she was able to easily get under his skin. I refuse to let him sweep this under the rug.
“I didn’t say I was giving up. I’m just saying I’m not going to go crazy about it. At the end of the day, it’s only money. I was financially stable before Benjamin died, and I’ll be fine if I don’t find that letter, too. I didn’t enter his world; he entered mine. I couldn’t care less if I only get a dime from him. I’m not like the rest of this family tree. Makes me not a damn bit of difference.” She sucked her teeth and crossed her arms as the man ranted and raved. I suppose I had this coming. It’s not about the Benjamin’s. Did I really just think that in my head? I did. “I said I wanted to know who he was and why he did what he did to me and my mama, and I pretty much got the gist of that answered.”
She nodded in agreement. It truly wasn’t really about the money, or even who Benjamin was. It was the principle of the matter. Aries was driven by that.
It wasn’t even about the letter anymore, either, though the words written on those papers provided the emotional salve he so desperately needed. It also had to do with closure. Healing. And perhaps, retaliation. Aries hadn’t expressed to her if he still planned to spread Benjamin’s business all around town – let everyone know how he’d been hidden away like an old sock stuffed in a forgotten dresser drawer. He wanted the deceased man exposed, the truth out and about. He’d made that perfectly clear. She wasn’t certain what good that would do, but it wasn’t her war, and they damn sure weren’t her battle wounds to lick. Regardless, she decided to drop the matter. At least for the time being.
Aries lit a cigarette and rolled his truck window down. The sounds of, ‘Come to Bed,’ by Gretchen Wilson played on low volume and the sweet aroma of fresh peaches they’d hand selected from a little roadside pergola on their way to Stone Mountain campgrounds filled the truck. He appeared a bit pensive, detached, his mind trapped by an invisible whirlwind. Just as she was contemplating all of that, he leaned over and placed a quick, tender kiss on her cheek, his eyes never leaving the road. His lips curved in his customary smirk as he went for her hand, curling his fingers around hers and offering a gentle squeeze.
Soon, they reached a pad, tents visible in the far distance and just nature all around. She and Aries got out of the truck and she inhaled the sweet, fresh air as he put the tent together.
“‘Can I help, Aries?’ ‘No, baby! I got it!’” he mocked at her lack of an offer to wrestle with all of those rods and such.
“It was your idea to come out here. Aries, you have this annoying habit of asking me to do something, then getting mad when I’m not breaking my back to help you accomplish the tasks. You should just be lucky that I’m even here in the first damn place because let me tell you, sir, I don’t do bears.”
“I don’t do them sons of bitches, either. Far too hairy for my liking.”
He burst out laughing, and continued with his chore at hand. A few minutes passed and she drifted into a daydream. In that moment, everything was alright with the world. There was no issue between her and her father, her brother and sister-in-law were welcome at family gatherings, her store was safe and thriving, Mama was in good health and not battling her anemia, and Lauren wasn’t hanging on to a tattered memory.
“Aries…” She turned to find him still working on the tent. It sure was big, and looked far more complicated than the ones she, her cousins, and brother would put up in their backyard as kids.
“Yeah, baby?” he said, grunting.
“You often call Benjamin ‘that dead man.’”
“’Cause he is.”
“Do you feel more at peace now that he’s dead, or more worried?”
Time seemed to slow down as she waited for a response.
“I never really thought about that. I’m at peace, I suppose.”
She traveled her gaze to the mountain, then back to him.
“Sometimes I refer to Nehemiah as ‘that dead man,’ too. I only say it in my head, though. It puts distance between him and me. Cements him in the past. I’ll admit you were right