Page 36 of Show Me How to Heal
DEARLY MISSED: MORE THAN A YEAR AFTER LUKAS RICHTER’S CAREER ENDING ACCIDENT, GERMANY STILL HASN’T FOUND AN ADEQUATE REPLACEMENT!
Chapter 9
Luke
“Hi, ähm, Mason?” I said into my phone while sitting on the breakfast bar of my huge ass kitchen. Like seriously… if anyone decided to give cooking classes in here, they could.
Not me, but someone that could actually cook good enough to teach others. I mean, my overnight oats were nothing to frown upon, and I made a mean chicken-veggie-stir-fry-thingy, but I couldn’t exactly call myself a gourmet.
Yet, I still loved being inside my kitchen. I might be spending more time in here than in my living room because I liked the atmosphere so much. That and the fact that a barstool was easier to get on and off of than my very comfy, yet very low couch.
Also, the view?
The big wall consisting of floor-to-ceiling windows in my living room had a perfect view of the lake, but my breakfast bar? I could look right outside into the forest. I had a little bit of a backyard going on, and a big patio, but behind that was the treeline.
No, I hadn’t seen any black bears yet. The biggest thing I’d come across was a rabbit. That was totally fine. I didn’t need to see a black bear on my porch or patio, no matter if it was black, blond, or cinnamon colored — which they apparently could very well be. Because it’d take all the fun out of it if black bears were, like… always black, right?
“Hi, yeah, this is Mason. How can I help you?”
“Hi,” I said again. “It’s me.Ähm, Luke. Lukas Richter? The guy you sold the cabin to?”
“Oh yeah. The old Dickinson’s place,” he said, his voice a warm timbre. “How can I help you, man? I hope you’re not having trouble with the place?”
“Nein, ähm, no. The place is great.”I’m just a fucking liar. And crazy.“I love it, especially the kitchen.” I looked outside. It’d rained last night, so now everything was crazy green. Like someone had taken a picture and turned the saturation to a hundred percent.
“I’m happy you’re happy with the place. Not gonna lie, I was a little worried since you hadn’t ever seen it in person.”
“Yeah, but it’s amazing.” Just too big for me. I’d considered getting a pet, but I wasn’t that big a fan of cats and a dog I couldn’t take on walks? That just wasn’t fair to the animal. “However, I have a small question.”
“Yeah?”
“I need a cabin in the woods. Or close to the woods. Like… an actual cabin. Not a mansion-cabin.”
“You… what now?”
I raked my free hand through my hair, tugging at the strands. What was I doing here? Trying to purchase a cabin because I didn’t want Zayne to find out I owned a freaking mansion?
I could practically hear my brother shouting at me for being stupid. Asking me if this was the way I wanted to start a relationship — lying about everything. My whole life.
“I want a cabin. Outside of town. A little smaller than this. Do you have anything in your portfolio?”
Apparently, I was doing this. Fuck. My brother would lose hisshit, and rightly so. I felt awful doing this. I didn’t want to do this. I wanted to trust Zayne, wanted to bring him over, show him everything, and let him help me make this place feel more like a home because his house had felt like that, and I craved feeling that comfortable here, too.
But I didn’t want him to find out who I had been. Didn’t want him to see the video that had been shared thousands of times. The video showing the end of my career. Once, twice, a third time in slow motion. Didn’t want him to read the articles. The hopeful captions slowly fading away when the reality became more obvious, going from:When will he be back?to:Will he be back?and finally to:Hospital staff doubtful he’ll ever walk again.The last one had been almost laughable because my brother had read this caption to me while I’d been walking. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been that far off, considering I’d had to undergo surgery again a mere three months later because I hadn’t been able to take a single step without being in severe pain.
“I… might,” Mason said slowly. “Are you sure about this? You do know your property is really big, right? If you wanted a smaller house, you could simply… build one?”
That was actually a good idea. For a later date, maybe. Whenever I figured out if I wanted to keep this cabin.
I looked out of my window again, sighing. Was I losing my mind completely? I’d just bought a fucking mansion-cabin, was attempting to buy a small cabin, and contemplating to maybe build a new house-cabin?
Me?
The football player his teammates used to laugh at for wearing old, ratty shirts instead of buying designer clothing. The only vaguely stylish clothes I’d worn were clothes companies had sent me. Not gonna lie, that had been convenient.
But I’d always shied away from spending money. Now? I was willing to spend a huge amount just to… keep my lie upright. Great.
“I don’t have time to build another cabin. Besides, it’d probably be better if it looked a little older… a little… lived in?”
