“Thanks, Ash. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
“No problem, you’ve got my number if you need anything.” I pinned her with a look. “I mean it, Nat, call if you need anything. I’m a hell of a lot closer to you than anyone else. I can get here in five minutes. I put your grandpa’s gun back in the gun safe in the bedroom. The code is the same. Do you remember what it is?”
“Gun safe?” Natalie shook her head. “I’m not going to need the gun safe.”
“You’re half an hour from town. Living in the wilderness. Whether you like it or not, you may need to use your gun.”
“I can promise you I won’t. If I see something, I’ll run inside and lock my doors and call you.”
“A lot can happen in five minutes when a bear is banging down your door,” I told her.
“Well then, I guess I’ll have to be noisy, so he doesn’t want to come around, won’t I?” She winked at me. “You haven’t seen the way I can bang a pot, trust me, no bear wants to stay around here. My pot banging works better than a gun on any day.”
I chuckled. “All right. You got my number if you need it.” I glanced around for my dog. He’d made himself comfy on the old, worn sofa. “Walter, get off the couch.” I winced and looked at Nat. “Sorry about him. He kind of makes himself at home wherever he goes.”
Natalie crouched down and gave Walter a good scratch as he walked up to her. “As he should. A beautiful boy like Walter shouldn’t sleep on the floor. Isn’t that right, boy?”
Walter’s tongue darted out and drenched Natalie’s face in an exuberant kiss. She laughed and wrapped her arms around the dog. “Aren’t you the sweetest boy ever?”
Walter kissed her again.
I rolled my eyes. Good lord, I’d be here all day if I let Walter have his way. “All right, on that note, we’re out. Walter, let’s go.” I gave a little whistle, and Walter hopped up and ran to my side. “Call me if you need anything.”
Natalie stood and brushed her hands on her black running shorts. “I will. Thanks again.”
As I walked out the door, I distinctly heard my sister say. “Please tell me you did not just look at my brother’s ass.”
It took everything in me not to turn around and smile.
Chapter Three
Natalie
Istretched my arms over my head and looked around the little cabin. How could a place so small be so dirty? I couldn’t imagine how disgusting it would have been if Ash hadn’t been coming by every few months to make sure nothing was getting inside.
It never occurred to me that rodents and other animals would love an empty cabin in the winter. I shuddered. Gross. Thank God for Ash.
Mmm, Ash. The guy I’d known had grown into an incredibly attractive man. The kind of person who would look after our cabin rather than tearing it down. They didn’t make men like that very often. Even out here, this piece of land was worth a decent amount of money. He could have sold it. But he didn’t.
I needed to stop thinking about him. I was here to get my life sorted, not complicate things more.
I stretched again. What I needed was a long, hot shower. I pulled out the towels I’d brought with me from my bag and mademy way into the small bathroom and looked at the old hard-shelled shower in the corner.
I’d never understood how my grandpa even fit inside the thing. It was barely big enough for me. How a fully grown man fit comfortably, I’d never know. How did he even wash his hair in there for all those years? I eyed the old shower curtain. Gross. A new one of those was definitely on the list.
I peeled back the curtain and turned on the water. The pipes groaned and sputtered as dirty water poured out, quickly turning clear. Oh, thank God. I closed the curtain to give the water a chance to warm up.
I wrestled my way out of my sweaty sports bra before dropping it on the floor with the rest of my clothes.
Dang it. My shampoo.
Naked, I peeked my head out of the bathroom, then laughed at myself. Who did I think I was going to see? For some unknown reason, I dashed to the bedroom. What was I doing? I walked around a dressing room practically naked all the time and had costume people I’d just met touch my body and yet here I was streaking through this tiny cabin like my nudity was something that might offend the gods of the woods.
Grabbing my shampoo, I walked slowly back to the bathroom, pulled back the shower curtain and screamed. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” I chanted as I quickly turned off the tap. It didn’t seem to stop the bubbling mess of disgustingness that seemed to multiply by the second out of the drain.
How did I make it stop?
The brown, chunky mud hit the top of the shower basin, and I prayed it didn’t go over the edge. I frantically searched for a plunger or anything that might make the water disappear. There was nothing.
