12. It’s Called A Scrunchie?
It’s Called A Scrunchie?
Bree
F our days.
I heeded my warning and stayed away from Arlo, so I haven’t had any other messages, but that just has me pissed off and on edge. I went back to work—if you could call it that. I mostly just sat at my desk staring at the doors, knowing they were ones I couldn’t lock to hide behind so anyone could come wandering in.
Jenna keeps checking in, asking if I’m okay because she can see that I’m not, but she also knows better than to push.
Now, as I head home, waving to Merv through the diner window as he chats to customers and to Missy as she laughs with a client, I feel sad. I have always loved this town. I love my life here. Granted, I am lonely, but I had my family, my dream job, sort of, my cottage that I worked my ass off for, but now, if I could run to the ends of the earth, it wouldn’t be far enough away.
Nolan has stripped my life of the joy it once held, and now, it’s an empty shell. All the bones are still here: my home, my family and friends, my job, but there’s no meat on them now. I’m trapped. A prisoner inside my own life.
This thing with him has me questioning everything, and not because of his actions, but because of mine. I'm supposed to be a cop, but I have no idea what I’m supposed to do next, and he knows that. He’s mocking me, my inexperience, the small town department I busted my ass to set up.
Is that what he wants out of this—to laugh at the woman calling herself a chief in a crimeless town? All I know right now is that I’ve fallen into the trap of obeying my stalker just to keep him at bay, and that shit is pissing me off.
Hiding from this, obeying his demands—it’s not me, it’s not who I am, and honestly, in my more lucid moments, I wish he would just hurry up and make his move because I want to look him in the eye when he gets what’s coming to him.
As I approach the cottage, I’m met with the sight of Arlo in his front yard, and I slow my steps, watching.
‘Yes, good boy.’ He reaches out to hand Beans a treat before making him sit and issuing some other command that I can’t hear. Beans runs off around the yard and brings something back to be given the same praise and another treat, and I realize I’m standing still at the bottom of my path, watching.
‘Afternoon, chief,’ Arlo calls out, making me glance down at my uniform. He’s seen me in it already but with nothing more than a ‘morning,’ or ‘afternoon,’ as a passing greeting. His addressing me as a cop makes me feel strange. I don’t know why.
‘Hi, what are you working on?’ I ask, acknowledging the training and Arlo approaches, making my heart kick up the same way it always did.
‘Scent work.’ He pulls out a rag from his back pocket, offering it to Beans to smell, then sending him off. He searches around for a minute before bringing back a matching rag to praise and a treat.
‘He’s smart.’ I smile, and Arlo nods, then eyes me curiously.
‘Gimme your hair tie thingy.’
‘My scrunchie?’ I question, amused, and he grimaces.
‘It’s called a scrunchie? That’s like, the real name?’
I can’t help but laugh as I reach up and pull it out of the bottom of my braid. ‘Yeah, that’s the name.’
‘Man, that’s stupid.’
Smiling, I hand it to him, ignoring the butterflies as his fingers brush mine, and I bring up my hand to loosen out my hair. I don’t miss the way his eyes flick up to take in my long brown hair, now wavy from the braid, and I squash down the memories of him running his fingers through it once upon a time.
‘Go up to your porch,’ he says, handing me a dog treat, and I turn, walking away to take a seat as he holds out my scrunchie to Beans. One glance back at me, and he sends Beans off to follow the scent. The dog searches his own yard first before quickly realizing his nose is leading him to mine.
I watch, a wide smile on my face as Beans sniffs along the path leading to me, and as he reaches my porch, I swear he’s smiling just as wide. His tail wags so hard his whole butt wiggles as I give him the treat.
‘Good boy, Beans,’ I say enthusiastically, reaching out to stroke his ears and his massive head.
‘Treats and scratches, you trying to steal my dog’s affections, sugar?’ Arlo asks as he steps up, and I shrug.
‘Hey, you knew the risks when you sent him my way.’ He smiles and sits in one of the other chairs without invitation, and I quickly realize that I don’t feel nervous or anxious in his company. I feel calm.
‘He’s a good dog,’ he muses as he watches Beans lay his head on my knee.
‘He’s beautiful. How old is he?’
‘Three, just over.’
‘You’re just a baby,’ I say to the beautiful brown eyes gazing lovingly up at me, and I laugh. ‘You can look at me like that all you want. I don’t have any more treats to give you.’
Arlo’s deep, rumbling chuckle next to me has me turning to look at him, and he meets my eye.
‘Sorry, I was a dick the other day.’ His words surprise me. ‘I guess seeing you threw me off.’
‘Yeah, you and me both.’
He holds out my scrunchie, and I grip it, pulling as he holds on, stretching it before letting it go and standing with a smile on his face.
Without another word and simply a click to call Beans, Arlo, and his beautiful dog make their way down from the porch and away, and I pull out my cell, waiting, knowing it’s coming before it does.
Unknown : I warned you, princess. I don’t like having to repeat myself.
And for the first time, pissing him off doesn’t feel scary. It feels necessary.
T he bar is busy but not uncomfortably so. Given Zoe is the owner, we have no trouble getting a booth big enough for us all, and as the couples file in, I, once again, find myself sitting in a chair at the end of the booth. My three favorite couples fill the seats in front of me, and a bucket full of bottled beers sits on the table between us.
I didn’t want to come, my head has been spinning, and I just wanted to shut myself away, but it was Zoe and Cara’s first night out after having the babies, and it would have been really shitty for me to miss it. I’m on edge, though. I didn’t sleep a wink last night.
For all my bravado and confidence that pissing him off was the right thing to do and that I needed him to make his move, in the dark and quiet of night, when the tiredness took over, and every creak of my old cottage had me trembling and on edge, it became too much. I sat with my gun in my hand, huddled up on the floor of my closet, terrified and convinced Nolan was coming for me.
I thought about Arlo, too. Sitting awake all night left me with a lot of time to go over everything, from our time together, the way it ended, and his cool demeanor towards me now. It hurt, remembering how it felt to lose him back then, then it pissed me off the way he talked about us the other day on his porch.
First, he acted like we were nothing. He broke my heart like we were nothing, and it was like he was rewriting the history we shared.
Even while I was crying myself to sleep back then, I knew what we shared was real. Then, I was left to wonder if maybe I was just a way for him to pass the summer before he cut me off and moved on to his fall girl. He was part of an motorcycle club, for fucks sake. Those men fuck a new woman every hour.
Maybe I wasn’t even the only one that summer. Maybe I was just convenient and easy at the time, but then he looks at me the way he did yesterday, and I know he remembers it the way it was. Special, perfect, and the memory of him pushing me out of his life hurts all over again.
‘Ooh, Arlo, hey.’ Missy waves excitedly, and I swallow, straightening in my seat. Fuck. He came.
‘Hey,’ his deep voice drawls behind me, and I smell his cologne. I can’t help but inhale the delicious scent, noting how different it is from that of the man who has me running scared.
‘Join us,’ Cara says, gesturing to the empty seat next to mine, and the guys all look up to take in the man.
‘You sure I’m not intruding?’
‘Not at all, man,’ my brother says, holding out his hand. ‘I’m Doug.’ The fact that he doesn’t squeeze and has a welcoming smile on his face tells me neither Cara nor Zoe has filled him in on the past.
‘Arlo.’ He shakes Doug’s hand and then looks at Leo. ‘Leo, right?’
‘Yeah, I thought I recognized you. I tattooed you a few times.’
‘You did, small world.’ He shakes Leo’s hand, and then Nick holds up his.
‘Hey, I’m Nick.’
‘The town vet,’ Missy says proudly.
‘Nice, I have a dog who is pretty much the most important thing in the world to me, so I’ll be seeing you.’
Nick smiles wide, and Arlo turns his attention to me.
‘Bree, how are you tonight?’
‘I’m good, thank you.’ I turn to meet his gaze, and he holds it, his ice eyes imprisoning me.
‘So, Arlo,’ Doug says, making Arlo turn to him, ‘what brought you to Forest Falls?’
And with that, my favorite people in the world welcome him with open arms. I listen as they chat, laugh, and get to know each other, and I can’t contribute. I try, but I feel like I’m not really here. I feel like I’m floating, watching this man fit in with these people better than I do right now.
Without a word, I stand and walk away, needing some space and finding myself at the bar.
‘You okay, twinnie?’ I turn to find Zoe smiling at me softly.
‘I’m fine.’
‘He’s kind of charming.’
I shake my head, smiling at her turnaround. After she called me the morning after meeting him to tell me not to let him back in and how she wanted to kick his ass, now she thinks he’s charming.
‘Motherhood has made you soft.’
She laughs and nods. ‘I know. I’m sorry. Do you want me to hate him? Because I will.’
‘No, I don’t want you to hate him. I’m guessing by the fact that the guys seem to like him, you didn’t tell Leo or Doug I have a history with him.’
‘No, we figured that was your story to tell, not ours. Also thought Arlo could use some guy friends in his new town, so didn’t want to set him up on the back foot.’ Jesus, she really has gone soft. ‘It was real, wasn’t it, what you two had?’
Nodding, I search for the words.
‘Realest thing I ever felt.’
‘And he didn’t feel the same way?’
‘He did.’ Arlo’s deep voice causes Zoe and me to turn surprised, and my eyes meet his. ‘Can I have a minute, Bree?’ Zoe squeezes my hand and steps away as Arlo takes her place at my side. ‘Can I get you a drink?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘How about a dance then.’ I turn to him, and he smiles softly. ‘For old time’s sake?’
Releasing a laugh, I stare at him, one eyebrow raised. ‘Old times?’
‘Yeah, we have a lot of history, right?’
‘Asshole.’ The word is soft on my lips, lips that are betraying me by curving up.
‘Thank you for letting me join you and your friends tonight, Bree.’
‘Well, I didn’t invite you,’ I sass, and he laughs.
‘True, but you didn’t uninvite me either.’
As the music changes, Arlo holds out his hand, and I take it, letting him lead me to the dance floor. He wastes no time or space, pulling my body flush with his and making my breath hitch.
‘I missed that sound,’ he says softly, close to my ear, and I close my eyes, breathing him in. His hand on my lower back holds me close while the one holding my hand brings it to his chest, and my heart is racing. ‘Smile, pix, dancing is supposed to be fun.’
I look up to find him smirking, and I smile as we move, and I know I’m in trouble. This man came ready to play, and I feel like I’m going to struggle to keep up.