I could smell her skin and the fruitiness of her luscious brown hair. I ached for her as I held her tightly."Goodbye, Ava," I sighed as she released m...e. "Daniel," I called to her husband. "Don't forget the game tomorrow, Sam," he reminded me as he escorted Sarah outside. "I won't," I smiled as I took her luggage from him."Bye, mom," she hugged Ava. "This weekend was the best." I'm glad you had fun, baby," Ava kissed her hair. Sarah was the splitting image of Ava; tall, slender, thick black. He looked away without a word."Don't forget," Dad said. "I'll pick you up after school."Kevin just rolled his eyes. At school, Winnie led Dani by the hand. His denim jacket was open,revealing the tight-shirt he wore, through which I could see the outlineof his bra. "Doesn't Dani have the cutest little boobs?" Winnie said.It was too much, and I felt for him a little, but I smiled and said, "Youlook really cute."Dani blushed and turned away.Gary came along, his old lettermen's. " Bill ... take a ball peen hammer out to the truck ... that truck is near perfect, you went to a lot of trouble to remove all the wrinkles and imperfections. The wrinkles and imperfections are the sins of that trucks life. You removed them with loving kindness. More or less, you've forgiven the sins of the truck. You get what I'm trying to say here?" I think so. You're saying the truck is a mirror of my soul. It's as perfect as I can make it.I'm God and I've taken away the sins of the truck?". She was back on the familiar ground, slowly reforming the thick shell that coated her skin when she didn’t want anyone seeing past her pupils. No one had to carry her, she didn’t need a shoulder to cry on. She was just fine. She was just fine. The pain dissapated as she convinced herself of her own lie. ‘I don’t know. You wouldn’t leave the bar last night, you never came home. I was worried. Dimitri just blew right past me on the sidewalk. What’s going on?’ She sighed, gently shoving sadness.