Page 22 of DFF: Delicate Freakin' Flower

For a beat, we just stared at each other, adrenaline thick in the air, our breathing shallow, and every nerve lit up like a live wire. Then I nodded. “Fine, stay low. No sudden moves.”

She grabbed the fireplace poker like it was Excalibur and crouched near the side of the window, eyes locked on the door.

I moved slowly and silently to the front entrance, gun in hand, and kept my breathing steady and focused. My mind was running a mile a minute, calculating the odds, while I replayed everything Matty had said and wondered if this was how it would start.

There was a crunch outside—leaves shifting beneath someone’s weight. I raised the gun, every muscle in my body pulled taut, my vision sharpening with focus. Another sound followed, this one softer but closer. Then something clattered onto the porch—a sharp, metallic sound that made my breath catch.

I counted the seconds under my breath. One… two… three…

Then, nothing. Just a long, tense pause.

Chitter...

Gabby whispered, “Did they just chitter?”

There was a scrambling sound, followed by a faint squeak, and then the unmistakable sound of something knocking over the tin washbasin by the door. I eased forward, heart still thudding, and cracked the door open just enough to look. And there they were, a whole damn family of raccoons. Five of them, maybe six. One of them was halfway inside the basin like it was a ball pit, andanother was standing on its hind legs, pawing at a stick like it had beef with it.

They froze when the door creaked, and the biggest one looked right at me.

Gabby popped her head up beside me, eyes wide. “Is that... a raccoon?”

I lowered the gun and exhaled so hard my ribs ached. “Specifically, multiple raccoons.”

The one by the stick hissed and bolted, and the others scattered after it in a blur of fur and offended dignity.

I shut the door gently, locked it, and turned to Gabby. She was staring at me, her face pale and her body trembling with leftover adrenaline, andthen she burst out laughing. It wasn't a little chuckle, but a full-on, half-hysterical, doubled-over, post-terror laugh. I just stood there, the gun still in my hand, trying to decide if I wanted to laugh too or throw it at the nearest tree.

Gabby wiped her eyes. “I thought I was going to die, and it'd be death by a hit squad, but it was raccoons.Raccoons, Webb.”

I finally let out a breath and leaned against the wall. “Welcome to the cabin.”

She wiped her eyes, still catching her breath, and looked up at me with a lopsided, exhausted smile. “You always know how to show a girl a good time, don’t you?”

I raised a brow, re-holstering my gun. “Stick with me,” I told her, deadpan. “Next week, we upgrade to armadillos and existential dread.”

She snorted, shook her head, and muttered, “Unbelievable.”

But she was still smiling, and right now, I’d take that as a win.

Chapter Nine

Gabby

By the second night, I was half-convinced that the cabin was trying to break me. Between the bucket bath routine, which I now performed with the resigned grace of someone scrubbing shame off in thirty-second intervals, and the outhouse that I swore creaked menacingly when I got too close, I was one incident away from snapping and building a makeshift shower out of twigs and spite.

But Webb had suggested a walk before dinner, saying the air might help clear our heads. What he really meant was I was pacing the cabin like a caged animal, and he needed to redirect my energy before I gnawed on the furniture.

So, we went walking. Well, he walked. I tiptoed behind him like we were in a minefield.

“Gabby,” he called, glancing over his shoulder. “You don’t have to step exactly where I do.”

“You say that now,” I muttered, carefully placing my boot in the exact imprint he’d just left. “But if I step somewhere new and fall into a sinkhole or a snake orgy, you’re going to feel really bad.”

He snorted. “There are no snake orgies.”

“How do you know? Have you interviewed them?”

He didn’t respond, but I caught the tiny shake of his head, the one I'd learned he did when he was trying not to laugh.

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