Wednesday
She held up a finger to his forlorn face with a stern shake of her head.
"But why?" he whined, and then pouted at her.
She was already ready for that pout and she'd built up a strong defense against that pout since last night. And since she didn't know him that well yet, she could and would resist that pout. So she shook her head again and to emphasize her point, she wagged her finger slowly with a determined stare.
He ducked his knees and stood upright again, in a show of childish defiance. "You need muscle."
She looked up, revealing the whites of her eyes. She feigned contemplation on his statement and then looked back to him again. "I've been doing this for years. I'm pretty sure I've got the hang of it," she quipped.
He rolled his eyes and grunted in complain. "Please," he begged, clasping his hands together in a conjoined fist and holding it to his forehead, staring at her.
Skylar groaned and shouldered her bag. "You are on vacation, Ethan. Go do..." She waved her hands in the air, face twisted into an unrecognizable expression as she tried to look for the right words. She dropped them in defeat. "Just go do vacation stuff. Stop disturbing me."
"You know what, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to treat your guest like this," Ethan retorted. "It's like Hospitality 101: always accommodate your guest's needs."
She rolled her eyes with a scoff and sat down in front of the screen door, letting it swing close behind her while she pulled on her boots. When she didn't hear it closed, she paused and turned back to see him propping the door open, having already pulled on his coat and beanie. She cursed under her breath and stood up, one boot on and one boot off.
"You'll thank me!" he exclaimed before she could say anything.
"I'm not delivering fruit baskets or even getting milk. I'm going to do my job. Plus, I only own this cabin and provide food for guests. You can move out if you want. I won't stop you." She dropped back down onto the threshold to continue pulling on her boots. "I'm also pretty sure there are tons of landmarks in Frankton. You can drive the snowmobile to car rental and rent a damn car." She stood up and stepped forward, turning around, ready to give him another lecture but stopped when she saw him doing the same thing she just did two minutes ago. "Oh, come on!"
"Be my guide," he requested. She stared at him as if he had just gone to another level of nuts. "I'm serious, be my guide."
"Excuse you, I am not a guide," she hissed, as if saying that word had burned her tongue.
"I'll pay you," he offered.
She pulled back, glaring up at him. Seriously, what the hell was he? She groaned in disgust and shook her head, turning around to step out the door. She grumbled under her breath, finding the man harder to believe. She wondered how long she would be able to stand him before she actually kicked him out.
"Who the hell does he think he is?" she seethed, pressing - more like stabbing - the key fob of her Jeep with her thumb.
"What's wrong with you being my guide?" he demanded, catching up to her easily.
Refusing to answer his question, she pulled open the door and let Dog in the front passenger seat before sitting behind the wheel herself. The door was almost slammed close when a strong grip stopped it, pulling it open again. Ethan was standing right there, staring at her innocently.
"What?" he said with a shrug.
She clenched her teeth. "It's not you asking me to be your guide. It's you offering me money like I'm some beggar."
"Well, otherwise you won't!" he exclaimed.
She nodded sagely. "You're right, I won't." He was about to start speaking again but she stopped him. "And then there's the fact that I have a job that I'm supposed to be on my way to right now and will most likely be late to because you won't stop pestering me. Seriously, get out of my way already!"
"What, that 'books' job?" he quoted.
She glowered at him. "Yes, Ethan, that 'books' job."
"Well, I want to know what that 'books' job is."
She smiled at him as she patted him gently on his cheek. And then as she gently removed his hand from her door, she said, "Sweetheart, you ever heard of the song You Can't Always Get What You Want?" Without delay, she pulled it closed and pushed down the lock.
She waved at him as he stared at her through the window, mouth ajar and eyes blank. He seemed as if he could hardly process what had just happened. She waved at him with a pretensive smile and pulled out of her garage, leaving him standing there all bundled up.
She winked at Dog who was panting at her, staring her in such a way that she was sure he was proud of her. She then turned back to the road. Since she already knew the path like the back of her hand, she let her mind wander.
Ethan Boyd was intriguing. Very intriguing. Honestly, it had been four years since she'd built the cabin and god knew how many guests she'd had, she'd never encountered one like Ethan Boyd.
He never seemed to have a plan. He was rich, alright - or else he wouldn't be able to afford her rates. He was always tagging behind her like a puppy dog and she wasn't sure if she found that annoying or endearing. Probably both. Plus, he had absolutely no tact whatsoever. He asked whatever was on his mind and normally, she adored this kind of people - except when the questions were targeted on her, then she absolutely didn't love them.
She stopped at the traffic light and absently smoothed her hand over Dog's hair.
She just wasn't ready to let anyone else know her past, especially a stranger - a stranger she was hopelessly attracted to and intrigued by, but a stranger nonetheless.
***
Unbelievable, Ethan thought as he considered the wide space where the garage door had been.
He couldn't believe she did that. He couldn't believe he let her do that. It was simple. She didn't even trick him. He just foolishly let her take his hand off because he was too astonished by the electric he felt surging through his skin when she patted him on his cheek and touched his hand. To be honest, he had felt that electricity since last night, he just refused to acknowledge it.
He was brought back to real time when a gust of wind stung his skin, alerting him to the alarmingly cold temperature of the morning. He hurried to close the garage door. He only went inside after he'd watched the door slid close completely.
He pulled off his coat and beanie lazily and followed Skylar's rule by putting them all back in the walk-in closet. And then he sat down on the armchair, the heater having been turned on by Skylar this morning. He stared out the window, at the whites on the trees and the shades of blue in the sky. The snow had long since stopped.
He had no idea what to do.
He allowed his mind to flash back from the moment he'd woke up with a clear mind yesterday morning. His lips twitched at the remembrance of his first meeting with Skylar; well, his first official meeting with the woman.
She was intriguing as ever.
He couldn't deny it. He liked her. He had known her in less than 48 hours and he already liked her. And in a non-platonic way. It was definitely more than platonic, judging by how he let his mouth loose last night by telling her she was beautiful - he was still slapping himself mentally for that - and how he always found himself smiling when he was seeing her - except when she was leaving alone to bore to death.
To be amateur and teenagelike, he would say he had a crush on her. And he wasn't sure if it was a good thing. Because Skylar Smith was so enigmatic that it actually hurt him. He wanted to know about her and she wasn't letting him.
Okay, so maybe it really wasn't any of his business because like she said, he was just a guest. But she could maybe just reveal something. He knew nothing. All he did know was the things that he'd analysed - yes, he analysed - from the enigmatic talks they had.
He had analysed that she was flush with money that she didn't need a job - but she had one anyway because this was a small town. He had analysed that she appreciated Dog more than anything else and from that, he assumed that she probably lost someone in the past which was why she appreciated the dog's company more than anything else. He had also come to the conclusion that she moved here to New Zealand to escape from something.
"From what?" he said to himself quietly, as he stared down at his hands.
He looked around him, to see if the interior of the cabin would tell him anything. Except, she was pretty impersonal in a place she lived in. There were only portraits of sceneries and Dog. There weren't any photos of herself or anything human.
She was so determined in keeping her past to herself that she was unwilling to display any photos of herself at all.
He shook his head to himself as he smiled in amusement - not at her, but at himself - because he knew she was about to get more annoyed at him. He just couldn't help it; he had to know.
**
She entered the bookstore with Dog. He immediately curled up on the rug specifically prepared for him in one corner of the store, near the fireplace. She hung up her coat and adjusted her glasses with forefinger before heading deeper into the store to look for the owner.
She grinned when she saw a familar figure hunkered down in front of a few boxes, carrying books out of them. She rushed forward to help. He looked at her in surprise and then smiled when he recognized her, happily handing her a stack of books.
"Well, look who finally showed up!" he exclaimed pleasantly.
She laughed and followed him down one of the many aisles of books until they reached their destination. "Good morning, Adam," she said.
He put his stack on the edge of one of the compartments and pulled over a ladder. "By the way, you're a lifesaver. I don't know how long it's gonna take me to tag all those books before I die," he said with an eyeroll.
She raised her brow with an amused smile. "So you're just gonna let me do all the tagging?"
He nodded. "Pretty much." And then he laughed. "Kidding." He climbed up the ladder and took the books he'd discarded just now. She watched as he arranged them in their section. "Let me have them." She lifted the books in her arms to him. It didn't take him long to arrange them all.
When he climbed down, he slinked an arm around her shoulders cheerfully and together, they walked back to where the new stock was located. "Where's your dad?" she asked as they both sat down on tiny stools and started categorizing the books.
He shrugged and hooked a finger over his shoulder. "Out." His finger was pointed towards the storeroom. He realized his mistake and quickly pointed towards the front door. She chuckled, long since used to his antics. "So I heard you got a new guest," he said casually. "A very good looking guest."
She nodded. "I do." She could see he was waiting for her to say more but she didn't. There wasn't much to tell.
"What's he like?"
Adam was a devastatingly handsome man. Almost too handsome. He was tall, well-built, nice hair, great smile and perfect dimples. He was too nice to be true. He went to the old folks' home which was an hour away from here every Sunday to help out. He donated to the WWF and Unicef every month. Instead of getting a job with his engineering degree, he'd decided to help out with his father in his old bookstore. His eyes were dark brown and soulful. He couldn't hide anything with those eyes. To put it simply, he wore his heart in his eyes.
Which was actually how she knew that he had more than platonic feelings towards her. But she didn't acknowledge it. She didn't made it known to him that she knew about his feelings for her. One, because she just wasn't ready for a relationship. Two, she just didn't like him that way.
"He's like a man," she said vaguely with a shrug, completely focused on categorizing the books.
"Is he nice?" Adam prodded.
She looked up, two books on her lap. "Adam," she started. He nodded. "There is no need to get a profile on my guest."
He then started to look sheepish and he gulped, ducking his head to avoid her eyes. "I just want to make sure you're safe," he muttered.
She couldn't help but be touched by his gentleman ways. "I sleep with a taser on my bedside table. Trust me, Adam, I know how to protect myself." She placed her palm atop his softly and smiled. "Thank you, though."
He offered her a rueful smile before they went back to work.
Yes, arranging books in an old bookstore was the job she was talking about. She came here on weekdays and helped out with Adam Kingston Sr and Adam Kingston Jr with their bookstore. Somedays, she was the cashier. Somedays, she was the promoter. Somedays, she was the one hunkered in a corner categorizing books andd arranging them.
Most people would think that it was a task. They would think that it wasn't worth it to do so much with such a low pay. And maybe they were right: it wasn't worth it. Nevertheless, she wasn't here for the pay; she was here to fill her time and because she truly enjoyed her job here. She loved books; she loved the smell of books; she loved that inside these books were pages printed with letter blocks that would draw out extraordinary stories and fill someone's life with joy and distraction.
She'd been working here four years. When the cabin was finished and she found a lot of time on her hands, she started wandering the town, asking around for jobs. She'd worked as a barista for Aunt Rita; a receptionist at the hotel she'd stayed in the first year she came here; even a waitress at the diner downtown. But she never stayed long for any of them because she had no passion for any of them.
And then one day, she met Adam at Aunt Rita's cafe and as per usual, Aunt Rita had tried to push the both of them together. Skylar had refused and offered her friendship to Adam instead, to which Adam didn't hesitate to accept.
Adam had just graduated from Yale University but chose to come back here to help out with his father. When he knew that she was looking for a job, he offered a position at the bookstore. She jumped at the opportunity and she couldn't happier that she did because she loved it here.
He probably thought that they would have a chance at being more than friends if they knew her long enough. To be honest, Skylar might have had that thought too. It wasn't that she couldn't survive on her own, because she could. She was strong enough to survive for so long; she didn't need a man to help her. But she missed the companion of a man who would care for her and take her out on dates and give her flowers.
But she wasn't ready though.
So now, four years later, her and Adam were still just friends and most possibly wouldn't be anything more despite the misunderstanding of many others.
She took a box of categorized books to the Mystery section and sat on the prepared stool, arranging the books in their respective subsections.
This section was dubbed her section by all the regulars and the people who knew her in this town. Not because she loved reading Mystery, but because she was so secretive about her past that they just thought she belonged in this section. She always smiled bitterly when she heard them tease her about it.
She didn't mean to be so secretive; she just didn't think that everything that had happened to cause her to move here to New Zealand was worth bringing up. And it really wasn't any of their business.
Speaking of none of their business, she wondered what that one nosy man was up to. Was Ethan skulking in the cabin? Had he taken her advice and went out to explore the place? She took out her phone but then remembered that she didn't have his number.
"Wait, so this is your job?"
Speak of the devil. She froze up and squeezed her eyes shut, cursing quietly in her mind. And then she turned around in her stool to see him blocking the light from the door, towering over her. Now that she was sitting down, he looked like a massive beast. A very good looking beast.
She shook herself and sighed. "What the hell are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "I took the snowmobile."
She sighed again. "And you just had to come here," she muttered under her breath. She placed the books on the edge of the shelf and stood up, facing him. "Go away."
He grinned mischievously and wagged his brows. "What do they usually call this? Serendipity?" Did he just... "See, you left me alone at the cabin hoping to be rid of me, asking me to explore the town and Frankton. I took the snowmobile and just happen to come across this bookstore. And then here you are!"
She almost winced at his jovial mood. "Yes, here I am, trying to do my job. So can you please just go away and explore somewhere else? Didn't I tell you to rent a car? I'm pretty sure I did. So why don't you do it and explore somewhere not in this town? Frankton is big place with many landmarks. Go!" She took his shoulders and spun him around before he could react and push him out the door. She instantly shivered at the chill biting at her skin. She wrapped her around herself and nodded curtly at him. "I'll see you tonight. Bye!" And then she turned around and went back in.
She barely got two steps in before the bell jingled again. She turned around to see Ethan there again, with his hands shoved in his pockets. "I wanna buy some books," he said before she couldd remand it. She eyed it. "Seriously."
"Fine," she grumbled and strode back towards where she'd been just now and sat back down on the stool.
When she didn't hear him say anything, she assumed that he was finished disturbing her for good. And she hummed Taylor Swift under her breath as she arranged the books, climbing higher and higher up the ladder with each level.
"Mystery, huh?"
She jumped, dropping the stack of six books she held in her arms to the floor. She glared at a sheepish Ethan before staring down the books pitifully. Had she mentioned that she was afraid of heights? "I hate you," she seethed. She closed her eyes and prepared herself to get down.
"Here." She opened them again to see him holding out the books to her. Apparently, he was tall enough and his arms were long enough to extend to her height on the ladder. "Sorry about that."
She took the books angrily and refused to look down as she placed the books where they belonged to.
"Did you learn all your tricks from this section?"
She rolled her eyes, feeling unusually erred. "I wish everyone would stop assuming that," she hissed as she shoved the last book into the slot. "Can you like hold on to the ladder?"
She felt a steady grip on the ladder. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened them again, and slowly climbed down the ladder, feeling more relaxed with each step descended. When she'd reached the floor, she took a deep relieving breath before facing him who was looking at her expectantly.
She refused to think about how she used to ask Adam to do that but him doing that had never felt as safe as Ethan doing that. Nope, she refused. In fact, she was going to assume that feeling never happened.
"Do you hate me?" she asked him.
He frowned and made a ridiculous face. "No."
"Do you take pleasure in disturbing people's pristine lives?" she continued.
"No."
"Are you somehow allergic to being alone?"
"I'll have you know, I've been alone for a long time."
She released an exaggerated sigh and stood akimbo. "Then why do you insist on disturbing me? Why can't you leave me alone?"
"Hold on." He put up a finger and looked upwards. "Is this you asking for fact of the day or an actual question?"
"Oh my god," she grunted. She spun on her heel and walked down the aisle, back to the corner where Adam was still being. She could feel Ethan following her.
Adam stood up when he saw her with a perturbed expression. "Is this guy bothering you?"
She stopped at her heels, staring up at him with a bewildered look before looking back at Ethan. He had a somehow competitive look on his face and he wasn't looking at her. He was looking over her head. She turned back to see Adam mirroring his face. She couldn't believe this. This wasn't happening.
"Boys," she snapped. Because that was what they were. Boys. Literal boys. They looked at her simultaneously. "Adam, meet Ethan Boyd." She flourished a wave at Ethan. "Ethan, meet Adam Kingston Jr." She flourished another wave at Adam.
"Junior?" Ethan laughed.
Skylar rolled her eyes. "Please grow up," she directed at two of them.
"Hey, kids." She could hardly keep from leaping in joy at the voice Mr Kingston. The man in question came in from one of the aisles with a finger hooked over his shoulder. "Why's there a snowmobile out there?"
**
After dinner, they sat in the living room again.
"Are you going to do this to me for the next thirty days?" she questioned.
"I just realize you're incredibly uptight for a twenty-three year old," he evaded. She glared at him. "Seriously, aren't twenty-three year olds supposed to be out there partying and experimenting? But you're here, working in a bookstore and managing a cabin."
Skylar smirked without control. "I'm not a stereotype."
He smiled, a smile with warmth and some other thing that she couldn't identify. She ignored the fervor spreading inside her when she saw that smile. "No, you're not," he said, his voice atypically gentle. "I have no plans, to be honest."
"What do you mean?"
He inhaled and exhaled harshly as he slouched back against the couch. "I booked a plane ticket and a cabin impromptu. I had no plans. And then I packed my bags and I left." She nodded. "You're not gonna ask why?"
She lifted her shoulders in a careless shrug. "Like I said, Ethan, you don't ask about my life, I don't ask about yours."
"Except I do ask about yours."
She pointed a finger in his direction with a playful glare. "Touche." He chuckled. "But I do respect people's privacy. And you must have a reason for doing this all of a sudden. And I'm not gonna ask until you want to tell me."
"How about I tell you on that walk?" She looked at him in surprise. "Seems like a routine for you," he observed.
She smiled without resistance and nodded. They stood up and pulled on their coats and mittens. Skylar clipped on Dog's leash and together, they walked out tonight. They couldn't see the moon tonight but the trail was still illuminated. They walked along the trail in silence, relishing the cessation of the night.
Ethan put himself on his butt by the lake again and Skylar obliged. She could see why he loved this area so much. She loved it too.
"I needed time away from home," he said. She looked to him, but he was staring out at the lake. "Everything was too much: the tabloids, the paperwork, everything. And I just...I hadn't had a break in five years, Skylar. So I booked a much deserved plane ticket and your cabin and I flew over here, with no plans whatsoever."
"Tabloids?" she asked cautiously.
He turned to her with a sad smile. "My life is complicated," he said.
She nodded. "Well, I'm pretty sure it can't be more complicated than mine." She petted Dog. "I'm still not telling you anything."
He laughed and she saw him nodding from the edge of her vision. "It's okay. I'm sure you'll tell me when you're ready."
"What if I never am? I mean, we'll only be annoying each other for a month."
He looked at her in a way that didn't give her any creeps. The look he gave her made her feel safe and cared for and she wasn't sure if she was okay with that or not. "That's okay too."
She smiled at him, in gratitude and appreciation. He was a decent guy, she concluded. "Fact of the day?" He looked surprised. She smirked. "I think you're very handsome," she offered.
His smile widened and she couldn't help but laugh at the twinkle in his eyes. He rocked back and laid down on his back as he stared up at the dark and empty sky. "Fact of the day: I've never won a game of Operation in my life."
She laughed and dropped onto her back as well, taking in the night sky with no moon or stars. Yet, she felt as if the man's presence was enough to make up for the lack of moon or stars. And that may not necessarily be a bad thing.