Page 7 of Lovewell Lane

I reopened my phone to send my message to the AirBnb owner about the lights and general cleanliness of the place, in hopes they could provide cleaning supplies and maybe a light bulb. Knocking on their door and asking felt invasive.

In the meantime, I cautiously walked back inside my new home to inspect for any other new animal friends.

4

Derek

“How many times do I have to tell you not to slam my door?” I called, without even looking at who I already knew the culprit to be. I swore he hid rocks in his shoes just to stomp louder.

Sam smiled wide and held up a wooden crate overflowing with vegetables. “Sorry, old man. Just excited for family dinner,” He said.

My dad laughed across the kitchen island from me. Slick was the Weston family’s oldest member, but he certainly didn’t act like it. “When did I lose that title?” he asked.

I cringed. “You’re no better than him.” I stopped chopping to point my knife at Sam. “When you stop frolicking around the country in a van like a teenager, maybe you can have the title back,” I decided.

The thought of me acting older than my age jogged my memory. I sat down the chef’s knife and wiped my hand on my pants before fishing my phone out of my pocket.

“Sam, what the hell is this app?” I asked.

He bounded over, his friendly gait reminded me of a golden retriever. Putting down the box he held, he reached for my phone and took a look at the message that popped up on my phone earlier in the day.

“Uh, it’s a rental app. You planning on going on vacation?” Sam said sarcastically. He knew I never left this place.

“Oh, that must be our guest. I forgot that was today,” my dad mused.

My head tilted up and my eyes flicked over to meet his. Through gritted teeth, I asked, “What do you mean?”

My dad righted his posture and cracked his knuckles. Something he often did when he was dolling out information I wasn’t going to like. “I’m going on my trip to Alaska soon, so I figured we could make some extra money.”

Tessa, my daughter and favorite member of the Weston family strolled in, and the atmosphere immediately cooled off. “Can I help cook?”

“Of course, honey,” I answered. I smoothed down her cowlick that made her hair stick up in all different directions out of habit. “Wash your hands first.”

When she turned around to face the sink, I shot my dad a look. “You rented out your house to a stranger?” I reiterated.

“Technically, son,thisis my house. I just rented out the guest house.”

Tessa took a step up on her stool next to me. “She’s really nice, Daddy.”

“You met her?”

“She was scared of Ducky, so I helped her.”

“Huh,” I muttered. Then I turned back to my father. “Where are you going to sleep in the meantime? Upstairs?”

“I’ll sleep in my RV.” I made a mental note to lecture him later about acting like a responsible adult. I rolled my eyes just thinking about it. Parents.

Sam, who was quiet in all this, continued to scroll through my phone. He set it down and looked at me with a smile. As his older brother, I knew it meant nothing good.

“Your new guest needs light bulbs and cleaning supplies,” he said.

“She isn’tmine,” I corrected. I handed Tessa a pair of kid-safe scissors so that she could help me cut some basil. “It’s the woman from earlier today. Isn’t it.”

It was a statement, not a question. There weren’t many tourists in Honeyfield in recent years. And there certainly weren’t many who planned on staying long enough to want to rent a place.

Sam’s smile widened in a way that answered my question.

Great. Now I didn’t just have to avoid the woman who was opening a business across the street, I had to avoid looking into my own backyard, too. Perfect.

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