Page 51 of 2204 Hunter Lane
“I wasn’t talkin’ bout you, son.” The man pointed a chubby finger at me, nodding my way. “Haven’t seen you ‘round here before.”
I swallowed back the intimidation this man stored. Hunter had saiduncle, which implied that this was Dex’s brother, and honestly, it made sense. They had the same build and height, the same booming voice. The only difference was that this man,Glen, smiled… a lot.
I stood up, extending my hand out to the intense man in front of me and curved my lips upwards.
“I’m Marley, a friend of…” I looked to Hunter whose eyes were glued to my face. “A friend of Payton’s.”
“Marrrley… I heard of ya, actually! Dex, told me about ‘cha, helpin’ out with his business, makin’ him a millionaire.”
My cheeks heated. “Well, I’m not aware of his financial statements but…”
“Dex!” He called, but Payton’s freshly made peppermint bark caught his attention right away as he sauntered over to her with two hands on his belly.
“Paws off, Glen!” Payton snapped.
“Yah, don’t wan’ look even more like a flabby pancake do ya, sugar?” Betty added, licking green bean juice off her spoon.
The racket of bickering relatives should’ve made me anxious but it had the total opposite effect. I stood in awe, watching this cheerful family come together in one room, arguing about the most normal things like Christmas treats and canned goods.
In New York, all the Christmases I’d spent were isolated in a room full of kids who belonged to my parent’s co-workers while they had a separate table to talk future plans for their company.
Adam and I always found our own little corner to play with the Lego sets and Bratz dolls they’d gifted us, but when we got older we just skipped family Christmas parties altogether and spent it with our friends.
It really was a shame since Christmas was my favourite holiday. I loved driving through neighbourhoods to check out how each house was decorated. All the lights and love and unity of people circled around fir trees made my heart melt.
And this… this was as close to the merriment of Christmas that I could possibly wish for.
Gentle fingers grazed my wrist as I turned around to find Hunter pulling me away from the noise.
“Little loud, don’t you think sweetheart?”
I blushed. I freaking blushed because I hadn’t heard him call me that in so long that a fuzzy tingle ate me right up.
“It’s a pleasant ruckus, I’d say.”
His chuckle made my morning, afternoon and night. This entire time I thought he’d hated me or worse, went back to his old ways of being an inebriated asshat, but he was fully sober standing in front of me with a jovial expression.
“Well darlin’ you’re more than welcome to stay here, but I need a shower and I got quite the selection of Christmas mixers back at mine.”
He stalked towards the side exit of the house, glancing back at me once before holding the door open.
As if he knew I’d follow, I rolled my eyes and passed him, keeping his steady pace as we crossed the crust of snow towards a massive green shed.
The flurries created a blanket of white fog that emanated far beyond the field, hindering my vision.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I told you, mine.”
I furrowed my brows in confusion. “Your house is where exactly?”
He let out a laugh and continued in silence until we reached the door of the green shed and he unlocked it.
Warm air poured out from inside, drawing me into a cozy space that resembled a tiny home.So this is what he was talking about.
A T.V sat perched atop a black table that contained a row of medals and picture frames. A grey couch faced the television accompanied by a side table that served more of a bar-cart purpose, and a massive marina tapestry hung behind the sofa.
There was a small kitchen which filled the space in the back of the room that held all its necessities crammed together in one area. Next to it was a door that I could only presume was the bathroom, and the final door was fully open, containing a bed from what I could see.
