Our house has four bedrooms. Four! Each one even has its own bathroom. I picked the room overlooking the front of our house. The master bedroom (my parents' room) is down the hall. It has a beautiful view of the sunrise over our backyard.
The only thing in my bedroom now is a mattress. I don't know where the rest of my bed is, but I'm assuming it's still buried in a truck somewhere. The view from my window is so pretty. I can see the evergreen house across the street and the forest right next to it. If I remember right, I think it's the Auden's?
Anyway, that road we drove in on wraps all the way around the Auden's house, going down a little hill so it lines right up with the edge of the forest. It's a bigger forest than the ones over the wheat fields, too. The trees are so tall I'd be worried about them toppling over in a hurricane.
I think they're redwoods. There's a trail sign pointing into the forest that I can see from my window. I can see a little parting in the brush and, judging by my view all the way up here, the trail looks pretty well maintained. Makes me wonder how often people use it.
"Nelly! Come help me unload these boxes!" mom called. I jumped at the intrusion. I was so far lost in my own thoughts I hadn't realized I was staring into space. I rushed downstairs, straight into the kitchen.
"Cherry, do you really need all of these chickens?" dad asked, pulling out a ceramic dish.
"They're roosters, Arthur, and yes. It's always nice to have a theme in the kitchen."
My mom is obsessed with rooster-themed kitchen equipment. She's got a utensil holder for spatulas and strainers shaped like a rooster, a pitcher that never gets any lemonade or tea in it (mom just likes looking at it), and rubber spatulas with paintings of roosters on them. Any utensil you can name probably's got a rooster on it in our kitchen.
"By the way, Nel, I don't want you running off into those woods just yet. I know you want to explore but just hold off until Kiersten comes around again, please." Dad stood up straight, putting his hands on his hips as he spoke to me. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Why?" I questioned. He's never cared if I ran off before, and I'm not exactly a little kid. I can handle myself.
"I don't know. Just something that lady said. So, will you just wait? For me?" he added. I sighed and mimicked the way he was standing.
"Alright, yeah," I returned. Dad smiled and shot me a curt nod before bending down to empty more boxes. I would've done the same, but there was a knock at the front door. Mom and I peeked our heads down the hallway to see an older woman standing in the door frame, the front door already propped open by the moving crew.
"Hello!" the older woman waved with a generous smile. Mom and I looked at each other before heading her way. The woman moved to the side as the movers brought in more furniture.
"Hi, can I help you?" mom asked, stepping outside onto the porch. I tried to hide the confusion on my face. This woman had eyes almost as intense as that Kiersten lady. The only difference was that hers were green instead of blue.
Her hair was turning grey; it was pulled back into a twisted bun, fastened with a claw clip. She had this real petite nose, it kind of poked out like a witch, but it wasn't big... just very sharp. And her lips were tiny, real thin and narrow. She had lipstick on.
"Hi, sorry to visit in the heat of things. I'm Jo Auden, I live right across the street! I would have brought some dinner over for you all if I had known someone was moving in. I'm sorry I wasn't very prepared." The woman smiled, extending a hand to my mom. Mom wiped her hand on her dress before taking Jo's and shaking it.
"Oh! It's nice to meet you! Don't worry about dinner, there's no need for that. My name is Cherry, uh, Cherry Madison, and this is my daughter, Nelly." I smiled at our new neighbor, but she didn't look that friendly towards me. Jo took a deep breath suddenly, and I was worried she'd keep looking at me like I was in trouble, but soon her facial features softened, and she shot me a smile.
"Hi, nice to meet you," Jo extended her hand towards me. I took it, trying not to hesitate. It almost caught me off guard how strong this woman's shake was. For a second there I thought I'd fall over from the force of it.
"You too," I spoke kindly.
"Well, I won't keep you too long, I know you've got lots of unpacking to do. I've got a son and a daughter who'd love to help around the house if you ever need anything. They'll charge you, but not too much. My daughter is away now but my oldest, Logan, is out in the fields if you'd like an extra hand," she offered. My mom raised her eyebrows.
"Really! Would you mind? We've got tons of boxes and the moving company will be leaving soon. Are they your only children?" mom pried. I wanted to crawl into a shell. She's so snoopy!
"Oh, no, I've got two others. They're about ten years younger, though. A girl and a boy, fourteen and eleven," Jo smiled. My mom nodded as her eyebrows raised in surprise.
"That's quite the age gap!" mom laughed. Jo laughed, too, not finding any offense in her statement.
"Yeah, it is. It is," she deflected. Mom noticed, and she shot me a side-eyed glance. I knew she was about to meddle. I could feel it.
"And your older boy, how old is he?" she asked. Jo shot me a look, then tried to smother a smile.
"Logan is twenty-six, then my other, the one that's away now, is twenty-three," Jo answered. My mom nudged my side, giving me a look of utter teasing. I wanted to melt into the cracks between the wooden porch flooring. The heat was creeping up my neck like Niagara Falls.
"Is that so? Nelly here just turned twenty-two. I'd love to help your son earn an extra dollar if you'd send him over. Logan, was it?" Mom raised one eyebrow at Jo and the woman absolutely picked up what my mom was trying to say. Jo chuckled, hiding her own smile, and nodded slowly.
"Oh, absolutely. I'll go get him." She used her hand to swat the air slowly, then sent me a wink as she turned away. My mouth dropped and I whipped to face my mom as soon as Jo was far enough away.
"Mom! What the hell?!" I slapped her arm out of frustration. Mom jumped at the itty-bitty pain that shot up her bicep but couldn't hold back a laugh.
"Me and that woman are going to be good friends. I bet Logan is that hottie we saw in the fields! Ooooh, Nelly! Maybe you two will hit it off..." mom teased. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, sure..." I trailed off, huffing as I turned away from her to run back to Dad in the kitchen. I would be lying if I wasn't a little excited to meet that man in the fields, but I knew nothing would ever come of it.
First off, twenty-six seems a little out of my age range, and secondly, boyfriends never seem to work out for me. I don't know how to explain it. I've had a few before, but every time I date someone it feels like something is pushing back. I end up hating the poor guy before we can even go past first base.
I'm gonna sound a little crazy but I promise I'm telling the truth when I say I see these glimpses. It's like if I daydream enough, this weird mist puffs into my mind, showing me the type of guy I'm into.
I can see his hair or his eye or maybe an eyebrow once in a while but nothing else. And if I try to reach for more, if I try to clear the fog, the picture just gets worse and worse until it completely hisses away. It's so frustrating, but I can remember every detail that I do see.
Brown hair, or a real dirty blonde, I'm not sure. With this gorgeous, bright white smile. The sexy type, you know? And the eyes are so pretty. Somewhere between blue and green—a shining hazel. Gosh, I wish I could see more, but I just can't. I don't know what it is.
"Hey, Nel, could you put this on the counter for me?" Dad lifted the big rooster utensil holder out of a box and handed it to me. I laughed at it and placed it next to the stove.
"So, what do you think Kiersten was talking about? When she said it's dangerous out here?" I pried, thinking about how he told me to stay out of the forests. Dad paused mid-motion, looking inside the same box. It took him a second to come back to life and lean his elbow on his knee—he was kneeling.
"Uh... well, I don't really know," he answered, looking at me with one eye squinted like he was thinking. I pursed my lips and nodded slowly.
"What do you know?" I pressed. Dad let out a snort, turning his head to the side as he peered at the ground.
"I mean, it's not much, but before, uh... before Willa... your Great Uncle Charles wanted us to visit up here. He was going to have the whole family come. Cousins, aunts, uncles, grandkids, the whole bunch. I was on the phone with him and he was tellin' me something about the woods. He was worried about you coming up here 'cause he knew you'd like running around in 'em, but we got cut off before he could say anything else. Your mom went into labor that night, right as I was on the phone with him, so he never got to finish." Dad scratched the back of his neck. I furrowed my eyebrows at him.
"What, are there bears or something in those woods? Mountain lions?" I half-joked. Dad shrugged, though, not finding it funny at all.
"Probably, I don't know. But it's why I don't want you to go exploring just yet. You wait until we figure it out, okay?" he said sternly. He even went so far as to shake a finger in my direction. My arms were crossed over my chest, so I just rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you. I won't," I said, putting my hands up in surrender. Dad nodded in appreciation and went back to digging around in that box.
"Nelly!" Mom called from the foyer. "Nelly! Logan's here!" she said a little too giddy. I had never felt my eyes roll into the back of my head harder than they did in that moment. Fighting the urge to drag my hands over my face in embarrassment was hard, but I knew I had to go out there so, I started walking.
Coming out of the kitchen into the hallway I almost tripped. It was the guy we saw in the field earlier! He was actually in my house. Oh no, he was actually in my house. I flushed. I flushed red and pink and fuchsia and red all over again and I knew I was about to make a fool out of myself.
This Logan guy was fully dressed now (and fully dry). His hair was long and brown, coming down a little past his shoulders in curly waves. He had blue jeans and tan construction boots on with a simple white t-shirt. My mom was fawning over him already, I could see it in her eyes. I came to stand next to her.
This was so awkward.
"Hey," I greeted weirdly, not sure if I should hold eye contact with him or look away. Logan didn't smile or anything, he just stared at me for a little while before extending his hand.
"Logan," he said his name as a greeting. His voice wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be deep and husky, but it was honestly a higher pitch than I ever would have imagined. It wasn't squeaker level, but it sure wasn't dark and handsome.
"Nelly." I took his hand and shook it lightly, pulling my lips into a thin, awkward line. Logan nodded.
"So, Mrs. Madison, what can I help you with?" he asked politely. My mom brought her hand up, resting it over her collarbone.
"Oh, please, call me Cherry. I'd love some help unloading these boxes. Maybe you and Nelly could work on the upstairs?" mom suggested. Oh, I wanted to groan. I wanted to groan and protest and hit her for suggesting that! If she really thinks anything is going to happen between me and this guy, she has it all wrong.
"Sure, Cherry." Logan smiled, looking at my mom a little too long. I raised an eyebrow at the both of them which only earned an elbow nudge from my mom. Quickly, I cleared my throat, pretending that it never happened.
"This way..." I motioned grudgingly towards the stairs, leading the way to either a new friendship or an awful embarrassment to be. Logan followed silently as my mom watched. I made sure to shoot her a mean look, so she'd hurry up and go help dad in the kitchen.
"Do you have a dog?" Logan asked out of the blue, as soon as my mom was no longer in vision. I eyed him over my shoulder as I held onto the stairway railing.
"Huh? No... why?" I asked. Logan looked at me, eyeing my face carefully before shaking his head and shrugging.
"Oh, sorry, I thought I smelled one in the foyer," he said as if it were nothing. I felt my stomach turn inside out. He smelled a dog? My anxiety went through the roof. Is it me? Do I smell like a dog?
"Oh," I laughed awkwardly, "that's weird..."
Kill me now.
"So, where are you guys from?" Logan asked. We reached the second floor landing. I decided to start us in my parents room so I wouldn't have to unload their boxes later by myself.
"North Carolina," I returned. Logan looked surprised. He knelt down first, opening a box without me having to tell him to.
"Wow! That's far! How many hours was the drive?" he asked. I knelt down beside him, opening my own box to find all my mom's toiletries.
"Fourty-some hours... but we split it into three days."
"Oh, that's not so bad. I drive to Ohio once in a while to visit my girlfriend. Is that near you?" he asked. I raised an eyebrow and gave him a once over.
"No, uh," I chuckled, "no, that's real far from North Carolina."
Logan smiled bashfully, "Oh, woops. I've never been that great with geography." I laughed with him. A warm, familiar feeling tickled my bones as I stared into his soft eyes. It was a sweet and comforting feeling... like seeing your home again after a long vacation away.
"Me too, honestly," I added, diverting my gaze to the box I was unloading. He smiled to himself, then somehow pulled a Christmas ornament out of a box that was labeled for my parents bedroom.
"Yo! You guys surf?" Logan asked excitedly. I raised an eyebrow, staring at the little surfer girl ornament hanging from his finger. I shook my head slowly.
"No, I've never been. I honestly have never seen that before." I reached for the ornament, taking it from him. It was heavy and made of porcelain or some other type of cement-like material. Logan watched carefully as I flipped the ornament over to examine it. I turned the ornament on it's end and saw there was writing on the bottom.
"What's it say?" Logan asked. I pursed my lips, not sure I was reading it correctly.
"It says it's for me. From my uncle..." I humphed, "I wonder why I've never seen it before."
"Oh no!" Logan exclaimed rapidly. I shot my head up with wide eyes, expecting something to be the matter. "What if we just ruined one of your Christmas presents?!" he gaped. My shoulders relaxed. I breathed a chuckle.
"No... no, I doubt it... I never really get Christmas presents." I ran my finger over the writing again. I wonder why Great Uncle Charles would get me an ornament of a surfer. I'm sure he knew I've never set foot on a surfboard.
"Do you not celebrate?" Logan asked. I raised an eyebrow, mildly forgetting what we had been talking about. I shook my head.
"We do. We've just never had much money for presents, I guess." I shrugged, placing the ornament to the side, ignoring the strangeness of it. "But don't worry, it doesn't bother me or anything. I never really want anything for Christmas, anyway."
"Oh, man, I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday." Logan picked up the surfer ornament and twirled it around by the string. "This looks a lot like my sister." I raised my eyebrows.
"You've got a sister?" I asked. Logan nodded, not looking at me.
"Yeah, Avery. She's pretty cool," he returned. I nodded in understanding.
"She surfs?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. Big time. She won't be home for a couple days 'cause she's on a trip right now. Supposed to be business but we all know she only went to catch some waves." He spoke of his sister like he really admired her. That's cute. I think I remember Jo talking about a daughter. She's a year older than me if I remember correctly.
"That's cool. I've always wanted to surf," I said. Logan put the ornament back where I had placed it earlier, then put his hands on his knees as he grinned widely.
"Avery will teach ya! She's great at that. I'll have to introduce you guys when she gets home. You'll love her, I'm sure," he said sweetly. I grinned, appreciative of his offer.
"Oh, wow, thanks! That'd be awesome. And yeah, she sounds cool," I shrugged easily. Logan kept up that pretty smile. His teeth weren't a bright white, but I don't mean that in a bad way. They were like any other normal human's teeth who probably drinks a lot of coffee or tea and doesn't want to take the time to bleach them.
It was the way his lips curled with the smile that got my attention. His face was long and chiseled, an aftermath of the labor he does in the fields, I'm sure. He had ghosts of stubble. A grey shadow framed his upper lip. I looked away when his eyes caught me staring. They're a pretty blue, framed by full eyelashes and dark, thick brows.
"Should we start putting this stuff in closets and stuff?" he asked. I looked around at his fully unpacked box, realizing I've been slacking. I nodded, standing to lead the way.
"That's probably a good idea," I said. Logan stood up with a handful of stuff. I lead the way to closet, suddenly feeling a little giddy at the thought of living here.
What a completely different world this is. It's wonderful. Everyone is so sweet and down to Earth. I feel very lucky to be able to call this place home.