Page 12 of A Chance Love

Coughing and waving the air, she tried to free herself from the disgust of how much dirt had built up. That’s when she saw it. In the corner of the wardrobe, sitting against the wood at the back of the cabinet was a spider bigger than she’d ever seen. Though, she’d only been witness to tiny spiders that tried to touch her feet at the park.

This was at least the size of a quarter with legs that should have created earthquakes at each step, she thought. “Oh my God,” April said aloud. “Stay in there.”

Carefully, she stepped downstairs to the kitchen where she knew there were extra paper towels in the cupboard. She opened up a pack and began folding several layers of the roll onto her hand. Then, she grabbed her least favorite pair of sneakers from her rental car and headed back up to the room.

When she got there, she slowly opened the cabinet again. April slammed her shoe inside, shutting it as quickly as she opened it. Carefully, she opened the doors to the wardrobe again, watching all its corners to ensure the spider wouldn’t get the jump on her. “Please be dead,” she whispered to herself over and over. “You have to be dead.”

The doors creaked open once more and she put up the paper-toweled hand to shield herself for whatever came next. But then, something even worse. The spider was nowhere to be found. April checked under her shoe, by slowly removing it with the covered hand.

Not there.

It was then that April knew she had to get out.

She stormed downstairs and threw the paper towels on the kitchen counter. Thankfully, she hadn’t brought in her luggage yet so she could just get into her car and drive away, forgetting any of this ever happened.

Nothing was worth waking up to that spider crawling around her face.

As she stomped back out to the car, locking the front door so no other vermin could make their way inside, she opened her phone to a hotel booking site. If she couldn’t stay at this house, she might as well enjoy her getaway nearby. This island is where she wanted to be. And she could still have that dream; it just wouldn’t be at the house.

After she opened the car door, ready to hop inside and drive off, April heard a familiar noise. So familiar that she could have sworn she’d heard it earlier that day.

She turned her head slowly. A mere thirty feet away stood a dark brown horse, it’s head bobbing up and down. It stared at April.

Blinking a couple of times, she tried to clear away the possibility of a mental break. As many times as she blinked, she opened her eyes and the horse was still there. It was real.

April looked in the car and grabbed her purse that sat on the driver’s seat. Back on the plane, the flight attendant had given her a packet of crackers before their descent. It was hard not to make a noise as she pulled it open. April was even careful not to close the door of her car out of fear of scaring it away.

The horse approached her, trying to grab the bag from her hands. “No, no,” she said with a giggle. “Here, let me help you.” April grabbed several crackers and laid them out on her hand, offering them to the horse.

Gently, its lips tickled the palm of her hand, picking up the crackers one by one. It left behind a layer of mud and grime from its mouth.

April laughed, wiping her hand off against her pants. Horses were common around Sandcrest, but what wasn’t common was one eating out of a hand. They were supposed to be wild, sometimes they were even crazy, running around the island causing torment to the locals whose land they tore up.

The horse let April run her hand up its face. But as soon as the crackers ran out, it began to back away. When it was in the middle of the fields, April watched it bolt into the distance. The sun shone off its dark coat, reflecting a vibrant glow. This is exactly why April wanted to come to the island.

She was thankful the horse interrupted her booking. Because she didn’t need it any longer. She was going to stay at the house, even if it didn’t have A/C, Wi-Fi, or great plumbing. April was determined to make it work, whatever that looked like.

Even if she had to spend every waking moment cleaning with blistered hands, she would do it to make this place everything she wanted it to be. It could become something wonderful, she just knew it.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The general store was nestled between a tiny post office and a large hardware store. Between the three places, April wondered why anyone would need to shop anywhere else. There were farmers, but they sold farm supplies at the general store. There was no need to go elsewhere.

Along the road was the main parking area. April had to parallel park, which she hadn’t done in years. It wasn’t until she entered the store that she found out there was a parking lot around the back that had more than enough room for the store to hold its capacity.

But she liked the front better anyway. It had a walking path with a large fountain in the middle, one that had been there since she was a kid. She remembered flipping coins into the nearly empty fountain and wishing that she would see more wild ponies that day, or that the waves would be calmer so she could go swimming the next day.

April entered the general store and began browsing. She wasn’t sure what she would need to stay at the house, but she knew she couldn’t sleep in the beds, drink the water, or use the stove that hadn’t been turned on for at least fifteen years.

So she started in the camping section. There weren’t many tents to choose from, but the biggest one held three people and that seemed like enough space to hide in. Her shopping cart buzzed as she pushed it through aisle after aisle.

For at least five minutes she stared at the lanterns wondering which was best. Battery powered? Solar powered? The biggest one or the one with the strongest light?

She picked out the biggest battery powered lantern and began to read the back of it, confused by all the jargon she was unfamiliar with.

“Is that who I think it is? Little ‘ole Faith needed to pick up a few things for the house? Didn’t believe us when you left, did you?” Of course Chuck and Barry were at the general store. They were everywhere in this town.

Barry waved over some people from down the aisle. “You guys, come here! We told you she was here.”

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