Yes, Dad.
Laughter bursts from my chest. It’s nice to see some resemblance of normalcy. He has a long way to go, but this is a great step.
Willow:
Oakley said he can drop off a panini later if you want one. Just text him.
Lennox:
Will do. Thanks, guys. I think I’m just going to binge-watch some shows and crash early tonight.
I set my phone down, hopeful that Lennox isn’t feeling smothered. Looking around my workshop, I mentally catalog every piece I still have to complete, and the stress starts to build again. My organization of my commissions has been severely lacking, and I need to get a hold of it sooner rather than later.
A clamoring sound draws my attention outside, and my brows furrow. No one ever comes here unless they’re invited. I’ve made it perfectly clear what happens if someone shows up unannounced. I don’t like showing my barn to anyone, and the lovely people of Bluebell Falls stopped questioning why when I lost my shit on Old Man Walter when he showed up unannounced and wanted to watch me work because he was bored.
There are times that I still feel inadequate with my work. I know I’m good at what I do, logically, but having an audience makes me nervous and, in turn, makes me mess up.
I let out a sigh, annoyed that I’m probably going to need to live up to my bitchy reputation. I’m not in the mood to deal with more shit right now, but I don’t have a choice.
Walking out of the door, I look around and don’t see anything.
“I know you’re out here. Might as well just come talk to me,” I say in exasperation.
Silence greets me, and I start getting pissed. Stomping my way around the exterior of my building, I look in all directions for who could befucking around on my property. Walking to the back, I see a wood pile—that was neatly stacked earlier—strewn across the ground.
What the fuck?
“You could at least own up to your mistake, ass,” I mutter out to the void. Whoever did this is long gone because I would have seen them.
Under normal circumstances, I would make a call to the sheriff’s office, just to have a report on file. However, that’s not going to happen now. Not after what we did last night. I need to distance myself from Arlo and act like nothing ever happened, not call him to tell him I suspect someone was messing around on my property.
Tilting my head up to the sky, I blow out a breath, preparing myself to clean up the mess and taking more time away from working on the damn daybed.
Time to get to work.
Two hours.
That’s how long it took to fix the damn wood pile. It was a mess, and I’m not sure how someone messed everything up that badly and so fast, but the whole thing had to be re-organized.
Now, I’m driving to Grind Time because I need a pick-me-up since I’ll be working well into the night to catch up.
The bell dings above my head as I walk in, and Oakley looks up with a smile on his face. Behind him, Willow is concentrating hard on a cup of coffee I assume she’s trying to make.
A genuine smile takes over my face as I watch these two together. They had a rough road, but it looks like things are going to be just fine for them.
“Hey, Rina, what’ll it be today?” Oakley asks. I might be the only person in Bluebell Falls that doesn’t have a regular coffee order for him to memorize, and I think he sees it as a challenge some days to guess what I’m in the mood for.
“I need all the caffeine today, my man. Largest iced americano you can give me, please.”
“Everything okay?” Willow asks as she finishes whatever coffee she was making. She sips it and makes a face, telling me she doesn’t love what she created.
“It’s fine. Just someone or an animal trashing shit at my place. A whole pile of wood knocked over.”
“You think someone did that?” Oakley’s protective instinct kicks in.
I don’t want to tell him I think it was a person because he’ll go all U.S. Marshal on me, and I don’t have time to have a shadow checking to make sure no one’s messing with me.
“It was probably an animal, honestly. I didn’t see anything that would suggest otherwise.” I shrug as he moves over to start making my drink.
