Chapter Six

Hailey

My eyes blink open as the sun hits my face. I try to stretch my body, but it’s stiff, and my joints groan out in defiance when I roll over and hit the floor. That is what we get when you choose a blow-up mattress that sits on the floor. After huffing and puffing about our ‘dire’ situation, Crystal and I hit up Walmart. Let me just say we are so much more prepared now than we were last night when we arrived.

We had three carts overflowing with everything from cleaning supplies, to towels, to bed sheets, to a coffee machine, toaster, food, and our blow-up mattress. But we didn’t stop there. Nope, not us and our adventure.

Before we even made it into Walmart, we shopped at Country Sam’s Shop For Less Furniture and Supplies next door. Well, I have to say I was like a kid in a candy store. While Crystal made sure she had a king-size bed and matching armoire, I went on the hunt for our couch. And what a couch it was. We decided on two couches with big fluffy pillows; to me, it felt like sitting on a cloud. I was so excited that I bought even more throw pillows while Crystal sat on the couch the whole time. We added a white table with six chairs, which was a bit big since we didn’t know anyone here, but I know my family will visit. I picked the most feminine bed in the store. Fuck, if they’d had a pink one, I would have chosen that one. But I went with a white one instead. I couldn’t wait for them to deliver it Saturday.

I go to the bathroom and wash my face, then come out to the kitchen and start the coffee. I see that it is just after seven a.m. I slept a whole three hours. Once the coffee is made, I grab one of the throw blankets we bought and make my way outside.

When we arrived yesterday, I saw stairs off to the right that I knew led down to the ocean. Grabbing my flip-flops, I make my way outside, down my backyard steps, and walk over the short grass to the wooden stairs.

I stand on the top step and breathe in the salty air. Watching the water crash down on the shore as my hair flies in my face from one side, I smile at the calmness and peace that I feel at that moment.

Coming out in a tank top and cotton pants wasn’t my smartest move, so I wrap the blanket around my shoulders as I walk down the steps. My feet sink in the sand as soon as I step off the last step onto the sand. As I walk down the grass-lined path, I come to a wooden fence but half has fallen down. I get closer to the water, the sound louder as more and more waves crash.

I sit down, glad I brought the big blanket, and watch the waves come at me, careful to sit far enough back so I remain dry. The coffee in my hand gets cold faster than I can drink it. It’s almost like drinking iced coffee by the time I place the empty cup beside me. My thoughts take over, and I make mental lists of everything that needs to be done. I’m watching the waves so intently I don’t even see the little girl running along the water until I hear her giggles when the water touches her rubber boots.

Watching the carefree little girl makes me smile. I look back and see a golden lab run in the water and then back toward her. She stops running and puts her hand on the dog’s back. “Mila.” I hear a man’s voice yell out. “Mila. You’re too far,” he says again as the dog sits by her side. She waits for the man to come closer. He is wearing pants and a sweater with a baseball cap on, covering his eyes.

When he gets closer, she turns and runs ahead, but when her head turns, she sees me. Her dog jumps in front of her, trying to catch her attention, but she runs over straight to me. “Are you lost?” she asks as her dog barks at me, and my head snaps back.

I don’t have time to answer because her father comes running and grabs the dog by the collar. “Sorry,” he says. “Flounder, stay.” He orders the dog to sit next to him while he pants, and his tail moves on the sand.

“I’m sorry, he really is a good dog,” he says as he pets his head and then squats down in front of his girl. “Mila, what did I tell you about talking to strange people?”

The little girl’s little curls fly into her face, a strand going into her mouth, and as she reaches up to move it away, her raincoat falls off one shoulder. “Poppa, she lost.” She points back at me as the father now looks up at me, and for the first time, I see his face. His blue eyes cloudy and almost a dark blue, just like the ocean I’m looking at. His lips full and as his cheeks are covered with stubble.

“I’m not lost,” I tell him and the little girl. “I just moved into that house,” I say as I point back to the white house.

The minute I mention the house, his demeanor changes, and his back goes straight. He stands up, grabbing his little girl’s hand. “She isn’t lost,” he says as he pulls her away from me with the dog following them. I sit there in shock at what just happened. The man bends down and picks up the little girl, and she hugs his neck with one hand and waves bye to me with a little smile. My hand comes out of the blanket and my fingers bend as I wave back to her. I watch them walk back down the beach, the dog running in and out of the water, until they are no more than a speck in the distance.

I sit out there for a while, watching the water as it slowly inches closer and closer when I hear footsteps behind me. “Dude, my whole body is stiffer than a ninety-year-old on Viagra,” Crystal says as she sits next to me, and the visual causes me to snort. “So Ms. This Adventure is so Cool, Delores called, and she is coming over in about thirty minutes to see us. Apparently, Nanny filled her in.” I don’t answer her. Instead, she stops talking as she looks at the ocean, and we get lost in our thoughts until she gets up and holds out her hand to me. “Let’s go.” I grab her hand to help me up, and we walk back inside.

The toast pops up as soon as we hear a knock on the door. I look at Crystal, who gets up and walks over to the door to open it. “Hi,” she says to an older lady with gray hair that looks almost silver. “Please come in.” She moves away from the door as I lean against the now clean counter, bringing my coffee cup to my lips.

“Oh, dear.” The woman looks around as she takes in the room. “I had no idea,” she says as she looks at me. “You must be Hailey.” She comes into the room and spots the fridge. “What in the heavens?”

“I take it you didn’t know how bad the condition was?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.

“This house belonged to my grandson and his then wife. Before she took off, that is,” she says. I just nod at her and sip my coffee.

“Would you like a coffee?” I offer her, and she smiles at me. “I mean, you have to stand and drink it.” I smile back at her, silently high fiving my humor.

“I would love one,” she says, “Can I look around?”

“Please feel free,” I tell her as Crystal starts making her a coffee. “The couches and beds are due to be delivered on Saturday,” I tell her, and she looks at me with her eyebrows pinched together.

“We don’t get anything delivered on the weekends. Besides, this house needs a new paint job before anything comes in.”

“Um, well, I start work on Monday, and there is no way I can continue sleeping on a blow-up mattress. So they’d better be here on Saturday with my bed or else.” I look at Crystal, waiting for her to finish her sentence, but she doesn’t, and then Delores walks out of the room.

“Or else what?” I ask her as she points at me.

“Don’t fucking start. I will, I don’t know, poison their fucking cattle. Or”—she throws up her hands—“tip over a cow. Don’t fuck with me and my sleep.”

I fold my lips trying not to laugh as she glares at me and Delores comes back downstairs.

“Okay, girls, pack up your stuff. You will stay with me until your furniture is delivered.” She shakes her head. “I’m so, so sorry that you had to sleep here last night. This is the only property Jensen blocks off from being rented, but I had no idea,” she trails off, “that it was this fucking disgusting.” She looks at us. “Excuse my language.”

Crystal comes to stand next to me and leans on the same counter as Delores takes a pad out of her purse and writes her address on it. “This is my address. It’s on the other side of the development.” She writes something else. “This is the code for the gate. Luckily, I have no cattle for you to tip over or poison.” She winks at Crystal. “Now, this is the address,” she says as she tears another paper off, “to the construction house. I want a list of everything that has to be done. Right down to all the sockets. I will make sure everything is finished this weekend.” She hands me the address. “Now, I hear you had a shitty month.” She grabs her cup of coffee.

“A shitty month is a good word for it,” I tell her as I put my cup down. “I mean, I’ve never found out that my husband was already married with a family before, so my vocabulary might not be up to par.” I laugh. “But shitty about sums it up.”

“Love works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, it comes when we aren’t looking for it or least expecting it.” She shrugs her shoulders. “I mean, I don’t even know how I would have handled your situation,” she says.

Crystal laughs. “She didn’t really handle it.” I glare at Crystal. “I mean, she wallowed, but she didn’t handle it.”

“How would you have handled it?” I ask her, folding my arms across my chest.

“Me?” She points at herself. “I would have probably burned down the house and then told his parents what a fucking douchebag their son was. After I stole his body and kicked the shit out of him.”

I gasp as Delores laughs. “See, a reason it didn’t happen to her.” She tilts her head to one side and smiles as she finishes her coffee. “Now, I have to run. The club is having a spring mingles meeting.” She grabs her purse. “Pack your things and come on over.”

We nod at her as she walks out and gets into her huge Cadillac truck. I look over at my cousin. “You so wouldn’t have stolen his body. You lie.” She shrugs her shoulders as she walks toward the stairs.

“We will never know. Now, let’s make that list so we can get a nice hot shower.” Taking a notepad out of my work stuff, we go room by room, and by the time we finish, I’ve filled two pages, front and back, with a bit on the third page. After I dress in tights and a sweater, we make our way to the construction office. We pass Main Street again, turning left on Walker street. We continue to the end of the street and see the medical clinic right in front of us. The construction house is on one side and the firehouse on the other side. When we park in the parking lot and get out, Crystal says, “I’m going to go into the clinic, if that is okay.” I nod at her and make my way over to Walker Construction.

Walking up the steps to the big log house, I open the door. When the bell over the door rings, the blond receptionist looks up. She smiles at me. “Hi there, how may I help you?” The phone rings, and she holds up her finger. “Walker Construction, how may I help you?” I turn around and take in the room; a fireplace sits in the middle of the room with the company logo on the top. “I will have him call you back as soon as I see him, Delores,” she says as she hangs up the phone. “I’m so sorry. Now, what can I do to help you?”

“I’m looking for Jensen,” I tell her. Her smile fades a touch, and her eyes go from smiling to a flicker of something else I can’t put my finger on. “I’m renting one of his properties,” I tell her, and her smile returns.

“Of course,” she says as she picks up the phone and presses a button. “I have someone here for Walker, but I think she needs to see you,” she says. She nods her head and hangs up the phone. “Brody will be right out, if you want to have a seat.” I smile at her as I walk over to one of the chairs and have a seat, but a second later, a big, burly man comes through the back doorway. He is about six-foot-four, his hair past his shoulders, and I take in his huge chest. He looks like a huge lumberjack. His plaid shirt rolled up his arms, he ducks to come out. “Hey there.” He smiles at me as he reaches his hand out. “I’m Brody.”

“I reach out my hand to shake his, and he nearly shakes my arm out of my socket. “I’m Hailey,” I say, pulling my arm back. “I’m the one renting the house on Pine Street.” And as soon as I say the address, his eyes go big.

“If you would follow me.” He turns and walks back down the hallway. I take in the offices on each side, and after we walk all the way to the end, he turns right into his office. “Please sit down.” He motions to the two chairs in front of his big wooden desk. A deer head hangs on the wall right in front of me. “So you are the one?” he asks as I sit down.

“I’m the one.” I raise my eyebrows, smiling, not sure what is going on. “Um,” I say, reaching into my purse. “We made a list of things that need to be done in the house.” I unfold the papers and hand them to him just as the door on the left opens. I turn my head to see the man from this morning.

He looks at me and then looks at Brody. “We don’t have time to do anything with that house.” His voice comes out harsh, and I watch as Brody glares at him.

“Well, Delores told me to come by and give it to Jensen, and he would deal with it. So perhaps if someone got him, then maybe we can settle this,” I say as I lick my lips, my mouth a little dry as my hands start to shake.

“I’m Jensen, but you can call me Walker,” the man says. “No one calls me that except Grams.” He comes in and snatches the list from my hands and looks it over. “No way in fuck we are doing any of this. You should just load your car up and go back home. You know, to your house that isn’t here.” My back goes up straight, and I stand as Brody follows suit.

“I don’t know who pissed in your cornflakes this morning, or if you’re just always this kind of, well, asshole, but I have a lease. A lease that is a binding contract.” I swallow. I don’t know where I get the courage, but I advance on him and snatch the list right out of his hands. “So if you aren’t going to abide by the lease, and I have to live in deplorable conditions, then this is something that my lawyer may need.” I turn back and look at Brody. “I’m sorry I wasted your time. I’ll tell Delores to contact my attorney.” I shrug my shoulders as Brody looks at Jensen and then back at me.

“Give me the list and I will send the guys over first thing tomorrow. It will be done by Sunday. I guarantee it even if we have to pitch in,” he says, and I nod at him.

“Thank you for your help, Brody.” I turn to walk out of the room but stop first. “And this is my home,” I tell them and then walk out. Tears start to form, but they aren’t sad tears this time. This time, they are angry tears. I storm out of the office as the receptionist thanks me for coming, but I’m about to flip her off as I slam the door and make it to the car. “Fuck you,” I say to the empty car as I close my eyes and wait for Crystal to come back to the car.