Kate Fortner
He liked to say the sun followed her. Each spring, she was to be found with him down under, and each fall, she returned to the States just in time for spring. It seemed to him that instead of her following the sun, the sun followed her.
As far as he was concerned, spring didn’t start until the day in September when her plane touched down in Kingsport Smith Airport. Spring didn’t start until he was cradling her slender frame in his brawny arms, pressing a kiss to the top of her golden head, and whispering, “I missed you.” He could have sworn the clouds cleared and the sun shone brighter when she smiled up at him and sighed, “I missed you too.”
In moments like those, he thought fall would never come. The spring and summer months stretched before him endlessly. He contemplated the warm, sunny days by her side, and the cool, cloudless nights together in his king-sized bed that were to come. He held her hand tightly as they slid into the back of his chauffeured Rolls-Royce and admired her the whole way home.
They had met through his brother of all people. Why his brother had been foolish enough to think this gorgeous woman two decades his junior would be interested in him was anyone’s guess. Why she’d played along… That he still hadn’t figured out. If it were anyone else, he would guess his wealth, but he didn’t think her capable of something as base as greed.
The spring ripened to summer, and she stayed. As the nights began to lengthen, he guarded her like a precious thing, hoarded her like a dragon hoards gold. It wasn’t enough. March still came. The sun shrank and weakened, and his wife bought a plane ticket back to the States.
“Must you go?” he asked her, his voice a low growl.
She paused in her packing but didn’t look at him. He wanted to grab her chin and force her to meet his gaze, to see the hunger and longing there, but he didn’t. He just stood and stared with a gaze like hardened steel.
“Yes,” she said at last. “My mother needs me. It’s almost spring back home. She’ll need help on the farm.”
But I need you too, he wanted to say. But he didn’t. What he said was: “Fine.” And then he went to go feed the dogs and prepare for another six months without light or warmth.