Page 29 of A Twist in Fate
As soon as I leave, I see Bailey walking out of her room. As soon as she notices me, she runs over, pulls me into a hug and then pulls away to examine my outfit which she does love to do.
“I will definitely steal that dress soon,” she says, slipping my hand into hers and pulling me down the steps of the cabin. “Lucas is driving my car because we can all fit in it. He insisted,” she says rolling her eyes. “He thinks that if I drive, we are going to crash or something. I am anexcellent driver. He is so dramatic.” We continue to walk round the paths of the camp, towards the car park.
I laugh at her words and move my arm around her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “Don't worry, I think you are a good driver.” She smiles at me, and we walk towards her car. I can now see Lucas sitting in the car waiting for us. He slips out when he watches us walk over and opens both doors for us to get in. His hair is less messy than usual, and he is wearing long grey trousers and a white t-shirt. He also has the same smile on his face that he had when I met him.
Bailey sits in the passenger side of the car, so I decide to sit in the back. When Lucas shuts our doors and gets in, Bailey instantly starts playing music from her phone.
“Lucas,” she says in a singsong voice, clearly getting ready to annoy him.
“What?” He grumbles out, clearly knowing this too.
She has a smug look on her face as she says, “Ivy agrees with me that I am a good driver. You should've let me drive.”
He laughs, “Clearly, she has spent too much time in the car with you that she is used to it. Now she's experiencing my driving again, she will now know what not being almost killed is like.”
“What do you mean again? When has she been in your car before?” Bailey turns to me looking confused and a little hurt.
I stumble on my words as I speak. “You know, when he took me round the town a bit ago, but you are a better driver,” I lie, trying to change the subject.
“Oh,” Bailey says and her expression changes back, but she is still quiet as she continues. “So where did you go?”
Lucas speaks quickly, staring at the road. “Just around. I took her to the store and bought some food.” After that Bailey drops the subject but the air between us changed ever so slightly. This only proves that if Bailey found out about me and Lucas, it would end badly.
When the door opens in front of us, Bailey and Lucas are instantly pulled into a hug by Elizabeth, who kisses them both on the cheek over and over again until they force her to pull away. After driving up a long road surrounded by fields, the house sits at the highest point of the fields surrounded by fencing and small bushes. It is white and panelled with a grey roof and a large wrap around porchwith detailed pillars. While it isn't the biggest, it looks perfect. The sun is starting to set over it, the light pouring from the clouds creating an orange hue. It is beautiful. I could never imagine how amazing it would have been for them both to grow up here.
“How was the drive?” Mrs Miller asks, after greeting us all and walking inside.
“Great.” Lucas smiles at her. “Only thanks to me driving though.” As soon as I step inside, I take in everything around me. The kitchen and living room are open plan and the long French windows are open all around, overlooking the rows of fields and the setting sun. The light pours through the kitchen lighting up the white kitchen cupboards and hardwood countertops. There are plants and flowers on almost every surface and even hanging in baskets from the ceiling. At the end of the room there is a large hallway, doors on either side which I am guessing lead to bedrooms and a back door at the end. Shoes are piled up by both the front and back door and small items such as books, keys and stationary sit all around the room. There's a large bookshelf in the living room covered in books in every colour and Lego the children must have made. In the middle of the kitchen there is a dining table with a vase on it, holding daffodilsthat are pressed and definitely dead. On the floor by the end of the kitchen counters there are 3 small bowls holding animal food.
“Your home is amazing. Do you have another pet?” I say, nodding over the small bowls. Daisy talks constantly about her cat, Steve, and Twig the goat, but I've never heard of a third pet. Almost as soon as I ask, I hear the pitter patter of animal feet running down the hallway.
“Mom,” Bailey says, seriously. “There is no way at all that the moment we all left, you brought a dog when you were the one who said we couldn't take care of another animal!” A small golden retriever puppy with wide eyes followed by Twig walks across the wooden flooring. It instantly runs over to me, jumping up at my legs and sniffing around my feet.
“No. I didn't. Tom got him a month ago but then had an accident where he fell and long story short, we've been asked to take him until he's better. Meet Teddy.” She leans down and picks up Teddy, who licks her face when he holds him up, close to her. “But you know Tom, he's getting older so who knows? We may have to keep him.” She squeals ever so slightly, and the puppy snuggles itself into her chest. Bailey is now holding Twig after he hopped around her legs over and over again.
“I was going to say make sure Daisy doesn't get too attached but clearly it is you who is getting too attached.” Bailey places twig down, and he hops right over to the food, the sound of his feet knocking against the floor. Bailey leans over to me and says, “This is how we got Twig. Mom looked after him for Charlie for only a few weeks but next thing you know, he's ours forever.”
“This is completely different,” Elizabeth says defensively, walking toward the kitchen.
“Sure it is,” Lucas says, and I laugh at his words. As we sit down for dinner, his hands brush mine and a bright but subtle smile sits on his face.
“Can I help you clean up?” I ask, picking up my clean plate from the table but before I could bring it over to the sink, Mrs Miller takes it up from my hands.
“No, don't be a silly, sweetie.” She gives me a warm smile and then turns her attention to Bailey. “Come help me wash up.”
“What? How come Lucas doesn't have to wash up?” She groans as she gets up from her seat.
“Lucas is going to take the bin, let the animals out and show our wonderful guest the garden.” She smiles at me again.
We both stand up and before we disappear round the doorway, with Twig and Teddy following us, I say, “Thank you so much Mrs Miller. The lasagna and garlic bread were both amazing.”
She blushes so slightly. “Aw thank you Ivy. I'll have to send you the recipe at some point. After we are clean, can we eat cookies and play monopoly?”
“Yes. I'd love that,” I say, and we turn the corner. As soon as Lucas holds out the back door for me, both animals charge past my legs and into the wide field. I step out and now the sky is a mixture of pinks, yellows and oranges with the sun falling over the lake in the distance. The neat grass has fruits, vegetables and flowers planted all across the edge of the fences up into the far one, overlooking the setting sun, which has a large honey coloured horse tilting its head over it.
“You have a horse!” I squeal and run over towards the fence to get a closer look.
Lucas smiles at me, grabbing an odd shaped bucket from the floor and holding up to the horse as heapproaches it carefully. “This is Chestnut. Dad bought her for Mom, so she's getting older, but we still love her.”
