Page 121 of Possibly Texas

The breeze picked up, sending my hair flying everywhere, and I found my eyes drawn to the large tree behind the headstone. Shadows are one thing, but the dark figure standing beside the tree was no shadow. For some reason, I didn’t find myself startled at the sudden appearance of Malia.

She said nothing; made no move to communicate. I stared deeply into the darkness of her hood before glancing back at the headstone. My smile grew and I looked back to her. With a slow nod, which she returned, I carried on down the road. I didn’t look back

1234 by Feist was playing on Auggie’s radio at the barn. I was barely past the south end of the graveyard when I heard it on the breeze. Auggie seemed to be playing his music louder than usual that night. Maybe he was getting jazzed up in anticipation of finally achieving his goal with his installation art. He’d been working on it before I’d arrived in Possibly, and a few months later, it was possible his end goal was in sight.

Couldn’t blame the guy for going a little overboard with the volume.

As I approached the barn, I spotted Auggie at his worktable through the barn doors, which were cracked and shooting a blade of light out across the walkway leading up to the building. I thought to knock, considering that I wasn’t sure where Auggie and I still stood, but I knew he wouldn’t hear me over his music. Of course, the doors were only cracked for one reason—my arrival. There was no reason to be overly polite.

I pulled one door open just enough to squirm between the two doors, and let it shut softly behind me blocking out the rest of Possibly. It wasn’t immediate, but Auggie seemed to sense the change in the barn and turned to find me standing just inside the closed doors. He gave me a careful smile as he leaned, nearly laying on the worktable top, to lower the volume on his radio. Once the volume was at a reasonable level so that we could hear each other, he spoke.

“You’re late,” he said simply.

I grasped at my pocket, searching for my phone before I realized I had left it on my bedside table.

Did I cause Auggie to miss his chance at another go in the maze?

When I looked back over at Auggie, prepared to apologize profusely, he was grinning at me.

“Turd,” I said.

“Your timing is perfect,” he said. “Just like last time.”

“Oh,” I said, smiling cautiously, “good.”

“We’ve got a few minutes, so…”

I nodded. “Yeah. So…”

“How’s Jack?” Auggie asked quickly to fill the silence between us that the music couldn’t quite fill. “I haven’t talked to him in a few days.”

“He’s good,” I lightened. “He’s really good. He asked me if I’d help him with his next project. We start tomorrow. We’ll see after that if he wants my help anymore.”

Auggie chuckled.

“Him and Sofia kind of have a thing going on,” I said, to which Auggie’s eyes grew wide. “I saw them at the dance the other night. Then again today at the post office. They—”

“So…Jack’s the letter writer? Shirlene’s mysterious admirer?”

I shook my head. “I thought that, too. But no. Jack promises it isn’t him. And I didn’t check to see if there’s a new letter today.”

“There was,” Auggie said.

“Crap,” I kicked at the floor playfully and ventured further into the barn, closer to Auggie. “Did you read it?”

Auggie looked at me like I was crazy, which made me laugh and walk over to finally join him at the table, though I gave him space.

“Something like, ‘I release my love as it cannot be, and hopefully, we meet again as friends one day’, but I’m paraphrasing, obviously,” Auggie said with a sigh.

“Yikes,” I said. “Do you think that means the letters will stop?”

He shrugged. “It’s not like the letter writer will tell us. And Shirlene is pretty quiet. Only one way to find out, right?”

“Right,” I chuckled.

Auggie looked up at the skylight, then checked his phone. My eyes followed his up to the ceiling, wondering if we would have to continue filling the silence or if the time for the maze had come.

“So,” Auggie said, “do you think you’ll beat me at my own maze again tonight?”