Page 28 of Another Fox Bites the Dust
“Perfect. Thanks, Jakey. Where are Finley and Archer?” I ask.
“Doing laundry.” He shudders. “Do not try to find them. That way lies trauma.”
I chuckle. “Thanks for the warning.”
He salutes, exiting the kitchen and heading upstairs to shower.
I grab the Garfield keychain and a set of cart keys and we exit out the side door.
Once it’s shut behind us, I turn to Luke. “Thanks for helping bandage him up.”
“It’s nothing.”
I hand him the keys to the golf cart and gesture over to where two of them are parked, just across the drive in a small dirt-packed lot. “Follow me. We can unload your things, then meet up again in a couple of hours after we’ve settled in to get to work.”
“Sounds good.”
Making my way around the side of the house, I grab my phone out of my sweater pocket as I walk.
I hesitate before opening it. Maybe I shouldn’t even read it. Maybe I should delete it and then block his ass.
What could he possibly want from me now?
Curiosity gets the best of me.
I miss you.
My feet bring me to a screeching halt before I run into the driver’s door of the SUV. I stare down at the three words, my heart hammering in my ears.
What the hell?
I slam into the SUV, tossing the phone onto the passenger seat, then shut my eyes and take a deep breath to calm my racing blood and relax my suddenly ragged breathing.
Luke is parked at the corner of the house, waiting for me to precede him. Our eyes lock through the windshield and he waves, oblivious to the storm going on inside me.
Putting the car in drive, I head back down the driveway the way we came in.
My body vibrates with tension.
How dare he?
It’s like he knows, somehow, that I’ve moved on. This is supposed to be a fresh start, a new opportunity, a chance to follow my dreams on my terms.
I have zero intention to reply, not even to tell him to fuck off. I want nothing to do with him. I’ll just ignore his ass. A good ghosting is exactly what he deserves.
Around me, the property I grew up on has been transformed, but I can barely concentrate to take it all in through the red haze of anger clouding my vision.
No. I won’t let him ruin this.I take a deep breath and focus on my surroundings.
Where there used to be dilapidated bungalows and run-down cottages, there are now brightly painted cabins and chalets. Everything has either been refurbished to a glossy shine or razed and rebuilt. New trees and bushes dot the spaces between the buildings, adding pops of fall colors, from deep reds to bright yellows. The cobblestone driveway makes the space feel like we’ve stepped into some kind of fairy-tale camp.
It's truly incredible.
Pride for my family pushes through my irritation and frustration.
Cabin twelve is all new construction. What used to be a sagging one-room A-frame is now a Craftsman bungalow painted a cool gray with red accents, sporting a pitched gable roof, a covered porch lined with tapered columns, and a cherry wood door.
I click a button to pop the trunk, and Luke is already there, grabbing his bag, the cart parked behind me.
