Throwaway by Heather Huffman

guess I didn’t believe you.”
    “I don’t want to talk about Spence,” a
shudder ran down the length of Jessie’s spine.
    “You know what? I don’t either,” he stood and
stretched.
    “Tell me about your family,” Jessie crawled
under the covers of the bed, snuggling up with her pillow and
looking expectantly at Gabe.
    “I have one.”
    “Mom and Dad?”
    “Mom passed away three years ago. Dad’s still
actively disapproving of my life choices.”
    “Brothers? Sisters?”
    “One older sister. A little bossy, but she
means well and would do anything for me.”
    Jessie wondered if his sister was the one who
prepared the cabin for them. She might never tell Gabe this, but
she wanted to meet his father and sister. She wished she was the
kind of woman a man could take home to his family. She’d never
cared about that kind of thing before.
    “Hey, what’s with the sad eyes?” he reached
out to stroke her cheek.
    “Not sad,” she lied. “I like hearing about
your family.”
    “You won’t think that when you meet them,” he
promised. “They’re a colossal pain.”
    “Meet them?” her heart soared.
    “Sure. But not this week. This week is
ours.”
    Jessie didn’t blame him for stalling. The
fact that he had mentioned it at all meant something.
    “What about you?”
    “What about me?”
    “Do you have parents?”
    “I’m sure I did at some point,” she shrugged
nonchalantly. “I don’t really remember them, though. Those first
few years were a little hazy…. I mean, I kind of remember flashes
of the house I lived in with my mother. Every now and then I’ll
walk past someone who smells like she did. Roses. Well, that fake
rose smell anyway.”
    “You don’t remember her?”
    “Not really. Just a dingy brown couch and
rust colored shag carpeting in the house where we lived,” Jessie
reached back into the hidden crevices in her mind. “I do remember
her hands. They were so delicate. I thought she was a fairy
princess because her hands were so delicate.”
    “How old were you when you last saw her?”
    “I was about five when she went away. A woman
with a nice smile and a blue business suit came and took me to live
with another family. There was always another family after that—or
a group home.”
    “Do you know what happened to her?” Gabe
seemed torn between enveloping her in an embrace and the fear she’d
break if he touched her.
    “Someone told me that she died. I don’t know
how. I never asked. I guess I figured it didn’t matter so much how
she got there.”
    “I’m so sorry,” at that, he did pull her into
his arms. Jessie closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the way it felt
to have a pair of strong arms wrapped around her because they
wanted to protect rather than possess her. “You really got the
shaft in life, didn’t you?”
    “Worrying about what’s fair seems like a
waste of time. I try to roll with it and move on.”
    “While I agree with you, I’m still going to
be angry on your behalf.”
    “Go for it,” Jessie smiled a little. She
liked someone being angry on her behalf.
    “Why does that feel like a minor
victory?”
    “What?”
    “You’re going to let me care what happened to
you,” he grinned.
    “I can’t control what you care about,” she
tried to sound disinterested.
    “Whatever. I’m winning you over.”
    “Why on earth would you want to?”
    “Because you’re the most beautiful,
fascinating woman I’ve ever met. Because I’m a better person when
I’m around you. And because you make me laugh.”
    “I like your laugh,” Jessie chose not to
remind him that she was the very definition of used goods.
    “How did we get so serious all of a
sudden?”
    “It’s your fault. You were trying to dodge
telling me more about Jesse James.”
    “Oh, is that what happened?”
    Jessie nodded primly.
    “Then please allow me to atone for my sins,”
he nuzzled her neck, his fingers trailed down her ribs to the small
of her waist.
    “That’s not