AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stepped back and took stock of the door, which was going to take a few coats. Should have primed it, I thought. The paint only went up as high as I could reach—a patch of black capped off my work. I’d need a ladder to fix it.
But when I turned to head for the shed, I ended up face to face with Jake, skidding to a stop an inch before tumbling into him.
Briefly, I wondered if a person’s eyeballs could actually turn red if they got mad enough like in cartoons. If they built up so much pressure, they’d burst a blood vessel or ten just out of sheer rage.
Jake was the picture of magnificent fury, composed once again of squares. The hard line of his brows made the top, his jaw made the bottom, and somewhere in between, his flat lips opened and closed, making shapes that should have produced sounds.
I pulled out one earbud.
“… fucking pink? The store was fair game, but the big house? Frank rolled over in his grave the second you put that brush to wood. Jesus, Olivia. You have no fucking shame.”
Blinking at him, I fumbled to catch up, noting how strange it was to be the same height as a giant, me on the porch and him on the steps.
“Are you serious? Are you seriously picking a fight with me again?”
Square shoulders rose, square pectorals heaving as he drew a breath like a billow. “Why are you doing this? Why can’t you stop for one fucking minute and think? You didn’t ask anybody if you could paint the door—”
“And who should I have asked to paint my door? The house isn’t yours—Pop left it to me, and I can paint the door whatever goddamn color I want.” I crossed my arms, forgetting the paintbrush was still in my hand until the wet paint soaked into my T-shirt. Refusing to acknowledge it so as not to disturb my very powerful facade, I said, “I don’t have to ask your permission. Not for this.”
“How about the goats? How about the farm’s expenses? How about posting all our business on the fucking internet? I just want to know why? Why do you think you have the right to slide back in here after ten years and rip this place apart?”
“Because this is my home. I’m trying to help.”
He leaned in, his face the color of menace. “You keep saying that, but all you’ve done is—”
“Try? Work? I can’t help if you insist on keeping everything the same, even this argument.” The pitch of my voice climbed. “You don’t want to save the farm—you want to push me away and pray everything works out. News flash, Jake—no one is going to save the farm except us. And that’s gonna take change.”
“You convinced me of change—I let you open the store, didn’t I?”
“You let me?” I scoffed over him.
“But you won’t stop. You can’t leave well enough alone. It’s like you’ve gotta scrawl your name on every surface you come across. Like you’ve gotta move everything you walk past until nothing looks right anymore.”
My head cocked, my brows close enough to nearly touch as it dawned on me. “Is that what this is about?”
“This is about money.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” he snapped.
“You … you don’t recognize it anymore, and you’re mad at me for … for erasing your home?”
He shook his head, his eyes flicking to the heavens in a plea for help. “You think everything’s that simple, don’t you? You don’t know me, Olivia. You don’t know anything about me. So you’d best not assume.”
Jake gave me his back and started to walk away.
I charged after him. “Oh, no. You’re not gonna storm off and leave me here.”
“Looks like I’m doing just that.”
“Jake—”
“Leave it alone. You’ve done enough.”
“I don’t think I have. Please, stop.”
His pace was such that I was nearly jogging.
“Jake, I understand it’s not the same, but—”
“You don’t understand shit.”
I stopped dead, burning a hole in his back, and before I knew what I was doing, I chucked my paintbrush at him.
It hit him square between the shoulder blades at the exact spot my eyes were locked, bristles first. The second it hit him, he froze mid-stride. A pink smudge marred his white shirt, the mark disappearing as he pivoted to face me.
He glanced at my hand. “Did you just throw a paintbrush at me?”
I couldn’t tell if he was mad or just curious, he’d said it so evenly. Mad was probably the safe bet.
“Well, I had to get your attention somehow.” I folded my arms, my heart thundering with a strange mix of frustration and understanding. “This farm has been the exact same since you first knocked on that door ten years ago. That was the spot you first met him, isn’t it? And I went and painted it all pink, which you hate on a regular day. But on that door, it was too much.”
