Page 79 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

She sighed. Hopefully, she’d be able to forget that he was working on the other side of the house. And that they were alone in the house. Well, not really alone. There were cameras everywhere. She was pretty sure that they weren’t recording since production had taken four days off for the holiday, but she wouldn’t put it past them to just keep the damn things rolling. They were probably on some sort of motion sensor. At least that’s what she would use if she was producing this show.

She lowered back onto her knees and continued her work scraping up the linoleum. She only had the downstairs laundry room left to do—which they would be converting into a laundry/mudroom. In this climate, having a space where people could take off their snow gear was essential in her opinion.

The room hadn’t really been touched because it hadn’t needed anything in terms of demo, since there was only a single cabinet that sat in the far corner. But after she got the hideous triple-layer of linoleum up they were going to carry the hardwood throughout and Easton was going to build a custom storage unit with a bench that had shoe storage beneath it and hooks for coats, purses, or backpacks above. He was also building a matching wood frame for the washer and dryer, so they blended into the room.

After two hours or so, she finally made it into the last area that she’d have to scrape, peel, or remove anything from. Relief washed over her as she opened the door to the room. The space felt about ten degrees colder than the rest of the house and she shivered a little as she lowered back down on her knees. She’d just set her floor scraper under a corner that was peeled up when she thought she heard a scratching sound coming from the cabinet in the corner.

Her first thought was that the wall behind it probably had a hole in it and possibly a tree branch was blowing against the siding. That most likely was why it was so cold in here.

She crawled over on her knees and opened the door expecting to see a hole in the wall to the outside. Instead, she came face to face with a creature, standing on its hind legs with beady eyes staring straight at her. It looked like a huge rat. And this rat did not look happy.

Its mouth opened as it hissed and Grace froze. She wanted so badly to scream, to get up and run away but she couldn’t do anything. She was paralyzed with fear.

“Easton, Easton,” she tried to call out, but her voice wasn’t working.

The creature’s hissing intensified, and she got an up close and personal look at its sharp teeth.

She felt her body shaking and tears coming out of her eyes, but those things were happening involuntarily. She had no control over her arms or legs or vocal cords.

The creature lunged at her, and she closed her eyes expecting to be attacked but behind her she heard another hissing. This one was one she was very familiar with. It was Cleo. The next thing she knew the cat was on her lap screeching, snarling, and growling.

Even though the huge rat was double Cleo’s size, it retreated to the back of the cabinet and when it did Grace’s paralysis lifted. She slammed the door and scrambled back out of the room scooting on her butt and holding Cleo tightly against her.

“What’s happening?!” Easton yelled as he raced down the hallway toward her.

“It’s…” Grace pointed to the cabinet. “A rat! A big, huge hissing rat!”

Easton went inside the room to investigate and Grace clumsily stood up, still clutching Cleo who was panting as she pressed her head under Grace’s chin. She walked to the front room and lowered down onto the floor, which was just the subflooring, and tried to calm down.

She knew she was headed straight for a panic attack. She hadn’t had one since the year her mom died, and then she’d only suffered from a few of them, but she recognized the symptoms immediately.

Grace’s entire body was shaking. She felt weak and dizzy. She was sweating and felt like she was going to throw up.

Using the tips the therapist had given her at the time she closed her eyes and started breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. She didn’t try and fight everything she was feeling. She just sort of rode it out and surrendered to it. She also cuddled and petted Cleo, which she thought was actually helping more than the breathing and the surrendering.

After what could have been five minutes or fifty, Grace had no concept of time, she heard footsteps and opened her eyes to find Easton walking toward her holding her hat. She hadn’t even realized that it had fallen off.

He crouched down and cupped her face gently asking, “Are you okay?”

No. Well, yes, physically she was doing much better, the panic attack had passed. But no, she was not okay. She was embarrassed that her reaction was so over the top, but she couldn’t help it. “Yeah, I’m fine. Did you get the hissing rat?”

“It was a possum, actually. A mama possum with four babies. She was just being aggressive to protect them.”

As much as Grace could appreciate the instinct, she still wasn’t a fan and wanted her and her babies gone. “Did you get rid of the hissing mama possum?”

Easton grinned. “Yes, I relocated mama and her babies safely outside.”

“How?” Grace asked, mortified at the thought of him picking them up.

“I used a cardboard box.” Easton reached down and stroked Cleo’s head. Grace looked down and saw that the cat was curled up on her lap. “It looks like you two are friends now.”

“Cleo saved me.” Grace felt tears welling in her eyes, overwhelmed by the gratitude she felt for an animal who she’d been sure would have been cheering the hissing possum on to get rid of Grace so she could have Easton all to herself.

Easton’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out.

“Is everything okay?” She’d gotten in the habit of asking him that every time he got a phone call or text because ninety percent of the time it was something to do with the house and nine times out of ten it wasn’t good news.

“It’s my mom. She sent me this.” He turned the phone around and pressed play. It was a video of Blake and Connie at the fire station doing the same TikTok dance that Easton had done with her.

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