A hundred more questions rose to the tip of my tongue. What's your online plan? Is the website live? How long until we can book online? I quelled them for later. Before I could speak again, he grumbled about spam calls but didn't seem to need a reply. I let him speak through things while I half-listened, my thoughts still churning in the background.
Once our appetites slowed and I folded my container closed to eat the rest tomorrow, he lifted both his eyebrows.
“So,” he drawled, “you ready for 007 3.0?”
A rush of butterflies in my stomach took me by surprise. I hadn't watched a movie with touchy Mark yet.
Perhaps this would be my new favorite.
“Yes, I am. Are you?”
He grabbed my wrist and tugged, pulling hard enough to yank me to my feet and back into his arms. Then he easily lifted me off the ground. I squeaked, startled to be airborne, and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Born ready,” he said.
Minutes later, we sat next to each other on the couch, the bag of dark chocolates on his lap, and the next 007 movie flickering across the screen. He had an arm around my shoulder and had tucked me into his side. I leaned against him and enjoyed the way he absently played with a lock of my hair.
Somewhere in this day, I'd settled into something that felt like coming home again. The low, warm glow I hadn't felt in so long I'd almost forgotten that it existed. The one that felt like being happy.
And I couldn't hate Joshua for the gift he'd given me at Adventura.
20 Mark
“If someone knocks on that door one more time . . .”
The drawled threat no sooner dropped off my lips than another tap tap tap came from the front door. Stella had the gall to look amused from where she stretched on the floor, having just returned from a run. With the rock music that had been blaring out of the dining hall for the last four hours, there wouldn’t be an animal in sight for days.
An exaggerated sigh escaped me as I shoved myself off the couch and headed for the door, pasting on a wide smile as I pulled it open. Seiko's agent, a middle-aged man with an oily black mustache and smile as flexible as steel, waited on the porch for the 1,764th time.
“Can I help with something?” I asked. If he noticed my gritted teeth, the man gives no sign. I hadn’t even bothered to learn his name. Another rendition of the same song we heard an hour ago blasted in the background. I loved it when I first heard it after Seiko and I went on a date four months ago, but now wanted to drive nails into my ears just so I'd never have to hear it again.
“Water bottles.” The man pushed his lips up in a strange duck-face imitation. “They're looking for chilled, bottled water.”
“There's a tap in the kitchen.”
The man's eyebrow rose. “About that—”
“Have a good day.”
Stella schooled a chuckle when I slammed the door in his face and groaned when he knocked again.
“Don't get that door,” I muttered. “Not one more time.”
She held up two hands in silent acknowledgment, then slowly straightened. The last three days of living around each other had been . . . blissful? Was that a word? Sublime? Something that straddled the world of this-is-stuff-of-dreams and I-can't-believe-she's-into-me, whatever that was.
A particularly off-pitch chord reverberated through the air again. I gritted my teeth as Justin slammed the back door shut behind him.
“When,” he muttered, “are they leaving?”
Atticus slunk in behind him, heading straight for Stella on the floor. She laughed as he licked her face to death even though he'd just returned from the run with her. The dog couldn't get enough of her.
“Tonight,” I said.
“You're sure?”
I wasn't, but I couldn't take away his hope. “I'll make it happen.”
He nodded, then sank onto the couch and rubbed his temples. Stella straightened from where she'd been lunging on the floor and winced when another crash of drums rippled through the forest.
“Well,” I muttered. “At least mountain lions won't be a problem.”
Stella ran a hand along the back of my shoulders as she walked to the ladder. The trail of her fingers against the sensitive part of my neck made me shudder, and it took all my willpower not to spin on my heels and race up that ladder after her. Instead, I contented myself with remembering that we'd watch another 007 movie tonight—our favorite nightly tradition—and then make out afterward.
Amazing how the loneliest time of my life could flip around so quickly.
Once Stella disappeared, I turned my attention to my phone. The driving beat outside didn't help my internal anxiety. None of my contacts had returned my messages. Apparently, no one within my circle of influence, Seiko aside, wanted to rent a crummy cabin on the edge of a summer camp.
Who knew?
My phone buzzed with a text from Lizbeth that set my hair on end.
Lizbeth: Sorry, Mark. I haven't been able to get to the zoning question with the city answered. It's all weird because you're technically between Pineville and Jackson City. I'm not sure which jurisdiction you're under. We need to call but I haven't had the time.
Mark: No worries. I can take care of that.
Lizbeth: Then let me email you some information that you'll need.
Mark: Has the HomeBnB been set up yet?
Lizbeth: No :( We have to resolve this first.
I tilted my head to the side to crack my neck and release some tension. No meant that so many things were left undone, and until they were done, nothing could be rented. Lizbeth was helping me because she wanted to help, but unpaid labor was also unreliable, even in a family. Without paying her, I wouldn't ask her to make this a priority over her new marriage.
Still irritated me though.
Mark: Send me everything you have and Stella and I will take it from here. Thanks for all you did,
