The Widow

(41) Chills

A week later, 

Aubri pulled into Bucky's driveway for their 5th date. He met her on the porch. 

"Your house is beautiful, I love the countryside." She said as he held her waist. 

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. "I missed you." He said 

"You saw me almost everyday at work." She said 

"That's different, I can't be like this with you at work. I'm busy bringing in bodies." He said as they went inside. 

He set up a romantic dinner on his back porch with fairy lights and tea lights. 

"Buck.." she whispered 

"What?" He said 

"You're amazing." She said as she kissed him. 

He made them a steak and lobster dinner, and chilled wine. After dinner he turned his Ihome speaker and took her hand to dance with her. The first song to come on was "Lay It On Me" by Mickey Guyton. 

They began to slow dance under the stars. They also danced to "Heaven" by Kane Brown and "Don't Close Your Eyes" the Dylan Scott cover of it. 

"Come with me.." he said as he turned off the music. 

She took his hand, and went to his hammock. They laid down in it. 

"You get to go first." He said 

"Go first?" She said 

"Tell me your story baby.." he whispered 

She looked up at him, "I had Keely at 16, with my first boyfriend. I was young and dumb got involved with a senior bad boy who bounced when I told him I was pregnant. Then I met my late husband in the middle of my pregnancy.." she said 

"Late husband?" He said 

"Yeah, I'm a widow. He passed away a year ago..in a car crash. He gave Keely his last name when she was born, we got married he joined the military. I did online college..we were expecting our third baby. Sadly I lost him and the baby that night I was in the car too." She said 

"Oh my gosh Bri baby..I..I am so sorry." He said as tears welled in his eyes. 

"Jax was so excited when we had Brody, he couldn't wait to teach him how to play football and baseball take him fishing. But he had 3 more years..two of them he was deployed..he had only been home 3 months when the accident happened..I was a shell and lost." She said as he wiped a stray tear. 

She smiled at him, "He's always watching Bri. He's in a better place now and watching from heaven." He said 

"I know..now it's your turn." She said 

Bucky took a breath, "Maggie the kids mom has been an absentee mom since she got pregnant with Whitley. But even before that we had our problems..I..she. She and I never got along cause she was all about living it up..I married her cause I thought it was the right thing to do because we had Whitley at 18. But Maggie never grew up, even after we had Zane it just got worse. I was going to join the military then college. But things just didn't go the way I had hoped..we weren't even together when she got pregnant we were broken up but still sleeping together." He said 

"Why did you divorce?" She said 

"I got a call one night from my mom saying the kids were with her. That Maggie dropped them off. I called her and she was at the club..so I told her I was done and kicked her out. Right before she told me about Zane I was thinking about leaving but then my dad was going on about how proud of me he was for sticking by her even though things can get tough for us." He said 

Aubri looked down, "What?" He said 

"The night of the dance she was upset. I saw her face when Keely said I bedazzled her dress..she was upset cause she didn't have a mom that does that." She said 

"Yeah.." he said as he leaned down and kissed her. 

They hung out a little longer, and then said goodnight around midnight. The next morning as Bucky was headed to work he turned on his Apple Music. 

The first song that started to play was "Don't Let Her." By Walker Hayes. As the song played chills went down his spine with every word. It felt like Jax was speaking to him from the grave. He was shaking by the time he got to work. 

He wasn't the only one with chills, Aubri had chills as "If The Sun Comes Up" by Trace Adkins played in her car.