I had to give Brooks credit for that. Easton seemed to show up at the inopportune moments between Brooks and me.
“Now that you point that out, I see it.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “And the way he looks at you when he’s here—don’t forget to add that in there.”
“See, I don’t notice any of this. I feel he’s just being nice.”
“He is being nice,” Brooks confirmed. “A little too nice.”
“You can be nice and not interested in someone.”
“Coming from a woman, that’s true. But you have to view it from a man’s perspective. Men want one thing. And look at the entire picture. You’re up here in this new cabin. Your first winter. He knows you live alone. He’s, what we assume to be, living alone. A blizzard is looming and lo and behold, it’s the worst of the season so far. So, what does a lonely man have on his mind, but to make sure the new single neighbor isn’t lonely. And you know exactly what I’m getting at.”
I shook my head. “I never even thought about it that way.”
“It just doesn’t look good,” Brooks said. “It feels off. I mean, eleven o’clock to about six o’clock visits from your neighbor are standard. But you go outside of those time frames and showing up at almost midnight or before nine in the morning. I mean, c’mon.”
I nodded.
“So, now you understand why I think his visits have a different intention than what you think?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Erika, what if he has some other vendetta on his mind too? We know little about him. You already told me you don’t even know his last name. For all we know, he might not even be the owner of that cabin, but a squatter up here for the winter. Then he packs up and leaves just in time for the owner to arrive. The owner arrives and doesn’t suspect a thing. It’s perfect, too. You’re the new neighbor. How would you know if he is the actual owner or not?”
“Now you’re scaring me.”
“Well? It’s not too far from the truth? A truth,” Brooks continued. “And he mentioned some other neighbor who stays here year-round. There are how many cabins here, and only three of you are here year-round. Seems kind of strange to me.”
“So, what do we do? Go check out this other neighbor and see if he exists?”
“No. We just keep everything locked and don’t let him back in your house.”
“I mean, he invited us to dinner at his place.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Do we go? Maybe then we could see if he’s the legit owner or not.”
“Erika, I don’t even trust the guy. I don’t know if I’d eat anything he cooks. What would happen if you get sick, or one of us needs to go to the ER? We’re stranded up here.”
“Geez, Brooks. Where were you when I bought this place? I didn’t think about any of this. None of it. I just wanted to get out of that town so fast, I took the first place I could get. And this one seemed like the perfect fit.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but this is the ideal place for you,” he declared. “This place is all you. It’s practically like they built it just for you. Funny, when I turned up to the driveway, I noticed the statues and from reading your books, I knew this was your place. I could just tell. So you chose an excellent cabin. But maybe it’s just that—a cabin. Maybe you come here during the late spring and stick around until the start of the snowfall or leave when everybody else leaves.”
“Well, thank you. I do like this place. The previous owner designed and built it to be a four-season house. He lived here all year long.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to stick around here for all four seasons. So back to the neighbor, we don’t even know his actual name. So for our safety, maybe we just pretend we’re not here when he comes knocking.”
“But Brooks... where would we go? We can’t go anywhere. He knows we’re home and stuck in here.”
“Just don’t answer the door. Or at least let me be the one to answer it from now on. At least if he tries something, you’ll have time to get out.”
I agreed. I hadn’t thought about half the stuff he suggested. No wonder he was so off when Easton showed up uninvited at the awkward hours. I got it now.
“Thank you,” I said as I stood and wrapped my arms around him.
“For what?”
“Telling me what you feel and everything.”
“I just don’t want to see you hurt.”
I grinned at him, and he leaned down to kiss me. “Want a cold pop tart for breakfast?”
Brooks laughed. “Sure. Why not?”
After breakfast, Brooks went up to take a shower and since I had previously taken one, I just went to my room to change into a cleaner pair of leggings and a different top. I had a tendency to wear the same pants and top for a few days in a row. It wasn’t like I went places, or did a lot of physical work, so I could get away with it. Plus, I was here alone. Who else would care if I wore the same clothes every day?
I made my bed, straightened up both nightstands, and peered out the window towards Easton’s house. I squinted as I noticed movement in the woods between our cabins. Was he on his way back over? I couldn’t tell what he was doing, but now, after Brooks telling me his observations and concerns, I was worried that maybe I didn’t know who my neighbor was.
I rushed downstairs, through the kitchen, and down to the basement. There were boxes I had packed with rarely used items. One of them had binoculars—I just
