Autumn Blush

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“Ouch!” I snapped my hand back from the cutting board, strewing carrots across the counter and tumbling over the side around my bare feet. I motioned for a clean cloth with my one good hand while keeping my throbbing finger out of sight, balled in a fist at my chest. I was unsure if I had actually broken the skin when my knife skated over my thumb but I felt just squeamish enough that I would save that discovery for the last second. It was absolutely my fault for thinking it was a good idea to bake in the dark. Or by candlelight, anyway. It was the first real week of autumn that I had breathed brisk, earthy air into my lungs, which apparently came with an urgent notice to fill my home with lit candles, soft jazz, and an attempt to bake something completely beyond my level of expertise. Ugh, there was blood. 

As I wrapped the cloth tightly around my hand, holding the end within my grip, I heard a sudden knock at the door. I tiptoed lightly around the counter to steal a glance from my entry-door window. A habit I had absorbed from my true-crime tormented mother. 

It was my neighbor. 

I sighed a relief and walked over to open the wreath-decorated alder door. There he stood in corduroy slacks, a loose, white button down and a cheeky grin. 

“What are you, a vampire?” I chided, holding up my wrapped hand for display.

“What are you, a mummy?” Conley quipped right back.

I squinted my eyes at him, “touché.” 

I took a large sidestep to allow him in. As he entered, he moved in close to me immediately to examine my hand. Why was my heart pounding all of a sudden? 

“What happened here?”

“Pumpkin-carrot cake with vegan cream cheese icing,” I squeaked out.

He let out an abrupt laugh, “what?”

“Well, the carrot anyway…I didn’t get to the pumpkin…or the cake,” I sighed, “..or the icing.”

He nodded solemnly with a twinkle in his blue eyes. Wait, what was he doing here? I immediately became very aware of my candlelit home and pajama set attire. Had my hand not been dripping, it would be the exact romantic font for a night in. Dripping.

“Oh my god, I have to fix this, hold on.” I scurried away to my medicine cupboard that I kept packed away in my broom closet. “What can I do you for, anyways?” I shouted over my shoulder as I crouched further into the shelving.

“Well, it looks like you may be all out of cups of sugar,” I could hear the jest in his voice as he took further steps in and around the mess of a kitchen. “Honestly…, I just wanted to see you.” 

He did? 

“You did?” I snapped my head up, smacking the top of my head with an audible bang “Ow!”

“Oh jeez!” He rushed over and put his hand atop my head. “But I can come by another time,” he laughed, “..Are you okay?”

“Yeah…sorry,”

“Don’t apologize to me! Here, let me help out and you just focus on…ya know, not self-combusting,” He joked but I couldn’t imagine a reality in which my cheeks weren’t bright pink within this close proximity of him, looking the way I did. Not to mention, looking the way he did. Plus, he had that whole midwestern sensibility about him that I found so charming. 

I was feeling embarrassed and far too accident-prone to take any of this cooly. 

Grabbing the first-aid kit that I had uncovered, he opened it and combed over the contents for a moment before pausing and pursing his lips, “...You don’t have any bandages?”

“I..I’m allergic to adhesive, so I take the cotton pads and secure it with a gauze roll and pins.” I said sheepishly, feeling the pink of my cheeks turn redder.

“Ah, yes of course.” He smirked and started pulling out the cotton pads and ointment to replace my stained cloth wrap. More embarrassment quickly filled my body and I tried to take a deep breath to stave off the redness of my cheeks.

“I know, pretty big flaw, huh?” I laughed.

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t say that,” He said, now fastening the gauze roll gingerly.

“I would say...you're pretty flawless,” he finished the last word slowly, locking his eyes back on mine with a smile playing on his lips.

Crimson.