“Remember when Cody got your dad’s truck stuck along here somewhere?” She points down to the water, stifling a laugh.
“Yeah, and then when we got it out to the field, he got it stuck there too,” I add, and the laughter between us builds effortlessly at the memory.
“He was so mad,” Ella shakes her head, andI sigh. I had forgotten about that night.
“What were we doing?”
“Cody shot a deer and needed to drag it out.”
“Why wouldn’t he just take a four-wheeler?”
“Because it was too muddy.” She snorts and covers her mouth quickly, embarrassed.
I laugh harder at her. “ You haven’t changed a bit.”
“I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” she says.
I look straight into her green eyes. “It’s a good thing,” I wink.
She doesn’t reply, just looks down to try and hide those red cheeks from me.
As we continue walking, we come to the entrance of my stone driveway where my cabin sits less than a quarter mile back. I steer her that direction and hope I don’t regret it.
“So you’re really okay with everything?” she asks, sending my stomach into my throat about what exactly she’s referring to. “Addison said you were pretty down about it.”
Some relief hits. She’s talking about Lexie, got it. “I was. But I’m fine. Addison can be dramatic. I have to watch what all I tell her, I guess.” I shake my head.
She clears her throat. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to be respectful.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s all good.”
Once we reach my cabin, I feel excited to show it to her. Back then, there was nothing here but trees. She knew the plans for it, saw the blueprints, but never got to see it become real.
“This is it.” I gesture to the house.
It’s a log cabin, inside and out. The stone driveway leads right up to the small front porch. I haven’t gotten around to setting pavers yet. As far as plants and landscaping goes, it wassupposedto be just some bushes along the sides, under thewindows. But then summertime came around and I had these white, pink, and red flowers pop up all over the place. My gut told me that had Addison written all over it. She’s sneaky and good at it too. It’s terrifying.
I study Ella’s expression, her eyes taking it all in as she says, “Wow, it’s cute.”
I can’t help but flash her an unsatisfied glare. “Cute?”
Her smile is playful. “Sorry. Not cute. Masculine, rough and tough,” she clarifies and follows me up the front porch steps.
“You’ll probably think the inside is cute, too. That’s what I get for letting Mom and Addie decorate,” I warn and push the door open.
Letting her in ahead of me, she wipes her shoes off on the mat first, and I watch her scan the room.
“Oh wow. This is bigger than it looks from the outside.”
“Yeah? There’s two bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom. The master’s down here.” I point off in the direction of my room.
She takes a slow walk through the main living space. Taking it all in, she stops and looks at the few pictures I have sitting on the mantle. Seeing her in my house is surreal. It feels like a fever dream honestly.
She looks back to me. “I remember you were just getting ready to build when we were running around together.”
I take a few steps closer to her, closing some of the distance between us. “Yeah, I think we were getting ready to break ground.”
“I remember we were dreaming about having a place to go, just the two of us, that wasn’t your truck.” She laughs.
