Wrong House

14: Oaklynn

        "I forgot how pretty the sunsets are here." Holland says, breaking the silence, and my gaze shifts to him. "When I was playing peewee hockey, we traveled here for a tournament, and when my dad met Ruth, we visited Nashville since her parents lived there and they wanted to meet us before they passed." He elaborates, and I nod.

        "Yeah, we used to come here every Sunday to prepare for the upcoming week. When I was probably like seven, I got a little camera and it had so many sunset pictures." I reminisce, and he smiles. "They are even prettier in the winter though. If snows on the ground it makes them better." He laughs. We fall silent again, and resume eating our dinner. When his food is gone, he puts his trash in the bag, and pulls out the hot sauce, queso, and chips. Once they are out, I abandon my food to snack on them.

        Don't judge, it's chips and queso and hot sauce. You know you'd fill up on them before you even touched your food.

        I lean into Holland, who wastes no time putting his arm around my shoulder. We sit like that for a few minutes, but every great thing comes to an end eventually. Both our phones ring, I pick mine up, "It's my mom." I say, and he nods.

        "Wren is calling me." He tells me, and I nod. We both answer our phones.

        "Hey honey. I know you and Holland are supposed to be having a date night thing, but there are some people here to see you and him." She says, and my eyebrows furrow. No one here knows him- at least not that I know of- and no one knows I'm back home.

        "Who is it?" I ask.

        There is some whispering, and then Mom finally answers, "It's a secret. They want to know when you two will be back."

        I look at Holland who is off the phone now, and he smiles, "I don't know. I'll ask Holland when we get off, and text you the answer." I tell her, and she says okay. We hang up, and I put my phone down, "Mom said someone's here for us?" I question, and he nods.

        "Yup," he pops the P, "it's the group. That's what Wren was telling me. That they were here, and waiting for us to show up. They already introduced themselves to Momma Misty." He informs me, and I nod hesitantly. "Better go before they make a fool of themselves." He says, sliding out of the bed. He extends his hand, and I take it, hoping down. "I'm sorry our date got ruined. Next time, we are turning our phones off." He  promises, and I smile.

        I'm not even mad that it got ruined. I'm not mad at all. It was nice spending time with Holland, just like it was while we were cleaning.

        He grabs the bags and blanket, and we get back into the truck. While we head back home, we are silent, until I can't take it anymore. "Did you know they were coming?" I ask, and he shakes his head no. "I don't get how they knew where to go. I've never mentioned where I was from, and none of my social media accounts have a location." I say, and he shrugs.

        "I promise, I didn't tell them. They don't have my location, and I haven't told them where you lived." He tells me, and I believe him. There's no telling how they figured it out, and if I was a gambling woman, I'd place my money on Ivy. That chick finds out everything.

        Before I know it, we are pulling into my driveway. The same driveway that has my mothers car, Rebel's car, and Ivy's van. "Ready?" Holland asks, and I nod. We get out of his truck, he grabs the food, and we head inside.

        The moment we cross the threshold of the front door, Ivy is attached to my front. "Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" She cries, and I pull away from her. "Dustin told us you were coming back here, and might not be back." She adds, and I look at Dustin.