Page 118 of Flaunt
We start across the lawn when a voice booms from down the street. “Sparkles! Sara! Check this out.”
We turn to see Jess at the side of his house, sans shirt but with a large straw hat, waving us over.
“He’s turning into a fucking farmer,” Banks says, making me laugh. “What have I done?”
“How was work today?” I ask as we cross the street.
“Tasha’s back so it’s all good. Remind me to give her a fat holiday bonus at the end of the year because she does more than I even realized. Do you know that she even cleans the bathrooms in the place?”
I smile at him. “I did not, and I’m taking it you didn’t either.”
“No. I thought the mat company did it for some reason. But it’s Tash. She also has the sign outside changed and deals with the accountant on taxes and shit. Reality check, I’m telling you.”
“Maybe you need to promote her and hire someone else to sit at her desk,” I suggest. “She could be your right-hand woman.”
Banks smirks. “That wouldn’t make you jealous?”
“She’s not touching you with that hand or I’ll break her fingers.”
He laughs, the sound music to my ears.
“Could you two walk any slower?” Jess asks.
“Some of us actually ran the other night.” Banks smacks him on the back as Jess guides us to the back of his house. “You don’t know what that’s like, I know, with your shitty eighteen seconds.”
“Fuck off.”
They exchange a grin.
“What do you want? I just got home and need to go play with my girl,” Banks says, catching an elbow from me.
We enter the backyard, and I stop dead in my tracks.Wow.
“What the hell did you do?” Banks asks, his eyes wide. “Holy shit, Jess. Did you have to get a permit to build this thing?”
“I didn’t, so let’s hope not.”
A chicken cottage has been constructed with white wood and gold metal roofing. A double door big enough for a person to walk through is latched closed by thick metal hinges. It even has window boxes with flowers.
The run where the chicks are racing around is screened in. Three little chicken swings hang from the ceiling. The What a Fuster Cluck sign Banks was telling me about hangs over the door.
“Jess,” I coo, bending down in front of the screen. “They’re so cute.”
A pale yellow fluff ball runs toward me and peeps.
“You seriously built these things a chicken house,” Banks says incredulously.
“I even wallpapered the inside.” Jess beams. “It’s not done. I’m going to add some motion detectors on the corners with floodlights in case anything tries to break in at night. And maybe chicken cams just so Pippa can check on them from at work.”
Banks shakes his head like he’s speechless.
I stand, brushing my hands off, and smile. “This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“Hey,” Banks says, huffing.
I roll my eyes at him. “You built this thing fast.”
“I build stuff all day at work, so it’s not that hard for me, and I have access to lots of materials that are going to get tossed anyway. And, you know, chickens turn into an addiction. There’s a whole thing called chicken math.”
