He said goodbye from the edge of the porch

He said goodbye from the edge of the porch
Like she'd been some casual friend
He said, "You're better off without me
I'm not what you need"
Like her mama had said about him

He started the car, pulled out of the drive
didn't waste any time lookin' back
she watched him go thinkin', even a stranger
would show more compassion than that

Anna stood in front of the screen door with her nine month old daughter held close to her as she stared with resignation at Cody. He stood at the edge of the covered porch of the two bedroom house they shared. After two years and a daughter together he was leaving her; leaving them.

While Anna had been out grocery shopping earlier with the baby Amy Lynn, Cody had been here at the house packing his things and carrying it in loads to the new place he was staying at. When he had returned for the last of his things Anna had already returned home and was making a bottle for Amy Lynn who had been screaming since they had entered the door from both hunger and need of a nap. The look on Cody's face when Anna had seen him standing in the kitchen observing the scene was all she needed to know what was coming. As he stared at Amy Lynn, not even trying to console his crying daughter, Anna could see in his eyes a look similar to that of a trapped animal. Without saying a word he turned around and walked out the door.

Anna had picked up the baby and made comforting shushing noises while bouncing her gently in her arms as she followed Cody outside. "I can't do this any more Anna. I'm too young to be a father, I've still got my whole life ahead of me and I don't want to spend it being tied down." In truth Anna had seen this coming; Cody had been distant ever since the baby was born. She had tried to be the best wife to Cody that she could be: she made sure his laundry was done; she got up early every morning to fix his lunch for work and had dinner hot and ready on the table when he came home to a clean house. Still, no matter what she did nothing could make Cody happy again. He was always fussing about the noise when Amy Lynn would cry; he complained that Anna didn't want to have sex with him any more, that he was a man and had needs that weren't being met. When Anna had told her mother about the situation, hoping to get some advice on how to fix things her mother had shook her head and said Anna would do much better by herself, that Cody wasn't the one for her, but Anna had insisted on finding a way to make things work.

When Anna didn't say anything in reply Cody sighed and shook his head, "You're better off without me Anna, you and tha baby…" Anna frowned at Cody, "Amy Lynn" she said, "Ya know, Ah can't think of a single time ya have evah called her by her name. It's always been 'tha babeh'." Cody shrugged then and shook his head, "Fine, Amy Lynn. Tha fact still remain that yall are bettah off without meh, I ain't the kind of man ya need Anna, nor the kind of daddeh for her."

"Goodbye Anna." Cody finally said after a long silence, and then just like that he got in his car and drove out of their lives forever. Anna wanted to scream at him for giving up on them, for running out like he was, for being so thoughtless and casual about it, but all she could do was stare after him and think a random person on the street would have been more caring and tactful with the situation than he had.

She could have cried
But she didn't have the time
She had a baby to feed
A pink blanket to find
To rock their little one to sleep
She could have laid in bed for hours
Givin' misery the power
But she didn't have time

Sure, Anna could have dropped where she was, baby and all, and had herself a pity party using tears as confetti, but she didn't. There was too much to do now, Amy Lynn still had not had a bottle or a nap yet. She went inside the house that now seemed so empty and grabbed the bottle she had been making before Cody came home. Walking in to the nursery Anna looked around for the pink blanket she always wrapped Amy Lynn in. When she had found it, she sat down in the rocking chair with the baby and rocked until Amy Lynn had fallen asleep in her arms.

She got a sitter, and she got a job
'cause she had a promise to keep.
Her day was a factory and evening survival
at night was exhaustion and sleep
sometimes she felt life was passing her by
and watching was all she could do
her friends said "you gotta get outta the house
and maybe you'll meet someone new"

Anna wiped the sweat from her brow as she exited the factory and got in her car. The heat was unbearable sometimes in the factory with all the machines running and the bodies of all the other workers, combined with the fact the place had no air conditioning at all. Going outside offered little in the way of relief; summer in the South was notorious for being scorching. After a long, hard day like the one she just had Anna always found it so tempting to just walk in to the boss's office and tell him she quit; but she couldn't. Every single time she thought of quitting she saw Amy Lynn's face and that was enough to make her throw her back in to her work and keep at it no matter how hard or hot it was. Back when Cody had left Anna made a promise to Amy Lynn that she would never be lacking for anything; she would always have a good home, food on the table, and nice clothes to wear. Amy Lynn would not be forced to suffer because her father wasn't man enough to stick with them.

She had kept her word; Amy Lynn had everything she could possibly need, even if it meant sometimes Anna did without. That was the price of being a parent though; you always put the child ahead of yourself. Only on rare occasions did Anna join her friends for lunch or dinner so they could catch up with each other. Her friends were always doing something new and exciting; one was starting a new job with a big company in town, another working on getting her Masters, while still another was planning a wedding. All things that Anna could have been doing if her life had not changed with Amy Lynn's birth. Sure she had already tried the marriage route, but the other things like going to college, or working at a job that didn't involve a factory and nights laying awake in bed with stiff muscles and a sore body, those things Anna could have had if things had been different. Still, Anna knew even though it seemed like everyone she knew was moving ahead in life while she seemed to remain firmly in one place, there wasn't a thing she would change because of the joy her sweet little girl brought her.

Times when they were out together, her friends would always tell her to get out of the house more often, go out to a club or bar once in a while just to loosen up and have a good time. How would she ever meet anyone if all she ever did was go to work and come home, they would ask her.

She could've tried
but she didn't have time,
she had a five year old to feed
she had ballet class, piano lessons
and t-ball little league.
She could've laid awake for hours
giving lonely nights the power
but she didn't have the time.

They didn't understand though, she couldn't do those things. The sitter was expensive enough just to watch Amy Lynn while she had to work without adding additional time just for Anna to go out and spend even more money. Things were different when you were a single parent and no one could really understand what that was like unless they were one them self. Even if she really wanted to, there wasn't time for it between taking care of Amy Lynn, driving her to ballet class, the piano lessons she had begged for, not to mention her t-ball games and practices during the summer. During those hectic times when Anna was being pulled in a million different directions, she wondered what it would be like if Cody hadn't left, if there was an extra person to shoulder all the responsibilities and duties with her; someone to talk to at night after the day was through about everything that was going on. Wondering never changed anything though, and what ifs didn't count for diddly squat so it wasn't often Anna entertained those thoughts. Every night she forced herself to clear her mind of everything and go to sleep, because staying awake and worrying herself to death in the dark wasn't going to help matters, it wasn't going to make things any better.

Not time where would she find the time
to trust a man again?
Not time for that flat tire
a crowded parking lot and then,
not time but yes have coffee with the man
that got her tire fixed.
She was thinking 'gosh he's handsome',
when he asked "do you have kids?"

"Look Betsy, Ah'm gonna have to call ya' later, Ah gotta get these groceries in tha car." Anna said as she pushed a buggy full of groceries down the isle of the parking lot towards her car. Anna flipped her phone shut and slid it in her back pocket as she got closer to her car. It wasn't until she had the buggy right there at her bumper that she noticed the flat tire on the back passenger side of the car. "Oh come on! Ya gotta be kiddin' me!" she hollered at the car. Anna drew her foot back and kicked the flat tire in her frustration; this was not something she needed to deal with right now. There wasn't a spare tire in the trunk to use and Anna didn't have the money to buy one, and even if she did how was she going to get to a store that sold them when she was stuck at the grocery store?

'It's fine, Ah'll just call Betsy once Ah load tha groceries in tha car and see if she can lend me the money for a new tire.' Anna told herself. As she loaded the groceries in the car someone else was waiting in the isle for her spot causing a line to grow. Anna waved her hand at them to motion them on, but the grumpy old man behind the wheel shook his head in refusal to moving on down the line; he wanted her spot. With the last bag shut in the trunk Anna leaned against the car and pulled out her cell phone. The old man honked on his horn at Anna, obviously thinking she was purposely wasting time just to spite him. Drivers in the line behind the man copied the old man and honked their horns, though they were doing so at the man for holding up traffic. As Anna dialed Betsy's number the screen went blank. With a frown Anna pressed the power button and waited for the phone to come on again, the man persisted with his honking while Anna eyed with dismay the message "Low Battery!" before the screen went blank once more.

Yet again the man honked and Anna threw her arms out to the side and shouted "What do ya want meh t' do?? Ah got a flat tire, buddy!" At last the old man moved on, driving past too fast in the parking lot as a show of his anger. The honking ceased and traffic moved once again down the isle. Anna put her head down on the roof of the car and covered it with her arms, trying not to let the pressure push her to the point of tears. What was she going to do? Amy Lynn's ballet class would be over in another twenty minutes and when Anna didn't show up to get her she would think she had been forgotten.

Then like an angel when she needed one the most Anna heard a rich baritone voice laced with a Cajun accent, if she guessed right, "Pardon moi chere, but Ah can't help but notice y' be havin' some trouble." Anna sniffed abruptly and blinked away the tears forming in her eyes before turning to face the man. She was shocked in to silence at first when she looked at him, he was tall with a lean and agile frame, a black t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders and hard torso to taper down to a narrow waist cinched with a belt to hold up the battered jeans with the holey knees and scuffed up biker boots. His hair was a lovely auburn shade that looked just slightly red with the afternoon sun hitting it from this angle and it fell across his warm brown eyes on one side. Gosh, he's handsome, jus' look at tha man. Anna thought to herself.

Conscious of her own appearance now, Anna straightened up and tugged at her shirt and smoothed her dark hair, "Umm, yeah, Ah got ah flat tire with no spare. Ah was gonna call mah friend, but mah phone's dead." Anna said with a strained laugh.

The man gave Anna a lopsided grin that made him look just a little mischievous, "Well, it be a good t'ing Ah came a long den, oui?" Anna in return, "Ah suppose so, but what are yah gonna do? Like Ah said, ah got no spare."

He threw his hand up as he walked over to his car that was a few spaces down "Don' y' worry 'bout dat none, chere, Remy never let down a femme in need." After a few moments he returned with a jack and a spare tire.

Ten minutes later the man was lowering Anna's car from the jack and dusting off the parking lot dirt from his jeans and shirt. Anna pulled out her wallet, "How much do ah owe ya?" she asked. The man shook his head, "Not a t'ing chere, y' just promise to get y' a spare to carry 'round in y' trunk so dis don' happen again and we call it even."

Anna shook her head, "No, please, let meh give y' somethin'." The man looked at her for a moment before smiling again, "Bien, let meh take y' out fo' some coffee sometime." Anna was quiet at first thinking it over. She didn't have time for something like that, her schedule was so hectic and what if he was one of those men who was wanting more than just coffee as a thank you for services rendered? She had trusted a man once, and he had run out on her, who was to say that this man was any different. She should just give him what money she could spare and go on her way.

Friday afternoon later that week…

Anna laughed yet again at a story Remy had just told her. Ever since they had arrived at the little coffee shop it seemed all she had done was laugh. To think she had almost said no to him a few days ago. Once Anna had agreed to meet him they had made proper introductions and she learned her knight of the grocery store parking lot was Remy LeBeau from New Orleans, just relocated here to Mississippi a few months back, and happened to be a mechanic, working on everything from motorcycles to American muscle cars to foreign sports models.

The conversation paused long enough for Anna's laughter to subside and Remy to take a sip of his coffee, and then he started it up once more, "So, y' got any kids?"

She could've lied,
but she didn't have time,
all she said was "she's five."
He said "I saw the car seat, I love kids.
Does she have your eyes?"

And they sat and talked for hours,
giving destiny its power.
She could've been afraid
to fall in love that night,
but she didn't have time.

Yet again Anna found herself debating what to do, any time in the past five years she had actually spoke to another man, which was rare indeed, and they always disappeared without an explanation when they found out about Amy Lynn. Still, she rather liked Remy and was even allowing herself to hope he would ask to see her again, so it would be best to go on and answer the question straight forward without trying to save it for down the line. Her answer was simple, "She's five." But the reaction she got was not what Anna had expected.

Remy smiled big and nodded, "Yeah, Ah saw d' car seat when Ah was fixin' y' tire. Ah come from a big fam'ly, so Ah love kids; bet she belle jus' like her maman. So tell meh, she got y' eyes?"

After that moment Anna felt a sense of certainty from somewhere deep inside that things were going to work out alright from now on. There was something in that moment that told Anna everything she needed to know about Remy. They sat in that corner booth talking for hours until the shop was about to close for the night, only then did they head out to their cars to continue talking more; both reluctant to end the evening.

She could've been afraid
to fall in love that night,
but she didn't have time.

Yes, Anna could have guarded her heart once again, having been wounded deeply by Cody, but she didn't. She could hear her friends' voices in her head telling her over and over to find someone new, someone to love who didn't care if she was a single mom, someone who would accept Amy Lynn and love her too. So Anna did, and instead of being afraid to love someone again, she gave it another try that night at the coffee shop, because she didn't have time to waste on fear and mistrust. Her gamble had paid off and the reward was a kind and handsome man who was good to her and Amy Lynn, and that was all she ever wanted.