Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Adam grinned and Gus peeked from around the corner, hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter.
“There you are!” Adam cried, playing along. “Come here, my little monster.”
He threw his arms around River and hugged them tight. River tensed for a moment and Adam started to let go, but then they relaxed into his arms. Adam squeezed his younger sibling tight for a few more seconds, then let them go with a ruffle of their hair. He hadn’t had the chance to do that much in their lives spent mostly apart, and spared a moment of gratitude that he now had the chance.
“No, me!” Gus yelled, running straight at Adam and plastering herself to him.
“Here’s my other little monster.”
She nodded and he swung her around until they were both dizzy.
“What’s that?” Gus asked, recovering quickly, pointing at the large brown paper bag with Matheson’s Hardware stamped on it.
“Look inside.”
She poked her nose inside and grinned.
“Lights for me!”
“Lights for us,” Adam said.
“Lights for us,” Gus echoed politely. Then, to River she said, “I’m gonna make our house have the most Christmas lights in history.”
“Whoa,” River said. “That sounds beautiful!” They turned to Adam and added under their breath, “And expensive.”
Adam grimaced. He hadn’t quite realized the expense when he’d agreed to this project.
“Can we put them up?”
Gus was already tearing open the boxes.
“Sure. You wanna help?” Adam asked River.
“Nah, I’m gonna take off. Gotta check on Hydra.”
“I hope that’s a cat?”
River flushed. “Yeah. Bye.”
“Bye, River!” Gus yelled without looking up from her task.
Lights freed from their boxes, they went outside. Immediately, Adam realized their first problem: he didn’t have a ladder.
“Shoot, sorry, sweetheart. I’ll get one from work tomorrow.”
Adam quickly budgeted for that and wondered if Charlie would lend him one, just for the weekend.
“Maybe Wes has one,” Gus suggested slyly.
“Er, maybe one of our other neighbors—”
“I’ll ask!”
And with that she ran off. Gus knew he should stop her, but he couldn’t deny that mysterious, reclusive, frankly weird Wes Mobray had gotten under his skin.
Instead, Adam followed his daughter to Wes’ front door. It opened faster this time, and Wes looked less confused to find them there.
“Hi,” he said, his frown only at twenty-five percent this time.
One of the neighbors Adam hadn’t met yet—a woman who lived with her daughter at the end of Knockbridge Lane—drove past and craned her neck to look at them.
Adam raised a hand in greeting, and she snapped her eyes front. Wes took a step back into the shadows of the house.
“We’re hanging Christmas lights,” Gus announced. “Wanna help?”
“Oh, honey, that’s not—We don’t—I thought—Um, we were wondering if you had a ladder we could borrow. You don’t have to—That is, you can if you want, but—”
Adam physically forced his lips together to prevent more gibberish from leaking out. Wes was looking at him intently. Then he glanced at Gus. She was vibrating in place like a whippet in a snowstorm, eyes huge and hopeful.
“Um. Okay,” Wes said.
Adam gaped.
“Yay! Yes! Yay!” Gus cried, and darted inside. “Can I see Bettie?”
Adam and Wes looked at each other and Adam felt like Wes could see right through him.
“You don’t have to,” Adam said. “I just. I accidentally promised Gus the biggest Christmas light display in the world and, uh.”
Every time he said it out loud it sounded more unrealistic than the last.
Wes raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He kept looking at Adam like there was a mystery he was trying to solve.
“Wes!” Gus’ voice sounded more distant. “Can I touch this snake?!”
“Oh god, I’m sorry,” Adam said. Then the words registered, and panic ripped through him. “Wait, snake?”
“She’s not poisonous, don’t worry.”
That was actually not what Adam’s reaction had been in response to, but he made himself nod calmly.
“Good, good.”
“Are you coming in, or?”
“Oh, nah, I’ll just wait here,” Adam said extremely casually. “Don’t mind me. Yep. Fresh air. I’ll just. Uh-huh, here’s great.”
Wes smiled for the first time and it was like nothing Adam had ever seen.
His face lit with tender humor, eyes crinkling at the corners and full lips parting to reveal charmingly crooked teeth. Damn, he was beautiful.
“Wes, Wes!” Gus ran up behind him and skidded to a halt inches before she would’ve slammed into him. “Can I?”
“You can touch her while I get the ladder,” Wes said.
Gus turned to Adam.
“Daddy, do you wanna touch the snake? She’s so cool.”
Adam’s skin crawled.
“Nope, you go ahead.”
Adam sank down to sit at the top step and wait. The sun was setting, and it painted the expanse of Knockbridge Lane in muted pinks and purples. The mountains rose to the west, and to the north and east were trees. A Cooper’s hawk glided in a wide arc high above the tallest branches.
It was beautiful here, there was no denying. Adam hadn’t left all those years ago because it wasn’t a beautiful place to live. But no amount of natural beauty could make up for living with parents like his.