Swallow Me Whole novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: Cherry Wood
"Open it," Ashton said.
The box was a plain cigar box he had sanded smooth and rubbed with oil.
It sat on my pillow in the lamplight of his bedroom.
I sat cross-legged on his quilt in a pair of his boxers and a tank top.
It was Tuesday night.
The window was open, and crickets sang in the yard.
He stood at the foot of the bed with his hands jammed in his pockets.
"It's not a ring," he said fast.
"I didn't think it was."
"Good. I want to be clear. It's not a ring."
I lifted the lid.
Inside, on a bed of folded flannel, lay a piece of wood.
I picked it up.
It was cherry, the red-brown of a good violin, and it was heavy and perfect in my hand.
He had carved it to a long, smooth curve, thick at one end and tapering at the other, with a flat base to hold.
The grain ran along it in warm swirls.
It had been sanded so fine that it felt like skin.
I turned it in the light.
"Ashton."
"I made it."
"I can see you made it."
"It's finished with food-safe oil."
"It's the same oil I put on the butcher block."
"I did nine grits of sandpaper."
"I tested the whole surface for a snag with a nylon stocking."
I looked at him.
"You tested it with a stocking."
"I'm thorough," he said, and went red to the ears.
I started to laugh, and then I did not laugh, because I realized that this was the most intimate gift anyone had ever given me.
It was warm in my palm.
It had taken him hours.
"Come here," I said.
He came around the bed.
"Take your shirt off."
He pulled it over his head and dropped it.
"Kneel."
He knelt on the floor beside the bed, at my level, with his big hands on his thighs.
"The toy is mine," I said. "You said so."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Swallow Me Whole are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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