Chapter 36
Scarlett
I take a healthy sip of wine as I sit down in my reading chair with my current read. I’ve been in this cottage for almost four months and I’ve read six books already. Six whole books. Once I finish one, I’m anxious to start another one.
Flipping the next page, I hear footsteps on the porch.
For a second, my stomach ties itself in knots.
The porch. The only person who so far has ever come to that porch has been Jake.
Once to tell me to get out of here, then to tell me to come stay with him, and finally to drop that belly flopper of a kiss and run.
I wonder what his visit will be for this time.
I bite my lip, trying to hold back the smile that spreads across my face like the Cheshire cat, and I get up from the comfort of my chair.
A quick check in the hallway mirror and everything looks alright enough to open the door.
Thankfully, I just got done cleaning so the cottage is suitable for visitors.
By the time I reach the door, a knock vibrates the wood.
I shift my shoulders, smooth down my favorite Taylor Swift t-shirt that I’m wearing and reach for the knob.
“Hurry up in there, I gotta pee!” comes a voice from the other side.
A female voice. I rip the door open and there stands all of my best friends on my front porch.
Mia has her hand poised to go in for another knock, Lydia is comforting Andee who is dancing around on the porch like a toddler, and Kenzie holds up a bottle of wine in one hand and a pack of seltzers in the other.
“What the fuck are you all doing here?” I ask.
“Trying not to pee my pants,” Andee says again and comes in for a hug. Her arms wrap around me quickly before she lets go and runs into my little house. “Where is it? You know what, nevermind I’ll find it.”
“I’m going to go put down the booze before I hug you,” Kenzie says.
Lydia and Mia come in at the same time for some sort of semi-awkward three way hug. Mia holds on the longest though and before I know it, there are tears threatening to spill over in my eyes. “What, Why, How?” My brain is rapidly firing questions for me to ask but I can’t complete anything.
Mia pulls back, leaving her hand on my shoulder and looks into my eyes. “I know you said you wanted to wait for us to visit but we couldn’t wait any longer.”
“But it isn’t perfect yet,” I say, my voice threatening to show my emotion.
“Since when do you think we care about perfection?” Lydia asks. “We miss your face and frankly, I’m tired of only seeing it on a screen. Now show us around.”
The three of us walk inside and I point my arms out wide, “Well, this is pretty much it.”
Lydia walks over to the kitchen and sees the antique stove “Is this original?” When I nod my head her jaw drops.
Mia heads straight for the reading corner. “I love how you added the lighting around your bookshelves,” she says.
“Yeah I had an all out war in the comments over those lights. A few people thought I was going to catch my books on fire with them.”
Andee comes out of the bathroom, takes a peek into the bedroom across the hall and then comes barreling in for a hug. “Sorry, I’m all good now,” she says. “My turn!” Lydia shouts as she makes her way to the bathroom where Andee came from.
“The house is a little small,” I say.
“Thank God,” Andee says. “Or else I may have had an accident.”
“I tried to warn you against that energy drink at the gas station,” Mia says. Andee waves her hand, dismissing Mia’s sage advice.
“We are so excited to see you,” Andee says, her attention back on me. “We miss you Scar.”
“Plus, we wanted to see that hot neighbor you’ve been hiding from us.” Kenzie said, coming in for a hug.
“I’ve not been hiding him from you, I’ve been acting like a completely normal person and not taking a picture or video of him without his knowledge.”
“Well, just know that we are the consequences of your inaction.” Mia says with a shrug.
“And I never even said he was hot,” I protest.
“Oh yes you did,” Lydia says coming from the bathroom.
“I’m pretty sure you guys are just assuming he’s hot. You little horn dogs.”
“Well, we’ll all just have to see, I’m assuming he lives in that cabin over there?” Andee says, pointing out the kitchen window.
“Yes,” I answer as I rush over and smack her hand down from pointing, “but let’s not draw attention to ourselves.”
“Oh, do you think he looks over here?” Kenzie teases.
“You know what, I hate you guys,”
“It’s a beautiful day though, let’s go pop these bottles of wine outside,” Mia says, giving a not so sly wink to Lydia and Andee.
She isn’t wrong, the weather has changed drastically.
It’s been a little more than a week since the snow storm.
Every day since I left Jake’s, the sky has been full of sun, completely cloudless, melting the snow as if it were never here.
The only thing that proves the snow was here at all are the little patches of snow in the shadows of the mountains.
Today is in the sixties and not long before the girls arrived I had just finished building the little greenhouse I purchased.
It won’t be anything quite like Jake’s, but it will be enough to sustain me.
There aren’t enough chairs out on the back deck, just the one outdoor rocking chair I purchased a few weeks before the storm hit, so the girls grab the dining room table chairs and arrange them out on the small deck outside the kitchen door. All with a perfect view of Jake’s estate next door.
It’s funny because now that I’ve gotten to know Jake, I can tell how much his property is like him.
It’s neatly arranged and organized. The log cabin ranch home sits facing the road, its covered front porch only containing one lonely rocking chair, same as mine.
There’s a small fenced yard between the cabin and Henrietta’s goat pen.
To the right of her pen spans the enormous greenhouse and beyond both of those are fields that I imagine Jake will plant when spring is actually here.
I’ve lived in Colorado long enough to know that this beautiful day in April is only a false spring.
I assume Jake will play sometime around Memorial day. Hence, the greenhouse.
“He’s got a lot going on over there,” Kenzie says and she leans forward in her seat as if she wants to make it more obvious that she’s staring.
“It’s a pretty sweet setup,” I say, instantly regretting it.
“Oh, a pretty sweet setup,” Mia mocks with the right side of her mouth quirked up in some mischievous half smirk.
“Yeah, I bet he’s got a pretty sweet setup,” Andee adds in with a painfully obvious wink.
“What kind of setup are we talking about here? Six inches, maybe seven?” Lydia asks. She tries to contain herself but ultimately fails, ending in uncontrollable laughter, joined in by everyone else.
“Guys, I have not slept with him,” I say, chuckling lightly along with them.
“Yet.” Kenzie says with a complete straight face. No winks, no chuckles. Complete confidence that I will sleep with him at some point.
“Let us know what setup he has when you do,” Lydia adds, wiping tears from her eyes from the laughter.
“Yeah, do you think it has any curvature, or do you think it’s just a lightning rod?” Mia asks, facing Andee.
“You know, that really requires seeing the guy in the first place. Where is he? Isn’t he supposed to be a farmer? Aren’t they outside all the time?” She moves around in her chair as if he is outside but just not in her view.
“You guys couldn’t be more painfully obvious right now.” I say, slapping Andee on the shoulder to get her to sit like a normal human being again.
“All jokes aside Scar, we just miss you and want the best for you.” Lydia says.
Before I can respond Kenzie pulls a pair of sunglasses out of nowhere and says, “Shh, the show is starting.” I glance over at Jake’s just in time to see him come out the back door. I sink down in my chair like I can disappear if I try hard enough.
“Wow, he is a big fella,” Mia says, taking a sip of her wine.
“Yes he is,” Andee says, practically drooling. Jake goes into Henrietta’s pen and disappears from sight for a few seconds and I feel four sets of eyes land on me.
“Bitch, you better sleep with him or I might,” Kenzie says. Jake comes back out of the pen with a fifty pound bag of feed over one shoulder, “yep, you better get on that.”
“And she means literally,” Lydia adds. The girls howl in laughter but I sit and watch Jake’s wide frame as he disappears again into the chicken coop.