10.

 

The sunlight streamed in through the back windows and lit up the cabin for the first time since Monica had arrived there. She smiled as she opened up one of the doors and let in some fresh air, at the same time she started to heat a frying pan on the stove.

She had been out at the crack of dawn and walked down to Main Street where she had found a grocery store and had stocked up on some essential supplies. Little by little, she was getting there, and the cabin was beginning to feel like home.

She started to make some eggs, and she put some bread into the toaster to brown nicely. She had fresh butter and milk from Grey Mountain’s own little store, and she had bought coffee and fresh juice too.

When she had finished rustling everything up, she put it all onto a tray and carried it toward the back door and went out onto the small veranda at the back of the cabin. It overlooked the woodland beyond, and even though there was only room for two chairs and a small table, she placed her tray down and decided to enjoy her brunch in the sunshine.

She had spent all night tossing and turning, thinking about Evan. She had had such a good time with him the previous evening, and he had been constantly on her mind since they had parted ways and he had given her a kiss on the cheek goodbye.

She had wanted to jump on him. She’d wanted to pull his rugged face to hers and kiss him just like she had done the night they had met, but they were both holding back and being reserved, it was like neither of them wanted to put a foot wrong.

When she had climbed into her bed at the cabin she had lay awake for hours replaying the whole evening in her head again and again. She remembered the way he had looked at her, the way he had been funny and cocky, bordering on arrogant, but then he would pull it back by being so unbelievably sweet and kind. When he had taken her to see Main Street, it was literally so romantic. The whole place was like something out of a movie, and there they were experiencing it together. She knew that it was Evan’s everyday world, but she could tell that it meant something to him, and he had wanted to share it with her.

She was practically swooning as she sat there eating her eggs and toast and sipping her coffee. He was all she had on her mind and she couldn’t shake him. He had lit something up inside of her, and now all she could think about was seeing him again.

As if the magic powers of the universe were at work, suddenly her cell phone pinged on the table in front of her and she held her breath.

When she looked down, she saw that it was a number she didn’t recognize, but she also had the feeling that she knew exactly who it was. She pressed open, and when the text appeared on her screen, she grinned as she could see there was a past conversation in there as well.

It was the conversation from when she had enquired about the cabin.

It was Evan.

She bit her bottom lip and tried not to grin too wide.

 

E: Good morning town girl, I hope you’re recovered properly now and got a good night’s sleep. I spoke to a lawyer and I have the paperwork. Shall I head over to the cabin tonight and we can take a look at it? E. 

 

Monica’s heart raged in her chest and she read the message over and over again. She didn’t want to stop reading it. She looked at each word individually and committed the entire thing to memory. She loved the way he had a nickname for her.

Town girl.

To him, she must have seemed completely different to all of the mountain women he was used to. She smiled and read the message again. She liked the idea of appearing different. She liked the idea of standing out.

She pressed reply and started to type…

 

M: Hey Mountain Man, sure that would be great. Thank you for looking into it. Would 8pm be okay? M x

 

She hit send and within a split second she had a reply.

 

E: That’s good for me, see you then! E x

 

She took a deep breath and sank back into the chair. Her food was going cold, but she no longer cared. She wasn’t hungry anymore. All she could think about or focus on was the fact that she was going to see Evan again in a matter of hours.

She drank the rest of her coffee and then she scooped up the tray with her half-eaten brunch on it and carried it back inside the cabin. She was going to have to get her ass in gear and tidy the place, as well as making sure she had put her own little stamp on it before he got there.

She tidied the kitchen area as quickly as she could and gave the floors a once over with the mop before she washed and dried the dishes and picked up her computer.

“Work for an hour,” she instructed herself. “Then once it’s done, it’s done.”

She went back out onto the veranda and she opened her laptop. As she flexed her fingers and prepared to bash out an award-winning blog post, she thought long and hard on what she could call it…

She smiled to herself as a little flicker of genius went off deep inside her mind.

How to Make the Most of Your Time in a Mountain Town

If anyone knew a thing or two about that, it was certainly Monica.

She laughed as she bashed away at the keys and just went for it. She had no idea what she was writing, but she was sure that by the time she had filled the page there would be something good in there that she could use.

By the time two hours had passed, she had written three pages and she had gone off on tangents about various different things. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. She felt as if her head was about to explode, and she knew she needed to call it a day.

She closed the computer and got to her feet to go back inside. As she wandered through the kitchen, she looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was four-thirty, and all she could think about was the fact that it wouldn’t be long before Evan was coming to join her.

She went through to her bedroom and flicked on the lights. It was a cozy little room, which smelled faintly musty, but not necessarily in a bad way. It was just clear that it had been lived in and not decorated for a while. She had hung up some colorful scarves around the walls, and she had cranked open the window and burned some incense to cleanse the place and make it feel more like home.

In her adjoining bathroom, she ran the water into the tub and pinned up her hair. She was going to sink down into it and the lovely rose oil she had dripped into it and let her entire body feel as if it was being delicately massaged.

She dipped in her toe and withdrew it quickly when she felt how scalding hot the water was. For some reason, she had thought that maybe the plumbing would be useless in the place and she would have to top up the tub with boiled water from the stove. But she was in luck.

When she slipped in and the warm water flowed over her, she closed her eyes and tried to free her mind from all stresses and worries. She was finally feeling settled in town, and she was beginning to really enjoy herself.

She suddenly got a rush of feeling, she wondered how it would be if she had never left her job at the bar, if she was working there right at that very moment, instead of having her adventure up on the mountain. And she knew she had made the right decision. She had never traveled anywhere, and this was going to be an experience to shape her and the woman she was becoming.

When she drained the tub and wrapped herself up in a big, soft, waffle towel, she padded back through to the bedroom and threw open the closet doors. Inside, she had arranged all her clothes, and she was wondering what she could wear that evening that would enhance all of her best features, but also look casual and effortless.

“It’s hard work being a woman,” she said with an eyeroll.

She reached into the closet and pulled out a pair of tight jeans that were ripped on the knee, a black t-shirt that she could knot up a little at one side, a black choker, and some black flats. She looked like she would look on any other normal day, except this time she was going to make sure her hair was done perfectly in a gentle wave, and her make-up would be just rosy and dewy enough to look like she was barely wearing any at all.

When she had finished, she stood back and looked at herself in the mirror. She had worked miracles on herself in the past, and she was now starting to think that she had pulled one off here too. She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and opened up the Notes app. She wrote down… how to perfect the I don’t care look… “Great, that’s something I can write tomorrow,” she grinned.

She wandered back through to the living and kitchen area and started to try and light the fire in the fireplace. It was difficult, and she hadn’t done anything like that since she had been a Girl Scout, but she was determined she was going to create a nice welcoming environment in the cabin and let Evan see that she was taking care of it.

She lit a few candles around the room which were scented and let the subtle twang of coconut and vanilla flow through the open space. She opened a bottle of sparkling water and poured herself a glass, and then she flicked on the TV for a bit of background noise and scrolled through the channels until she found something that looked easy, breezy to watch and something that would neither distract them too much or be so boring that there was no point in it being on.

She finally found a home renovation show and she left it on and sat back on the couch whilst she waited.

It was only seven-thirty and already her nerves were kicking in and her anticipation was high.

Should I be laying out some snacks? she thought. But then she shook her own head and banished the idea. Evan was coming to see her to talk about their annulment. He wasn’t coming for a date or to wine and dine her, or vice versa. She cursed herself for being so foolish, and then on the table her phone pinged, and she could see she had a message.

She picked it up and looked at the screen and her heart dropped.

She had been assuming she would be seeing Evan’s name, telling her that he was running a little late or that he was on his way… but instead the name peering back at her was none other than Reggie.

He still wasn’t going to let go.

She hadn’t heard from him in a day and she had hoped that she had finally managed to shake him.

It would appear she had no such luck.

She opened the message and read it slowly, and she felt sick to her stomach…

 

R: I know where you are Monica, and I’m coming to find you. We need to talk.

 

She put her head in her hands and tried not to feel overwhelmed. Reggie was out looking for her, and if he didn’t already know where she was, then he would no doubt be able to find his way.

“But how?” she said aloud.

As she looked up at the ceiling and prayed that it was just Reggie being weird, she heard the roar of a loud engine coming closer and closer. It was so loud that the ground seemed to shake underneath her feet. She stood up and walked quickly toward the window, and as she peered through the blinds she felt herself relax and light up inside.

It was Evan.

Riding a goddam motorcycle.

Just when she thought he couldn’t get any more perfect, he went and did this.

“Man, you are in so much trouble, Monica,” she whispered to herself. “So much trouble.”