Chapter Nine

Charlie

I bring my hand up to my face, covering my nose. Mom does the same and takes a step closer to the door. She offered to help me look at rentals around Eastwood today since I didn’t put the deposit down on the apartment yesterday. There are a whole three houses up for rent in Eastwood right now, and we’re on house number three already.

The first was nothing more than a trailer parked in someone’s yard. I’d share my propane hookup with the house, so that was an automatic no. The next house was rather large for one person, and looked promising from the outside…until we saw the water damage in the basement. Turns out it floods during bad rainstorms.

And this current house is small, tidy, but smells terrible, like cigarettes and cat pee. Looks like I’m stuck with Mom and Dad for another month and a half…and that I’ll be dropping off the deposit to hold my spot at the apartment complex.

Mom and I do our best not to gag as we walk through the rest of the house, which is actually cute and has potential if only it didn’t smell so bad. After leaving the house, we go into town and get lunch.

As we’re leaving the restaurant, Carly calls and asks if we want to go see her lot in the neighborhood today. The builders started to mark stuff off and she’s excited.

“Do you want to go?” Mom asks. “I know it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but your sister is just tickled over this.”

“Yeah, I’ll go see it. I think it’s cute she’s so excited.”

“Five people in her little house…” Mom shakes her head. “Plus those dogs. I couldn’t have done it. The two of you took up enough room in our house.” She gives me a wink. “The only downfall about older houses is the lack of bathrooms. In this new neighborhood, every bedroom has a bathroom.”

“That is nice, especially when the kids get older.”

“Definitely. There were many mornings before school where you and Carly would be fighting over the bathroom.”

“I remember. Carly took forever to do her hair.”

Mom laughs and pulls her keys from her pocket. I roll down the windows as soon as I’m in the car, choking from the hot summer air. It doesn’t take long before the air conditioner starts blowing out cool air, at least.

“Oh wow,” I say about ten minutes later when we pull into the new development. “This is huge.”

“It’s really taken off over the last few years. It’s nice, rather upscale houses too. You-know-who’s father developed this.”

“Mom, you can say Owen’s name. He’s not Voldemort.”

Mom looks at me sideways. “All right.”

Carly’s lot was one of the last left in the neighborhood and butts up to a pond with a fountain in the center. The houses are cookie-cutter without being too similar, and almost every lawn is neatly landscaped. This place looks perfect for my sister and her family.

“Hi, Aunt Charlie!” Libby comes running over to me as soon as I’m out of the car. She’s four and is the spitting image of Carly. I pick her up and kiss the top of her head.

“Hey, kiddo! Are you excited to have your house go in here? I’m excited for it!” I flash a big smile, remembering Carly tell me that Libby is scared of moving. “I bet your new room is going to be perfectly pink, right?”

“Yes, with princesses!”

“Mine is going to be green,” Matt says. He’s two years older than his sister and is all about the jungle and dinosaurs right now.

“Oh my gosh, it’s going to be so cool!” I set Libby down. That kid is surprisingly heavy for her size. “And what about baby Jack?”

“Mickey Mouse!” Libby says, raising her hands up over her head. “He’s just a baby, though.”

“Mickey Mouse is always a good choice.” I take her hand and follow Carly through the empty lot. She takes photos of the orange flags and sends them to her husband. Libby wants to walk down the street and look at the geese by the water’s edge. I go with her, but stop before we even make it two houses down.

Because of all the people in this town for me to run into—again—it’s Owen fucking Dawson. And this time, he’s shirtless and sweaty and pushing a lawnmower. I remember my dream from yesterday and hate the rush of heat that goes through me.

His kisses probably aren’t that good anymore. And I bet he’s slept with so many people he’s gotten lazy in bed. Which makes sense, don’t tell me otherwise.

Hoping we can hightail it down the sidewalk before he sees us, I wait a beat before starting forward again, watching him turn the lawnmower around and head away from the street.

But, dammit, he sees me and stops mowing.

“Charlie,” he says and my name floats off his tongue like velvet. “Are you stalking me?”

“You wish,” I spit back, keeping a hold on Libby’s hand.

“Then what are you doing here?”

“My sister bought the lot a few houses down. She wanted to show me.”

Owen nods. “I didn’t know we were going to be neighbors.”

“You live here?” I don’t mean to sound as surprised as I do. My eyes go to the house in front of us, thinking this place is better suited for a family of five like my sister’s, not Owen.

“What, did you think I was just here mowing lawns or something?”

“No, it’s just not…not what I expected.”

He gets that irritatingly sexy cocky smirk on his face again. Fuck, I want to slap it right off. “So you expected things from me. Does that mean you’ve been thinking about me?”

“No,” I say pointedly. “Not at all.”

“Who is that?” Libby whispers.

“That’s Owen,” I tell her. “An old friend.”

“We were much more than—” Owen cuts off when I glare daggers at him. “I’m Owen,” he says to Libby and offers his hand to shake.

“You’re all sweaty.” She recoils and I laugh.

“I am. It’s hot out. Are you excited to move in here?”

Libby wrinkles her nose. “Yeah, but I’m sad to leave my old house. Heidi lived across the street and we played.”

Owen crouches down to Libby’s level and points to a house down the road. “Two little girls live there, and I know there are a handful of other kids about your age here. I see them up and down the street on their bikes all the time. Actually, the girl who lives right next to me just got one of those princess Power Wheel cars. It looks like it can seat two and she never has anyone to ride with her.”

Libby’s face lights up and I’m hating Owen more and more. Not only is he amazing with his own niece and nephew, he just made my own niece’s day.

“Well,” I say, tugging Libby forward. A bead of sweat rolls down Owen’s chest and slowly makes its way over the ridges of his abs. He was in good shape when we were together, but he’s in even better shape now. “We were going to see the geese.”

“They’re mean,” Owen warns. “Don’t get too close.”

“We’ll be fine.”

“Bye!” Libby waves and jogs to keep up with me. I slow once I realize I’m making the poor kid run. The geese hiss and shake their heads at us as soon as we step off the sidewalk. “They are mean. That man was right.”

“Geese usually are. Maybe we can bring bread or something for them next time and try to be friends.”

“Okay!”

I pick up Libby and carry her down the sidewalk, moving fast and instantly regretting it. I’m sweating by the time we get back to Carly and my mom.

“Who were you talking to?” Mom asks, though by the tone of her voice, she clearly knows.

“Just one of the neighbors,” I say and set Libby down.

“Really?”

“Yeah. He lives a few houses down from here, which makes him one.”

Mom and Carly exchange glances, but before either of them can get on me about it, Jack picks up something off the ground and sticks it in his mouth. After a moment of panic, we pull a dried-up worm from the kid’s mouth and decide to call it a day. I help load the kids into the car, and right as Carly gets Jack’s car seat buckled, her phone rings.

“Oh my God,” she says, stepping away from the car. I watch, worried at first that something is wrong. Then I see her smile, and a minute later she comes back.

“You’re never going to believe this!”

“What?” Mom asks.

“Someone just put an offer on the house. Full asking price! And they want to close as soon as possible!”

“That’s amazing!” I give my sister a hug.

She puts her hand to her chest and lets out a big sigh. “I was so panicked about having to pay for two houses if the first didn’t sell. This is such a—oh shit.”

“You said a bad word, Mommy,” Matt points out.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Mom starts Carly’s car so the kids don’t get cooked in there.

“This house won’t be ready for another few months. I know we talked about moving in with you guys to patch the time, but that was with the assumption it would take our house through the summer to sell, not the day after we put it on the market.”

“We’ll make it work.” Mom’s smile doesn’t falter. “It’ll be fun having us all together. And it’s only temporary.”

My smile, however, does falter. My situation was only temporary too, and now I’m cursing this stupid small town and its lack of rentals. My eyes go to Owen once more, and my heart skips a beat in my chest.

“It’ll be fun,” I flat-out lie. My parents’ house is decently sized, but cramming my sister, her husband, three children, and two golden retrievers in along with Mom, Dad, me, and Tulip…we’ll be lucky if we all make it out alive by the end of the summer.