Page 58 of Squatch Out!
I ache to go to her, but I’m afraid to. I’ve never lived anywhere else. The West Coast, these forests and mountains areall I know. I hate having to go into the city, and the area where Olivia lives is no different.
But you’d do it for her.
I’ve stalked the airlines and packed my shit to go to her so many times, but something always stops me. Usually that nagging little voice in the back of my head that warns me that it won’t work out between us anyway. So, then I go back to telling myself we’re both better off just letting whatever might have been be just that.
My phone has been silent all day. My brother hasn’t even bothered to reach out to me, since he’s been busy with Jenny.
Yeah, well, no wonder. You’ve been an asshole since she left.
I’m in my truck, heading from the ridge along the narrow road that leads back to my empty, lonely house, and I can’t seem to stop rubbing my hand up and down my sternum. The ache started shortly after Olivia left, so I’m pretty sure it’s not the warning sign for a heart attack, but still… I should probably get it checked out by a doctor, just in case. Except, all I want to do when I’m not working is climb into my bed and wrap myself in the sheets that still slightly smell like her.
Because I haven’t washed them.
Because I’m a sick sonofabitch.
When I turn the last corner to my house, the sight of an unfamiliar van parked in front of my place pulls my thoughts away from Olivia. The logo on the side is for a popular satellite internet company, and there is a man on my roof installing a dish.
All my pent-up frustration boils up into a rage, and I throw my truck door open before I forget to put the damn thing in park.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I shout up at the installer.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” He shouts back without bothering to look up.
“I didn’t authorize this!” I shout back.
“Yeah, I know. That’s why she’s paying us extra.”
I stagger back like someone hit me in the chest. “Whois paying you extra?”
Before he has a chance to answer, or maybe he wasn’t going to bother responding at all, the sound of tires on the rough road leading up to my house tickles my ears.
Now who is coming?
Beyond irritated that my plan to wrap myself in what’s left of Olivia’s scent so I can jack off to her memory is being thwarted, I wait impatiently for whoever is coming up my driveway to appear. The longer it takes, the more irritated I get, until I’m practically seething when a small, sky-blue SUV finally comes into view.
It’s not a car I’m familiar with and, unlike the van, there are no company logos on it. I’m certainly not expecting anyone. It’s been weeks since Owen stopped trying to talk sense into me. And the other rangers are keeping their distance from my sour attitude too.
I watch with narrowed eyes and arms tightly folded across my chest as the car pulls up beside the van. The windows are tinted just enough that I can’t see who is inside, but my heart is pounding in my chest at the possibility… that just maybe…
Stop it. Why would she come back after the way you cut her off?The car turns off.
I don’t think this long-distance thing is going to work for me.Her last message replays in my mind.
An eternity passes.
The door slowly opens.
I’m certain I’m hallucinating when a familiar blond head rises up. She turns slowly. Her warm brown eyes meet mine, and my knees almost buckle under their weight. She looks exactly how I remember her, down to wearing one of her silly t-shirts, this one announcing she likes coffee and maybe three people.
Without a word, she turns away from me, toward the house, and her whole face changes with her smile as she waves at the technician finishing up on my roof. “Is he giving you any trouble?” she shouts up at him.
“Naw. Nothing I can’t handle.”
Hot jealousy ignites in my belly that he gets her smile, and I struggle to refrain from launching myself across the driveway and pulling him down from the roof so I can throw him into his van and roll him back down the mountain.
Knowing Olivia wouldn’t approve is the only thing that saves him. When she turns back to me, her expression is tight with nervousness.
“Hi,” she finally says.
