CHAPTERTEN
Between helpin'out around Wild Acre, traveling around to care for the county's horses, and a few shifts at the store, I was lucky to get one good day off each week.
And lately, those days had just been more work.
Every penny I'd saved had gone into buyin' this piece of shit house, and now every dollar I earned went into turnin' it from a piece of shit into a piece of crap.
I'd traded days off with Sassy and Rhett—her music too loud, him talkin' shit, me grinnin' through it—for a house bought for someone who never even saw it.
Didn't even ask if she wanted it.
Thought I was bein' romantic.
TBH, that one's on me.
"Mother fuck!" The hammer clattered to the floor as I stuck my thumb in my mouth.'Cause that's likely to help.I spun on my heel, knocking over a box of nails when I beelined for my cooler. Before I shoved my hand in to cool the sting, I popped the top on a beer. Sure, it was only eleven in the mornin'. Didn't seem to matter much these days. Jimmy Buffett, God rest his soul, said it best—it's five o'clock somewhere.
I planted my boots and my ass flat on the floor of what would, some day, look somethin' like a kitchen.
Maybe.
If I stopped hammerin' my thumb.
Right now, it looked like a kindergarten project.
"Build a box out of toothpicks, Brody." I mimicked ol' Mrs. Potter's scratchy voice best I could. Felt like I nailed it, given she was my teacher some twenty-plus years ago.
Whatever.
It'd be an island soon.
A nice big one.
Seats for a few kids… whole damn family.
Whole family I wasn't so sure I'd have anymore.
"You made the right choice," I told myself for the hundredth time. Had to believe that.
Just then, a bunch of the nails that had scattered across the floor suddenly flew in six different directions. I let out a yelp and leapt to my feet.
"Jesus Christ!"
Beer sluiced down my arm. At least I hadn't dropped it.
I whipped my head back and forth until I spotted the source of the commotion.
It was a cat.
In my house.
Just sitting there.
Starin' at me.
Unblinking.
Unimpressed.
