Chapter 7 Aiden
AIDEN
Lexi’s words still ring in my ears the next morning when we reach the Reilly place.
She’s planning to sell the property and move back to Jersey.
In my love-struck brain, I imagined the property would tie her to Hope.
She told me when I first met her she was only in town for three days, but I thought that meant to view the property and come back to live here.
I’ve been so caught up in these new feelings that are tying my body and heart in knots that my brain was too slow to catch up.
After she told me last night, she let out the biggest yawn I’ve ever seen, and I scooped her up and carried her upstairs to bed.
She was almost asleep by the time I laid her down.
I climbed into bed beside her, and she snuggled her body into mine.
I spent all night with my arms around her, thinking about how to make her want to stay.
While she slept, curled into my body, the most amazing sense of peace settled over me.
It was like the last time I boarded the plane to leave Afghanistan after my final deployment.
As we flew over the desert, the place where I’d witnessed death and endless missions with sand and dust everywhere, a calmness settled over me.
One like I’d never known during my deployment, followed by a sense that I shouldn’t feel such relief to be leaving it behind.
I didn’t know if we made a difference over there, and better men than me weren’t coming home, so how could I feel so hopeful?
But the farther I got away from Afghanistan, the more peaceful I became. A notion grew inside me that one phase of my life was over and a new one was beginning.
The feeling was similar with Lexi in my arms.
That I’m moving toward the next phase of my life, and it’s peaceful and warm and soft. All the things I craved while in the desert.
Is it wrong to feel this way? To have found the woman I want beside me in life? Is it wrong to feel so hopeful when we’ve just met?
But in the dark night, with her breathing softly by my side, I didn’t care about right and wrong. I didn’t care about the short time frame. I knew we belonged together. Lexi was mine.
But I can’t force her to stay. She has to come to that realization on her own.
The car door slams as Lexi exits the car, and it brings me back to the present. The place looks how we left it last night, with a black pit of charred furniture legs in the front yard.
Lexi holds up the property survey map the lawyers gave her with the key.
“It looks like the boundary extends into the woods.” She frowns at the line of dark trees behind the house. “Want to check it out?”
We walk carefully in the long grass, not sure what we might find in the undergrowth. There could be animals living here or discarded tools. From what Lexi told me about the inside of the house, it seems like the place was abandoned unexpectedly. Her father didn’t leave everything in a tidy order.
As we skirt around the fallen tree, I decide to return with a chainsaw as soon as I can to tidy it up and make it safe for her.
Ferns and ivy battle for space on the forest floor, making the path difficult to find. We push our way through the woods until we reach a small stream and pause while Lexi consults her drawing.
“The stream is the boundary on the north side, and the road is the boundary on the west.”
I peer over her shoulder at the drawing. “If we follow the stream, we should come to the boundary line to the east.”
We move off, and the ground is wet near the stream. Lexi’s white sneakers squelch in the mud. They’ll be ruined after this, but she doesn’t complain. I’ll take her shopping tomorrow and buy her a good pair of boots and some proper mountain clothes. Make sure she’s all set for the colder months.
The steam keeps pretty steady, and we follow it until Lexi spies a wooden stake painted white with a red top, the boundary marker.
She rests her hand on the top of it. “This must be the northeast corner.”
She peers across the boundary. It’s more woods, and through the trees, I glimpse another homestead.
“Who owns the land on the other side?” she asks.
Her map shows that the east side of her property borders several lots. I squint at the house through the trees. “I think that’s the Baxter place. Four sisters live there. They own Sweet & Strong, the bakery in town.”
“Oh.” She goes quiet.
“They do the best cream doughnuts and honey cakes. I’ll take you there this afternoon.”
“Have you tried their honey cakes?” She raises an eyebrow and folds her arms across her chest.
I chuckle. “You’re jealous.”
She squints at me. “Am not.”
I place my hands on her shoulders and pull her toward me. “You’ve got nothing to be jealous of, firefly. I’m wild about you.”
She remains stiff in my arms. “You’re right. I have no right to be jealous of the women you’ve slept with. You don’t owe me anything.”
I lean back to look at her because she needs to hear this.
“I haven’t slept with any of the Baxter sisters. I can’t even remember which one’s which when I go to the bakery. I haven’t slept with anyone since I arrived in Hope.”
She peers at me. “Is that true?”
“Honest truth. I’ve been figuring out life after the military, and I didn’t want to complicate it with a woman.”
She’s scrutinizing me, searching my face for the truth. She must find what she’s looking for, because she relaxes in my arms.
“Then why me?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I saw you, and something ignited in me.
Something bigger than you or me, and something I can’t stop.
I’ve been waiting for you, and I didn’t even know it.
” I take her hand and place it on my chest, over my heart.
“My heart came to life yesterday by the bonfire. You must feel it, too.”
Her eyes are shiny and her voice a whisper as she says, “Yes. I do. But I don’t know what it means.” She looks down. “I’m not experienced with men. I’ve never been with a man before, and I’ve got to go back home in two days.”
And there it is. The countdown that’s looming over us. Two days to prove to Lexi that this is where she belongs.
“What do you have to go back for?” I ask tentatively, hoping she’ll see what I already know. Her life is here with me.
“My mom and my studies. I’m doing a business degree. I need to finish it. I don’t want to waitress my entire life.”
A business degree. My girl is smart, too. No wonder she wants to get back.
I’m not such a caveman that I’ll ask her to give that up for me. But if the military taught me anything, it’s that there’s always a way to work the problem. And I’ve got two days to figure out how to give my girl what she wants while keeping her here with me.
While my mind gets to work on the solution, my body leans forward, drawn to her. “We’ll figure it out, firefly.”
I press my lips to hers, and my body follows as I press her backside against the boundary marker. Only it gives way, and my girl squeals as I catch her from falling.
The boundary marker lies on the forest floor with an empty hole next to it.
“That’s not very stable,” she says.
I crouch down to inspect the boundary marker.
The end that goes in the ground is pointed, and the wood looks old.
There’s a brown line about a third of the way up where it’s been stuck in the ground for years.
I pick it up and stick it back in the hole and push the loose dirt around it.
But it doesn’t go all the way in, and it’s wonky.
“That’s odd.” I push down on the marker, but the ground is hard here, and no matter how hard I push, the brown line showing where it’s been buried remains a few inches above the ground.
“It won’t go down any deeper.”
I glance at Lexi, and she gets it at the same time as I do. “Someone’s moved the boundary line.”