Page 26 of 2204 Hunter Lane
A crisp laugh rose from her throat, exposing pearly white teeth and a diamond gemstone embedded into her canine.
“And here I thought I lost my accent,” she perked, taking a seat next to me. “I’m a transfer student from Leeds. I went to NU for criminal justice and that’s where I met Cramer.”
Huh.“NU, University of Nebraska? That’s in Lincoln, right?”
“Actually, the Omaha campus! Are you from there?”
“No, no, I’m from Lincoln – New York, actually. I’m originally from New York City.”
She crossed her arms and tilted her head downwards to analyze my red dress and heels.
“That explains why you look like an actress, in the best way possible.”
Cramer pulled aside a server and asked if we could have a booth since we were now a party of three, and I couldn’t be happier.
The entire night we sat together chatting, ordering various different drinks and shots, celebrating my first day as a new woman.Or what felt like it.
I learned that Winter and I actually had a lot more in common than I thought. She, too, had an overindulgent family who put so much pressure on her to pursue a medical degree when she was passionate about law. She actually lived in Columbus for a little while, tried her luck in Colorado, and eventually settled in Aurora after graduating from NU to work in family law.
Cramer actually graduated NU with the same degree, only he tried becoming a paralegal and hated his life so he moved back home to Aurora, working at his dad’s construction site with part-time hours at P&D’s.
When it came time to ask about me, I was hesitant at first. I didn’t really know how to explain myself, why I was here, what I was doing, without sounding like a complete basket case who was one marble short of losing her shit. But as the night progressed, the words flowed out of my mouth like I’d known these people for ages.
They listened to every shitty story about my parents, about how Todd got so drunk one night he accidently shit his pants. They howled in laughter when I said I hadn’t checked my phone in twenty-four hours because of him, and they didn’t blame me for it. They didn’t blame me for a single thing, in fact. They understood.
Eventually, I allowed the alcohol to consume me and relaxed my posture, sending all trifling anxiety to run off into the sunset.Giddy up, bastards!
I’d come to the conclusion that I liked this girl. I liked Winter Camden and Cramer Hughes. He was so right by inviting Winter, it was exactly what I needed. Maybe by Springtime I wouldn’t be eating at my picnic alone. Maybe I’d have this company, these friends that have made me laugh harder than I had in ages, by my side.
It was in my elated bliss that I realized one thing:
I didn’t look at Hunter Lane for the rest of the night.
Chapter Twelve
Hunter
Three weeks went by, Bambi free.
I chalked off my pathetic outburst at the bar as my emotions going haywire cause of the booze, which has happened in the past so it ain’t my fault.
Halloween came and went, Beth and Josh deciding to call it quits.
“Didn’t work out,” he’d told me.
Nothin’ ever does.
Britt became my personal pleasure port and I didn’t mind. She’d been angry with me about buying a drink for another girl but after I explained that’s all she was, Britt was back on my arm.
I cared about Britt, but I didn’t want no relationship. Hell, I didn’t know what I wanted in general. The only thing I was sure of was death. That inevitable, black hole we’d all reach someday and in my best efforts, I’d been hoping to expedite the process.
But here I was, still alive, still kicking, still breathing. Unlike my mom, who got the shortest end of the stick in this fucked up world. Well, maybe it was a blessing. What’s life gon’ do for us anyway? Pain, pain, pain. The moral of the goddamn story.
We’d just wrapped up harvest season so I was doing menial tasks around the farm to help my dad. Farmer by day, drinker by night.Got a nice ring to it.
Payton was out most of the time and I cursed knowing exactly where she was and who she was with. But I couldn’t even be mad about it. From the reports, P&D’s was beating out every hardware store competition in town.
Bambi had managed to get the shop in flyers, posters and even the newspaper ads. I’d actually seen the new slogan when I read the paper a few days back:
