In the clouds?
Up my own ass?
The last damn human on the planet I should be fixated on is Duke frickin’ Colter! He does not give a shit about me!
“When are you going to get it through your thick skull,” I ask myself angrily, pushing the lawnmower in the backyard. It had a full tank when I started it up, parked in the shed out back that had once been an unorganized, cluttered mess.
Not any longer.
Duke had taken most things out, sorted the junk from the things we needed, and reorganized the entire kit and caboodle. Tools were hung in their proper places on the pegboard, cords were wrapped up neatly, totes and boxes were stacked and labeled.
It was nice having a bored lumberjack living in the house. He sure had put his stamp on the place.
I walk back and forth through the yard, pushing the lawnmower into straight lines while my imagination wanders. I catch sight of Mrs. Galvin a few times gawking at me while I do my chores—as if seeing me alone is shocking.
“The man was here a week and a half. Get over it,” I mutter, grateful the mower is loud and keeping me too busy to walk over to her hedgerow and make chitchat.
Wednesday passes.
On Thursday, I get a message from an unknown number.
Unknown:Hey, it’s me. Just checkin’ on you ’cause I hadn’t heard back.
Unknown:You doing okay?
I don’t respond.
In fact, I hit ‘Block.’
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who the unknown number is.
18
duke
Did Posey seriously block me from her phone?
After a few days of not hearing back after emailing her that damn nondisclosure agreement, I sucked up my pride and hit up Molly for her cell.
When Molly wouldn’t give it to me, I had no choice but to reach out to Eli, who vehemently suggested it was a terrible idea to send her a text message when I’d already sent her two emails.
“Now you’re borderline being aggressive,” he informs me. “She made it clear she doesn’t want to speak to you.”
Did she?
By not replying to an email?
Pfft.
Not likely.
Not Posey.
“She’s got me in the Friend Zone—I think it’s okay for me to send her a friendly message.”
Eli snorts. “Between you and me, you should have done that days ago.” He pauses for dramatic effect. “Days.”
“What do you mean?”