Chapter Eighteen
Daisy
The guys help me with dinner, and as we’re sitting at the table, resting our bellies, Gus slaps his hand on the table.
“Okay,” he says firmly. “I’m doing it today.”
“Doing what?” I ask, looking between the guys. None of them seem to know what he’s talking about.
“I’m going up the road to see if I can walk off the property.”
My brows shoot up, and Rhett and Wade share surprised looks as well.
“We’ll, uh… we’ll go with you,” Rhett says. “Right?”
“Yeah, of course,” I say.
“Definitely,” Wade says.
“All right.” Gus nods.
And then no one moves. An awkward silence falls over us. I clear my throat, reaching for my water for a sip. The days are getting hotter, and the nights aren’t any better. I’m showering twice a day just to wash the sweat off.
“Okay,” Gus says again, this time getting to his feet. “Okay, yeah. I can do this.”
“You can do this,” Rhett says, also standing.
“I’m just going to walk up the driveway, to the road and—ba-cawk!” He growls, clearing his throat. “Damnit. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I say, getting used to the random ba-cawking that goes on around this house.
Though, it has gotten better since Gus isn’t as sensitive and I avoid using the word “egg” and “coop” as much as possible.
But apparently, ba-cawking happens when they’re nervous too.
“Come on, Gus,” Wade says. “You’ve got this.”
Gus lets out a sharp breath, walking toward the door.
He leads the way all the way up the road with us following behind. When we’re ten feet from the boundary line, we all stop.
Across the road and up the dirt path is Ellen Mathews’ house. I would be worried about her seeing this, but if she were out here, we’d spot her. Her house is further back on the property than mine is, and without the hill, so there’s no way we’d miss her.
“Uh, maybe you should go up there and wait by the street. You know… in case a car is coming?” Gus suggests.
“Absolutely,” I say, walking past him and to the road, right where the pavement starts. I look both ways. “Coast is clear.”
“On the count of three,” he says loudly, taking a step forward and then bringing his foot back, like he’s preparing to run. He lets out a loud huff before jumping up and down a few times, pumping himself up.
“Three,” he says, shaking his head. “Two.” He shakes his hands out. “One.”
He hesitates just a second before taking long, quick steps to the road… right into the middle of it.
He stops, his body freezing, before he turns to face us…
And grins a mile wide.
“Hell yes!” he shouts, raising his arms and shouting to the sky.
I run to him, hugging him. He picks me up and swings me around, kissing my cheek a hundred times.
When he sets me down, I see Rhett and Wade waiting back on the property. Wade is cringing, while Rhett is giving a tired smile.
“Crap,” Gus says, taking my hand and hurrying back to them. “Come on, let’s get closer to the house.”
They don’t say anything as we go; we just make our way back to the house.
We find a movie to watch and squish on the couch together.
I’m not really tired, but I say I am to give the guys some privacy and go upstairs.
I don’t know what they talk about while I’m gone, but I hear them talking to one another, and a short time later, Gus comes up to bed. I pretend to be asleep, feeling a mix of emotions that I don’t want to talk about. Eventually, I fall asleep. And the morning brings a whole bunch of new problems.
Shouting wakes me. I jerk up, glancing at Gus, who is slowly waking. He’s groggy, wiping his eyes. The shouting gets louder, so I get out of bed and hurry downstairs. Gus is right behind me.
Wade and Rhett are screaming at each other in my living room, the blankets and pillows all over the floor.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I say loud enough they can hear me.
Wade looks at me, scoffs, then leaves the house. Rhett moves to go after him.
“Wait,” I say, stepping in front of him. “What happened?”
“He—“ He runs a hand down his face. “I woke up like this.” He waves his hands down his body.
I look at the door Wade just left out of.
“And he didn’t,” I surmise.
“No, he didn’t.”
“Give him some space,” Gus says, putting his hand on Rhett’s shoulder. “I know you feel bad, trust me, I felt bad too, but… give him some time.
I glance at Gus, giving him a reassuring smile before going into the kitchen to start breakfast.
Charlie has been taking care of the animals for me in the morning since I’ve taken on the task of turning these chickens back to humans. And he’s told me that Wade helps too, to keep himself busy.
I hear Gus and Rhett talking as I work on making pancake batter.
“What do you think happened?” Gus asks.
“I don’t know.”
“What was different about last night?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t.” There’s a pause as I crack eggs and put them into the mix. “I just…” He lowers his voice, but I can still make out what he’s saying. “I was thinking about things when I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was me.”
“What kind of things?”
“Just things, Gus,” he says, his voice louder again.
“Tell me what kind of things, Rhett. This could be important.”
He sighs again, and I mix the batter. “Just that maybe if we couldn’t fix this, staying here wouldn’t be so bad.”
“You’re serious?” Gus says, the excitement in his voice loud and clear.
“Yeah, why?”
“Yes!” Gus shouts. I hear footsteps coming this way. I turn to see Gus dragging Rhett behind him.
“What the heck, Gus?” He yanks his arm away. “What are you doing?”
“I was right,” Gus says excitedly. “About the curse.”
“What are you talking about?” Rhett says, looking from Gus to me.
“The night I stayed human, I thought that staying here wouldn’t be so bad as long as Daisy was here. I thought that maybe it had to do with our mindset, like the way we think. And after what you just said? That has to be it!”
Rhett looks between us. “You’re serious?”
“He did say that,” I say. “I’m not sure if it’s that or something else we’re missing, but it fits.”
Rhett blinks a few times. “We have to tell Wade.” He turns for the door.
“No!” Gus barks, grabbing his arm. “No, we can’t.”
“What do you mean we can’t?” Rhett barks. “We have to.”
“If you don’t let him come to the conclusion on his own, it may not work.
And if he does it and it doesn’t work… how will that make him feel?
” Gus says. Rhett’s brows furrow. “I think it has to be something in here.” He puts his hand on his chest. “It can’t be a shallow thing.
It has to mean something. I think that’s what this is all about.
Teaching us a lesson on being human. On having feelings.
On not treating people like crap over property. ”
“You came to all of that?” Rhett says. “All by yourself?”
“Well, yeah. Most of it right this very moment, but I’m not as stupid as you think I am.” He grins.
Rhett shakes his head. “Unbelievable.” He looks at me. “You agree with this?”
I shrug. “I don’t know as much as you all do, but Gus has been talking to me about it. And… well, it seems to be what’s going on.”
“And you agree about not telling Wade?”
I nod. “Yeah, I do.”
Rhett takes a deep breath, blowing it out. “Fine. But if he gets mad about this later, you can deal with it.”
Rhett goes out the front door, and Gus stands there, watching me.
“Let me help you with breakfast,” he says, leaning in to kiss my cheek.