“Yes, those words. But shucks is perfect. It combines both of them, yet it’s not a swear word.”
“Does swearing bother you?”
She raised her eyebrows. “I’ve lived here almost four years. It doesn’t bother me. There’s many ways to color a language. People swore in the village, too. I’m trying not to fall into the habit. I will be teaching children in the near future, after all.” And with that last sentence, his doubts surfaced again. She would be teaching…in India. She might as well be on the moon.
She nibbled on a slice of cucumber. She always seemed to be picking at food. The girl ate like a bird. He thought about remarking on it, but he knew better. Never comment on a woman’s diet or her weight. Rules to live by.
“What are the other meanings for shucks?” she asked.
“It has many definitions. It can be a husk on the outer layer of corn. Or it can mean worthless.” She gave him a questioning look so he offered an example, dropping his voice slightly. “Like I don’t give a shucks about what we do as long as we do it together.” Her face flushed slightly, her smile turning suggestive. Encouraged, he dropped his voice a few octaves more. Test the water, Dorsey, but don’t fucking dive in! “Or it could mean to discard.”
“Discard?”
“As in peel off. For example, she shucked off her black T-shirt in a hurry.” His feet dipped into the complicated waters he’d avoided, waters that could heat up to boiling point if they kept creeping down this dangerous path.
“I see. So if I said, do you mind if we don’t shuck tonight, that would be a proper use?”
Nick opened his mouth to respond, to try to eat up the words already spilling out into the atmosphere, but she held up her hand, and her lips parted slightly. “But I hope we do shuck one day.”
Naughty girl.
He didn’t have to worry about diving in. She’d just pushed him. “That’s not the right way, but who the hell cares? Words are flexible. They can bend, contort, twist.” Ironically, he’d just described many of the same things he wanted to do with her. He stood and stretched. “I was wrong.”
“About what?”
“You are not a shy girl.”
“What am I?”
“It’s probably better I stop trying to define you.” No definition…only discovery.
“I am shy, but not with you. I’m not fragile. I won’t wilt.”
“I know.” He stood up and cleared their plates. “Unfortunately, the plant you bought me may not be as lucky.”
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