Page 22 of Statler

Right now…

“We’re over there,” he said, pointing toward the visitors parking area where they’d left their trucks. “Head to us and lead the way.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Eliza sucked in a deep breath, grateful she had a short amount of time alone in her car to regain her equilibrium.

What the hell was the matter with her? She hadn’t acted this way since her senior year in high school when she’d developed her crush on Holden.

Even after he’d come home from the service, she’d been in better control of her emotions. The school-girl crush she’d had on Holden that had previously made her heart beat faster, had settled by that time into a more tranquil kind of love; one that was handleable and hadn’t left her scrambling for solid footing.

Statler, however…

Well, he was a different kind of man altogether; a type she was sure she’d never encountered before.

He was handsome, but seemingly unaware of it. Gruff, but unapologetic for his blunt way of putting things. In charge, but with a readiness to defer to and share with his crew. All those things defied every situation Eliza had ever seen from her father as boss.

Statler certainly confounded her.

When he’d asked about local entertainment, like a fool she’d gone on and on about hiking, then had swiftly segued to bars and such once she’d figured out what he was probably getting at; what really interested his group.

Luckily, Statler had shown true curiosity in the trails she’d mentioned.

Eliza gave an eye roll.

Maybe he was just letting her off the hook for being a naïve simpleton.

Eliza sighed, turning down the unpaved road that led to the cottages.

She was going to have to up her game dealing with that man—perhaps daily—for the next few months. She had to find a way to look past her ridiculous insta-love and whatever pheromone attractors he was unwittingly throwing out.

Eliza sighed.

Who was she kidding?

If she could manage to string a few coherent words together around him, she’d consider it a win.

Pulling up in front of the cute little row of white cottages, Eliza felt a stirring of pride. She’d done a great clean-up on the structures; inside and out, even going so far as to touch up some of the exterior paint. The foundation crew who had lived here for several months had been…unruly to say the least; a disaster if she were honest.

She didn’t know what they’d been moving in and out across the small porches, but scrapes and dings on door frames and floors showed a lack of consideration for the properties her father owned, that in any other case would have had William ballistic.

On this front, he’d simply shrugged and told Eliza to take care of it.

The time she’d spent out here had been off the clock, of course, with no money or apologies from her patriarch. But the work had given her something to do in a spot that was in close proximity to her favorite place in the whole world these days, and for that she was thankful.

Although reaching that special spot unnoticed, might be a challenge for a while.

With Statler and his people around for an untold number of months, Eliza was going to have to be very careful, which sucked.

On top of that, October was fast approaching, and soon, being able to find windows of time for what she considered her little show of defiance that no one—not even her father—knew about, would be unthinkable because of the unpredictable winter weather.

Normally, she’d be okay making the trek there until at least mid-November. But this year…? If Statler and his crew were still on site?

She might have to find a different way to keep herself sane.

Eliza dragged in a lungful of air as she turned off her car and emerged in front of the middle cottage of the bunch. The five tiny homes were sweetly lined up with their porches toward the dirt road she’d traveled in on, their backs to the vast woods. They were together, but also private, spaced approximately twenty feet apart.

Eliza had spent almost a year in one of them with Holden right after they’d gotten married and before he’d purchased the home she lived in now. Alone. But hadn’t it felt like that even when Holden had been alive?