done, we mix the veggies together with a few other ingredients and spices to make the sauce. We put it aside for later.
“What next?” I ask. He pulls down a box of noodles.
“Well, you can break these in half into that pan of water I have boiling over there.” I take out the whole box of noodles and, holding them over the pot, attempt to break them in half. I fail to do so and can hear Shannon laughing behind me. I give him a questioning look.
“You can't break them all at once.” He explains. “You have to separate them into a few hand fulls, like this.” He takes a few noodles from me, and breaks them in half, dropping them into the pot.
“Oh, I get it.” I say, and do as he did. Before long the noodles are all snapped in half and boiling. We stand there chatting and taking turns stirring the noodles. When they are soft and fully cooked, Shannon drains them in the sink. Then we mix the sauce, some browned hamburger and the noodles all together and put them on the stove at a low temperatures.
“Now for the important part.” Shannon tells me. He pulls down some french bread, some butter and some garlic. “Garlic bread. Can't have spaghetti without it!” He shows me how to spread the butter and garlic evenly over the bread, and I copy him. We put the bread in the oven and set the timer. While we wait I set the table, and soon enough the timer goes off. Shannon puts the garlic bread into the bread basket and I transfer the spaghetti into a serving bowl.
“Thanks for the help.” Shannon says, as we sit down to eat.
“Thanks for teaching me.” I respond. We dig in. We eat in silence tonight, not talking but enjoying each others company. We wash the dishes together when we are finished, and put away the leftovers.
When all that is done, I walk over to the window seat in the living room, and sit there watching the rain. When the first growling noise reaches my ears, and a flash of blueish light races across the sky I jump a bit. But as this continues I realize it's not going to hurt me, and watch in awe.
“Are you afraid of thunder and lightning?” Shannon asks, settling in across from me. He's referring of course, to the storm. I shake my head.
“No, it's beautiful.” I answer.
“Most city kids are terrified of their first storms. You really are something else.” Shannon tells me, stretching out a bit more on the window seat. He watches the storm with me for a while. When I can barely keep my eyes open, I bid him goodnight and head up to my room.


“Shannon!” I race down the stairs one morning, freaking out. Shannon meets me at the bottom, his eyes worried. I hold up a fistful of my hair. “What's wrong with my hair!”
“Don't worry, it's natural.” He says, placing his hands on my shoulders and encouraging me to take slow breaths and calm down.
“How is this natural?” I ask, once I'm calm.
“It's just turning back to the color it really is. The chemicals the city puts in your hair to keep in uniform are fading from your system.” He explains. “Looks like your hair color is black. It fits you.” He runs his hand through my hair, examining the darkening strands. “Your eyes are changing too.” He looks up into my eyes. “But I can't tell what color they'll be.” I nod. So this is normal. I thought something was wrong with me. Giggling with embarrassment, I go back upstairs to get dressed.

My hair is now fully black, and my eyes have become green instead of gray. Shannon says Shiphra must be psychic, because all the clothes she gave me really make my eyes stand out now. I'm apprehensive about all these changes, but Shannon says he likes it, so this must not be that bad, right?

It's been several months since I left the city. I've never once wanted to go back. I've really settled into life here. I can cook, clean, ride a horse by myself and have even learned to go the market by myself. Today Shannon says he'll take me to the Library. He told me there were lots of books there. Apparently he noticed that I had read almost every book or magazine in the house.
I tack up Rae and he tacks up Fay. Rae is in a rarely affectionate mood. She's been more and more loving to me sense we met. She rests her nose on my collar bone as I adjust her bridle, and her warm breath tickles my neck.
“She really likes you.” Shannon's already mounted, and he rides up beside me. “You must have a really kind heart.” I laugh and pull myself up into the saddle.
“You think?” I say.
“I try not to, it hurts my head too much.” Shannon responds, taking the lead and riding off down a trail heading west. We ride for what must be over an hour through thick and seemingly endless trees, and finally come to the mouth of the trail. Beyond the forest is a cluster of houses and larger shops. Shannon and I ride through the bustling area to a building marked “Public Library”. We tie the horses and walk in.
There are shelves upon shelves of books and I have no idea where to begin. Shannon visits with the lady behind the desk for a while, and I fiddle with anything in sight. He walks back to me and takes me by the hand. He leads me to a section of books.
“This is one of my favorites.” He hands me a book with a horse on the cover. It's beautiful. Before he can blink, I've disappeared into the story. I don't hardly notice as he makes a stack of books for me to read. He leads me to the check out area, literally prying the book from my hands to scan it, then returning it to me. Taking my by the elbow, he gently guides me back to our horses.
“You know, you can't ride and read at the same time.” He forces me to lower the book and look at him. I glare in response. He laughs and brushes his lips across my forehead. “When we get home you can read all you want.” His voice is unusually soft, and I can feel all the heat in my body rushing straight to my cheeks, and I'm thanking God that he's turned his back and doesn't see the redness in my face. I put the book in my messenger bag, and mount up.

When we get home we eat leftover spaghetti for dinner and settle in on the couch to read. I sit down, get comfortable, and start reading only to have Shannon flop down with his head in my lap, and remove the book from my hands again. He turns on the TV.
“There's a movie I got at the library you HAVE to see.” He announces. He turns it on. It is the funniest thing ever and we laugh all the way through it. My sides are aching by the time the credits roll. I look down at Shannon, whose head is still in my lap. I can't resist, I run my fingers through his messy mahogany hair. He looks up at me, his eyes warm and full of affection. I feel the heat return to my face, and I look away. He reaches up and trails his finger across my cheek. I look back towards him, and he props himself up on his hands. Our noses brush against each other, sending strange shivers down my spine. He presses his lips against mine. The kiss is feather light, but full of fire and electricity. I sigh and close my eyes, wondering how my people could ever live without this sensation. He breaks the kiss and lays back down on my lap, handing me my book. I find it hard to get into, but read anyway. As long as we can stay like this, I'm happy.
Eventually it's past midnight, and we have to go to bed. He kisses me once more in front of my bedroom door, and I wind my arms around his neck, wrapping my fingers in his hair. His arms wrap around my waist, and he holds me close.
“Good-night,” He says when we break apart, foreheads resting against each other. With a final glance in my direction, he trails his fingers down my chin, and backs away.

Somewhere in the night I wake up to a loud roaring over head. I run into Shannon's room, but he's not there. He must be outside. I burst out the door in time to see a metal bird fly over head, roaring loudly and spreading a strange fog over the land.
“Shannon?” I walk up beside him, and he wraps his arms around my waist.
“It's an airplane.” He says. “It's sure smoking a whole lot though. Maybe there's something wrong with it.” I nod my head and snuggle closer. We watch the plane until it's no longer visible, then he picks me up and carries me inside.
“I can walk!” I stutter, my face flushing again.
“I know, but I want to carry you.” He says, his grip on my waist tightening. I don't fight him. He flops down on the couch, stretching out and pulling a blanket over us. I start to protest, but he shushes me and settles down, his arms around me, holding me tight to his chest. Before I know it, his breathing is even and he's asleep. I sigh, apparently this isn't optional. I settle in and follow Shannon into the world of sleep.

We sleep late, and I wake up slowly. I don't want to move. I'm warm and secure here in Shannon's arms. I snuggle closer, and his arms wind more tightly around me. He's awake too. I open my eyes, and lift my head to look at him. He smiles sleepily and presses a kiss to my nose. Eventually we get up and make breakfast.
“Do you want to go into town again today?” He asks me. “I forgot to do a few things yesterday.” I agree to go with him.
We tack the horses up and ride into town just before noon. He points to a building labeled “Animal Shelter”.
“You said you wanted a dog around the house, right?” He says. “Go on in to the shelter and pick one out, I'll be in soon, I have a few boring things to take care of. Go on.” He nudges me towards the door. I give him a little wave and walk into the shelter.
“Hello, ma'am.” The young man behind the counter greets me, “My name is Casey, can I help you?”