Page 73 of Accidentally Falling
ELLISON: I can drive the trailer
ARDEN: Aren’t you a jack-of-all-trades
ELLISON: JILL-of-all-trades my dear sister
ARDEN: Apologies
ELLISON: Accepted—make sure you bring your own snacks. I only like pickle-flavored chips right now and I won’t share
ARDEN: You know you have to shear alpacas, right? What are you going to do with the fur? Wool?
ELLISON: I think Bea will take it to make socks and scarves—the girl is very crafty
ARDEN: And you’re totally not worried about Montana having a complete meltdown when you bring home another animal?
ELLISON: He loves me more than he wants to collect on my life insurance
ARDEN: Well, isn’t that just the sweetest thing…
ELLISON: I know, right? It doesn’t hurt that I’m carrying his child either—I’ll just point to my belly and watch his eye twitch as he practices his deep breathing exercises
ARDEN: That man is a saint
ELLISON: A saint whose life would be infinitely less fun without me
ARDEN: I can’t argue with that
ELLISON: Now that we have that cleared up, be ready at nine tomorrow morning
ARDEN: Can’t wait
ELLISON: xoxo
“Goin’somewhere?” Jude asks as he leans against the doorjamb as Dez throws himself on the little piece of rug sticking out from under the bed.
Turning, I hold up two hangers.
“Which one is appropriate for bringing home farm animals that your brother-in-law is going to lose his mind over? I want to be comfortable but also cute.” I look down at my belly. “I’m feeling cute right now so I want to capitalize on it while I still can.”
The first hanger has a thin-strapped maroon jumpsuit that’s wide and stretchy with a black tank top I paired under it. The second is a floral dress I’ll have to wear some kind of shorts under.
“I like the red one,” he says, surprising me. “What did Ellison get this time?”
“Alpacas,” I tell him, putting the second hanger back in the closet and hanging the first on the top of the door. “How do you know about Ellison’s animal rescue antics?”
He snorts, crossing the room and dropping down onto the bed, leaning one hand on the mattress behind him, his body stretched out and so very tempting. The man is insanely good-looking—dark and dangerous—and it never fails to make me wonder why there’s not a line of women knocking down the bar door at all hours.
Guess I already did that…
“Blackstone Falls isn’t that big and you know someone’s always talkin’ about something. It’s no secret Ellison and your friend that makes the soaps?—”
“Bea?”
“Right.”
“I saw those in the shower.”
“I like how they feel on my skin,” he replies with a slight tilt of his head as if I’d dare to question him on it. I wouldn’t because Ialsolike the way they make his skin feel. “Those two brought a shit ton of goats to the Greene Farm. I didn’t charge Montana the whole week after because he looked so stressed.”
