Page 48 of When in December
Standing to pick up the piece of wood I had been working on, I lifted it to make sure it was going to fit at the end before I did anything else. I stretched up on the step-ladder until I was tall enough for molding to slip into place before running my hand down the stretch of wood until the edge touched the ceiling?—
I swallowed the sound that wanted to screech from my mouth.
Slowly, I looked down at my hand. I blinked, nearly dropping the piece of wood. Everything around me turned silent as I stepped down from the ladder and over the nail gun that I was luckily not ready to use yet. I dropped the piece of wood I hadbeen holding. I hadn’t gotten to properly sand it down before its final coat of paint.
Red dripped against the green.
It was anything but festive.
eleven
. . .
Aaron
Oz stared at me,waiting for his chance to pounce off into the thick, icy mounds of snow like the world’s most uncoordinated reindeer.
What a little shit.
I’d woken up this morning to a working doorbell. It rang an obnoxious number of times before I finally tore the door open. Cold air hit me in the face, along with the image of Barrett shoving a leash into my hands before appearing to decide if it was too late to run.
It was the worst ding-dong ditch I’d ever seen.
“He’ll be good for you,” Barrett had said. “Come on. Don’t you remember when you said you owed me a favor?”
“When was that?”
He paused. “I’m sure it was some time.”
I glared before I glanced back at the dog. Oz had already roamed past the entryway to the living room before finding a space in the corner and curling up on top of a drop cloth.
“He’s deaf now in that bent ear of his,” he explained to me, coming back to pat me once on the shoulder. “But he’s good, Hayes. Take care of him.”
“Take him back.”
“I need to leave him with someone. I have to go back to base to pick up the rest of my stuff. As well as revel in the party they’ll probably have for me,” said Barrett.
Anyone else, and I’d have figured that they were joking. Barrett, however, was, oddly enough, widely liked. A fact that I was more and more confused by every second I spent with him.
The dog looked at me with a dark face. Gray, which I didn’t remember, painted a thick line around his muzzle.
“I need to leave him with someone,” said Barret. “I can’t leave him alone while I’m away.”
“Are you talking about me or the dog?”
He laughed.
“Come back here and get him!” I yelled after him again as he made his way back to his car and drove off.
He didn’t.
Now, I was stuck in the cabin with two unwelcome visitors—the one looking at me like he was reacquainted with his long-lost friend and the other who wanted nothing more to do with me after last night.
Not that I could blame her.
Barrett was right. I was a mess. I couldn’t even apologize like a normal person.
I nudged my boot against the snow, running my hand up my face. I didn’t bother making Oz stop his antics, trotting outside through the woods like a prize stud anymore. The stupid dog was smart in some ways, but in others?