Chuckling, she added, “You definitely don’t.” There was a pregnant pause before she said, “So…,” then glanced over at me. Our eyes locked, and we both burst out in laughter. “Tell me about baseball.”
“You really want to talk about that?” I asked with a snicker.
“I know nothing about what you do. I don’t follow sports. But you’re a shortstop, right? I think I remember that from high school.”
“Yeah. I play for the Coyotes. I just signed another five-year contract.”
“Word about that got around town. A lot of people are proud of you.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?” she asked as we took the ninety-degree blind turn in the road that I always hated. “I told you everything about me. I’m a farm girl, remember?”
“You never wanted to do anything else?”
“I didn’t really have a choice, Owen. Some of us aren’t talented enough to do more than what we’re handed.”
Turning in my seat, I leaned toward the center console. In the confined space, her clean scent filled my lungs. “If you could do anything, money was no object, what would you do?”
“Why do you want to know?” she asked incredulously.
“Humor me.”
She puffed out a breath, before replying, “Travel.”
Her answer surprised me, and I made it known in my response.
“I’ve always wanted to see the world. Not just the tourist sites, I want to explore everything. Owen, I’ve never been out of this area on my own. It’s only ever been family trips or something like that. But, yeah,” she said, as if catching herself exposing more than she meant to, as we turned onto a dirt path off the main road. “I’d want to travel.”
“You should.”
Her shoulders moved upward toward her ears before falling back down.
We didn’t speak any more on the ride, but I contemplated the kind of life Aspen lived. She was the quintessential good girl. She didn’t go causing trouble, unless it involved terrorizing me in school, but even then, she was never malicious. Aspen seemed to think the farm was her duty, her contribution to the family. I almost felt bad for her situation, but right now, it was going to work in my favor.
She pulled the car around to a few row homes on the Sunny Brook Farms property. I didn’t recall them being there from when I’d sneak onto their land, but these were off the beaten path.
“How far away are we from the main house?” I asked as she turned off the car and exited. The darkness of the space was eerie. I hadn’t been around this utter and complete blackness in years, and it was jarring as I stepped out of the vehicle. Not a single light was on in the house, but Aspen seemed like she knew exactly where she was headed.
“It’s right down the hill. We’re a lot closer than you think.”
“Where are we exactly?” I asked, suddenly afraid I walked into a horror film and was about to be the victim.
As if sensing my emerging fear, Aspen took a step closer to me and whispered, “Scared?”
“No,” I lied as my voice shook.
Then, without a sound, all the lights around the house illuminated, including a few inside. My heart jumped into my throat.
“For fuck’s sake.” Leaning over, I rested one hand on my pounding heart and another on my knee as Aspen’s laughter swirled around me.
“There’s a motion sensor on the outside floodlights, and a timer inside for the living room lamps. I’m normally asleep by now.”
“And they just happened to go off at the same time?”
“As luck would have it,” she said through a giggle as she stepped onto the tiny porch. “Come on, scaredy cat.”
My steps were slow as I made my way to the front door, but I hesitated at the threshold. Reality hit that I was stepping into Aspen’s space, a place I imagined numerous times as a teen. Most of the boys in school did, even though she was apparently clueless of their admiration. But what I imagined was nothing like what greeted me on the other side.
Shutting the door behind me, I glanced to the right, where there was a small makeshift kitchen with a sink, two lower cabinets, some shelves, and a hotpot. Across from me was a living space that I assumed also served as a bedroom. The entire thing was no larger than some New York City apartments.
But even in the limited space, I could see that Aspen had made it her own. It was light and airy with the longest wall decorated in a dozen or so pictures. The images depicted famous cities, all in black-and-white prints, with the name of the location written in bold lettering below.
Anyone who walked into the space would immediately guess that Aspen was well-traveled. It was such a shame that reality was the opposite.
“Welcome to my humble abode.”
I watched as she toed off her boots, then slinked farther into the room, tossing her bag onto the two-person table in the corner.
“I like it,” I replied genuinely. For all it lacked in space, I could tell the place was a home. Which was a far cry from the mansion I owned in Los Angeles.
“It’s small. And I have to go to the main house for a regular meal. The other row homes have a stove and microwave. I chose this one because…”
She was rambling, and it was adorable. Casually, I walked over and reached out to touch her bare arm. The gasp that left her lips was unexpected but not unwelcome.
“There’s… uh… a bedroom in the loft. I don’t know why I told you that.” She shook her head, the soft curls of her hair stroking the back of my hand. “Can I get you a water, soda, or beer?”
“A beer, if you don’t mind.”
